The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-10-12
A Remarkable Fact.

physicians who have devoted con-
siderable labor to the study Of par
ticular disease have themselves died
of that disease. One of the most in
teresting examples is that of John
Daniel Major, born August 16, 1884,
in Breslau, a. physician and natural
ist of no mean ability. Bitten early
by the wanderlust, he studied at
Wittenburg, took courses at many of
the schools in Germany, and finally
went to Italy where he received the
degree of doctor of medicine at Pa
dua, in 1860. Returning to his own
country, he resided for a short time
in Silesia, and in 1861 married at
Wittenburg, Margaret Dorothy, a
daughter of the celebrated Sennert.
The following year, his young wife
was stricken with plague and died
after an illness of eight days. Dis
tracted by his loss, Major wandered
up and down Europe studying plague
wherever he found it in the hope that
he might discover cure for the dis
ease which had bereaved him. Spain,
Germany, France and Russia were
visited by him. He settled in 1865
in Kiel, where he was made professor
of botany and the director of the bo-
tanical gardens. He made frequent
voyages, however, always in quest of
the remedy for plague. Finally in
1893, he was called to Stockholm to
treat the queen of Charles the elev-
enth, then ill with plague. But be-
fore he could render her any service,
he contracted the disease and died
on the third of August.
The bubonic plague of today is
identical with the black death of the
Middle Ages. Primarily disease of
rodents caused by short dumb-bell
shaped microscopic vegetable, the
pest bacillus, it occurs in man in
three forms; the pneumonia,
which has a death rate of almost
100 per cent; the septicaemic, which
is nearly as fatal, and the bubonic, in
which even with the most modern
methods of treatment the mortality
is about so per cent. 1t is disease
of commerce, spreading around the
globe in the body of the ship-borne
rat. It is estimated that every case
of human plague costs the municipal
ity in which it OCCURS at least ST.
500. This does not take into ac-
count the enormous loss lue to dis
astrous quarantines and the CONNER
cial paralysis which the fear of the
disease so frequently produces.
The disease is now treated by a
serum discovered through the genius
of Yersin. This is used in much the
same way as is diphtheria antitoxin.
Plague is transferred from the sick
rodent to the we'll man by feas. The
sick rat has enormous numbers of
plague bacilli in it's blood. The blood
is taken by the flea which, leaving
the sick rat, seeks refuge and sus-
tenance on the body of human be-
ing to whom it transfers the infec-
ton.
Since plague is disease of rodents
and since it is carried from sick ro-
dents to we'll men by rodent fleas,
safety from the disease lies in the ex-
clusion of rodents, not only exclusion
from the habitation of man but also
from the ports and cities of the
world. Those who dwell in rat-proof
surroundings take no plague Not
only should man dwell in rat-proof
surroundings, but he should also live
in rat-free surroundings. The day
is past when the rodent served USE
lul lpulpOSc dS luS uupolu C1Iy oCoV-
enger. Rats will not come where
there is no food for them. Municipal
cleanliness may be regarded as par
tial insurance against plague. The
prayer that no plague come nigh our
dwelling is best answered, however,
by rat-proofing the habitation of man.
Modern sanitary science has evolved
simple and efficient weapon against
the pestilence which walketh in dark
ness and striketh at MONDAY, and
the U. S. public. health service has
put this knowledge into practical op-
Grafton and thus speedily eradicated
plague wherever it has appeared in
the United States.
POlitic.