The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1899-12-15
PLAQUES KAslLY sUBDutD.

having were really M bubonlc
plague" there would now, W a multi
tude of cases. does not accord with the
modern history Of the disease. II In
great while since the black scourge
has done any widespread harm In civil
lized countries or In any land where
sanitation Is understood and practiced.
India. which is, I'm some OF its districts.
a human sink-hole, has. indeed, seen
thousands die miserably during bu-
bonic visitatlons. But happily for hu-
mankind there are no other Indias
Even China has reached point where.
under the direction OF missionaries,
white traders and Government which
Is compelled to act for the welfare OF
Europeans who live in the empire. the
plague can be quickly and readily sub
dued. Almost yearly the disease makes
Its appearance at some place on the
Chinese littoral or in the Yang-tse val
ley-but what does II amount to-?
There is little futter in the press,
few dozen Cinnamon disappear and
then nothing more is heard about it.
The memory Of man hardly goes back
to the time when whatever the condi-
| tons in China may have been, any
white man lost his life on account OF
them.
The scare which the bubonic plague
causes Is its worst feature. This ten
dency to fright is perhaps hereditary.
The day was when people died of the
plague in Europe so fast that there was
not time to bury them, and ever since
| then white men have been terribly
afraid of 1t. We forget that Europe
in that day was filthier than coastwise
China is now. There were no sewers,
no ventilation in houses, ne segrcga-
ton of the sick, no knowledge of medi-
cine outside the monasteries and gypsy
camps save of few grOtesque rene
dies which recall the materia medica
Of Pliny; no acquaintance with hygiene,
nothing but coarse living in squalid
dens which were unfit for swine and
cattle. Under such conditions people
died, whenever a plague appeared, as
flies die in winter. The world forgets
| that the conditions of society have
changed vastly for the better or If it
does not forget, 1t fails to connect the
wasting pestilences Of the past with
the kind of lives people once led. But
who finds the plague disastrous 10
great populations now? The other day
1t appeared at Oporto in Portugal and
there were. II we remember Alright, but
seventeen deaths. 1t crossed to Spain
land the mortality was so slight that II
was not reported. A while before tina
time the plague appeared in Tifiis ant
Ian Europe was aghast. The Russian
doctors took hold of the matter in thu
right way, however, and In shOr
time bubOnic evidences vanished ant
the death list was but little above thu
its perfect work.
In India several immune provinces
present themselves for consideration
They are where the English doctor.
have been able to control the natives
and compel hygienic reforms. At Alex
andria. where the disease occurs II
crowded native settlements, there |!
no longer, since the English got pos
session. any widespread loss of life
The other day the plague was found II
Kobe but the deaths up to the day tn
papers left there did not exceed fou
or five. After that. according to tn
Views Of the casual wlsacre, there ough
=. TO have been a hundred deaths. W.
venture the prediction that the mex
, news from the Japanese city will no
, reveal a dozen. The little brown doc
tors have learned how to battle tn
, Iplague even In such a land of ba
smells as the Mikado's empire o.
So, brethren, be of good cheer. Tn
bubonic plague, though unaeniabl
, with us, is not likely to plague us Ions
1t is being purified with fire and white
wash and 1t Is but matter Of fe,
. days before the active and intelligen
labors of the Board of Health ought I
bring the city out OF its troubles an
, permit the inhabitants, white. yello,
and brown, to resume their unruiile
courses.