EXETER IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, 1849.

 From:  The Exeter Flying Post, Thursday, 6th September 1849:

"THE CHOLERA

"Surrounded as we are on every side by cities and towns, and villages and hamlets, in which this mysterious messenger of death has entered, Exeter continues, through the Merciful Providence of the DIVINE RULER over all, to be almost entirely exempt from the dreadful scourge.  In the Metropolis, and in some of the large manufacturing districts of the North, and even in our neighbouring town of Plymouth, there is mourning, and lamentation, and woe; thousands upon thousands of our fellow creatures have been hurried to  "that bourne whence no traveller returns" and hundreds are daily being added to the number.  The disease baffles the skill of medical men, - they comprehend not its character, - they trace not its origin:  all that human wisdom can devise or human skill execute, has been done to stay its ravages but without avail;  its course is unchecked -  its dread progress cannot be arrested.  

All classes alike become its victims; although the deaths are most numerous in the crowded, badly ventilated, and undrained localities. and amongst the poor, ill-clad, half-fed population,  yet the devestating influence of cholera has been felt in some of the most salubrious parts of the kingdom; and many who had at  their command all that this world can produce, and could summon to their aid the best medical advice, have also sunk under this most mysterious malady."

---------------

I imagine some might consider that the DIVINE RULER of all is still standing by Exeter in the present pandemic.   The Flying Post's editor had little faith in medicine and went on to recommend that we, as a nation, humiliate ourselves "before the ALMIGHTY and implore HIS merciful interposition."   In fact,  the father of modern epidemiology, an Englishman, John Snow, was already on the case and, within a decade, cholera was no longer such a mystery and its dread progress had been arrested.   John Snow's work, so Wikipaedia, led to "a significant improvement in general public health around the world".   (my italics)

I like it when newspapermen quote our national poet.  (It's usually Hamlet!)   These days it doesn't happen often enough.