Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-08-15
From the Philadelphia Bulletin. ]

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From the Philadelphia Bulletin.l -.
The fell epidemic which has hitherto
baffled the skill of East and West, il
slowly but surely approaching oul
shores for the third time. 1t may lif
its gaunt form in our midst at any mo-
meDt. Alarms at its presence, cause
lessly we trust, have already been
sounded from neighboring city. Be
fore fears become embodied in facts, be.
fore physicians begin to be called, and
wards are policed and daily statistics
are furnished the newspapers, and men
we know are stricken down, and oui
own dwellings are threatened, it seems
not untimely to prepare ourselves to
face the specter, even though it will moi
down at our bidding.
The cholera is not without precedents.
Epidemics, more widespread and abnor-
NAL, desolated the earth during the
middle ages. Their advances were like
armies of invisible spirits descending
upon the earth invariably in Asia, aud
there commencing their work Of slaugh-
ter. These diseases traversed the wilds
of Tartary, smOte down millions in the
populous cities of China and India, aud
enveloped the whole of Europe. Be.
tween the years 1888 and l347 the total
number ofvietims that fell in the two con-
tinents before the sweep Of the black
death is estimated to have beenl3, 900, 900.
This earliest known of the middle age
epidemics followed upon widespread
famines and frightful terrestrial convul-
sion. The bodies of men were weakened
by starvatation and their minds dispirit-
ed by unnatural portents. Whole ma
tions crouched for years under the
shadow Of a nameless terror. IL was the
black death. Coming from the East it
first showed itself in Cyprus, Marseilles
and other ports Of the Mediterranean.
In the outset its progress was slow, but
invited by filth in the dwellings and
streets of cities most remote from each
other, aggravated as this want Of clean
illness was by the walls which herded the
inhabitants together like cattle, it made
its speed constantly greater until it
seemed, upon the slightest encourage
ment, TO leap over hundreds of leagues
in q single night. 1t reach London from
Ayieuon in period of nine days, and
out Of the formers then comparatively
small population slew 100000. One
fourth the entire population of Europe
are supposed to have perished in this
visitation.
That the plague which Immediately
preceded the great fire OF London IN
1866 was invited thither by the unolean-
ness Of the city, no one who consulted
De Foes graphic narrative can doubt.
Narrow streets into which pure air
never entered, filthy areas that were
never cIeansed except by the rains from
heaven, garbage covered courts and car
rioa scented alleys, in which ,dWelt halt
starved man, women and children, made
mn morn than two-thrds the space oe-
cupied by old London. The great hre
was beyond doubt a blessing. Among
other epidemics of the middle ages, the
most singular but at the same time ths
NEST normal so far as regarded sanitary
rules, was the sweating sickness. u
visited England five times between 1885
and 1851. Though not so universal as
the black death, it was quite as fatal.
One strange fact in its connection was
that it confined its ravages almost en-
tirely to robust men. Old people, wo-
men and children generally escaped. IL
spread from walled towns 70 oyercrowded
cities, along roads that we're principal
over all ill-drained dwell
inRs from the peasants cot TO the peers
palace, and wrought terrible hsVoc. The
utter hopelessneEs Of cure when 0poa
attacked, no doubt had It's fatal eject;
but no steamship ever followed The direc-
ton laid down npon chart, nor locomo-