Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-02-06

Invaded 10 1917 from two Persian III.
ages a. the southeast angle Of the Cas-
pian; The plague has nov stepped sro,-,
sne southwest up 90 Astrackan. A. the
northwest corner,
The opini0s Of recent Enei;~h ,wr;-
ger was thsf 10 wan by no means unIsha-
" mar the coniagion would overstep
4 .ss D.sfiers erected BIZ lhe Russian au- !
Ino..l.es' !. II . TOD subtle and he p,s. |
s'o'iiiles of evading qusrant;ne srs 49, 1
numerous 10 aiIo,H much t, L. kn~.1 Il
g rom of6ciai precautions. and exer
ne &c -NS1 1snessx e. - saesss r.sx... - w. =
pevery prospect Of becoming fresh cen.
tres from which the disease may be dis.
tributed. An absolute and complets
quarantine, which would certainly ar.
rest the plague, is hardly to be estab-
Iished, especially in these times of the
increased complexity Of human inter.
course. Still, though the disease is as
formidable IS IL was two centuries ago,
when It last visited England, il is conf
IDENTIFY asserted that the provisions oi
the British sanitary laws and the pow
ers Of the local authorities to deal with
ePidemics would be found sufficient to
confine and localize any cases that
might occur and render them merely
pathological curiosities. London al the
time OF the Great Plague was incon-
ceivably filthy, and there was no organ
IZation for the isolation Of sufferers from
infectious maladies and for the prompt
suppression of epidemics.
The plaques recorded in history are
almost numberless, and in many in
stances their ravages, though truthfully
set down, seem incredible. Before the
great plague Of $40 many disastrous ep-
idemics had been noticed. The first
general plague which visited all parts
Of the known world broke out in
767 B. C. In 534 B. C. Carthage was
so sorely smitten that women sacrificed
their children to appease the angry DEF
ties; in 46l there died at Rome and its
invirons 1OO. 900 people. Thucydides
has graphically depicted the plague
which visited Athens B. C. 43O, laying
waste also Egypt and Ethiopia. Pliny
records pestilence in the Archipela-
go, Egypt and Syria in 1873 B. c., which
swept of 1900 persons day during its
continuance. Rome thereafter was re-
peatedly scourged. A. d. so 10000
persons are said 10 have died daily du-
ring the pestilence; another plague
swept through the Empire in 1919;
still another in 1S9. while between $50
and 265 many towns were depopulated
and many provinces ravsged, the daily
mortality at the capital being 5000.
The great plague OF 542-5 began in
Egypt and Asia Minor, swept over Sy-
ria, Persia and India, laid waste the
north Of Africa and in Europe devasta.
ted Constantinople and the Byzantine
Empire, Italy and France. II began
at Alexandra, whose inhabitants, ac-
cording to Paulus Diaconus, drought
tins terrible judgment upon themselves
and their innocent neighbors" by their
reckless gluttony, bringing on yearly
fevers and dangerous indigestions."
In 542 Alexandra is said to have lost
800, 900 OF her people by this scourse,
and for miles around the city the fields
were covered with unburied corpses.
For three months from 5000 to Il, 900
deaths occurred daily at Constantine
pie; whole provinces were abandoned
and cities died out, to remain vacant for
many years. From rs, ,O00, 900 TO I2O,.
OOO. 900 Of victims are said TO have per-
Ished IN the threecontinents. But though
Egypt, Syria and Persia were scourxed.
Arabia and the Caucasus escaped; and
while Northern Italy suffered severely,
but few sea-ports in Albania, Moroc- |
co and Sicily were affected. Just two
later Byzantium and the neigh |
boring coasts were sorely visited, but |
The next great general pestilence was
that at the middle of the fourteenth |
century. According to the Chinese,
The pestilence broke out there about
1888, following great earthquakes and |
Hoods with their usual attendants, fail |
nre OF crops and famine Ere il reached
Europe this pestilence is said 10 have
destroyed 100000 people in China
md nearly twice rs many in Eastern /
Asia and Northern Africa. II visited
every part Of Europe, from Spain and
italy to Scotland and Russia. This was
he terrible BLACK Death" Boccac-
;iO's "Decsmeron'' recalls its ravages
n Florence in 1913. Halt the popula-
ion Of Italy are said to have died of IL.
Ia London there were 200 burials daily
n the Charter House yard. The Jews
we're massacred by wholesale, the pop
llar rage turning on them as the sup
'osed authors Of the pestilence. No
accusation was too monstrous to be be-
leved OF them. They were charged
with poisoning the streams and wells,
Ind many Of them even slew them
'elves TO escape the hideous tortures
prepared for them. Bands OF Flaeel-
ants and other fanatics went from town
o town, torturing themselves 10 expi-
tie the SINS OF the PeopIe-and spread
ng the infection. The terror-s.rieken
Wealthy enriched the monasteries with
'herings of gold, which they were
.biiged to cast over the walls and
trough locked gates. People went to
ga TO escape the pestilence, and ships
He'd with the dead and the diving were
'ast upon distant strands, there 10 COM
nun'cate the eontagion. Men took re-
nge IN forests aud caves, only to find
Ieath there awaiting them. 10 the en-
demic OF 1888 four million people
re said to have died in the Byzantine
smpsre, Russia, Germany, France, It.
~ and Northern Spain, but as the ear
'eT seourge had spared the Mohamme-
an countries. where The inhabItsnfs
rere more temperate and cleanly, 90 il
'ss observed that the Pessilence fe.pec-