The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-02-07
AWFUL Sc0URGE III j !
Not a Single Person Who Takes lbe Dis
ease Escapes Death.
THOUSANDS ARE DYING
A Deadly Disease is Sweeping China
Z and the Nation Seems Powerlcss
to Check It-Physicians Are Sac
riacing Their Lives, But the Dreud.
ed Endemic Continues.
ed Epidemic Continues.

-..s.
ed Epidemic Continues.
The most deadly. scourge in thu
worlds history Is sweeping the Chi.
nese empire and SManchuria. Thou
sands of lives have been. lost. and
all the resources of science are prov
ing unavailing in their. fight against
the ignorance and superstition Of the
natives and the unsanitary conditions
in which they live. To date every
case reported to the authorities has
proven fatal, the majority within "a
hours Of infection. f.5
Foreign missionaries, Chiefly the
Americans, are leading in promoting
effective means Of combating the
insidious malady French and Amer.
loan physicians are bending every ef.
fort to save the lives of the Orien
tails but to date their efforts appear
to have gone for naught and many
experts declare that the death roll
will reach millions unless warm
weather. sets in and kills the germs
The eagerness Of the Chinese gov
ernment to stamp out the disease
was shown this week when the Wal
Wu-Pu authorized Dr.. WI, In charge
Of the native city of Hardin, to burn
1000 coffins containing corpses of
plague victims. Owing to the fact
that the earth is frozen, few Of the
dead have been buried. .f};a5
Troops will be ordered to the
scenes where bodies are to be burned
for the ancestor worship Of the Chi
nese makes the burning of dead bod
les almost equal to a crime. It is
predicted dead bodies will be burned
in all the infected districts though
it is feared this drastic move may
cause rioting and :bloodshed. In ad-
dition Prince Rupert has decreeo
that posthumous honors shall be ac-
corded physicians who lose their lives
while fighting the plague and S90,-
900 has been appropriated for + a
prevention campaign. tE !.
China has been notified that the
United States. has accepted her invi.
tation. to send scientists to the Far
East to study the malady. In Pekin,
where only a few deaths have oc-
Cured, the foreign legations have
laid in stores for the next three
months and American Minister W.
J. Calhoun has offered missionaries
refuge in the American quarters
This was declined because the work:
ers did not wish to have their actls.
tiles hampered. '..,'
American business men, tourists
and missionaries are being looked
after in all the cities where there are
legation houses and where there are
none they are urged to 60 to cities
where there are. But to add to the
difficulties Of the situation ell rail
road traffic has been cut. off in most
parts Of the vast empire and whe"
trains are still in operation OF :,
such as have clean certificates O.
health are allowed to travel.
DR.. A. P. Peck, American medica!
attache to the Chih Ii provincial gov
ernment, who Is devoting himself to
investigation in the infected dis
tricts north of the great wall says:
"The plague is wholly Of the pneu.
monic type, because the bacillus en-
ters the lungs III breathing. The
bacillus appears under the micro
scope to be the same as that. of the
,bubonic type. 1t is propagated only
by close contact The bacillus does
not go far through the air outside
of the body. 1T dies quickly when
breathed fresh from the lungs Of an
infected person. 1t finds an enor-
nous culture bed in the mucous
membrane of the lungs and multi
plies rapidly. There being no lym-
phatic glands to protect the system
and strain out the bacilli the dis
ease is rapidly fatal in 100 per cent
of cases.
"Rats and f1eas are no factor In
infection, which is wholly through
the breath and sputum. While 1t
would be possible for heas to carry
the bacillus and infect person with
the bubonic type of plague, practi
cally this does not occur. Regard.
ing the efficiency of Haffkine's serum
T do not know and reserve judg-
ment."