© Copyright 2001 by Tony Burton. All rights reserved.
- Author of "Western Mexico A Traveller's Treasury."
Did You Know That...
. . . that 3000 people died during a cholera epidemic in Guadalajara in 1833? When Mexico braced herself for the imminent arrival of cholera from South America fifteen years ago, many people believed that the disease had never previously been known here. During the nineteenth century, however, there were several outbreaks, including the epidemic of 1833 in which more than 3,000 people died in the city of Guadalajara alone.
By January of that year, authorities were worried. At a meeting of public health officials, the need for public areas to be regularly cleaned was stressed. This meeting called for the construction of six carts, to be used each night for removing the excrement left on street corners, since not all the houses had “accesorios.” This proposal reveals the unsanitary conditions prevailing in Guadalajara at that time. The epidemic struck in July, and peaked in August, when more than 200 people died of the disease each day. Sporadic cases dragged on into early 1834.
The 1850 Epidemic
¡Aguas!...
At an even earlier time, sewage went uncollected. “Aguas!” was the shout used to warn passers-by in the street below that the contents of “night buckets” were about to be emptied onto their heads...
“Aguas!” is still commonly used in Mexico for “Danger!” in many different contexts.
In 1849 the city feared a second epidemic. The authorities published a list of precautions that they considered essential, proposals which showed a marked French influence on the city fathers’ thinking. In May, 1849, the state government published a list of the “curative methods for Asiatic cholera.”
The only major hospital in the city was the Hospital Belén. Its rival, the San Juan de Díos hospital, was “small and poorly constructed, insufficiently clean, and careless in waste disposal.”
A second problem was the river San Juan De Díos which was little more than an open sewer running through the center of the city. This river is now entirely enclosed and runs directly beneath the major avenue of “Calzada Independencia.”
How It Was Done In Those Days
Only two methods of sewage disposal were in use in 1850. Some houses would take their sewage to the nearest street corner, where it was left for collection by the nightly cart for subsequent removal from the city. Other (higher class) houses would deposit it in what might be best be termed “non-septic” tanks, open holes in the ground which allowed the wastes to separate, with the liquids permeating the subsoil and the solids accumulating. Not exactly the ideal situation for a high standard of public health!
The town council called for the construction of more of these latrines and for the activities of the night carts to be reduced.
The council also advocated increasing the air circulation in the city and simultaneously fumigating it. Authorities in Cuba had tried something similar in 1840, when they had spread resin, and fired batteries of cannons simultaneously, all over Havana! It was believed that...
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© Copyright 2001 by Tony Burton. All rights reserved.
Queries: 433, Baden Powell St., Box 4, Ladysmith, B.C. V9G 1A1, Canada
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