The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-17
THE BUBONIC PLAGUE,
Why 1t Is So CaIIed-Its Character
istics, Its Origin, and the Means of
Preventing 1t.

Preventing 1t.
From the London Lancet.
Without entering into the discussion as
to whether or not all epidemics STYLED
plague" in Biblical and medieval liter
ature were of the nature of the bubonic
plague of recent times, there can be no
doubt that since 1850 the name plague"
has been applied to a definite train of
symptoms which are considered to con-
sttute a specific disease During diff
ferent outbreaks some one symptom at
tains a fatal pre-eminence but not to the
exclusion of others, which might at any
time assume the death lead and serve to
baptize the disease as "bubonic," hem
orrhagic,' "typhoidal," pneumonia, and
so forth.
The name plague" however, is not one
which helps us to place the complaint in
it's proper scientific niche in the category
of disease. The word conveys the idea
of an unusual disease attacking many
persons and attended by a high mortality.
but that gives it no scientific value any
more than the wan yik' of the Chinese
Were ] to attempt to classify plague
would place it among the specific fevers
and particularize 1t under the name of
'polyadenitis," and individuaize it still
further as malignant polyadenitis" It
may be objected that Admits is not al
ways present, that many plague-strlcken
patients die before the glands are even
swollen, and that, therefore, the name is
defective: but it is needless to point out
that in many diseases the most typical Of
symptoms are at times absent. and yet
the cases can be classified with their
kind. To justify the prefix poly" to the
word "adenitis" it is necessary to remem-
Der that although one gland alone may he
clinically apparent, most, if not all, the
Emphatic glands are found to be en-
larged at the post-mortem examinations.
The most recent report in regard to this
subject is interesting: ''Thirty-three cases
90 per cent? We're received without a
proper bubo In most of these cases null
tiple Admits was found, the general size
of the glands being that of a lentn In
the latter stages of the disease other
bubos formed in different localities, and
complicated the case; 80 per cent of the
cases showed swelling of the intestinal
bronchial and mediastinal glands in diff
ferent stages"
The term "bubonic" so frequently ap-
piled to the disease is not so appropriate
as would at first sight apear. A bubo is
essentially the swelling of a gland caused
| by the entrance of septic materials in the
| tract of lymphatics over which the gland
presides. This cannot be said to obtain
in plague, for the so-called bubO of plague
| can in no sense be regarded as a sympa-
! thetic swelling, but merely the outcome of
a blood poison. If it is TO be classcd a
| bubo at all it must be distinctly under
stood to be an "idiopathic bubo. a true
| ''bubon d'emblee." One never speaks of
| the buboes of tertiary syphilis or of scrof-
| ulous buboes. The terms may be clinical
! ~ correct, but they are not in common use
! they have, however, as much right to be
! called bubonic as the giandHar enlarge
/ ments in plague. With these considera-
! tons before us / would venture TO name
60 al nj mol "a ftc ~
! the hope that attention may be drawn to
the naming of the disease by more compe-
tent students than myself
Plauge or malignant polyadenitis we may
define as an acute febrile disease of an in
| tensely fatal nature, characterized by in
fiammation of the Emphatic glands
marked cerebral and vascular disturb
ances, and by the presence of a specific
bacillus
The cause of plague is the advent of a
definite bacillus and il is the life history
of this bacillus which must i'm future oc-
cupy the attention of psychologists and
clinical observers The proximity of the
bacillus is at the present day known only
by its effect on human beings. and, It may
be, on rats as we'll What fosters il APP
pears to be bad sanitation: once establish
ed time alone will stay its ravages so far
as any given epidemic is concerned, but
there seems every hope that improved
sanitation will check its occurrences
The prodromata of plague may be d.
vided into the remote and the immediate
but / viii consider them together Time
and again has IL happened that before an
outbreak of plague, during a period vary
ing from a few months to several years.
buboes with fever have been observed in
a more or less epidemic form In 1877 the
variety of plague which infected Astra-
khan, previously to the serious outbreak
that occurred in 1878 some $50 miles higher
up the Nolga,' was classed as a pests
minor" No one died from the disease per
Sc, and but few people were confined 10
bed. Should such another outbreak take
place in the neighborhoon the diagnosis
viii be readily cleared up by an examina-
ton Of the blood, the tissues. and the ex-
cretions.