December 12, 2007
Plague: Then and Now
Lloyd Moote
Professor Emeritus Of History, USC and Dorothy Moote Medical Microbiologist
Minutes of the 12th Meeting of the 66th Year
After President Giordmaine opened the meeting at 10:15 AM, George Hansen led the assembled multitude in a spirited invocation and Claire Jacobus provided an excellent summary of the previous week’s talk by professor Dyson of the Institute for Advanced Study. Jerry Rose introduced his guest, Larry Devlin; Herb Kane, his guest, David Egger, and Juris Apse, his son, Stefan.
It was again a pleasure to welcome Clare Jacobus to the podium to introduce our speakers Dorothy and Lloyd Moote who provided a double feature lecture on “The Great Plague of London of 1665”. Dorothy is a microbiologist and Lloyd a professor of historical studies with a special interest in the 17th Century.
Both were California residents where they met and were married ion 1986. Dorothy had previously become interested in antibiotic resistant TB, a very scary subject. A British publisher suggested to them that they do a book on the “Great Plague of London of 1665”. In Dorothy’s words, “it was fast forward to 1992”. They decided to move to Princeton, put their house on the market, their belongings in storage and decamp to England in search of The Great Plague. A rental in Colchester near the commuting line to London gave them ready access to the archives of London and of the “country” which was also affected by the plague.
Dorothy and Lloyd alternated in painting a picture of the progress of the Plague, of how it early on caused a riot of people who freed a quarantined couple to roam the streets, of anecdotes by Samuel Pepys and Daniel Defoe and of histories that described it as a complete economic and civil collapse contrasted with demographers who thought it no big deal – in a year all was back to normal.
Of most interest to me were the handouts. One showed the details of the church warden’s records of the plague’s progress in St Margaret Westminster from 1 death in May to close to 200 in the week of September 18th but back to 33 at the end of December.
A list of occupancies of the 667 residents of St. Giles Cripplegate who died in August 1665 noted that 209 were cloth workers because white cloth seemed to attract the fleas that carry the plague bacillus. The summary reported to the King for 1665 showed that of the 97,306 burials, 68,596 were attributed to The Plague. This list also noted that only 9 were murdered or shot but 14 died of lethargy.
Why did it die out? The Mootes cited the growth of immunity – antibacterial evolution – the probability that thatched roofs did not provide a good home for rats and the growth of Norwegian rat population vs. that of the black rats. Let me say that the bubonic plague has not disappeared; shortly after VE Day en route home from the Mediterranean, ship’s company was inoculated against the bubonic plague before calling in at Algiers.
A spirited question and answer session brought the meeting to a close.
Respectfully submitted,
Barney Barnhart
It was again a pleasure to welcome Clare Jacobus to the podium to introduce our speakers Dorothy and Lloyd Moote who provided a double feature lecture on “The Great Plague of London of 1665”. Dorothy is a microbiologist and Lloyd a professor of historical studies with a special interest in the 17th Century.
Both were California residents where they met and were married ion 1986. Dorothy had previously become interested in antibiotic resistant TB, a very scary subject. A British publisher suggested to them that they do a book on the “Great Plague of London of 1665”. In Dorothy’s words, “it was fast forward to 1992”. They decided to move to Princeton, put their house on the market, their belongings in storage and decamp to England in search of The Great Plague. A rental in Colchester near the commuting line to London gave them ready access to the archives of London and of the “country” which was also affected by the plague.
Dorothy and Lloyd alternated in painting a picture of the progress of the Plague, of how it early on caused a riot of people who freed a quarantined couple to roam the streets, of anecdotes by Samuel Pepys and Daniel Defoe and of histories that described it as a complete economic and civil collapse contrasted with demographers who thought it no big deal – in a year all was back to normal.
Of most interest to me were the handouts. One showed the details of the church warden’s records of the plague’s progress in St Margaret Westminster from 1 death in May to close to 200 in the week of September 18th but back to 33 at the end of December.
A list of occupancies of the 667 residents of St. Giles Cripplegate who died in August 1665 noted that 209 were cloth workers because white cloth seemed to attract the fleas that carry the plague bacillus. The summary reported to the King for 1665 showed that of the 97,306 burials, 68,596 were attributed to The Plague. This list also noted that only 9 were murdered or shot but 14 died of lethargy.
Why did it die out? The Mootes cited the growth of immunity – antibacterial evolution – the probability that thatched roofs did not provide a good home for rats and the growth of Norwegian rat population vs. that of the black rats. Let me say that the bubonic plague has not disappeared; shortly after VE Day en route home from the Mediterranean, ship’s company was inoculated against the bubonic plague before calling in at Algiers.
A spirited question and answer session brought the meeting to a close.
Respectfully submitted,
Barney Barnhart