CHAPTER VIII

THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR OF 1870–1, AND THE EPIDEMIC OF SMALL-POX IN THE

EUROPEAN STATES CAUSED BY IT

I. SIZE OF THE ARMIES

In the Franco-German War of 1870–1, a larger number of troops were

assembled within a short time upon the field of battle than in any

previous campaign. On the German side 33,101 officers and 1,113,254 men

took part in the war; the average number of men in the German field-army

was 815,000. The total number of French soldiers under arms is not

definitely known; that it was enormous is evident from the fact that the

number of prisoners taken (including the garrison in Paris and General

Bourbaki’s army) amounted to no less than 21,500 officers and 702,000

men. At certain periods of the war huge bodies of troops were

congregated within comparatively narrow limits; at the battle of

Gravelotte (August 18, 1870) some 180,000 to 200,000 men faced one

another on either side; at the siege of Metz the average size of the

German investing army was 240,000 men, while the French army in the city

numbered 173,000 men at the time of the capitulation. At the battle of

Sedan (September 1, 1870) 124,000 French soldiers were opposed to nearly

twice that number of Germans. The garrison in Paris amounted to about

250,000 men, while the German besiegers averaged 240,000 men.

II. DYSENTERY, TYPHOID FEVER, AND TYPHUS FEVER

Despite the fact that these enormous congregations of men were often

exposed to very unfavourable weather conditions, and were much of the

time scantily fed, the number of German field-troops that contracted and

succumbed to infectious diseases was comparatively small. The total loss

sustained by the German army in consequence of injuries and diseases

amounted to 43,182 men and of these 14,648 died of disease. The

following table indicates the percentage of deaths caused by the various

diseases:

_Disease._ _Per cent._

Typhoid Fever 60·0

Dysentery 16·2

Small-pox 1·9

Intermittent Fever 0·1

Other infectious diseases 0·3

Other diseases 21·5

Typhoid fever and dysentery were most prevalent, for the reason that the

troops were often quartered in places where these diseases were already

endemic. Regarding these matters we are accurately informed by the

‘Health Report relating to the German Armies in the War of 1870–1

against France’, an exhaustive account published by the Medical Division

of the Prussian War Department.[238]

A total of 74,205 men in the German field-army contracted typhoid and

gastric fever, and 8,904 succumbed to them. The eastern Departments of

France, especially the city and vicinity of Metz, were constantly

afflicted with typhoid fever. This explains why both the German

besiegers and the French defenders suffered so severely from that

disease, the dissemination of which was helped by the contamination of

the springs and water-courses, partly through excessive use, and partly

in consequence of the burial of dead men and horses in close proximity

to them. And while drinking-water was for that reason brought from a

distance, the water used for other purposes was obtained in the

immediate neighbourhood. It is obvious that typhoid fever must have

raged extensively among the inhabitants of the villages surrounding

Metz, the mortality in which during the siege was three times as high as

normal. This is evident from a compilation of figures in the German

Health Report,[239] indicating how the death-rate in these villages

rapidly decreased after the withdrawal of the Germans; per 100

inhabitants, there died in:

_Inhabitants._ _Nov._ _Dec._ _Jan._ _Feb._ _March._

Verneville 672 2·39 1·34 1·04 0·30 0·74

St. Privat 480 2·70 1·20 1·68 0·84 0·42

Gravelotte 708 2·14 0·71 0·55 0·71 —

Ste. Marie aux 1·17 0·59 0·59 0·29 0·59

Chênes 340

Rezonville 587 1·87 0·87 0·68 0·68 0·85

Gorze 1,774 1·45 0·73 0·56 0·22 0·39

Typhoid fever and dysentery were chiefly responsible for this high

mortality. As at Metz, so also at Sedan and Paris, the troops suffered

severely from typhoid fever.

Large numbers of typhoid-fever patients were taken to lazarets in

Germany; the Prussian lazarets alone took in 30,507, of whom 1,376 died.

Typhoid fever raged furiously among the French prisoners of war, who

usually brought the germ of the disease with them from the scene of the

hostilities. ‘Most observers’, we read in the German Health Report,[240]

‘agree that the disease was most prevalent during the first three weeks

after the arrival of large transports of prisoners at their place of

detention; after that it gradually abated, and finally appeared only

sporadically.’ The military prisons, however, while they often formed

new sources of infection, did not help to disseminate the disease, owing

to the advanced season of the year.

It made considerable difference from what part of the scene of the war

the prisoners came; those coming from Strassburg and Toul were much less

severely infected with typhoid fever than those from Sedan and Metz.

This applies particularly to General Bourbaki’s men, who manifested the

least power of resistance to the disease. In Rastatt, for example, there

were at one time sixty prisoners suffering from typhoid fever; of those

who had come from Strassburg, Neubreisach, and Schlettstadt 13·3 per

cent died; of those from Metz 14·5 per cent died, and of those from

Bourbaki’s army 40·6 per cent died. Of the French prisoners confined in

Germany (the maximum number was 374,995 and the average number 262,496)

15,020 contracted typhoid fever and 3,835 succumbed to it. The

prevalence of the disease among the German troops, as compared with its

prevalence among the French prisoners, is indicated by the following

table:

_No. per 1,000 that _No. that died per 100

succumbed to typhoid treated._

fever._

Mobile German army 11·2 12·0

Immobile German army[241] 3·0 4·1

French prisoners 14·6 25·6

The immediate vicinity of the places in which all these French prisoners

suffering from typhoid fever were confined was necessarily unsafe to

live in; and while the epidemics that were brought about by people

contracting the disease there and conveying it abroad were always kept

localized, they were by no means confined to the very narrow limits

indicated, on the basis of scattered communications, in the German

Health Report. The reason for this moderate dissemination is clear; at

that time typhoid fever was rendered much less prevalent throughout

Germany by the introduction of extensive sanitary measures (sewers,

aqueducts, refuse removal, &c.), which prevented the disease from

constantly spreading from place to place. In Frankfurt-on-the-Main the

mortality due to typhoid fever was not increased; the number of deaths

per 10,000 inhabitants was:

1867 4·3

1868 7·1

1869 4·2

1870 5·8

1871 5·8

1872 6·1

In many cities, on the other hand, an increased number of deaths due to

typhoid fever was observed; whether this was attributable to a

transplantation of it from France, or to a spontaneous outbreak of it

among the many people in these cities who already had the germ in their

systems, it is impossible to ascertain. From the statistics we are

scarcely ever able to make out the proportion of soldiers and civilians

that died. The number of deaths due to typhoid fever per 10,000

inhabitants was:

_Berlin._ _Munich._ _Elberfeld._ _Strassburg._ _Erfurt._ _Plauen._

[242]

1867 6·9 6·0 8·1 8·5 10·6 2·4

1868 10·0 8·0 5·3 9·0 9·4 3·3

1869 6·7 13·0 5·3 9·6 6·7

1870 7·8 14·0 9·3 17·8 21·8

1871 8·9 14·0 9·4 14·2 33·1 2·5

1872 13·9 24·0 8·8 7·8 5·3 4·9

In the case of Strassburg the increase caused by the war is clear; of

the civil inhabitants alone, 74 died in the year 1869, 137 in the year

1870, and 110 in the year 1871. In the case of Elberfeld the increase

began in the year 1870. In Munich the increase began as early as the

year 1869, although the very high mortality did not commence until 1872,

as in Berlin; in these two cases the increase cannot be said to have

been caused by the war. The same is true of Plauen, where the increase

also began in 1869. In the case of Erfurt, unfortunately no statistics

are available for the year 1870; in the year 1871 the increase there is

very marked. To be sure, it is not expressly stated that prisoners of

war are excluded, but as they were not included in the total mortality,

or in that due to small-pox, we may safely assume that they were

excluded in the case of typhoid fever.[243]

A marked increase in the prevalence of typhoid fever is to be noted in

the stronghold of Ulm on the occasion of the arrival there of numerous

prisoners from France; the following table indicates the number of

people who succumbed to the disease in that city:[244]

_Garrison._ _Prisoners._ _Civil population._

1867 10 25

1868 3 8

1869 4 7

1870 10 150 15

1871 15 25 28

1872 6 20

1873 2 5

Since in the case of typhoid fever it is very often impossible to trace

the source of infection, it is not surprising that in many instances it

is difficult to prove that the disease broke out in any specific

locality in consequence of the arrival there of a person, or group of

persons, from an infected locality. This applies, for instance, to the

epidemic of typhoid fever that occurred in Meiningen in the year 1871.

In many places the disease, being prevalent among the prisoners detained

there, undoubtedly spread to the civil population, but nowhere did this

occur to such an extent as to attract the attention of the authorities.

Among the diseases that broke out in the field-armies during the war of

1870–1, dysentery (epidemic dysentery) played an important rôle,

especially in the months of October and November. Prior to the year 1870

it was a comparatively rare disease in Germany, whereas in France it was

quite common. This is indicated by the fact that in the years 1863–9 the

number of deaths due to dysentery in the French army (home stations) was

twelve times as large as in the Prussian army. Particularly hard hit

were the troops in and around Metz, where dysentery raged continuously

and with considerable severity,[245] as well as in Strassburg and Sedan;

in the city and vicinity of Paris the disease, owing to the advanced

season of the year, raged less furiously. As a rule it was an open

question whether the places in which the German troops contracted the

disease were already infected beforehand, or whether the disease had

been brought there for the first time by infected divisions of the

French army.

Of the German field-army, 38,975 men, all told, contracted dysentery

(47·8 per 1,000 of the average number of troops under arms), and of

these 2,405 died. Of the average number of French prisoners taken to

Germany 41·7 per cent contracted the disease; nearly all the cases of

the disease were among the prisoners themselves, who brought the germ

with them, and the result was that the number of cases soon began to

decrease. It was, of course, inevitable that numerous prison-guards

should contract the disease, but nowhere did it spread in a serious way

to the civil population.

Of very great importance, as far as the war operations were concerned,

was the fact that typhus fever, which in former years had played such a

fatal rôle, did not make its appearance among the troops; according to

most observers, the disease did not break out at all during the war. The

Prussian troops along the Russian border were never entirely free from

typhus fever; according to the German Health Report, 91 soldiers

contracted the disease in the year 1867, 99 in the year 1868, and 37 in

the year 1869. France itself had apparently been free from the disease

for a long time, but there was always a possibility that it would be

conveyed into the country from Algiers, where in the year 1868 a severe

epidemic had raged in consequence of a great famine the year before; of

the army in Algiers the disease had carried away 252 men (3·94 per

cent).[246] Consequently both the Germans and the French watched very

carefully any outbreaks of a disease involving symptoms of typhus fever.

Cases of a disease held by the authorities to be typhus fever were

reported from Nancy, Châlons-sur-Marne, Lunéville, and Metz, but careful

investigations by von Niemeyer indicate that they were merely cases of

typhoid fever exhibiting unusually well developed roseola. Several

French physicians (Chauffard, Léon Colin, Kelsch) likewise testify to

the fact that typhus fever did not appear in the French army during the

entire war. Grellois, to be sure, asserts that typhus fever broke out

about the middle of the siege of Metz and then suddenly disappeared. But

even this assertion may fairly be questioned; at all events there was

not a single soldier in the garrison suffering from the disease at the

time of the capitulation, as Grellois himself admits.

According to Michaux,[247] a former chairman of the Medical Society in

Metz, a small epidemic of typhus fever raged among the civil inhabitants

of that city during the siege. The correctness of this statement,

however, is doubted, as no post-mortem examinations were made. It seems

that fifty-five children and nine nurses in two orphan asylums

contracted the disease, and that twenty-eight of the former and one of

the latter succumbed to it; the first cases of the disease were reported

early in October, and by the end of November the epidemic was over. This

sudden disappearance of the disease was attributed by Michaux to the

termination of the siege, a conclusion also upheld by Méry, who studied

the disease in the Crimean War. Viry,[248] who until a few days before

the siege had charge of the field hospital in Vallières (near Metz),

where he treated some 250–300 patients every day, performed autopsies on

all supposed victims of typhus fever, but in all cases found only the

evidences of typhoid fever. Nevertheless, he believes it possible that

typhus fever occurred there, and holds the view that the overcrowded

condition of the city favoured a spontaneous outbreak of the disease.

Laveran,[249] who was also present in Metz during the siege, disputes

the correctness of Michaux’s diagnosis, as does the German Health

Report, on the ground that the disease attacked children almost

exclusively, that it caused such a high mortality, and that it

disappeared so suddenly. He seems to think that it was some acute

exanthema, probably haemorrhagic measles. This leaves unexplained the

fact that a large number of nurses contracted the disease.

III. THE GREAT EPIDEMIC OF SMALL-POX CAUSED BY THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR

But while typhoid fever and dysentery in the Franco-German War attacked

the civil population only in those parts of the country in which the

fighting took place, and nowhere acquired epidemic dimensions, and while

it is probable that typhus fever did not appear at all at that time,

there occurred in connexion with the war a very severe epidemic of

small-pox, which raged more extensively and furiously than any other

epidemic in the course of the entire century, and spread not only

throughout the belligerent countries, but also throughout all Europe.

Everybody knows how severely Europe suffered from epidemics of small-pox

in the last part of the eighteenth and first part of the nineteenth

centuries, and how the ravages of that disease were first checked by

Jenner’s wonderful discovery. Nevertheless, small-pox did not entirely

disappear from Central Europe until the year 1870. The reason for this

is found in the fact that compulsory vaccination was introduced in only

a few states, and even in them was not properly enforced, and also in

the fact that people did not until later begin to realize that

vaccination insures immunity only for a period of 12–15 years at most.

Consequently new recruits, if they had already been vaccinated once,

were not revaccinated when they began to serve. But since sporadic

outbreaks of small-pox continued to occur in the Prussian army, orders

were issued in the year 1834 that all recruits must be vaccinated. The

result was that from that time on, the Prussian troops were very rarely

attacked by the disease. The same measure was adopted in Württemberg in

1833, in Baden in 1840, in Bavaria in 1843, in Brunswick in 1858, in the

Kingdom of Saxony in 1868, and in the Grand Duchy of Hesse in 1869.

Compulsory vaccination did not exist in Prussia or Saxony before the

Imperial Vaccination Law was passed in the year 1874; the result was

that large numbers of children were never vaccinated. The

anti-vaccinationists, especially in the ‘sixties, carried on a vigorous

agitation, and this had the effect of increasing the number of

unvaccinated persons; the number of revaccinated persons had always been

small. In South Germany compulsory vaccination for one-year-old children

was introduced in the first part of the nineteenth century—in Bavaria

and Hesse in 1807, in Baden in 1815, in Württemberg in 1818—but

revaccination was not enforced until 1874, when the Imperial Vaccination

Law was passed.

The small-pox mortality in Prussia prior to the year 1870 is indicated

by the following table, which shows the number of deaths per 10,000

inhabitants:

1831–40 2·6

1841–50 1·7

1851–60 2·1

1861–5 3·5

1866–7 5·2

1867–8 1·8

1868–9 1·9

1869–70 1·7

In the year 1864 an epidemic of small-pox had broken out, and the war of

1866 had helped it to spread; but in the year 1868 the disease began to

abate, so that by the middle of the year 1870 almost all of Prussia was

free from small-pox, as will be set forth in greater detail later on. In

South Germany the small-pox mortality was even lower; in Bavaria it was

0·85 in the years 1861–70, in Württemberg it was 0·9 in the same years,

and in the Grand Duchy of Hesse it was 1·9 in the years 1866–70.[250]

1. _The Small-pox Mortality in France in the Years 1870–1_

In the ‘sixties small-pox had not been very common in France, but no

detailed reports regarding its prevalence there are available; the

reports which the prefects were supposed to hand in are either entirely

missing, or else very incomplete. According to the statistics compiled

by Vacher,[251] the death-rate increased a little in the years 1864–5,

then began to decrease, and in 1869 increased again. The figures which

Vacher compiled, and which the Académie de Médecine in Paris has on

file, are:

1860 1,662

1861 1,740

1862 1,813

1863 1,440

1864 3,290

1865 4,166

1866 593

1867 2,081

1868 3,900

1869 4,164

Vacher says in regard to these figures: ‘As far as the actual number of

persons who contracted and succumbed to small-pox are concerned, they

express only a small part of the truth. The reports submitted to the

Academy of Medicine are rarely complete; it is even necessary to say

that about one-quarter of the Departments never send in reports on the

epidemics at all, although the ministerial instructions render the

submission of these reports obligatory, and although the Academy never

ceases to protest against the negligence of the prefectoral

administrators.’ Vacher then goes on to say that in the years 1860–9

only 59 out of every 100 infants born were vaccinated, and that at the

outbreak of the war about one-third of the French population was

unvaccinated; in many Departments, indeed, as many as four-fifths

(Aveyron, Corsica, &c.). Small-pox was much more prevalent in the French

army than in the German army; according to the German Health

Report,[252] the number of deaths caused by the disease was:

PRUSSIAN ARMY. FRENCH ARMY.

_Total No._ _Per 10,000 men._ _Total No._ _Per 10,000 men._

1866 8 0.30 46 1.37

1867 2 0.08 70 1.82

1868 1 0.04 169 4.28

1869 1 0.04 95 2.27

The reason for this lies in the fact that a larger proportion of the

Prussian soldiers were vaccinated. Since the year 1806 all French

recruits who had never been vaccinated were supposed to submit to the

inoculation when they presented themselves for service, but this

regulation was for years at a time very laxly enforced; consequently in

the year 1857 a new order was issued, introducing compulsory vaccination

for all recruits. But even this order does not seem to have been

everywhere carried out with the necessary strictness, and complaints

regarding the partial success of vaccination were frequently made by

military physicians.

As stated above, there was a noticeable increase in the small-pox

mortality in the year 1869; this increase lasted into the beginning

of the year 1870, but was confined to certain localities.

Chauffard’s[253] report on epidemic diseases in France is more

incomplete for the years 1869–70, on account of the war, than for

previous years; it was supplemented, partially at least, by the

later reports of Vernois[254] for the year 1871, and also by the

comprehensive report of M. Delpech[255] for the years 1870–2.

According to these, epidemics of small-pox occurred in the year 1869

in North-west France (Bretagne), in North-east France (Departments

of Aisne, Pas-de-Calais), and in South-east France (Departments of

Gers, Ariège, and Pyrénées-Orientales.) In the winter of 1869–70 the

epidemic continued to spread, and by the end of the year 1870 it

included almost the whole of France. The incomplete reports give us

no idea as to which Departments were attacked before the outbreak of

the war and which after. According to Vernois, the disease appeared

that year in 42 Departments, including 132 arrondissements and 539

parishes. But, as stated above, the reports are all very incomplete;

a later report submitted by Delpech adds 11 more Departments to the

42. The total number of deaths caused by small-pox in France in the

year 1871 is unknown; Vernois reported 14,425 deaths in 39

Departments, but this does not include the figures for Paris, where

10,539 persons succumbed to the disease, or for the Department of

Finistère, or for the Department of Sarthe (in regard to which it is

merely observed that there were ‘beaucoup de morts’), or for several

other Departments.

It is a fact that small-pox raged severely among the civil inhabitants

of all regions in which the second half of the war was waged (to the

south, east, and north of Paris), and that the war itself helped the

disease to spread in the eastern Departments (Jura, Doubs,

Saône-et-Loire, Haute-Saône). The wide prevalence of the disease among

the soldiers is attributed by many French physicians to the fact that

the army as a whole had been inadequately vaccinated. If this was true

of the regular troops, lack of time made it absolutely impossible to

vaccinate all the men that were afterwards assembled in such a

precipitate manner. The movements of the soldiers in the cold season of

the year (in December there was some bitterly cold weather) made it

necessary for friends and enemies to share whatever shelter they could

find, regardless of whether the house had previously been occupied by

small-pox patients, or whether such patients were actually lying in it

at the time. The result was that the disease became very widespread

throughout all France. Says Laveran:[256] ‘The army, being composed of

men who had been in service for a long time, and who had been vaccinated

and revaccinated, suffered very little, but the events which took place

after the declaration of war altered this state of affairs. The

regiments of the Departments on their way to Paris were quartered in the

homes of civilians, where they contracted small-pox. The disease spread

easily among the young people who, owing to lack of time, had not been

revaccinated, and many of whom had perhaps never been vaccinated at all.

During the first part of the siege of Paris it was these regiments which

suffered the most from small-pox, but later on the epidemic became more

general and spread to all the corps. The number of soldiers infected

with small-pox during the siege was about 6·76 per 100, or 68 per

1,000.’

Small-pox raged very extensively in besieged strongholds. In Paris an

epidemic of small-pox began in November 1869, and the number of deaths

caused by the disease there was:[257]

October (1869) 39

November 93

December 119

January 174

February 293

March 406

April 561

May 786

June 914

July 1,072

August 713

September 700

October 1,361

November 1,722

December 1,837

January 1,503

February 763

March 230

In the middle of the summer the disease was not very prevalent in the

garrison; most of the cases were among the civil inhabitants. This

condition changed in September, however, when the newly-organized mobile

guard arrived in the city, consisting of young men who had not been

revaccinated for lack of time, and many of whom had never been

vaccinated at all. A severe epidemic now began to rage throughout the

garrison; between October 1870 and March 1871 no less than 7,578 men

suffering from small-pox were taken to the Hôpital Bicêtre, where the

majority of the small-pox patients in the garrison were housed, and

where 1,074 (14·17 per cent) of them died. Colin reports that the total

number of small-pox patients taken there from the garrison (the total

number of men in which he estimates at 70,000 regular troops and 100,000

guardsmen)[258] was no less than 11,500, and that the number of deaths

was 1,600. In November, owing to the rapid dissemination of the disease

in the garrison, the number of cases among the civil inhabitants also

began to increase.

Small-pox also raged in Metz, but not so extensively as in Paris; the

following table indicates the number of men in the garrison carried away

by small-pox:

August (15–31) 6

September 40

October 51

November 58

December 21

———

Total 176

The surrender of the stronghold, on October 27, led to the discovery of

200 small-pox patients in a tobacco factory. The epidemic among the

civil inhabitants came to an end in March 1871.

Belfort, where the garrison consisted mostly of national guards, also

experienced a severe epidemic during the siege; likewise Strassburg,

Nancy, Toul, and Verdun.

In Strassburg, where cases of small-pox had repeatedly been observed,

the disease became more widespread in the summer of 1870, and during the

siege the number of cases increased considerably; not until August 1871

did the epidemic come to an end. According to Kriesche and Krieger,[259]

the number of civilians that succumbed to small-pox in Strassburg, the

population of which in the year 1871 was 77,859, was:

1869. 1870. 1871.

January 2 4 81

February 3 5 52

March 3 9 20

April 13 14 15

May 1 19 14

June 2 23 4

July 6 22 3

August 5 33 1

September 2 66

October 92

November 2 72 1

December 3 92

—— ——— ———

Total 42 451 191

Langres was attacked with especial severity. The garrison there was

composed of freshly enlisted troops (mobile and national guards), and

averaged 14,629 men. The epidemic began in September 1870, and was not

yet over by March 1871. The following table gives the number of cases

and deaths according to Claudot.

_No. cases._ _No. deaths._

September 81 10

October 145 12

November 301 34

December 598 41

January 621 91

February 402 93

March 186 53

————— ———

Total 2,334 334

The disease raged very extensively in the French provincial armies that

were organized to relieve Paris—thus in the south-western, northern, and

south-eastern scenes of the war, small-pox had already made its

appearance among the civil inhabitants of those parts of the country in

consequence of the continual passing through of soldiers, many of whom

had never been vaccinated. Orléans, Chartres, and Le Mans, were the main

centres of the pestilence; in the north Amiens, Bois-Guillaume, Rouen,

and other places; in the south, besides the strongholds of Belfort and

Langres, the cities of Dijon, Besançon, Pontarlier, and several other

places. The disease raged furiously throughout this entire region, but

the exact number of deaths is not known.

In south-eastern France, small-pox did not become very widespread until

after the outbreak of the war; in Lyons, for example, the epidemic began

in the second half of October. To be sure, small-pox had appeared in

several places in the year 1868, but by the winter of 1868–9 this

epidemic was over, although individual cases continued to occur.

Regarding the cause of the small-pox epidemic that broke out in Lyons in

the autumn of 1870, Fonteret[260] gives us the following information:

‘Two causes could not help favouring the outbreak in our city; the

movements of the troops that took place at that time, and the emigration

of numerous Parisians, who since the beginning of September, that is to

say, since the time when the epidemic began to rage furiously in Paris,

passed through our city on their way to Switzerland.’ Regarding the

course of the epidemic, no statistics covering the entire city are

available, but we are able to see from the following table, compiled by

Perroud, the number of small-pox patients taken in by the Hôtel-Dieu and

the number that died there:

_Patients._ _Deaths._

January-June (1870) 126 9

July-September 101 15

October 29 8

November 94 26

December 160 37

January (1871) 148 31

February 147 37

March 135 29

April 124 25

May 84 12

June 45 7

July 38 5

August-December 44 6

In the other cantons of the Department 935 deaths were officially

recorded in the years 1870–1. It was observed in Lyons, as in other

places, that not only the number of persons who contracted small-pox,

but also the virulence of the disease itself, increased; whereas only

10.6 per cent of 227 sporadic cases resulted fatally between January and

September, out of 1,004 persons who contracted the disease between

October 1870 and July 1871 no less than 21.7 per cent died.

In the year 1871 small-pox did not spare a single Department in France,

although many of them failed to send in reports. Vacher estimates the

number of deaths due to the disease in the year 1871 at 58,236, but he

adds that the estimate is too small. No report, for example, was sent in

by the Department of Sarthe, where in the city of Le Mans alone there

were 1,181 deaths, nor by the Department of Haute-Garonne, where there

were 1,328 deaths in Toulouse. The total number of unreported deaths,

therefore, must have been at least 20,000. It is almost impossible to

estimate the number of deaths that occurred in the year 1870. From the

available statistics Vacher estimates the number of deaths caused by the

disease in the two years 1870–1 at 89,954, a figure, as he himself says,

‘which represents only a part of the reality.’ Another estimate made by

Vacher, putting the number of deaths caused by small-pox in the years

1869–70 at 200,000, is in all probability not an exaggeration.

In the year 1872, to be sure, small-pox appeared in the form of

epidemics in numerous parts of France, but nowhere did it spread so

widely as in the two previous years. According to a report worked out by

Delpech for the years 1870–2, no less than 42 Departments failed to make

any report at all in the year 1872, while only 18 of the remaining 41

Departments sent in reports regarding epidemic outbreaks of small-pox.

The epidemic lasted until 1873, in which year reports regarding

small-pox epidemics came in from 10 Departments; but only in the

Departments of Morbihan and Pyrénées-Orientales was the epidemic

apparently somewhat more intense.[261]

2. _Small-pox among the French Prisoners_

Thanks to the well-vaccinated condition of the German troops, the army

suffered comparatively little from small-pox. In the field army 4,385

men (61·3 per 1,000) contracted the disease, and 278 of them (3·5 per

cent of those who contracted it) died. Including the officers,

physicians, and officials, the number taken sick was 4,991 and the

number that died was 297. The number of men in the individual army corps

that contracted the disease varied greatly according to the nature and

place of their activity; particularly hard hit were the army divisions

in the south-western and northern scenes of the war, where the military

operations were carried on in fearfully cold weather, and where it was

impossible to quarter the infected soldiers in isolated places by

themselves. The French army was attacked much more severely by

small-pox, although there are no accurate reports available regarding

the prevalence of the disease. According to a report found in the

_Vienna Medical Weekly_,[262] the total number of French soldiers that

succumbed to small-pox was 23,469[263]; but the accuracy of this number,

to be sure, is questionable, since, assuming that there was a very high

mortality, it would mean that some 120,000 troops contracted the

disease. At all events, the French army, taken as a whole, was badly

infected with small-pox, and it was inevitable that among the French

prisoners brought to Germany there should be numerous small-pox

patients, some in the incubation stage, and some in the convalescent

stage of the disease, and that they should infect other people there.

The number of French prisoners taken to Germany in the first few months

of the year 1871 was no less than 372,918; the prisoners who at the very

beginning, but especially after the surrender of Metz, were transported

in large numbers to Germany, had to be distributed throughout the entire

Empire, clear over to the eastern boundary. Owing to the fact that new

transports of French prisoners were constantly arriving at the German

frontier, which, in consequence of severe hardships and privations, they

reached in such a weak physical condition that they could not be taken

very far inland, it became necessary to transfer some of the earlier

arrivals to other places of detention, and this, of course, favoured the

further dissemination of the disease. This transference was rendered

particularly necessary by the arrival of large numbers of prisoners

after the battle of Sedan (September 1), after the capitulation of Metz

(October 27), and after the battles of Orléans and Le Mans (December and

January respectively). Small-pox occasionally broke out among these

prisoners while they were on their way to Germany, rendering it

necessary to leave them behind, or else the disease made its appearance

when they reached their destination; as a rule, however, the first cases

of the disease were observed a few days after their arrival at their

place of detention, where they soon infected the other prisoners. The

further dissemination of the disease among them was checked by means of

wholesale vaccination.

Of the prisoners, 14,178, all told (38 per cent of the total number

taken), contracted small-pox, and of these 1,963 (5·26 per cent) died.

The statistics in the German Health Report indicate distinctly the

number of prisoners in the various states and provinces that contracted

and succumbed to the disease; but the total number of prisoners taken is

known only in the case of the larger states in the Confederation, since

the statistics in the Report are compiled on the basis of the army-corps

districts, which do not coincide with the political divisions. The

figures for the larger states are as follows:

_Maximum

no. _Patients _Deaths per

prisoners._ _Patients._ _Deaths._ per 1,000._ 100 cases._

N. Germany,

excluding

Kingdom

of Saxony 283,750 10,547 1,527 37·2 14·5

Kingdom of

Saxony 10,234 248 18 24·2 7·3

Bavaria 40,083 1,607 196 40·0 12·2

Württemberg 12,958 390 28 38·1 7·2

Baden 12,083 512 21 42·4 4·1

Grand Duchy

of Hesse 13,810 874 173 63·3 19·8

——————— —————— ————— ———— ————

All Germany 372,918 14,178 1,963 38·0 13·8

The number of people who contracted the disease varied greatly in the

different territories, depending upon the locality whence the prisoners

came. Accordingly, the figures in the case of the Grand Duchy of Hesse

were rendered large by the fact that a severe epidemic of small-pox

broke out in the stronghold of Mayence on the occasion of the arrival

there of prisoners from Metz. The number of prisoners that contracted

and succumbed to small-pox in the larger military prison-dépôts is shown

by the following table, which covers only those places in Prussia and

the Grand Duchy of Hesse in which the maximum number of prisoners held

in confinement exceeded 5,000:

_Maximum

no. _Patients _Deaths per

prisoners._ _Patients._ _Deaths._ per 1,000._ 100 cases._

Spandau 6,856 77 25 11·2 32·5

Jüterbog 5,002 196 23 39·2 11·7

Danzig 9,189 188 24 20·5 12·8

Königsberg 7,324 221 22 30·2 9·9

Stettin 21,000 1,303 194 62·0 14·9

Erfurt 12,400 203 28 16·4 13·8

Magdeburg 25,450 1,902 271 74·7 14·3

Torgau 9,359 603 128 64·4 21·2

Wittenberg 9,753 51 10 5·2 19·6

Posen 10,303 191 29 18·5 15·2

Glogau 13,621 1,198 170 88·0 14·2

Neisse 12,801 385 117 30·1 30·4

Minden 5,071 98 13 19·3 13·3

Wesel 16,299 1,042 127 63·9 12·2

Cologne 13,774 175 24 12·7 13·7

Coblenz 15,011 571 111 38·0 19·4

Lockstedt 5,000 47 7 9·4 14·9

Mayence 14,669 759 165 51·7 21·7

In the case of the Kingdom of Saxony and of the South German States no

figures for the individual places are available. We see from the above

table that of the large prison-dépôts, Glogau, Magdeburg, Torgau, Wesel,

Stettin, and Mayence had the most cases of the disease; generally

speaking, the smaller places were less severely attacked, although there

are a few exceptions to this statement; in Stralsund, for example, there

were 78·2 cases of the disease per 1,000 prisoners, in Papenberg and

Hanover 63·4, in Colberg 53·9, and in Münster 52·8.

3. _Small-pox in the Immobile German Army_

The occurrence of small-pox in the immobile German army was closely

related to its prevalence among the prisoners, and it attacked the

immobile troops much more severely than the field-troops. The latter, to

be sure, were no less exposed to the infection, but the former, taken as

a whole, were not nearly so well vaccinated; for it was impossible in

the short time available to see to it that all the reserves were

vaccinated, since the troops designated for the field were given the

precedence. Thus between conscription and vaccination there was more or

less of an interval, during which a large number of the reserves were

not protected against the disease. The total number of men in the

immobile army that contracted small-pox was 3,472 (excluding Baden and

the Grand Duchy of Hesse, regarding which we have no statistics).

Assuming that the average number of reserves in the immobile army was

300,424, this means that about 11·6 per 1,000 contracted the disease.

The number of cases among the immobile troops in the individual states

of the Confederation varied greatly, as indicated by the following

table:

_Average

no. _Patients _Deaths per

reserves._ _Patients._ _Deaths._ per 1,000._ 100 cases._

N. Germany,

excluding

Kingdom

of Saxony 238,040 1,703 92 7·15 5·4

Kingdom of

Saxony 17,628 506 30 28·70 5·9

Bavaria 34,634 1,183 39 34·16 3·3

Württemberg 10,122 80 1 7·90 1·3

In the larger Prussian garrisons, and in Mayence, the following number

of men contracted and succumbed to small-pox:

_Average _Patients _Deaths per

no. men._ _Patients._ _Deaths._ per 1,000._ 100 cases._

Berlin 9,110 57 4 6·3 7·0

Danzig 7,376 45 5 6·1 11·1

Königsberg 6,426 101 11 15·7 10·9

Stettin 7,000 74 5 10·6 6·8

Magdeburg 11,296 84 8 7·4 9·5

Posen 9,482 113 6 11·9 5·3

Breslau 8,029 20 2·5

Wesel 7,284 117 7 16·0 6·0

Cologne 9,207 19 1 2·1 5·3

Coblenz 8,710 83 4 9·5 4·8

Mayence 9,046 122 9 13·5 7·4

Wherever, as in Breslau, there were few prisoners, the small-pox

percentage in the immobile army is low. Regarding the above figures, it

must be remarked that those pertaining to the garrisons were compiled on

the basis of the average number of troops, whereas in the case of the

French prisoners the maximum number was used as a basis. The relative

number of small-pox cases in the latter table, accordingly, is somewhat

too low. Among the prisoners and among the immobile troops, the climax

of the pestilence was in January, as indicated by the following table:

_French Prisoners._ _Immobile German troops._

July (1870) 2 16

August 27 9

September 85 47

October 273 49

November 1,041 128

December 3,107 358

January (1871) 4,139 802

February 3,151 719

March 1,521 457

April 586 451

May 209 291

June 36 145

The number of French prisoners taken to Germany in the month of July

1870 was small. Of the sixteen immobiles who contracted the disease

during that month, nine belonged to the Ninth Army Corps, most of them

having been infected inland before the outbreak of the war. That the

month of July did not constitute the starting-point of the subsequent

epidemic is evident from the fact that the prevalence of the disease

decreased in August, as well as from countless individual observations.

4. _The Epidemic of Small-pox in the Civil Population of Germany in

1871–2_

In the summer of 1870 Germany was almost free from small-pox. Later on,

thousands of French prisoners, almost all of them hailing from infected

localities, were within a short time scattered throughout the entire

German Empire, and since the inhabitants of many parts of the country,

as stated above, were very insufficiently vaccinated, it was inevitable

that epidemics of small-pox should break out everywhere. The disease was

disseminated in several ways: by prisoners who had contracted it on

their way to Germany, or who had to be transported from an infected to

an uninfected locality, by persons into whose systems the infection had

entered but had not yet revealed its presence, and by uninfected persons

who had come in contact with infected persons; numerous persons,

moreover, contracted the disease by handling the clothing, blankets, and

other effects of small-pox patients.

‘The dissemination of the disease,’ says the German Health Report,[264]

‘which broke out simultaneously in various parts of Germany, was helped

along in numerous ways. From the lazarets and from the prisons it was

communicated by nurses and guards, and by working men and tradesmen, to

the civil population and to the local garrison, and from there it spread

to the surrounding country. It was conveyed from place to place, often

considerable distances, by the moving population itself, not

infrequently by marching troops, and particularly by the removal of

prisoners from one place of detention to another; the latter measure had

to be adopted in order to make room for the fresh transports of

prisoners that were constantly arriving, many of them in such an

exhausted condition that it was necessary to spare them the long and

trying journey to the far East. Thus the prisons at Mayence, Coblenz,

Wesel, Minden, &c. became the foci from which the disease was

transplanted into hitherto uninfected places.’

The result was that there broke out in Germany an epidemic of small-pox

which raged more furiously and extensively than any other epidemic in

the course of the nineteenth century. Whereas among the prisoners-of-war

and among the immobile German troops (who were particularly exposed to

the infection) the disease reached its climax as early as January 1871,

among the civil inhabitants of the country this climax did not come

until later in the year; in the more out-of-the-way regions, moreover,

where there was less intercourse, the height of the epidemic was not

reached until the year 1872.

_(a) The Dissemination of Small-pox in Prussia and in the smaller North

German States_

After the prevalence of small-pox in Prussia had again increased

somewhat in the years 1864–7, in the following years the number of cases

of the disease grew steadily smaller, so that around the middle of the

year 1870 the country was practically free from it. Its prevalence again

increased in the first months of the year 1871. The following table

indicates the number of deaths caused by the disease in Prussia in the

course of twelve years:

_Total no. deaths._ _Deaths per 10,000 inhabitants._

1862 3,894 2·1

1863 6,250 3·4

1864 8,904 4·6

1865 8,403 4·4

1866 11,937 6·2

1867 8,500 4·3

1868 4,510 1·8

1869 4,655 1·9

1870 4,200 1·7

1871 59,839 24·3

1872 66,660[265] 26·9

1873 8,932 3·6

In the year 1874 only one person per 10,000 inhabitants succumbed to the

disease. Among the French prisoners small-pox usually broke out very

soon after their arrival at their place of detention, while among the

inhabitants of the places in which the prisons were located it usually

did not make its appearance until several months later. Guttstadt,[266]

in his excellent work on the _Epidemic of Small-pox in Prussia in the

Years 1870–1_, has compiled a table of statistics indicating in a number

of places when the disease first made its appearance among the prisoners

and among the civil inhabitants. We reproduce this table below, with a

few small alterations. In some of the places mentioned there was no

military prison; only prisoners suffering from small-pox were taken to

them, usually resulting in an epidemic of the disease among the civil

inhabitants. The table clearly indicates the connexion between the

small-pox epidemics among the civil inhabitants and the outbreaks of the

disease among the prisoners; regarding the manner of dissemination in

the case of the individual epidemics we shall have more to say further

on.

THE APPEARANCE OF SMALL-POX AMONG PRISONERS-OF-WAR AND AMONG THE CIVIL

INHABITANTS IN THE GERMAN CITIES IN THE YEARS 1870–1

────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────

_Cities._ │ FRENCH PRISONERS. │ CIVIL INHABITANTS.

────────────────┼─────────┬──────┬───────┬────────┼───────┬───────┬───────

〃 │ _First │ │ │ │ │ │

│ arrival │ │ │ │ │ │

│ of │_Max- │ │ │_First │ _No. │ _No.

│infected │ imum │_First │_No. Pa-│ Out- │Deaths_│Deaths_

│persons._│ no._ │Case._ │tients._│break._│(1870).│(1871).

────────────────┼─────────┼──────┼───────┼────────┼───────┼───────┼───────

1. _East │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Prussia_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Königsberg │ │ │ │ │Aug. │ │

│Aug. 15 │ 7,324│Aug. 15│ 221│(end) │ 74│ 558

2. _West │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Prussia_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Danzig │Aug. 25 │ 9,189│Aug. 28│ 188│Sep. 16│ 5│ 709

Graudenz │Aug. 5 │ 1,437│Aug. 28│ 9│Fall │ 0│ 11

Thorn │Aug. 21 │ 2,001│Aug. 27│ 11│Fall │ 8│ 147

3. _Branden- │ │ │ │ │ │ │

burg_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Berlin │ │ │Aug. 20│ 24│Nov. │ 170│ 5,212

Frankfurt- │ │ │ │ │ │ │

o.-t.-O. │ │ 756│Nov. 12│ 8│Jan. │ 3│ 117

Küstrin │ │ │ │ │End │ │

│Aug. 7 │ 2,204│Aug. 17│ 9│(1870) │ 1│ 32

Landsberg- │ │ │ │ │ │ │

o.-t.-W. │Nov. │ 133│Nov. │ 1│Nov. 20│ 0│ 97

4. _Pomerania_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Colberg │Nov. 4 │ 3,246│Nov. 14│ 175│Jan. 7 │ 0│ 27

Greifswald │ │ │Oct. 18│ 3│Dec. 13│ 1│ 109

Schivelbein │Jan. 24 │ 603│Jan. 26│ 24│Feb. 20│ 0│ 43

Stettin │Aug. 12 │21,000│Aug. 22│ 1,303│Dec. │ 13│ 422

Stralsund │Dec. 4 │ 2,991│Dec. 9 │ 234│Jan. 7 │ 0│ 366

Stolp │ │ │ │ │Aug. │ │

│Jan. │ 1,376│Feb. 3 │ 5│(1871) │ 0│ 16

5. _Posen_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Bromberg │- │ │Dec. 15│ 14│Feb. 10│ 0│ 280

Posen │Oct. 4 │10,303│Sep. │ 191│Feb. │ 79│ 466

Schneidemühl│Nov. │ 940│Jan. │ 5│Jan. │ 0│ 40

6. _Silesia_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Breslau │ │ │Nov. │ 4│ │ 28│ 742

Glatz │Oct. 12 │ 2,284│Oct. 6 │ 96│Feb. │ 2│ 38

Glogau │Sep. 1 │13,621│Sep. 16│ 1,198│Oct. 7 │ 10│ 114

Görlitz │ │ 326│Nov. │ 5│Jan. │ 0│ 164

Oppeln │Nov. 6 │ 1,027│Jan. │ 23│Jan. │ 0│ 38

Schweidnitz │Jan. 28 │ 1,821│Jan. │ 75│March │ 0│ 52

7. _Saxony_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Aschersleben│Dec. 2 │ 1,618│Jan. │ 12│Dec. │ 0│ 53

Erfurt │Sep. 12 │12,400│Sep. 14│ 203│Dec. │ 18│ 235

Halberstadt │Jan. │ 619│Jan. 28│ 6│Feb. │ 0│ 29

Halle- │ │ │ │ │ │ │

o.-t.-S. │ │ │Nov. 1 │ 28│March │ 0│ 195

Magdeburg │Aug. 30 │25,450│Sep. 15│ 1,902│Nov. 18│ 22│ 646

Mülhausen │ │ │Dec. │ │ │ │

│Dec. │ 1,065│(early)│ 57│Feb. 1 │ 4│ 25

Nordhausen │ │ │Sep. │ 8│Jan. │ 0│ 233

Quedlinburg │ │ 927│Nov. 27│ 29│Nov. │ 1│ 3

Torgau │Sept. │ │ │ │ │ │

│(end) │ 9,359│Oct. 4 │ 603│Nov. │ 0│ 67

Wittenberg │Aug. 27 │ 9,723│Sep. 5 │ 51│Oct. 3 │ 5│ 100

8. _Schleswig- │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Holstein_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Lockstedt │ │ │ │ │End │ │

│ │ 5,000│Oct. │ 47│1870 │ │

Rendsburg │ │ │ │ │End │ │

│Nov. │ 2,590│Nov. 26│ 44│1870 │ 0│ 114

Schleswig │ │ │ │ │End │ │

│Dec. 3 │ 1,570│Dec. 13│ 17│1870 │ 10│ 38

9. _Hanover_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Stade │ │ 2,284│Jan. 28│ 32│1871 │ 0│ 3

10. _Westphalia_│ │ │ │ │ │ │

Hamm │ │ │Oct. │ 12│Nov. 22│ 9│ 114

Minden │Sep. 10 │ 5,071│Sep. │ 98│Nov. 2 │ 5│ 114

Münster │Jan. │ │Jan. │ │ │ │

│(end) │ 2,709│(end) │ 143│Feb. 12│ 2│ 67

11. _Hesse- │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Nassau_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Cassel │ │ │Nov. │ 13│Nov. │ 6│ 99

Frankfurt │ │ │Dec. │ 8│Jan. │ 23│ 125

12. _Rhine │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Province_ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

Düsseldorf │ │ │ │ │Oct. │ │

│ │ 981│Aug. 15│ 13│(1870) │ 6│ 524

Coblenz │Sep. 15 │15,011│Sep. 23│ 571│Nov. 2 │ 0│ 81

Cologne │Sep. 1 │13,774│Sep. 1 │ 175│Sep. 12│ 65│ 418

Wesel │Sep. 9 │16,299│Sep. 20│ 1,042│Nov. │ 9│ 84

The book contains a survey of the small-pox mortality in Prussia in the

year 1871 according to Governmental Districts and Communities. The figures

for the year 1872 have not been published; they were placed at my

disposal, in manuscript form, by the Royal Prussian Bureau of Statistics.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

The small-pox mortality varied greatly in the different Prussian

Governmental Districts; particularly noteworthy is the fact that it

was considerably higher in the eastern provinces, especially in the

year 1872, than in the western provinces, notwithstanding the fact

that the latter were exposed to the infection much sooner and much

more frequently in consequence of the arrival and passing through of

French prisoners. The only plausible explanation of this is the fact

that the inhabitants of eastern Prussia were not so thoroughly

vaccinated as those in the west; this, however, was not because the

anti-vaccinationists were more influential in the east, but because

the eastern provinces had fewer physicians than the western provinces,

where medical advice and help were far more accessible, and where the

population was more enlightened. The effect of vaccination is clearly

revealed in those Governmental Districts in the west which introduced

compulsory vaccination before they were incorporated into Prussia;

Schleswig-Holstein did this in 1811, Hanover in 1821, the Governmental

District of Wiesbaden in 1820, and the Governmental District of Cassel

in 1828. All these parts of the country had fewer cases of small-pox.

The Governmental Districts in which large military prisons were

located, and those in which, owing to a higher industrial development,

there was more intercourse of all kinds, were attacked earlier by

small-pox than the others. Of the western provinces only the two

highly industrial districts of Arnsberg and Düsseldorf, and the

district of Trèves, were very severely attacked. The living conditions

among the working people were not so good at that time as they are

to-day, and the close quarters must necessarily have favoured the

dissemination of small-pox; furthermore, the constant moving about of

the working inhabitants, many of whom did not live where they were

employed, helped to spread it. Thus it was observed in the vicinity of

Leipzig, that the villages inhabited by working people were much more

severely attacked by small-pox than those inhabited by farmers, with

their stationary and settled population. The high figures in the case

of the Governmental District of Trèves may be explained by the fact

that its location made it necessary for a large proportion of the

French prisoners that were taken into Prussia to pass through it. The

number of deaths per 10,000 inhabitants in the various Governmental

Districts of Prussia is indicated by the following table (the

districts which introduced compulsory vaccination in the year 1870 are

designated with an asterisk):

_Governmental District._ 1870. 1871. 1872.

Königsberg 3·5 24·5 37·8

Gumbinnen 4·1 9·7 40·0

Danzig 2·8 42·4 67·6

Marienwerder 3·7 17·7 76·2

Berlin 2·1 63·1 31·4

Potsdam 1·8 25·8 28·7

Frankfurt 0·1 18·6 40·0

Stettin 1·6 29·9 21·4

Köslin 2·2 12·2 36·7

Stralsund 0·2 34·0 3·9

Posen 6·0 48·3 58·0

Bromberg 5·3 24·1 86·6

Breslau 3·1 27·5 33·6

Oppeln 1·7 22·5 42·1

Liegnitz 0·5 11·2 16·8

Magdeburg 0·6 27·5 16·3

Merseburg 1·0 28·8 20·2

Erfurt 1·4 25·3 14·4

Schleswig-Holstein* 0·2 18·0 5·0

Hanover* 0·3 5·3 8·8

Hildesheim* 0·1 13·8 19·6

Lüneburg* 0·2 7·8 6·5

Stade* 1·3 5·6 4·9

Osnabrück* 0·3 6·0 0·8

Aurich* 0·0 5·4 1·1

Münster 0·3 11·6 10·8

Minden 0·2 13·4 8·9

Arnsberg 0·4 39·1 33·8

Cassel* 0·5 9·0 6·2

Wiesbaden* 1·7 9·7 2·5

Coblenz 1·2 22·8 6·6

Düsseldorf 0·3 32·9 20·5

Cologne 1·4 14·6 2·8

Trèves 2·5 34·0 3·1

Aix-la-Chapelle 0·8 14·5 7·8

Hohenzollern 1·7 19·9

In East Prussia small-pox broke out very frequently in the city and

vicinity of Königsberg. According to Guttstadt, small-pox patients, in

consequence of the proximity of the Russian border, kept coming to the

hospital in Königsberg, into which twelve persons suffering from the

disease were received between January 1 and August 1, 1870. The first

prisoners-of-war arrived at Königsberg on August 15, 1870, and among

them was a small-pox patient. Shortly afterwards two more cases of the

disease occurred among the prisoners. The first case among the civil

population occurred in the hospital on September 2. Owing to the

constant intercourse between the prisoners and the civil inhabitants the

epidemic spread very rapidly. The districts surrounding Königsberg were

very severely attacked in the year 1871, while the more remote

districts, especially those along the boundary of West Prussia, were not

attacked until the year 1872. In the districts around Königsberg the

mortality per 10,000 inhabitants was as follows:

1871. 1872.

Königsberg (city) 49·8 3·6

Königsberg (vicinity) 78·4 13·3

Labiau 42·4 30·6

Wehlau 103·1 8·9

Insterburg 32·2 47·3

Fischhausen 38·7 17·9

In the districts of East Prussia more remote from Königsberg the

following number of deaths per 10,000 inhabitants were reported:

1871. 1872.

Memel 5·5 37·0

Gerdauen 18·9 53·1

Rastenburg 65·9 26·8

Friedland 13·7 35·5

Eylau 15·2 29·7

Heiligenbeil 19·7 8·1

Braunsberg 2·9 10·1

Heilsberg 6·3 27·2

Rössel 25·7 52·2

Allenstein 7·4 108·5

Ortelsburg 20·6 124·4

Neidenburg 1·7 45·6

Osterode 4·7 76·5

Mohrungen 2·1 36·2

Prus. Holland 1·1 8·3

Heydekrug 43·3

Niederung 23·7 84·6

Tilsit 5·4 46·3

Ragnit 4·6 51·7

Pillkallen 0·7 17·4

Stallupönen 0·7 14·0

Gumbinnen 17·1 35·8

Darkehmen 3·8 25·3

Angerburg 10·9 81·0

Goldap 2·3 41·2

Oletzko 1·0 24·7

Lyk 2·4 17·8

Lötzen 5·1 28·3

Sensburg 13·3 52·1

Johannisburg 15·8 12·4

Several of the last fifteen districts (Heydekrug to Johannisburg in the

above table) had relatively few cases of small-pox; the reason for this

was that the governmental district of Gumbinnen had but little

intercourse, that few prisoners were taken there at all, and that there

were no cases of small-pox among the few that were taken there.

Danzig was the chief seat of the pestilence in West Prussia, since large

numbers of prisoners were confined there; per 10,000 inhabitants 79·6

succumbed to small-pox in the year 1871, and 35·9 in the year 1872. Says

Liévin:[267] ‘For a considerable length of time no cases of small-pox

occurred in Danzig, but in the month of September 1870 the beginnings of

an epidemic were observed. Although this happened shortly after the

arrival of the first prisoners, nevertheless the beginning of the

epidemic was probably not connected in any causal way with this

circumstance. For, in the first place, the prisoners were French

soldiers captured in the battles of Weissenburg and Wörth, and were in

all probability healthy men, judging from the fact that not a single

case of the disease occurred among them in the first few months; in the

second place, the disease broke out very sporadically in the first three

or four months, individual outbreaks occurring here and there in the

city, just as has been the case in Danzig almost every year. But during

this indigenous pestilence a large number of badly infected prisoners

arrived from the Metz garrison; this gave rise to an epidemic which, had

the prisoners not arrived, would probably have progressed in the usual,

scarcely noticeable manner; as it was, however, the epidemic attained to

the largest dimensions known to the memory of man.’

According to Liévin, the total number of small-pox cases in Danzig and

its suburbs (including the garrison and the prisoners-of-war) was:

1870. 1871. 1872.

_Patients._ _Deaths._ _Patients._ _Deaths._ _Patients._ _Deaths._

January 123 24 245 77

February 129 28 222 77

March 201 51 153 75

April 365 70 89 33

May 459 109 34 17

June 442 123 19 12

July 182 71 13 3

August 130 49 8 7

September 2 111 37 5 2

October 4 2 124 57 2

November 13 2 136 42

December 34 3 135 39

Of the 9,189 prisoners in Danzig, 188 contracted the disease, and 24

died; the largest number of cases was reported in the month of January.

Of the garrison, which consisted of 7,376 men, only 45 contracted the

disease,[268] and 5 died.

As in East Prussia, so also in West Prussia, only those districts

suffered severely from small-pox in which large military prisons were

located; in the remaining districts the pestilence did not acquire much

severity until the following year. Of the three strongholds, Danzig,

Thorn, and Graudenz, the last two had but few cases of small-pox among

the prisoners; in the districts surrounding them the following number of

deaths per 1,000 inhabitants were reported:

1871. 1872.

Danzig (city) 79·6 35·9

Danzig (district) 91·2 59·2

Prussian Stargard 55·5 105·0

Rosenberg 40·5 66·5

Thorn 46·0 41·7

In the remaining districts of West Prussia the mortality due to

small-pox was as follows:

1871. 1872.

Elbing 18·7 71·8

Marienburg 16·0 68·6

Berent 6·6 47·7

Karthaus 7·7 67·9

Neustadt 22·9 89·0

Stuhm 21·4 97·8

Marienwerder 21·3 62·3

Löbau 4·9 88·0

Strassburg 6·1 80·7

Kulm 25·9 65·5

Graudenz 5·4 55·9

Schwetz 11·0 118·6

Konitz 9·7 79·7

Schlochau 6·9 69·5

Flatow 23·4 74·1

Deutsch-Krone 10·2 92·1

All these districts, especially Prussian-Stargard and Schwetz, which lay

side by side along the Vistula, had an unusually high mortality in the

year 1872.

The Governmental District of Posen, in the Province of Posen, was much

more severely attacked by small-pox in the year 1871 than the

Governmental District of Bromberg, whereas in the year 1872 the

condition was reversed. In the former district cases of small-pox had

occurred even before a transport of French prisoners arrived there in

the middle of September; in that month two of the prisoners contracted

the disease, and these two cases constituted the beginning of a large

epidemic among the prisoners. According to Guttstadt, the epidemic among

the civil inhabitants did not commence until February 1872, and it

lasted until the middle of that year. The districts along the boundary

of Posen (Schroda, Wreschen, Schrimm, Kosten, and Samter) had the

largest number of cases and deaths in the year 1871, whereas in the

remaining, more distant, districts the figures for the year 1871 are for

the most part small, and do not begin to grow large until the year 1872.

The following table indicates the number of deaths per 10,000

inhabitants in the districts mentioned:

1871. 1872.

Posen (city) 82·5 4·4

Posen (district) 103·2 53·0

Schroda 105·6 61·3

Wreschen 116·5 63·1

Schrimm 61·5 88·4

Kosten 75·9 72·4

Samter 66·9 83·4

Pleschen 17·9 56·7

Buk 38·2 42·2

Obornik 22·2 76·3

Birnbaum 15·4 63·6

Meseritz 13·0 53·3

Bomst 20·5 34·1

Fraustadt 21·5 26·0

Gröben 55·8 79·5

Krotoschin 22·1 62·0

Adelnau 26·3 29·4

Schildberg 14·6 91·6

The first prisoners that contracted small-pox in the city of Bromberg

were committed to the lazaret on December 15; the epidemic among the

civil inhabitants began there on February 10, 1871. The figures for 1871

were higher than those for 1872 in only three districts—Bromberg itself,

the adjacent Schubin, and Czarnikau; the last-named district lies in the

west and borders on Samter in the Governmental District of Posen. All

the other districts that are not mentioned had higher figures in the

year 1872. The following table indicates the number of deaths per 10,000

inhabitants in the districts named:

1871. 1872.

Czarnikau 47·0 69·8

Wirsitz 14·7 65·4

Bromberg 89·7 72·3

Schubin 59·4 96·5

Inowrazlaw 20·4 102·5

Mogilno 22·6 96·5

Chlodziesen 24·7 79·7

Wongrowitz 26·3 153·1

Gnesen 32·9 56·0

Of the prisoners in the Governmental District of Liegnitz, those in the

stronghold of Glogau were the most severely attacked. In the garrison,

too, the number of small-pox patients was quite large. The first

prisoners arrived on September 1, and the first cases of small-pox among

them appeared on September 16; the maximum number of prisoners there was

13,621, and of these 1,198 contracted the disease. The first case among

the civil inhabitants was reported on October 7; in December the disease

was conveyed to the surrounding villages, especially by tradespeople who

had visited the markets in Glogau. The adjacent districts suffered

relatively little in the year 1871. In the governmental district of

Liegnitz, with the exception of Glogau, where there were 31·2 deaths per

10,000 inhabitants, only Görlitz and Liegnitz had high figures in the

year 1871. In the city of Görlitz a prisoner was committed to the

lazaret in November 1870, and in December, when a transport of prisoners

passed through the city, one of them was left behind there; the epidemic

among the civil inhabitants began in January 1871. Again in the year

1872 small-pox did not become very widespread except in the districts of

Liegnitz, Jauer, Hirschberg, and Görlitz; Liegnitz, with a mortality of

35·2 per 10,000 inhabitants, had the highest figures.

In the Governmental District of Breslau cases of small-pox were

frequently reported. In the city of Breslau the first case among the

prisoners occurred on November 11, the second on January 27, the third

and fourth in April and May, 1871; the first cases in the garrison

likewise occurred in November; from January on, the number of cases grew

steadily larger. The number of reported cases in the city was:[269]

January 33

February 68

March 90

April 68

May 134

June 235

July 287

August 271

September 361

October 699

November 1,026

December 1,229

January 1,311

February 790

March 462

April 242

The epidemic was very severe. Whereas during the previous epidemics

(1856–7, 1863–4, and 1868–9) only about seven per cent of the patients

treated in the hospital died, in 1871–2 no less than 322 out of 2,416

patients (13·4 per cent) taken there were carried away by the disease.

Of the 322 patients, moreover, 182 had hemorrhagic small-pox, and of

these 166 died.

The immediate vicinity of Breslau was very severely attacked; in the

districts lying to the south of the Oder small-pox raged extensively in

the year 1871, whereas those districts on the north side of the river

did not suffer very severely until the year 1872. This may be explained

by the fact that the extensive industrial activity of the districts

south-west of the Oder rendered considerable intercourse with Breslau

necessary. The following table indicates the number of deaths per 10,000

inhabitants in the districts north-east of the Oder:

1871. 1872.

Namslau 4·0 48·5

Wartenberg 14·0 55·4

Oels 22·3 71·0

Trebnitz 8·6 27·8

Militsch 10·0 37·2

Gurau 15·5 20·2

Steinau 12·1 34·2

Wohlau 41·1 38·4

and in the districts south-west of the Oder:

1871. 1872.

Neumarkt 13·5 61·5

Breslau (city) 35·7 27·3

Breslau (district) 57·3 74·9

Ohlau 12·2 23·3

Brieg 5·2 17·2

Strehlau 30·3 33·8

Nimptsch 23·5 37·4

Münsterberg 53·0 29·0

Frankenstein 34·3 14·3

Reichenbach 32·0 19·8

Schweidnitz 26·3 13·4

Striegau 16·9 48·2

Waldenburg 57·7 36·2

Glatz 39·1 13·4

Neurode 20·2 35·6

Habelschwerdt 8·2 7·3

In Upper Silesia the stronghold of Neisse had a maximum number of 12,801

prisoners, among whom there were 385 cases of small-pox and 117 deaths;

in the garrison, which averaged 4,452 men, there were 39 cases and 1

death. The first cases among the prisoners were reported on September

25, and in the garrison in November. The civil inhabitants suffered very

little in the year 1871, and the number of deaths among them did not

begin to grow large until 1872. Only in the district of Neisse and in

the neighbouring district of Grottkau was the number of deaths larger in

1871 than in 1872; in all the other districts there were more deaths in

1872. The districts which were most severely attacked in the year 1872

were—Kreuzburg (78·2 deaths per 10,000 inhabitants), Posenberg (58·6),

Gross-Strelitz (60·0), Beuthen (56·5), and Kosel (62·4).

In the Province of Pomerania the city of Stettin came to be a general

rendezvous for prisoners of war; the maximum number of them, owing to

the continual arrival of new transports, was no less than 21,000. The

first transport arrived on August 12, and the first small-pox patient

among them was committed to the hospital on August 28. Of the prisoners,

1,303 contracted the disease and 194 succumbed to it. The climax of the

epidemic came in January, when there were 462 cases reported. The first

cases in the garrison, which averaged 7,000 men, occurred in October,

the first man to contract the disease being a sick-attendant, and the

second an artilleryman; after that, all the branches of service were

attacked. The epidemic in the garrison, however, was confined to 74 men,

only 5 of whom died. In December the disease spread to the civil

population; the number of cases (including the garrison) was 422 (55·5

per 10,000) in the year 1871, and 113 (14·8 per 10,000) in the following

year. In the Governmental District of Stettin only the communities

surrounding the city of Stettin had high small-pox figures in the year

1871, and these communities were also more severely attacked in the year

1872. The following table indicates the number of deaths per 10,000

inhabitants in the communities mentioned:

1871. 1872.

Demmin 1·1 2·6

Anklam 4·3 15·8

Usedom-Wollin 16·4 16·2

Uckermünde 24·7 26·4

Randow 70·4 29·3

Greifenhagen 37·8 26·3

Pyritz 15·3 23·1

Saazig 27·8 27·4

Naugard 32·4 32·6

Kammin 10·3 13·3

Greifenberg 4·3 10·4

Regenwalde 16·4 27·5

At the stronghold of Kolberg (Governmental District of Köslin) 3,500

prisoners arrived on November 4, and in December and January they were

followed by the arrival of more transports. The first cases among these

prisoners were reported on November 14; all told, 175 of them contracted

small-pox and 24 succumbed to it. On January 7 the disease spread to the

civil population, but did not rage very extensively in the city; 127

civilians contracted it and 24 succumbed to it, and in August 1871 it

disappeared; only two men in the garrison were taken sick. Many of the

prisoners in Kolberg were transported to Stettin, Köslin, and Stolp, and

in all three of these places the disease broke out among the civil

inhabitants. In Schivelbein an infected soldier was found among the

prisoners who arrived on January 24, 1871, and on January 26 he was

committed to the lazaret; in February a working-man contracted the

disease in the same lazaret, and after that the epidemic spread

throughout the city and did not disappear until October 1872; it carried

away a relatively large number of people and spread to two neighbouring

villages. But taking the Governmental District of Köslin as a whole, it

may be said that the dissemination of small-pox was moderate; the

district of Schlawe had the largest number of deaths (22·7 per 10,000

inhabitants). On the other hand, in the year 1872 small-pox caused a

very large number of deaths in the districts of Neustettin, Dramburg,

Schlawe, Rummelsburg, and Stolp.

The number of cases of the disease in the Governmental District of

Stralsund was very large. Small-pox broke out very severely among the

French prisoners in the city of Stralsund, the maximum number of whom

was 2,991; of these 234 contracted the disease and 35 succumbed to it.

The prisoners arrived on December 4, and among them was a small-pox

patient; he was committed to the lazaret on December 9. In the garrison,

which averaged 3,700 men, there were only thirty-one cases of the

disease and one death. The first case among the civil inhabitants

occurred on January 7; the patient was a clerk who lived near the

lazaret and had had more or less intercourse with the prisoners. Of

twenty-three more cases that occurred before January 15, at least six

were shown to be directly attributable to the epidemic among the

prisoners; one of the six was a sick-attendant, two were working-men in

the military lazaret, and the other three were members of the families

of attendants. The epidemic then became very widespread; to the end of

the year 1871 the number of deaths was 366, and the number of reported

cases was 1,807. In Greifswald a French prisoner contracted small-pox on

October 18, 1870, in the military reserve lazaret, another on November

1, and a third on November 16. The first civilian, an attendant,

contracted the disease on December 13, and on January 6, 1871, a

working-man, who had transported the attendant from the military lazaret

to the town small-pox hospital, was taken sick. Until February 14, ten

more cases were reported, and then the epidemic began. Up to the end of

the year 1871 no less than 578 cases of the disease and 111 deaths

caused by it were reported to the authorities. In the year 1872 there

were only a few deaths caused by small-pox throughout the entire

Governmental District of Stralsund.

In the case of the two adjacent confederate states of

Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz no small-pox mortality

statistics are available. On September 20, prisoners from Metz were

taken to the reserve lazaret in Schwerin, and among them was a small-pox

patient who died eight days later. In the same month an assistant in the

lazaret was taken sick, and in October and December two more members of

the lazaret staff contracted the disease. The pestilence spread to the

civil population because the attendants who were commissioned to dispose

of the effects of the dead, instead of destroying them, sold or gave

them to the inhabitants. The epidemic, which spread rapidly throughout

the surrounding country, was quite severe and lasted until March 1871.

In Wismar two cases of small-pox were reported among the prisoners in

December, and these were followed by six more cases in January and

February; in the garrison, which averaged 1,219 men, there were 48 cases

of the disease (5 in January, 32 in February, 9 in March, and 2 in

April); 3 of the 48 were fatal. At Rostock 649 prisoners arrived on

November 11, and these were followed by 544 more on December 14; among

the latter there were two small-pox patients, and in the course of the

next few months forty-one more cases of the disease and six deaths were

reported.

Berlin suffered severely from an epidemic of small-pox in the years

1871–2. The last large epidemic there had occurred in the year 1801, and

had carried away 1,626 out of 176,700 inhabitants. In the year 1864

another rather mild epidemic had broken out, but had quickly

disappeared. In the year 1870 the number of small-pox patients in Berlin

was small; an average of nine persons per month succumbed to the disease

between the first part of August and the last part of November. In the

month of December 1870 the death-rate began to increase, at first rather

slowly; the number of deaths in that month was 22, and in March 1872 it

was 176. The epidemic now began to spread rapidly, and in June it

reached its climax with 648 deaths; during the summer it abated a

little, but in the fall it began to rage more and more furiously until

December, when it reached a second climax with 671 deaths. The progress

of the epidemic is shown by the following table, taken from Guttstadt’s

excellent book. The number of deaths caused by small-pox in Berlin was:

November (1870) 9

December 22

January (1871) 48

February 80

March 176

April 349

May 430

June 648

July 532

August 528

September 490

October 600

November 660

December 671

January (1872) 445

February 256

March 151

April 117

May 76

June 33

July 18

August 10

The disease was unusually severe and virulent; fifteen per cent of the

patients died in the hospitals. The total number of deaths[270] in the

year 1871, when the population of the city was 826,341, was 5,212, or

63·1 per 10,000 inhabitants; thus the total mortality, which in the

years 1867–70 had been 31·8 per cent (including the still-births),

reached the prodigious height of 40·4 per cent. The cause of the wide

dissemination of small-pox in Berlin was the fact that large numbers of

people, including children, had never been vaccinated, and only a few

had ever been revaccinated. According to a rough estimate made by

Guttstadt, of Berlin’s total population in the year 1871 some 20,000

people had never been vaccinated, 530,000 had been vaccinated only once,

and only 270,000 had been revaccinated; fourteen per cent of those who

had never been vaccinated, two per cent of those who had been vaccinated

once, and O·5 per cent of those who had been revaccinated, contracted

the disease. In the garrison, which averaged 9,110 men, only 57 cases of

the disease and 4 deaths were reported between July 1, 1870, and June

30, 1871. But few prisoners were taken to Berlin; only 24 prisoners

suffering from small-pox were committed to the lazarets, and of these

only 4 died; the first two cases were in August and September.

In the Governmental District of Potsdam only those districts which

bordered directly on Berlin were severely attacked by small-pox in the

year 1871, e.g. the districts of Niederbarnim, Teltow, Jüterbog,

Luckenwalde, and East and West Havelland; in the following years those

districts bordering on Niederbarnim (as Oberbarnim, Angermünde, and

Templin) also suffered severely. In the city of Potsdam two Frenchmen

contracted the disease on February 6, shortly after their arrival there,

and on February 19 a soldier who had accompanied them was taken sick. In

April an epidemic of rather wide extent was raging in the city; the

number of deaths caused by small-pox in April 1871 was 157 (34·5 per

10,000 inhabitants), and in April 1872 it was 71 (16·2 per 10,000). In

the city of Brandenburg-on-the-Havel an infected French soldier arrived

in February 1871; he communicated the disease to his attendant, and in

that very month cases of small-pox were reported among the civil

inhabitants of the city, although it was impossible to prove a connexion

between them and that of the French soldier. The number of deaths, all

told, was 59. The number of deaths per 10,000 inhabitants in the

Governmental District of Potsdam was:

1871. 1872.

Prenzlau 7·5 11·1

Templin 17·5 28·4

Angermünde 15·0 53·4

Oberbarnim 18·2 33·8

Niederbarnim 36·5 27·1

Teltow 46·4 40·4

Beeskow-Storkow 20·6 39·8

Jüterbog-Luckenwalde 43·4 38·7

Zauch-Belzig 14·6 38·1

East Havelland 37·7 14·7

West Havelland 32·3 33·4

Ruppin 26·8 13·3

East Priegnitz 14·9 12·6

West Priegnitz 16·8 23·3

In the Governmental District of Frankfurt small-pox raged only to a

moderate extent in the year 1871. In Frankfurt-on-the-Oder itself there

were sporadic outbreaks of the disease every year. On November 12 two

infected prisoners from Metz were committed to the hospital, and before

the end of that month two attendants contracted the disease; a few cases

also occurred in the garrison in the month of November. Of the French

prisoners, whose maximum number was 756, eight contracted the disease

and two succumbed to it; in the garrison, which averaged 1,881 men,

there were 21 cases of the disease and no deaths. Among the civil

inhabitants, on the other hand, a somewhat more severe epidemic raged;

whereas in the year 1870 only 21 cases of the disease were reported, in

the year 1871 there were 19 cases in the month of January alone; until

May some 196 persons contracted the disease, which after that began to

abate. The number of deaths, all told, in the year 1871 was 117, and in

1872 it was 70. In Landsberg-on-the-Warthe small-pox broke out in the

middle of November in consequence of the arrival of an infected

prisoner; the first case among the civil inhabitants was reported on

November 20. The total number of deaths in the year 1871 was 97. At

Kottbus an infected French prisoner arrived on October 1, resulting in a

rather severe epidemic among the civil inhabitants (114 deaths in the

year 1871). Not until the year 1872 did the disease become very

widespread in the Governmental District of Frankfurt; with the exception

of the city of Frankfurt there was no district which suffered more

severely in the year 1871 than in 1872. In most of the districts

small-pox broke out very virulently, the only exceptions being the

districts of Lübben and Spremberg.

Regarding the dissemination of small-pox in the Province of Saxony

Guttstadt gives us very detailed information. In the years 1871–2 the

disease was equally prevalent in all three governmental districts in the

Province. In the city of Magdeburg the last case was reported on May 24,

1870, and from then until November there was not a single case among the

civil inhabitants. The first prisoners arrived at Magdeburg in the

latter part of August, and on September 14 a case of small-pox was

observed among them; this was followed by ten more cases in that month.

Of the prisoners brought to Magdeburg, the maximum number of whom was no

less than 25,450, some 1,092 contracted the disease, and of these 271

died. The largest number of cases was reported in the month of February

1871. Of the garrison, which averaged 11,296 men, there were only 84

cases of the disease (7·4 per cent), and of these 8 died. The first case

among the civil inhabitants was reported on November 18, 1870, and this

was followed by seven more cases in that month, occurring in various

parts of the city. The number of deaths in the year 1871 was 646 (56·4

per 10,000 inhabitants), and in the year 1872 only 45 deaths were

reported. From the city of Magdeburg small-pox spread to the surrounding

country.

On November 25 a transport of prisoners from Metz, after having been

detained for two or three weeks in the badly infected city of Minden,

arrived at Quedlinburg; two days later the first case of small-pox

occurred among them. A second transport, which arrived on January 31,

1871, likewise brought infected men with it. Among the civil inhabitants

small-pox did not become very widespread, and only three civilians

succumbed to the disease in the year 1871. In Aschersleben small-pox

broke out among the prisoners in January 1871, a few days after their

arrival from Mayence, and the number of cases reported in the months of

January and February was only twelve. According to Guttstadt, small-pox

was already prevalent in the civil population in December, when the

disease was given an opportunity to spread to the surrounding country.

According to the German Health Report, on the other hand, small-pox did

not appear in the city until February, when the proprietor of an inn,

which had been converted into a small-pox hospital, contracted it. The

total number of deaths in the year 1871 amounted to 53 (31·6 per 10,000

inhabitants). On January 26 and 27, 1871, some 360 prisoners, four of

them infected with small-pox, arrived at Halberstadt, having come from

Mayence. The number of deaths in the city of Halberstadt in the year

1871 was 29 (11·4 per 10,000 inhabitants). Only those districts in the

Governmental District of Magdeburg which bordered on the city of

Magdeburg were more severely attacked; Kalbe (43·1 deaths per 10,000

inhabitants), Wanzleben (37·7), and Wollmirstedt (29·2). In addition to

these the district of Wernigerode also had a very high small-pox

mortality in the year 1871 (70·5 per 10,000). In those districts further

away from Magdeburg—Osterburg, Salzwedel, Aschersleben, and

Halberstadt—the climax of the small-pox mortality was not reached until

the year 1872, whereas in the other districts it was reached in 1871.

In the Governmental District of Merseburg small-pox broke out very

severely in the stronghold of Torgau, where in the last part of

September and in the first part of December prisoners arrived from

Strassburg and Metz, respectively; in both transports, but especially in

the second, there were infected men. The first cases of the disease were

reported on October 4. Of the prisoners, the maximum number of whom was

9,359, some 603 (64·4 per 1,000) contracted the disease and 128 (21·2

per cent of those who contracted it) died. The epidemic, accordingly,

was unusually severe among the prisoners, and it reached its climax in

January. In the German garrison, which averaged 3,943 men, there were,

all told, 75 cases of the disease (19·0 per 1,000) and five deaths.

Among the civil inhabitants the first persons to contract the disease in

the last part of November and first part of December were a woman, who

was employed as a laundress in the garrison lazaret, her sons, and a

woman who had visited the place where the prisoners were confined. The

epidemic did not break out until December 22, on which day a single case

was reported; on the following day twelve more cases were reported. The

total number of deaths was 67 (61·7 per 10,000). Very soon the infection

spread throughout the entire vicinity of Torgau, which in the year 1871

had a very high small-pox mortality; by 1872 the disease had almost

disappeared from the city.

In Wittenberg, which before the arrival of the prisoners was absolutely

free from small-pox, a transport arrived on August 27, and on September

5 the first small-pox patients were taken to the lazaret. Among the

Frenchmen the disease did not rage very extensively; of a maximum number

of 9,753, only fifty-one (5·2 per cent) contracted the disease and ten

succumbed to it. Of the garrison, which averaged 2,845 men, seventeen

contracted the disease and two died. Among the civil inhabitants the

first case of small-pox was reported on October 3; it was that of a

pastor who had been serving as curate among the prisoners. This case was

followed by several others, most of the victims being persons who lived

in the vicinity of the pastor’s dwelling-place. The pestilence then

began to spread rapidly among the civil inhabitants, finally developing

into a severe epidemic. There were 768 cases reported, distributed as

indicated by the following table:

October (1870) 26

November 66

December 102

January (1871) 107

February 97

March 113

April 76

May 83

June 61

July 27

August 8

September 1

Of those who contracted the disease five died in the year 1870 and 100

died in the following year (86·5 per 10,000 inhabitants). Likewise in

the country surrounding Wittenberg small-pox was very widespread in the

year 1871.

Among the French prisoners in Halle-on-the-Saale there were twenty-eight

cases of small-pox in January and February, and at the same time a few

cases of the disease were reported in the regiment that was transferred

from Halle to Mülhausen. In the first part of March 1871, cases were

reported among the civil inhabitants, and they constituted the beginning

of a large epidemic. In the year 1871 there were 195 deaths due to the

disease (37·0 per 10,000 inhabitants) and in the year 1872 there were

forty-one more deaths.

Generally speaking, small-pox was rather uniformly spread throughout the

Governmental District of Merseburg in the year 1871; the districts of

Torgau and Wittenberg were the only ones that were attacked with

particular severity. In the western part of the governmental district

small-pox raged more furiously in 1872 than in 1871.