THE BUBONIC PLAGUE. 589 



less, a change had taken place for the better, and as the years went on 

 the retrogression of the plague became more and more distinct. 



During the first two decades of the eighteenth century the plague 

 was widely distributed in Eastern Europe. It was present especially in 

 Constantinople and in the Danubian provinces. From the latter it 

 extended to Eussia (Ukraine), and from thence to Poland. The dis- 

 astrous invasion of Eussia by Charles XII. of Sweden, ending in his 

 defeat at Poltawa in 1709, led to its further dissemination to Silesia, 

 Eastern Prussia, the Baltic provinces and seaports, and even to Scan- 

 dinavia. It was during this epidemic that Dantzic, in 1709, lost 33,000, 

 and Stockholm 40,000 by the plague. During the years 1709 and 1710 

 the plague mortality in the Baltic provinces exceeded 300,000. Three 

 years later, in 1713, the plague spread up the Danube and reached 

 Vienna, Prague and even Bavaria. 



During these two decades Western Europe was entirely free from 

 the dread disease. In 1720 the disease suddenly developed in Mar- 

 seilles and extended from thence to neighboring towns and the coun- 

 try districts of Provence. Terrible as was this visitation it is of interest, 

 inasmuch as it was the last occurrence of the plague on French soil, and 

 the last in Western Europe until the recent outbreak in Portugal. 



The plague was said to have been imported into Marseilles by a 

 merchant vessel, the 'Grand Saint Antoine', from Syria. On its way 

 to Marseilles several deaths occurred on shipboard, but the cause was 

 overlooked. On the 25th of May, 1720, two days after the arrival of 

 the vessel, another death occurred among the crew. The disease was 

 still not believed to be the plague, and although quarantine was in- 

 stituted, new cases appeared among the crew and the dock laborers 

 employed in unloading the vessel, and it was not until the disease 

 reached the city that its true nature was recognized. The germs of the 

 disease had then been scattered broadcast. Unsanitary a city as Mar- 

 seilles is to-day, it must have been vastly more so in 1720. The result 

 of the addition of plague germs to the want, misery and filthy con- 

 dition was at once evident. During August the mortality averaged 

 four and even five hundred per day. In September the daily mortality 

 rose to 1,000. So great was the terror of the populace that it became 

 impossible to secure bearers of the dead, to obtain nurses and attendants. 

 The dead were left in heaps upon the streets, so that it became neces- 

 sary to transfer to the city 700 galley slaves, who were required to re- 

 move the bodies. These same galley slaves were even pressed into 

 service as nurses. The diseased were abandoned by friends and rela- 

 tives, and under such conditions it need not be wondered at that they 

 received little or no attention from others. Food and water were 

 denied to the unfortunates, and when food was administered to the 

 pesthouses it was thrown into the windows by machinery. 



