The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-11-28
The Horse Plague.
SOME EXPLANATION OF THE ATMOS
{. PHkklC CONDITIONS THAT PRO
DUCE 1T.

y -
PHEklC CONDITIONS THAT PRO
DUCE 1T.
From the New York Herald,
The great horse epidemic, which is
ravaging the eastern half of the COM
tinenl, and has just made its appear
ance in England, seems to be intimate
ly connected with certain well-marked
meteorologic phenomena. 1t is of the
utmost importance to the proper man
agement of the disease, as well as to
the discovery of its physical relations
and its anticipation in future years, to
ascertain its casual links,
In the public equine calamity 1t has
escaped popular observation, and even
the press, that this epidemic was not
unforeseen by scientific men, and was
distinctly foreshadowed, in accord
ance with physical or cosmical law,
some months ago.. Since the solar re-
searches of Secchi, De La Rue and
others have demonstrated thesclose
thermal and atmospheric. relation of
our globe with the recurrence of sun
spots in supra-annnal cyclas, it has
been possible to name the period OF
nearly twelve years as one which
bringsthe greatest aerial and electrical
arrangements to our planet. Last
year several of our scientists, count
ing 184S and 1860 as late hisoric peri
oes of maximum sun spots, predicted
for 1872 the present prevalence of the
numerous vegetable blights and the
present scourge of the animal king
dom. The striking simultaniety Of
the epihippic in this country. and the
cattle diseases now raging in the
countries of South America, on oppo-
site sides OF the Equator, would in
duce the belief that the cause is not
terrestrial, but planetary and cosmic-
al. This helps to unravel the mystery
and is step in the right directions. q
But it seems also clear that cosmic-
al agencies operate upon our planet
through its great atmospheric ma
chinery. Thus, according to the opin--
ion ofIheEnglis sh physicist, Kieth Johr-
son, the northeast wind is distinctly
catarrhal in its influence; the south
west wind is singularly material, and
the dry northwest wind, from the
higher continent, sweeping over the
Northwestern States and Territories,
lying west of Lake Superior, is the
vitalizing current which corrects the
evil effects of the others. This dis /
tinction is the now well accepted tenet
of the ablest expositors of medical
geography, and is highly practical
and suggestive. fi.lj5s
The northeast wind, which for some
time has descended over our country
from the Canadian borders, and the
western side rot the, North Atlantic
Ocean, is apparently charged with
cliniatal conditions, favorable to the
DEVELOPMENT of influenza, catarrh and
similar affections. 1t reaches us after
passing over Canada, but originally D
comes from the further ocean beyond
having doubtless traversed the great
Polar current and ice stream which
descends southwark through Bafiin's
Bay and Davis Straight, and on the
other side of Greenland, in the cham
mel between the frozen continent aud
Iceland. In both the latter countries
fevers and asthmetic diseases
OF the lungs are notoriously severe
and common, and it is said that lee
landers seldom outlive fifty years,
owing to the prevalence of such epi-
denies. .tr.rr. rssi.s,a egevqs.sr
1t is, perhaps, not too much to hope
that solar and meteorological investi-
CATIONS will enable the scientific world
to investigate more confidently the
irruption of these great adversaries of
man and beast, and enable US to chart
the limits and zones within which
they will move. Such result would be
of profound interest to the whole
world. f el1o