Thus small-pox, for instance, has inflicted grievous havoc at different times; and impelled by dread, both the government and the public have then taken rather tardy precautions.[1] The matlazahuatl has been merciful, but a new scourge came instead in the form of Asiatic cholera, which, during its first attack in 1833, carried off, at Mexico, 1,200 or 1,400 daily, and at other places in proportion.[2] During later more or less severe visitations,[3] energetic measures were taken as regards cleanliness and sale of certain articles of food; and scientific investigations were made into the nature of the epidemic.[4]
Yellow fever, at first confined to the gulf of Mexico, has extended to the Pacific shore, as shown by the severe visitation of this disease in 1885.[5] Other malignant fevers have at different times left a sad memento, notably one which, in 1813, carried off about 20,000 persons at the capital alone.[6] Of leprosy, there is one modified type known as tina or pinto, which has shown alarming symptoms of increase, although confined to a belt which extends from Tabasco and Chiapas northwestward by the Pacific, and is especially prevalent in Guerrero and Oajaca, so much so that people from this region are often known as Pintos.[7] The symptoms are a cough, lustrous skin, with
- ↑ Instance those in 1830, as described in Atleta, 125-7, 131.
- ↑ At Guadalajara, over 200 died daily during the height of the ravage. Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., vi. 293.
- ↑ Notably in 1849-50, 1853-4, 1857, 1866.
- ↑ Méx., Col. Ley., 1850, 1843-9, 123-7; Id., Legis., 133-5; Arrillaga, Recop., 1832-3, 26-7, 475-80; 1833, 7, 17; 1849, 66. The investigations resulted in a number of speculative pamphlets with recommendations or proclaimed remedies, as Cólera, Preceptos, 1-8; Método Cur., 1-15; Varios Impres., ii. pt ii.; Chabert, Apuntes, 1-20; Dávila, Refut., 1-16; Martinez, Refut., 1-16; Pap. Var., cxliii., clxxi., cciii., cxiii., passim.
- ↑ In the comparatively high-lying district of Jalapa, there were, in 1853, 1,300 deaths from yellow fever and small-pox. Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, iv. 427.
- ↑ 'Quedando desde entónces desierto el barrio de Santiago,' says Alaman, ascribing the source to the siege of Cuautla. Hist. Méj., iii. 414. A writer in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., ii. 76, gives the deaths at 20,385, and in Niles' Reg., vi. 320, we find 27,000 mentioned.
- ↑ 'Porque es muy raro el individuo que no lleva en el cuerpo alguna mancha.' Leon, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., viii. 507. This author speaks of an entry into Tabasco, in 1858, of a band of 500 Chiapanec soldiers, of whom 296 were marked. Shortly before this, Gen. Álvarez had entered Mexico with an army from the Guerrero region, whose aspect created no little com-
