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About Lincoln County leader. (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987 | View Entire Issue (May 11, 1900)
BUBONIC plague the dreaded "black death" of the Orient will never get a foothold In the Unit ed States, or In any other civilized coun try where modern methods of sanita tion prevail. This Is the assertion of Surgeon General Wyman of the United States army and It Is Indorsed by medi cal experts generally. So far as known only tvo cases of genuine bubonic plague have been found In the United States. These were brought Into New York last fall on a steamer from San tos, Brazil, where the disease Is now epidemic. There was considerable alarm when the fact of the presence of the plague was known, but this quickly passed off when It became evi dent that the quarantine regulations In this country are such that It Is almost Impossible for a disease of this nature to spread. Since then vessels have been continually arriving from Santos, but no new cases of the pin true have riov! oped. "So far as the United States Is con cerned," says Surgeon General Wyman, "there Is absolutely no danger of a bu bonic plague Invasion. The plague Is essentially a dirt disease; It cannot thrive where the people are cleanly, and well-nourished; or where modern methods of sanitation prevail. It la found In Its worst stages in lands like India and China, whore the natives are dirty In their personal habits; where the very soil is saturated with tilth; where there Is an utter lack of anything like sanitation even of the crudest klud, and where the people's bodies, weaken ed and emaciated by lack of proper food, luvlte disease." Most Deadly of Diseases. Under the conditions obtaining In the Orient, the bubonic plague Is the most virulent and deadly of diseases. The symptoms manifest themselves In from twelve hours to twelve days after the system absorbs the disease; the usual period being about four days. At first the patient complains of high fever, a swelling of the glands of the thigh and groin, and sometimes of the neck, and Jinally becomes delirious. The crisis Is reached In from two to eight days, gen erally In forty-eight hours. If life can be prolonged for live or six days the chances of successful treatment are greatly Increased. As a rule, however, little can be done to save the natives of the countries where the plague Is epi demic. A few of the well-nourished ones escape; of the rest death claims nn average of from 50 to 100 per cent, of the total number of cases. This fear ful mortality Is best shown In the fol lowing figures, furnished by Dr. Wy inan: Bombay, cases 21iO.!H)7, deaths 1(14,083; Hong-Kong, cases 1,000, deaths 1,541; Formosa, cases 2,408, deaths 1,80(1. Strangely enough this death rate varies greatly according to nation alities. From statistics obtained during the prevalence of the plague In Hong Kong the following otllclal showing Is made, the percentage being based on the total number of cases reported: Chinese, SKI deaths out of every 100 por tions attacked with the disease; Fast I nutans, ,77 out of every 100; Japanese, tfO; Eurnslans, 100; Europeans. IS. This email relative percentage of mortality among Europeans Is attributed to bet ter blood and stamina, aud to the suc cess of treatment In the early stages of the disease, the Intelligence of the European leading him to call In a physi cian at the first sign of trouble, while the Ignorance and prejudice of the Ori entals prompt them to conceal them selves and reject medical aid. An Interesting suggestion as to the cause for the great prevalence and mor tality of the plague in India aud China is ottered by Dr. Charles W. Dabney, Jr., who attributes It to the fact that the people, when fed at all, live almost entirely upon rice and other grains which contain, very little protein, meat or tlsh being rare articles of diet, while wheat, oats, Indian coin and rye, all of which are richer lu protein than rice, are unknown, lu other words, the I I rusua The Plague in History. The plague prevailed In Athens In 4H2-429 It. C. anil reappeared eight een months after It was thought to have been stamped out. Id the third rentury B. C. pestilences swept away countless numbers iu Egypt LIvy records a great plngue that de stroyed millions In various parts of Africa lu the third century It. C. In 642 A. D. the plague spread over Egypt and reached Constantinople, where 10,001) died In a day. In the snme century It ravaged Italy and Northern Africa. In the seventh century the plague In vaded Knglund and claimed scores of victims. In 1270 It appeared In Cairo and Con stantinople, spread, and became epi demic. In the fourteenth century the pesti lence came from Arabia and swept Egypt, Armenia, Asia Minor, North- eru Africa and nearly all Europe. Ilecker, the historian, estimates that It claimed 2r,0u0,0tM victims In Eu rope during the century. In 1400, 40.0(10 died from plague In Western Europe. Id 1572 pestilence swept nway 50,000 people lu and nenr Lyons, and In 157(1 more than 70.0U0 died In and around Venice. In 1040 the plague depopulated Na ples, claiming 300,000 victims In live months. In 1054-55 London suffered ravages by the pestilence and 100,000 died. In 1720 one-third of the people of Marseilles died nnd the following year 88,000 died In Toulon and tue whole of I'ruvence., In 1743 nearly 50,000 died In Messina. In 1771 the plague destroyed 50,000 lives in Moscow. In 1835 Cairo again was visited by the plague and ouu-tlfth of the peo ple died. HOW RUSSIA CURES Unfortunate coolies suffering from mercy by the Czar's soldiers. bodies of these natives lack proper nourishment. Methods of Contracting Plnicue. Medical scientists nave doteim.ned that bubonic plague may be contracted In three ways by Inoculation through an external wound or abrasion, by res piration (breathing air laden with the plague germs), and by introduction Into the stomach of food or water that has become infected. Contrary to the PROGRESS OF THE I'LAUUE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. general belief, the disease is not Infec tious or contagious lu the ordinary manner. A person might even sleep lu a bed occupied by a plague victim, or wear clothing taken from his body, and yet escape Infection, provided there were no wouuds or abraslous ou the skin lu which the disease germs could get lodgment. Even the breath of a patient Is not necessarily poisonous, the greatest sourco of danger being In the discharges from the swellings. All this being granted, the question, will naturally arise, Why, then, should the disease rage so among the Orientals? The assertion that the plague Is not usually lufectlous or contagious In the ordinary way applies only to peopte who are ordinarily cleanly In their hab its. To those acquainted with the ' Oriental no further explanation is uec- n m - mw;, , my, ohutlt iuuiiraix f Plague in Last Decade. 1890 and 1801 Sporadic cases In Ton quin and Hong-Kong. 1892 Carried to Lang-Tchu nnd Yun Nan. 1893 and 1894-Epldemlc at Tonquln, Hong-Kong, Canton, Laug-'J'chu and Yun-Nun. 1895 to 1897 Sporadic cases at Yun Nan and Lang-Tchu and along the Manchurlan frontier; also In vari ous parts of India. 1898 Plague becomes epidemic In Bombay and Calcutta, and famine paves the way for Its renewed In roads along the Mauchurlau fron tier. June, 1S99 Pestilence sprends rap Idly In Hong-Kong, Bombay and Calcutta, and many cases appear at Uuugoon and Singapore. July, 1809-Epldemlc at Port Arthur, Newchwang, Crefoo nnd Tien-Tsln, and plague spreads to Australia and Shantung. August, 1899 Disease appears at To kin and Knhe In J:i;:ni, and at CUe ii) u I no, In Corea; also spreads to Vladlvostock and through Siberia, and becomes practleallv epidemic lu Russian Province of Astrakhan. November, 1800 Plague reaches Ma nila, and two cases ure brought Into port at New York. December, 1899 Appears In Valpara iso and other Pnclllc South Ameri can ports, and breaks out In Hon olulu and Noumed, New Caledonia. January, 1900 Pestilence appears In Sydney. New South Wules and Nagasaki, Japan; also passes Cape Horn and reaches Uio Janeiro nnd Santos, Brazil; Kosnrio. Argentine, and the Island of Cozumul, off the coast of Yucatan. February, 1900 Epidemic hrenks out afresh In Honolulu afier being once almost stamped out; also spreads to other Hawaiian Islands. THE BUBONIC FLAGUE. the terrible disease are shot down without essary. Once the plague gets a foot bold among East Indians or Chinese coolies it Is almost Impossible to check it, except with the extermination of the population affected. Hussia has ndopted heroic methods In deallug with the plague in its Chinese colonies. All those affected are taken out and shot. "It saves trouble aud other people's lives," the Russian grimly remarks. The conditions of environment favor- c o c ffAWAIAN lug the plague are similar to those that eucourage typhus fever, namely, dens ity of population, bad ventilation and drainage, Impure water, Imperfect nourishment, and inattention to sani tary requirements. It Is said of this disease, as of yel low fever, that human habitations and the soil may become so thoroughly In fected as to establish endemlcity, or regular recurrence of the disease. The bacillus will Infect food aud water, though how long It will retain Its viril ity lu water Is as yet undetermined. Heat and moisture, darkness, and the presence of organic matter, vegetable or animal, especially If lu a state of de composition, furnish the Ideal condi tions for the propagation of the plague bacilli. Light, dryness and heat are fatal to the germs. The bacilli are killed by direct sunlight In three or four hours, and In a dry room at ordinary temperature In three or four days. A temperature of 170 degrees Fahrenheit kills the germs In five minutes, and so lutions of corrosive sublimate, sul phuric acid, or hydrochloric acid have the. same etlect. Treatment of Plague Patients. The consulting committee of public health of the French Government has framed the following rules for the treatment of patients: A patient stricken with plague should be Isolated and kept In a state of the utmost cleanliness, the persons charged with his care alone to have access to him. The attendants should observe the following precautious: To take neither food nor drink in the sick-room; never to take food without washing the bands with soap and a disinfecting solution; to rinse the mouth from time to time, aud always before1 eating, with a disinfecting solution; carpets, cur tains, rugs aud other furniture to be re moved from sick-room; cloths, cover ings and mattresses to be disinfected by steam or boiling at the conclusion of the case, or as often as they accumu late; the floor of the room to be washed dally with a disinfecting solution. To a French physician. Dr. Yersen, belongs the honor of having discovered a remedy for the plague. Dr. Yersen was a student of the Fasteur institute and a believer In the serum treatment. At Amoy, China, in 1890, he first put bis theories Into practice by using the serum from an Immunized horse upon cases of a severe type. He treated twenty-three cases In this manner, all of whom recovered excepting two. whose cases were desperate from the outset Since that time the Yersea method has ben tested until its efficacy Is now Incontestable. A French com mission which has been investigating the plague at Oporto. Portugal, reports that In cases treated with the serum the mortality was only 14 per cent., while In those not treated It was at least 70 per cent. In a case in Bom bay a European family resided, with a numerous retinue of native servants, in an Infected portion of the city. The little daughter of the family was stricken with the pest In a virulent form; was treated with the serum, and made a rapid recovery. As a precau tionary measure the whole family were subjected to Inoculation, and the same measure, of treatment was offered to the native domestics. Some accepted and escaped infection, while six who declined on the ground of religious scruples were all stricken and five died. A more crucial test could not have been devised. The bubonic plague, Dr. Wyman as serts. Is the same old plague that for centuries past has made its appearauce at Intervals In various countries to claim Its tribute of thousands upon thousands of human lives, aud which has been known In turn as the Levan tine, Oriental and black plague, and black death. The mere Index to the lit erature on the subject a simple enu meration of titles with authors covers forty pages In the ludex catalogue of the lfbrary of the surgeon general'! office of the United States army. e a A Fighting the plague with fire and death quick obliteration of human be ings at the gun muzzle aud the utter extinction of dead bodies lu the ashes of funeral pyres Is au excess of horror In connection with the progress of the dread black buboulc scourge. The cus, torn of the disposal of bodies of plague victims by the Russian army officials In Manchuria Is Invariably that of In cineration. Between July 0 and 15 last over 300 coolies employed on the rail road work near Newchwang, who be came Infected by contact with coolie laborers shipped from Hong Kong, and who disclosed unmistakable evidences of hnvlng the plague In its first stages, were rounded up and shot by the Cos sack soldiers employed iu gunrding tba camps. Their bodies were piled on logs. I saturated with petroleum and burned. WHEN WOMEN VOTED. ' Privilege Extended to Unmarried Owu. ers of Property. Kentucky, which In 1845 made voters of widows and spinsters who were holders of real estate, only followed the footsteps of Maryland, which had done the same thing thirty years be fore. I have not the authorities at hand which would enable me to give exact dates, but about the year 1820 unmarried women who were holders of real estate to a given amount were en titled to vote, and did very generally exercise the right of franchise. In colonial days the States of the South generally made the ownership of property a requisite to the exercise of the right of franchise, while the New England colonies generally made church membership a necessary quali fication of the voter. Following the Idea that only property holders should vote, It was a natural step to conclude that all property holders should vote. Maryland, therefore, decided that where the ownership of property was vested In a woman who had not a hus band to represent her she should be a voter. I have many times heard my grand mother tell of voting during the days of her widowhood and describe the manner of exercising the franchise in those days. There was but one voting place in the county, and all electors were required to go to the county town to cast their votes. She lived In the county of Talbot, and the voting place for the entire county was Easton, the couuty seat. There was no casting of a ballot, nor was the system like the viva voce vote which prevailed In Ken tucky until a few years ago. But the candidates for office sat In the election room, and each voter was expected to look them over and Belect one for whom he or she desired to vote, and the clerks made a record of the decis ion. Candidates for State offices were expected to have representatives In each county. These were leading peo ple of the party to which the candidate belonged, and each one was expected to be well qualified to discuss the mer its of the candidate he represented. In those days the elections lasted four nays In order to give ample time for every one to get to the voting place. Some time late In the '40s the spirit of progress required a sweeping away of the barriers which the property quali fication had set up, aud a constitutional convention decided In favor of giving the ballot to every white male voter who had reached the age of 21 years. As the right of a woman to vote was based on the Idea of property qualifica tion, when that was swept away she lost the ballot. I merely recall this fact to show that Maryland, which was the first colony to guarantee religious liberty to all her people, and which took the first steps toward securing the present Constitu tion of the United States, was also the Srst to give the ballot to woman. Bos ton Transcript. Substitutes for Perfume. The various devices adopted to serve is a substitute for liquid perfume has never been entirely satisfactory when it comes to the necessity of Imparting in enduring scent to a gown. The lit tle silver hearts, perforated and con taining the solid pellets of perfume, were rather ornamental than useful, ?ven when there were no substitutes for them. They are still In use and Jropped Into the deepest recesses of the corsage, exude a falut and not very en during perfume. Most of the Paris aressmakers put Into convenient places In a gown the small bags of sachet powder of the scent affected by the wearer. Nearly every woman, who makes an effort to keep up with these novelties In daintiness, has her set of tittle sachet bags to be worn In the corsage, even if she does not have them sewed in every dress. In Command for Once. A man o'-war was lying off Gibraltar, and permission was given to the men to go ashore for the day. The sailors amused themselves In various ways among others by riding about on don keys, and their want of experience In this line caused much amusement. An I ifflcer observing one of the men sitting hack very far on the animal called out: "I say. Bill, get up more amidships!" With an Injured air he replied: "Well. sir. this Is the first craft I I have ever commanded in my life, and It 8 bard Indeed if I can't ride on the juarter deck if I like." Answers. Soil. The pilgrim did not conceal the com passion he felt. "How," he exclaimed, "do you man age to wring a living from such a poor soil?" "Oh, our soil makes an excellent sandbag!" protested the dark, sinister Inhabitant, regarding the other narrow ly. Detroit Journal. Vacation Arrangement. "I can tell a woman's age by know ing what she takes to the seaside In her trunk." "How do you tell?" "Well, If she's under 30 she takes more clothes than books: If hIip'o 80 she takes more books than clothes." Art in Dress. There is some wonder that a partlcu- lnrlV eond limml nf rlrari la nnt namo.1 . - c " - o - m . u w uaiuvti ' the "Don't Worry."