The Red Cloud chief., 1879-03-20

DI. O~u -
Genersl OF Dc listed State Marine
Hospital Service, says in an official re
port To he Senate Committee on Epi-
demic Diseases:
am constrained TO invite your sften-
ton to what ] conceive - b . meter
of sufficient importance TO claim b At
tention of the Committees OF Congress
on Epidemic Diseases. From the in
perfect accounts which come this
oounsxy q ~ p~Cssaiing epidemic N
the Province of Astrakhan, there seems
70 be little room for doubt that the dis
ease which has broken out there with
such deadly effect is the plague, q sin
gularly fatal infectious disease, accom-
panied BY swelling and sometimes gan
grenOus condition Of the glands of the
body, and in many respects resembling
malignant typhus fever.
The account of the outbreak, whichis
generally credited in Europe and in this
country, is to the effect that 8 Russian
soldier returning from the var brought
a shawl with him and gave it to q girl.
who sickened and died two days after
from this supposed infection. The dis
ease spread with great fatality. About
three weeks elapsed before the Russian
Government was officially notified OF the
facts, and another week passed before
any measures were adopted to check It's
spread. The Russian Government, As
well as the people, are now thoroughly
aroused. Sanitary lines and quaran-
tines have been established, and cOrdons
of soldiers have been placed around the
infected villages. Europe has become
alarmed, and commerce with Russia has
been interdicted except under strict
quarantine rules, but in spite Of the ex-
penditure of money and the strong mil
itary arm of the Government the meas
ures of prevention appear to have been
too long delayed, and the plague is
rapidly spreading.
Should the plague appear in the
countries Of Europe with which the
United States has commercial inter
course, there would be great danger Of
the disease reaching u shores. In
fact, the danger exists at prSsent
through ships from the Caspian and
Black Seas. The latest arrival at New
York from the Black Sea was in Decem-
Der last. IT,
Considerable danger may be appre-
hended from the introduction Of infect
ed clothing into this country. brought
by Russian emigrxnts. especially the
MennOnites from Southern Russia, large
numbers of whom ship at Liverpool.
The board of yellow-fever experts
were unanimous in opinion that United
States medical officers of health should
be stationed at Liverpool and at some
point in the Mediterranean, and that
they should be subject tn orders to visit
places of outbreak of infectious cpl
demic disease, 50 that definite, reliable,
and prompt information may be given
to the health authorities Of q seaports.
Twelve thousand dollars per year would
maintain two such medical officers
abroad and pay their travelling expenses,
and in my opinion it would be an in
vestment worthy Of a great commercial
nation. Ts.
The people of this generation have
considered the plague q scourge belong
ing only to the past, and a few words in
reference to its former ravages may be
Of interest. The great epidemics Of this
disease have followed IS a sequence to
wars in ~unsanitary countries or to great
religious p~ilgrimages. The plague pre-
vailed in earliest historic times. The
first epidemic of which We have any
definite record occurred nearly 5000
years ago, in the time of David. Next
Is the great plague which commenced
767 years before Christ, which is said TO
have spread over the whole world. The
epidemic which commenced in the time
Of Justinian, SAL or 542 years before
Christ, is said to have "almOst con-
sumed mankind" It commenced in
Egypt and spread to all parts of the
then known world, making destruc-
ton its only business, and sparing
neither island, cave, nor top of noun
tain where mankind inhabited" When
the pestilence was at its height in Con-
stantinople as many as 10000 persisted
in q day, so that the dead lay without
burying. Procopius compares the num-
Der who persisted to the sands of the
sea. Another general epidemic of the
plague prevailed in the year 40 B. c.,
and vas especially severe in Athens.
During the Christian era the plague has
frequently visited Europe with great ia
tally, unequaled by any other epidemic
disease. 1t is estimated that there we're
As epidemics of the plague during the
seventeenth century. Fourteen of these
are referred to Holland and IL to Eng
land. The one which occurred in Lon
don in the year 1865 was as terrible as
the great fire of 1866, which put Q stop
to its ravages. The lowest estimate of
deaths in London alone in 1865 is given
IS 68,5OO. estate
In the present century the plague has
occurred chiefly in the countries Of the
Lower Danube and the Black Sea. The
last epidemic in Western Esr0pe 90
CURED at Marseilles and vicinity in 1920
and 1871, causing the death Of 100000
people. The Same year it prevailed in
the Island Of Majorca. Europe has
been free from the plague since 1841,
and it has not occurred in Asiatic Tur-
key since 184S, nor in Egypt since 1874.
In 1858 and 1859 the plague prevailed
among the Arabs in the vicinity of Ber-
razi, . seaport of North Africa. In 1857
an epidemic occurred in Mesopotamia
and one in Persian Kurdistan in 1871.
These are but D isW instances in the
long catalogue of the swift destroyer Of
human life with which we may have to
deal. Viewed from our present stand
point, it may Be said thet while on the
one hand the improved conditions Of liv.
ing which prevail among the Christian
nations makes them better able to con-
troll the plague, on the other hand the
increased facilities for commerce and
travel which steam has brought about
increases the danger Of its spread.
ACCORDING to the latast sfa&istios OF
the Holy Synod there were founded in
Russia last year 1S7 new sects, Of which
by al odds The most remarkable - that