Established by Edward L. Youmans
APPLETONS'
POPULAR SCIENCE
MONTHLY
EDITED BY
WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS
VOL. LV
MAY TO OCTOBER, 1899
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1899
Copyright, 1899,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
EDUARD OSCAR SCHMIDT.APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
SEPTEMBER, 1899.
ARE WE IN DANGER FROM THE PLAGUE?
By VICTOR C. VAUGHAN,
PROFESSOR OF HYGIENE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
In an article on the plague in this journal, in May, 1897, thewriter answered this question as follows: "Yes, there is danger;but this, being foreseen, may be easily avoided. Thoroughinspection of persons and disinfection of things from infected districtswill keep the disease out of Europe and America. Only bythe most gross carelessness could the plague be permitted to entereither of these continents."
It will be of interest to take up this subject again, and studyit in the light of the history of the plague since the article referredto was written. The plague first appeared in western India, atBombay, where it still prevails. We are without any exact informationconcerning its introduction into that city. Before the outbreakof the disease at Bombay the mortality had increased somarkedly that it was a subject of discussion for three meetings ofthe Grant Medical Society. The increase was attributed to thefilthy condition of the streets. This society made an investigationof the increased mortality, and presented a report on the same tothe municipal authorities. Instead of heeding the warning, theauthorities jeered at the society, and refused to allow the reportto be read.
Dr. Viegas appears to have been the first physician to recognizethe existence of the plague in the city. In a paper read beforethe Grant Medical Society on November 24, 1896, he discussedthe possible and probable avenues by which the disease hadfound its way into the town. He stated that sugar and dates had[Pg 578]been mentioned as means by which the plague was imported, but,if this had been the case, he thought it strange that the infection hadnot been conveyed from Bagdad and Bassorah, inasmuch as thesearticles come almost exclusively from those places. Again, it wasthought possible that the clothes of the sick or of the dead fromthe plague in China might have been brought over to Bombay, butDr. Viegas was unable to find any evidence in support of this theory.It had also been claimed that rats sick with the plague hadcome by ship from Hong Kong, and had infected the rats about thedocks in Bombay. This theory, Dr. Viegas held, was not supportedby any facts. In short, Dr. Viegas found some objection toevery theory that had been proposed, and leaves us in doubt as tohis own views concerning the avenue by which the plague reachedBombay. He is quite confident, however, that the filthiness of thecity is to blame for the rapidity with which the disease spread.
In a report by Lieutenant-Co