The Irish standard., 1892-12-24
THE BI.A OK DE ATH
disappearance Of q Terrible Soourre
Ii Turkestan.
1orns OF the Ravages OF tho Dread Dis
eass-The Frightful Mortality Gem
soqusnt Upon Its Vista 20
- Europe.

r r Fl
Recent advices from Turkestan tell
az the outbreak there of the black
death in very virulent form, some
ahirteen hundred people dying of the
disease in small town inside of six
days. The black death, says the New
York Sun, is an unfamiliar name to
aaodern times. but in the middle ages
Is was q current term, never spoken
without sense Of horror. It passed
Rnder different names at times, such as
.4he great DEATH" the "bubo plague"
the plague" and, indeed, it was the
plague Of the ancients. 1t was the
plague Of the time Of Trajan and was
.arst mentioned historically by the ply
xician Rufus, of Ephesus, and for 1900
years it has paid periodical visits, chief
IL to Mediterranean shores. In the
fourteenth century it extended all over
Europe and the mortality was fright
ful, fully 25,0O0,0o0 of people having
succumbed to the scourge, while at the
same time in the east 100000 and in
China Is, O00, 900 persisted. In 1856 some
zoe, 900 people were carried off in five
months by the plague in Naples. Lon
don had been visited 'many times by
the disease, when what is known as
the ''great plague of London" pre-
vailed in 1864, and about one-sixth of
the population of the city was carried
off In Toulon in 1921 one-third of the
population persisted.
Almost the last appearance of the
black death in Europe was in 1910 and
lS41, in Turkey and Dalmatia. It has
never appeared in the United States.
Our first accurate knowledge of the
Acourge dates from it's prevalence in
Egypt from 1888 to 1s45, where it was
studied by European physicians as care
fully as could be done with the restrict
ed pathological teachings of that time.
Since then there have been outbreaks
in Irak on the Euphrates in 1867 and in
1873, in 1875 at Bagdad, in 1877 at other
points on the Tigris, and again in 1884
i'm the same parts Of Mesopotamia. In
1873 Europe was thrown into panic by
the appearance OF the plague on the
banks of the Volga. but it was mild in
character, and died out spontaneously
In short time. The various govern
ments sent commissions to the spot to
study and report upon the disorder, but
II had quite disappeared when the
commissioners arrived, and consequent
ly our scientific knowledge of the disor-
der was not increased.
We know it to be the most fatal of
all epidemic diseases. The 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
tie and other animals become victims
to the pestilence. 1t is undoubtedly an
acute infectious disease, caused by some
micro organism which has unusually
malignant proclivities, and which null
iplies with enormous rapidity within
the body. Death sometimes takes place
i'm very few hours. Among the symp-
toms which have contributed to its vari-
GUS designations are enlargement and
suppuration Of glands and the forma-
ton of carbuncles, whence the name
.sbubo-plague;" and hemorrhagic spots
and petechiB under the skin, rendering
the body quite dark or black. whence
the origin of the phrase ''black death"
Like the cholera and smallpox and
several other contagious diseases, it
haunts the habitations of the poor, the
shiftless, and the squalid. Modern
civilization in Europe, with its i'm
proved sanitation of cities and perfected
water supply, has gradually eradicated
most of the epidemics that SO ravaged
medieval peoples, but pestilence still
fingers among the Orientals, where
everything it demands for it's susten-
ance and perpetuation is furnished with
prodigal iberality; foul water, decay
ing food, vile habits, filthy houses, I'M
clean vestments, and streets reeking
with garbage and offal. So long as
those conditions persist, and unhappily
they do persist even under the foster
Ing care of European governments
having control in these regions. so long
will the east be constant menace to
the health of civilized mankind. While
it is hardly probable that the black
death will ever again visit Europe in q
form so calamitous as formerly, still
conditions might at some time become
so favorable for the growth and prop
agation of its germ that il might
cause great havoc in certain continental
cities such as Astrakhan, Constan-
tinople,. and the like where sanitation
is scarcely known even by name.
THE SILENT CITY.
Wonderful Mirage of q Town That 10 Yet
Unidentified.
Many stories have been written about
mirapes and delusions, but none more