Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-12

plague that carried away 144,COO Of its
population. Throughout the middle ages
whole nations were stricken with cpl
denies and half their population laid low
on frequeptly recurring dates. Cholera.
4 yellow fever, bubonic plague, smallpox
and other fell messengers of death waged
a. warfare on the race as relentless as it
| was ruinOus.
X
Today these things are not possible ex-
cept in countries where ignorance and
supe rstition
Only Possible Where still reign. In
There Is Ignorance. countries the
source and cause Of epidemics and to check
them in their incipiency. The fire that
gets beyond certain limits is beyond hui
man restraint. but the scientists of the
world are now able to keep the fire of
| epidemic disease under control.
| New diseases may arise-or rather old
| ones that were not understood may be
| diagnosed and mastefed-but whether it
| be infantile paralysis, the hookworm dis
ease or pellagra, the scientists delve into
! their mysteries and find the means for
their prevention or abolition. The story
Of the epidemics of the ages emphasizes
| humanity's debt to the sanitarian and
demonstrates that increased faith in him
will bring increased freedom from dis
| ease.
| The first disease about which history
| tells us is the plague. That it appeared
and was recognized very early in human
annals is proved by the numerous refer
| ences thereto in both the Old and New
| Testaments, where plague, pestlence
and famine are linked together as in
separable evils. These illusions also in
dictate that the plague originally appeared
Ill ,6c Ix%y A0k 49, pn
Mediterranean, in some portion Of which
it was practically always raging under
| different names, such as 1.-THE pest, "the
great mortality" or 1.-The great sickness"
| But it's symptoms differed from those
of the black death, which was a distinct
disease, though equally deadly. The black
death never was known to revisit once
| stricken locality, while the plague
scourged the same districts again and
| again.
Thucydides, writing about 400 B. c.,
gives a dramatic account Of the plague
| in A t h s.
Thucydides Tells practically the
first trus t.
Of Plague in Athens worthy histor-
ical and particular mention now extant.
and possibly marking the earliest ap-
pearance OF the plague in Europe. That
it had ragged for thousands Of years in the
Levant, in India, in China and in Egypt
| Is also certain. In the latter country the
periodical overflow Of the Nile and the
| subsequent exposure to an ardent sun OF
vast expanses of mud. sediment, decaying
vegetation and bodies Of drowned animals
| was considered q fruitful source of the
pest. The ten plaques Of Egypt" which
Moses invoked to cure Pharaoh's hard
1 Of
| lions.
Marseille lost half its population in
ITO; MOscow.was scOurged in It'll: Malta
| in 1913; the whole of Silesia in 1919; Bull
garia in 1S2S-29. the Russian army being
practically wiped out. Since 1841. how
| ever, the medieval plague has not ap-
peared even locally in any European land,
| although there have been outbreaks Of
plague.
No city or country suffered more se2
verely from the plague than London and
| England in 1863
Nearly 10000 1855. This vista
Died in London. b uah , Known vi IT., to
erature as 1.-The great plague Of London. .
In the latter city its horrors have been
portrayed by such master writer's as Dam
lei Defoe in his journal Of the Plague"
and by Harrison Ainsmith in his "OId st.
Pauls." While all England was more or
less afflicted London felt the full force
Of the epidemic, nearly seventy thousand
souls being swept away. September was
the most fatal month. Only the coming
Of cold weather and the subsequent dras-
s! tic and wholesale purifying of the city by
the great fire of 1866 finally stamped out
fered from the black death. as ordinary
low temperatures apparently failed to
| check the latter's ravages.
| Medical science has failed to exactly
| Identify the plague with any of the mod
ern virulent epidemics. such as typhoid
| cholera or the bubOnic plague. 1t was a
most malignant contagious fever. its
symptoms including swelling Of the
eruptions, the victims being liable to be
attacked again and again. The period of
incubation after exposure to infection
lasted from two to seven days. marked by
| lassitude, drowsiness and general debility.
| Then followed violent chills. headache,
vertigo, vomiting, high fever, delirium.
stupOr, Inconsistencies, commissions and
death from heart construction. In rare
| cases there were cOnvalencence and re-
covery, brought about through stimula-
ton and nutritive support. There was no
| other known remedy or cure, although
quack remedies abounded by the hum
dreds.
| -
| The causes Of the plague are now thor
oughly understood. It's inception is due to
| filthy personal
Causes Of Plague habits. insanitary
Now Understood. such as residence
in damp or marshy soils or undrained city
/ quarters. Its propagation was mainly
through atmospheric infection or personal
contaRion-the latter proved most con-
clusively by the fact that the plague.
like cholera, was invariably disseminated
| from city to city by the great oriental
religious or commercial caravans The
annual pilgrimage to Mecca was almost
i h1, of