Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-03-01
The Death.InfuX,

terrible death-infux is at this mo-
ment devastating some of the fairest
portions of Eastern Europe. To
speak in the language of late re-
ports, thousands upon thousand"
are daily falling victims to this fell
disease. 1t is no respecter of per-
sons, and the physicians themselves,
who have braved it's terrors for the
sake of living, breathing humanity,
are, in common with their helpless
patients, falling in ranks before the
frightfully mysterious power of the
epidemic. This is really no new
disease; our histories and cyclope-
dias contain extended accounts of it's
ravages in various ages of the world.
The significant term " black death"
has been aptly applied to it as indi-
eating the appearance of the victims
Immediately before and after death !;
:ho body assuming the color of
bruised flesh, caused, it is supposed,
by the total change in the constitu-
ton of the blood. IL has, for ages,
lurked in the Businesses of Egypt,
Syria, Greece, Turkey, Eastern and
Southern European r ussia, Scandi-
navia and many islands of the sea.
Whole towns and villages have been
swept out of existence along its
march; populous cities have disap-
peared, and it is thought, in ONE
instances, that colonies have been
blotted out of the worlds knowledge
by it.
According to Islandic chronicles,
Greenland was first discovered be-
tween the seventh and eighth CEN
turtles, and colonized by adventurers
from Iceland, to such an extent,
that, up to the beginning of the
fourteenth century, there were one
hundred and ninety towns and vii
lagos upon the island. 4 vessel
sailed from Denmark to Greenland
in 149S, after which time nothing
wasskpown of the country or its col
ony until it's second discovery in
1876, by Martin Frobisher, an Eng
lish explorer. Now, since it is we'll
known that the black death devas-
tated all the northern part of Eu-
rope between the years 1902 and
1404, it has been argued by some
historians that this pestilence made
its way from Scandinavia to Green
land, entirely depopulated the coun-
try and thus caused it to sink into
q state of oblivion until its last dis
covery about three hundred years
ago. We refer our readers to the
medical dictionaries for detailed &C
counts of the symptoms and treat
ment of the plague. 1t more espec-
tally becomes US at this time to take
all due preeaution, if, in any event,
the largely disseminated Monaghan
element on this coast should cause it
to be transported to our shores.
The history of the disease tends to
show that it avoids newly settled
countries and such regions as are
undergoing the transition state in
tervening between first discovery and
the accumulation of dense popula-
ton. For such reasons, it seems
that the United States have, so far,
been comparatively exempt from
Asiatic epidemics. But with the
rapid increase of our population,
with no small admixture of the orr
entail element, and the widely in
creasing accommodation be.
tween all nations, the chances for
the spread of such diseases are much
greater than they ever were before.
We should not forget that the hot
season is approaching, and even
now is the time to put on the armor
OF prevention. A constant stream
oftravelis maintained between West
ern and Eastern Asia. Direct COM
munication between the latter re-
gions and this coast is almost of
daily occurrence. Hence the wis
dom of being on the alert. During
the Winter just passing, a fatal dis
ease much resembling the Russian
plague broke out in the seaports
along the eastern coast of South
America, a fact strongly indicating
such possibility on this coast. The
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