The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-02-11
BUBONIC PLAGUE
RaVageS Of the Disease Among
Lower Glasses.
SELDOM ATTACKS EUROPEANS
Cause of Plague Due to
Filthy Condition.
Was Known in Syria Early i'm Chris
tan Era-Continued Periodi-
-cally Since Then.

Misfortunes never come singly. the
proverb says, and India's woful expe-
rience just now affords a fresh illus
tration of its truth. Owing to the fail
ure of her crops last spring and again
this last autumn, a large portion OF
her immense population is threatened
with starvation. And right on top Of
that distress comes a pestieInce the
very mention of which strikes terror
to millions of hearts. The first of these
two evils is operative over a consider
able extent of territory, and deaths
from that cause in the whole Empire
are said to number a thousand daily.
AS yet the new conner confines its work
TO a single city, Bombay, and thus far
its victims number less than a hundred
day. But the history of similar vi
stations in previous years justifies the
expectation of a rapid increase of the
plague before it begins to subside, and
the reported flight of 100000 residents
(about one-fourth of the total numbor)
offers vivid testimony to the panic
which has been created by the out
break.
This. alarm will be better understood
when one recalls the fact that the dis
ease which is called the "bubonic
plague" or "bubonic fever" in the
cable dispatches, is identical with a
malady which has ragged repeatedly IN
Asiatic countries in epidemic form in
the last eighteen centuries, and with
the BLACK Death" which ravaged Eu-
rope in the Middle Ages. 1t has also
reaped a terrible harvest in Egypt and
Libya.
This disorder is marked by a sudden
attack of high fever, the patients tenn
perature rising to 1O5 degrees, or even
higher, and is attended with headache,
thirst and stupor. which rapidly ad-
vance to a state of coma Death often
occurs within twenty-four hours of the
first manifestation, although the aver
age run of the disease in a fatal case
is about two days. Between twelve
and twenty-four hours after the pc
ginning of the attack glandular swell
ing, hard, and tender to the touch.
usually appears in the groin, armpit
or neck, most frequently in the groin.
These characteristic tumors. or buboes,
give to the malady one its familiar
names. Sometimes death overtakes
the victim before the swellings appear.
In other cases the tumors suppuraUe,
If the patient lives beyond
the second or third day. Suppuration
Is usually regarded as a promising
sign. On the other hand, the develop
ment of spots on the skin, or of inter
nal hemorrhages attended with the vo-
hitting of blood, is regarded as a most
alarming symptom. The proportion of
cases which end in death has been
placed by some authorities at 80 per
cent, but this seems to be an under
estimate. Many epidemics can be cited
IN which two out OF three sufferers
lied; in other instances the mortality
was 80 per cent. 1t is even declared
during certain visitations of the plague
along the banks of the Volga not one
person survived who was once attack
ed If, however, the victim holds cut
for five days he generally gets well
although his recovery may not he
wholly effected for a month.
As to the precise cause of this NAL
ady there is some uncertainty. The
Encyclopaedia Britannica" describes
the bubonic plague as "a febTile dis
ease. depending on the reception into
the body Of a specific organic conta-
gion. Analogy makes il probable that
this contagion is a living organism
of the class bacteria, but the sus-
y
covered" The fever is somewhat allied
to typhus, and has even been called
the typhus OF hot climates; but this
designation is not accepted by experts.
The most powerful Of the various
influences that promote the spread of
plague is uncleanliness. It invariably
breaks out in those quarters of a city
where the dwellinghOuses are over
crowded and surrounded by filth. This
was notably the case in Canton and
Hong Kong during the visitation Of
1894. and in Pail. India, in 1886 Of
the aforementioned city it was said
that it was filthy beyond conception"
An impoverished condition of the blood
due to scanty food is another conduc-
ing cause More than one outbreak of
the plague. like the present one in
India, has been preceded by or was
attended with a famine. 1t will thus
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