Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 55.djvu/603

Rh extends from Samarkand, a place of about thirty-five thousand inhabitants, through the desert to the Caspian Sea at Ouzoun Ada. The latter place is connected by steamer with Baku and the Russian railroad system. The second overland route starts from the northwestern provinces, or Afghanistan, or Baluchistan, passes through Persia, extending on up between the Caspian and Black Seas, and crosses the Caucasus Mountains in the neighborhood of Tiflis. Both of these routes are quite extensively traveled and pass through cities of considerable commercial importance. Samarkand has extensive manufactures of cotton and silk, and carries on considerable trade by means of the Transcaspian Railway with European Russia. The second route passes through Teheran, the capital of Persia, with a population of about two hundred and twenty-five thousand. This route is also largely employed by commercial travelers, especially from Russia. The third overland route passes through Persia and Turkey in Asia up to Constantinople. This route can not be called a commercial highway, but it is used to a considerable extent, especially by pilgrims, and since at no point do travelers along this route come in contact with European guards against the plague, it is most likely that the pest will find its way into Constantinople by this avenue, if at all. The first two overland routes are guarded by Russian medical inspectors. Russia has not been slow to protect itself against the introduction of this epidemic. In December, 1896, the following lines of action were determined upon, and have apparently since that time been carried out quite thoroughly: First, Russian medical men were sent to the larger cities of Persia, such as Teheran and Meshed, for the purpose of watching the approach of the plague. All Russian consular officers in Persia were requested to inform these medical men of every rumor of the epidemic. Second, points of embarkation on the Persian shore of the Caspian Sea have been watched, in order to detect suspicious cases that might pass to Russia along this route. Third, observation stations have been established along the frontiers of the Transcaspian Province. Inspection officers stationed at these places have been notified to close the frontier, with the exception of certain points where inspection stations have been established. Fourth, inspectors have also been placed to guard the region of Tiflis against the introduction of the plague from both Persia and Turkey. For the reasons above mentioned, it seems to me probable that if the plague reaches Europe, it will likely do so by way of Turkey in Asia, across the Bosporus into Constantinople. The large number of pilgrims passing along this route, with the Turk's well-known fatalistic belief, render it quite probable that infection gathered anywhere along the route