The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-09-09
QUARANTINE.

In his day the leper was competent 10
cry "Unclean, unclean." He dwelt alone.
without the camp was his habitation.
And the disease of leprosy did not wane
in Europe until the appearance of the
plague about 1850. In Spain the houses
built for lepers were sometimes in the
crowded district of the town. Or, on
the other hand, the unfortunates were
concentrated in more remote place, as
on the Island of Samos. While the
Hebrews looked on the leper with
aversion, other people saw in him an
object of veneration. The readers of
Stevenson's "Black Arrow" will remem-
Der the terror excited by the approach of
the leper with bell and clack-dish; but
there were countries where the sequest-
ration brought such comfort and honor
that men feigneG the disease.
1t was not until the spread of the
plague in the fourteenth century that the
system of quarantine was fully developed.
Ignorance and superstition were shown
them in civilized cities as in Russia to-
day by the people at large. Then as
now physicians were killed and the Jews
were prosecuted, either on account of
the blind and cowardly rage of the popu-
lace or possibly as propitiation. But
Venice, the great commercial city,
created officers of health, health bureau
and lazaretto. ''She prescribed the
sale and destroyed the effects of those
who had died. From this time, too,
dates the period of forty days as
necessary for the observance of sus-
pected persons" 1t was about the
middle of the sixteenth century that
Fracastorius treated in celebrated book
of contagion. According to him, a
specific virus rises by exhalation from
the body of the sick, extends but a short
distance and attaches itself to certain
substances, which thus become contami-
mated: this contamination remains, and
may be transported unknown distances
and infect entire communities. He
recognizes also that certain other sub
stances would not be contaminated"
This book was largely instrumental in
correcting vulgar errors, such as the IN
fuence of the stars, occult causes, and
transmission by the voice and the ex-
preston of the sick. Masaria followed
by showing the safety of those shut up
in monasteries or lonely houses; and it
was not long before sanitary police were
found IN the cities of Europe and laza-
rettos were in the ports. In the
eighteenth century John Howard adj
vanced valuable theories founded on his
observations of the hospitals of the
Mediterranean.
From the year 1921 greater attention
has been paid to the yellow fever and
the cholera than to the plague. The
cholera was anAsiatic disease, and Europe
hoped to stop its march on the frontier
of Russia. The sanitary Gordon was
tried and without avail. In 1881 the
the cholera did not appear in certain
countries of Europe where there were no
measures of restriction. Then arose the
fierce dispute as to whether it was
wholly epidemic in its nature. Accord
ing to the interesting essay of Dr. s.
Oakley Vanderpoel, 1.-THE futility of the
effort to establish a uniform system of
regulations for countries and seaports in
different localities having different
relations with countries from which
malignant diseases are brought, is now
acknowledged there-that which ex-
perience had long ago taught in this
country" The convention of medical
men and Consuls in Paris in 1850 formu-
lated a code of international sanitary
regulations, which, though changed in
C6IGdlu I6SpGCJS, l6IldllS DO OllO luopil
alton Of modern quarantine legislation.
At the convention in Constantinople in
1865 the duty of attempting to stitle cpl
denies sin their exotic cradles by re-
moving the causes by which they are
propagated" was recognized.
The folly of arguing from the particu-
lar to the general has induced some men
of repute to cry out against quarantine
as useless and annoying. AS DR.. Van
derpoel well says: 'Where Topographic
cal conditions are less favorable THAT
is, where the entrance of the disease
would not be almost wholly by seal,
"this isolation from contagious diseases
is almost impossible, and consequently
it is illogical to impose such conditions
The application of general principles
must be founded upon the natural
history, the manner of transmission and
the period of incubation of the disease,
and in shaping restrictive measures all
incidental circumstances must be borne
in mind"
If the cholera gains foothold in this
country it will first pass through our
ports. There is no present reasonable
cause of alarm. The officers at the
harbors are vigilaut, and the quarantine
department of the port of New York
established in 1884, is justly famous
Other cities are we'll protected in this
direction. But official vigilance should
be aided by the personal cleanliness anC
the personal dietary prudence of the
citizen.