Interesting stuff on the plagues of the past. One other thing for your consideration
is a supposition by some that the plagues followed the sightings of airborne UFO
phenomenon and thus the idea spread by some that the UFO's came to "thin out the herd"
as it were. Do any of you remember seeing pictures of woodcuts etc. from the time
which show large black and white speres in the skies? I wonder if anybody has done
any calculations to determine what the population of the Earth would be now if NOT for
the plagues??
On Wed, 03 May 2000, Ynr Chyldz Wyld wrote:
>
> > Two types of plague are believed to have caused the Black Death. The
> > first is the "bubonic" type, which was the most common. The bubonic form
> > of plague is characterized by swellings of the lymph nodes: the
> > swellings are called "buboes," The buboes are accompanied by vomiting,
> > fever and death............ This form of plague is not contagious
> > between human beings; it requires an active carrier, such as a flea. For
> > this reason, many historians believe that flea-infested rodents caused
> > the Bubonic Plague...........
> > The second form of plague contributing to the Black Death is a highly
> > contagious type known as "pneumonic" plague. It is marked by shivering,
> > rapid breathing and the coughing up of blood............... This second
> > type of plague is nearly always fatal and transmits best in cold weather
> > and in poor ventilation. Some physicians today believe it was this
> > second form, the "pneumonic" plague, which was responsible for most of
> > the casualties of the Black Death because of the crowding and poor
> > hygienic conditions then prevalent in Europe.
>
> Pneumonic and bubonic are not exclusive. Pneumonic cases often present
> buboes, bubonic cases often progress into the pneumonic...
>
>
> > Many outbreaks occurred in summer during warm weather in uncrowded
> > regions. Not all outbreaks of bubonic plague were preceded by rodent
> > infestation; in fact, only a minority of cases seemed to be related to
> > an increase in the presence of vermin.
>
> While rodents perhaps can be blamed for the initial cases in Europe
> (most notably the popular ports of Italy), they can't be totally blamed
> for the subsequent spreading of the disease. The European population
> of the time rarely bathed, and were quite flea-infested themselves.
>
> People travelled more in summer. Rural farmers travelled into their
> local towns to sell their produce on fair days, mingling with merchants
> and minstrels who travelled from town to town and city to city. Add
> in the occasional organized pilgrimage from some European city to the
> Holy Land, which made requisite stops at all the towns along the way.
> Stir in the Crusades, or any other holy war which gathered people from
> various parts of Europe to go on campaigns where they would be interacting
> with populaces already infected.
>
> A popular weapon to use against a city one was attacking was to catapult
> dead animals, and occasionally a dead person, over the walls and into
> the city. The medieval military officer knew nothing of bacteria or
> viruses or fleas being the vector to spread disease (and would readily
> leap from a cold dead body to a warm living one); he just knew that if
> you lobbed enough dead bodies into the city (which, being under seige,
> was unable to bury them), that soon the inhabitants of that city
> sickened and died...
>
>
> >The greatest puzzle about the
> > Black Death is how it was able to strike isolated human populations
> > which had no contact with earlier infected areas. The epidemics also
> > tended to end abruptly...........
>
> I just explained how it could spread into isolated areas. It stops
> abruptly for a number of reasons. First off, you'll find most of the
> time the 'abrupt' end coincides with colder weather...well, that's when
> people holed up in their own houses, kept their warm-blooded mammals
> inside in the stable or barn, and there was little intermingling.
>
> Secondly, there's a diminishing pool of available hosts in a plague
> stricken area. Quite frankly, most of the hosts died off; survivors who
> were well-off financially would abandon the plague-stricken areas for
> their country homes, where it was perceived to be safer. Those who
> weren't lucky enough to have a country home to retire to remained indoors,
> too afraid to risk going outside (and who would want to, with all those
> dead bodies laying about unburied?)...so there was less opportunity to
> interact with those who may be infected with the pneumonic form, or to
> be infected with the bubonic form via fleas jumping off a dead body onto
> the living one.
>
> A very harsh manner of dealing with a plague infection in a household was
> to lock all the household up in the infected building with the actual
> plague victim, and then set fire to the house, killing all inside. Pretty
> drastic, but it DID result in getting rid of not only the actual plague
> victim, but those close to him who could very likely have gotten infected
> but hadn't presented symptoms yet. It also would kill any fleas on the
> people in the household. Unfortunately, any rodents carrying infected
> fleas probably escaped... :-7
>
>
> June
"Welcome to the desert of the real." Morpheus, in The Matrix
"My God it's full of stars!" Dave Bowman, in 2001: A Space
Odyssey
_______________________________________________________________________
Why pay when you don't have to? Get AltaVista Free Internet Access now!
http://jump.altavista.com/freeaccess4.go
_______________________________________________________________________
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid
matters
and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
<A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
