The plague and its place in history.

An outline is presented of the various pan-epidemics of a disease which has been in the past one of mankind's greatest scourges--the plague. Its pathogenesis, spread and effect on the course of history from biblical times until the seventeenth century is traced with a detailed review of the origins of the Black Death. The opinion is forwarded that plague has had a greater impact on the course of human history than any war or any other single disease.