The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-02-10

plague, and then going from them to
men. women or children and biting
them. A flea that has bitten a sick
rat will carry the plague in its system
for ten or twelve adyS, n II 1t bites
you during that time the plague ba-
cilli will go into your blood. They
will multiply rapidly, aid within five
or six days the chances are that you
will die in horrible pain.
1 asked DR.. Perry what kind Of rats
carry the plague. He replied: Al
most any kind, but there are three
which are especially dangerous. One
is the gray tree rat, which has a White
belly, and the third is a little black
rat. The black rat is most common
in GuayaQuil, n the plague existing |
there comes from it. The rats which |
catch the plague often die; they will
give the plague to other rats, and it
sometimes becomes epidemic among
them, although they run from it II
a rat dies of the plague in a block or
house. the uninfected rats Of that
block seem to know it, and they will
desert the block and go somewhere
else"
/ am afraid OF the bubonic plague,
and l shall not stop in Ecuador on
account of it. / have seen a great
deal OF disease in China and India.
About twenty years & ] visited
HOngkong and Canton, when the PEG
pie there were dying at the rate OF
hundreds q day. and where there were
SO many deaths that there were coffin
associations by which collins were
given out in the way Of charity. Dur
ing that plague $4,000 collins were
furnished by such associations.
The plague in China came from the
l rafC and ~ 20 oof3 IN tho nrco3 Mil
warrens Of the Chinese at Hongkong,
where it has since broken out again
and again. Fhe English government
there is doing all hat is possible to
control it, but the city will have to
be rebuilt to make it absolutely safe;
and, as DR.. Perry says, the same con-
dition obtains here.
1t would be terrible if this plague
should be brought through the canal
to New Orleans, New York or Boston.
1t is wonderfully catching, although
; it can be transmitted only by fleas
z and by rats. Nevertheless, it ragged
' throughout Europe again and again
4 in the years between the sixth and
eighteenth centuries, and it is said tC
have caused more deaths than any
S other epidemic that has populated hu
e man graveyards. It was this pest thai
Daniel De Foe described ia his stor,
{ Of the great black plagne in LondoI
" ~ wv oAaA WV 4A1A N ID 1A10 odA1tS
0 as that which raFaged Europe dur
S ing the fourteenth century. TaOS,
two plaques are said to have con
g from China. The plague in Guaya
e gull was not known until about 1908
i. when it was brought in, some claim
r from Paita, Peru, and others by Ger
e tain As;atic ships that called here
l. The people were warned OF their dan
Ie ger by DIR. j. B.. Lloyd, the America,
health officer, who was then s~tatione
is in Ecuador, and for a time he was al
le lowed to try to control it.. Later O
8. he was repudiated by the Ecuadoria
y government and DR.. W. NJ. Wightma
~ was sent in his place. DR.. Wightna
., took the yellow fever and died her
g That was in 1909.
At that time Col. Gcrgas was niue
alarmed at the danger Of the pest ge'
a ting a fCotho16 on the isthmus, an
ne in order to keep it DAT of Colon he ha
more than q half million dollars wort
h Of small houses, that were said to /
ng infested With rats, burned to II
~ ground
it The danger Of yellow fever geIiT
at into Panama through Guayaquil is
an serious one, and this disease, ais
will have to be wiped out befo
ne Americans will be safe in allowi1
IN ships to come here or for trayele
oSt to so through the canal after leavi:
lQ, ECuduOT. Alfc2ug several America
rs. have died in Guayaquil and there a
he new cases now every day. 1t IS n
ich safe for any American to settle
his Guayaluil to do business in its pre-
on ent condition. You will reme1nb
on that Thomas Mast, the famous CO
t%oonist. was appointed consul he
and now he came to has grave. ]
died of yellow fever. I have spok
of the death OF DIR. WightInar.
lilt was supposed TO be a yellow fever il
avs naune \ third prominent case is tf
md Of Maj. John A. HarInna, the engine
who built the railway over the AnC
He from G~uayaGuil TO Quito, and q fouI
is that of Commander Bertolette
and our Sunboat Yorktown, who q
c.t only A short time ago
-Ow -
The yellow fever comes from a hi
DR.. Of a mosquito that can carry il o,
ere. after biting a yellow fever pate
The Alter the mosquito bites a human
csc ing afflicted with the fever il e
the the yellow fever itself, and ii