Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-03-09
THE PLAGUE.
A Presidential Epidemic in PERSIA
RevisItatiOn of an Ancient ScOurge.

A Presidential Epidemic in Persia
RevfsItatiOn Of an Ancient ScOurge.
Correspondence Of the London Times.
CoNsTAETINcPLE, Jan. 31.-When the
report on the outbreak Of pestiential cpl
demic in Persia near the Turkish frontiers,
reached ConstantinOple, notwithstanding
the assurances given by the Persian Gov
eminent to the effect that the epidemic is
not the plague, the Ottoman Sanitary De-
partment, while recommending the greatest
vigilance to the sanitary officers of the from
tiers, FASTENED to dispatch DR.. Castaldi, the
Ottoman sanitary delegate attached to the
Turkish Embassy at Teheran, to the spot to
inquire into the nature Of the disease. DR..
Castaldi has now sent in his report, which
is most carefully drawn up, and contains
most valuable information. In his opinion
there can not be any doubt on the charac-
ter Of the disease which has made its appear
ance in the Persian Kurdistan. The NAL
ady is characterized by a strong fever, aC-
Companied with thyphus symptoms, with
the appearance Of bubos under the
arms, in the groin and in the neck, of
Carbuncles on various parts of the body, and
of spots scattered over the whole surface Of
the skin; it carries the sufferer of
quickly, attacking several houses in one
place and several persons in the same fam
ily, and transmits itself from an infected
place to a healthy one. Such a malady,
saws DR.. Castaldi, cannot be anything but
the Eastern plague of former times. Ac-
cording to the report it is during the last
winter that the plague appeared in the dis
trict of Mukry, IN the Aderbioian, in two
villages, situated at a short distance from
each other, and called Djoumouchan and
Arbanous. These two small villages have
been completely depopulated, only seven
or eight persons having been spared
by the scourge. Unable to trace the exist
ence of the plague beyond the district Of
Mukry, DR.. CaStaldi feels at a loss to point
out the causes which have produced the ep-
idemiC, for the district is not only the
A healthest in all Persia, but has alsC escaped
from the famine which has 80 cruelty Wis
tied and continues TO visit the other parts Of
that kingdom. If an outbreak Of the plague,
saws DR.. Castaldi, was anywhere to be ap-
pretended, it would be surely in the Kho-
rassan and in Ears, where the IA
mine made such frightful raw
ages, where men enough could not be found
10 inter the dead bodies left unburied
in the streets and in the bazaars, and where
parents sold their children for few francs,
to save them from starvation and provide
themselves with little bread. DR.. Castal-
di, therefore, inclines to think that the
plague in the Persian Kurdistan should be
attributed to the excessive dryness and to
the cattle disease which the district of Muk-
" shared in common with the rest Of Per
STA. His opinion on this point, however, is
not admitted here by the health authorities.
They maintain that the plague in Persia
is the consequence Of the terrible famine
which prevailed in that country, and must
have been imported into the district of
Mukry from other quarters in the interior
They, moreover, understand that Dr.
Castaldi has been unable 10 trace the cpl
demic further in the interior; for getting at
the truth in Persia is next TO impossible,
and the Government itself is generally
only made acquainted with the epidemic
existing on its territory through the
authorities Of the bordering countries.
II was tie Ottoman Sanitary De-
partment that first intimated the existence
of the plague in the Kurdistan TO the Per
sian Government. The mortality caused
by the scourge, and ascertsined by DI. Cas-
taldi, is approximately calculated as follow:
At Bana, IS; at Kaninias, 4; in Karava, p;
in Dioumouchan, 81; in Arbanouz, 80; at
Utch-tepe, 100; in Sandiak, 35; at Guitepe,
y; in Charab, Is; at Rahim- Khan,
81; and in AkCievaU, Is. Total,
800. DR.. Castaldi further declares that
the epidemic in question has exhib-
tied the well-knO Tn characteristics Of con-
tagion. He concludes by stating that since
bis departure from the Kurdistan no further
news respecting the plague had arrived at
Teheran, except communication TO the
Persian government to the effect that the
plague had disappeared, communication
to which be does not seem to attach great
faith.