The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-02-23
THE PLAGUE In EUROPE.
THE PROBABILITIES OF ITS VISITING
THE UNITED STATES.

Letter from DR.. Woodbury. to the Yellow Fever
Cnmmission.I
By recent adyices we are informed that the
plague has broken out In Europe Our knowl-
edge OF this dreadful and fatal disease Is ex-
tremely vague and unsatisfactory. Boccaccio
refers to 1t In his introduction to the De-
cameron, and Defoe has given us an account
OF ts rayages In London. Yet, little as we
know OF It, In 1866 1t ragged fearfully In Asia.
It's last appearance In Europe was In 1874,
but Its course was quickly checked. In 1929
the Russian soldiers brought 1t from the Cas-
plan shores, and In 1000 Roumanian Villages
1t destroyed 10000 people.
Our knowledge OF this dreaded disease. as
derived from medical works, Is exceedingly
limited DIR. Atkins, In his comprehensive
treatise on practice devotes but eight pages
to this subject. He defines 1t as follows: "A
specific malignant fever which has prevailed
at different times and places epidemically;
attended with an eruption OF complex
nature, composed Of buboes, or swelling OF
the irguinai or other Emphatic glands, and
occasionally with carbuncles, pustules, spots
ard petechB OF various coors, and distributed
In different parts of the body" 1t appears
from the best sources of informatian, to have
originated In Egypt and the neighboring coun
tries. 1t is the Oldest epidemic Of which we
have any account dating back to 1017 b. O.,
when 1t first appeared In Palestine and de-
stroyed 10000 persons in three days. The
type OF the disease varies, some visltatlons
| being much milder than others.
In 25 b. c. 1t swept away half OF the popula-
| tion Of Rome. In 366 b. O. 1t broke out again
In the same city, and 10, 900 persons died daily
In 1905 1t visited every part OF the known
world. In 1913, In London, 80, 900 died OF 1t In
| single week. Venice lost by 1t 100000 Spain
tins numbered 100000 in China, loo, 900 In
France, 100000 In England, while Spain lost
nearly two-thirds of it's population, and Ire
land was nearly depopulated. Sir Gilbert
| Blanc estimated that there were no less than
forty-five epidemcs OF plague In the seven
| teenth century.
The last epidemic Of plague In England
termed the "Great Plague" occurred In 1868.
This epidemic spread with such intolerable
| infection" that 7165 persons died 10 one week,
while In one year no less than G8,526 died In
| the city of London and its suburbs alone, the
population being far smaller then than 1t Is
now. 1t Is generally believed this disease
| originates In a specific poison that, after q
| given period of latency, produces certain spe-
cific actions, which are preceded, accompa-
| MED or followed by fever. The action OF the
poison is generally on the Emphatic system.
The course OF the disease Is rapid and gener-
| therefore sanitary means will, in great
measure, check its progress We are informed
that 1t was raging In London when the great
fire of 1866 broke out, and that Immediately
after this calamity its ravages ceased II
| this be SO, 1t would seem that heat exercises a
destructive influence upon the germs OF the
! disease
The epidemic now prevailing In Russia is
exceedingly violent in type. the mortality in
many places amounting to 80 per cent. The
latest accounts prove that the disease is
rapidly spreading, and Europe may well be
alarmed. From these we learn that villages
are entirely deserted. Three weeks ago Wet
| lianka contained d750 Inhabitants; not one is
now alive. AS the disease Is communicated
by contact, the increased facility OF eommu-
nication between the different sections of the
world give us just reason to fear that 1t may
reach our shores. Meanwhile, our people
should protect themselves, 80 far as possible
by strict system of quarantine and the pro.
motion OF cleanliness In all Of our large cities
where the population Is, to greater or less
extent, crowded. The lesson OF the yellow
fever epidemic of last year should moi be for
gotten, and 1t behooves the guardians Of the
public health In all our cities to begin the
work before them at once, IL they would prove
themselves, as they should, faithful to the
responsible trust committed to their. charge
III. E. WOODBURY., Ill. ID.