The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-03-13

fear somebody has cut the wireless
cables to keep the Portuguese from
forcing him back to the throne.
forcing him back to the throne.
the rorning, the usual hour of OBJ
servation. On the 10th it had in
creased twenty-seven degrees in thir-
ty-one hours, and many changes OF
fifteen to twenty-four degrees are
observed in short periods during
these months.'A
Charleston's Blacklist Month.
After cold and backward spring
there followed an abnormally hot and
dry summer, and this was succeeded
by long drought in the fall. The
sendemial fever" ragged and Septem-
Der was, from sickness and death,
the blacklist month ever recorded in
Charleston, there having been 32S
interments, of which ia were from
endemial causes, and at least one
fourth of the inhabitants Establish
ed at $4,000 in number) were affect
ed with influenza about the last of
the month"
During October and November
''the inhabitants were distressed still
more by the clouds of dust which
drifted in every direction. =
All the ponds and many of the wells
and springs were dry, so that in
country places many of the cattle
died for want of water and travellers
could not obtain a suficiency near
the road either for themselves or
their horses -
Blamed 1t On a Comet.
At this time a comet, which was
first observed on September Is,
though DR.. johnson thinks it was
probably visible for some time be-
fore that date, was arousing much
discussion. "By many" says DR..
Johnson, "the dreadful influenza
that oppressed them, with all the ag-
gravations Of the drought were as
cribed to this comet The doctor
ridicules such a superstitious theory.
His own account of the epidemic fol-
lows:
Influenza is noted as occurring in
March and April, although not sane
toned by our journals. My opinion,
which was then supported by the
concurrence of several eminent ply
sicians, has since been confirmed by
a correspondence of symptoms with
that which prevailed in the fall. On
the first of it's appearance in the lat
ter period the symptoms were so
mild that few required the attend
ance of a physician. This
lulled many into a fatal security, and
when about half the inhabitants had
been attacked by it a cold change
took place in the weather, during
which many relapsed and several
lost their lives.
$50 general was the prevalence of
this disease about the middle of Oc-
tober that many families had from
fifteen to twenty sick at one time;
servants could not be hired to do the
duties of a family, nor produced to
attend the sick. Relapses were fire.
quent. In all such cases the symp-
toms were greatly aggravated and
frequently accompanied by violent
determination to the Pleura and
Medistinum.
At Its Worst in the Country.
However severe the influenza
was in Charleston, it was much more
destructive in the interior country
and along the northern boundary of
the State. In Georgetown eight per-
sons we're lying dead of it in one
day, and in Allanstown, in North
Carolina, out of nine masters of
families seven are said to have died
of this complaint; whole families
were sick at the same time, and in a
small neighborhood at Cashaway
Ferry nine families of children are
likewise said to have been left or
phans by this prevailing malady.
With persons advanced in years it
was most violent: next to these with
persons of irritable lungs; next with
persons left debilitated by previous
inflammatory complaints.
bleeding and other evacuants,
with emolient drinks, were the only
remedies necessary at the first, but
frequent blisters were afterwards re-
quisite. In the country places above
mentioned bleeding is said to have
been injurious, and probably was So
as the difficulties attending country
practice render it impossible for SO