by the later history of the disease. It is there both spo- radic and epidemic ; in the first form it has appeared al- most annually, in the second at rarer intervals. As an
epidemic it takes the character of a pestilence, sometimes of the greatest severity. Our subsequent remarks apply to it in this form. It is a much-vexed question whether it is ever endemic: that such is the case is favored by its rareness since sanitary measures have been enforced. Respecting the causes ami origin of plague nothing is
known. Then' cannot be the slightest doubt that it is propagated by absolute contact with, or a very mar ap- proach to. the bodies or clothes of persons infected; but we are entirely at a loss to know bow it is generated afresh. Extremes of temperature have a decided effect in putting a stop to it: but 1 >r. Russell observed that in the year 1761 the plague at Aleppo was mild, in 1762
ii wa> severer, and in 1768 it w as \ cry fatal; and V1 there was no appreciable difference in the respective
seasons of these years. In Egypt, the plague com- mences in autumn, ami i< regularly put an end to by the heats of summer; ami it is even asserted thai contami- nated goods arc also disinfected at this lime (see l.'u-s- • ;ger, Reisen,i, 236 sq.; Mariii. Trav.p. 199; Prosp. Alp.
. i. 19). Ill Europe the plague disappeared during the winter. This was remarked in all the epi- demics except that from 1686 to 1648, called the Great
PLAGUE
257
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Plague, on account of its long duration; but even in this instance it abated considerably during the winter. It was a common superstition that the plague abated on St. John's da)-. The plague when most severe usually appears first on the northern coast of Egypt, having previously broken out in Turkey or North Africa west of Egypt. It ascends the river to Cairo, rarely going much farther. Thus Mr. Lane has observed that the great plague of 1835 "was certainly introduced from Turkey" {Modem Egyptians, 5th ed., p. 3, note 1). It was first noticed at Alexandria, ascended to Cairo, and farther to the southern part of Egypt, a few cases hav- ing occurred at Thebes; and it "extended throughout the whole of Egypt, though its ravages were not great in the southern parts" {ibid.). The mortality is often enormous, and Mr. Lane remarks of the plague just men- tioned : "It destroyed not less than eighty thousand persons in Cairo, that is, one third of the population ; and far more, I believe, than two hundred thousand in all Egypt" (ibid.). When this pestilence visited Egypt, in the summer of 1813, the deaths were not numerous, although, owing to the government's posting a sentry at each house in which any one had died of the disease, to enforce quarantine, there was much concealment, and the number was not accurately known (Mrs. Poole, Eng- lishwoman in Egypt, ii, 32-35). Although since then Egypt has been free from this scourge, Benghazi (Hes- peridesl in the pasbalic of Tripoli, was almost depopu- lated by it during part of the years 1860 and 1861. The most fatal, and at the same time the most general epi- demic, was that which ravaged Asia, Africa, and the whole of Europe in the 14th century. It was called by the northern European nations "the Black Death," and by the Italians "la Mortilega Grande" — the great mortality. According to Dr. Hecker, not less than twenty-five millions perished by it in the short space of three years, from 1347 to 1350. Since the commence- ment of this century Europe has been free from the plague, with the exception of two or three instances. It occurred at Noja, in the kingdom of Naples, in 1815 and 1816; at the Lazaretto of Venice in 1818; in Grci- fenberg, in Silesia, in 1819. It has not been seen in Great Britain since the great epidemic of 1665, which is stated to have carried off eight thousand in one week. Quarantine was first performed in one of the islands near Venice in 1485. Persons who had been cured of plague in the Lazaretto on one of the adjoining islands were sent there, and all those with whom they had had intercourse, where they were detained forty days. This period was probably fixed upon on account of some medical hypothesis. The fortieth day was regarded as the last day of ardent diseases, and that which separated them from chronic. Forty days constituted the philo- sophical month of alchemists. Theological, and even legal derivations have also been given. The forty days of the flood ; Moses's sojourn on Mount Sinai ; our Lord's fast; and, lastly, what is called the "Saxon term" (Siichsische Frist), which also lasts forty days. Bills of health were probably first established in 1507, by a council of health established at Venice during a fatal plague that visited Italy for five years; but they w^ere not generally used until 1665. It is to these great mea- sures that Europe is indebted for its present immunity from this terrible scourge; and it cannot be doubted that but for the callous indifference of the Orientals (which proceeds from their fatalism, love of gain, and ignorance), the same measures would be adopted in the East with the same success (Decker's Hist, of the Epi- demics of the Middle Ages; Dr. Brown, art. Plague, in Cyclop, of Pract. Med.). See Pestilence.