Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-05-14
RANI3eFoR TUESDAY. NAY II isls.
Or. e. J.. Engstad Traces
Record Of Contagious
Diseases.

At the regular bi-monthly meeting
Of the Fortnightly club In. the public
library last. night, DR.. e. J. Engstad
read an interesting and instructive
paper on Epidemiography,t beginning
with a description of the CONTAGIOUS
diseases known to The, anctents a. well
as to the people Of the. middle ages.
The Black Death, one Of the most
terrible scourges known in history.
was mentioned as the most destructive
plague known In the annals of hu-
manity.
said, was nothing more nor less than
a very virulent type of the modern
bubonic plague. 1t was q. verttable
cyclone Of death which swept Europe
from the southernmost point OF Italy
to the northernmost point OF Norway
Large areas in France. were depopu-
lated. London lost a large part OF It's
population. About 134s the epidemic
appeared in Norway, and out OF a
population, Of about 100000 barely
100, 900 survived. In certain districts
every individual died.
IA. legend. told as an historical fact
in Valders, Norway, is to the eject
a century or so after the appear
ance of the epidemic, a hunter missed
his game, but his arrow struck an OBJ
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which gave a peculiar metallic sound.
On Investigation the hunter found that
the. object was the bell of a old
church which had been entirely for
gotten. Every individual in the par
ish had died Of the plague and the
forest had reclaimed its own. COM
pletely hiding the little temple until
accidentally re-discovered in this Curl
Gus and romantic way"
Speaking Of the effect or the middle
European countries. he said. "Sapo-
leon. in his early campaigns, planned
to change the map Of Europe. through
the conquest Of Europe and to con-
struct a canal uniting the Mediterran-
can and the Red sea This plan was
o fulfilled in his time. but was &C
complished about fifty years later
through the building of the Suez Can
al. He had also plans for an overland
route from Antioch to BaEdad. a
great highway to the East, but all
these plans failed AN account of the
Bubonic plague which melted his
army as the spring sun melts a cake
of ice. After defeating h Turks at
Mt Taber in Palestine, he realized
that he had me an enemy that he
could not conquer" After the plague
had disappeared. and Europeans had
OCCA 6ASCu AUCo1 AANAuAS0 SO0AS ~
recuperate from the awful shock, the
plague reappeared in India. and
scourged the Peninsula and China,
Later it also broke out in San Fran.
cisco. but prompt action on the part
of the medical department Of the
army, under the direction Of Major
| Colby Rucker, a former Grand Fork!
man. stopped it quickly.
"All contagious diseases have as q
causative factor a living organism. tn.
majority of a microscopic size" hi
stated. He then went on to tell Of tn,
| causes of a few Of the, most distress,
ing of contagious diseases. He spoke
very wildly Of the contagious dis
eases Of which the United States II
subject, and spoke of experiment.
which had been conducted for thei,
cure. So - 7
The next meeting Of the club viii
be held Monday. May. ~, at which
time an election of officers, and a ban,
quet will be held. Rev. H. b. Thor
crimson, president, Of the club, viii
then deliver the final address Of tht
J season.. Ia