The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1872-03-14
THE PLAGUE.
A Presidential Bp8asmic in Persia Rc.
v1sitation Of an Ancient Sceurre.

! lConstantinopie Correspondence OF the Lon
don Times.
When the report of the outbreak Of
q pestilential epidemic in Persia, near
the Turkish frontiers, reached Con-
stantinople, notwithstanding the as
surances given by the Persian Govern
4 ment to the effect that the epidemic
was not the plague, the Ottoman SAM
tary Department, while recommending
the greatest vigilance to the sanitaM
officers at the frontiers, fastened to dis
patch DR.. Castaldi, the Ottoman SAM
tary delegate attached to the Turkish
Embassy at Teheran, to the spot, to in
quire into the nature Of the disease
LIT. Castaldi has now cent in his report
which is most carefully drawn up, and
contains most valuable imagination
In his opinion, there cannot be any
doubt on the character of the disease
which has made its appearance in the
Persian kurdistan. The malady is
characterized by strong fever, accom-
panied with typhus symptoms, with
the appearance of bubOs under the
arms, In the groin, and in the neck, Of
carbuncles on variousparts ofthe body.
and of spots scattered over the whole
surface Of the skin; Il carries the suf.
ferer off quickly, attacking several
houses ia one place and several persons
in the same family, and transmits itself
from an Infected place to healthy one.
Such lGalady, says DIR. Castaldi, cam
not be anything but the Eastern plague
Of former times. According to the re-
port, il Is during the last winter that
the plague appeared in the district Of
Mukry, in the Aderbidjan. in two VIII
lagos situated at q short distance from
each other. and called Djoumouchan
and Arbanouz. These two small Villa
ges have been completely depopulated,
only seven or eight persons having
been spared by the scourge. Unable
to trace the existence of the plague be-
yond the district of Mukry, DIR. Castal-
di feels at loss to point out the causes
which have produced the epidemic, for
the district is not only the healthiest
in all Persia, but has also escaped from
the famine which has 80 cruelty visi-
ted and continues to visit the other
parts Of that Kingdom.
If an outbreak of the plague, says
DIR. Castaldi, was anywhere to be app
pretended, 1t would be surely in the
khorossan and in Ears, where the
famine made such frightfnl ravages.
where men could not be found to 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 themselver with. little
bread. DIR. CastAldi, therefore, i'm
'clines to think that the plague in the
Persian kurdistan should be attribut-
ed to the sxeessivs dryness and to the
cattle disease which the district OF
Mukry shared in common win ~slIe
rest of Persia. His opinion ON this
point, however, Is not admitted here
by the health authorities. They main
tain that the plague in Persia Is the
consequence Of the terrible famine
which prevailed in that country, and
must have been imported into the dis
trict of Mukry from other quarters in
the interior. They, moreover, UNDER
stand that DIR. Castaldli has been unable
leri56aee ibf eRlefRRe kqrtfhfg Ia pa tRff iii
Persia lie next to impossible, and the
Government itself is generally only
made acquainted with the epidemic
existing on is territory through the au-
thorities of the bordering countries.
1t was the Ottoman Sanitary Depart
that first intimated the existence of the
plague in the Knrdistan to the Persian
Government. The mortality caused by
the scourage, and ascertained by DIR.
Castaldi, is approximately calculated
IS follows: At Bana, So; at Kanani-
as, 4; in Karava, 81; in Djoumuchan,
62; in Arbanouz, 80; at Mech-tepe,
100; in Sandjak, 35; at Gultepe, IL:
in Dharab, 10; at Rahim, n, and in
Akdjevan, 13-total, 800. DIR. Cas-
cadti further declares that the epidemic
in question has exhibited the we'll
known characteristics of contagion.
He concludes by stating that since his
departure from kurdistan no further
news respecting the plague had arriv-
ed OF Teheran, except a communica-
ton to the Persian Government to the
effect that the plague had disappeared,
q communication to which he does not
seem u attach great faith.