The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-01-05


everybody in South Carolina
Tn Me E1i!or ot' the State.
kn view Of the general attention that
i. being devoted to the continued
presence Of small pox at Atlanta. and
the increased interest occasioncd by
the appearance of the disease at other
points. have thought that some re-
marks relative to this most loathsomc
aiiction and it's preventive treat. cent
nv vaccination, would be welcomed by
the public.
Small pox dates from remote anti
..uity, At ono time or another j. has
prevailed in every quarter of the globe.
The earliest knowledge Of its occur
renee is derived from India, where the
Brahmins practiccd inoculation many
centuries before the Christian era
- common was the disease in that
colutry. aud 80 terrible its ravagcs,
that Il co.ics, was worsllipped as a
rrotcct-cs against it, During the
l:,tI. III am! 10Th centuries it pre- :
,aicl in Europe. and two centuries
later it appeared on the American con-
iincnt r" obtain an adequate idea
pr the appalling ravagcs Of small pox
in its unGltrrc1 activity we have but
to look bacl; at its past history. Dur
ing the 18th century onchalf Of the
total mortality in Europe was caused
by small pox. We find that in 1918
it thclpcd to complete the dcpopulation
nf st. Domingo, which the horrors Of
war anI famine had begun. Soon
:.ftcrwa.i- - Mexico, it even surpass-
c'. the G.. ,i:',.s Of conquest, suddenly
s.nitinr ,"Nu $500, 900 Of population.
Present. It, his Conquest of Mexi-
co. Nr,,.,pcs the epidemic as sweep
ing olcr the land like fire over the
rrairics, shifting down prince and
peasant, and 'ilcaving it's path strcwn
with the dead bodies Of the natives,
who rcrishcd in heaps like cattle
a
account OF its ravagcs among the In
dams of this country may be gathered
from the following passages in a book
published III 1871
Thirty millions Of white men arc
now scuiiing for the goods and luxur-
les Of life over the bones and ashes OF
1000, 900 OF rcd men, G,000, 600 Of
whom have fallen victims to the small
rox." TO turn to Europe again, we
find that during the 18th century
fully two-thirds Of all children born
were, sooner or later, attacked by
small pox, and that on an average one
twelfth of all children born succumbed
to that disease" Nearly onc-tcnth
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 were peculiarly its
victims and royal and noble families
were not exempt
But the ravagcs Of small pox are
net half enumerated in the list of the
lnyriatis whom it has Slain From the
earliest to the latest records OF the
disease there is constant mention Of
the tax which it lcvics upon survivors.
In prcvaccination times many who did
not die were rendered weak or dcform
cd for life, and blindness often cnsucd
from the s"ourgc. Macaulay, who
Justly assigns to small pox tic fore
most place as the most terrible Of all
ministers Of death. cXclums in Il
striking passage, The havoc of the
llaguc 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,
illinm the church yards with corpscs.
tormcnting with constant fears all
whom it had not yet stricken, leaving
rn those whose lives it spared the
hdcous traces e It's ro@c:. turning
the babe into changcling at whom
the mother shuddcrcd. and making the
eyes and checks of the bctrothed maid
eli objects Of horror to the lover.
\n authority ailirms that 90 per cent.
of all cases of blindness met with in
the bazaars Of India are due to the
same disease. No wonder the ancient
rrovcrb, "From small pox and love
few remain free
Now let us have briefly the history
OF vaccination and give some account
Of its nature and Importance. The
first method of immunixing the indi
vidual against small pox was known as
incubation which was introduced into
England in I'LL by Lady Montague.
subsequently, it was quite generally
practiscd throughout Great Britain.