The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-02-11

but they are not usually exposed 10
the plague, because they live in a diff
ferent quarter OF the city from that IN
which the outbreak first occurs And
even when affected they usually sur
vive. OF the English soldiers in Hong
Kong, who were called upon in 1894
10 perform the work of disinfecting
certain districts, ten were attacked
with the fever, but only two died.
| Physicians of foreign birth. too. seem
TO enjoy special immunity while
treating the plague-stricken in China,
India and other countries. For these
reasons European and American resi-
dents in such localities often evince a
surprising Indifference.
The immediate cause of the spread
of the disease, however, is apparently,
in most cases, breathing the air of the
sick-room, not in a temporary fashion,
by 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
to 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
vigorous enforcement of the wise poll
cy here referred to is almost sure to
provoke riots. Such disturbances have
already occurred in Bombay, and they
were witnessed in Hong Kong in 1894.
Another measure similarly provoca-
tive of popular resentment is the de-
struction of the filthy native quarters
where the plague breaks out. In anti
clpatlOn of such treatment, the nativ IS
often seek to conceal the extent to
which disease prevails among them
and thus retard the work of the sani-
tary authorities. Flushing the streets
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
appears to be out of the question.
Finally, with a view to Fastening bu-
rial, collins and graves are sometimes
prepared in advance by the thousand.
In some plague-stricken localities
the rats are affected in the same man
ner as human beings. This fact mas
been repeatedly noticed in China aud
India, and suggests the possibility that
the soil becomes poisoned. The stimuli
taneouS development of the plague at
several points where it has prevailed
in previous years is also cited as show
ing that the bubonic fever may be mi
asmatic as we'll 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 lot
occur until about 543'46, when it ap-
peared in Constantinople and spread
TO Italy and Gaul. The next great in
roau began about 1916, and proceeded,
it is thought, from Tartary to the Cri-
mea and Sicily, whence it reached pref
ty we'll 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: 1427, Dantzic, So
900; 1866, Paris, 10000; 1870, Moscow,
200, 900; 1876, Venice, 10000; 1856, Ma
pies, 800, 900 in five months, and 1864 |
'65, London, 500 out of a population
of 400 000 two-thirds of whom fled the |
city. During the sixteenth century |
China was nearly depopulated' 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 TO
SO. 900, the plague has receded toward
the Bosphorous, and has scarcely been
seen again in Europe except IN that
vicinity. But it has continued its un-
systematic ravages in Northern Africa
and in certain parts of Asia.
Curiously enough, India seems to
have been spared until early in the
present century. 1t was for ages a
proyerb that the plague Lad never ap-
peared in that region eastward of he
river Indus. But in 1916 there was on
epidemic of this class in
the northern part Of the Bombay PTesi-
d$lcy, 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-
TAM, there was a still more violent out
break in 1886; but the extreme heat of
1887 is credited with eXtinguishing the
germs so effectually that no further
trouble was experienced there. Up 1t
the head water of the Gauges, on the
slope of the Himalayas,
in the province of Gurwhal, there wee
five mysterious epidemics between the
years 1928 and 1877. The disease was
known locally as the "maha murree,'
but investigation has shown that 1t
was substantially identical with the
bubonic plague of China, Persia and
Egypt. All of these places, be it OBJ
served, are in Northern India. The
outbreak in Bombay, first reported in
September of the present year, ap-
pears to be the first on record in India
at any point so far south.