PLAGUE 167 



of the flea above 85° F.; at 10° F. they are virulent. High tempera- 

 ture causes adult fleas to refrain from laying eggs and prevents larva; 

 from developing. Below 50° F. fleas do not become infected when 

 sucking blood. 



1896-1905. During these ten years in Bombay, 1,154,613 people 

 died of plague. Hygienic conditions have forced plague back from 

 Europe, where it was once more prevalent than in the tropics. 



From 1896 to 191 2 plague in India killed 7,000,000, or about 7 per 

 minute. 



1664-1679, the last time plague was in England, 70,000 people died 

 in London. 



The effect made upon English national life by this attack was most 

 marked. Everv English hedgerow is a reminder of plague; they mark 

 the change in land tenure which followed the Black Death. The loss 

 of labour by the plague drove out villeinage and serfdom, after which 

 it became necessary to define the fields. From that period dates the 

 emancipation of the English labouring classes. 



Plague helped to kill the textile industries of the Eastern Counties, 

 and laid the foundations of the modern prosperity of Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire. 



It facilitated the growth of English literature. L'^p to the time of 

 the plague French was the principal language of the schools and the 

 wealth V, but so manv teachers died in the epidemic that a new race 

 of English teachers arose. 



1802, Whyte communicated it to himself, and died while conduct- 

 ing an experiment. 



iSj-;, at Cairo, two condemned criminals were inoculated, but 

 recovered. 



i8g8, in a Vienna laboratory, the pneumonic type was contracted 

 from cultures. There was no epidemic present. 



Plague does not spread v.ell in sanitary districts. 



It is not nearlv as contagious as small-pox and scarlet fever. 



1910-1911. The Plague in China was of the pneumonic type, the 

 most severe. The great majority of the natives and Europeans 

 attacked died, about 46,000 in all. The epidemic was brought by the 

 hunters of the marmot, which is an animal susceptible to epizootic 

 plague. 



The disease was spread bv the hunters when they returned home. 



No instance of plague was found amongst the rats examined. 



Rats are undoubtedly to blame in India and elsewhere. Their 

 extermination is a problem. At Tokio, during five years, there were 

 4,800,000 rats killed at a considerable financial outlay, but even then 

 there was not any reduction noticed in the rat population. 



