Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-02-14
THE BLACK PLAGUE.
History of its Ravages in the Past end at
Present.


plague in Russia has caused pam
ic, not only among the Eastern
countries, but in Western Europe.
The disease made its appearance
at the beginning of December,
when the Cossacks returned from
the war to the village OF Vellanka,
in the district of Enataievsk. The
doctors thought it was typhus.
Precautionary measures were de-
layed, as with the frost the num-
ber of deaths decreased. With the
return of warmer weather, how
ever, the mortality was terrible.
The people died off like flies, the
dead lying unburied in the streets.
Since then the accounts have from
day to day become more alarming
In certain districts the mortality
at the present time is ten per cen.
tum of the population.
The last appearance of the p 'ague
in Europe was in 1874 Before
then it invaded England in 1865,
Marseilles in 1920, Moscow in I'LL
and 177l, some points in the Nea-
| politan domains in 1915 and 1916,
and Persia in 1882. A report made
to the French Royal Academy in
1916 on the plague and the quaran-
tine says: "The countries where
the plague originates are, in the
first place, Egypt; afterward, Syria
and two Turkeys. 1t Is proha bic,
however, that the disease may be
developed, without importation, in
the regencies of Tripnli and Tunis,
and in the Empire of Morocco. In
these countries, the conditions
which favor its development are
the habitation of alIuviaI or
marshy grounds; a hot, moist at
mospherc; low, Dadly-aired and
crowded houses; the accumulation
of a great deal of animal and vege-
table matter in "a state of putrefac-
ton; q scanty and unwholesome
diet, and great mora, and physical
degradation.
Sporadic plague does not seem to
be transmissible. Epidemic plague
is transmissible, both in the local
tiles where the plague is raging
and elsewhere. 1t is transmitted
by means of mlasmata, given out
by the bodies Of the sick, These
miasmata, in close and ill-venti-
lated places, may create centers of
pestilentiai infection. Such NAL
ady as that now prevalent at AS
trachan broke out In Bagdad in
1876, carrying off a large portion of
the population. Quarantine was,
however, established there by the
Russian authorities. There is one
feature common to the outbreak
and the present plague at Astra-
chan, which distinguishes them
from previous visitations. They
could hardly have originated in
Africa. In former days the plague
was considered an African fever,
having its origin in Ethiopia.
Hence, Thucydides tells US, came
the plague of Athens, and, accord
ing to Procopik, the great plague
of Constantinople might be traced
from the same quarter.
Were there any epidemic, how
ever, of the kind now raging in
Mesopotamia or Persia, it could OBJ
viously be transmitted most easily
to Astrachan by way of the Cas-
plan Sea. The silk of Ghilan or
the cotton of Bagdad would be
sure to carry it over. Indeed, there
is no such sure vehicle Of contagion
as raw cotton; and raw cotton and
raw silk are among the chief pro-
ducts which arrive at Astrachan.
The true plague is characterized by
an eruption of carbuncles. Spots
like flea bites first make their ap-
pearance. These become filled
with dark-colored fluid. In the
commencement of severe epidem-
les, cases have occurred in which
patients have died within twenty
four hours. la most instances,
however, the disease continues
from one to two weeks.
The intelligence that the disease,
on the present occasion, first APP
peared among returning Cossacks,
may be true; but still, if it is in
tended to imply that these CossackS
brought it with them from camp
into civil life, it is probably ques-
tion open to discussion. In 1877
the plague visited Resht, q Persian
town at the southwest angle of the
Caspian. Astrachan is at the
northwest angle; and it is more
likely that the contagion has been
conveyed a comparatively short
distance from q place where it is
known to have existed at all.
1t is presumed that Resht offers to
the poison every possible facility
for preservation and for increase,
for when the town was visited by
the pestilence in 1882, half of the
original population of 10000 per-
sons fell victims in the course of a
few weeks. A French writer says:
"Resht for while became a city
of the dead. No living creature
was to be seen in it, and those who
had been abandoned by their
friends when stricken by the
disease died of sheer want. When
the people returned to their homes
the disease had spent itself and the
population was reduced to 5000 in.
| habitants.n
Prior to the Resh epidemic, the
last places known to have suffered
were two Persian villages near the
southeast corner of the Caspian.
Taking the whole facts of the case
so far as they have been made
known to us, it seems probable
that the outbreak in Astrachan is a
link in chain of continued pro-
gress from east to west. and there
may be reason to fear that the
malady, in the course of its progress
has gradually assumed an increas-
Il