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In the 19th century cholera became the world's
first truly global disease in a series of epidemics that proved to be a
watershed for the history of plumbing. Festering along the Ganges River in
India for centuries, the disease broke out in Calcutta in 1817 with grand -
scale results. The disease is stunning in its rapidity. The onset of extreme
diarrhea, sharp muscular cramps, vomiting and fever, and then death - all
can transpire within 12-48 hours.
"There was once a cholera epidemic in Russia. The government, in an effort
to stem the disease, sent doctors to the worst-affected areas. The peasants
of the province of S. discussed the situation and observed a very high
correlation between the number of doctors in a given area and the incidence
of cholera in that area (i.e. more doctors were observed in cholera areas
than elsewhere). Relying on this hard fact, they rose and murdered their
doctors." Franklin M. Fisher, The Identification Problem in Econometrics,
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966) pp. 2-3. |