The Hawaiian gazette., 1897-02-16

dents in such localities often evince
surprising indifference.
The immediate cause of the spread
/ of the disease, however. is apparently,
4 in most cases, breathing the air of the
sick-room, not in temporary fashion.
I by a doctor or other occasional visitor,
but hour after hour, by co-tenants of
the dwelling. For this reason, the chief
means resorted to by the sanitary
boards in order TO check the progress
/ of the plague is TO remove the patients
. 10 a separate hospital, and thus effect
ually isolate them from their friends
and neighbOrs. OF course, the ignOr-
ant natives in China, India and other
/ countries which are practically under
European rule do not like this. and a
! vigorous enforcement Of the wise poll
. cy here referred TO is almost sure to
I provoke riots Such disturbances have
{ already occurred in Bombay and they
/ we're witnessed in Hong Kong in 1894.
Another measure similarly proyoca-
tive Of popular resentment is the de-
+ structiou of the filthy native quarters
where the plague breaks out. In anti
. cipatiOn of such treatment. the nativ IS
/ often seek to conceal the extent 10
which disease prevails among them,
and thus retard the work of the sani-
tary authorities Flushing the streets
4 and sewers and the free use of certain
/ cheap disinfectants are also restored
TO by way Of precaution. Prevention.
however. is all that is sought Cure
I appears to be out of the question.
Finally with view to Fastening bu-
rial, collins and graves are sometimes
prepared in advance by the thousand
In some plague-stTicken localities
the rats are affected in the same man
ner as human beings. This fact has
been repeatedly noticed in China aud
India, and suggests the possibility that
the soil becomes poisoned. The stimuli
tsneOus development of the plague ut
several points where it has prevailed
in previous years is also cited as show
ing that the bubonic fever may be mi
asmatic as well as contagious; like an
thrax and the 'steppe murrain." How
ever, low-lying lands are not the only
ones subject to this awful visitation.
Plains and granite hills from 5000 TO
1000 feet above sea level have also
witnessed an outbreak
The bubOnic plague appears to have
been known in Syria, Egypt and Lydia
during Trojan's reign, early in the
Christian era. But the first well-au-
thenticated invasion of Europe did not
occur until about 543-'46. when it an
peared in Constantinople and spread
to Italy and Gaul. The next great in
roau began about 1876, and proceeded,
il is thought, from TartaTy to the Cri-
mea and Sicily. whence it reached pref
ty well over the continent and across
into England At irregular intervals
for more than three centuries it swept
this city and that with appalling ha-
voc, reappearing again and again in
the same spot. Among the most i'm
pressive death records of that period
are the following: 1927, Dantzic, So
600; 1866, Paris, 10000; 1870, Moscow, /
100000; 1876, Venice, 10000; 1856, Ma |
pies. 100000 in five months. and 1861
So London, 60, $50 out of a population |
OF 1000, two-thirds of whom fled the |
city. During the sixteenth century
China was nearly dep0pulated" with |
the plague, it is said, while in the
single year 1903 no less than 100000
lives were lost in Egypt. Since the
outbreak in Marseilles in 1920, when
the deaths numbered from 10000 10
10000, the plague has receded toward
the Bosphorous, and has scarcely been
seen again in Europe except in that
vicinity But it has continued its I'M
systematic ravages in Northern Africa
and in certain parts of Asia.
Curi0usly enough India seems 10
have been spared until early in the1
present century. It was for ages a
Droverb that the plague lad never ap-
Beared in that region eastward of the
river Indus. But in 1875 there was an
unmistakable epidemic of this class in
the northern part of the Bombay Presi
dency, and another was experienced in
1916 with lingering traces of the evil
In that neighborhiod until 1920. Fur
Their to the eastward, in Pail, Rajpu-
tani. there was a still more violent out
break in 1886; but the extreme heat Of
1897 is credited with extinguishing the
germs so effecually that no further
trouble was experienced there. Up It
the head water of the Ganges. on the
southwestern slope Of the Himalayas,
in the province of Gurwhal, there we"e
five mysterious epidemics between the
years 1923 and 1877. The disease was
known locally as the "maha murree,"
but investigation has shown that il
was substantially identical with the
bubonic plague of China, Persia and
Egypt. All of these places. be II OBJ
served. are in Northern India. The
outbreak in Bombay, first reported in
September Of the present year, APP
pears to be the first on record in India
at any point so far south.