The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-02-07
Tho Black Death.
A TERRIBLE PLAGUE THAT HAS DEsTRorRD
$4,000, 600 PEOPLE.

The black death, which has again appear
ed IN some parts of Russia, has proved very
destructive and causes the greatest alarm
This il the same disease which, in the four
teensh century, desolated the globe, and it
gets its name from the black spots, symp
tomato of 3 putrid decomposition, that
shows themselves in one Of It's stages on the
skin Of the sufferer 1t is thought 20 have
had its origin in China in 1888, some fifteen
wears before its outbreak in Europe, and it
ragged for 25 years, while droughts, famines,
floods. EARTHQUAKES that swallowed towns
and mountains, aud swsrms of locusts
spread devastation everywhere. During
the same period Europe had as many alb
normal conditions as the East. The order
Of nature appeared to be reversed. The
seasons we're at various times inverted !;
thunder storms were frequent in mid win
ter, and volcanoes, long considered extinct,
burst forth sfresh. The theory is that the
extraordinary activity Of the earth, accom-
panied by decomposition Of vast organic
masses-myriads of locusts, brutes and
bodies of human beings-produced some
change in the atmosphere iuimical to life
Some writers say that the impure air was
actually visible as it approached with its
burden of death. The plague owed its ex-
tension almost wholly to infection and con-
tagion. Three years passed frcm the date
of its appearance in Constantinople before
it orept by huge circle to the Russian
territories. Statistics were not obtainable
then, but i. ia estimated that in China
alone 18, 600, 600 people died, and in the re-
malnder Of the East "a, 600, 900, while in
Europe 25, 900, 600 souls perished, making
a grand and terrible total of 62, 900, 0O0.-
Although there is little danger of the spread
of the pest to western Europe-for many
generations it has been confined to the
East-it is not strange that the Russians
should be startled by the Iavages the black
death has already made. Persons attacked
with it are said to die like flies, aud the ig-
norant and superstitious peasantry are so
terrified By it that many are thought to
have perished of pure fright. Fortunately
disease are much better understood now
than in centuries gone by.
FURTHER ABOUT THE GREAT sCoCRGE.
A committee Of the Russian Ministers
have resolved as follows:
Thst the Minister of the Interior shall be EN-
: po~ere to burn wetiianka and other villaRe
/ where 1t Is necessary, the inhabitants - be re
moved elsewhere within the quarantine dis
( trict Troops to enforce the quarantine will
/ be placed at the disposal OF the civil admins
J tration. A delegate viii oe despatched to AS
/ trakhan and the neighborlnR governments will
/ power 20 adopt extraordinary measures, Ii
! will be accompanied by a medical commission
; to investigate the causes OF the epidemic.
Six more persons have been attacked
with the plague at Selitreno. The Ca
has ordered General Loris Melikoff to star
Immediately for Astrakhen, With full pow
ere. He is appointed Governor General o
the plague stricken districts, which ar
specially created into a province durin
the continuance of the epidemic.
All remedies have proved unayailing.-
The local Sanitary Commission OF Mosco'
have decided on the most stringent pre-
cautions, such as the closing of unhealth
basement dwellings, the erection of build
ings 10 accommodate 1000 people and {
furnaces for burning infected clothes, an
tho gratuitous distribution OF cooked pr
visions.