The Mineral argus., 1884-10-09
A PLAGUE OF THE PAST.
4n. BLACK Death thai scourged he World
An the Fourteenth Century.

The alarm excited " the cholera IN
Southern France recalls the history Of
+bo mast epidemics, some of which, es-
,,ocia1iv those of the middle ages, were
20 v%iruIent and destructive that
Ovtbino we have had or could
have in this century would be
INSIGNIFICANT. The plague, or black
deatb. as it was commonly called, of the
fourteenth century, was the most terri
lille scourge of which any record has
been preserved. To read of it now
seems like some horrible dream, OF
come monkish vision of the internal
world. 1t appals the imagination. and
shows what fearful ravages disease
could make before man had become ac-
ouainted With hygienic laws.
The black death, which was an East
ern plague. and actually desolated the
world. got its name from the black spots
caused by decomposition that appeared
ON the body of the sufferer. No statis-
tics or health records were kept in the
dark ages; therapeutics was in its IN
fancy: Ignorance and indifference uni
v~ersaIly prevailed. We have very few
data of the plague; we are unacquainted
WlBn lS SlulphOAlog u OloAo VI JUC
method of its infection. They must have
varied greatly at different times and in
different places. The cases were more
malignant and more widely fatal in Asia
thar in Europe, owing to the worse con.
dition of the people and the lower forms
of civilization
Everything connected with the pest
was hideous and revolving. Those at
tackled by it suffered terribly. They
had burning and unquenchable thirst,
racking pains in the head and breast,
boils and swellings all over the body,
putrid inflammation of the lungs; they
were q mass of corruption and agony;
they often begged to be killed to relieve
them of their misery, and when they
had sufficient strength destroyed them
selves. The great majority persisted in
two or three days; medicines were DOW
%erless; the appearance of the black
spots was the sign of doom. Nature,
cruel as she is, was never more cruel
than at that frightful period.
While much that has been published
concerning the plague is vague and OBJ
v%iously fabulous, there is no rational
doubt that it had its rise in China dur
ing the first part of the fourteenth CEN
fury, and that it was preceded by
swarms of %locusts, ~droughts, famines,
hoods, tornadoes, earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions throughout the East,
which destroyed vegetable and animal
life far and near. Similar derange-
ments and commissions of nature were
common in Europe. All this unheaval
and disorder, with the attendant de-
composition of matter and animal
substance, is supposed to have
caused some extraordinary atmOs-
pheric change hostile to human life,
which acted like poison upon the res
piritory organs-always the first to b
attacked, Some writers of the time
say that the steady progress of the cpl
demic from east to west could be traced
by the vitiated air, which resembles a
cloud or haze-the cloud of fate, the
haze of death. Scarcity of food and
unwholesome living predisposed people
to the disease, which constantly spread
from infection and contagion. It made
its way from China along the caravan
routes westward. From the north
coast of the Black Sea it went to Con-
stantinople, thence to the Italian sea-
ports and throughout Europe, occupy
ing three years in passing, by a might
circle, from Constantinople, thence
around to Russia.
The ravages of the plague were fright
ful beyond conception. Death stalked
the world, moving down his
everywhere. Every form of an
imal life was assailed. Thousands of
were cast into huge pits, dug
for the purpose; lakes and rivers were
,o~nsecrated, that the dead might be
into them, thus avoiding the
dread and danger of infection. Passen-
gers and crews were stricken down at
sea; often nobody was left alive on YES
sells, which, loaded with putrefying hui
were borne aimlessly by the in
iected winds and finally driven to shore,
where they spread the contagion over
5he land. The moral effects of the
were as bad as the physical eff
Thousands died from terror; the
lies of humanity and kindred were
broken; husbands deserted theif wives,
brothers their sisters, mothers their chill
1ren; everybody was absorbed by a wild
1esire to save himself at all hazards and
At any price; and yet salvation was in
most cases impossible, almost hope
.ess. II seemed as if the whole race
was doomed to destruction; as if de-
spair had seized and shattered the human
heart.
The gigantic accumulation of horrors
at once disorganized society and diabol-
ized humanity. Superstition and igno-
rance, which are twin brothers, were
scarcely less evils than the plague.