The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-08-25
BUBoNTC PLAGUE

It is a remarkable fact, confirmed
by many observations, that many ply
sicians who have devoted considerable
labor to the study Of a particular di-
sease have themselves died of that di-
sease. One Of the most interesting ex-
amples is that of John Daniel Major,
born August 16, 1854, in Breslau, a
physician and naturalist of no mean
ability. Bitten carly by the wander.
lust, he studded at Wittenburg, took
courses at many Of the schools in
Germany, and finally went to Italy,
where he received tho degree Of doe
tor Of medicine at Padua in 1860. Re.
turning to his own country, he resid-
ed for a short time in Silesia, and in
1851 married at Wittenburg, Margar-
ct Dorothy, daughter of the celebrat-
ed Sennert. The following year his
young wife was stricken with plague
and died after an illness of eight days.
Distracted by his loss, Major wandered
up and down Europe studying plague
wherever he found it in the hope that
he might discover q cure for the di-
sease which had bereaved him. Spain,
Germany, France and Russia were Wis
tied by him. He settled in 1865 in
Kiel, where he was made professor of
botany and the director Of the botani-
cal gardens. He made frequent voy-
ages, however, always in quest Of the
remedy for plague. Finally in 1893,
he was called TO Stockholm to treat
the Queen of Charles the Eleventh,
then i'll with plague, but before he
could render her any service he con-
tracted the disease and died on the
third of August.
The bubonic plague of today is iden-
teal with the black death of the Mid
die Ages. Primarily a disease of ro-
dents 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
cepticaemic, which is nearly as fatal,
and the bubonic in which even with
the most modern methods of treat
ment the mortality is about so per
cent. 1t is a disease of commerce,
spreading around the globe in the body
of the ship-borne rat. 1t is estimat-
costs the municipality in which it oc-
ours at least $500. This does not
take into account the enormous loss
due to disastrous guarantees and the
commercial paralysis which the fear
of the disease so frequently produces.
The disease is now treated by Ne.
rum 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 well man by feas. The
sick rat has enormous numbers Of
plague bacilli in its blood. The blood
is taken by the flea which, leaving tie
sick rat, seeks refuge and sustenanco
on the body of human being to whom
It transfers the infection.
Since plague is a disease Of rodents
and since it is carried from sick ro-
dents to well men by rodent fleas, safe
ty from the disease lies in the exclu-
sion CT 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 sur
roundings take no plague. Not only
should man dwell in rat-proof sur
roundings, but he should also live in
rat-free surroundings. The day is
past when the rodent served useful
service as the unpaid city scavenger.
Rats will not come where there is no
food for them. Municipal cleanliness
may be regarded as a partial insur-
ance against plague. The prayer that
no plague come nigh our dwelling is
best answered, however, by rat-proof-
ing the habitations of man. Modern
sanitary science has evolved sim
pie and efficient weapon against the
.pestilence which walketh in darkness
and striketh at MONDAY, and the U,
s. Public Health Service has put this
knowledge into practical operation
and thus speedily eradicated plague
wherever it has appeared in the Unit
ed States.