The gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1798-1799, 1798-10-15


ever fpresd from Ncw-A ork in r7oz 10 Maine
n 1896, and has inifhed its courie, leaving the
country in ufual health. The dreadful PLAGUE
that now fcourges our cities IS probably the ef
fea Of the great and all fubduing heat of the
iaR two months, and il is more than probable
that the fucceeding winter and flmmer may be
temperate and healthy. Such winter and
fummer as the lait are uncommon.
6. TO thofe who ak, why this peitilence ne.
yer appeared in former times, anfwer, IL did.
In certain periods, when great plaques have "a
ged in the Eat, the yellow fever his prevailed
in America, from the GrA fetrlement of the
country by the Englilh. Nay more il efFe9.d
and waited the Indian tribes before the fettle-
menr of New England by the Englih. At leaf
10000 Indians perihei by the yellow fever
in the year 1913 Of this fact have authentic
tetimony. L is therefore The natural plague Of
our CLIMATE.
InRead Of being sew diIeafe, or imported
from the Wet Indies, it appeared on this con
inent before the iflanos were iettled by the En-
gliih, and as frequently before any trade was
opened between this continent and the Hands,
a. il has iince. Only thirteen years after Maj
fachufetts was ietted, peffilental autumnal fe-
yer carried eff one fifth OF the Plymouth plan.
ters. This was in 1893. In I64s limiar fe-
yer ragged among the Ipdians at Matthias Vine
yard. In t647, a fmilar fever prevailed in
Connecticut. In 1854 andI65z fmilar dileafes
lwePt away many people. In 1868 a peiilen-
Tia diff afe prevailed 10 Newyork. InI6oo, the
yellow fever was as malignant in Philadelphia,
As It IS tbs fsafon this was but feventeen years
after he place was fettled, andwhen il contained
few people in the fame fummer. the difeaie
was 60 fatal in ChdrleIton, that mott Of the I'm
cipal people died, and the iurvivors almoR a.
bandoned the place.
In 1902 the yellow fever ragged in New. York,
and an e'uptive fever was nearly as fatal il
Bottom, in 1898. The yellow fever ragged in
CharleHon in 1913 and ia 1872 and again in
1889. In I74I the fame difedfe ragged in Phi
ladelPhia and in Virginia. In I74s, in New
York-in I74S, again at Charleaon. In I746
in Albany. In TAT, again in PHILADELPHIA
and alio in I76z. The fame difeafe fwept away
almoa all the Indians on Nantucket and Mar.
tha's Vineyardin 1863. The fame difeafs in its
milder foIm appeared in Philadelrhia in 1878.
Thefe facts may fatisfy inquiries on this head.
From authentic hftories Of plague for two thou
iand two hundred years, can allure my fellow
citizens that i is rare for cities between the lat
tude OF 90 and As to efcape malignant pei
tiiential diieaies for 80 years, ar any one time.
Generally, orce in twelve or fifteen years, f.
rIes OF epidemics ipread over the whole world.
In healthy petitions, this peaiIential Gate Of air
is limited in malignity to meafsls, and fcahet-
na--n other petitions, ii extends to final pox
and petechiel fever in large cities and lefs
healthy fituations, it often runs into the plague
This has been the fad uniformly from the
days Of HpPocrates.
This Peitlential fate of air is evinced by the
catarrh, or influenza, which during the period
OF contagion, appears in whole hemfphere, at
once and fometlmes over the whole Globe, fiez-
ing people on this continent, ia the WeR In
dies and on the ocean at the fame time. This
epidemic is ufuslly followed By great mortality
in the fncceeding years. To this faf, there is
hardly an exception in the three lat centuries,
before which period our accounts of that difeafe
are few and imperfect.
This general peitilence is of various degrees
Of violence. Sometimes it appears in A niilder
form and is confined 10 few places, as in New
York in 1895 and Cat Others, It becomes uni
verial and mows down mankind, with undif-
tinguihing ieverity, as in the prefent wear. In
two or three inAances, lince the chrifian era,
il has been 70 violent, as 10 attack men in feat
tering cottages on the healthiea hills and noun
tafns, without and communications with the
difealed. 1t has ragged fonietimes through the
winter. and two or three times has invaded
the inhabitants of Iceland and Greenland.
From theie few iatfs which land on unquec-
tionable authority, and which | am preparing
in detail for the prels, tie people of the Uni
fed States, will judge how far they are to ex.
pea rePetiiions Of this diarefhng nalady. For
their confolAticn, il appears thar our cities will
not be continsaly barraTsd with this auium
nal fever. Periods ofhellh vii occur--iome-
tunes Of longer and fometimes oflhorter dura
ration. Thca will occur A fries Of cpi5emies