Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
Historic Treasure of the Week -
April 10, 1983
By Alex Cavins
Vigo County Historical Society
Quarantine developed in 1403
The historical treasure of the week at the Historical Museum is an old red sign which says:
SMALL POX
KEEP OUT
“All persons are forbidden to enter or leave these premises without special permit from the health officer having jurisdiction, and all persons are forbidden to remove or mutilate this card, or in any way interfere with this quarantine without orders from said health officer.”
Quarantine, the effort to contain contagion from spreading, is almost a thing of the past, but in my lifetime was very common or used against diphtheria, measles, whooping-cough, scarlet fever, etc.
The first medical quarantine developed at Venice in 1403, so called from a detention for 40 days (quaranta giorni) of foreign ships which might be carrying Oriental plague (the “Black Death”). Smallpox was mentioned as far back as 302 A.D., when an epidemic of it in Syria was described by Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea. Smallpox epidemics continued at intervals, sometimes with a mortality rate of 25 percent, but have finally been brought under control by means of vaccination, first done in a scientific manner in 1796 by Edward Jenner, a country doctor in Gloucestershire, England. Smallpox has now been eliminated as a threat throughout the world, “a miracle,” yet not a miracle, since it has been done by proper use and application of the natural laws of physiology and immunology.
But constant vigilance is the price of freedom from contagion, as demonstrated by recent outbreaks of measles. The health officer of the red sign still has his important function and authority.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.