The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1892-09-27
THE ADVOCATE.
The PLAGUE A PROCLAMATION.
1t Is Natures Order to Clean Up.
Its History.

CdlHps, IndJ VIC arc iBhoi"h' VI O'Nh'
that have wrought greater devasta
tions than the loudest laundering
and bloodiest commissions of civil wal
and foreign fights.
Revolutions and wars, the rise anC
fall of thrones are but surface indica
tions, and underneath the rage o.
men are the sources of progress OF
retrogression. 1t takes some ravag'
ing plague, laying waste human life
clogging the wheels of commerce
turning transportation toward the
cemeteries, and draping the world in
black to turn our thoughts within, in
the effort to explore an unwritten
history, and to reach the seat of the
wants and woes of men and the
agencies that have moulded OF made
the race what we find it to be.
Space is too short TO merely cata-
logue the pestilences that have wasted
life. A few instances will serve to
raise a measure of impression as to
their number and extent, and to show
how wise forecast, and careful obser-
walton and experience are triumphing
over the heretofore irresistible con-
querer.
A plague so malignant careered
over Europe A. d., ITO, that at its
summit of victory 10000 a day per-
iohed in the city Of Rome.
A pestilence ragged from A. D, $50
to 2G2 so fierce in its sweep that Glib
bonS estimated that half the race died
in that awful decade.
For IS years intervening a. d. 542
and 600 confined to no climate or
season and respecting no rank, unre-
strained by no quarantine, going and
returning at will, and defying all
hygiene and medicine-during which
entire cities were emptied Of popula-
llOli-d pldSue Iascu'
Between A. ID. 1916 and 1850 the
black plague swept from Eastern
China to England, claiming nine out
of fen of the people. Fifty thousand
in London were dumped in one grave
yard, 100000 persisted in Venice,
10000 in Florence and a like number
in Lubcc, and these cities We're but
villages as compared with their pres
ent population. In Spain two-thirds
of the inhabitants persisted.
In 1865 and 1867 Naples furnished
100000 victims out of 100000, and
Geneva $4,000 out of $4,000, and
London $4,000.
Between A. d. 1902 and I'LL pes
thence travelled over all Europe and
reached this continent.
These are only few of the many
plaques that have run riot over the
world within the Christian Era.
Those within the period in which we
are living are not included.
In the nte-Christian period pesti-
lenccs were equally destroying and
frequent, though the data are less
definite. Then we have hut little
that is statistical concerning the her.
nit nations, (which corralled infolma-
ton as they forbade emigration.
Thucydidcs furnishes graphic &C
count Of the plague of Athens, which,
for its suppressed pathos and rigorous
realism, has been ever regarded as a
masterpiece of descriptive writing.
He tells how many, in perfect
health, were instantly seized with tor
rid headaches and rheumy eyes, and
with blood-suffused tongues and
throats. Finally, the malady reached
the stomach, producing "vomits of
bile" They were possessed of an in
sane thirst, and used every artifice TO
secure water for drink and baths.
although assured that such rotations
and additions produced certain fatal
ity. They died of Il consuming fever.
That the reader may estimate the
ravage, and appreciate the style of the
author who portrayed it, an extract is
given from his description.
"The dead lay as they had died, one
upon another, while Others barely
alive wallowcd in the mire of the
streets and crawled, craving water,
about every fountain. The temples
were filled with cOrpses which re-
manned among the living who lodged
within them, for such was the vio-
lence Of the calamity that men grew
reckless Of all law, human or divine.
Funeral customs were abandoned and
the bercft buried their dead wherever
they could find a grave without re-
gard for the property rights of others,