Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-18

1850 the disease has oscillated now
and the Pacific. in China, India.
Arabia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Russia.
the Caspian littoral, Afghanistan and
| Tripoli. The last outbreak OF the
plague on European soil was in 1873
and 1879 on the banks of the Volga-
Formerly il was asserted that the dis
ease never appeared east of the Indus,
in India; nevertheless it has been OBJ
served during the present century in
more than one distinct center in India.
Since 1871 il has particularly been
heard from in China. History records
very little of the plague in the far east.
Chinese history makes no reference to
any epidemic which has left perma-
nent record.
The appearance of the plague in San
tos, Brazil, in October, 1899. marked an
important epoch in plague literature
ms furnishing the very first recorded
instances of the occurrence of the dis
ease in the western hemisphere. The
outbreak in San Francisco was the
first in the United States. How it came
will doubtless remain a mystery, as
the quarantine regulations and inspec-
tons are remarkably strict.
The bubonic plague has furnished n
striking illustration of the scientific
advance of modern medicine. 1t was
not until 1894 that positive knowledge
of its true nature became known. Now
it's causes, methods of propagation and
means TO prevent its spread are mat
tiers of scientific certainty. All through
the centuries, both before and during
the Christian era, down TO 1894. the
subject was enveloped in darkness, and
there has been the same cropping after
facts, the same unsuccessful search
after the true cause. the same struggle
in ignorance against its ravages on the
part Of physicians, sanitarians and
public officials as has marked the his
tory of that other great epidemic dis
ease, cholera, now likewise robbed of
its terrors by science. 1t is to the i'm
mortal Pasteur and his contemporary,
Koch, in their establishment of bacte-
riology as a science. that the credit for
the discovery of 1894 is due and to a
Japanese physician, n student in the
laboratory of Koch, DIR. Kitasato, and
to Versin, pupil of the Pasteur insti-
Ilt NOTIl Is luueDlel lOI Ille us
cOvery itself.
In varying period of IL hours to II
days, but usually in four days after eX-
posture. the disease makes its appear
ance in the individual. The patient
complains of a high fever, Il swelling of
one or more of the Emphatic glands,
and has delirium early in the attack.
though seldom violent. The fever per-
sists at least a week, and GONZALES
cence thereafter is slow. In fatal cases
death usually occurs at the height of
the disease, between the second and
the eighth day, frequently within 4S
hours. If life is prolonged for five or
six days, the prognosis is better. Large
bubOeS may form in a few hours after
a time when n person has felt i'll the
best of health, and, on the other hand,
persons die of the disease without the
of single affected gland.
The death rate varies in different
epidemics and is estimated at from 30
to 90 per cent. 1t varies, however, &C
cording to nationalitics. The official
of the disease in HOngkong
show that the death rate among the
Chinese was more than % per cent,
while among Europeans it was but IS.
The small relative percentage of deaths
among Europeans is attributed to the
European blood and stamina and TO
early treatment and confidence in the
European medical attendant. DR.. Wal
ter Wyman, surgeon general of the
marine hospital service. has prepared
an extensive treatise upon the bubonic
plague. which is considered a high au-
thority upon all phases of the subject.