HISTORIC EPIDEMICS.
A short history of the principal epidemics, including as it does the description of anomalous diseases, many of which are now extinct, and the valuable knowledge which finally led to their extinction, the extraordinary mortalities which these epidemics caused, and many other associate points of interest would seem fitting to close the observations gathered in this volume. As the illustrious Hecker says, in the history of every epidemic, from the earliest times, the spirit of inquiry was always aroused to learn the machinery of such stupendous engines of destruction;and even in the earliest times there was neither deficiency in courage nor in zeal for investigation. "When the glandular plague first made its appearance as a universal epidemic, whilst the more pusillanimous, haunted by visionary fears, shut themselves up in their closets, some physicians at Constantinople, astonished at the phenomena opened the boils of the deceased. The like has occurred both in ancient and modern times, not without favorable results for Science; nay, more mature views excited an eager desire to become acquainted with similar or still greater visitations among the ancients, but, as later ages have always been fond of referring to Grecian antiquity, the learned of those times, from a partial and meagre predilection, were contented with the descriptions of Thucydides, even where nature had revealed, in infinite diversity, the workings of her powers."There cannot but be a natural interest in every medical mind to-day in the few descriptions given of the awful ravages of the epidemics which, fortunately, in our enlightened sanitary era, have entirely disappeared. In the history of such epidemics the name of Hecker stands out so prominently that any remarks on this subject must necessarily, in some measure, find their origin in his writings, which include exhaustive histories of the black death, the dancing mania, and the sweating sickness. Few historians have considered worthy of more than a passing note an event of such magnitude as the black death, which destroyed millions of the human race in the fourteenth century and was particularly dreadful in England. Hume has given but a single paragraph to it and others have been equally brief. Defoe has given us a journal of the plague, but it is not written in a true scientific spirit; and Caius, in 1562, gave us a primitive treatise on the sweating sickness. It is due to the translation of Hecker's "Epidemics of the Middle Ages" by Babbington, made possible through the good offices of the Sydenham Society, that a major part of the knowledge on this subject of the English-reading populace has been derived.
The Black Death, or, as it has been known, the Oriental plague, the bubonic plague, or in England, simply the plague, and in Italy, "la Mortalega" (the great mortality) derived its name from the Orient; its inflammatory boils, tumors of the glands, and black spots, indicative of putrid decomposition, were such as have been seen in no other febrile disease. All the symptoms were not found in every case, and in many cases one symptom alone preceded death. Although afflicted with all the manifestations of the plague, some patients recovered. According to Hecker the symptoms of cephalic affliction were seen; many patients were stupefied and fell into a deep sleep, or became speechless from palsy of the tongue, while others remained sleepless and without rest. The fauces and tongue were black and as if suffused with blood; no beverage could assuage the burning thirst, so that suffering continued without alleviation until death, which many in their despair accelerated with their own hands. Contagion was evident, for attendants caught the disease from their parents and friends, and many houses were emptied of their inhabitants. In the fourteenth century this affection caused still deeper sufferings, such as had not been hitherto experienced. The organs of respiration became the seats of a putrid inflammation, blood was expectorated, and the breath possessed a pestiferous odor. In the West an ardent fever, accompanied by an evacuation of blood, proved fatal in the first three days. It appears that buboes and inflammatory boils did not at first appear, but the disease in the form of carbuncular affection of the lungs (anthrax artigen)caused the fatal issue before the other symptoms developed. Later on in the history of the plague the inflammatory boils and buboes in the groins and axillae were recognized at once as prognosticating a fatal issue.
The history of this plague extends almost to prehistoric times.
There was a pest in Athens in the fifth century before Christ.