The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-19

decomposition. The latter supervenes af-
ter an interval of only few minutes thus
rendering post-mortem examination an inn
possibility IL is the same with animals as
with human beings. The symptoms are iden
lt!cal In life, and decomposition is as quick
after death. The scourge seems to prey
upon every living being-eVen upon the
very birds of the air-and II has been no
ticed in ancient as well as in modern,
times that the brute creation Is invariably
the first to be attacked. Thus the arrival
Asia is invariably announced by the sud-
den appearance upon the surface OF the
soil of hordes of rats, mice and other bur-
rowing animals, which fall dead after per-
forming a few extraordinary gyrations.
Dogs, cats and smaller animals are the
next to succumb, then cattle and horses,
and finally men, women and children.
The symptoms of 1.-THE Black Death"
which has now broken out in Hong Kong
and Shanghai, and which from time TO
time raVages certain districts of Asia. are
almost identical with those which, accord
ing to the old chronicles, attended the
great pestilence which ravaged Europe in
the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries A slight fever rapidly tncreas-
ing, constitutes the first stage; intense
thirst follows, as well as uncomfortable heat,
accompanied by attacks Of shivering. The
arteries become tense, and glandular
swellings of q bubonic character appear
In the armpits the neck and i'm other parts
of the body. These vary in size from that
of a hens egg to that OF a mans hst.Con-
tiles become stiff and cold, and in from
ten to twenty minutes the patient sinks
into a comatose condition which speedily
ends in death. As soon as the latter has
taken place, large black bullae form on
the body and spread over It's entire surface,
decomposition following at once. The en-
tire dura ton of the attack lasts from two
to twelve hours. 1t would be a mistake
to imagine that In modern times the
plague has ceased to assail Europeans; for
during the last outbreak at Hong Kong a
1asa lnfl
''The Black Death" was the first heard
of Europe in l947, when, after devast-
ating large districts Of Asia, II was
brought to Constantinople from the Black
sea and conveyed from the Bosphorus by
ship to the various ports of the Mediter-
ranean. Its ravages were terrible. In
Cyprus almost the entire population was
destroyed, while in Venice over 100000
people, or about seYen-tenthS of the pop
ulation are said to have died. In Genoa
scarcely a seventh of the inhabitants
survived, while those who desire to know
how 1t ragged in the other cities Of Italy
need only turn to the graphic descrip-
tions given 1t by Boccaccio and Petrarch.
At Sienna the erection Of the cathedral
was stopped by the plague, and has never
been resumed to this day. From Italy
the scourge made DTS way to France, to
England, to Germany and TO Spain and is
said to have been carried to Scandinavia
by a ship which left London in the sum-
mer of 1349. The whole of the crew died
of the plague, and the ship, after float
cast ashore at Bergen, the infection soon
spreading all over Norway and Sweden.
Even Iceland did not escape, while re.
mote Scandinavian colonies In Greenland
were so oblterated that their very sites
were utterly forgotten Whether from
this point the Black Death was carried on
ward by wandering tribes of EsquImaux
and thus finally reached and devastated
this country, will never be known but
such a course is conceivable, and might
account for the entire disappearance OF
those Icelandic and Scandinavian colonies
which are said to have existed along the
coast of Maine for two or three centuries
prior to the discovery Of America by CO.
lumbus
Europe was subjected to three more WIS.,
itations of 'the Black Death" before the
great pestllence Of 1865, of which Pepvs
gives so detailed portrayal IN his diary:
and in London to this day there remain
many mementOs Of the plague In the shane
Of green plots In the center Of the most
populated districts, which mark the spot
where thousands Of corpses were buried
along with tons Of quickiime IN deep pits
Few Americans go TO London without
paying visit 70 Tattersails, In Knights
bridge, and II may interest them 10 know.
n the matter has not already been called
70 their attention, that the BIT OF green
lawn facing the entrance OF Tattersails
marks the locality Of one OF the larRcsr
and most densely packed OF these great
pits OF the Black Death" Ex-Attache.
Bombay Is now known as the Man
chester Of india"