Mexico weekly ledger., 1879-02-13
T7f.c ESlHeEL Death.

The Black Death.
1t seems now to be generally I'M
derstood that the terrible disease that
is spreading over Russia Is the gen.
uine plague which Defoe and John
Wilson immortalized in prose and
verse. This dreadful dlsease-the
Black Death-has at various periods
of the worlds history, both in an
cient and modern times, ravaged the
world. In 1865 it prevailed in Lon
don to a degree that was simply hor-
rible. In June the deaths were 500;
in July, Apo; in August, 2O.046 !;
in September, 26,230; in October,
1873; in November, 3,449, and in
December the mortality was less than
1000. This would seem to indicate
that cold weather acts as a check on
the disease yet the plague is un-
known in tropical countries. In the
year 134S-when Edward Ill was
on the throne-the plague visited
London. 1t exhibited itself in in
hammatory boils and tumors of the
glands, accompanied with burning
thirst. Sometimes inflammation of
the lungs and expectoratiou of blood
or vomitings, with discolorations of
the skin and black spots, indicating
putrid decomposition. From this it
was called BLACK Death" Dogs,
cats and fowls were affected, and the
cattle died of murrain. In Florence,
10000 people died in Venice, 1OO,-
600; in Marsailles, in one month,
5000; in Siena, 10000; Paris, 50,-
600; at st. Denis, $4,000; in Avig-
non, 10000; in London, 100, 900.
At that time superstition ran rampant.
1t was charged that the Jews had
poisoned the wells. Twelve thousand
OF these unfortunates were massacred
at Mentz. 1t was supposed that the
disease commenced in the Kingdom
of Cathay, North of China, in 1888;
thence it spread to Constantinople,
where it appeared in 1917, and in
1913, at AvignOn, in the South of
France, in Northern Italy, in Spain
and England. Despair seized every
one, so frightful vas the mortality.
The wealthy decided their estates to
the Church, while the poor d!ed in
the fields. The plague is the oldest
of known diseases. 1t was we'll
known to the Greeks, Romans and
inhabitants of Palestine. In the
year l017 Il. G.. it carried off 10000
in Palestine, and 452 Il. G.. it swept
away half the population of Rome.
One hundred years later the daily
death rate in Rome was 10000. In
the year l26 i. G.. SOC 1000 died of
the plague in Numidia, and 200, 600
in Carthage. From 265 to $50 b.
G. it spread all over the known world.
In A. d. 1905 historians estimated
that it killed Onc-halfthe entire pOpu-
lation of the then inhabited world.
Medical authorities do not agree con-
corning the origin of the plague.
Some declare that it is propagated
exclusively by a peculiar c%outagion ;
others admitting its contagious ma
ture contend that it may be spOnta-
neously c~ngcndered by endemic or
epidemic forces. Others reject the
contagious view, and assert that ii
originates exclusively in local causes
or epidemic influences.
The disease now prevailing in Rus
sia is attended with alarming fatality.
Nearly all that are attacked die-oli-
cial reports say n%inety-iivc per cent.
In the village Of Nictlianka, out OF 9
population of LOO, not a soul is left.
-Four hundred dead bodies were left
unburied in the streets. In PrischiIe,
out Of a population Of $50, 500 died
in two weeks. The disease advances
through the country with great "a
pidity, appearing simultaneously at
different points ten miles from each
other. In four days it advanced
thirty versts toward Errotaicrsl;. The
Russian physicians describe the dis
ease 40 commencing with swcllings in
the groin the size of hens eggs, gen
eral indisposition and violent head
aches which develop in a few hours.
Internal pains and violent vomitings
speedily cnsuc, and black spots APP
pear on the body, notably on the
breast, forearm and top OF the back.
In two hours after the black spots
appear, death invariably follows.
Such is the dreadful calamity now
speeding through Russia in spite OF
military cordons. Our sanitary au-
thoritics at Washington should take
preventive measures against its cross
ing the Atlantic.