The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-04-22

Isit trae that the greatest ealam-
ity that ever befell the human race,
the deluge net accepted, was her
aided as joke on humanity, was
met With laughter, was suffered
with grins and vas made the sub
iect of tests by nearly all the world
while it was doing . deadly work
for which the history Of the earth
furnishes no parallel?
The New York State Board OF
Health has made an attempt to ss-
innate the number of deaths caused
by the disease commonly known 40
the grip, within the fields Of it's OBJ
servation. In q communication
sent to the Legislature that Board
says "Ata low estimate itl the grip3
has caused 81 600 deaths in this
State since its first appearance, and
probably over 3O0,000 in the en-
tire country" These figures afford
q basis for roughly estimating the
mortality throughout the earth
from this cause, and for comparing
it with that of some of the great
plaques of history.
It should be remembered that ne
plague sent upon the earth previous
to the coming Of the grip made all
the inhabited world the field of its
ravages. Early in the Seventeenth
century a fearful malady is said to
have carried off over 100000 VIC
Tins in and near Constantinople,
but it ragged only in comparative
ly small area ia the East. A few
years later a plague that was
hardly felt beyond the boundaries
of Italy originated in Naples and is
credited with having caused some
100000 deaths. In London between
$4,000 and 100, 600 persons axe said
to have died in 1864, but this awful
death-rate was confined to mere
point on the earth's surface. It is
recorded that 100000 persons died
in Egypt in the course of a plague.
which visited that country GEN.
tury ago. Unlike any of these WIS.,
itations the grip visited nearly ev-
cry inhabited part of the globe. It
was first heard of in the cold cli-
mate of Russia. It afterwards pros
trated caravans on the hot sands of
the great desert in Africa. In the
Western Hemisphere it left hardly
any region untooched. 1t served
the Indians of Alaska as badly as it
served the Crackers of Florida. To
say that it swept over the entire
earth is with few unimportant ex-
ceptions to speak no more than the
truth.
1t is safe to say that the death
rate throughout the earth from the
grip was as high as it was in the
temperate climate of the United
States. Probably the average for
the entire earth was much higher.
Throughout the greater part of the
United States, and of Europe az
we'll, medical attendance was easily
procured. But this seems to have
been of little importance, for ply
sicians were almost completely baf-
fed by the disease. The advan-
tages, however, offered by the high
er civilization of the United States
and of Europe, enabling the sick to
have better care, probably made
the death.rate lower in these coun-
tries than in others not so general
ly provided with these comforts.
Assuming that the average mortal
ity from the grip throughout the
earth was no higher than it 10
estimated to have been in the
United States, let US attempt to ap-
proximate the number Of deaths in
the human family from that disease.
If 300, 900 persons out of 63, 100000
died, how many of the earth's L.
500 100000 were carried off?
These are round numbers, but
they are accurate enough for the
purpose of rough estimate. 1t is
an easy problem by the old rule
of three, and the answer comes out
in these appalling figures: If all
the world suffered from the grip az
the United States suffered, accord
ing to the best estimate, more than
600, 600 persons died of that UNI
precedented plague! But, in order
to be surely within bounds, let us
make an allowance of fifty per cent
for errors, and say that at the very
lowest reasonable estimate $780,
900 lives were taken.
Yet the story is only partly told
The number of persons who have
never seen we'll day" since they
had the grip, is probably far greater
than the number killed by that
sweeping plague. The earth mum.
bers millions of mental or physical
wrecks whose death when it occurs.
will be indirectly the result Of the
grip.
In the opinion of the State Board
IF Health, the mild form of this
1ear's recurrence OF the grip "gives
.eason to believe that this extraor-
linary epidemic has run it's course
Is it too much to say the earth is
out of the shadow Of the
greatest calamity that ever befeu
.ha hnn,.n race9-NAw York Sun.