The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-02-27

q
tinct cradles OF its birth, the best author
tiles were Of the opinion that this was
not going far enough to look for it; and
the great plague of 1Iarseiiles Of 1922
was confidently set down by DIR. Mead
as having travelled by the generally re-
ceived ronte. In those days there was
little chance of a plague coming into
Europe by way OF the Caspian Sea.
After Egypt, Turkey was the most like
II conduit for its Introduction to the
west; and the plague OF London, which
came to US from Holland, is said to have
been imported in bales OF cotton into
that country from the Levant. This ar
ticie Of merchandise, possessing as it
does q peculiar aptitude for retaining as
well rs catching the seeds of any infec-
ton, has been always considered a most
active breeder Of the plague. La former
days there used to be such an apprehen-
sion Of the disease being conve.:ed to
Italy from Alexandria or Syria that in
Genoa, Leghorn, Naples and other Ital-
ian ports, searchers were appointed
whose business it was to rip open the
bales Of cotton as they arrived, and, by
tbrusting their arms through them, adj
nit the healthy influence of the air to
every part Of the goods. This brings Us
to the much disputed question OF contag-
ion.
Formerly there was no such unanimity
about it as happily now exists. Hippo
crates, it is true, is said to have combated
the theory that the plague came by a
special visitation of Providence, and
could only be met by sacrifices and lus-
trations; but SO well informed a writer
as Procopius inclined to the opinion that
it was not a contagious disorder, basing
his reasons principally on the obserya
tions he made of the immunity the By
zantine physicians enjoyed during the
plague in his time. Its appearance has
been attributed by many writer's, ancient
and modern, to a peculiar disposition Of
the air; it was customary III very recent
times to fire guns to disperse the poison
ous atmosphere; and SO obstinate have
been the adherents of this incredible
theory that no evidence whatever has
been able to satisfy them. Thus in the
last plague of Aiarseiles man was seiz-
ed with it and died, after burying
Young woman to whom he was attached,
when 30 one else dared approach the
body. DR.. Chicoynes, one of the city
physicians, attributed his death not to
the plague at all, but to his grief at the
loss of his sweetheart. About the same
time medical man addressed treatise
to Sir Hans Sloan, the president of the
College Of Physicians, maintaining that
neither goods nor persons are capable of
communicating the plague; that there
fore lines and quarantine are not only
useless bnt pernicious; that the works of
Mr.. Lily, the astrologer, are the safest
guide in difficulty of this kind. Yet
the evidence that could be produced
even then of the contagious nature Of the
disorder was almost overwhelming. Boo
caccio relates that in the Florence plague
of 1913, he saw two hogs, which had
found in the streets the rags which had
been thrown off from a poor man dead of
the plague, after snutfing at them and
tearing at them with their teeth, fall
into commissions and die in less than an
hour That the plague of Marseilles
was imported in merchandise seems
pretty evident, for the first person to
take the order was one of the crew who
brought the goods from the Levant, and
the next, those who examined them at
the quarantine. DR.. Mead relates that
the plague of 1865 was conveyed from
London to Ehm, in Derbyshire, by
means Of a box sent to tailor in that
village, containing materials belonging
to his trade. \ servant who opened the
box complaining that the goods were
damp, WAS ordered to dry them at the
fire, but in SO doing was seized with the
plague and died. The same misfortune
happened to the rest of the family, and
to 200 or 300 persons liz the village. In
the plague of Genoa, one fur garment
was deadly in its effects to no fewer than
twenty-five different persons who in turn
possessed it; and infected goods, after
having been packed away for many years,
have been known, when distributed, to
spread contagion. The directions issued
by the college of physicians and the
Lord Mayor and Aldermen III 1865, to
prevent contagion, were very stringent.
As soon as any house was found to be
infected, it was ordered to be kept shut,
with G. large red cross painted on it, with
the words: Lord have mercy upon u.s."
Watchmen attended day and night to
prevent any ole going out or coming in
save physicians, searchers. nurses, etc. i,
and this continued at least a month after
the family were either dead or recovered
They commonly died, OF course. Ac-
cording to these inhuman rules, the i'll
ness of one person involved his whole
household in destruction; and this shut
ting up OF houses and immuring of whole
families alive was compared to the old
Roman way of putting peccant vestals
into vault with q candle and some
slender provision, and 50 leaving them
to perish at their leisure. In the plague
OF Rome in 1867, Cardinal Gastald
adopted precautions more effective
/ against the spread Of the disease and at
/ the same time OF a more merciful charac-
ter. The sick he caused to be removed
to q lazaretto on an island in the Iiber,
while those who had not sickened in the
! same house were conveyed 10 asylums