SPREAD OF THE PLAGUE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5612, 25 March 1879, Page 3

SPREAD OF THE PLAGUE.

(From the Olobe, January 13.) : Private intelligence has been received at St. Petersburg of’ the spread of the plague among the Calmucks on the Asiatic side ,of the Volga. After the.outbreak of the disease, at Vetlianka) ! a number of villagers with the infection strong upon them) fled to the neighboring, station of Prisbip, where there happened to be a large number of Calmucks at the time. ■ Oh hearing of ..the projected institution of .) the cordhn'around' the Ehotaevsk district; the nomads fled'across the river) ahcl when last heard of were on their way to the country of the Inner Kirghiz horde. 1 A number of Cossacks have been sent from Astraohan. to capture the fugitives, and precautionaryihstriictions have been transmitted to the ' outposts 1 along the River Ourel. The Calmucks, after crossing, the Volga, left, several of. their ;'dead exposed on theTiver-bank.' i: : 1 ; fl '-" " A telegram in the Moscow papers state’ that the'Governor of Astrachan was absent from his post when the plague first;appeared, and did not arrive from St. Petersburg in time to order an effectual blockade of .Vetlianka. Six doctors died oU the spot between December 14 and January 4. The plague had extended to five Cossabk etations, all epme distance apart, before the establishment of a cbrdoni was commenced. --o v-'-.v.i--- 1 . 3

The appearance" of the’ plague at Astrachan is exciting a‘good’deal of interest. The disease is practically unknown in Europe, ,In the Chinese Customs Medical report for! the half-year' tended'-March 31; 'IB7B (which, appears in the London' and China Telegraph), some notes by’Mr. E. Roch’er. ou'tlie'plaguq in China are published, ’ They give some interesting details of the-peculiar phases of this, extraordinary-- malady There is a;: 'fast* that inclines one to think’tbit the . epidemic is owing to exhalations from; the soil, and, it is this ; those " animals that live 1 in the* ground, tin-“drains’ or in‘'holes; are the first to ;be attacked. This is particularly notice, able with lats. As. soon as those animals are ill “ they' leave "their , holes in troops,' ! and after-'staggering 1 about'.and 1 falling over each other, drop doWh; dead. 1 . The same phenomenon occurs’ in ‘the-case ; of other animals, such as buffaloes,’oxen, sheep, deer, pigs.fiand.'dogs. "• All are'-attacked, but thb dog -less 1 severely'than 1 thd'- others. ; r When these phenomena - appear' it is not long before. the disease spreads' to - man; 1 and knowing this; the‘people take every precaution; to guard themselves from the “plague!" They begin to purify-their'-houses-' b’y'lighting - fires; in every room, and in certain'towns“ they abstain' from pork. In man the disease commences with a’ slight fever, which rapidly increases,, and in a tew hours becomes-Very violent; - The(patient clamours for drink, and his thirst is insatiable.: By-and-bye a dark red swelling: shows'itself in the ! armpits, groins, Or neck, -and the fever continuing to augment the-patient’ becomes rapidly unconscious.'- The bubo’ increases till • the -second day, after which ■ it remains stationery, and when it - has ’ attained its’full size ’it. :isl about, as large: as a hen’s or goose’s egg. At this stage, consciousness returns,’- but Ithere “is : ’still “great• for if the swelling, which up to this point is very hard, becomes soft, and if the fever still continues, the ' case- is 1 considered hopeless. On the contrary,-jf the tumor opens externally, which is : a very'rare Oecurrencei thefeiis a chance of ’ recovery;-' Some Chinese physicians have attempted to cut these tumors, but either they-have delayed the 1 operation till’ too -late, or else they- have performed it imper-; fectly, for yery few’have’survived this treatmenta .’.-Many-“6f-the practitioners whom I have seen at work do not Hesitate to declare themselves powerless, and instead of giving a quantity of medicine, as is their practice in ordinary cases, content themselves with prescribing large doses of musk-'as: a last’re-’ source. During my stay in TTennan I -hayO seen a great number of people struck with thisdisease, and I can say that very few recover. In places wherartEeiplague passes ' blit lightly through, one might estimate the mortality at aboutfour per ceht.J while in “places whereit stops .'for some- time .whole“ families disappear one; after the other, and “the- population is completely decimated; atid in< some distriotsthe ;inhabitehts, ; to 'avoid the.i’riblenoe of the' ,-pestilence, abandon their homes and harvests, and; camp out:on the heights! 'where- even sometimes the epidemic follows'them;”- • •C The St. Petersburg .FraiSchebni Vedomdstir gives some particulars regarding l 'the medical ; resources of ; Russia, ' which I show- how inade- ’ quate they are to cope with the plague. , The totel number of dodtore in'Russia! accordingto this authority, is 13,217; veterinary sur- ’ geous, ,1208:dentists,375 ; • r and • chemists,' : 1900. Russia, consequently, has one doctor ’ to every 6655 inhabitants,- spread over 1500 square miles ;of territory, or ten times the areaof the^^lsle,;of--Wight..This compares very unfavorably with Germany, which has 15,000 dootors ’distributed’ over’ an area less than many p’rdvinoei and attending a population not half so- large as'Russia. Of ■ the (13,217 doctors practising in Russia, a ; large proportion is -swallowed up’ by -the towns, leaving bat a. scanty number for the rural districts.. The' deficiency’ Of- doctors isvery keenly felt in Siberia: and Eos): Russia, and almost equally so in :the denser-'districts south of Moscow. Four thousand doctors were withdrawn from Russia in 1877 to attend the 1 battlefield. As of this number 'only a thousand have returned, it follows that .the “actual -

number, of doctors,is not more than 10,000, and that to 85,000,000 oE people. To make mat-ters-yvprse, ,th?,Government has recently closed the medical institutes in four of the leading Universities, and in consequence of this violent measure 1200 medical students have been expelled or imprisoned at the very moment that the cry in every village is for medical help, and the plague is on the wing.