92 INFECTION AND IMMUNITY 



death of the fourteenth century was identical with 

 bubonic plague. It presented some features which 

 seem to distinguish it from subsequent epidemics, 

 and it had its origin from a different quarter of the 

 globe. While bubonic plague has usually invaded 

 Europe from Egypt, the black death is believed to 

 have originated in Northern China. It is not known 

 exactly when or where this epidemic had its origin, 

 but it is known to have reached the Crimea in 1346 

 and Constantinople the following year. The same 

 year it was conveyed by ships to several seaports of 

 Italy both on the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, 

 and also to Marseilles on the French coast; in 1348 

 it extended to the interior of these countries and to 

 Spain ; also to England, Holland, and the Scandi- 

 navian peninsula. The following year it completed 

 the invasion of Europe. 



The disease first appeared in London in Novem- 

 ber, 1348, and it continued to prevail in various parts 

 of England for a period of eight or nine years. In 

 1352 the epidemic prevailed in the town of Oxford 

 to such an extent that this town lost two-thirds of 

 its academic population. The plague again invaded 

 England in 1361 and 1368. As a result of these 

 devastating epidemics in England, as well as in 

 other parts of Europe, large parts of the country 

 remained for a time uncultivated, and owing to 



