730 



PLAGUE. 



PORTUGAL. 



the Society of Practical Physicians, that there 

 could be no question that Eussia was again at- 

 tacked by its old enemy the tcliuma, or East- 

 ern plague, which seemed to be so closely akin 

 to the " Black Death " of the middle ages, and 

 that the symptoms were just the same as they 

 were of old. The Government had by this 

 time declared that it was ready to allow an 

 international commission to proceed to the seat 

 of the epidemic, and would do everything to 

 assist its labors. Toward the end of January 

 the " Journal de St. Petersbourg " stated that 

 the timely and energetic measures adopted by 

 the Government, and the promptitude with 

 which information regarding the epidemic was 

 communicated to the public, were proofs that 

 the time was past for bureaucratic mystery 

 concerning the truth in a matter affecting the 

 public health ; and the official telegrams an- 

 nounced that there were no persons ill with 

 the epidemic in Wetlianka, and there was only 

 a little of it in the other villages. Commis- 

 sioners of the Austrian and German Govern- 

 ments visited the infected districts to investi- 

 gate the disease, but failed to gain satisfactory 

 information. They were treated with polite- 

 ness, but were not assisted by the officers in 

 the object of their errand. 



General Loris-Melikoff was appointed at the 

 beginning of February to go to Astrakhan and 

 take charge of the necessary measures for 

 stamping out the plague. He took with him 

 a commission of experts and assistants, and 

 had authority to use whatever means might be 

 required. Committees were formed in the 

 principal towns for promoting cleanliness 

 among the poorer classes, and lectures on the 

 plague were delivered at many of the medical 

 schools. An imperial decree of February 17th 

 authorized General Loris-Melikoff to try by 

 court-martial all civilians violating the quaran- 

 tine regulations in those parts of Astrakhan 

 which were to be placed by him under martial 

 law. It was decided to burn Wetlianka and 

 the houses in other villages in which cases of 

 the plague had occurred, with provision for 

 recompensing the people for the losses which 

 they might suffer. These measures were car- 

 ried into effect, and at the end of February 

 General Loris-Melikoff reported that there was 

 not a case of epidemic illness in the district 

 nnder his jurisdiction, the last case having been 

 registered on the 9th of the month. 



Stringent measures of quarantine were put 

 in force by the Governments of neighboring 

 states as soon as it seemed definitely established 

 that an epidemic existed in Russia. The Ger- 

 man and Austrian Governments ordered a 

 detention of passengers and goods, and gave 

 notice that if the epidemic spread to a threat- 

 ening extent the frontiers should be closed al- 

 gether ; the Italian Government ordered a 

 quarantine against all vessels arriving from 

 the Black Sea ; similar measures'were adopted 

 at the ports of other nations visited by Rus- 

 sian vessels ; and the Roumanian Government 



made the prevalence of the plague a ground 

 for raising fresh objections to the passage of 

 Russian troops through its territory. These 

 precautions were objected to by the Russian 

 Government, which chose to regard them as 

 restrictions inflicted upon its commerce for 

 which the condition of the country did not 

 afford a sufficient justification. 



The form in which the plague manifests it- 

 self is subject to modifications according to 

 the degree of violence which the disease as- 

 sumes. In the most violent attacks, illness 

 can hardly be spoken of, for they run their 

 course in about two hours. The French phy- 

 sicians who observed the disease in Egypt 

 called this form peste foudroyante. In the 

 next most violent form, the patient after the 

 earlier symptoms falls into a delirious state, 

 with stammering speech. The pulse is hardly 

 perceptible. The only other marked change is 

 an effusion of blood in the skin. The tongue 

 continues moist, but the skin is quite dry, 

 and death ensues after twenty-four or at most 

 forty-eight hours, so that there is no time for 

 the buboes to form, or more than begin. In 

 Bomewhat less malignant cases, in which re- 

 covery occasionally takes place, the buboes or 

 boils are formed in the soft parts, in the arm- 

 pits, and on the neck, and cause great pain. 

 They are swellings from the size of a pigeon's 

 egg to that of a goose-egg, hard, yielding at 

 first, afterward fixed and painful to the touch 

 when the skin has become red around them, 

 and finally, if the patient has not succumbed 

 to the disease, suppurate in the second or 

 third week. Suppuration is considered a good 

 symptom. In other cases the buboes dry up, 

 and this denotes increased danger. Generally, 

 however, the patients on whom the boils ap- 

 pear die on the fourth or fifth day, before sup- 

 puration can take place. The general symp- 

 toms are similar to those described as charac- 

 terizing the disease at Wetlianka, of which 

 extreme exhaustion, vomiting, spitting blood, 

 and the honey-like " plague-smell " are among 

 the marked features. If the person attacked 

 lives through the earlier stages, he is afflicted 

 with offensive sweats, and dies unconscious or 

 in convulsions. In cases which result favor- 

 ably, a warm sweat comes on, sleep follows, 

 the buboes open, the appetite returns, etc. ; but 

 the process of recovery requires weeks and 

 often months. Milder forms of the disease 

 occur, in which the symptoms are mitigated 

 and a favorable result is more frequent. The 

 disease prevails at all seasons, but has been 

 generally found to diminish greatly or disap- 

 pear in very hot and very cold weather. 



PORTUGAL, a kingdom in southwestern 

 Europe. King Luiz I., born October 31, 1838 ; 

 succeeded his brother, King Pedro V., No- 

 vember 11, 1861 ; married, October 6, 1862, to 

 Pia, youngest daughter of King Victor Eman- 

 uel of Italy. Issue of the union are two sons : 

 Carlos, born September 28, 1863, and Alfonso, 

 born July 31, 1865. 



