Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1881-03-29
"The Black Death {"

ALREADY Europe 10 becoming alsrmtl a. h,
appearance Of this pes! il Tho E.s!, aud f.s,s
are txpns:ei that il usy spread E,s;Iard. l.
therefore becomes important 10 knoH The ch..
raoteri:tics Of the ci;ca:e. Tho Linden
Standard states on pathological groutli lLs; :,
is very malignant form of contagious lcytr"
which breaks out su ldenly in certain !ocsli,;s
and spreads With flightful rapidly, AID tb,,
tho present typo" is as viiu'ent es tha! o. ,bs
Middle Ages. 1! is characterized By swelling,
of the Emphatic glands AID by carbunoes AID
bsyond doub! one seizure seems to afford NJ
security against second attack, Ttisis, hnr
ever, point upon which physicians have nat
often had chance Of studying, siucc ",tc
pest does rot usually leave tho sAue iudisi
dual chance of experiencing It's fymp:oos
twice, 1t has been commended that it isrc,
contagious, but 10 almost every case OF on CUT
break the disease has been traced to perscrs
who have come from Infected districts. Ia tha
Astrakhan epidemic of 1879. aad il tia! Of
It'll, which cut of 100, QUO people in Moscow,
the pestilence was know to have been brought,
10 the one instance. from Central Asia, and in
the other from Chocziu. Agaio, during the
latter outbreak the ] 400 inmates ct Imperial
Founding Hospital, who were isolated. aud ia
1913 the town Of Jegla, in Mslto. which I'll
stut OF from Valetta, where the dis,es3 vs.
raging, entirely escaped. Quarantine. hog:vcr,
as preventive against the rsvagaS Of cholera his
been proved to DO utterly futl., and il is Very
generally allowed tina! it is not much more 70.
tent as barrier against the plcg1e. NJ oher
form ct dcith has ever enlisted lnto its service
historians of such brilliant talent. Dc f.,
could rot have been az eye Titnecs of the her.
ribe scenes OF 1865 10 L3ndon. Bat ho hal
doubtless talked to mary who bad suI7iT;i
those dreadful times ard we're familiar with III.
tales OF the Corpse carrying wagon going tia G!5
nal rounds. of the living bciag unable 10 carly
GU. the dead. and OF London deserted By ,t.a
Court, and, indeed. ali who cju!d escape iaa
tho country. In "Rieez,' the lstc L2ri LIT
ton has given on sclount scarcely less pictorial
of the plague il Florence, aud in almost cycry
other European country the pest -bich crert
like foul miasma ovor Asia, Nortterb Africa
aud Europe from Naples to Arohapscl. ach
even to distant Greenland, where il smoIa ;!c
Exquimaux by THOUSAND has secured salh
able chroniclars that. at the slightest sligo Of -
reappearauc, Western Earopc naturally gloss
alarmed. 10 the years l3iS. 1861. 1868. l5Gg
snd 1902 London was visited by the BLACK
DEATH" though these early attacks OF The dis
ouso sink into insigui6cauco when coupa;td
with that which dcs>laled tho city in 1865. tie
year which will ever be known IS The year
the plague" 10 reality, however, though L
caused befors Christmas mortality of 6S, j9j
out of tho hnlf million people which The me;r,p.
oils then contained, it did not aba.o until 1876
while in the thirteen subsequent years there
were many fatal cases recorded. But after 1879
10 death from plsgue is known to have occuc.
red, and in l7O4 60 entirely hsd it disappeared
tina. the name OF tho dsoaGe was actually omitted
from the bills of mortality.