Adams remarks that although it is probable that
small-pox existed for ages in Hindoostan and China, being
completely isolated in those countries from the European world,
it was not introduced into the West until the close of the
seventh century. Imported into Egypt by the Arabians, it followed
in the tracks of their conquests, and was in this way propagated
over Europe. The foregoing statement disagrees with Dupony and
others. It is well known that small-pox was prevalent in Europe
before Rhazes's description of it, and after the Crusades it
spread over Central and Western Europe, but did not extend to the
northern countries until some years later. In 1507 the Spaniards
introduced it into San Domingo, and in 1510 into Mexico, where it
proved a more fatal scourge than the swords of Cortez and his
followers, for according to Robertson it swept away in Mexico
three millions and a half of people. In 1707 it appeared in
Iceland, and carried off more than one-fourth of its inhabitants;
in 1733, according to Collinson, it almost depopulated Greenland.
The Samoyeds, Ostiaks, and other natives of Eastern Siberia, have
frequently suffered from devastating epidemics. In Kamchatka the
disease was introduced in 1767, and many villages were completely
depopulated.
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