The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-11
THE ..RLACK DEATH"

THE "BLACk DEATH"
The black death" OF bubonic plague,
has been in evidence for hundreds Of years,
sun very little is known concerning it.
Julian Ralph. who has been investigating
The history Of the disease in Asia for Har-
per's Weekly. quotes an eminent European
physician of Hong Kong as saying that
he has studied the plague for many years
and probably knows as much about it as
any other man. but" he concludes, u
know nothing about It," Its symptoms are
too familiar, as are also It's fatal ravages;
but how It may be treated successfully,
and how it is transmitted are profound
mysteries. Experience has shown that 1t
may be checked by vigorous sanitary
measures and that sanitation and cleanll-
ness are the best safeguards against it;
but even these are not sure. It defes eli
mate and altitude, as was shown in an out
break In a mountainous village of Tur-
kestan not long ago. The village in which
this visitation occurred was almost mac
cessible 10 travellers, being situated on the
top of a high mountain, something Ike
a
minimum of communication between the
village and the outside world Neverthe-
less, the plague. springing from apparent
ly nowhere, ravaged the place and killed
about $50 OF the 600 population in a few
weeks. The atmosphere of this village
was clear. dry, pure and cool-1ust the re-
verse of the hot and damp atmosphere of
Hong Kong and the Indian cities which
have been regarded as the special breeding
and feeding places of the black death"
Mr. Ralph refers TO this mountain out
break as showing that the interior is as
liable to the disease as the seacoast, and
the mountains are no more immune TO the
disease than the seaports and the river
valleys. 1t would be quite as likely to
thrive in Denver as i'm New York should
it gain foothold in this country; that is,
in so far as altitude and climate are con
cerned. and supposing each city to have
an equal amount of matter for It to feed
upon.
White persons In Asia rarely have the
disease. The reason for their apparent
immunity is believed to be because, being
generally of a well-to-do class of persons.
they are clearly in their habits, their
bodies are well nourished with proper
kinds of food and they live in houses in
which hyglenic laws are observed. There
are no whites in the slums and filth spots
of the Asiatlc cities; and it Is in such places
that the "black DEATH" a filth disease,
grows and ravages. 1t attacks the in
fed, the weak, the personally unclean, who
live in reeking alleys and novels, and mows
them down by the hundreds. 1t is not the
color or race of the white people in Asia
that protects them. but the fact that they
are clean and well nourished, and keep
away from the plague spots. If the mall
ady were to get foothold IN Europe or
America, in cities where there are unclean
and. crowded Sums, the white victims
would no doubt be relatively as numerous
as are the yellow and brown victims in
Asia The great epidemic in London had
white persons as its victims
more soap; and still more soap! That
is what is needed to check the advance of
infectious diseases" said the Emperor of
Germany 10 delegate to the Tuberculo-
sis Congress He had in mind consump-
tion The white DEATH Cleanliness is a
safeguard against that stalking terror, as
it is the most effective of known safe
guards against its even more dreadful CO.
destroyer, the "black death" Cleanliness
of persons and municipalities, and eternal
vigilance to keen clean is the nrfce Of aya,,
comparative immunity from infectious
and contagious diseases.