Enclosure in Gazette JUNE 29, 1894 –
THE NEW PLAGUE
20th June. A writer in the Shenpao investigates the question of the plague in Canton and Hongkong. Some say, he remarks, that it is an entirely new disease, while others believe they find it described in old Chinese works, such as the Su-wen and the Shang-hun-lun. The name by which it is now distinguished is taken from the peculiar swellings which appear first behind the ears, then in the armpits and between the legs. It is therefore called Kota-wen, wen being the general name for any epidemic, and Kota meaning any swelling. The writer identifies it with the Yang-tez-cheng of the province of Yunnan, which has already been described at Mêngtze, and Pakhoi by the Commissioners and Medical Officers of the Chinese Customs residing at those places. The latest of these for the year ending the 31st of March, 1891, is that of Dr. A. Sharp Deane who says in his report of the health of Pakhoi: "Bubonic plague mentioned in my last report as having broken out at Lungchow disappeared in April, after a heavy fall of rain. No cases occurred at this port during this year. The Chinese are of opinion that bubonic plague emanates from the ground, and is favoured by a long continuance of dry weather, when the earth becomes porous, and numerous fissures appear on the surface, facilitating the escape of whatever causes the disease. Heavy rain, they say, prevents the occurrence of plague; or if it is already among them, a downpour of two or three days' duration will cause it to cease."
Looking at the matter under the light of the information we have received, this singular and alarming epidemic may be regarded as a new disease territorially limited to places lying near the tropic of Cancer, and travelling eastward in the same isothermal line from which it began its destructive career. Yunnan is a country where animal life flourishes, and where malaria is always abundantly present. But what is malaria? It is a form of animal life which preys parasitically on the human frame. The smallpox came from the jungle country of the south into China in the second century of our era, as Chinese history assures us. This is the first mention of smallpox in any literature. The reader should not believe what the Revue des Deux Mondes says about its being mentioned in China B.C. 1200. This is not the case. Even able writers, such as those whose contributions adorn the pages of this French Review, take liberties which they ought not when speaking of China. In the interest of historical research, it would be well if writers would cease to guess at what is recorded in the Chinese annals. The French savant concludes that smallpox has existed from time immemorial in China and India. This is not a statement convincing or satisfactory. The real facts are that the smallpox appeared in China in the second century A.D. and in Europe in the sixth century.
It was conveyed to Europe by the Saracens. It originated in the same or nearly the same jungle country where the new plague of Hongkong and Canton sprang up. As it would seem, it was somewhere about the tropic of Cancer in both cases. So it was with cholera. Cholera began in the delta of the Ganges, also in jungle country. The sun is vertical there, heat is intense, vegetation flourishes, and food is abundant for every form of animal life. These pestilential diseases, if we trace them to their origin, are derived from such regions as the jungles found in the deltas of great rivers and chiefly those reaching the sea under the tropic of Cancer. There is found the greatest variety of animal and vegetable life, and there have grown up the various great pestilences which have afflicted mankind. As to the plague which spread over Europe in the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, it may be of African origin, as the Revue des Deux Mondes supposes. But it was also, like the alarming plague which is now dying away at Canton and Hongkong, often characterised by swellings under the armpits and in the groin. There were several kinds of plague, and we cannot be positive in asserting or denying the identity of the present plague with those which alarmed our forefathers and desolated Europe. But with regard to this present destructive plague, the facts known to us render it extremely probable that it is quite a new disease occasioned, like the typhoons of the China Sea, in some way by the effect of the sun's heat at the tropic of Cancer. Investigation into the origin of these winds has led to the discovery that they commence in the ocean near the Philippine Islands. It is there where the sun turns round at the summer solstice, and there the most destructive winds take their rise.
In some inscrutable manner, the powerful influence of the sun in the same latitude, but on land, seems to be connected with the bacilli which cause fatal diseases of epidemic types when stirred to extraordinary activity. The diseases thus occasioned are first local, then epidemic, and then endemic. Whenever the career of these diseases can be checked by sanitary regulations and assiduous medical care, an immense boon is conferred on mankind, because this change from the local to the epidemic and from the epidemic to the endemic form is capable of being checked by intelligent human provisions of a sanitary kind. That the law of advance is from local to epidemic seems to follow plainly from the facts we now possess. Dr. Lowry states that the disease came to Pakhoi from the city of Chinchou sixty miles to the west. From that place, it spread to Lieuchou, twenty miles eastward, and then appeared at Pakhoi on the coast fifty miles further. From this seaport to Canton, the distance is 150 miles or thereabouts,
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Enclosure in
Gazette JUNE 29.1894–
THE NEW PLAGUE
20th June. A WRITER in the Shenpao" investigates the question of the plague in Canton and Hongkong. Some say, he remarks, that it is an entirely new disease, while others believe they find it des- cribed in old Chinese works, such as the Su-wen and the Shang-hun-lun. The name by which it is now distinguished is taken from the peculiar swellings which appear first behind the ears, then in the armpits and between the legs. It is therefore called Kota-wen, wen being the general name for any epidemic, and Kota meaning any swelling. The writer identifies it with the Yang-tez- cheng of the province, of Yunnan, which has already been described at Mêngtze, and Pakhoi by the Commissioners and *Medical Officers of the Chinese Customs residing at those places. The latest of theee for the year ending the 31st of March, 1891, is that of Dr. A.Sharp Deane who says in his report of the health of Pakhoi: "Bubonic plague mentioned in any last report as having broken out at *Lungchow disappeared in April, after a heavy fall of rain. No cases occurred at this port during this year. The Chinese are of opinion that bubonie plague emanates from the ground, and is favoured by a long continuance of dry weather, when the earth becomes porous, and numerous fissures appear on the surface, facilitating the escape of whatever causes the disease. Heavy rain, they say, prevents the occurrence of plague; or if it is already among them, a downpour of two or three days' duration will cause it to cease."
Looking at the matter under the light of the information we have re- ceived, this singular and alarming epide- mic roay be regarded as a new disease territorially limited to places lying near the tropic of Cancer, and travelling east- ward in the same isothermal line from which it began its destructive career. Yunnan is a country where animal life flourishes, and where malaria is always abundantly present. But what is ma laria ?It is a form of animal life which preysrasitically on the human frame. The smallpox came from the jungle country of the south into China in the second century of our era, as Chinese his- tory assures us. This is the first neu- tion of smallpox in any literature.* The reader should not believe what the Revue des Deux Mondes says about its being mentioned in China B.C. 1200. This
18 not the case. Even able writers. such as those whose contributions adorn the pages of this French Review take liberties which they ought not when apeaking of China. In the interest of bistorical research it would be well if writers would cease to guess at what is recorded in the Chinese annals. The French sacant concludes that small- pox has existed from time immemorial in China and India. This is not a statement convincing or satisfactory. The real facts are that the smallpox appeared in China in the second een- tury AD. and in Europe in the sixth
century.
century. It was conveyed to Europe by the Saracens. It originated in the same or nearly the same jungle conn- try where the new plague of Hongkong and Canton sprang up.
As it would seem it was somewhere about the tropic of Cancer in both cases. So it was with cholera. Cholera began in the delta of the Ganges, also in jungle country. The sun is vertical there, heat is intense, vegetation, flourishes,, and food is abundant for every form of animal life. These pestilential dis- eases, if we trace them then to their origin, are derived from such regions as the jungles found in the deltas of great rivers and chiefly those reach- ing the sea under the tropic of Cancer. There is found the greatest variety of animal and vegetable life and there have grown up the various great pestilences which have afilicted man- kind. As to the plague which spread over Europe in the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, it may be of African origin, as the Reene des Deux Mondes: supposes. But it was also, like the alarming plague which is now dying away at Canton and Hongkong, often characterised by swellings under the armpits and in the groin. Thers were several kinds of plague, and we cannot be positive in asserting or denying the identity of the present plague with those which alarmed our forefathers and desolated Europe. But with re- gard to this the present destructive plague, the facts known to us render it extremely probable that it is quite a new disease occasioned like the typhoons of the China Sea in some way by the effect of the sun's heat at the tropic of Cancer. Investiga- tion into the origin of these winds bas led to the discovery that they com- mence in the ocean near the Philippine Islands. It is there where the sun turns round at the summer solstice, and there the most destructive winds take their rise.
In some inscrutable manner the powerful influence of the sun in the same latitude, but ou land, seems to be connected with the bacilli which cause fatal diseases of epidemic types when stirred to extraordinary activity. The diseases thus occasioned are first local, then epidemic, and then endemic. Whenever the career of these diseases can be checked by sanitary regulations and assiduous medical care an immense boon is conferred on mankind, because this change from the local to the epide- mic and from the epidemic to the endemic form is capable of being checked by intelligent human provisions of a sanitary kind. That the law of advance is from local to epidemic seems to follow plainly from the facts we now possess. Dr. Lowry states that the disease came to Pakhoi from the city of Chinchou sixty miles to the west. From that place it spread to Lieu- chou, twenty miles eastward and then appeared at Pakhoi on the coast fifty miles further. From this seaport to Canton the distance is 150 miles or
C.
137335
7 400 34'
thereabouts,
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