The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-19
THE BLACK pRATH.
The Sections Of Country Suffering
from the Plague.

The Sections Of Country Suffering
from the Plague.
The pestilence now ravaging great part
of Asiatlc Russia, says the New York
Times, bears the name of "Black Death, u
so familiar for centuries as describing one
Of the most fearful of those plaques which,
appearing at Irregular intervals, have de-
vastated the globe. Presumably it was this
same form of scourge that, starting also
from Asia, spread over that continent and
Europe about the middle of the fourteenth
century, and is reputed to have had mill
ions of victims. It is doubtless also
the same that made another wide
spread and terrible devastation in
1884 and 1865 and of whose
ravages In London Defoe gave SO vivid an
account. There it was oftenest called sim
ply the plague, but the name BLACK
Death" is derived, as may be remembered.
from the bietches accompanying the disease.
1t is believed that its visltations were made
as often as once or twice in century, in
ancient times, and it was around Naples as
late as 1915. Its temperance now in w est
Siberia is marked by a terrible mortality
which recalls the stories of some of its old-
time ravRges; but this is largely due. no
doubt, to the lack Of medicine in that region.
The causes OF it are manifold, and for the
most part atmospheric. Alluvial or marshy
grounds, hot, moist air, bad ventilation,
poor drainage, unwholesome diet, insuffi>
Gent or M>cooked food, and irrational ways
of life generally, are given by medical
authorities as specific causes The incip-
lent development of the disease lasts some
eight days. After that the course varies In
| different cases. A mild fever sometimes
follows, and small spots like insect bites
appear ON the body, especially the parts ex-
posed to the cir. These spots swell, turn
black, and are finally an inch or an inch
and half IN diameter. After the soabs
from thsse sores fall away the fever sub
| sides In other cases large carbuncles coma
in the groin and armpits, and occasionally
on the neck. The fever is then very high.
and headaches. dizziness, chills, redness of
the eyes and weakness OF the pulse are &C.
companying symptoms
The length of the course Of the disease
varies. Many cases are on record Of deaths
| within twenty-four hours. Usually, how
| ever, the disease runs week or two. ut ie
! transmitted" says report Of the French
| ACADEMY, "by means Of miasmata given
out by the bodies of the sick. These Inias-
mata, ia close, i'll ventilated places, may
create centers of residential infection. 1t
results. from the observations made at thu
| lazarettos for more than a year, that mer-
chandise does not transmit the plague"
The origin of the plague dates back, in
the opinion Of many, to gray antiquity.
Others believe it FIRST appeared IN the east in
medieval times. The climates of Egypt,
| Syria aud Turkey are especially favorable
to the development of the plagua. In the
middle ages and up to 1865 TIE plague WIS.,
tied England every thirty or forty years
1t was In Marseilles in 1720, in Moscow in
1771-72, and in the Nespolitan country as
late as 1915. The most dreadful record OF
black death was made i'll the fourteenth
century, when it started in Avignon and
| spread like wildfre to the north and
south. One hundred Thousand persons are
said to have died Of 1t in Venice, 10000 in
Florence, and 10000 in Siena. In East
Anglia 1893 of the clergy were swept away
in one year, courts were deserted, public
places were closed, and whole villages were
depopulated.
Tobolsk, the city just reached by the
scourge, is at the Junction of the Irish aud
| Tobol rivers, and has about 10000 inhabi
tantS. Obdorsk, near the mouth of the Obi
is hamlet of some 300 inhabitants.