St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1867-07-12
The BLACK Death.

The BIacL D.ath.
For more Than fourteen months =
mysterious disease ha> been display iiir =
r.'pld and fatal ACTIVITY ia Ireland. The
iir~i ca~e occurred H. far hack a. the 18Th
ci March, l>16- An apprentice 10 a
surgeon IN Duhlin had fcli urwrn. and
remained indoors during the dav. iahina
ll> meals however, - usual lie lEaaa
lad might. and COMPLAINED of headache
IA the nuInlnc; and hi- master then TT
marked some hlacA >ro;> upon li> clest.
Dr. Stoke, sln eminent Dui,lin plr,ici-
an ws- immediately ~cnt for. and saw
The patient ii I Il. IN. H. found linn
pcricclly cullccied. and IN apparently
ordinary strength hul The left arm and
ieii hna@-l wcre covered ilicAlv with
llISe parl'l- patches Of The deepest hue.
both medical nrn recognized that they
were In presence OF a caSc which. II an
attack OF iyPlluS fever. WAS c,rrainlr
such - neither ot them had ever witness
,7i iriorc, Nlrn nr. Stokes returned.
tT-o hours laicr. Il great change had taken
place The iraiielit WAS as Self-,o>~,-scl
~ hclurc. hui The LETT arm and ll,eaSr
were h"~ completely hlsck. Al lals-
l':l>i one lie yousg man wa> sitting up
IA bul, disclosing hl, csl>,. with lIi, mss
yrs alli n hc complained ut -real tlIiI,.
ihc ialler wsa, from the beds l.. 10 The
wlnGosS 10 miN = cooling dran.h1. bui
ulnaa turning roand almost INSTANTLY he
,a@ 1" hi> horror. tlIai collapse had II
ln, and iry = 4. N within li1le more
iil:in t1T,nty-,our hours Of lie ifr-t sicn
q indi>plsil'on, within ,ieln or nine
hollr~ u lhe appearance ot .uv fornid-
'ie.r SYMPTOMS and within half an hour
oi i'ollle ia Possession oi all hi> faculties
and ot a considerable amount Of muscular
strength the l,aiierf u-l> dead. 4 few
oihrr CASES occurred during fhe SIuina
AMI carly summer. nj presenting The
oa'nc general features. AMI all fatal hun.
~l'h the srapraranccoi cholera IN Angus;
1hls strange dis,=l>c vanished. With The
alleoach oi spring, however, IL rca,-
pyarca
In the beginning oi' April The frst pro
Nlrclal case were noticed. They wrrs
Connected with the troops who had been
cilgaged IN pursuit OF the insurgents
through the Galtae mountain. Two or
three soldiers, a married woman. and ,a
0oHale u children w,re attacked the
woman and one ot the soldier, recover
el. The other, died The fatal cases
were remarkable for srcat su1ieriur.
which no >hill seemed capable of reflex
lne- Indeed the children screamed Them
selves to death ma the violence OF The nam
wllSch no efforts could mitigate. In all
lhroe csle,'- thcrs wrrc indications OF CON
siderable inflammation Of ih, lpIsin and
Sl'llial column. 4 special iu,crc-t al
iarhe- 10 ihrSe military CASES. ~ throw
ins some h-llt upon the question oi con-
laslou>lcs>- The mother OF tLe cliildrlu
washed for some OF the soldiers oi The
tiynia column, among whom W. lave
il>1 mentioned the attacks Of tlle disease
occurred and in tins WAY the disorder
may Il i conceived, have been camnu-
nicalol Al tins moment :, woman l.
in ihe Meath hospital In Dublin with
her yOun- child both suffering from TN,
nllla'ly; and Dr Siuk,.,. who llas them
personally IN cliarge, has declared hi-
conNieiion that this Is an unguesiiOlu.blr
case OF coniagiun.
IL appears, then, that a Stranrc and
terribly fatal disease exists in Ireland.
and II YET chiefly 10 Dublin. The zen
cIil features OF the preliminary >iase are
bilious vomiting and sometimes pursina.
and usual hy headache of unparalleled
intensity, with incoherency. Then comes
the purple eruption, accompanied. in
mo~l Gases, 10y grcat debility. and follow
cl 10y collapse and death. The duration
OF the illness Is Of 4 three-fold variety.
In iLe first, where the period Is reckon
~d by hours, one case WAS fatal In four
hours from the occurrence ot the fir>t
symptoms; but the average i eighteen
hours The second variety includes from
three TO six days, from the first ,indica-
lions OF indisposition 10 the fatal Issue.
The ihird variety, In which alone any
recoreries have taken place, embraces
period extending 10 many days, and even
weeks 1t j. hardly necessary to say
that IN Dublin great interest Is felt upon
The subject among The members OF The
medical profession, and considerable
anxiety las been awakened among the
general puhlic.-Londsa Clroa,o1L