Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1916-08-23

ton in front Of the village hall and
at the intersection Of the streets"
RATS CAUSE DISEASE
DANISH THE RATS.
It is a remarkable fact, confirmed
by many observations, that many
physicians who have devoted con-
siderable labor to the study of a
particular disease have themselves
died of that disease. One of the
most interesting examples is that Of
John Daniel Major, born August 49,,
1884, in Breslau, a physician and
naturalist of no mean ability. Bit
ten 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 Padua in 1860. Return
ing to his own country, he resided
for short time in Silesia, and in
1861 married at Wittenburg, Mar
garet Dorothy, a daughter Of the
celebrated Sennert. The following
year; his young wife was stricken
with plague and died after an i'll
ness 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 a cure for:
the disease 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 botanical 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 Eleventh, then i'll with
plague. But before he could render
her any service, he contracted the
disease and died on the third of
August.
The bubonic plague of to-day is
identical with the black death of the
Middle Ages. Primarily a disease
of rodents caused by a 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 near
ly as fatal, and the bubonic in which
even with the most modern methods
of treatment the mortality is about
SO per cent. It is a disease of
commerce, spreading around the
globe in the body of the ship-borne
rat. 1t is estimated that every case
of human plague costs the munich
pality in which it occurs at least
$1,000. This does not take into
account the enormous loss due to
disastrous guarantees and the COM
mercial 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 fleas.
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 sustenance ON the body of a
human being to whom it transfers
the infection.
Since plague is a disease of ro-
dents and since it is carried from
sick rodent to we'll men by rodent
f1eas, safety from the disease lies in
the exclusion 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 useful purpose as the I'M
paid city scavenger. Rats will not
come where there is no food for
them. Municipal cleanliness may be
regarded as a partial insurance
against plague. The prayer that no
plague come nigh our dwelling is
best answered, however, by rat
proofing the habitations of man.
Modern sanitary science has evolved
simple and efficient weapon
against the pestilence which walketh
IN darkness and striketh at noonday.
and the U. S. Public. Health Service
has put this knowledge into practical
operation and thus speedily eradicat-
ed plague wherever it has appeared
in the United States.
Handing 1t to a Newspaper Hog. 4
Z ( -. IL ~ 8