Chapter 681 Bad Omen

While Franz was still in Tyrol preparing for the coming stormy year, the storm had already quietly arrived.

In the past, the northern part of London was densely populated with houses adjacent to each other, and the roads were lined with various shops, pubs, and brothels. The streets were full of people of all kinds, from wandering singers, thieves, prostitutes, to gentlemen, soldiers, and merchants. Everyone was very busy.

But now the carts full of corpses and the streets full of smelly excrement have made the city lose its vitality.

People die every day, and the dead will experience severe dehydration before leaving the world. Even the most decent gentleman and the most reserved lady will be unrecognizable under the torture of this disease.

Cholera often produces severe reactions within the first few hours-diarrhea, vomiting, fever and even death.

At the same time, the symptoms of this disease are particularly terrifying: severe dehydration will make the patient unrecognizable within a few hours, and the rupture of capillaries will cause the skin color to be blue-black.

The death of the patient is so struggling and powerless, and everything that happens is like a warning to bystanders, which will have a great mental impact on the people around them.

This is the horror of cholera, and what is even more terrifying is its strong infectiousness. Especially those doctors who did not wash their hands in this era became the angels of death who spread the plague.

At first, this disease only appeared in the slums, so the government actively promoted it as a "poor disease" and a punishment for the lazy.

At that time, religions always liked to say that cholera was a punishment given by God for the poor "whose body filth and soul filth are unified" and "ignorance and corruption of the soul".

However, with the sharp increase in the number of deaths, a large number of civilians, doctors, priests, and even nobles and officials could not escape the disaster.

Only then did people realize the seriousness of the problem, but they were helpless and could only stay indoors and reduce interactions with other people like they did with the Black Death.

For a time, the whole of London became depressed, and even the "dwelling place of God" (referring to the church, mentioned in the previous article, I won't go into details.) chose to close its doors to visitors.

London in this era had a unique odor, also known as "London odor". In addition to the smell of burning industrial fuels, there are also the smells of various domestic wastes, plus the Thames River that had flooded before.

The whole of London is like a huge bacterial culture dish, with a large number of microorganisms constantly decomposing organic matter, and then a group of deadly methane rises to the sky again.

London's public health system is a disaster at this time. As the scale of London's urbanization continues to expand, the distance between the city and the countryside is getting farther and farther.

This caused another problem, that is, the rising price of excrement. So many people choose not to excrete, and want to wait for those big men to solve this problem.

But in fact, big men will never encounter this problem, because they have special people to deal with this kind of thing.

So the cesspools overflowing with thick soup have become a major feature of London. Those pits are black, yellow, and even red, but there is only one thing in common, that is, the stench is terrible.

Isn't it a coincidence that although the flooding of the Thames did not destroy any buildings, the river water poured into the cesspools, and then people saw the black and yellow torrents rushing through the streets, leaving a mess and stench.

Coupled with the acid rain that falls from time to time in the sky, it is really eye-catching, and then after a series of wonderful chemical reactions, the legendary "London flavor" is formed.

This cholera had another impact, which was to discourage businessmen. After all, money was important, but if life was gone, nothing mattered.

So some businessmen chose to move to other cities in the UK. However, they soon discovered that the whole of the UK was similar, and cholera would also move with the population.

Some people also turned their attention to Paris and Vienna, two cities on the European continent. Although France and Austria were far less developed than the UK at that time, these two cities were developing vigorously and seemed to be more suitable as financial centers than London.

Robert Peel immediately introduced a series of policies to try to recover the losses, but with little effect.

Doctors used mercury vapor, gin, laudanum, whale oil, salt, and vinegar to treat cholera, but the result was naturally ineffective. Many people even delayed treatment and died painfully.

The Royal Medical Association of the United Kingdom did not give any effective treatment. Their advice was:

"Fill the patient's stomach with olive oil or other oils, then beat or jump on the patient rhythmically to help him expel toxins from the body."

He also offered a reward for a solution to the London plague, but almost all the people who came were scammers.

The remaining alchemists and astrologers, or bloodletting masters, or mercury maniacs, although they were not scammers, did not have any positive effects.

In particular, a yoga master from India turned into a jet fighter during a public performance. The tragic death made people unforgettable for a long time.

After investigation, it was found that the master actually drank the water of the Thames directly. Then he performed yoga for such a long time. It seems that the master really has some skills.

However, the master still helped the British government. Robert Peel immediately announced that the plague was a conspiracy of Indians, and it was the Indians who brought the plague to London.

As soon as this statement came out, the response was strong, and Robert Peel and his Tory Party immediately became the most beloved party again.

However, this plague must be solved. After repeated discussions among some authoritative doctors, Chad Wick's opinion was finally adopted. The editor felt that the feces on the floor was the culprit.

(Chad Wick is known as the father of modern public health, but he was not a doctor or official, but an editor who liked to criticize the British government.)

So the British government decided to throw the filth from the streets directly into the Thames, causing the Fleet to become blocked.

A large amount of feces directly blocked this tributary of the Thames River, and even Londoners later built it into a street.

The Dutch had to transport sand and gravel to build land, but the British actually accomplished such a feat using excrement. It’s really amazing.

So some people began to worry about the Thames River again. After all, when the river water is illuminated by the sun, it will raise fog visible to the naked eye, and at the same time, the river water reflects colorful luster.

In order to dispel people's doubts, Robert Peel sent a team of chemists and hydrobiologists. After a "rigorous" investigation, they came to a conclusion:

"The Thames has a strong self-purification ability, so we don't need to worry at all."

Doesn't it sound a bit familiar? Indeed, there is a sense of dislocation that is in line with today's India.

Except for Britain, Russia and France, Austria and Prussia were not affected in the early stage, because historically this cholera did not affect the German region much.