Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-02-22
Madison. Feb. 10.

) OleS and DR.. Muller Experiences.
Madison, Feb. 10.
AS to the likelihood of the bubonic
plague reaching and overrunning this
country DR.. Clarke Gapen admitted
yesterday that this might occur, as no
nations or peoples are predispoSed
either for or against the scourge Even
monkeys and other animals have been
known to contract it. 1t is very in
fictitious, more easily communicated
than almost any other disease, and has
a mortality that is frightful- hardly
paralleled in all the annals of pesti-
lence. In parts of India, the doctor
said, the death has been known to go
as high as So per cent, and in the pneu-
monte form is always fatal The germs
OF the disease are not likely to be con-
yeyed in merchandise, but in the
clothing of sufferers it has been known
to be carried hundreds of miles as in
the case of Hawaii, where it was GER
tainly brought from Asia. The doctor
|
without warning, at any city in the
world and at any time, and he instanced
the fact that it had been known.t in
wade Moscow after period of $50 years
OF freedom from the disease and that it
one appeared in Malta after 1877 years
OF immunity. Transmission of the
germ in general amounts to transmits
sion of the disease. There are circum-
stances, however, that tend to limit or
increase its spread. The floods in the
Bombay district have given the plague
every encouragement, and there it has
shown the most virulence On the
other hand the doctor contended that
our present good sanitary conditions
would minimize its ravages should it
appear in this country. The first case
or cases, he said, would be isolated at
once and the strictest surveillance by
the health authorities be brought to
bear. dangerous spread of the
disease would thus be avoided DR..
Gapen says the bubonic plague is one
OF the things that might come to us
through the open door,
According to Miss Margaret Noble.
an English lady who has spent the past
two years in India and is now visiting
friends in this part of the country, the
plague is destined to visit thecountries
of the world. Miss Noble aided in
nursing the natives in Calcutta and
had charge of funds collected to i'm
prove the sanitary conditions She
would have opened a hospital for the
women, but it is a curious fact that the
plague rarely, if ever, attacks women
among men and boys.
Miss Noble does not think the Cau-
caslans are in any danger even if the
plague lnvades their cities. The disease
seems to find it's victims among those
of Asiatic birth. 1t is very contagious,
especially the pulmonary form, and
sweeps with great devastation through
the crowded portions of the Asiatic
towns
1t has been a popular belief that the
plague was fostered in bad sanitary
conditions and unhealthy surround
ings. Miss Noble thinks poor food is
more responsible for it's ravages. It is
| seldom found in the homes of the rich,
whose systems arc Injured by proper
food, but finds as victims among the
| poor, whose bodies have been poorly
nourished. Beef tea and brandy are
the sovereign remedies and are about
all that can be given the patient The
| disease, she says, is not revolving or
disgusting in any form
| Miss Noble says the Monaghan quar-
ters in many American large cities Will
be the infected districts if the plague
does visit the United States, but with
ordinary precautions the American
people have little to fear from it. II
seems to flourish especially in countries
where malaria is prevalent, and the
Gauges district is impregnated with the
germs which carry off the people by
thousands. The low, damp land is full
of miasma, which develops the germs
very rapidly.
One of the first cases OF bubonic
plague in Europe was developed in a
curious way. Dr. Mueller, a famous
physician of Vienna, had some germs
sent to him for study. His assistant
aided him in his work and they lab
pred with the utmost care for over a
year. Then the assistant became care
less and IN some way the germs en-
| tered his system. DR.. Muller and a
friend nursed him until he died The
nurse was stricken next, and DR.. Null
Ter cared for him, holding no commu-
n1cation with the outside world save
by means Of basket which hung from
the window and was raised and low
cred to carry provisions and medi-
| clnes. The nurse died, and DR.. Muller
was attacked. With true scientific
spirit, he noted his symptoms on the
wall Of his chamber, which was almost
covered with notes, on the progress or
the disease. The notes were made with
pathetic regularity until death quoted
the hand that wrote them They have
been invaluable in dealing with the
plague and furnish an exhaustive study
of IFS deye1onrnont