Posted by Sterling on 26/7/2011, 22:24:19, in reply to "Re: Journal of the Plague Year"
98.71.94.72
Isn't it ironic that both quarantine and draining swamps & building sewers turned out to be effective preventive measures against the spread of disease? The contagionists were closer to correct in a modern scientific sense, but plague itself is not primarily a contagious disease but rather spread by rats and fleas. Consequently, plague might be prevented by improved sanitation.
I recall the 1994 plague outbreak in India, when the bodies piled up due to logistical problems in getting sufficient antibiotics into remote areas. Most plague outbreaks in the 21st century occur in Africa, where there is often poor sanitation and where antibiotics may be in short supply.
--Previous Message--
: Another interesting sidelight to Defoe's book that I
: picked up on from further lectures in the Yale course
: is the political aspect of epidemic disease.
:
: Prior to Defoe's time, diseases were thought to be
: caused by imbalances in the bodily humours caused by
: environmental factors, especially bad air. Hippocrates
: and Galen, the Greek founders of medical science, did
: not belief that disease was passed from one person to
: another. Practical experience, however, suggested
: otherwise, but was not conclusive either way. The
: debate between "contagionists" and
: "anti-contagionists" raged until the end of
: the 19th century when Pasteur and Koch proved that
: diseases were transmitted by germs.
:
: So how is this a political issue? When epidemics like
: plague can wipe out sixth of the population in a
: season, government obviously has to become involved.
: If you believe that disease is transmitted by infected
: persons, then the obvious countermeasure is
: quarantine, not just of households, but of entire
: nations. It also means strict regulation of commerce
: and immigration. These are measures requiring a strong
: central government with a large standing army to
: secure the border. This concept also tends to support
: hierarchical, class conscious, xenophobic thinking
: when linked with the notion that disease was a form of
: divine punishment.
:
: On the other hand, the anti-contagionists who believed
: disease was caused by bad air or "malaria"
: (originally a term meaning any type of disease) wanted
: the government to concentrate, not on segregating
: people and regulating trade, but on public works
: projects such as draining swamps, building sewers, and
: widening streets. These were measures that benefited
: the lower classes and helped remove social barriers
: rather than stigmatizing the poor and foreigners as
: the carriers of disease.
:
: So those in England who supported Crown authority, a
: strong military, segregation of classes, and the
: established state religion--the Tories--were
: contagionists. Those who favored democratic and social
: reforms, as well as religious freedoms--the
: Whigs--were anti-contagionists.
:
: Defoe was a Tory. His views were so reactionary that
: he was even jailed for a time for making death threats
: against religious dissenters. So it is no surprise
: that he is clearly a contagionist, praising the
: authorities for their strict quarantine. He even
: speaks favorably of the theory, then in its infancy,
: that microorganisms are responsible for disease.
:
: Was A Journal of the Plague Year written for political
: purposes? I haven't read anything to suggest this, but
: it seems possible. I'll certainly keep the political
: dimension in mind when we read The Betrothed, as the
: contagionism debate was even more lively in Manzoni's
: time.
:
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