New-York tribune., 1890-01-12
EPIDEMIC ORIGINS.

EPIDEMIC ORIGINS.
The strange and too frequently fatal cpl
demic which is now spread over so large part
of the earths surface will no doubt be care
fully studied by scientific men, with a view to
tracing if possible. the origin of the m0rbihc
influence. But little data for judgments of
the kind had been collected up to the time
when Professor lIecker German physician
and medical historian of considerable repua
tiOn, published his interesting, suggestive and
erudite essays upon the cpidemics of the Mid
die Ages. \ theory advanced by DR.. Hecler,
which, though it has been received with
hesitation, cannot be said to have been ser-
ouSly met or refutcd, is that OF cosmical
agencies as concerned in the dissemination, and
probably in the genesis, of epidemic diseases.
In his accounts of that dreadful Scourgc tho
Black Death which he estimates swept away
twenty-five millions of people in Europe in the
sixteenth century, he has collected an imposing
list of precedentS and contemporaneOus natural
phenomena supposed to have been connected
in cauSal manner with the epidemic plague.
OF course, in an argument of the kind the dan
ger of the post hoe ergo propter hoe faliacy
must always be guarded against and in deal
ing with records of events made before any
science of history was recognized, the difficulty
of obtaining unquestionable facts is obviously
great.
All necessary allowance having been made
for error, however. Heckers showing is GER
tainly plausible, and his view derives some ad-
ditonal cOuntenancc from the fact, patent to
the existing generation of men, that the most
IL i
have been preceded or accompanied by more
or less abnormal cosmical phenomena. The
Black Death came from China, and that coun-
Try had suffered, just prior to the outbreak,
extraordinary disasters from earthquakes, floods
and storms. Tho sixteenth century, indeed.
was marked throughout the inhabited world
by convulSonS of nature, and among these
must be particularly mentioned what the old
chroniclers term a sinking mist" which was
observed in several countries and the advent
of which seemed the signal for the outbreak
of the plague. Hcckers account of the Sweat
ing Sickness is accompanied by another cata-
loguc of coSmucal disturbances and unnatural
seasons. That epidemic appears to have fol-
loved unprccedcntcdly wet years. The at
moSphere all through Great Britain was 50
Ht!l -'h WIN Iuliiltla NlAN HlbhtA Npb'N ~
pcarod upon clothing packed away. upon linen
in use, upon every thing. Tho same ill-Sayorcd
iogS are reported here again, and when the
sickness xprcad, later, over the whole of Eu-
rope, il was preceded by similar puyial del
uges floods and general excess of moisture.
1t is more difficult TO exhibit any coSmical
agencies in the epidemic called the Dancing
Mania. though Heckcrs suggestion that some
peculiar electrical conditions Of the atmos-
phcrc may have had 10 do with it, should not
lie rejected too hastily.
The learned Gcrmnn wrote before the discov-
cry of tho ubiqitoIs and greatly accountable /
bacillus: hut it may Dee pointed ont that there /
is in his theory of co>mical influences absolute |
ly nothing TO conflict with the latest tendencies
of scientific research. For example llcclcr
speaks OF volcanic disturbances which liberated /
mcphitic gases from the interior OF the earth /
Now, il is quite possible that some such great /
natural chcmi al processes may produce the |
most favorable 70 the genesis Of tho /
bacill which cause the ,ca,c. We really know |
so little about the whole subject that we are |
bound 10 boz cautious in trusting any hypothesis /
which offers a possibly true explanation of the |
phenomena. No man Of science TODAY would |
venture 10 assert that co>mica Disturbances .
'annot possibly affect the sanitary condition
IF the nth. II is known that cattle diseases |
have often accompanied human plaques. and !
n at least one well-known case an epidemic
among fish followed great submarine con
yulsion. OF course, the demonstration OF
between telluric and atmospheric
conditions and abnormal phenomena and cpl
lemlcS, would. IN one sense, only increase tho |
general feeling Of hclpcSSncsS in the face OF |
such calamitics. But from broader point Of
,icw, it may be said that the prospect of at
aiming remedies for these waves of disease
must be improved by every advance made
Oward their real origin science NAV find |
Ways to conquer them if once she discovers
heir cause and exact nature, and the srccula-
ions Of Professor Icclcr arc therefore, in tho
inc OF true scientific research. n0twithStand-
n the SfIauppucSs Gf some of thcm