Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1892-12-28
THE BLACK DEATH
Temperance OF a Terrible Scourge
in Turkcstan-
Some of tho RavaGes OF tho Dread DE-
ease-Tho Frlghtful Mortality Com
sequent Upon It's Visits 20
Europe.

ucltn IN q very Vlrulcnt form, some
thirteen hundred people dying of the
disease il Il small town inside of six
days. The black death, says the New
York Sun, is an unfamiliar name to
modern times, but in the middle ages
it was Il current term, never spoken
without a sense of horror. 1t passed
under different names at times, such as
the great DEATH" the "bubo plague"
the 'plaGuc." and, indeed, it was the
plague of the anCicntS. 1t was the
Plague of the time of Trajan and was
first mentioned historically by the Dhv-
stefan Eufus, CT EphcSus, and for 1900
years 1T has paid periodical visits, chief
ly to Mediterranean shores. In the
fourteenth century it extended all over
Europe n the mortality was fright
FIJI, fully G5,000,0 GOO of people having
succunbcd to the &oourTc, while ut tho
same time in the cast g 5000. COO and in
China 1900, 000 persisted. In 1906 sonc
100000 people were carried off in five
months by the plague in Naples. Lon
don had been visited mauy times by
the disease, when what is known as
the great plague Of London pre-
vailed in 1864, and about Cnc-siyth Of
the population of the city Was carried
off. In Tou!on in 1921 onc-third of the
population persisted.
Almost the last appearance OF the
black death in Europe was in 1870 and
1911, in Turkey and Nalmatia. 1t has
never appeared in t." United States.
Our first accurate knowledge Of the
acourgc dates from its prevalence in
Egypt from 1853 to 1879, where it yvas
studied by European phyGican3 IS caro-
fully rs could be done With the restrict
cd PATHOLOGY al teachings cf that time.
Since then there have been outbreaks
in lrali on tho EuphratC3 in 1867 and in
1878, in 1876 at Bagdad. in 1877 Ut other
points on the TigTiG, end again in 1854
III the same parts Of Mcsopotaraia. In
1878 Europe was thrown into Il panic by
the appearance of the plague on the
banks OF the NOlga, but it was mild in
character, II died out spontaneously
in 4 short time. The various govern
mcntS sent commissions to the spot to
study and report upon the disorder, but
it had quite disappeared when the
commissioners arrived, and consequent
~ III scientific knowledge of the disor-
der was not increased.
We know it to be the most fatal of
all epidemic diseases. Tho mortality
varies from sixty to ninety per cent. of
those attacked. and occasionally every
person affected dies. Not only human
beings suffer, but rats, cats, dogs, cat
tic and other animals become victims
to the pcstilcncc. 1t is undoubtedly an
acute infectious disease, caused by sorlc
micro organism which has unusually
malignant prOclivitics, and which null
tlpl!cs with enormous rapidity within
thc body. Death sometimes takes place
in n very few hours. Among the syn,p-
toms which have contributed to IFS yari-
ouh designations are enlargement md
su~pPuration, of glands and the forna-
ton OF carbunclcs, whence the namc
'huho-plaguG;' and hcmorrhagic spots
and potcchip under the skin, rcndCrinr
the body quite dark or black, whence
the origin of the phrase ''blaclz DEATH
Like thc' cholera and smallpox and
several other contagious diseases, it
hau'its the habitationa of the poor, tho
shiftlcss, and tho squalid. Modern
civilization in Europe, with it's i'm
proved sanitation Of cities and perfected
water supply, has gradually cradicntcd
most OF the C~pidCmics that 80 ravarcd
medieval peoples, but p~cStilcncc still
Tvs
fingers among the Oriontals, where
everything it demands for it's sustcn-
ancc and pcrpotuntion is furnished with
prodigal ibcrality; foul water, decay
ing food, vile habits, filthy houses, un-
clean vcstmeuts, and streets rocking
with garbage and offal. So long rs
those conditions persist, and unhappilv
they do persist even under the foster
ing care Of European governments
having control in these regions, so long
will II cast be q constant n to
the health of civilized mankind. While
it IS hardly probable that the black
death will ever again visit Europe in n
form so calamitous as formerly, still
conditions might ut some time become
So i&"orablc for the growth and prop
aGat'on of it's germ that it might
c&u3c great iavocia certain continental
cit!cs such IA Astrallhan, C~o1stnn-
I - PIC, ara -, Iil;o y..p.a sanitation,