El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-01-13

THE black death which devastated
and literally decimated. the
whole world in the 14th cen
fury was somewhat similar to its pred
ecessor and successor, the plague, with
which, however, it should not be
confounded The name 'black death
arose from the color of the spots or
tumors which appeared on the bodies
of its victims just before or soon af-
ter decease. The crude medical prac-
tice or the day offered neither remedy
nor cure Those who were attacked
invariably died in from from As to 60
hours. and many sought by self-slaugh-
ter to anticipate their inevitable
doom.
OF Oriental Origin.
Like the plague, the black death was
of oriental origin-probably Chinese.
From 1893 to 1860 all Asia and Europe
were racked and ravaged by long
series of natural commissions and dis
asters-earthquakes, drouths, floods,
tornadoes, swarms of locusts and the
resultant famines. The chronicles of
the time record that the order of the
seasons seemed to have been reversed.
Thunder storms ragged in the dead of
winter, volcanoes long extinct became
active, there were no rainy seasons.
and the sun glared necessarily from
skies of brass.
These malign activities were fatal
to all kinds of animal life Over Him
liable area4 there resulted a vast de-
composition of organic masses, carcass
es Of men and women, fish, fowl and
vegetable matter. This, according to
both earlier and later theorists. gave
rise to mephitic vapOrs which reRdeded
the very air unfit to breathe. Indeed.
tracing the fifteen-year march of the
black death from east to west, it was
declared that the putrid cloud actually
was visible as it mounted from hori-
zon to zenith, so that "a dense and aw-
full fog was seen in the heavens de-
scending upon Italy" This view was
borne out by the further recorded fact
that the organs Of breathing were first
GALLEY FIVE II II WICK SHRD
attacked. Stupor and death speedily
followed.
Life Loss StupendOus.
Exact figures of the stupendous
mortality reaped by the black death
are difficult to obtain. owing to the
almost general absence of vital sta
tfstics But in China alone $4,000, 900
persisted, while in the rest of the orr
ent, in northern AfrNra, and in the
ranean 24.000,000 died in three years.
Whole provinces were swept bare of
human life. In Europe we get more
precise. if equally portentous. details.
Italy lost one-half its population; Is
European cities lost 800, 900; Germany
nearly 1900, 900. During the three
years rage of the scourge in Europe,
1347--50. there peT1shed ,25,00O.O00 peo-
pie.
the land. The dire and deadly cloud
swept over the face of the waters.
Rivers full of putrefying corpses pois-
oned the seas, and we. are appalled, by
stories of plague-stricken derelict
ships. their decks numbered with
corpses. drifting up and down the Med
iterranean. the Baltic, the Black Sea,
the English Channel and the North Sea-
In 134s-51 at least half of the pop
ulation of England perished-2, SOC. 900
out Of a total of 5000, 000i In London
the black death found 100 600 victims;
$1,000 out OF $4,000 were lost at Nor
witch: and 1000 out of 10000 died at
Yarmouth. These figures are fairly
authentic. being borne out by local
records. The mortality of Paris was
$4,000, in Venice 100000, in Florence
$4,000.
Carried BY Caravans.
No doubt the frightful mortality
largely was due to the unsanitary and
uncleanly habits of the various peo-
pies. Whatever may have been the
original cause Of the black deaths
outbreak IN China. it's deadly spread
undoubtedly was due to infection and
cantagion, brought from the far east
TO ConstantinOple by the many caravan
routes; in fact the march of the
scourge from Orient to Occident NAV be
indutiably traced by these latter trade
routes. BY contagion it reached the
seaports of Italy and southern Europe;
thence to Germany, France Russia,
Sweden, and England Three years
elapsed between the appearance Of the
black death IN Constantinople and its
outbreak in st. Petersburg.
One rather remarkable fact is vouched
for by competent authorities. IN
like the plague. which revisited the
same localities for upward of a thou
sand years, the black death was never
known to reappear in a once-stricken
area. Nor, with modern methods of
sanitation and quarantine, would It
ever be possible for such scourge to
obtain foothold nowadays.
Leaves Impress Upon Letters.
Curiously enough the black death
left an indelible impress upon Euro
pean letters. In Bulwer's Rienzi there
is a vivid account of the pestilence in
Italy, but it is in the preface to the
Decameron Of Bocaccio that we find
a particularly minute description of the
sights and scenes during the dreaded
visitation at Florence in 134S published
in 1853, less than five years thereaf-
ter 1t Will be remembered that the