New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-13
EPIDEMIC INFL UENZA,

| at is an i'll wind that blows nobody good"
and even the extraordinary epidemic OF infiu-
enza which has now set all Europe coughing
and SneeZng brings in its train an assurance
that peace will be maintained, at any rate for
the next six or eight weeks. This appears tc
be the ordinary duration of these altogether
unaccOuntabe visitatiOns which have swept
over the face of the globe some dozen times in
the last two centuries pursuing regular course
from one country to another from continent to
continent across seas and mountains, sometimes
in nOrtherIy but more frequently in west
ery direction.
At present the administration of the
various Governments Of Europe is com
pletely demoralized by the prevalence of the
infuenza and business of every kind is only
carried on there under the most serious diff
culties Convcts have had to be put back be-
cause the Judges were too i'll to sentence them;
letters and journals sent by the mails are being
distributed in homeopathic doses, owing to the
fact that more than half the postmen are pre-
vented by sickness from attending to their
duties. In one continental regiment alone
per cent of the men were placed hOrS de COM
bat in single day by the ailment. Theatrical
stars fail to rise at night, or in the morning
either, for the matter Of that. Marriages and
all other kinds of ceremonies and entertain
ments excepting funerals have to be put off.
In Paris the employees of all the great retail
dry-goods stores have been seized with ala
grippe as the French style the malady, no less
than go cases having been reported on
Wednesday in one establishment alone, The
notion of go statesmen and Saleswomen, all
sneezing and coughing simultaneously in one
shop is something too awful to contemplate.
Indeed the paralyzing effects of the present
epidemic can only be compared to those which
occurred one hund ed years ago, when two great
British fleets under the command Of AdmiraS
Lord Arson and Kempenfeldt were obliged to
suspend their hostile operations on the French
coast and to return to Spithead, owing to the
men being completely disabled by influenza.
Under the circumstances, it is to be hoped
that our squadron of evolution, which has just
sailed from Boston for European waters, may
escape a similar visitation.
While an immense amount Of speculation and
discOrdance of opinion exists as to the origin
and causes of this most peculiar epidemic
which some attribute to telluric and others 10
climatic conditions, it seems to be generally adj
mltted by the medical authorities and scientists
that ovelcrowding, impure air and defective
drainage and sanitation powerfully conduce to
the prevalence of the malady, and render ifs
course less benign than under mole favorable
surroundings. We may therefore hope that
New-York will escape a visitation thereof sim
liar TO that which took place in 1911 and which
was followed by an invasion Of the cholera
ptcnar ventilation and sanitation InyV ha said
to have become the particular hobby of the
English speaking races during the last forty
years. On the Continent Of Europe however,
these two important requirements are neglected
and even ridiculed. The only ground for sur