Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/178

Rh 1(58 P L A P L A villages, terrified at the accounts from Vetlanka, strictly isolated the sick, and thus probably checked the spread of the disease. But it evidently suffered a spontaneous decline. By the end of January there were no cases left in the district except at one village (Selitren- iioye), where the last occurred on the 9th February. The total number of cases in Vetlanka, out of a population of about 1700, was 417, of whom 362 died. In the other villages there were about 62 deaths from plague, and not more than two or three cases of recovery. In consequence of the alarm excited by this last appearance of plague upon European soil, most European Govern ments sent special commissions to the spot. The British commis sioners were Surgeon-Major Col vill and the present writer, who, like all the foreign (.-0111111 issioners, reached the spot when the epidemic was over. With respect to the origin of this epidemic, the possi bility of its having originated on the spot, as in Resht and on the Euphrates iu very similar situations, is not to be denied. An attempt was m.ide to show that the contagion was brought home by Cossacks returning from the Turkish War, but on absolutely no evidence. In the opinion of the writer the real beginning of the disease was in the yvar 1877, iu the vicinity of Astrakhan, and the sudden develop ment of the malignant out of a mild form of the disease is no more than has been observed in other places. The Astrakhan disease may have been imported from Kesht or Baku, or may have been ciused concurrently with the epidemics of these places by some cause affecting the basin of the Caspian generally. But the condi tions under which these uiild or miasmatic forms of plague are spread are as yet unknown. Plague in India. It used to be held as a maxim that plague never appeared east of the Indus ; nevertheless it has been observed during this century in more than one distinct centre in India. So long ago as 1815 the disease appeared in Guzerat, Kattywar, and Cutch, &quot;after three years of severe famine.&quot; It reappeared early next year, in the same locality, when it extended to Siud as far as Hyderabad, and in another direction south-east as far as Ahmeda- kul and Dhollerah. But it disappeared from these parts in 1820 or early in 1821, and was not heard of again till July 1836, when a disease broke out into violence at the town of Pali in Manvar in Kajputana. It spread from Pali to the province of Meywar, but died out spontaneously in the hot season of 1837, and has never b- eii heard of again in that part of India. The origin of these two epidemics was obscure. No importation from other countries could be traced. In 1823 (though not officially known till later) an epidemic broke out at Kedarnath in Gurwhal, a sub-district of Kumaon on the south-west of the Himalayas, on a high situation. In 1834 and 1836 other epidemics occurred, which at last attracted the attention of Government. In 1849-50, and again in 1852, the disease raged very severely and spread southward. In 1853 Dr Francis and Dr Pearson were appointed a commission to inquire into the malady. In 1876-77 another outbreak occurred, since which time no accounts of the epidemic have been received. The symptoms of this disease, called mafiM murree by the natives, are precisely those of Oriental plague. The feature of blood-spitting, to which much importance has been attached, appears to be not a common one. A very remark able circumstance is the death of animals (rats, and more rarely snakes), which occurs at the outbreak of an epidemic. The rats bring up blood, and the body of one examined after death by Dr Francis showed an affection of the lungs. Maha murree is intensely communicable, but does not show much tendency to spread, since pilgrims who visit the mountain shrines are not affected and do not convey the disease. It is doubtless connected with uncleanliness and poverty, but Dr Francis believes that the poison exists in the soil, which becomes more and more contaminated with it. The disease is pretty clearly endemic, not imported. 1 It is remarkable that of late years reports have come of the occurrence of Oriental plague in China. It has been observed in the province of Yunnan since 1871, and also at Pakhoi, a port in the Toag-king Gulf, as lately as 1882, but said to have prevailed there at least fifteen years. In Yunnan it appears to be endemic, though there are rumours of its having been brought from Burmah, and become more noticeable after the suppression of a rebellion in that province. The climate is temperate and the country partly mountainous. Some regard the disease as being conveyed from Pakhoi to Yunnan. In both places the symptoms were the same, of undoubted bubonic plague. It has always been noticed, as in India, that rats leave their holes and die at the beginning of an epidemic ; and the same mortality has been observed among cats, dogs, cattle, ponies, deer, &c. At Pakhoi it recurs nearly every year. 2 Uncleanly habits have much to do with fostering the disease. 1 On Indian plague, see Francis, Trans. Kpideni. floe. Land,, vol. iv. pp. 407-8 ; Jiihn Murray, ibid., vol. iv. part 2 ; J. K. Kadcliffe, Reports of Local Government Hoard, 1875, 1876, 1877, and for 1879-80 ; 1 arliamentary Papers, 1879; Frederick Forbes, On Plague in North- West Provinces of India, Edinburgh, 1840 (Disserta tion); Hirseh, llandbuch der histoi ischen-gfogr. Pathnlogie, vol. i. p. 209, 18CO (Kng. trans, by Creighton, London, 1883); Hecker s Voikakrankheiten des Afittel- atters, Berlin, 18f,-&amp;gt;, p. 101 ; Webb, I atliologia Jndica, 2d td.. Calcutta, 1848. - See J. X. Kadcliffe s Report Jur 1879-80, p. 45; Mauson iu Reports of Imperial It thus appears that at the present time plague exists, or has existed within ten years, in the following parts of the world : (1) Benghazi, Africa ; (2) Persian Kurdistan ; (3) Irak, on the Tigris and Euphrates; (4) the Asir country, western Arabia; (5) on the lower Volga, Russia ; (6) northern Persia and the shores of the Caspian; (7) Kumaon and Gurhwal, India; (8) Yunnan and Pak hoi, China. Except Benghazi all these places show ail eastward recession as compared with the old seats of plague known to us. Literature. See the following works, besides those already quoted 3 : Kamin- tus, Keijim en contra epiUimiam sire pestein, 4to, circa 1494 (many editions) Jacobus Soldus, Opus insiyne &amp;lt;le 1 este, 4to, Bologna, 1478; Alex. Benedictus De Observation* in I ettilentia, 4to, Veil., 1493 ; Nlcolaus Mussa, lie Febre Pestilent i i, 4to, Ven., 155U, &c.; [Kioravanti, Rftjimento tic/la Peste, 8vo, Ven. 1505]; John Wootlall, The Surgeon s Mate, folio, London, 1639; Van Ilclniont Tumulus Pestis, 8vo, Cologne, 1044, ic.; [Muratori, Trattato del Gocerno del/a Peste, Modena, 1714] ; John Howard, An Account of Lazarettoes in Europe, Ac. 4to, London, 1789 ; Patrick Russell, A Treatise of the Plague, 4to, London, 1791 Thomas Hancock, liescarclies into the Laics of Pestilence, 8vo, London, 1821 [Foderc, Lemons sur las Epidemies, Ac., 4 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1822-24] ; [Se&quot;gur Dupeyron, Recherches Historiques, &amp;lt;tc., sur la Peste, 1837] ; Bulurd, La Peste Orientate, 8vo, Paris, 1839; Griesinger, Die In/ectionskranJc/ieiten, 2d ed., 8vo, Erl.mgen, 1804. (J. F. P.) PLAICE (Pleuronectes platessa), a species of Flat-fish, common on the coasts of northern Europe from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay. It is readily recognized by the yellow or orange-coloured spots which are placed in a row along the dorsal and anal fins, and scattered over the body. The eyes are on the right side, and the teeth in the jaws compressed and truncate. The scales are minute and smooth. In the dorsal fin from sixty-seven to seventy- seven rays may be counted, in the anal from fifty to fifty- seven. Plaice, like other flat-fishes, prefer a sandy flat bottom to a rocky ground, and occur in suitable localities in great abundance; and, as they belong to the better class of fishes for the table, immense quantities are brought to the market. They spawn early in spring, and are in finest condition in the month of May. Individuals of seven or eight pounds weight are considered fish of large size, but specimens of double that weight have been caught. Plaice grow quickly and are tenacious of life and, as they thrive in brackish water, their culture in littoral back-waters would seem to be deserving of every attention. PLAINFIELD, a city of the United States, in Union county, New Jersey, lies at the foot of Mount Orange, and on the left side of the Green Brook, a tributary of the Raritan. It may to some extent be regarded as a residen tial suburb of New York, from which it is distant 24 miles by the Central Railroad. The local manufactures hats and clothing are comparatively trifling. Laid out in 1735 and made a city in 1869, Plainfield had 5095 inhabitants in 1870 and 8125 in 1880. A railroad consisting of narrow iron bands nailed down to wooden logs was con structed between Plainfield and Elizabeth as early as 1838. Two miles to the south-west is Washington s Rock, a coign of vantage from which the genaral used to watch the British movements. PLAIN SONG, or PLAIN CHANT (Gregorian Music; Lat. Cantus planus ; Ital. Canto Gregoriano ; Fr. Plain Chant), a style of music, easily recognizable by certain strongly-marked characteristics, some very ancient frag ments of which are believed to have been in use under the Jewish dispensation from a remote period, and to have been thence transferred tu the ritual of the Christian church. The theories advanced as to the origin of this solemn form of ecclesiastical music are innumerable. The most widely-spread opinion is that the older portion of it originated with the Psalms themselves, or at least sprang from the later synagogue music. Another theory traces the origin of plain song to the early Greeks ; and the supporters of this view lay much stress on the fact that the scales in which its melodies are composed are named after the old Greek &quot;modes.&quot; But, beyond the name, Chinese Customs, special series No. 2, for half-year ended 31st March 1878, 15th issue, Shanghai; Lowry, &quot;Notes on Epidemic Disease at Pukhoi,&quot; 1S82, i Ad., 24th i-sue, p. 31. 3 Those iu biiuaru brackets [ J have not been so.n by the writer.