New-York tribune., 1901-10-31
PLAGUES AND THEIR MASTERS.

A few years ago the world upon the
verge of panic over the bubonic plague. That
pestilence, one Of the most hdcOus and deadly
known TO man, was raging with destructive
virulence at Hong-kong at Bombay and else
where and nothing seemed able 10 check its
ravages. Men identified IL with the plague
which scourged London for Stuart sins and
with the BLACK Death which decimated Eu-
rope in the Middle Ages. In that they may or
may not have been correct. But they went on
to assume. and openly TO declare, that in like
manner Europe about to be scourged again,
and that America was certain TO suffer the same
fate. Nothing could keep the bubOnic plague
from spreading to these shores. and once here
nothing could keep ii from ravaging all parts
of the land. Such were the gloomy fOrebodings
put forth by men reputedly of judgment and of
Eight and leading"
We shall not rush rashly TO the opposite ex
treme and say such a catastrophe is intrlnsical7.
" impossible. But at least we may legitimately
point out that it has not occurred, and that its
occurrence now seems, upon the ground of what
has actually taken place and been achieved. to
be altogether improbable The plague is still
prevalent in some parts of India. 1t is raging
furiousy in China, notably at Foo-Chow. Ii
has on many occasions in the last few years ex-
tended to Continental Europe, TO Great Britain
to South America and TO the United States
But IL has not gained foothOld in one of these
countries Ii has nowhere become epidemic or
caused any local anxiety. The result is that in
popular estimation 1t has lost the unique terror
with which its name was once invested A few
years ago announcement of single case of ii
at European or an American port would have
caused a panic. To-day it would scarcely vie
In public interest with a problem play
and would be completely distanced by an .'his
torical novel"
| This gratifying fact-which bespeaks not
| apathy but conscious security Indicates the
magnitude of the revolution wrought in human
| affairs by Pasteur and Lister and their disciples
Before their time sanitary science had not begun
to exist Civilized nations We're little better off
| than savage ones. The London of Charles III
was no better than the Hong Kong of to-day
| the native Hong Kong, with all its crowded
| squalor-and we should not court n comparison
| of the New-York Of cholera times with the pres
| ent Bombay. Pasteur and Lister have changed
| all that They have armed civilization against
pestilence. so that the deadliest plaques
| are held In check, snd their few imported cases
| In enlightened lands serve only to emphasize
| the completeness of the immunity which such
countries enjoy.
This end, immeasurably benehcent to man.
/ kind attained through patient painstakinp
| scientific labors. 1t Is to be maintained I'm the
self-same way and in no other. The genius Of
Pasteur may not be rivalled by another in our
age. But at least the work which he wrought
may be continued by those who have learned
his lessons and who In his spirit seek so to do II
took Stephenson to invent the locomotive. but
i thousands of other men have since been able to