The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1900-07-13
SHLTH OF THE PLAGUE
IN THE PasT AGts.
Bubonic Pestilence Has
Been Known For
Centuries.
ITS FIRST INVASION or AMERICA.
RACED IN EGYPT THREE HUN
DRIED YEARS BEFORE
CHRISTIAN ERA.
Long Confined to Asia and Africa
Carried of MiIlions-scienee
Has Mastered the
Infection
ITS FIRST INVASION or AMERICA.

lAe SUBJECT - appalling. a mere emu
meration Of the titles and the author
upon the diseas covering forty pages
royal quarto size. OF the index cata
iogue in the library of the surgeon
general OF the army. and there are hun
dreds % others recorded in the Inde,
Medicus Manetho. the Egyptian his
toriau. who lived at the beginning o
the third century b. C.. described pes
tilences. supposed to have been the bu
bonic plag e, as having occurred in th'
reigns Of the most ancient kings Of ID,
Nile land. The malady prevailed IL
Athens in 432-42s 3. c. Thucydides
had the disease and wrote a deserip-
tion OF H. and Il was also noted by Hin
pocrates. II is said that the Greek me-
tropolis at the time Of the scourge lost
more than one-thlrd OF her population
by it,
According to Rufus OF Esphesus, the
plague prevailed in Lydia in the thin
century b c.. and its home was CON
sidered 10 be In the north OF Africa.
The great plague described by Livy.
who died POI b. c.. is said to have de-
stroyed a million OF persons in Africa.
but II is not mentioned that il passed
to European countries. The plague is
also alluded TO In the Bible. Zachariah
Nv.lS. as peculiarly Egyptian. OF viii,
country the disease has been the great
scourge.
In the Christian era il was not until
the sixth century that the plague was
reported in Europe. In SAP it spread
over Egypt. and from there TO Constan-
tinopie where II carried of 10000 in a
single day In the same century ii
passed over into Italy and extended
along the northern coast OF Africa Ia
the seventh century IL appeared IN
England. Seven hundred years later
plague was introduced from the East.
and prevailed throughout Armenia
Asia Minor. Egypt. Northern Africa
and nearly the whole OF Europe. Heck
er has calculated that one-fourth of the
population OF Europe. or $4,000, 900 per-
sons. died in all of the epidemics of the
fourteenth century IL was during this
time that the first recorded measures
uI Importance were taken to check the
spread of the deadly disease. Venice
was the city to take the first step ia
this direction by appointing in 134S
three guardians OF the public health
FOR this purpose.
GREAT PLAGUE OF LONDON.
Again in the fifteenth century bu-
bonic plague made it's appearance In
Europe. and in the year i466 more than
10000 persons died OF Il. The first quar-
antine against IL was established by
Venice in 1908 on a small island adj
joiaing the city. Nearly lT5 years later
plague carried of in one year $4,000
persons in Lyons and 10000 in Venice
During the seventeenth century there |
were fewer plague epidemics recorded |
than during the Middle Ages Not |
outstanding. in 1856. one OF the most 1
destructive Of all epidemies occurred in
Naples. Within a period OF i've months. /
1t Is said no less than SOC, 900 persons /
suecumbed TO the malady. In i664-'65 I
ragged the great plague OF London. and /
the total number Of deaths in the latter /
year according 10 the bills Of mortal
ity. was 6S.596 in an estimated popula-
tion OF 460. goo. out OF whom two-thirds
are supposed to have fed u escape con-
tagion.
In the eighteenth century the plague
prevailed extensively in Europe, the
most notable epidemies being in Mar
settles in 1870 when from 10000 TO Co.
000 persons were carried OF by IT, Dur
ing the following year il appeared ~
Toulon. and spread over the province,
and out Of a population OF s50, 600 Ii is
said that more than $1,000 died. Sicily
VAS visited In has. where the mortality
was upward OF $1,000. Moscow received
a touch OF the scourge in III. and one
quarter OF the population. or $1,000. met
death by reason Of IT, The nineteenth
century has been marked by a recess
sion OF the plague toward the East. al
though in 1915 II appeared ON the east
ern coast Of Italy. but was confined Il
A small district, and has never sincs
An isolated epidemic o.
CURED Ia Greece in 1898
During the next TWO decades Egypt I
xas again visited. but since 1876 IL has
act appeared there. There was an cpl
iemic OF extreme severity in Cairo IN
1888. during which there died a num- |
Der OF inhabitants equal TO the whole I
ldult male population. Since 1859 the !
western limit OF the plague is the Can !
sry Islands. while its eastern limit has
been the Island OF Formosa, of the !
cast OF China. Since 1850. the disease
las osciilated now east. now west. be
ween the Red Sea and the Pacific. in '
ehinR. India, Arabia. Persia. Mesopo-
amia. Russia, the Caspian littoral. At {
Ihanistan and Tripoli The last out I
freak os the plague on European soil
vas in 1878 and 1873 on the hanks OF !
he yolga. Formerly e was asserted {
hat the disease never appeared east of
he Indus. in India: nevertheless. il has l
'een observed during the present ceR-
nry In more than one distinct center
n India. Since 1871 II has particularly
.een heard from in China History 70
ords very little Of the plague ia the
AZ East Chinese history makes no '
eference 10 any epidemic which has
eft q permanent record ,
The appearance OF the plague In San
os. Brazil In October. 1899. marks an
Important epoch IN plague literature.
s furnishing the very first recorded /
OF the occurrence OF the dis ,
ase In the Western Hemisphere. The
ufbreek in San Francisco was the hrst
. the United States. How II came viii J