The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1879-03-14

iTs RISE AND PRoaREss--NEaLEcTn nT TIL
/ GOVERNMENT TIE CHIEF CAUSE or III
SPREAD.
The London British Medical Joarna
publishes the following:
Russian and German medical Journal
state that theeast of Europe II III a grea
state of alarm at the progress Of what thel
allege to be the plague, which y rapidly
making It's way upward toward the nortt
and east of Russia toward the Caspian
Sea, along the course OF tbs Volga. Ac
cording to an article, dated January 16fh,
published in the Vienna MsdiciniscAs NO
chenschritt, it has reached Nijii Noygorcd,
as far as regards the origin Of the disease,
it is now ascertained that it was imported
by two regiments Of Cossacks who had
/ late returned from the war III Turkey, and,
! in spite of strict orders to disinfect every
thing, probably hid a part Of t.eir booty,
which, without doubt, contained the germs
of the infection. When the disease first
showed itself it was rather neglected and
looked upon merely as fern of typhus
fever, and it was not until the mortality
began to assume alarming proportions that
the local authorities began to feel it their
duty to do something toward arresting its
further progress. Accordingly strict
quarantine was enforced. but the inhab
itants of Astrakhan, seized with panic,
had begun TO fly in different directions,
scattering on their way germs of the dis
ease, which advanced to the north over the
provinces of Samana and Saratof and
reached Zaritzyn. The last named place
especially ought to have been protected,
being very important trading town on the
Volga, connected by rall with almost the
whole of Russia, and through it with the
rest of Europe. Having once passed that
place, the plague went ON spreading until
it reached Nijii Novgorod, which is only a
few hours distant from Moscow, the centre
OF Russia.
1t is a curious fact that some of the
Russian papers, among others the Vrat-
sclsenbayga Vadomsti (Nedicdl NsUs) per-
sistently deny the existence of the disease,
and simply treat itas an outbreak Of ma.
lignant typhus, while the st. Petersburg
Wochenschrlft and other papers openly
speak of it as the plague. The number Of
December 5sth (January 9th) of the Vrat-
chenbuygG Tadonsossi contains kilograms
from the governors Of the infected prov
ines of Astrakhan and Saratoff, to the Min
istef of the Interior, which reports the
present state of affairs as most hopeful
The mortality has decreased, and there are
but few patients. A mosG energetic quar-
antine is enforced. The infected towns
and villages, which are divided into dis
triets. are not allowed to communicate
with each other. In some places it Isl
stated that only five to ten persons have.
died within q districts. The symptoms
are described as being q headache, accom-
panied BY fever and swelling Of the glands
The Vienna Msdicaischs Woc zspssritf. No.
8. draws a terrible picture OF the present
state of things h Russfa Whatever slis
disease may be, whether exanthamatic
typhoid fever or a fsbris recurreas, or really
the plague, it Is certain it never would
have assumed those terrible dimen-
sions if the government had not treated it
with unpardonable neglect. It is almost
too late to attempt to stop it, especially as
the Russian nation itself has vague ideas
regarding sanitary arrangements, and the
misery caused by tho last war and the fam
inc have undermined the forces of the pop
ulatIon, rendering it unfit to resist the in
fection. Another very important thing is
a want of experienced medical men in
Russia. Aboat one third of the Russian
doctors died either DUNG the war or from
typhoid fever which followed it, and a
large number of young students have been
summoned from hospitals and medical
schools to take their places. The Vienna
Medic Snssche WochenseArift insists on the
Importance, in the interest of the whole of
Europe, of providing Russia with doctors,
and help her to keep down and restrain
her powerful enemy. Both DR.. Zolekauer
and Professor Botkin have decided the
diseass to be really the plague in its worst
form. They have drawn this conclusion
from the extraordinary mortality, 80 per
cent, the rapid spreading Of the disease,
and the very few cases Of recovery, If any,
which have come under their notice. The
ST. Petersburg Msdieinisehe WocAsBschria
of December 36th (January 1lth) merely
gives short notice on the disease, stating
that, although the Government persists in
calling it epidemic, it can no longer be
doubted, from the tenor of its commnnica-
tion with official papers, that It is the
plague.