The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1894-07-06

q similar manner, so to 100 persons are
dying every day. The whole NUM- err
OF deaths thus far is over 100000. In
Hong Kong, the percentage of deaths
for three days was leo, that Is. every
person who was attacked died.
In Hong Kong, as in Canton, eyer
getic measures are being taken to ,x-
terminate the plague, but with no lac
cess. Detectives are az work making
house to house canvass of In ected
districts and bringing the suffe. ers TO
the hospitals, where some care can be
given item. In many ca they have
found the su Terer5 alone and uncared
for. AS soon as case appears the
Chinese desert the attic ed, leaving
him in a room with jug of water and
peering in the window at intervals.
and prodding tho victim with i long
pole to ascertain If lite is extinct.
The danger from infection from the
disease Is greater than is generally
imagined. Hong Kong is a great tea
shipping port, and the pestilenoe might
be trought over TO this country in the
tea chests. Canton and Hong Kong,
however, have been declared infe eted
ports. and ali vessels coming fr IN
there will be placed in quarant ne on
arrival in Sa1 Francisco. AS Europe
ans and Americans in Yunnan, Can
ton. and Pakhoi have been stricken
with the disease, it is Important that
all quarantine precautions should be
taken against the introduction of the
plague in American ports. The vari-
Gus consuls on the Southern China
coast are urging that the laws pertain
ing to the arrival OF ships and steamers
in America from infected ports be rig
idly enforced.
What Caused the Plague.
The plague is mystery. Whence it
comes has puzzled the world for seve-
raj centuries. Scientists now, how
ever, lean TO the belief that il Is Sc
we're form OF malaria or typhus, and
that it is caused ty bad sanitary con-
d tions, y drouth and fifth. This the
DRY is sustained by the fact that, in the
case OF the present epidemic. ii broke
out in secti N where the drainage is
imperfect and filth abourds, and that
the whole al icted section has not been
visited by rain in many monthe.
The original birthplace of the plague
was in Yunnan, Chinese pro ,ince,
and its first visits were the most dread
full scourges to which humanity has
ever been subjected. In tho fourteenth
century it killed 49, 0),0o0 PEOPLE in
China. 24,c00,0J0 in other oriental
countries, and less than %, 0 200
in Europe. Germany alone had ~
434 recorded deaths from this cause.
Italy had quite one half of it's entire
population swept away and in London,
then comparatively small city, there
were no less than 10000 victims
The last outbreak of plague in
Eurcpo was in 1859, on the banks of
the Nolga. Ii was very virulent, and
at Vetlianka, out Of populati of
loo, there were All attacked end 1862
died. The epidemic probably took its
rise in Astrak ian, in 1877, and was not
brought from Turkey by Cossacks
after the war, as was popularity sup
posed.
Plague has been observed in China
since 1871, in Yunnan and at Pakhoi, a
port in Tonquin Gulf, since 1882. where
1t is said to have prevailed for n least
fifteen years. In Yunnan it is eldemic
and at Pakhoi it occurs nearly every
year.
The disease is directly infectious,
spreading rapidly from every place OF
its appearance. 1t is attended by fear
ful suffering, and Is so nearly always