Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1916-08-22
THE BUBONIC PLAGUE.

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many observation, that many physic-
ians who have devoted considerable
. labor to the study of particular dis
ease have themselves died of that dis
ease. One of the most interesting ex-
amples is that of John Daniel Major,
born August Is, 1884, in Breslau,
physician and naturalist of no mean
ability. Bitten early by the wander
lust, he studied at Wittenburg, took
courses at many of the schools in Ger
many, and finally went to Italy where
he received the degree of doctor of
medicine at Padua in 1860 Returning
to his own country, he resided for
short time in Silesia, and in 1861
married at Wittenburg, Margaret Dor
othy, daughter Of the celebrated Sem
merit 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 a cure for the dis
ease 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 botan-
ical gardens. He made frequent voy-
ages, however, always in quest of the
remedy for plague. Finally in 1898, he
was called to Stockholm to treat the
queen of Charles the Eleventh, then Ill
with plague. Bue before he could
render her any service he contracted
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 disease of rod
ents caused by a short dumbbell
shaped microscopic vegetable, the pest
bacillus, it occurs in main in three
forms; the peneumonic, which has a
r death rate of almost 100 per cent; the
t septicaemic, which is nearly as fatal,
and the bubonic in which even with
the most modern methods of treatment
r ten martality is about so per cent. 1t
ylis disease of commerce, spreading
around the globe in the body of the
ship-borne rat. 1t is estimated that
f every case of human plague costs the
| municipality in which it occurs at least
$500. This does not take into &C
count the enormous loss due to disas-
5 trous quarntines and the commercial
) paralysis which the fear of the disease
so frequently produces.
The disease is now treated by a
serum discovered through the genius
t o. Yersin This is used in much the
same way as is diptheria antitoxin.
Plague is transferred from the sick
rodent to the we'll man by fieas. The
e 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 human being to whom
il transfers the infection.
Since plague is a disease of rodents
and since it is carried from sick rod
ents to we'll men by rodent fieas, SAT
ETY. from the disease lies in the eXecu-
ton 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 sur
roundings take no plague. Not onl!
roundings, but he should also live il
rat-free surroundings. The day is pas
d when the rodent served useful pur
IT pose as the unpaid city scavenger
'e Rats will not come where there is NJ
= food for them. Municipal cleanliness
= rlay be regarded as partial INSURANCE
} against plague. The prayer that n