The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-02-13
THE RAvAGEs OF THE PLAGUE.
What Mankind Suffered In the Fourteenth
CenturyTThe Planetary Movements of
1881.
German Correspondence

lucTmhn OOIrespOnQent.l
If we glance at the history of the
frightful devastations that have marked
the visits of the plague to the earth,
mankind has reason to tremble before
the dread specter whose appearance the
Russians evoked on their pleasure trip
to Constantinople, and which now
threatens all Europe. Plague epidemics
are recorded of almost every century.
In the first year Of the Peloponnesian
war the plague ragged with terrible vio-
lence in Athens, and Greece's greatest
statesman, Pericles, was one of its
victims.
But not until the fourteenth century
did it become scourge to the entire
world, travelling, as it did then, from
the eastern boundaries of Asia through
China, India and Russia, and Furnishing
with equal severity the inhabitants Of
the Pyrenean peninsula and the
hardened peoples of Scandinavia and
Iceland. And if the Western Hemi-
sphere had been discovered at that time,
and active communication and traffic
with it had existed, there can be no
doubt that the grim destroyer would
have visited America also. 1t is, in
deed, by no means certain but that the
plague did reach this continent, since
there are Indian legends which speak of
a time of great mortality long before
the advent of Europeans.
1t is estimated that not less than 52,-
000, 900 persons fell victims to the black
death in Asia and Europe toward the
middle of the fourteenth century. Of
these 15, 900, 900 are supposed to have
perished in Europe, 24,00), 900 in Asia
Minor, India, and the adjacent coun-
tries, and 100000 in China. One
historian writes, concerning the appear
ance of the plague in Europe: "Terri-
Bile omens in the heavens overwhelmed
the Nations with dread. In 1887 a
large comet appeared; in following
years came immense multitudes of
locusts; but in 1348 the end of the
world seemed at hand. An earthquake
devastated Cyprus, Greece, Italy and
the Alpine valleys. Mountains caved
in. In the Province of Carnthen, in
Austria, thirty villages and town were
utterly destroyed. The atmosphere be-
came thick, fetid and confusing. Wine
became turbid in the barrels. Fiery
meteors illuminated the sky. A pillar
of fame was seen over the Papal palace
at Avignon. These terrors were fol-
lowed by murderous plague. 1t orig
mated in China, was carried through
the whole of Asia, and in Germany re-
ceived the name of the Black DEATH
because it covered its victims suddenly
with black pustules, and often killed
them instantaneously. 1t spread over
the whole of Europe, and it is said that
it did not rage most virulently in Ger
many. Nevertheless, fourteen thou
sand persons died in Basle, sixteen thou
sand in Strasburg, and the same num-
ber in Erfurt, and they perished in all
other places in similar proportions. In
Osnabruck only seven families are said
to have survived"
For twenty-five years the awful epi-
demic maintained its annihilating sway,
while at the same time droughts,
famines, foods, and earthquakes de-
stroyed city and country, and vast
swarms of locusts everywhere inflicted
the direst ravages. Meantime, the
whole order of nature seemed reversed.
In midwinter the severest rains were ex-
perienced, and in summer iong-contin-
ued and severe frosts and volcanoes
that had been long thought extinct
opened their craters anew. Some have
attribnted the origin of the epidemic to
the atmospheric changes produced by
the couvulsions of the earth, combined
with the decay of organic matter-the
myriads of locusts and the unnumbered
bodies of men and animals.
Some have also attributed that fright
full epidemic to the then recorded ap
proach of several planets to the sun
Inasmuch as four planets enter tht
perihelion in 1881, we have at least thi
similarity between the present time ant
that dreadful period; and this circum
stance, combined with the sudden out
break of the plague that is reported
from Europe, may give rise to the fear
that the coming planetary proximity II
the sun is perhaps to have an evil i'm
port for poor humanity.