The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-01-05
FACTS ALL SHOULD KNOW.
"A Physician Tells all A bout the Disease Of
Small Pox.

The following article from the pen
Of local physician who has given the
disease of small po1 and its history
considerable study should be read by
everybody in South Carolina:
To the Editor of the State.
In view Of the general attention that
ia being devoted to the continued
presence Of small pox at Atlanta. and
the increased interest oceasioned by
the appearance Of the disease at other
points, I have thought, that some re-
marks relative to this most loathsome
asiiction and its preventive treatment
By vaccination, would be welcomed by
the public.
Small pox dates from remote anti
quity. At one time or another it has
prevailed in every quarter Of the globe.
The earliest knowledge Of its occur
renee is derived from India, where the
Brahmins practiced inoculation many
centuries before the Christian era.
So common was the disease in that
country, and so terrible it's ravages,
that a goddess was worshipped as a
protectress against it. During the
18th, 14th and 18th centuries it pre-
vailed in Europe, and two centuries
later itappeared on the American'con-
tinent. To obtain an adequate idea
Of the appalling ravages of small pox
in its un6ltered activity we have but
to look back at It's past history. Dur
irg the 18th century one-hal- OF the
total mortality in Europe was caused
by small pox. We find that in 1918
! Il helped to complete the depopulation
of St. Domingo, which the horrors Of
war and famine had begun. Soon
afterwards. IN Mexico, it even surpass-
ed the cr.els,es Of conquest, suddenly
shifting eiaul, 3, 100000 Of population.
Prcscot1. in his Conquest Of Mexi-
ca. describes the epidemic as sweep
Ing over the land like fire over the
pfairies, shifting down prince and
peasant, and leaving its path strewn
With the dead bodies Of the natives,
who perished in heaps like cattle
stricken with murrah. A striking
account of its ravages among the In
dians of this country may be gathered
from the following passages in a book
published in 1871
Thirty millions Of white meu are
new scufing for the goods and luxur-
les Of life over the bones and ashes OF
IL, 600, 600 Of red men, 100000 of
whom have fallen victims to the small
pox." To turn to Europe again, we
find that during the 18th century
ssfnlly two-thirds of all children born
we're, sooner or later, attacked by
small pox, and that on an average one
twelfth of all children born succumbed
70 that disease Nearly one-tenth
Of all persons who died in London
during the latter half Of the last cen
tury died of that cause alone. In
every country visited the younger part
of the population we're peculiarly its
victims and royal and noble families
were not exempt.
But the rayages of small pox are
not half enumerated in the list Of the
myriads whom it has slain. From the
earliest to the latest records Of the
disease there is constant mention OF
the tax which it levies upon survivors.
Ia preyaccination times manywho did
not die we're rendered weak or deform-
ed for life, and blindness often ensued
from the scourgc. Macaulay, who
justly assigns to small pox the fore
most place as "the most terrible OF all
ministers Of DEATH. exclaims in
striking passage, "The havoc of the
plague had been far more rapid, but
the plague had visited our shores only
once or twice within living memory.
The small pox was always present,
filing the churchyards with corpses,
tormenting with constant feays all
whom it had not yet stricken, leaving
on those whose lives it spared the
hideous traces of its power, turning
the babe into a changeling at whom
the mother shuddered.. and making the
eyes and cheeks of the betrothed maid
en- objects of horror to the lover.
An authority affirms that 80 per cent.
of all cases of blindness met with in
the bazaars of India are due to the
same disease. No wonder the ancient
proverb, "From small pox and love
few remain free.
Now let us have briefly the history
of vaccination aud give some account
of it's nature and Importance. The
first method of immunizing the indi-