Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1865-05-05
gd]aiIg. empire. NJ III
The Russia Epidemic.

civilized world, for it was Russia which in.
troduced into Europe and thus Indirectly into
America the Asistio Cholera, the most de-
slruclive of the epidemics of modern times.
We can, therefore, not be surprised at the
profound sensation which the reproduction of
q few brief teleHrhms from Berlin in tens OF
thousands OF newspapers has produced 1.-THE
plague continues in st. Petersburg. Tho TO-.
tai number OF cases is 10000 aud tha. of
deaths 1000. Forty physicians have died,
The Russian Government has ceased to pub.
lish reports of the nnmLer of cases" Such
aud similar intelligence was sufficiently alar +.
ming to starsie The popular mind andio induce
every Government to think of sending medi.
cal commissioners TO St. Petersburg 10 exam.
inc the subject and to report on it. y i'| q,
There was, Of conrse, a general anxiety to
learn the opinions Of eminent physeiana ON
the snbject Their reports fortunately agree
in discountenancing the sensational Berlin
kilograms. In another column of our paper we
refer TO the opinion of Russian physician in
high position, who emphatioally denies that
thore has been any case Of the "plague He
designates the epidemic as n kind of typhus,
from which the poorer class suffered some.
what severely; bat the layer- had nothing Of
an extraordinary character about it. The in /.
crease in mortality can be suIiiGienty explain.
ed from the fact that diseases are more ire-
quent at this season of the year than at any
other, especially among the humber classes
With this Testimony that OF English,
French and other physicians fully agree.
DR.. Murchison, physician to the London,
Fever Hospital, writeBto tho London Times:
"lf the details furnished by foreign ply.
sioians are TO be relied on, il 10 not new
pest which has invaded the world, nor has
the disease my relation whntsver TO Asiatic
cholera The maladY is evidently relapsing
fever, which, under different designations,
has been well known,in Britain apd Ireland
for nearly two centuries, which constituted
a great part Of the Irish epidemic of 1857,
and which about the same time was very
prevalent in Upper Silesis and m other
parts of Germany. The Russian disease
corresponds with relapsng fever in every
particular save one-viz,, its great fatality
but this difference is apparent rather than
real and ID iseurbhtable 10 All admxture Of
ordinary typhds. The mortality from re-.
lapsing fever has rarely exceeded three per
cent but almost all epidemics of relapsiBg
fever have co-existed with epideniics of
typhus, Of which the average mortality is near.
ly twenty peis cent Hence the aggregate
mortality OF an epidemic of the two diseases
varies with the proportion Of typhus One
peculiarly Of relApsing fever is that it pre- I
walls in great epidemics, aud then entirely
disappe ara for years. In 1851, more cases o
relapsiLg f. yer were admitted iuto the Lon.
don Fever Hospital than, any other fever,
but for upward of ten years not one case has
been observed. The intervals between some
ofthe epidemics have been go long that time
has been afforded for new generation of
medical men to spring up having DO expert
ence of the disease and who on the occur
renee OF "a fresh outbreak have imagined
that they we're encountering new malady.
So it was in Scotland in I743, and SO it ia
now in the case Of the Russian epidemic The
causes assigned for the Russian epidemic are
the crowding into St. Petersburg of $4,000
laborers in search Of work, but more partic.
ularly the unusual destituton among the
poor, and their recourse to unwholesome
food, such as bread containing large duan.
tity efhorned rye, The epidemic, we are
told, is exclusively confined to the poo. er
classes. In this respect the relapsing fever
OF Russia is not singular. In this country
the disease has always been confined to the
poorer class"
The Avenr National, Of Paris, gives us
report ofthe opinions The French Acade-
my Of Medicine.
EVERY year." il says, 'the return of
spring brineH With il 9 typhna epidemic in
European Russia, and especially Siberia.
The typhus isinerely the result Of this crowd
ing of living beings-cattle and psople--dur-
ing the Snow season. This year iha excessive
severity Of the winter, and its long duration,
have had the natural consequence Of causing
more extended, and perhaps more deadly, cpl.
demic than usual; such appears TO be the sole
origin Of all those sinistet rufnors repeated
by the public press On Wednesday, at the
Academy OF Medicine, N. Velpeau, naturally
excited by the public emotion, questioned the
Bureau "a TO what it had learned. From the
explanations given by several members of the
Academy, IL appears that all the rumors we're
without foundation fA g xrtgg.T
We might quote the oFihions Of many 9th.
or European physicians, bui the above will suf
6ce, So far as we have been able TO learn
from the, reports ia Ahaif political papers,
there prevails among the medical authorities
the greatest unanimity On tho subject. No
case Of plague has YET Been established. Il !
ID recurrent or relapsing fever, with an nd.
mixture Of ordinary typhus II has prevailed
in ST. Petersburg since September, and the
increase Of mortality over the same period Of
former years is by no means excessive. The
same fever has been we'll known In ireland
and Silesia In both countries, as in Russia,
il arose from the poor quality and FROM want
Of food among tho poor, in ST Petersburg
the same cause has produced the same result |
There is thus far, therefore, not the least rea.
son for anticipating something worse, as, &C
oording to all accounts, the epidemic is on