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    MEDICAL & PHYSICAL







MEMOIRS.
M&jkJfaJdKaAma 
 
      speuical & jpfjgiefical



MEMOIRS,


           CONTAINING,


      AMONG OTHER SUBJECTS,


        A PARflCVLAR EHQUIR?


JNTO THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE tATE


  Pestilential Epidemics

             OF THE

      UNITED STATES.-"T-0*
      BY CHARLES CALDWELL, M
      ay m mi i—i      ——————......''Jill


            ppaMpJna:

fRINTED BY THOMAS iST WILLIAM BRADFORD, BOOKSELLERS
   AND STATIONERS, NO. 8. SOUTH FRONT STREET? 
 
wmrm&wr* », ■■mbm^
         DEDICATION

                  TO THE




                  IN THE

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA,
GENTLEMEN,

       Fr om a conviction that the prejudices
of age are frequently inimical to the advance-
ment of science,  and that  truths,  tending  to
the subversion of old  errors, will ever find
their most firm  and faithful advocates in the
liberal minds  of youth,  your patronage  is
solicited to this publication.

     When you recollect, that but a few years
have  elapsed since I was  one  of yourselves,
and that the following Memoirs relate to sub-
jects of difficult investigation, I am persuaded
you will  peruse  them  with  sentiments  of
indulgence, rather than with those of severity %
in  criticism. 
DEDICATION.
      With the solicitude of an elder brother
for your professional attainments,  and with
 sincere wishes for your individual happiness^
 I have the honor to be

           Your obedient, and

               Very humble Servant,

                               THE AUTHOR.
   PHILADELPHIA,
FEBRUARY \8th, 1801. 
^     i
PREFACE.
•®
      JL  O  answer its  original intention,  a preface  should
serve as  a miror to the work  which it ushers  to the public
eye.  It should exhibit  a conscise view,  if  not  of  its origin,
at  least  of  its  nature,  objects,  and  ends.   On no  other
principle can  it  be  rendered so  appropriate^ nor convey such
useful information to the reader.  Perhaps  I might  add,  on
no  other  principle can  it be considered in  any other light,
than as a  supernumerary and unmeaning  appendage.   Under
the influence of these sentiments, I shall offer a  few prefatory
remarks.

     The first of the following memoirs is to  be considered
in the light of a basis for the second.   To  be able to decide
justly,  respecting  the origin  of an  epidemic disease,  it  is
necessary to  be acquainted with the climate, situation, nature,
and general relations of the place where it prevails.   Without:
this knowledge it is impossible to determine whether the disease
be indigenous or  of foreign extrac lion.  For, in order to judge
of the relationship between a cause and an effect, we must first
enquire  into the nature  and powers of  the  former,  and then
into the character and affinities of the latter.   It was from a
conviction of the truth of this,  that I was induced to turn my
attention  to a  collection and  arrangement of  materials for a
physical sketch ofthe city of Philadelphia.

     As an  apology for the style and manner of the  second
memoir, I beg leave to inform the  reader, that the  first eight
numbers of it (having since received corrections and additions)
appeared in the autumn  of ninety nine,  in one of the public
prints of the  city.  As it was addressed to my fellow-citizens
at large,  it was thought most adviseable that  it should make
its appearance in a popular garb.  For the sake of uniformity, 
P  tl E F  A  C t.
something of the same manner has been preserved in the two
last numbers, which are now before the public for the first time.
A want of leisure is my best and only reason,  for  not having
made more  and  greater  alterations  in  the  style, which  I
acknowledge to  be,  in  several  places,  too  declamatory to
serve as the proper vehicle of science.

     The principal points I have endeavoured to establish in
this memoir, are,

     I. That the late  epidemic  of  Philadelphia,  and  other
parts of  the United States, was  not  a contagious disease.

     II. That consequently it was not  an imported disease.

     III. That it was only a modification or higher grade of
the common bilious fever of our country.

     IV. That  it was  essentially different from the typhus
tnitior, or jail fever.

     In pursuing this subject it became necessary for me to
examime and  endeavour to refute  an account,  given by Dr.
Chisholm, of the  supposed introduction of a contagious disease
into the Island of Grenada, in the spring of ninety three.   In
doing this, I hope I have preserved that spirit of moderation
and candour, which  it would be unpardonable  to violate in
philosophical discusions.

     The object of my third memoir is, to contribute something
to the elucidation of an  interesting and  long contested point,
in the philosophy of natural history.  I have there detailed
9.11  the evidence  I could collect,  in  opposition  to  the  winter
submersion of swallows,  and in favour of their migration to a
warm climate.   Part  of  this evidence consists in experiments
and observations of my own, and  part is taken from the reports
of others ;  but, a considerable proportion of it is derived from
the nature,  powers,  and apparent destination  or uses of these
birds.

     What first directed  my attention  to the composition of
this  memoir, was a request rnade by a friend at a distance, 
PREFACE.
that I would furnish him, by  letter, with  my opinion on the
winter retreat of swallows.   It was at the solicitation of the
same gentleman, that  I afterwards undertook to  revise and
digest  it, and finally to commit it to the  press in its present
form.

     The fourth memoir is published for the  purpose of coun-
teracting, as far as in  my power, a  pathological error, the
more likely to become popular and to mislead, because it issues
from a respectable source.   Common minds  move alone,  and
mankind remain unaffected by their mistakes ; but minds of a
superior order, like stars of primary magnitude, revolve amidst
a croud of satellites, which reflect  the  phantom-light of their
errors, no less than the permanent radiance of their truths.

     Had Dr. Barton's hypothesis,  relative to  the  cause  of
Goitre, originated with one in the inferior walks of science,
it would probably have sunk unnoticed into oblivion.  For, in
my view,  its claim to public attention results  not so much from
its own inherent probability, as from the talents and uncommon
acquirements of its author.

     Such are the outlines of the present work,  and such the
views with which the memoirs that compose it were written.

     I cannot  conclude without  assuring  those  gentlemen,
whose facts and opinions I have had  occasion to controvert,
that in no instance have I been actuated by personal motives,
nor have  I uttered a word with  an  intention  to offend. Should
any expression in this work, be thought to admit  of a different
construction,  I  disclaim it, as possessing  no affinity  to  my
disposition and wishes.   In testimony  of my  sincerity, I invite
from any one,  into whose hands these memoirs  may fall,  the
same freedom in the examination of my opinions, with which I
have examined the opinions of others. 
f-----,«  ...., „  , N 
CONTENTS,
                      MEMOIR I.

f\. physical Sketch of the City of Philadelphia, interspersed
  with General Remarks, applicable to  all large and populous
  Cities.
                                                    Page,
Introduction and Division of the Subject,   -    -   -   1-7
SECTION I.
Of  the Climate of Philadelphia, and its effects on the
  kuman System,   -   ---_--____    7
SECTIOKf II.
•f  the  situation and extent  of  Philadelphia,  and their
  probable operation in the production of disease,   -   -  23
SECTION III.
Of such works of art, in Philadelphia,  as appear to have
  an influence on the health of its inhabitants,   -  -   -  4l
SECTION  IV.
Of the population of Philadelphia, with the mode of living,
  dress, customs, and manners of its inhabitants,  -  -57
                       SECTIOtf v.

General inferences and remarks,   -   ~   ,.  .:  _   -   67 
CONTENTS,
                     MEMOIR  II.

I acts  and observation!.,  relative to the origin and nature of
  the Yellow Fever, addressed to the Citizens of Phi'uddvuia.
  In ten Numbers,


                          No.  I.

Introduction,      -  -   -   -


                         No.  II.

The importance of the subject of these Numbers—The
  inefficacy of our  present  Health-law — The  various
  abortive  attempts  to  trace the  origin of  the  Yellow
  Fever of ninety  nine,  to some source  of  imported
  contagion,   -   -   _--   -..--.--82


                         No. Ill,

 Pestilential  EfHuvia  generated in  the  hold of  the
  the prize sloop Mary,  after her arrival at our wharves—>
  Further  reasons for believing the Yellow Fever to be
  a disease of domestic  origin—Pestilence cannot  be-
  come epidemic, unless aided by a malignant constitution
   of atmosphere,   -   -----------   93


                         No.  IV.

 An enumeration, and  detailed  account, of  our different
   sources  of pestilential air in the City of Philadelphia,  104


                          No. V.

 A  few  additional measures recommended, for assimilating
   the atmosphere of the City of Philadelphia,  to that of
   the  country—The propriety  of an  alteration  in  the
   summer diet of our Citizens—.The doctrine of domestic
            Pags,
.  -  -  -  -  75 
CONTENTS.
                                                    Page,
  origin, when properly understood,  less injurious to the
  intert-st and reputation  of our  City,  than  that  of
  importation,   r------------116


                         No. VI.

An attempt to  solve the following  question,  vi%. Why
  does the filth of Philadelphia  produce Yellow Fever
  now,  whereas it did not, in former years, when much
  more  abundant than it is at present?.....129


                         No. VII.

Reason why Yellow  Fever has  always made  its first
  appearance,  as  an epidemic,  in Philadelphia, in the
  neighbourhood of the wharves—The question, so often
  proposed, "  Why does Yellow Fever never originate
  and prevail,  in the country, or, in inland towns, remote
  from commercial cities ?" considered—Fartherobjections
  against the doctrine of importation,.....14S


                        No. VIII.

A sumpiary  of objections  against  the contagion,  and
  consequenly against the importability of Yellow Fever.
  The former  plagues  of Great  Britain, not  imported
  into  that  Island, but generated,  in  a great  measure,
  by the filth of the inhabitants—Conclusion,   -  -   -   1 GO


                         No. IX.

An  examination of, and objections to,  Dr.  Chisholm's
   account of the introduction of a contagious fever into
  the town of  St. George (Grenada), from the Colony of
   Bulama,inthe spring of ninety three—The improbability
   of the same fever having been brought from Grenada to
  Philadelphia, during the summer of the same year, even
   admitting  that it had been introduced into the former
   place from the coast  of Africa,   -  -  -  -   -  -   -   175 
CONTENTS.
                       *  No. X.
                                                    Paga
A statement of the analogies between Dillons and Yellow
   Fever—Outlines of the practice proper to be pursued in
  yellow fever—The opinion,  that Yellow Fever is a dis-
  ease of domestic, or American origin, not new—Vari-
  ous points of difference between Yellow Fever and Ty-
  phus Mitior, or common ship fever,   -----   205


                     MEMOIR III.

On the winter retreat of Swallows,  ------   2 35


                     MEMOIR IV.

Strictures on " a Memoir concerning  the disease of
  Goitre,  as  it  prevails  in different parts of North
  America."
     " By Benjamin Smith Barton, M. d." Sec. Sec.   -  ' 272 
ERRATA,
Page 9, line 13, from the top of the page, for « county,'^
                                         read country.
*-— 12, ■     3 &4, for " everberating," —— reverberating.
.      14,----i2, for "  condersation,"  ----condensation,
----47,----21, for  "  convering,"----covering.
_---- 69,---- 10, for "  exist,"         — exists.
.----70,---- 13 8c  14,  for " of wise,"  ----of a wise.
.      128, bottom line, for " Polmyra,"   ----Palmyra.
>     ■ 270, Une 18, for " the are obliged,".     they are
                                                   obliged,; 
(<
\ 

     MEDICAL

           AND

PHYSICAL  MEMOIRS.
               MEMOIR  I.


A  PHYSICAL  SCETCH OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,
    INTERSPERSED WITH GENERAL REMARKS APPLI-
    CABLE TO- ALL LARGE AND POPULOUS CITIES.

X  ERHAPS, there is no question, connec-
ted with the  science of medicine., which  has
furnished  ground   for  so  much  popular
controversy,  as that  which  relates  to  the
origin of pestilential diseases.

     As far  as medical records inform  us
of the transactions of other  times, and  dis-
tant places,  this  subject  appears to have
constituted a theme  of discussion in  almost
every country, and every age.  Nor is it,
in the estimation of many, nearer to a decisive
                    C 
                  C   2  ]

issue  now, than it was some hundred years
ago.   Each side  of the  question has still
numerous  and respectable   advocates,  who
persevere  in  the  controversy  with  equal
zeal,  and  apparently with  equal  hopes  of
success.

     How  far  the   matter  is calculated  to
engage the  public  mind,  and to  what ex-
tent it can  interest the human passions, our
own country, and the present  time,  afford
the most  striking and memorab'e evidence.

     EoRthe ultimate decision of this question,
in  which  science  and  humanity  are   alike
interested,  the two following desiderata ap-
pear to be necessary.

     First, A knowledge of that constitution
of atmosphere, under which pestilential epi-
demics always  occur.

     Secondly, A minute acquaintance  with
the topography  of those places,  which they
generally select as the  theatre of their  rava-
ges.

     I say nothing at present respecting  ei-
ther the season, when, or the kind of weather,
under which,  pestilential diseases  commonly 
[  3   ]
prevail,  as  these points will  be more pro-
perly considered in one of the numbers of my
second Memoir.

     From an adequate knowledge of the two
former  particulars,  the medical philosopher
would  derive much  aid toward  developing
the origin of the evils in question.

     But,  it is to be lamented, that  notwith-
standing the  extent,  to which  pneumatic re-
searches have  been  lately  carried,  our ac-
quaintance with the fluid which we breathe is
still  too limited,  to enable us to advance any
thing satisfactory on the first of these  heads.

     Those  properties or states  of our at-
mosphere,  that are   peculiarly instrumental
in the  production and propagation  of pesti-
lence,  are  among the  secrets, which nature
has  hitherto   concealed from  the eye  of
philosophy.   We  are  able   to  trace  and
discern them  only   in  their  effects.    The
discovery and  elucidation  of  their   nature
and causes, are reserved to immortalize some
future  enquirer,  and to constitute  a  new
era in physical  science.
     With  regard to the second head the
case is  different.  'The objects   which  it
embraces, though numerous and  diversified, 
C  4,   ]
are much  more within the sphere of obser-
vation.   Such is the nature of most of them,
that they need  only be examined in  order
to be understood.

     Notwithstanding this,  there is   per-
haps  no subject, on which medical records
are  so  completely  barren,  as on that of the
topography of large  cities; yet these places
are known  to  be peculiarly, though not ex-
clusively,  subject  to  the  ravages  of  pes-
tilence.

     We have  valuable  topographical ac-
counts of several of the West-India Islands,
as  well as of many country  situations,  in
America,  Europe,  Africa, and   the  East,
which are  occasionally  visited by malignant
epidemics.   But, neither of Rome,  Carthage,
London, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon,  Ocza-
kow,  Constantinople,   nor indeed   of  any
large and populous city, in either quarter  of
the globe, have we, as far  as  my enquiries
have  extended, any accounts,  exhibiting de-
tailed  statements of  such local  objects  and
circumstances,  as are  calculated  to have a
particular influence  on health.
     In some measure to remedy this defect,
with regard to our own city, and, by pointing
out to its inhabitants  certain  physical evils 
C   5   ]
connected with it, to endeavour to  have them
corrected  or  removed,  constitute  the object
and end of the  present memoir.
      As  the  attempt  is somewhat  arduous,
in  consequence  of  its   novelty, (')  I flatter
myself I shall experience, in  the  execution
of it,  a due  degree  of  indulgence,  from the
liberality of my readers.
      It  is necessary to observe, that the pre-
sent memoir  is not offered to the  public as a
complete  historical  picture  of  the  city  of
Philadelphia,  exhibiting a view of every thing
    (*) Doctor Rush, in his excellent "Account of the climate
of Pennsylvania/' published in the first volume of his  "Medi-
cal inquiries and observations," has but very transiently touched
on  the topography  of Philadelphia.  His object  being the
whole state, it was impossible,  and  perhaps, improper for him
to be minute and circumstantial on particular parts of it.
    1 cannot  help  remarking, that in  one point relative to
Philadelphia, the Dr. appears to have  been mistaken in his
observations.
    " The air (says he) at the north is much purer  than,at
the south end of the city ; hence lamps exhibit a fainter flame
in its southern than its northern parts."
    I will not contend with Dr. Rush, respecting the  compa-
rative purity of the atmosphere, at the  two extremes of the
city.  I am inclined to believe, with him, that in this  respect,
the  north  end has  the advantage.  The more common and
general prevalence of disease, at the  south end,  furnishes bul
too  strong testimony in favour of such a belief.
    I am  disposed, however,  to doubt the  existence of the
fact which Dr. Rush has adduced in evidence of his opinion.
If the lamps, in the southern extreme, be furnished with wicks
and oil equally good, and with glasses equally transparent,  I 
r.   *  ]
 that might be interesting to a traveller.   It is
 meant only as a physical sketch of it, and will,
 as already intimated, be  confined  chiefly  to
 such prominent objects, as appear to be  con-
 nected  with the health of its inhabitants.

     Nor will it be  practicable for me to be
 minute in my account, even when conducted
 on this partial scale.   My subject is  still too
 copious,  to be fully discussed in a few pages.
 Were  it  my intention to write  a volume, in-
 stead of a single paper,  I might then  hope to
 do it some shadow of justice.

     For the  sake of order and perspicuity,
 my memoir  will be divided into five sections.

     In the first,  will  be  considered  the cli-
 mate of  Philadelphia,  with  the  effects  it is
likely to produce on the human  system.

     In the second,  its situation and extent,
with their jjrobable  operation  in the produc-
tion  of disease.
am convinced they will exhibit a light no less brilliant than
those in any other part of the city.
  The  eudiometer,  a much better ten than the brilliancy of
flame, for the purity of our atmosphere,  shows no difference
between the air of the northern  and southern extremes of
Philadelphia. 
C  7   ]
     In the third,  such of its works  of art,
as appear to have an influence on health.
     In the fourth, its population,  together
with  the   mode  of living,   dress, customs,
and amusements of its inhabitants.
     While the   fifth  section will  contain
such  general  inferences   and remarks  as
appear  to  result   most naturally from the
other four.
                  SECTION  I.

 OF THE CLIMATE OF  PHILADELPHIA, AND ITS EFFECTS
             ON THE HUMAN SYSTEM.


     HE city  of Philadelphia is known to stand
 in the fortieth degree of North latitude, a region
 remarkable, in this country, for its extensive
 range and  sudden vicissitudes  of  tempera-
■ ture.

      This  remark is true, not as it relates to
 Philadelphia,  exclusively,   but also  with
 respect to the greater part of the United States
 that  lies to  the eastward of  our chain  of
 mountains. 
C  «   1
      From  New Hampshire to the  Carolinas,
  (and how much farther the observation might
  be extended, it is not my present  business to
  enquire) a liability to great and sudden tran-
  sitions from heat to cold, and  from cold to
  heat, constitutes a prevailing characteristic of
  climate.   Within this  extent of territory, the
  mercury has been known to  vary upwards of
..  forty degrees, in the  space  of twenty four
  hours.

      Russia alone excepted, (where the diur-
  nal range  of the thermometer  sometimes a-
  mounts to fifty-seven degrees), North America,
  in general, appears to be more subject to op-
  posite extremes of temperature, than any other
  inhabited portion of the globe.

      It is a truth familiar to every one, that
 the inhabitants of the United States surfer, in
 common, greater heats in summer,  and more
 intense  colds in  winter,  than  those who in-
 habit corresponding latitudes,  on the  conti-
 nent of Europe.  Such. changes  cannot fail
 to be unfriendly to health and life.    For,
 though the constitutions of  all living beings,
 whether vegetable or animal, but  more par-
 ticularly that of man,  are capable of accom-
 modating themselves, without injury, to con-
 siderable  variations  of  temperature,   when
 gradual in  their  progress,  yet  when  the 
C  9   ]
transitions are frequent, sudden,  and great,
nature  must  inevitably  experience  some
degree of derangement.

     Philadelphia,  like  every other  large
and  populous  city,  posseses  a  factitious
climate of its own, different from the climate
of the surrounding country.  This difference,
in summer, is equal to that resulting from §
difference of several degrees  of latitude.   In
winter, I believe, (though  of this I will not
speak confidently, having made but few  com-
parative   experiments  on  the subject),  the
atmospheres of the city and county are more
nearly alike, in point of temperature.

     The summer climate of Philadelphia and
of other large cities  similarly situated, is an
artificial torrid zone, in which  the thermometer
rises from four to six degrees  higher than it
does at the distance of a few miles in the coun-
try.   The causes of this superior degree of
warmth,  in  a  city atmosphere,   appear to be
the following:

     I.  The heat given out from numerous
and crouded fire  places.

     Each fire  in the city  communicates  its
heat to a certain distance around it.   Hence,
                   D 
                 C   10  ]

 the aggregate result  of the  whole  must be
 considerable.

     II,  Heat evolved by  the process of fer-
 mentation  in all its stages,  the  sources of
 which are  much more  abundant  in the city
 than in the country.

     III. Heat thrown out by animal respira*
*ion and perspiration.

     The extent to which there functions go
 on, in the  city, compared to what occurs in
 an equal space of atmosphere  in the Country,
 is, perhaps,  in the ratio of a thousand to one.

     IV". A less free circulation of air  in the
 city than in the country atmosphere.

     Though this is  not,  in itself, a powerful
 cause of the actual  evolution  of heat,  yet, by
 allowing the warmth of our. own  bodies, as
 well as that  produced by adjacent objects, to
 be accumulated round  and to remain  in con-
 tact with us, it proves a very fruitful source of
 the distress we experience  from the summer
 temperature of the city.

     But  farther,  as rest  is absolutely  ne-
 cessary to every stage of fermentation,  there
 is reason to believe, that air,  when stagnated, 
t   n   ]
is much more favourable to this process, than
when in a state of active motion.

     V. Less evaporation from the surface of
the  ground in cities  than what takes  place
in the  country.

     A  deficiency of  moisture  in the  earth,
and a consequent deficiency of aqueous exha-*
lation,  are among the most powerful of those
causes, which co-operate in producing the ex-
treme heats of the desart of Arabia, and of other
sandy  regions bordering on the line.  But,
streets  that are paved with  flint,  and over-
spread with dry dust, as is the case with  the
streets of Philadelphia, in the summer season,
are  equally  unfavourable  for this  cooling
process.

     If, on the other hand, the  dust  were
swept away,  and the silecious stones exposed
without  a covering   to the  rays of   the
sun,  instead  of vapour carrying off heat
in a latent state, nothing but reflected light
accompanied by sensible heat would arise, to
the great augmentation of the warmth  of  our
atmosphere.

  VI. The last cause of the high temperature
of city atmospheres, which I shall mention, is> 
                 C   12  ]

 perhaps,  more powerful than all the rest.   It
 is the many  solid  and opake substances  in
 large cities that act on the principle of everbe-
 rating furnaces, by intercepting and reflecting
 the rays of the summer  sun.  Such, in par-
 ticular, is the operation of the buildings  and
 the pavement of the streets.

     In passing through a clear atmosphere or
 any other transparent  medium, the  rays of
 the sun produce  no  perceptible degree  of
 heat.   The case,   however,  is  different  as
 soon as they  fall  on  an opake body.   The
 surface of the intercepting  obstacle becomes
 immediately   heated, and  communicates  its
 warmth to the surrounding air.

     If, on being reflected from the first,  the
 rays impinge against a second substance, this
 becomes in like manner an additional source
 of heat.  A third point of reflection becomes a
 third  source,  so that the number of such
 sources, will be in a direct ratio to the number
 of opake bodies against which the sun-beams
 strike,  either  by  primary incidence, or sub-
 sequent reflection.   But, as bodies of this des-
cription are, both in dimensions  and number,.
 greatly superior in cities  to  what they are in
the country, the heat, from  this cause* must 
L"   "   ]
 consequently rise  in  something of a similar
 proportion.
     Nor  is  the  nature of certain reflecting
 bodies  in cities to be passed unnoticed in the
 present enquiry.   Our glass windows, when
 struck  obliquely,  by  the rays  of the  sun,
 act as so many mirrors,  by throwing them in-
 to the streets in a condensed state.

     To the foregoing  causes  may be added
 the state or constitution of a city atmosphere
 itself.    Being more  highly  charged  with
 heterogeneous  substances than the  atmos-
 phere of the country, it is less transparent,
 and probably, therefore,  by  making  some
 resistance  to the passage of the rays of the
 sun,  gives rise on this  principle to a farther
 evolution of heat.

     Perhaps, the truth of this observation
 can be best realised, and its force most readily
 felt, by taking, in the  evening,  a distant view
 of the atmosphere of a  large city. In this way,
 the want of transparency in this body of air,
 is rendered extremely  obvious.   The  city ap-
 pears to be enveloped,  not indeed, in  a real
 cloud, but in a body of atmosphere  so  sur-
charged with  smoke and other  effluvia,  as to
be able to reflect a sufficiency of light to  ren-
der itself visible. 
t   14   ]
     It  is no  doubt  by viewing  this phe-
nomenon,  in times of pestilence, (periods in
which men's minds are  unusually  awake to
observation), that  weak  and  superstitious
characters,  have been led to imagine large
cities overhung, on such occasions,  by clouds
portentous in  aspect,  and manifesting  the
frowns of an offended Deity.


     Can  the  density of a city atmosphere
act,  in any measure,  the  part  of  a convex
lens, and encrease the  temperature,  by  a
slight condersation  of the rays of light ?


     Such appear to be  the leading  causes?
that combine in subjecting Philadelphia  and
other large cities  in the United States, during
three months in the year^ to all  the fervours
of a tropical climate.  But from such a duration
of tropical temperature, tropical diseases must
necesarily result.


     Hence the fevers of our cities  are more
violent and malignant than similar diseases
in the surrounding  country, and bear a more
striking resemblance to the fevers of the West
Indies.   And   hence   many  families  on 
C   Is   **
removing  from  the  country  into the large
cities of the United States,  are subject, during
the first and second  summers, in  particular,
to a kind of seasoning or assimilating sickness,
such  as  is suffered by those who emigrate
from cold  to warm climates,

     It is well known that  the  fever of the
tropics, is most apt  to attack those  persons
who have lately removed from high latitudes,
Something similar to such a removal happens,
every summer, to the inhabitants of the large
and populous  cities of our northern and mid-
dle States

    FIaving  passed the  winter  and spring,
in respiring, and in being  otherwise acted on
by, pure,  cool,  and wholesome air, the high
susceptibility,  imparted to  their systems by
these  causes,  is but  illy  qualified to bear,
with impunity,  the  warm and contaminated
atmosphere of the succeeding summer  and
autumn,

    The   change   annually produced  in
the constitutions of our citizens, by the win-
ter and spring, may be  compared  to  that
which occurs   in the constitutions of those
who  occasionally  emigrate  from the West
Indies, and reside for a while in Europe or 
                 C  16   ]

America.   Nor are the former much less lia-
ble to an attack of disease, on each return of
the autumnal season, than the latter are, on
returning to  the  inclemencies   of a tropical
sky.


     For it matters but little, as to its effect
on health, whether the atmosphere which we
breathe is changed from a cool and pure to a
warm  and foul one, by the natural succession
of the  seasons, or by our removing from  one
country to another.


     Hence though Europeans, who settle in
the West Indies, are  subject in general  du-
ring their constant residence there, to but one
serious attack of seasoning sickness, yet, such
is the situation of the inhabitants of Philadel-
phia  and other large cities in   the  United
States, that they are liable to such  a seasoning
every autumn.


     It  is becoming  customary,   I am told,
with some of the most skillful and respectable
of the British surgeons, to subject the troops,
sent out on the  West-India establishment, to
a preparatory course  of medicine and  diet, 
                 [   17  ]

previously to their arrival at their places of
destination.   This  course   consists  entirely
in temperance and moderate evacuations.


     From the  time  of their embarcation in
Britain, or at least as soon  as they begin to
Cuter thewarm latitudes, the troops are direct-
ed to receive a reduced allowance of animal
food  and ardent  spirits, and to be exercised
as little as possible in the sun.   In addition to
this, cathartic medicines are  occasionally ad-
ministered to them, while venesection is prac-
ticed on the most healthful and plethoric.


     This experiment is said to be found no
less  salutary in its effects  than it is  rational
in its principles.  If  something  like   it  were
adopted, by  the  inhabitants of  Philadelphia
and other large cities  in the United States,  it
would contribute  to their exemption from our
annual epidemic.  I would not be understood
as recommending to them the adoption of ha-
bitual  venesection.   Such  a practice would
itself prove  an  evil,  and  become  in  time
productive of  many  inconveniences.   Their
object  may  be  attained by  more  moderate
measures.
                    E 
C   is  3
     If, on  the commencement of the warm
season,  (which  generally  occurs  about the
first of May)  they could  be induced to di-
minish their customary consumption of animal
food, ardent spirits, and wine, and  from this
period till the month of October, subsist more
on vegetables,  malt liquors, cider,  and lemon-
ade, and if, in addition to this, they would be at-
tentive to the preservation of  an  open  habit
of body, (a) by an occasional use of medicines
moderately laxative, they would not only ex-
perience less inconvenience from the summer
heats, but would enjoy a  greater exemption
from summer  and autumnal  diseases.   To
act in  this manner  would be  to live in con-
formity to the  principles and  rules  of reason
and philosophy.  But, to  persevere  in our
present mode of living, is to leave  health  to
the uncertainty of chance, or  rather,  too fre-
quently, to sacrafice it at the shrine of habitual
intemperance.

     On the commencement  of cold weather,
the citizens might return again in  safety  to
    ( ) If, inconsequence ofhabitual constipation, the feces
 be suffered to accumulate and remain too long in the intestinal ■
 canal, t ley would seem to  undergo real putrefaction, and to
 L.ve origin to a gas, in the  body, perhaps no less noxious than
■ tLat resulting from the filth of our streets. 
C   19   3
their meats and their wines, which they could
not fail to relish the more,  in consequence of
their abstinence throughout the summer. It is
thus that the Greenlander, after having passed
through his night of winter, enjoys with re-
doubled sensibility the return of the spring.


     Were the inhabitants of, Philadelphia to
consult reason, instead of fashion  and  habit,
they would immediately perceive a summer
and winter diet to  be no less necessary for
them than a summer  and winter dress.   If it
is of importance to preserve a coolness of the
skin, it is certainly no less so, to guard against
whatever  has a tendency to favor  inflamma-
tion  in the alimentary canal.


     Were  any female of our  acquaintance
to accustom herself daily, amid the fervors of
July, to walk our streets encumbered with her
muff, her  tippet, and her cloak, would we not
commiserate   her,  as  being  subject  to an
alienation of mind? Yet,  such a custom would,
to the  eye  of reason, be  no more preposte-
rous in appearance, and would certainly be less
injurious  to health, than her using, during the
same  inclement  season, highly  stimulating
aliment and drink! 
[  20   ]
     Such appears to be the delicate and pre-
carious tenure, by which the inhabitants of
our large cities hold the inestimable blessings
of health.  Were  they constantly  favoured
with moderate and wholesome  air,  disease
would be but little known to  them, except by
name;  and  were they  perpetually immersed
in a  warm  and less pure atmosphere,  their
systems would, in time, (conformably to what
occurs  in tropical regions ) so far  accommo-
date  themselves to their situation, as to expe-
rience but little injury from the floating poison.
The principal  source of their danger  lies in
reiterated changes from the one state of atmos-
phere to the other.  The effect of a constant
residence in  warm and  impure air is strongly
exemplified in the exemption  of  Creoles  from
our autumnal pestilence.


     F am not prepared to mention the greatest
extremes of temperature that have been known
to occur in the city of Philadelphia.


     For nearly four years past, I have my-
self  paid some attention to the  subject of
meteorology, during which time my thermome-
ter has twice risen to near the ninety-fifth, and
as often sunk to the sixth degree on the  scale 
C  21   3
 of Fahrenheit,  making a range of about eighty
 nine  degrees.  Dr.  Rush informs us in  his
 "Account of the climate of  Pennsylvania,"
 that the Mercury has occasionally descended
 in this place, five or six degrees below  Zero.


     From the beginning of June till the close
 oc August,  (and  the same thing may be  said
 of many  days, in the month of May, )  the
 mercury stands, in general, from  noon till four
 or five o'clock,  as high as from  the  eightieth
 to the eighty-sixth degree.  On  various occa-
 sions, it remains stationary for nearly the same
 number of hours   in  the day, as high as  the
 ninetieth  degree.


     Such an excess of summer  heat,  (sur-
 passing even that of the West India climate,)
 accompanied by a state of torpor  or stagnation
 in the atmosphere, cannot fail  to produce a
languor in the systems of our citizens, which
disqualifies them  for  resisting the influence of
febrile poison.


     That elegant exotic, the populus dila-
tata of Aiton (better known by the name of the
Lombardy Poplar),  exhibits more beauty and
luxuriance of  vegetation  in   Philadelphia. 
C   22  3
than in the surrounding country.   This phe-
nomenon  is attributable to  a twofold  cause.
The plant in question derives, from  the facti-
tious atmosphere of the city, more of the  sti-
mulus of  heat, and of the  food  of putrid  ex-
halations,  than it can receive from the natural
and uncontaminated atmosphere of the coun-
try.  Being  therefore  a native  of  a warm
climate,  and delighting,  like most other vege-
tables of such regions, in  an  abundance of
nutriment, it cannot fail to  flourish  better in
the former than in the latter situation.

     I  have  intentionally  passed in silence
over the thunderstorms, the rains, the hails,
and the snows, of the  climate of Philadelphia,
being unable to trace  the connection of these
meteors with disease,  except through the me-
dium of the vicissitudes which they  occasion
in the temperature of our atmosphere.

     Our climate  in general is  said to have
undergone a change,  in consequence of  the
clearing and cultivation of the country..  Re-
specting this  fact  I have too little knowledge
to make it  a  subject  of consideration in  the
present  memoir.   I have no doubt  however
of its truth, as in many parts of Europe a
similar effect is known to have been produced
by a similar cause. 
[  23   3
     I shall conclude this section by observing,
that  the middle latitudes of our globe, where
the annual range of temperature is extensive,
and its occasional transitions sudden and great,
instead of being hostile, as some have imagin-
ed, appear,  both from facts and principles, to
be friendly to  the  origin and propagation of
pestilential diseases.
                section ii.

©F THE SITUATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  PHILADELPHIA,
  WITH THEIR PROBABLE OPERATION IN THE PRODUCTION
  OF DISEASE.


     Philadelphia, (the original soil of
which consisted principally of  a humid clay)
stands on a plain, but little diversified by emi-
nences,  and  intersected  formerly by  a few
streams of water, which have been arched
over,  and two of them converted into streets.

     Its altitude above the level of the ocean
I have been unable to  ascertain.  I believe  the
matter has never been  examined, either by
actual survey  or barometrical measurement.
Judging however from the  length and current
of the river on which it stands,  taken in con- 
C  24   3
 nection wkh  the  nature and  productions  of
 the  surrounding country, it -would appear io
 be considerable.  The whole-plain is subtend-
 ed by a stratum of granite rock, which lies at
 the  distance of about  forty five or  fifty feet
 beneath the surface  of the earth.

     The site  of the  city, though not very
 Iqw,'is evidently, like the whole country east of
 our  great granite ride, of secondary origin.  It
 is washed to the eastward by the  Delaware,
 and  to the west  by the Shuylkiil,  and lies
 about  five  miles  above  the confluence  of
 these two rivers.    Its elevation above low-
 water mark, ranges from forty five to  fifty five
 feet, the highest  spot  being the point of the
 intersection of Chesnut and Broad streets.

   To this elevation, Water and Penn streets,
 running along the  shore  of  the  Delaware,
 constitute an exception.  Leaving the general
level by an  abrupt  descent,  they  are many
feet  lower than any other part of the city.

     It deserves to be remarked that in these
depressed situations, where the air  is particu-
larly liable to become motionless and conta-
minated, our autumnal  pestilence has  always
commenced its epidemic ravages.   This dis-
ease has appeared twice within a  few paces 
C  25   3
of  the same  spot  in Penn  street,  which
runs  immediately  at the foot of  a steep
eminence  that  was once  most probably the
bank of the  river.

     Indeed  both  Water and Penn Streets,
together with the narrow skirt of land to the
eastward of them,  appear  to have been gained
from the water, by the  gradual operation of
time.

     I might  extend  this  remark farther, in
the present instance, and  observe, that from
the numerous  breccia and  alluvial  matters,
which lie  scattered  over our commons,  it is
evident that the site of our  city,  like most
other parts of our country,  is of Neptunian ori-
gin.
     Without supposing the fact  to have
any particular  relation  to the  health of out-
citizens, I would  observe, that the tide, mo^
ving at the rate of about four miles an hour,
flows at the  same time  and  preserves the
same level in the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill.
Common or neap tides rise from six to seven,
and spring tides  from seven and an  half to
nine feet.  The  elevation of  these  tides is
materially influenced by the force,  direction,
and  duration of the winds.
                   F 
r  26   3
     The depth of  our wells is different in
different parts of the city.  It  is in general
from thirty to thirty five feet.   In some places
it is forty,  and in  Penn  and Water streets
seldom more than ten or twelve.   From this
it is  evident  that the subterraneous  sources
which supply them,  have no connection with
the Delaware or Schuylkill, as they lie above
their line of high water mark, even in spring
tides.

     The water of our wells is  by no means
pure.   It is  found  by  analysis, to  contain
magnesia, calcareous earth, muriate  of  soda
(common salt), and nitrate of pot-ash (common
nitre).

     The quantities  and proportions of these
fossil substances,  with which  our well water
is impregnated, appear to be different in differ-
ent parts of our city. Nor will I assert  that
the whole of the  above substances,  exist in
the water of every well.   I  presume howe-
ver they do, as it appears to be from the same
stratum of  earth that  the   waters  always
issue.

     The source from whence our subterran-
eous waters derive these fossil impregnations is
a subject interesting to the  naturalist and phi- 
C  27   3
losopher.   Do they wash them from the  sur-
face of the ground,  where they  first fall in
the form of rain, hail,  snow, and  dew ?  Or
do  they collect them  in  their  subsequent
passage as  they percolate through the earth ?■


     Shall we suppose that these fossil sub-
stances which adulterate our waters exist in
subterraneous masses or strata  coeval with
the existence of our globe ? Or are they  the
result  of the gradual dissolution of vegetables
and animals that have lain on the surface, or
been buried in the earth by some convulsion
of  nature  ?   In  either  case,  their solution
by  what I shall denominate  the terrene  wa-
ters is equally practicable.


     I shall dismiss this subject by observing,
that the cause of  the above  impregnation of
our subterraneous waters, is  a problem of a-
bout equal  difficulty with that of the general
salinity of  the  ocean.


    The temperature of our well water ranges
from fifty to fifty three,  on the  scale of Fah-
renheit.  From  my  own  experiments on the
subject, the latter appears  to  be  the  most 
C  28   3
general standard.  I believe, (though I write
only from memory) that Doctor Franklin fix-
ed it at fifty-two.  This difference of a degree
might readily result from a difference of ther-
mometers.

     Perhaps  the  temperature is, in  some
measure,  influenced  by the depth of   the
well.   This however  I propose only  as a
conjecture, having made no comparative  expe-
riments to ascertain its truth.

     Though it is suspected by some, that the
foregoing adulteration of our well water has an
unfavourable effect on the  health  of  our
citizens, I am  unable to  trace  its connection
with  any  particular  description of disease.
The impurities  contracted by our waters from
the contents of necessaries,  and other  artifi-
cial sources of  filth, threaten us with conse-
quences much  more alarming.

     No experiments have been  hitherto
made,  to develope the nature of these impu-
rities.   It is probable  however that they  are
the  same  products  of putrefaction, which,
when volatilized, and thrown into  the atmos-
phere, give origin to  the various descriptions
of bilious fevers.  If these poisonous matters
ate so terrible   in their effects, when  taken 
C  29   ]
into the  system, through the  medium of re-
spiration, they cannot be innocent, when swal-
lowed with our drink.

     In sinking  many of our  wells,  certain
curious and interesting discoveries have been
made, relative to the subterraneous  geogra-
phy of Philadelphia.

     At the depth-of from twenty eight to
thirty  five feet  beneath the surface  of  the
ground, our well-diggers have found, in a state
of entire preservation, various vegetable relicts,
such as hiccory nuts, and acorns, together with
the bark, leaves, roots, and branches of trees.

     Nor has this been the case in only  one
part of the city.   I am well informed  of the
same thing having occurred in Penn street, in
Dock  street  near Third,  in Seventh  street
near  Arch,  in  Tenth  street near Race,  in
Kensington,  and in the vicinity of the  Centre
square.

     I have now in my possession two speci-
mens of a fossil vegetable, one of the bark and
the other of the root  of a pine tree, which must
have  been of a considerable size, that were
dug a few  years ago out of a  well in Tenth
street, from the distance  of thirty feet beneath 
C  so   3
the surface of the ground*   Both the  smell
and texture of these specimens  are nearly as
complete as  if they  were just taken from
one of the living pines of our forests,

    At about the same depth, in Seventh be-
tween Arch and Race streets, a well digger
found, a few years since,  branches of timber
not less than four or five inches in diameter,

     But these phenomena are by no means
confined to the site of Philadelphia.   They
are frequent throughout  the  whole extent of
our Atlantic state s»  and have also occured in
several instances to the westward of  the gra-
nite ridge.   Indeed  the  same  thing is true
with respect to almost every spot on the sur-
face of the globe, except perhaps some  alpine
tracts of country, where  no fossil vegetables
have yet been found.

     The limits of this memoir  will not allow
me to  enter on the  consideration of general
geogeny.  I will be indulged however in ob-
serving, that the level of the  earth's  surface,
between the Delaware and Schuylkill, is very
different now from what it has  been  at some
distant period of time.  Of the truth  of this
the foregoing subterraneous phenomena afford
indisputable   evidence.  They  cannot  fail, 
[  si   3
I think, to produce a conviction, that the stra-
tum in which these fossil vegetables are now
found  embedded, constituted  formerly  the
surface  of  the earth.   For we are  acquain-
ted with no process of nature, by which these
vegetable  relicts could  have  been  sunk,
through  solid  earth, to the depth at which
they lie.

     It would  appear then,  that at a distant
and unrecorded  period of time, the surface
of  that  part  of the globe  which  we inha-
bit,  has suffered the stroke of some stupen-
dous revolution which  prostrated the vegeta-
ble kingdom, and overwhelmed it by a ponder*
ous covering of earth.  Whether this earthy
incrustation was  slowly deposited by the  wa-
ters of a retreating deluge, or thrown where it
now lies by the commotions of an earth-quake,
are questions which  I  leave to the solution
of  philosophical geologists,

     I am farther informed,  and belive it to be
true,Tthat fragments of earthen ware have been
dug out of a well in Philadelphia,  and also
out of another, at the distance of about fifteen
miles in the country.   In the former instance,
these relicts of art were found at the depth of
thirty, and in the latter, of forty feet beneath
the surface of the earth. 
-[ *  32  ]
     Are not these facts calculated to inspire
a belief, not only that our country had former-
ly a surface  different from its  present  one,
but that  this surface was peopled by human
inhabitants, who perished in the shock,  by
which the vegetable kingdom was inhumed ?


     A particular description  of the  original
nature of  the  soil,  on  which Philadelphia
stands, would be of little importance in giving
an account of its present state.  By draining,
paving,  the influence  of necessaries, grave-
yards,  and the admixture  of  other foreign
materials,  it is so completely changed as to
retain  at present scarcely one of its former
qualities. Where it was once humid,  it is now
perhaps  dry; where it was formerly nothing
but a mixture  of clay and  sand, it is now a
collection  of  rank  and  offensive  materials.
Where the oak and the poplar  once rose in
their strength,  and  drew  sustinence from a
sweet and  cleanly mould, the willow spreads
around  its feeble branches,  fed by the fes-
tering  contents of the grave !

     In a word, the present soil of our city is
no less the production  of art, than the pave-
ment of its streets, or the buildings  which it
contains.  It is but reasonable therefore to in- 
[' 33  3
fer, that the exhalations to which it gives origin
now,  must be  different from  those it emitted
when in a state of nature.

     These considerations  impel me to a far-
ther review of  the striking revolution  which
the site  of Philadelphia  has  undergone, in
little  more than the space of a century.  They
bear  me,  in the spirit of retrospect,  back to
the time when the very place where  this cele-
brated city now stands, with  all its concourse
of civilized and polished inhabitants,  consti-
tuted  a  part  of a continent  of  wilderness!
They carry me to the period,  (nor is that pe-
riod of ancient date)  when the Aborigines of
bur country pursued their game over the same
track, that is at present the  haunt of the sons
of commerce !

     On the ground, where the private dwel-
ling,  or the public edifice,  now  rises  in the
majesty of art,  I  behold, in imagination, the
cabbin of the  savage !  On the very spot (3)
immortalized by that band of patriots, whose
wisdom planned,  and  whose intrepidity de-
   (3) The Congress, of '76, were in Session in the State-
House in Philadelphia, when they declared the United States
" free and independent."
                      G 
L  34   3
clared the. independence  of  our country,  I
see the Sachems  assembled  deliberating on
blood! On yonder stream (4), where now the
vessel towers in  her pride,  armed with the
thunders of a mighty people, or richly fraught
from the climates  of the  east, I behold the
untutored Indian  embarquing in his canoe,
to angle for the precarious subsistence of a
day!  And, hark!  to the  ear of fancy,  that
harbinger of death the war-whoop,  resounds
from  the  place where the eloquence of our
nation is heard! (5)  Such has been the tri-
umph  of industry  directed by wisdom, and
urged by a spirit of enterprize, over the rude-
ness of uncultivated  nature !  But to return
from this digression,


     Philadelphia, situated in a champaign
country about  midway between the Atlantic
and  the Apellachian  ridge, is  deprived of
both the sea  and the mountain breezes.   For
it is a truth, that mountains, equally with the
ocean, contribute  to a  free and uniform venti*
iation.
  (4) The Delaware.
  (5) This memoir was written, in March 1800, when the
.t:cnal Legislature was in session in Philadelphia. 
[  35   3
     Great and abrupt elevations of  land,
no less than extensive  bodies of water, pre-
vent the  existence of an equilibrium  in the
superincumbent air, and thus preserve the at-
mosphere in perpetual motion.   Cold air de-
scends  from the tops of  mountains,  to  dis-
place the rarified atmosphere of neighbouring
vallies and plains, on the same principle which
impels the air of the ocean  toward the  land,
constituting what is  denominated  the sea
breeze.

     To these  unfavourable  particulars  in
the  situation of Philadelphia, are we indebted
in some  measure for our  summer  heats, and
no doubt in part for our autumnal epidemics.
Hence, (other  circumstances   being alike),
large cities having a maritime  exposure, are
not  only more  cool, but  enjoy a  fairer pro-
spect of exemption from pestilential disseases,
than such  as  stand  in  inland  situations.
And hence these wasteful maladies  but sel-
dom  attack the  inhabitants of mountainous
countries, fanned by the breezes that descend
from their hills.

     To some it may perhaps appear extraor-
dinary, that  mountains, which  are the  most
elevated, and the ocean, which is  the most
depressed  portion of   the  globe,  should  be 
[  35   3
productive of similar commotions in the  at-
mosphere.  Such however  is the fact,  and,
as already observed, they seem to operate on
the same principle.


     In either case ventilation is the  result of
local circumstances, while agents more exten-
sive and powerful  are  necessary to put in
motion the body of air, incumbent on an extent
of champaign country.


     The causes of ventilation in mountainous
places  and near to the ocean, rise out of the
nature of the situations  themselves,  and are
therefore in constant operation, particularly in
the summer  season; whereas the causes of
winds, in inland  and level  countries, being
more accidental, occur only  at uncertain pe-
riods.

     The clearing, draining, and cultivation,
of that neighbouring  and  marshy  tract  of
country, denominated the u Neck," is a mea-
sure calculated to improve the  health of  our
city.


     Lying  but  a  short  distance to  the
southward of Philadelphia, and giving origin 
C  37   3
 formerly to an immense volume of marsh mi-
 asma,  this subtle poison must have been ne-
 cessarily conveyed to the city by the autumnal
 winds.

     The cultivation of the soil has not only
 given a check to the generation of this poison,
 but has covered the surface of the earth with
 an  abundance  of vegetables, which absorb
 and convert it to  their own nourishment.  For
 vegetables act  as the scavengers  of the at-
 mosphere, clearing it   of such  gases  as are
 hostile in their nature to the health of man.

     An additional step might yet be  taken
 to give  us greater security against the influ-
 ence of the deleterious air in question.   Were
 several adjoining lots,  to the southward and
 westward of  the  city, converted into  a park
 or public garden, and covered with grove and
forest trees, these lofty  plants would not only
 aid the  inferior vegetables  in devouring mi-
 asmata from the neighboring marshy grounds,
 but would also act mechanically in  arresting
 the winds,  which mingle this exhalation with
 the atmosphere of our streets.

     A fact recently communicated to me by
 an old and celebrated physician of this place, 
                 C  38   3

confirms me still  farther in the above opi-
nion.

     This gentleman informs me, that previ.
ously to our  late revolutionary war, the city
of Philadelphia was surrounded from east to
west by a range of forest timber, which pro-
tected  it from the  exhalations discharged by
the marshes  of the Neck, and  by  the  more
distant shores of the Schuylkill.

     This timber fell a sacrafice  to the rapaci-
ous hand of the  British army, in the winter
of 1778-9, since which time the city has been
more generally pervaded by bilious fever, than
had been the case in former years.

     The principal cause  of this unfortunate
change would appear  to  be the destruction of
the above range  of timber,  which had been
previously  our  safeguard from distant  ex-
halation.

     The city of Philadelphia is not built in
all respects agreeably  to  the original  plan of
its founder.   It was the  intention of that en-
lightened statesman that  no houses  should be
erected  between   Water  street   and   the
river. 
C  39   ]
     Including the  district of  Southwark,
Kensington, and the Northern  Liberties, the
buildings extend from North to South,  along
the  Delaware, upwards of three miles, and
nearly a mile in a westerly direction towards
the Schuylkill.   That  part adjacent to the
Delaware is most  thronged with houses and
inhabitants, and has always been most severe-
ly ravaged  by our autumnal pestilence.

     It has been long known that large cities
have an unfavourable influence on the health
and strength of  the human system.  This
effect of these  establishments,  appears to be
in some  measure  in proportion to the extent
and  croudedness  of  their  population, but
more particularly in proportion to the seden-
tary occupations of their inhabitants,

     The most diminutive of the Britons  are
those that are born and reared amid the smoke
and dust of London,  and in the large manu-
facturing towns of the kingdom, while Paris
and other populous cities of Europe and Asia,
are no less remarkable for the same effect on
the growth of their native citizens.

      Nor does even  the  duration of human
life  escape the influence of the same causes.
It is among those born and raided in the coun- 
[  *°   ]
 try or  in small villages,  and not among the
 natives of large and crouded cities, that we
 are to look for the most striking instances of
 human longevity.  It is indeed to be  expect-
 ed, that those causes which so far weaken the
 system of man as to prevent it from acquiring its
 natural magnitude,  will, on  the same prin-
 ciples,  contract the  usual term of  its dura-
 tion.

     Though Philadelphia is in infancy, both
 in age and size, when compared to London or
 Paris,  yet still is her influence, as a city, be-
 coming evident on the stature and strength of
 her native inhabitants.   For in these respects,
 the Philadelphians, though well proportioned,
 active, and graceful,  are certainly inferior to
 the. inhabitants of the country.

     This  inferiority   in  the  stature   and
 strength of those born and reared in large ci-
 ties, appears to result from the co-operation of
 several causes.   The principal of these are,
 sedentary occupations,  intemperate  and irre-
gular living, early incontinence, and an atmos-
phere impregnated with  impurities unfriendly
to animal nature.

     But it  is not the  growth and longevity
of man alone that are  affected by  the influ- 
C  4i   3
ence of populous cities.  Dogs, cats, and other
domestic animals are in like manner susceptible
of injury from these laboratories of poison.
                section  III.

OF SUCH  WORKS OF ART IN PHILADELPHIA,  AS
  TO HAVE AN INFLUENCE  ON THE HEALTH
  INHABITANTS.

     J^ am not unconscious of the  important
nature of the present section, nor of the difficul-
ties attendant on a due examination and state-
ment of the objects which it embraces.   In
entering on  it I feel  myself  engaged in  an
undertaking, which, in its full extent, contem-
plates nothing  less than a complete  analysis
of the  city of Philadelphia, with an account
of the physical influence of each artificial ob-
ject it contains.

     The accomplishment of such a task in
all  its relations,  would require  habits of ob-
servation, powers of discernment,  and perse-
verance in enquiry, of no common order.

     Under the present head I might, with-
out an  inadmissible digression from my sub-
                     H
APPEAR

OF ITS 
C  42  3
ject, proceed to delineate  that plan for the
construction of large cities in general,  which
should appear  to me best calculated to secure
the  health of their inhabitants.  But  such a
latitude  and minuteness of  enquiry  would
carry me far  beyond  the  limits  necessarily
prescribed to this memoir.

     The  utmost extent to which I can  go
will be, briefly  to touch  on those objects  that
appear first  in consideration  with regard to
their influence  on the health of our citizens,
passing inferior ones without notice. In doing
this I am sensible I shall only sketch the out-
lines of my picture, and must leave  to the
discretion of the reader to bestow  on it, by
his own reflections, such finishing as his judg-
ment  may approve.


     It was observed in a preceding section,
that  whatever  works  of art  tend  either to
augment the summer  temperature  or to di-
minish the general purity of the atmospheres
of large  cities, must necessarily injure the
health of  their  inhabitants.

    Of  the principal   causes  which  contri-
bute to the former of these effects, a cursory
statement has been already given.  We shall 
[  45   ]
 proceed to a brief consideration  of those that
 give rise to the latter.


     Many of the  causes which  co-operate
 in encreasing the temperature, take part also in
 diminishing the puriy of the  atmospheres of
 large cities.   This  is  particularly  the  case
 with  combustion, respiration, and fermenta-
 tion in all its stages.


     These several processes contaminate the
 air, not in a simple, but in a twofold manner and
 degree.  For while they depend for their  ex-
 istence  on the absorption and neutralization
 of respirable air,  they  give  origin to-  gases
 that are deleterious to health.


     To the process of fermentation,  particu-
larly to its putrefactive stage, are we indebt-
ed for  that formidable  poison,  which,  when
mingled  with our atmosphere in a  gazeous
 state, has so repeatedly threatened Philadelphia
with final depopulation.  This pestilential gas,
aided by a high temperature,  and by irregula-
rities  in living,  gives origin to all our bilious
affections of summer and autumn.   It  is there-
fore the  parent  of a great proportion of the
annual disease of our city. 
C  44  ]
     Having,  in  the fourth  number of my
second memoir, given an account of the prin-
cipal  sources that give origin  to the  febrile
poison in  question, a  detailed  repetition  of
them, on  the  present  occasion, is  unneces-
sary.

     They are our docks, wharves, gutters,
cellars,  privies, common sewers, grave-yards,
the foul  holds  of  vessels, and  every descrip-
tion of  putrefactive  substances  suffered  to
pollute the streets of our city. (c)

     I. To the grave-yards, in particular, I am
anxious  that the  attention of our citizens and
corporation should be directed.

     From the number, extent, and situation
of these receptacles of  the dead, no doubt,  I
think, can be entertained  of their influence in
vitiating both  the air and waters of their  re-
spective  neighbourhoods.

     The  public burying-grounds  belonging
to Philadelphia amount in number to about
    (•) However superficial our observation may be, it is
impossible for us to escape a conviction, that during the action
of the summer heats, an  immensity of  noxious air must be
evolved from these extensive magaxines of filth. 
C  45   3
twenty-two or twenty-three.   Of these twelve
or fourteen of the most ancient and extensive
are situated in central parts of the city.

     In consequence of the progressive inter-
ments  in  these  places, their volumes of pe-
rishable matter must receive  a daily  augmen-
tation.  Instead of being removed, therefore,
we have before  us the melancholy prospect,
that during the present establisment of things,
these sources of calamity  will inevitably in-
crease with the progress of time.

     It is to be hoped, however, that the peri-
od  is approaching, when the wisdom of our
police will provide a remedy  for this palpable
and long neglected evil.

     To this  end all interments should be
made without the city, in places set apart for
that purpose, while the surfaces of the interior
grave-yards now in use should be levelled, co-
vered  to a considerable depth with fresh soil,
sodded, or sown with grass-seeds, and planted
with grove and forest trees of  rapid and lux-
uriant growth.

     By the adoption of such measures, those
places which now exhibit the cheerless prospect
of  a waste of head stones, intermingled with 
[  46   ]
fresh  and  half-demolished graves,  would
soon  burst on  the  eye arrayed  in  all  the
beauties  of vegetation. Those  dreary walks,
which are at present but  little better than
charnel houses, pouring forth the seeds of
pestilence and death, would be converted into
groves ornamental to our city,  the haunts of
rational  amusement,  and the sanctuaries of
health!
     II. The manner in which the houses of
Philadelphia*  and indeed  of our  country in
general,  are  constructed,  is by  no  means
favorable for the prevention of disease.


     Instead  of being in all respects adapted
to the  genius  and  character  of our  climate,
they are built in perfect imitation of the houses
of Great Britain.   In this particular,  as  in
too  many others, it is fashion and habit, not
experience  and  reason,  that command our
homage.


     The builders of houses in Philadelphia
should recollect, that at opposite seasons  of
the year, we have to encounter great extremes
of temperature.  What can equal the ©ccasi- 
                 [  47   ]

 onal severity of the cold of our winters, unless
 it be the still greater intensity of our summer
 heats !

     To counteract  as for as  possible  the
 influence of  these  extremes,   should be a
 leading object in the  construction of our habi*
 tations.

     For this purpose our  walls  should be
 much   thicker,   and  our  windows  much
 smaller and fewer in number, than comports
 with the fashionable  style of building.

     What can be more irrational and absurd,
 in a bleak and piercing winter-day, than a
 house,  with a multitude of windows reaching
 almost from the cieling to the floor, unless it
 be the  same  house,  admitting  through  the
 same windows the undiminished blaze of the
 summer's sun? Such a phenomenon is no less
 unworthy of thinking beings, than  would be
 that o£ a large piece cut out of a garment to
 render it a warmer convering, or a hole formed
 in an umbrella to increase its fitness for  pro?
 tecting us from the solar rays.

     However paradoxical it may  appear to
some,  it is unquestionably true,  that   the
principal part  of the heat of our  houses in 
C  48   ]
summer, and much of their cold in  winter,
gain admission through the  windows.   On a
knowledge of this  fact is founded the practice
so common with  our old  housekeepers, of
shutting up their rooms during the heat of the
day in summer, in order  to  preserve in  them
an agreeable temperature.

     Th e j ail of Philadelphia, notwithstanding
it is  considerably crouded by inhabitants, is,
in the  summer season,  by  far  the  coolest
building in the city.   This I advance, not as
an opinion founded on conjecture or analogy,
but  as  a fact  ascertained by actual  experi-
ments during the heats of last July.

     Added to the many other circumstances,
suggested and devised by an enlightened and
humane policy, which combine in softening the
condition of the  prisoners in our  jail,  these
unfortunate characters enjoy the most com-
fortable retreat from the  intemperance of our
climate.    For this they  are indebted,  in par-
ticular,  to the thick walls and small windows
of their place of confinement.

     The  Spaniards are  said to surpass the
inhabitants of all other  European  countries,
in the art of counteracting the influence of a
warm  climate by the construction of their 
C  49  .3
hduses.  For this purpose, they make  their
walls thick, their windows  small, and  their
apartments spacious*

     Hence, by many persons, whose minds
are probably more under the  influence of
prejudice than  good  sense, * Spanish dwell-
ings are  said to resemble family prisons ; and,
as that people are noted for habits of jealousy,
are supposed to be constructed for the  express
purpose  of  securing the chastity of  their
females,  by concealing them more effectually
from  the public  eye.  Let us for a moment
analyse this subject,  and we  will  find  that
their plan of building is directed by principles
strictly philosophical.

     The warmth of  our  apartments,  in the
summer  season, is the result of the external
influence of the sun,  either entering imme-
diately through the windows,  or making its
way more gradually through the  solid walls.
The smaller and fewer the windows are, the
fewer sun beams will they admit, to excite
heat by  their action on the interior parts of
the houses ; and the thicker the walls are, the
more difficult will it be for the heat to  pass
through  them,  and raise  the temperature of
the internal atmosphere.
                      I 
[  50   ]
     If,  in addition  to  small  windows and
thick walls,  the  apartments  be  large,  the
security against the external heat will be car-
ried still   nearer  to  perfection ;  for   the
larger the internal volume of  air, in propor-
tion to the avenues for the admission of heat,
the  less liable will  it be  to an  increase  of
temperature.  Very large apartments possess,
both in  summer and in winter, a kind of in-
sulated  atmospheres,  to  a   certain degree
independent  of the  external  air.  Hence  a
principal reason,  why the temperature of the
atmosphere in St. Paul's Church in London,
is in summer  from six to eight degrees lower
than that of the  general atmosphere of  the
city.

     The  people of the  Barbary  states,  as
well as the  inhabitants of most of the warm
cpuntries of the east,  appear to  possess just
ideas relative to the  effect of  numerous and
large windows, in the   admission  of heat.
Hence their dwellings  present to view  but
little e»Ise than dead walls.   However unsight-
ly and gloomy this may appear to the  travel-
ler,  accustomed to the style of buildings  in
Europe  and America, it forms  the  best  de-
fense against the intense  heats, particularly
the scorching winds, that prevail in many parts
of Asia and Africa. 
[  51   ]
     From this brief consideration of the phi-
losophy of single houses, I shall pass to a few
remarks on the general construction of cities.


     To preserve coolness throughout a large
city, in a warm climate, the buildings should
be lofty, and the streets narrow.  This remark
is not the less true,  in consequence of its
opposition to popular opinion. For, however it
may be  in matters of  morality,  on physical
subjects, common opinion is generally wrong.


     By constructing cities in the above man-
ner, the buildings,  by their loftiness,  would
protect the streets from the rays of the sun,
and the  citizens might  constantly  walk  in
the shade.  The sun  beams could n6t, from
the walls  and  windows of the  houses, be re-
flected into the streets, as from the sides  of
reverberating  furnaces.  They would  be,  in
a great measure, intercepted by the roofs  of
the buildings and thrown back again into the
open  air.   In a word, lofty houses  and nar-
row streets would  diminish greatly the num-
ber  of  lateral and downward  reflectors  in
large cities,  and could  not therefore  fail  to
diminish proportionally the temperature of the
atmosphere. 
C  52   ]
     Let it  not be suppose^,  that narrow
streets are incompatible with free ventilation.
Air  will  circulate  as  freely,  in  an avenue
of  twenty  as in  one of  a  hundred  feet
wide,

     It is even true, that lateral confinement
increases  the celerity  in the progressive  mo-
tion of  fluids and gasses.  Hence the rapidi-
ty of currents of water through the narrows
of rivers, and of air through close  defiles of
mountains,

     Nor will  the narrowness of streets,
provided the squares of a city be not cut up
by lanes  and alleys,  produce   an   excessive
increase in  the  number of houses.  If the
centres  of the squares be open, and abound
in vegetation, there will be but little to be ap.
prehended from the  closeness  of  buildings
round their circumferences.

    It is to be lamented,  that the plan of the
city Washington—a city expressly founded as
the metropolis of a great nation,  (and destined
perhaps to empire  and grandeur, surpassing
those of Carthage or Rome)—It is to be lament-
ed, I say, that the plan of this city is so illy a-
dapted to the genius of  our climate. The streets
are too  wide,  and the buildings too low, to 
[   53   3
 furnish any protection against the solar rays.
 This unfortunate error can be remedied only
 by planting the  streets and public  squares
 with  lofty  trees, and refreshing the city  by
 c urre n t s of w ate r.

     Nor  will even  this precaution act as a
 perfect  counterpoise to the evil in question.
 It is  however the  only practicable resource ;
 and unless it be adopted, it requires no spirit
 of prophecy to foretell,  that  should  the city
 Washington ever acquire that extent and po-
 pulation which its  august name and destina-
 tion promise,  the summer temperature of its
 atmosphere will be  but  little below that of the
 inhospitable desert of Zaara.

     A  fault  in the general arrangement of
 Philadelphia,  greater than that which results
 from  the construction  of single  houses,  re-
 mains yet to be mentioned.   It relates to the
 undue crouding of  buildings, and to certain
 improper portions of ground which  they  co-
 ver.

     It   has  been   already  mentioned, that
 agreeably to the original plan of the city, Wa-
ter and  Penn streets,  with the  ground from
thence to the Delaware, were to have remain-
ed free from houses.  T)he deviation from t'h, 
C  54   3
arrangement, (a deviation prompted by a spi-
rit of avarice,)  has done an injury, not only
to the appearance, but to the healthfulness of
the city.  The truth of this  last remark is
confirmed by recent events, which the distress
that accompanied them, has imprinted indelibly  '
on the memory of the public.   It was  in  the
fermenting atmosphere  of  these depressed
situations, that the seeds of our late epidemics
were chiefly engendered.

     In  consequence of intersecting  every
square  of the  city  by one  or more  alleys,
too great a proportion of the ground is cover-
ed by houses.

     Had the  squares  been  built on, only
round their four sides, and had their centres
been cultivated in gardens and grass plots in-
stead of being covered by clusters of houses,
such a  disposition of things would have  en-
sured a more free circulation, greater  purity,
and a lower temperature  to the atmosphere of
our city.

     It is  further to be lamented,  that we
have not a greater number of public squares
and walks, planted  with trees   and  shrubs,
especially as such an arrangement would con-
tribute  equally to utility and ornament. 
C  55  3
     It is worthy of notice,  that the inhabi-
tants of Philadelphia  have been  fortunate in
selecting the Lombardy poplar and the willow,
for the purposes of shading and ornamenting
the  streets  and  other  parts of the city.   I
have  found, by numerous experiments,  that
the leaves of  these beautiful plants surpass
those of most others, that grow in our coun-
try,  in the quantity of vital air  which  they
emit, when under the influence of the solar
light.

     I suspect  (though it will be  observed
that I mention it only as a conjecture) that
the plants of warm regions generally are supe-
rior to those  of cold, in their powers of pro-
ducing respirabie air.  These powers are to
be regarded as the effect of habits,  impressed
on the plants  by  the character of their native
climate, and are  wisely calculated to answer
the  exigencies of the atmosphere  in  which
they grow.  For as the causes, which tend to
contaminate the atmosphere, are more power-
ful in warm climates than  in cold,  so should
those that are instituted by  nature to restore
its purity.

     I shall close the consideration of thosv*
things that are injurious to the health of  our
citizens, by observing, that this is the case with 
                 t  56   3

every process of art, (and such processes are
innumerable in large cities) which tends either
to rob the atmosphere of pure air,  or  to im-
pregnate it with effluvia  of a  deleterous na-
ture.

     Of those establishments,  that  have for
their object the preservation of the  health of
our city, the most conspicuous is that of the
water-works,   going  forward under the direc-
tion of Mr. Latrobe.

     The completion of this enterprize, pro-
vided certain other essential parts of  a general
health system be made to co-operate with it,
will  no  doubt be  the commencement of an
sera auspicious to the health and  prosperity of
Philadelphia. 
C  57   ]
                SECTION  IV.

OF THE POPULATION OF  PHILADELPHIA,  WITH  THE
  MODE OF LIVING, DRESS, CUSTOMS, AND AMUSEMENTS)
  OF ITS INHABITANTS.


     DOME  time  having elapsed since  the
census of Philadelphia was taken, an estimate
of the present number of  its inhabitants must
be in a great measure conjectural.   It  may
probably be fixed at about seventy five thou-
sand.

     This,  though  not to be  compared to
the population of many cities in the old world,
is notwithstanding too great  to be favourable
to health, in the summer season.   The  citi-
zens  therefore whose  situation and  circum-
stances  do not forbid it, should always  take
refuge, from the summer heats, in  the  shades
of the country.  By such a step, they would
not only adopt  the best means of preserving
their  own health,  but would also avoid all
risque of  injuring others, by  swelling  the
catalogue of the city population.

    The mode of living of the Philadelphians
is, as already mentioned, too high, particularly
                     K 
C  58   3
for the warmth of our summer months.   The
extreme intemperance of our weather,  during
that  period,  bespeaks  the necessity  of tem-
perance in man.


     To  use large quantities of  stimulating
aliment,  while  we are subject to the action of
great external heat,  is giving powerful aid to
the natural evils of the season.


     The abundance of flesh, spirits, Madeira,
and spices of all kinds, consumed at our tables,
during warm  weather,  not only predisposes
the system to inflammatory diseases, but acts
at the same time as an exciting cause.


     Such a mode of living tends, in parti-
cular, to debilitate the abdominal  viscera, by
an excess of excitement, and to create diseases
with a marked  determination to these  parts.
Of this description are our fevers  of summer
and  autumn.    In addition  to  the  general
symptoms of disease which they exhibit, they
seldom fail to do  particular violence to the
viscera of the abdomen.
                   *

     If  then (as  experience has  long  rince
proved to be true) high living  is  calculated 
C   59   3
to invite disease into the intestinal region, and
if this region is always invaded by our epide-
mics of summer  and antumn,  have we not
reason to consider our luxurious mode of life,
as a powerful auxiliary in the  production  of
these evils ?


     The  extreme  malignity which, for the
most part, characterizes our autumnal disea-
ses, when they invade the systems of habitual
drunkards, and the particular violence which,
in those instances,  they do to the abdominal
viscera,  afford the  strongest evidence  of the
dangers  incurred by habits of luxury.  For
it matters not,  whether the  predisposition  be
induced by highly stimulating food, or an ex-
cess of intoxicating drink.


     It is not a little surprising, that the Uni*
ted  States of America,  where the human  in-
tellect has  attained  as high  a degree of culti-
vation as in any other part of the globe,  is the
only civilized country, where the  inhabitants
have made no progress toward an accommo-
dation of their manner of living to the nature
of their climate, and the vicissitudes of  their
seasons.   Even  the ignorant  and  degraded
inhabitants of Egypt, have the sagacity and
prudence to  confine themselves to  a vegetable 
                  [  60   ]

 diet, and the most cooling and diluent drinks,
 during  their Khamsin,  or  season  of  hot
 southerly winds.

     I rejoice in being able to congratulate the
 citizens of Philadelphia, on their partial  aban-
 donment of a certain custom, calculated to
 scatter the seeds of disease, with a most pro-
 digal hand.   I allude to the practice of eating
 meat  suppers, accompanied by a  liberal  use
 of wine,  or other heating liquors.

     This custom, once (as  I am informed)
 almost universal  in this place, tends  to lay a
 foundation for gout, apoplexy, and other  dis-
 eases of  the human system, depending  on a
 similar diathesis.   Nor does it only predispose
 to these  diseases,  but frequently  acts as their
 exciting cause.   How often do those persons,
 in particular, who  are subject to apoplexy, ex-
 perience  an attack, on retiring to rest after a
plentiful  supper?   To  gout,  under  different
forms, the  same  remark  is equally  appli-
 cable.

     A physician, of the first reputation, who
has practiced in Philadelphia  for thirty years,
assures me that his calls to patients suddenly
 attacked  in the night, with colic,  cholera,
 cramp, and other  diseases of the alimentary 
C  ei   3
canal, have diminished in frequency,  in  pro-
portion as the citizens have abandoned the use
of this pernicious meal.

     I have been farther informed, by a  gen-
tleman of observation and respectability,  who
has  resided several years in  Calcutta,  that
since the Europeans in that place have relin-
quished entirely the use  of  heavy  suppers,
their condition,  with regard to  health, has
been greatly  ameliorated.  They have not
only been more exempt from actual   disease,
but  have  also suffered  much less, from that
languor and lassitude  so generally experien-
ced  by those who remove from high to warm
latitudes.

     It is to  be hoped,  that our late hours
of dining  and tea-drinking,  accompanied by
the  influence  of good  sense and prudence,
will, in a short time,  wholly  eradicate what
yet remains among us of the pernicious custom.
in question.

     It was remarked, in a former part of this
memoir, that the inhabitants of Philadelphia
experience,  during the  summer months,  a
tropical  temperature. *  This  consideration
alone is sufficient  to   convince  us  of  the
necessity of adopting, during that period,  a 
[  62  3
tropical regimen.    But  such a regimen  (as
both nature  and experience  have long  since
taught us)  consists not in animal, but chiefly
in vegetable food ;  not in Madeira and ardent
spirits, but in light wines, malt liquors, lemon-
ade, and cider.

     Descended,  as we  are, from a British
ancestry, and having  kept  up, at all times,
a close and extensive intercourse with  the
mother country, it is not  surprising  that  we
should  have originally adopted and long re-
tained a variety of  British customs.  Nor is
there any point, in which this would more pro-
bably \ be  the case, than in  our manner of
Living.

     It is on this principle of  imitation alone,
that we can account for our  making use of
such a large proportion of animal food.   For
both  reason and nature  discountenance  the
practice.

     It is   surely time for  us to relinquish
these servile habits of imitation, and become
as independent at  our private tables, as we
are in our public  councils.  It is time for us
to begin to live, not in conformity to  the cus-
toms of a remote nation,  dissimilar in its cir-
cumstances, but in a manner adapted to the
■/ 
[  63   j
climate and  general nature of our own coun-
try.  Finally,  it is time for us to learn, that,
though  in  the insular situation  and beneath
the temperate sky of Great  Britain, the inha-
bitants can indulge themselves with impunity
in a plentiful use of  animal food,  this is not
the case amid the fervid temperature of Phila-
delphia.

     The foregoing observations relate only
to our summer regimen.  In cold weather, a
free use of animal food is not only admissible,
but perhaps necessary to  enable us to bear,
without injury, the inclemency of the  season.
Our appetite,  though not at all  times  to be
fully confided  in, may-notwithstanding  serve
us as something of a guide in the present in-
stance.   In summer,  it is observable, that our
desire for a diet of flesh  is by no means so ur-
gent as in the winter.

     By denying us  such an  abundance of
vegetables,  in  the  winter  months,   nature
would seem to give a farther sanction to our
use of animal  food during that period.

     I am not  sensible  of any  thing  in  the
dress,  customs, or amusements of the Phila-
delphians,  peculiarly  calculated  to produce
disease. 
[  C4  ]
     The  great  and sudden vicissitudes of
temperature which we  experience,  render it
difficult for us to accommodate our clothing to
the state of the weather.   An attempt to do
this, with  accuracy,  would frequently oblige
us to change our dress several  times  in  the
course of the same day.


     Flannel constitutes part of the clothing
of most of our  citizens, during  the winter
season.  This is  an article  of dress ^g^y
necessary for  the preservation  of health, in
cold climates.   Nor  is  it without  its  uses
even in tropical regions.   By keeping up, in
such  countries,  a  due degree  of action  on
and  discharge  from the surface of the body,
it prevents  a morbid determination to the  ar>
dominal viscera,  and thus preserves the in from
congestion and inflammation.


     The Philadelphians very frequently sub-
ject themselves to disease, both by neglecting,
till too late in the autumn, to put on their flan-
nels, and by laying them aside too early in the
spring.   It is well  known to the practitioners
oi the city,  that  omissions and errors of this
3dnd,by producing,a torpor of the :kin, check-
ing perspiration,  and giving  rise  to a centri-
pital form  of  action,  or a determinate a to 
[  65   ]
internal parts,  are  instrumental in  the  pro-
duction of  many of our vernal and autumnal
fevers.

     Those,  whose constitutions are delicate*,
and their health easily affected by changes of
weather, should in this  climate always as-
sume their  flannels before the autumnal equi-
nox, and never lay  them aside,  till the latter
end  of May.  During our summer months,
muslin  and not linnen should constitute the
under clothing  of such characters.

     I shall take no notice of the attacks of
disease, to which the  ladies of Philadelphia
oftentimes subject  themselves  by  the light-
ness of their clothing, this being a misfortune
common to every place,  where  fem?des are
solicitous  to  display, by their dresses, the
elegance of their persons.

     Nor do  I  think it necessary to mention
the mischiefs that frequently result  (particu-
larly to the youthful  classes of our citizens)
from dancing, swimming, skating,  and sleigh-
ing.   It is only the immoderate or  improper
use of these amusements, or some  concomi-
tant act of imprudence, that  can  prove in-
strumental  ir the production of disease.
                     L 
£  66  3
     One particular relative to the dresses of
the ladies of Philadelphia deserves our atten-
tion, and cannot fail to excite our regret.  It
is their  servile habits  of imitating  foreign
fashions.   These habits lead them sometimes
to the  adoption of  dresses wholly  unsuitable
to the  seasons  in which they are worn.

     London   and  Paris are  the  oracles of
fashion to the ladies of America.  It frequent-
ly however happens,  that the fashions do not
reach this country,  till six months after their
establishment in those cities.  Hence, during
the severity of  winter, our females,  instead of
endeavouring  to accommodate their clothing
to the  temperature  of the season,  adopt the
same light. and airy forms  of dress, which
had been worn, in  Britain and  France, du-
ring the  heats  of  the preceding summer.

     This unfortunate preference  of fashion
to reason and  a principle of accommodation,
or in other words, to common sense, in dress,
cannot fail to prove occasionally destructive t£
delicate constitutions, 
C  67  ]
                section v.

       GENERAL INFERENCES AND REMARKS.

    TT*1
    _|? ROM  certain facts and principles laid
down  in  the  preceding  sections  it would
seem, that,  in whatever  degree  large  cities
may facilitate  the improvement of the arts,  in
whatever degree they may  contribute to the
cultivation of  the human mind, and to the re-
finement  of human manners, and however
necessary they may be, on  the great scale of
commercial arrangements, yet, when considers
ed in relation  to their effects on the health of
man, they must  be acknowledged to consti*
tute  an evil of no  common magnitude,

     This appears to be particularly the case
in inland situations, and in middle and high
latitudes,  subject  to  an  extensive range  of
temperature,

     It is perhaps in such situations only that
large cities can exhibit the extent of their pro-
per influence,  in the production of disease.  It
is perhaps in  such situations only that they
can  make a full display of the power, which
they posses, of forming to themselves a tropical 
[  68   ]
 atmosphere,  during the  summer season, and
 of  giving  rise to  genuine tropical diseases,
 while  the  surrounding   country  is  subject
 only to' those of an inferior grade.

     These  remarks relate  exclusively to
 the summer and autumnal seasons.  During
 the winter and  spring,  large  cities  are no
 less  healthy  than  the  adjacent country.
 r.Iost of the  disease's  of these  latter  sea-
 sons,  originate  from  the  general nature of
 the weather,  particularly  from its states as
 to moisture and dryness, and from great and
 sudden vicissitudes in its temperature.   From
 such vicissitudes and their effects, the inha-
 bitants of the country are no more exempt than
 those of cities.   It  is only  to diseases,  which
 originate from a warm and vitiated atmosphere,
 that the inhabitants of cities are peculiarly lia-
 ble,                                    '

     Although it is true that,  during the
prevalence of certain highly malignant consti-
tution of atmosphere, pestilence has sometimes,
even in temperate climates, become epidemic
in country situations ;  yet this is by no means
a common occurrence.   Flistory  informs us
of but few periods in which the elements have
been so much at enmity with human existence.
 The evil in question, being a condensed epitome 
[  69,  3
 of the whole  range of febrile disease, is, like
 the  consummation of  moral  depravity,  the
 offspring and scourge of large cities.

     Climate and its effects, instead of being
 always produced by and corresponding with
 the latitudes of places,  are frequently the re-
 sult of local causes.

     The  principal sources to which writers
 on this subject usually ascribe the discordance
 that frequently exist between the climates and
 latitudes  of places  are, the natures of soils,
 the  • uoximity of mountains, forests, deserts,
 or extensive bodies  of water,  the courses of
 prevailing winds with the nature of the coun-
 tries, over which they have passed, and the
 elevation of the land above  the level of  the
 ocean.

     But,  from the foregoing sections it  ap-
pears, that a source of local climate equal in
power to either of the above, is the establish-
ment of large and populous cities.

     If lofty mountains can create an artic cli-
mate within the bosom of the tropics,  a large
city can produce a tropical climate and many
of its effects,  in any inhabited portion of the
globe.   If  a  iunchinca can present to the 
C  ?»  3
burning zone, a  summit venerable from the
snow of ages, a Petersburgh,  a Moscow, or
a Copenhagen, can prove the birth-place of
pestilence, which requires for its origin a tro-
pical temperature.

     Finally,  though  it is  true,  as already
stated, that neither human wisdom to  devise,
nor human power  to execute, can ever render
large cities as favorable to health as country
situations ; yet, it is equally true, that a great
proportion of the calamities which they suffer
from disease, is to be attributed either to some
fault in their original plan, or to their want of
wise and energetic police.

    Of the truth of this  Philadelphia furnishes
incontestible evidence.   For, notwithstanding
its situation and summer climate are both ex-
ceptionable, there exists not  a doubt, but we
are chiefly  indebted for our late  sufferings
from pestilence, to the joint  operation of the
two foregoing causes.

     The  latter however is by far the most
powerful  and formidable.  From the original
imperfections in the plan of our city we have,
comparatively speaking,  but little  to  apprs*
bend. 
                 t  71   ]

     Our calamities have resulted principally
either from a want of wisdom in our police to
concert, or a want of vigilance and energy to
enforce, efficient regulations for general clean-
liness, and for preventing a contaminated state
of the atmosphere.

     By the introduction of such regulations,
and  by perseverance in them to a proper ex-*
tent, we have ground of  assurance, equal to
what most physical subjects afford, that Phila-
delphia may yet enjoy as perfect an exemption
from disease, as  is compatible with the estab-
lishment of large inland cities, 
 

   MEDICAL & PHYSICAL





MEMOIRS.
.....iin«iM«——n——«i 11 i H 
 
C  75   3
              MEMOIR  II.

FACTS  AND  OBSERVATIONS  RELATIVE TO THE ORIGIN
       AND NATURE OF THE  YELLOW FEVER.

    ADDRESSED fo fHE  ClflZENS OF PHILADELPHIA.
               IN fEN NUMBERS.


                   No. I.

            INTRODUCTION.

FELLOW CITIZENS,

      JL HE origin and nature  of  our late
autumnal  epidemics have been so long and
so repeatedly the theme of medical discusion,
that they  might be  supposed to have already
received all the elucidation that genius, learn-
ing, and  industry  can bestow.   Believing,
however,  that  this is  not the case,  but  that
these points,  so interesting to science,  and of
such  immense  importance to  the welfare  of
our country, are still capable of being brought
forward* under a form  less questionable, and
placed in  a light less equivocal, I beg leave to
make them the subject of  a few  communica-
tions. 
C  76   3
     Were the particulars on which I mean
to  address  you  of private or  inferior con-
cern—Did my motives originate in ambition
or party spirit, or were they debased by any
personal or selfish  considerations,  I  should
think myself bound to apologize for presum-
ing to  intrude on  a  moment of your  time.
But conscious of being influenced by no views
of  a private or unworthy nature—conscious
that my only object is,  the establishment of
truth, connected with the promotion of pub*
lie good, I flatter myself my  attempt  to  be
useful will meet at least with your indulgence
and approbation,  and my numbers be favour^
ed with some share of your attention.

     Though  I cannot suppose you  to  be
much interested in a knowledge of the char-
acter and history of an  anonomous  writer, I
think it notwithstanding expedient to become,
for  once  my  own  biographer,  and trouble
you with a few observations respecting my-
self.

     Know, then, that I was formerly a scep-
tic with  regard to  the origin and nature  of our
autumnal pestilence ;  or, to speak with more
correctness, I  was strongly inclined  to  consi-
der it as a contagious and an imported disease,
Having  had no opportunity, however, of oh- 
I  77   3
 serving  for  myself, and being unwilling to
 io make the  bare authority of others my only
 ground of conviction in matters of such mo-
 ment, I was obliged still to remain in a state
 of uncertainty and enquiry.


     While engaged  in the investigation of
 this subject, it has been my uniform and soli-
 citous endeavour  to  prevent my mind from
 being either  distracted by  the  whirlwind of
 passion, or  swallowed up in  the vortex of
 party.  Preserving myself, as far  as practica-
 ble, calm, collected, and unbiassed,  amid a
 tumult of contradictory assertions and conflict-
 ing opinions, I determined, from the first, to
 suspend my final belief, till time should furnish
 me with facts sufficiently numerous and une*
 quivocal to warrant a decision.


     In the epidemic of ninety  seven this oc-
currence took place.   During  that period of
calamity, facts so  luminous  and circumstan-
ces so weighty  obtruded themselves on  my
observation,  as  convinced me that my origin-
al suspicion was unfounded, and constrained
me  to believe, that the disease in question
was not imported, and  was but very rarely
and feebly if at all contagious. 
[  78   ]
     Nor has  this opinion been in any mea-
sure shaken by subsequent discoveries.   On
the contrary, like a plant in a fruitful soil, it
has become more and more strengthened and
confirmed  by the progress of time.   Every
observation I have made, and every fact I have
collected respecting the origin and nature of
the epidemics of ninety eight and ninety nine,
have contributed to its farther and more per-
manent establishment.


     Some of  these facts and  observations
will be briefly  detailed in the series of num-
bers I shall have the pleasure to lay before
you.

     Though  the following  communications
will appear without my proper signature, yet
this circumstance shall not be considered as
giving sanction to a departure from decency,
veracity,  or candour.  Such a step would be
no less beneath the dignity  of  a gentleman,
than inconsistent with the  spirit of philosophy.
Throughout the  present  enquiry I will be
guilty of  no personal invective,  with a  view
to vilify the  character,  to kindle  the  resent-
ment,  or to violate the  feelings of those  who
may differ from me in opinion.   I will  assert
nothing as a fact which I  do not know to be 
                 [  79   ]

 true, nof will I advance any thing as an opi-
 nion which I do not firmly  believe.

     Concealed behind the curtain of a bor-
 rowed name, and having,  in my present char-
 acter, neither personal friends to conciliate, nor
 enemies to dread, I shall  deliver my  senti-
 ments in their genuine form and  colouring,
 unperverted by the  expected  favours  of  the
 one, or the probable frowns and opposition of
 the other.   Convinced that no one is qualified
 for the investigation of physical truth,  unless
 he be divested  of prejudice  and passion,  I
 shall endeavour,  like the  historian and  philo-
 sopher, (but without aspiring to  the charac-
 ter of  either) to discuss the subject before me
 as if wholly disinterested in the objects  which
 it embraces.

    - Should any one think proper to reply to
 my  observations,  I hope he will conduct him-
 self with  equal  moderation,  candour,  and
 general decorum, and in all respects  be  go-
 verned by principles  equally conscientious.
 I shall derive pleasure from finding my facts,
 resonings,   and  opinions,  examined on their
 merit by a writer of  such a character.

     Leaving to you, my fellow  citizens, to
judge  of the propriety of  the  foregoing prin- 
                C   8o  3

clples and professions,  as well as of the stea-
diness and fidelity  with which I may adhere
to them, I shall proceed, in my subsequent
numbers, to the discussion of the subject pro*
posed in this.


     As I  mean to take a  survey somewhat
general  of the question respecting the origin
and nature of our  autumnal  pestilence,  and
also to suggest certain  measures for the pre-
vention  of its recurrence,  I cannot promise
that  my communications will be  either few
or short.   Facts may pour  in,  conjectures
may present themselves,  opinions may spring
up, and thus  matter be accumulated far be*
yond  my present anticipation.


     But however reluctant I may be to omit
any thing that may appear of importance to the
result of my enquiry,  I pledge myself to my
readers  to avoid all trivial and irrelevant dis-
cussion.  Should any of my  numbers prove
unexpectedly lengthy,  and  should I  on any
occasion, appear to speak with more than phi-
losophic warmth, I hope the former will be
attributed  to  the copiousness of my subject,
and the latter to my zeal for  the  suppressior
of error and the propagation of truth. 
C  8i   3
     As a further claim on your indulgence
 and attention,  permit me to assure you,  my
 fellow citizens, that amid the numerous tire-
 some and illiberal controversies, to which the
 question on the  origin and nature  of yellow
 fever has given rise, I have never before ob-
 truded myself on your notice, on this subject,
 through the medium of the public prints. Nor
 shall I again presume on such a measure,  un-
 less I either find cause to renounce my pre-
 sent opinions,  or become  possessed of such
 further facts and arguments, as cannot fail to
 secure their universal establishment*


     I am unwilling to conclude  my introduc-
 tory address, without expressing a hope, that
 an enlightened  public will wait till my series
 of communications shall have been closed,  be-
 fore they decide on the question at issue.   A
 desire  in my readers to escape the  charge of
prejudication, cannot fail to secure me this
indulgence.   As  my object  is not the tempo-
rary triumph of party opinion, but the  deve-
lopement  and diffusion of physical truth,  I
will then attend, with pleasure, to the remarks
of the candid, on such parts of my observa-
tions as may be deemed objectionable.
N 
                 [  82  j


                   No.  II.

 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT OF THE3E NUMBERS—
  THE INEXFICACY OF OUR PRESENT HEALTH-LAW--THE
  VARIOUS ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS, TO TRACE THE YELLOW
  xEVER OF NINETY NINE TO SOME SOURCE OF IMPORTED
  CONTAGION.


      JL N entering on an  enquiry relative to
the origin and nature of yellow  fever, I  feel
myself about to engage in an attempt, no less
solemn than difficult  and interesting.   It is
solemn, because its object is momentous, em-
bracing nothing less than the  exemption of
the human species from,  or their perpetual
subjection to, one of the heaviest  calamities.
It is difficult, because it leads to an investiga-
tion of one  of  the  most refined and abstruse
branches  of medical  philosophy.  And it is
interesting,  because, without its accomplish-
ment, the science of medicine must  remain for
ever  incomplete.

    The present question, then, exhibits no
local  nor  temporary aspect.  It is  not  the
health of a particular  people,  nor  yet  the
prosperity of a given period, it is the welfare
of every nation,  and the comfort and happi- 
                 C  83   3

 ness  of every age, that are involved in k«
 issue!

     If, as  some  believe,  yellow fever is
 every  where produceable  by neglected  and
 putrefying filth alone, it can, by the removal
 or destruction of such filth, be  every where
 prevented.  But, if it is,  as others contend,
 the natural and necessary growth of certain
 regions, capable of being conveyed to,  and
 propagated in, other places, by means of con-
 tagion,  it is an evil  as permanent as the pre-
 sent system of nature.  Under the latter view
 of things,  as well  might we endeavour to
 countermand the droughts of Arabia, or  the
 clouds that augment the waters of the  Nile,
 as attempt to  eradicate  from our globe  this
wasteful malady !  But, relinquishing general
discussion, I must confine myself more  parti-
 cularly  to the epidemic of our city.

     It is a truth,  from which no one will
withhold his assent,  that a knowledge of  the
actual source of this disease, furnishes the only
rational ground, for the establishment of regu-
lations  to  prevent  its recurrence.  It  must
be admitted as a truth, almost equally obvious
in its nature, and in its consequences no less
interesting to humanity,  that the inefficacy of
the present health-law, under the most accur* 
[  84  ]
ate and faithful execution, bespeaks either de-
fieiency or error in its fundamental principles.
To trust any  longer,' exclusively, to  such a
feeble and fallacious barrier for the protection
of our city from pestilence, deserves  a name
more unpopular than folly !  Conduct less pro-
ductive of human misery has been oftentimes
enrolled in the catalogue of crimes!

     In advancing these sentiments, I neither
feel a disposition, nor assume a right, to arraign
the motives,  which have actuated either indi-
viduals or public  bodies,  in their  enquiries
and proceedings on the subject in  question.
I well know,  however,  that neither rectitude
of intention, nor benevolence of heart, can se-
cure us at all times from  error  and misfor-
tune.  The justness, therefore, of the princi-
ples adopted, and the wisdom and expedience
of the measures devised,  by our constituted
authorities, for the purpose  of guarding us
from pestilential  diseases,  are  points which
every  one  has  a  right  to  question  and
examine,

      The vital principle of our existing health-
law, is, the  supposed impracticability of our
autumnal  epidemics originating from the in-
fluence of domestic causes, and  their neces-
 sary importation from a, distant climate.  As 
[  85  3
the means of prevention, which it directs, are
jhe immediate  offspring of  this  hypothesis,
they  possess,  exclusively,  like  their parent,
an external relation.  Like the measures of a
weak and inexperienced statesman, they are
directed  only s against foreign invasion, while
the dangers of internal faction are forgotten.

     The proceedings  of the Legislature  of
Pennsylvania,  in the instance before us,  will
exhibit a lasting monument,  how unprofitable
(not to say how destructive) it is, for men to at-
tempt to legislate on subjects,  with the nature
of which they  are wholly unacquainted.  No
remonstrance on the fallacy of their favourite
principle, no representation of the extent and
power of our domestic causes of disease, could
influence this body, when engaged in devising
measures that  were to  protect our  city  from
the  calamities  of pestilence.  Rejecting the
lights of modern science, either as  the specu-
lations of visionary philosophers, or as innova-
tions dangerous to  the reputation of our coun-
try, and deaf to the voice of all, except the ad-
vocates of foreign importation,  they gave birth
to a law, founded on a very partial considera-
tion of their subject.

      Coming from what was considered  as
high and respectable  authority, this instru* 
C   86  3
ment could not fail to make an impression
on the minds of the unthinking.   It  is to be
sincerely lamented, that such a combination of
ignorance and  error in physics, as appears
on the face of it,  should so long have contri-
buted to render the public incredulous of truth,
and so long have diverted their attention from
their interest and their safety !

     Considerations,  too powerful to be re-
sisted, compel me  to believe, that the  com-
plicated distresses  and sorrows of Philadel-
phia, in ninety seven, ninety eight, and nine^
ty nine, were, in a great measure, the fruits
of a  supine belief in the necessary importation
of our pestilential  epidemics.   May the  citi-
zens of Philadelphia awake from this delusive
dream, and dissipate, by reflection, these sha-
dows of error, before  the channels of their
commerce be obstructed,  before the sources
of their  subsistence  be dried  up, and their
city  be reduced  to  a, waste of ruin!

     The present (7) is a period uncommonly
auspicious for the establishment of truth, re-
specting the origin of the disease in question.
During the late  epidemic season, such apow-
(7) Tee autumn of the year ninety nine. 
[  87   3
crfxil combination of facts and circumstances
occurred, as have already produced conviction
in the minds of many of the enlightened,  and
are,  in my view, sufficient to convince even
the most sceptical, (unless where scepticism is
sealed  by prejudice or interest) that this evil
is the product of domestic causes.

     At the commencement of our epidemics,
in former years, the industry of a  few indivi-
duals was able to discover some vessel, which,
in consequence  of one or more of her  crew
being indisposed, or having died, some weeks,
or perhaps months before, was, without  suf-
ficient  examination,  suspected by many to be
the source of our  calamity.  Nor were  at-
tempts,  by means  of  bold and  "unqualified
assertions,  wanting,  to convert  such  suspi-
cion into actual  belief.  Hence arose that ap-
parent equivocality, which was always attach-
ed to subsequent enquiries, and  hence  the
public mind was kept constantly immersed in
error, or at best in  a state of uncertainty and
suspense.

     Fortunately,  however, during the last
season, the aspect  of  things was widely dif-
ferent. ' Neither at the commencement of our
calamity,  nor  at any succeeding period of its
progress,  did  a single vessel appear, which, 
[   88   3
after the slightest examination,  either creduli-
ty could be persuaded to regard as the vehicle
of human contagion,  or even prejudice itself
dare charge  with having imported the seeds
of the disease. To a few vessels, indeed, busy
rumour did at first affix a momentary suspi-
cion.   But, it was only necessary to institute
an enquiry, and all suspicion was immediate-
ly at an end.  The vessels were found pure,
and the crews healthy, except a few disorderly
and dissipated individuals, who, from irregu-
larity and  exposure,  had contracted  disease
after their arrival  in our port.    Nor  was
this disease,  in a  single instance, communi-
cated to the physicians,  nurses,  or attendants
of the  sick.  Though always formidable, of-
ten fatal, to the  patients themselves, it  was
innocent with regard to  the health of the com-
munity.

     In proof of  the fallacy and confusion of
public  report on this subject, we may further
observe, that scarcely any two individuals at-
tached suspicion to the same vessel.  Some
spoke  of the disease  having  been introduced
from Leghorn, some from Jamaica, some from
the Havanna, some from Surinam, and some
from Hamburgh.   In short, there was scarce-
ly a vessel from  a foreign  port, however
healthy, and in  whatever latitude the  port 
[  89   ]
might lie, that  was not looked on, for a mo-
ment, with an eye of suspicion.

     But, to raise error and absurdity to their
highest pitch, one or two vessels were char-
ged with having infected places at the distance
of several squares  from  where  they  lay,
while both they themselves, and their imme-
diate vicinity, were in  perfect health.  Such
were   the   misrepresentations   of  facts,
and  the  enormities committed  on common
sense by a  perverting  spirit  of hypothesis!
And such  the  solicitude and exertion to col-
lect some shadow of support  for an opinion,
in the fate of which, its principal  patrons fore-
saw their reputation as medical  philosophers
involved!

     At length,  when  all enquiries   after
sickly vessels had proved abortive, and, un-
der the influence of repeated disappointment,
even hope  itself fj.ad deserted them, on this
quarter,  some of the partisans of importation
had  recourse to  another expedient, to retard
the  dissolution  of their   beloved doctrine.
Leaving entirly  the  vessels in  the harbour,
where every thing was hostile  to their expec-
tations  and  wishes, they  asserted that the
disease had been introduced by an illegal and
                      O 
C  so  ]
clandestine intercourse, between the city and
the Lazaretto.   On  this subject,  they were
careful to deal only in general and  indefinite
assertions.  They never ventured to descend
to particulars,  conscious  that such a step
would subject their surmises and  fabricated
Stories to detection.


     But, from this shallow stratagem, to im-
pose a little longer on the credulity  of their
fellow citizens, they can derive no permanent
advantage to the principles which they advo-
cate.  For the public are now assured, (and of
the truth of this assurance the most indubita-
ble testimony can be adduced,) that not a case of
yellowfever appeared at the Lazaretto, last sea-
son(8), till after the commencement of its ravar
ges in the city.  Nqr did any one, suspected to
have  kept up this illicit intercourse with the
shipping, during their performance  of quaran^
tine,  suffer from such conduct an attack of
disease—How wretched, then, must be the
cause, or how impotent its advocates, when,
even  for the purpose of its temporary support,
recourse  must be had to such prevarication
and mis-statement 1
(*) The summer and autumm of ninety nines 
                 C  si   3

     From several  conversations, which I
have lately had, with different members of the
board of health, I am authorized to  go  still
further and state, that, throughout the whole
of last season, they had not, at the Lazaretto, a
single case of yellow fever from on board an
inward bound vessel.  Every case of this dis-
ease that appeared on their sick list, was sent
to them from Philadelphia, except  one, which
came from  Port Elizabeth,  in New Jersey■.
For two months previously to  his attack, this
man  had neither been in Philadelphia, nor
had  any  communication  with vessels  from
abroad.  He died on the  fourth  day of his
illness, with the most  marked  and malignant
symptoms of yellow  fever

    It is to be hoped, that a secret Conscious-
ness of error, accompanied by a final despair'
of success, will deter the  partizans of impor-
tation from a further pursuit of their object!

     It deserves to  be remarked, that,  after
the advocates of the foreign  origin of yellow
fever had failed, in  their  attempts, to disco-
ver a vessel, either in port, or at the Lazaretto,
in which contagion could be supposed to  have
been imported,  some of them had  recourse to
a mode of reasoning,  on the subject, no less
extraordinary and absurd, than their research 
                 C  92   3

had been fruitless.   They resolved the whole
matter into a kind of spurious syllogism, and
sad, "Because  we have enquired and satis-
fied ourselves, that the disease was imported
in  ninety  three,  ninety  seven, and ninety
eight,  it follows, of necessity,  that it must
have been also imported  in ninety nine,  and
therefore,  why should we trouble ourselves
with a farther enquiry ?"  It  is even asser-
ted, that  such  a  mode  of  reasoning  was,
not long since,  introduced into the  college
of  physicians, and acquiesced in, by a  ma-
jority of the members  of that institution!

     It is to be lamented, that men  do not al-
ways bear in mind, that neither numbers nor
age—no, nor both  acting  in concert, can
add respectability to weakness and error \ 
t   93  3
                  No.  III.


Pestilential effluvia  generated in the hold o?
  the sloof mary,  after  her  arrival at  our
  ■wharves--further reasons  for believing  the
  YELLOW  FEVER  TO  BE  A  DISEASE  OF DOMESTIC
  ORIGIN--I'ESTILENCE CANNOT BECOME EPIDEMIC, UN-
  LESS  AIDED  BY A  MALIGNANT CONSTITUTION  OF
  ATMOSPHERE.


     jTjlLTHOUGH I have expressed my
disbelief,  that  any vessels were suffered,  last
season, to pass the Lazeratto in a foul, sick-
ly,  or infectious  state,  I  have not denied
their having become  sources of disease, sub-
sequently to their entrance into our port.  On
the contrary, there is reason to believe, that,
in one instance, at least, this  occurrence  ac-
tually took place ; and that  some of the first
cases of pestilential fever, which appeared in
Penn street, were derived  from  a vessel of
this description.  I allude  to the  sloop Ma-
ry,  sent in as a prize to  the ship of war,
Ganges.
     This vessel came to,  at  Willings'  and
Francis' wharf, on the 14th of May, with all
her  crew  in good health,  and with  a  cargo 
[  94   3
of coffee perfectly  sound. She was not from
a sickly port, nor had any of her people been
sick, during the passage.  In proof of these
facts, I could furnish, were  it necessary,  the
affidavits of respectable  characters,  belonging
to the vessel.

     As  soon as the sloop's cargo was  dis-
charged, and the hands taken from on board,
her decks were  washed,  and the ports   and
hatches  all  shut  down. In her  hold,   and
among her timbers,  remained a quantity of
vegetable matter (chiefly coffee), with which
water had been mixed, at the time she   was
washed.

     In this  state, without any one to open
her, for the  purpose of ventilation, she  was
suffered  to lie  at the  wharf,  during about
three weeks of very warm  and  dry weather.
The result of such a situation  of things, it
requires no great  extent of foresight to disco-
ver. Imagination can scarcely conceive a com-
bination  of circumstances,  more highly fa-
vourable  to  the putrefactive process.   Nor
was it long  before  this process rose to an
uncommon height.

     The noxious effluvia,  that were genera-
ted, in abundance, having no vent to escape, 
C  95   3
and be dissipated in the atmosphere, mingled
with the air in the vessel's hold, and produced
in it an extreme degree of vitiation. A smell,
resembling that of common bilge water, but
much more offensive, became troublesome to
those engaged about  the wharf,  and was at
length traced  to the place, where the Mary
lay.   She was soon  suspected as the source
of this  nuisance.   Her ports  and hatches
were  accordingly thrown open,  when the foul,
air rushed out in torrents,  and spread through
the neighbourhood a suffocating stench.

     Several persons,  exposed  to these ex-
halations,  were,  in  a few  days  afterwards,
seized with decided symptoms  of pestilential,
or yellow fever.  Of these, I shall mention,
in particular,  the family of Mr.  M'Phail,  and
part of the crew of a Hamburgh  vessel,  that
lay but a few feet distant from the prize sloop.
Previously to  this, not a case of malignant fe«
ver had appeared in that  neighbourhood.

     The foregoing facts  have  been given in
detail, because they are considered as consti-
tuting one of the most unequivocal instances
of the domestic origin of yellow fever. They
do not indeed amount to demonstration,  this
ultimatum  of evidence not being attainable in
the science pf medicine,   They furnish us3 
[  96   3
however,  with a  ground of belief,  equal to
that which forms  the  basis of most of our
physical opinions,  that the preceding cases of
fever were  derived  from  the  putrid sub-
stances, inclosed in the hold and  timbers of
the Mary.   But, if this disease can arise from
putrefaction, in the hqld of a  vessel  at our
wharves,  the same process,  in other parts of
our city, cannot, under similar circumstances,
fail to be productive of a similar result.   Nor
is.there anything  in coffee, which can render
it, during the putrefactive process, more pecu-
liarly deleterious  than  other vegetable  sub-
stancesf

     Let it not be concluded, from  the fore-
going statement, that I consider the sloop Mary
as the sole cause of the epidemic, which made
its first appearance in Penn street, and its  vici-
nity. The utmost power of this vessel could ex-
tend no  farther,  than to the production of a few
sporadic cases of  disease, which would have
terminated with the death or recovery of those
attacked, had not the surrounding atmosphere
been already possessed of a pestilential consti-
tution,  and contaminated with putrid exhala-
tion from other sources.   To me, the disease
appeared to be propagated, not by means of
contagion, but  solely through the  medium of
vitiated air.  . Nor could this vitiation have 
[  97   ]
been produced by the  effluvia arising from a
single vessel.  Such an extensive effect could
not have proceeded from a  cause  more cir-
cumscribed, than that immensity  of putrefying
substances,  exposed in various  parts of our
city.  That general vitiation of atmosphere,
known by the denomination  of  a pestilential
constitution, must result from causes of greats
cr extent and more powerful operation.

     I am further confirmed in the above opi-
nion, respecting the origin of the disease in
question,  by  a  recent determination of the
board of health.   This body is  composed of
characters,  whose conduct,  throughout the
whole of our  late calamity, bespoke a manly
and laudable determination to think for them-
selves.  Their decision, therefore, is not to be
regarded as the echo of those with whom they
associate, nor as a pusillanimous  acquiescence
in popular sentiment, but, as the result of a
rational enquiry after truth.

     At the  commencement of the  season,
these gentlemen entered on their official duties,
persuaded  (one or two individuals excepted)
that the enemy they were to  encounter was of
foreign  descent.   Unblinded,  however, by
interest or prejudice, and deaf to the  surges- 
C   98   3
tions of party, conviction had still an avenue
to their minds:  This avenue  was, faithful
observation, combined with the  most dispasl
onate reflection.    That  they might not be
misled, either by voluntary or accidental mis-
representations  of  facts, they  resolved to
admit nothing On the credit of mere report.

     Under this  resolution, and with vigi-
lance and intrepidity, that have  never  been
surpassed,  they visited  and  enquired  into
the state of every neighbourhood, where pesti-
lence appeared, with a view to ascertain  the
source of the evil.   The issue of three months
perseverance in this  painful and perilous  re-
search, is, an unanimous concurrence  of the
acting members  of the board,  that our late
epidemic  was  a  disease  of domestic origin,
Nor did  they find  any reason to  believe that
it was propagated by  contagion.    Had  our
fellow citizens, at large, an opportunity  equal-
ly favourable  for  acquiring information,  re»
specting the source and nature of our autum-
nal epidemics, I feel confident,  they would be
led to a similar belief.

     But, the preceding  are  not  my  only
reasons for  believing, that yellow fever is an
evil of domestic origin, propagated by  means
of a vitiated atmosphere.   An  additional ar- 
[  99   3
 gurneht in favour of such an opinion, is derived
 from the influence of the weather, in suspend-
 ing and checking the progress of this disease.


     Were it imported and propagated  by a
 cause, so permanent and indestructable as that
 of specific contagion, it would,  like the small
 pox and measles, bid defiance  to the air of
 every  situation,  and to every  possible  vicissi-
 tude of our seasons.  It would not, as is now
 the case, limit its terms of existence, exclusive^
 ly,  to  those months, during which the atmos-
 phere  is impregnated with putrid exhalations;
 nor would  it confine  its ravages to  places
 abounding with  vegetable and animal  filth.
 Like other truly contagious diseases, it would
 show itself in every situation,  and in every
 season.


     The progress  of yellow  fever through a
 city or country,  is by far too rapid to depend
 entirely on the   powers of contagion.  We
 will select, in this instance, as a standard  of
 comparison, the small pox, acknowledged to
 be,  of all diseases, the most uniformly and cer-
 tainly contagious. How slow,  and almost im-
 perceptible is the spread of this  disease, com-
 pared  to that of  yellow fever? It is  known
that the latter will, in  two or  three  weeks, 
                   [   100   ]

overrun  an  extent of city, which the forme?
will not pervade,  in twice as many months.

      To  what cause  can such  a  remarkable
difference be owing ?—Certainly to this, that
the small pox is propagated, only, by contagion,
from the sick to the well, a source of disease
which most persons have it  in their power to
avoid; while yellow fever is  spread by  a viti-
ated, or, what I shall here term, a malignant
atmosphere, which, being a common medium,
has access  to every one.

      The progress of the small pox,  when not
epidemic, (5) can be arrested, by an entire inter-
diction of intercourse between the sick and the
well.   But the case is different with regard to
    (*) There is reason to believe, that, in many instances,
not only in the countries of the east, but in Europe, and even
in America,  the small pox, like the yellow fever, has existed
in the form of a genuine epidemic, depending  on  a peculiar
constitution of atmosphere, heightened perhaps by exhalation
from  noxious substances.   In such instances,  a prohibition
of intercourse, between the sick and the well, is not sufficient
to put a stop to the  progress of the disease.   The variolous
poison, not indebted for its existence solely to disordered secre-
tion in the human body, but formed, on an extensive scale, bjr
a certain  morbid arrangement of  the elements, impregnates
the general atmosphsre of the place where it prevails, and suf-
fers no one to escape, who  is susceptible  of its action.  The
only mean of safety, is, an immediate removal from the epide-
mic region. 
[   1G1  ]
 the yellow fever.   The seeds of this disease
 hover unseen, in the  atmosphere, at large,
 and attack us, with as much certainty in the
 streets, as in the sick-rooms of our friends.

     The last argument I shall advance in
 support  of my opinion,  is,  the concurring
 belief of most of my enlightened fellow citi-
 zens, in  every part of the  United States, that
 has been lately visited  by our autumnal pes-
 tilence.  To  this  observation  Philadelphia
 presents the only exception.   To the  injury
 and disgrace  of this celebrated nursery of li-
 terature  and science, it  is  sinking into the  ul-
 timate retreat  of that exploded error,  which
 directs us to foreign regions,  in quest  of the
 origin of yellow fever.

     Enlightened  strangers, who visit this
 place,  and whose interests can be, in no mea-
 sure,  affected  by the issue of the  controversy,
never fail to  become advocates for the doc-
trine of domestic origin, when furnished with
the facts and arguments on both sides of the
question.

     I hold the epidemic of last season, then,
to have had no connection with imported con-
tagion.  It appears to have been,  as in former
years, the offspring of  a pestilential constitu- 
C   io2  3
tion of our atmosphere,  heightened by exlia*
lation from our numerous domestic  sources
of putrefaction.  Without the aid of the latter
cause,  the  former would be  inadequate to
the production ^f pestilence, and without the
co-operation  of the former, the latter would
give  origin only to sporadic cases.

     How long this pestilential constitution of
our atmosphere may continue, is  a matter im-<
possible for man to predict.   It is the effect of
physical causes, which at present, philosophy
is unable  to fathom, and will terminate, only,
in obedience  to certain  laws of nature,  not
yet subjected to human controul.  Its continue
ance  has  been,  in different instances, from
two  years to  half a century, and  its extent,
sometimes over one nation,  only, sometimes
over two or three, and, at other  times, over
nearly half the globe.  There is reason to
believe, that the  latter is, in some  measure,
the  case,  at the  -present time.   In  several
parts of Europe,  remote from the theatre of
war,  disease  has  been,  for  some years past,
uncommonly  malignant.  The  countries of
the east.have been, of late, extensively rava-
ged   by  pestilence.   In  ninety three,  the
yellow  fever  made   it  first  appearance in
Philadelphia.   It is not  a little  remarkable,
that,  in the same year,  the plague,  for the 
C   103   ]
first time since the  early part  of  the pre*
sent century,  began its  devastations in  the
Barbary  states.  Since  that  period,  it  has
nearly depopulated about two thirds of  the
empire of Morocco.  Such  a striking  coin-
cidence  of  time,  certainly,   affords   some
evidence of a community of cause.

     Our power, with respect to  the  consti-
tution of atmosphere in question, extends no
farther, than to the correction or removal of
such sources, as  co-operate  with it in  the
production of disease.

     From  the  occurrence of this malignant
constitution, aided by an accumulation of their
own domestic  filth, most of  the large  and
populous  cities of  Europe have experienced
occasional  visitations  of pestilence.   I  may
instance,   in   particular,  Rome,   London,
Paris,  Marseilles, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Mad-
rid,  and Moscow.   In consequence,  however,
of a favourable change in the  atmospheres of
these places,  and their adoption of  wise  and
salutary  regulations  for the   promotion  of
cleanliness,  they  have  been  exempt from
this calamity for nearly a century.

     Let  the  inhabitants  of  Philadelphia,
then3  console  themselves  under  the   pro- 
[   104  ]
spect, that their present  sufferings are not
to be perpetual, but, that from a combmation
of circumstances,  similar  to the above, their
city  may  yet experience a change of fortune
equally auspicious !
                 No. IV.

AN ENUMERATION  AND ACCOUNT  OF  0U3.  DIFFERENT
  SOURCES  OF  PESTILENTIAL  AIR IN THE  CITY OF
  ^PHILADELPHIA,


     JL COME, now, to the most important,
because  it is the most practical part of my
subject.   I  shall  attempt,  in  the  present
number, to unfold some of the various causes,
which  co-operate  in the production of our au-
tumnal epidemics.  As  minuteness, in the
present instance,  would lead me far beyond
my intended limits,  I  must confine my at-
tention to such  sources  of disease, as ap-
pear the  most dangerous.

  -  Demosthenes, by the  irresistable ener*
gy of his  elocution, proved  the guardian of 
                C  105   ]

Athens  from foreign conquest.   Cicero, by
the power of a  splendid eloquence,  became
the saviour of  Rome from internal faction.
Had I the talents and qualifications of both,
I would think them well expended, in an at-
tempt to preserve Philadelphia  from pesti-
lence. But, though such powers be wanting,
an effort shall be  made with  the resources
I possess.

     Our  domestic sources  of pestilential
effluvia,  no less offensive to the  senses than
injurious  to  health, have  already been the
subject  of repeated specification  and remon-
strance. I beg leave to press them, once more,
on the serious attention of my fellow citizens.
They are,

     I. Our docks and wharves.  It would
perhaps puzzle the ingenuity of  man, to con-
struct places better calculated than these, for
the purpose  of promoting the   putrefactive
process,  during  the  summer  and autumnal
months.

      The timber  of which they ' are built,
running constantly into a state of dissolution,
is itself an abundant source  of pestilential
exhalation.  This evil  can be remedied only
                     Q 
[   106  ]
by  removing this mass of  perishable matter,
and supplying its place with stone, which,
from its cleanliness, will not be unfavourable
to health, and, from its durability, will finally
prove an article of less expense.


     Besides the vast quantities of putrefiable
substances, deposited in our docks and along
our wharves, by means of commerce,  these
places are necessarily  the recepticles of an
immensity of filth, washed down by the wa-
ters, in their descent from the higher grounds
of the city. The remedy for this evil appears
to be,  either to sink the bottoms of the docks^
so  that they may be always covered with wa-
ter, or. to pave them with flag-stone, to such a
distance from their edges, and construct them,
at the same time, with such a descent, that all
noxious matters, collected there, may be wash-
ed  beyond low water  mark, and swept away
by  the current of the river.


     Under this head, another, and perhaps
a less costly  expedient may be  mentioned,
namely, to fill up our docks entirely, and con-
vert the whole landing place, in front of the
city,  into  one straight continued  wharf or
quey, walled up with stone instead of wood.
A few spacious docks might then be consruct- 
C   107  3
 ed, either above or below the city,  to protect
 tour shipping from ice during the winter.


     The offensive smell  emitted,  in warm
 weather, even by our most cleanly  docks and
 wharves, in their present state, is a  proof that
 they contribute  to  vitiate the  atmosphere.
 There exists not a doubt, but that the late
 epidemic of Southwark,  which made its first
 appearance  in Water between Christian and
 Queen streets, originated principally from the
 exhalation of  a foul and extensive dock,  con-
 tiguous to the Still-house wharf.   Though
 several vessels, from the Havanna, lay in that
 neighbourhood, and,  though much weight  is
 attached to  this  circumstance, by those who
 advocate the doctrine  of importation, yet,  as
 the crews of those  vessels arrived in perfect
 health,  as the vessels themselves were clean-
 sed, and rode quarantine at the Lazaretto, and
 as those who  had most communication with
 them were  not more sickly than others, we
 are bound to exonerate them from the charge
 of having introduced a contagious disease.   It
 was not till after the crews of these  and seve-
 ral other vessels had been, for a considerable
 time, exposed  to exhalation  from  the above
dock, that they sickened, in common with the
 citizens who lived in the neighbourhood. 
C   108  3
     The most plausible and popular  argu-
ment, advanced by the advocates of importa-
tion, in favour of their  hypothesis, is, that the
yellow fever has  always  appeared first,  as
an  epidemic, in situations near to the river.
This circumstance, however, admits  of  an
easy and satisfactory  explanation,  from the
fact, that our docks and wharves contain much
more putrefying matter, exposed to the rays
of the sun, than an equal extent of surface, in
any other part  of the city, and are, therefore^
more abundantly  productive of  pestilential
air.

     II.  The foul air  of ships.   This  source
of exhalation is so notorious for giving rise to
pestilential fevers, in warm climates, that, to
dwell on its farther confirmation,  wTould be a
waste of time.   Facts, amounting to unequi-
vocal evidence, on this subject,  may be  col-
lected from  most  writers  on the diseases of
seamen.

     The evil may be  remedied by compelling
all  vessels to carry ventilators, and obliging
such of them  as  are  laden with perishable
articles, during warm weather, to be dischar-
ged, to have their cargoes examined and aired,
and to  be,  themselves,  thoroughly cleansed,
before entering our port. 
C   109  3
     These measures maybe executed, at a
trifling expence,  and without imposing such
oppresive shackles on  the commerce of our
city, as to drive it, eventually, into other chan-
nels.

     I shall close this  article,  by observing,
that, were due attention paid to the cleansing
of foul vessels,  and to the purification or de-
struction of damaged cargoes, I  cannot help
thinking the quarantine of sickly crews, as far
as  yellow fever is  concerned,  would be a
very  unnecessary,  not  to say an  inhumane
measure.

     III.  Dirty yards, cellars and privies.
In a city as extensive and populous  as Phi-
ladelphia, these are sources of immense exhala-
tion.   They have  been  known to  produce
cases  of yellow  fever,  even in the depth of
winter, and must greatly increase our  epide-
mics of summer and autumn.  They should
be  subject to the inspection of officers of po-
lice,  and, when neglected,  their cleanliness
should be inforced  by the the imposition of
fines.

     Besides the influence of our  privies, in
injuring the atmosphere by  exhalation, they
have also, an effect  in contaminating the wa- 
C   no  3
ters of our pumps.  These  serve as an addi.
tional medium for  conveying their poisonous
particles into our systems, and are, probably,
instrumental in the production of disease. Un,
der the disadvantage of their present construct
tion, I am sony to observe, that our  privies
constitute a  nuisance not easily  remedied.!


     In confirmation of the  latter part of this
article,  I beg leave  to mention the followin|
important fact,  for the knowledge of which ][
am indebted to the observation and politeness
of Mr. Latrobe.
     In sinking the foundations of the Bank
of Pennsylvania, the  pits of twelve necessa*
ries (eight of them old ones) were  dug into
by the labourers.  On removing from these
sinks their putrid contents, and filling them
up with clean  and solid masonry,  the waters
of several neighbouring wells were remarkably
improved.  The  water of one  well,  in par-
ticular,  belonging to  the  city-tavern, which
had  long  been offensive and  unfit  for  use,
became, in a short time,  sweet and potable.
This well is  situated  at a short distance,  in
a south-easterly direction,  from the  founda-
tions of the bank. 
C  in   3
     IV. Our common sewers.  In the pre»
sent state of things,  these  may be  ranked
among  the worst of our pestilential sources.
Being the conduits of filth from every part of
the  city,  much of their contents must be,
necessarily,  deposited  by the way,  owing to
their deficient supply of water.

     Provided the docks  be  at  the same
time altered, as already recommended, this
evil  will be remedied, by  the  completion of
the present plan for watering our city.


     But, if the docks be suffered to remain
as they now are, and streams  of water  be
thrown  through the  sewers,  the filth  remo-
ved from the latter,  will be then deposited in
the former places, and will  contribute to in-
crease exhalation along our wharves.


     V. Our gutters and alleys.  The for-
mer  of these, though  less offensive than they
were some years ago,  are still the repositories
of much putrid matter, which   bears a part
in the  vitiation of  the atmosphere.   They
might be kept perfectly clean, by the  waters
of our  pumps, were  the persons, employed
for that purpose, sufficiently attentive to their
duty. 
C   112  ]
     As to alleys, their very  existence is to
be lamented,  and bespeaks a  defect  in  the
original  plan of Philadelphia.  In  all  large
and populous cities,  besides  being the bane
of ornament, they are  too  frequently the re-
ceptacles and sources,  no less of moral than
of physical  evil.  With us  their  filth  fur-
nishes  the most forcible  and disgusting evi-
dence, either of the impracticability of keeping
them clean, or of the delinquency of those to
whom this important business is  entrusted

     Though  it is scarcely  to be expected,
that  the buildings, which  now form our al-
leys,  will  be  demolished,  it  is certainly a
desirable thing,  that no more  in  future, be
erected in  such places.  On each occurrence
of yellow fever,  in Philadelphia, these offen-
sive  situations appeared to furnish  the best
fuel for the support of  its devouring flame.

     VI.  Collections of filth in the  neigh-
bourhood  of the city.  Neither the  putrid
substances removed from  our streets,  nor
even  the contents  of privies,  are  conveyed
to a  sufficient  distance, to  secure us against
their pestilential effluvia.

     It is  not yet ascertained, with precision,
how far these exhalations will extend ; but, to 
C   us   ]
   ensure  safety,  the  substances  which emit
   them,  should  be removed, at least, a mile
 .. from the  limits of  the  city  and liberties.

        Under  this  head must be  comprised
   certain offensive  ponds  of water, still  suf-
   fered to exist in the out-skirts of the city.

        VII.  Public burying-grounds.   In no
   instance does   our  police  betray  a  greater
   Want of wisdom, than  in suffering these nu-
   merous and extensive  repositories  of dead
   bodies,  to continue  in the  central parts of
_ our  city*   In   no instance,   perhaps, is
   tire wisdom  of former ages,  more worthy
   of our imitation, than in  having, wholly distinct
   from each other, what were  then  denomina^
   ted living  and dead cities ;  the  latter consist
   ting of places, without the  walls of the  for*
   mer, destined^ exclusively,  for  the interment
   of the dead.

       That such immense masses of putrefy-
   ing animal matter,  must tend  to contaminate
   both the air and the water of their respective
   neighbourhoods, is a truth too obvious to re-
   quire illustration.  If a powerful  army  was
   destroyed by pestilence, in consequence of en-
   camping on an antient burying-ground, before
                       R 
                t   ii4  3

the walls of Carthage, surely, in Philadelphia,
Where the  summer heats are no  less intense,
similar receptacles of human exuvia cannot fail
to be inimical to health.

     X*r is to be hoped, that a  remembrance
of our past sufferings, and a wish to prevent
their future recurrence, will lead to a removal
of such palpable evils.

     VIII. The  covering our  houses  with
shingles.  These, in common with all other ve-
getable  substances, are of a putrefiable nature,
and, in their constant tendency to dissolution,
cannot fail to assist in contaminating the atmos-
phere. Though this is an evil of a feeble nature,
compared  to others already  mentioned, it de-
serves  notwithstanding to be  taken into the
account, in summing up the  causes, that con-
tribute to vitiate the  atmosphere of our  city,
and  to render it  different from the atmos-
phere of the country.

     The remedy for this is, the substitution.
of'tile* slate, or sheet-lead, in place of the ma-
terials now in use.

     IX. Stables, shambles, and slaughter-
houses.   Though it is said,  that, in times of
epidemic  sickness,  the   inhabitants in  the 
[   115  3
neighbourhood of  such  places have  been
known to remain unusually healthy, I  con-
ceive these occurrences to be wholly acciden-
tal.  The processes that go forward in them,
are such as must  necessarily diminish the pu-
rity of the atmosphere.

     They  should  be  subjected to the most
strict regulations of cleanliness, or removed
to a distance from the  inhabited parts  of
the city.

     X. The last source of exhalation I shall
mention, is, an undue crouding of the inhabi-
tants of the city.

     This  is one reason, among many,  why
epidemics generally appear first,  and   rage
with most violence, among the  poor, wher$
numbers frequently reside in the same confi-
ned apartment.

     The perspirable effluvia of human bo-
dies, like all other descriptions of animal mat-
ter, are liable, after their elimination from the
system, to undergo the putrefactive process.
Hence results the pestiferous exhalation, with
which they  contribute to  load the atmos*
phere. 
C   116  ]
     To obviate this evil, as far as possible, all
those whose circumstances will admit of it,
should pass their summers, and part of their au-
tumns, in the country, and, on the first appear-
ance of an  epidemic,  provision  should be
made for an immediate removal of the poor,
                  No.  V.

A FEVT ADDITIONAL MEASURES RECOMMENDED FCR ASSI.
  MILATING THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE CITY OF PHILA-
  DELPHIA, TO THAT OF THE COUNTRY.—.THE PROPRIETY
  OF AN ALTERATION IN THE SUMMER DIET OF  THE CI-
  TIZENS--THE DOCTRINE OF DOMESTIC ORIGIN, WHEN
  PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD, LESS INJURIOUS TO THE INTER-
  EST  AND REPUTATION OF OUR CITY, THAN THAT OF
  IMPORTATION.


     JDUT, the regulations recommended, in
the preceding  numbers,  are not alone  suffi-
cient to ensure, to the citizens of Philadelphia,
the highest practicable  chance for the  enjoy-
ment of health.  In addition to these, various
others must be  adopted to assimilate  the at- 
[   117  3
 mospherc of our  city, as  far as possible, to
 that of the country.

     For this purpose, our streets, and the
 roofs and sides  of our houses, should be fre-
 quently  and plentifully Watered,  during the
 warmth of the  summer and first of the au-
 tumnal months.  This, by its  evaporation,
 would moderate the intensity of the heat, so
 essential to the  progress of the  putrefactive
 process,  and would also absorb some of those
 noxious airs, which diminish by their presence
 the purity of the atmosphere. Like the coldbath
 to the human body, it would tend to cleanse
 the fluid of respiration, and to render it more
 fit for the purposes of life.

     Trees should be planted in all our pub-
 lic  squares  and  walks,  and at convenient
 distances along our  streets.  These, by  their
 foliage, would not only intercept the rays of
 the sun,  and protect our houses,  pavements,
 and persons, from their action,  but by  their
 known  property  of devouring foul, and se-
 creting pure air, would counteract the contami-
 nation of the medium which we  breathe.  If
 the cutting down of trees has  been known to
 give rise to bilious fevers,  which had not be-
 fore an existence, it  is, at least, presumeable,
on principles of analogy, that the planting of 
[   113  ]
them  must  have  some  influence,  in   era-
dicating the same  disease  from places where
it prevails.

     On the same principle, I also beg leave
to recommend the cultivation of gardens  and
grass-plots, in all parts of the city, convenient
for such purposes.

     Nor should any land, in the neighbour.
hood of the city,  be  suffered  to lie in an
unimproved  state.  Every  spot should  be
annually clothed in grass, or some other vege-
table  of active  and luxuriant growth.  For,
the process of vegetation,  under every form,
is favourable to the  renovation  of our atmos-
phere,  and the propagation  of health.   Co-
vering  with grass, or some  other  cleanly
vegetable, every practicable part of  the  city
and its vicinity, would have an effect on the
superincumbent and surrounding atmosphere,
and, consequently, on health, somewhat similar
to the  draining and cultivation of an unwhole-
some tract of meadow.

     As rills and rivulets constitute a part of
rural  scenery equally beautiful,  refreshing,
and salutary, they should  be imitated in our
establishments for protecting our  city from
the  ravages of epidemics.   Nor  is  this  a 
C   119  3
project  of difficult execution.   As  soon  as
the works for watering the city shall have
been completed, our gutters, which, in their
present state, so frequently, during the sum-
mer and autumnal seasons, disgust  by their
putrid appearance, and nauseate by their of-
fensive  smell,  may be  converted into  rills of
wholesome water.

     In a word, as large eities have been,  in
all  ages,  and - countries,  the  great theatres
for the tragic scenes of pestilence, the cause
of this is acknowledged, by every one,  to exist
in the atmospheres of these places.  Such is
the dominion of the atmosphere, over the sys-
tems of men and other animals, that, were its
qualities the same, in all situations, the epide-
mics of all situations would be nearly similar.
For, this fluid is no less the vehicle of epide-
mic disease, than the  source  and vehicle of
animal heat.

     Let the contending  parties unite, then,
in adopting,  and zealously pursuing,  every
possible measure, that  can have the smallest
effect, in assimilating the air of our city to the
uncontaminated air of the country.

     Thus far on the  internal regulations of
our city,  I shall add  a few observations re- 
[   120  3
specting  the  regimen,  which  appears  most
conducive to  the health of the inhabitants.

     On  this subject (as a descent to particu-
lars will not be expected) my opinions  will be
delivered in very general terms.

     I conceive that health would be promoted,
by the use of more vegetable and less animal
food, particularly throughout the months of
summer  and  autumn.  I would also  re com*
mend, during the same time, the substitution
of the lighter wines, or rather of cider and
malt  liquor,  for  the quantities  of Madeira
consumed at our tables.

     Nor can I avoid expressing  a wish for
the general introduction and use  of the cold
bath.  This  delightful practice is particularly
necessary, under the intemperate warmth of
our climate.   It  is  as  essential to the clean-
liness and comfort of the* body,  as repeated
washing is to the purityCand^weetness, of-ftpr
clothes or our streets.^ It carries off  tl)£$$*
spirable  matter,  which,  by  adhering to the i
skin, might  become a  source of  disea§Sf; it
determines the vital action towards the super-
ficies of the body;  and counteracts that relax-
ation and lassitude, so universally experienced'
during the intensity of our summer heats. 
C   121  ]
     By  an adoption of, and steady perseve-
rance  in, the foregoing steps,  it  is hoped,
that the citizens  of Philadelphia will be no
longer a prey to the wide wasting pestilence.
They will, at least, discharge an  important
duty to themselves and to humanity,  in  ne-
glecting no practicable mean of safety.   They
will exhibit a becoming sense of the high re-
sponsibility under which they lie, on the score
of self-preservation, and exonerate themselves
from the charge of being, in any measure, ac-
cessary to the calamities they suffer.

     I am prepared for the clamours  and de-
famatory attacks  of certain individuals, who
will denounce me as attempting  an injury to
the reputation and interest of our city.  This
charge is too much the offspring and nurseling
of  ignorance and illiberality,  to create  in me
the smallest  degree of uneasiness.  Though
I may pity the blindness, and entertain  a con-
tempt for the weakness, of its  authors, it is
impossible I  should ever be induced to dread
their malevolence.   I am anxious to make the
public sensible, that the doctrine  of the im-
portation of  yellow fever, and its propagation
by specific contagion,  is much more injurious
to  the reputation of Philadelphia,  and offers,
to its inhabitants, a more hopeless prospect  of
                      S    -      ':■'■'-- 
[  122  3
exemption from it, than that of its origin from
domestic causes.   On this subject, I beg leave
to state^the following considerations.


     Yellow fever is  known to be  an  evil,
which  never entirely  disappears from  the
West-India Islands.  It is a  native  of their
climate, and, in places abounding with putrid
substances,  every season of  the year is com-
petent to its production*


     If, then, this disease can be imported to
Us, in the form of human contagion, attached
to a clean and undamaged bale  of  goodsj  to
the  timbers  or  sails of  a vessel, where no
putrefaction exists, to the  contents of a sailor's
chest,  to his person, to his  pocket  handker-
chief, or even to the ribband which he wears
to his watch.—If it can be introduced through
such a variety of secret and inscrutable chan-
nels as these,  in vain  will be the  efforts of
human wisdom  and vigilance, in the present
state of things,  to secure our city against its
annual  return.   Our only resource will be,
an unconditional interdiction of  commerce,
and every jspecies of intercourse with the West
Indies, and other warm regions, where yellow
fever prevails. 
[   123  3
     Nor will even this be sufficient  for the
attainment of our  object.  The  disease  is
now among  us,  and,  if it  can be propaga-
ted by specific contagion,  we have no reason
to  flatter  ourselves   that  it  will  ever be
eradicated.   The  contagion will lurk, from
year to year, in the confined and dirty hovels
of the poor, and  render the evil as perma-
nent  as  that of the small pox or  measles.
Its extinction can be insured by nothing less,
than  the destruction  of our city, and other
places, where it has prevailed, by fire.

     Let us, for the sake of illustration, on
this point, suppose the West India  climate
to be,  at all  times,  capable of producing the
contagion  of  small pox,   and the   human
system to be  liable to reiterated attacks of
this disease.   In such a state of things, and
during the continuance of our present inter-
course with  the Islands,  what security could
we repose in the strictness  of our health-law,
and the vigilance of its officers ?  Would not
the contagion find  a thousand avenues of ad-
mission  among us, notwithstanding every hu-
man exertion to the contrary ?  Would not the
intention of quarantines, and Lazarettos, be
so   entirely  frustrated, as to render  their
establishment,  an  unnecessary,  and an op-
pressive  expence,?  As  well  might  we  at* 
[   124  ]
tempt, by legislative  interposition, to shade
our  shores from  the  light of  Heaven, as  to
guard them  from small pox under such cir-
cumstances.  Nor would  the  case be, in any
measure,  different,  with  regard  to  yellow
fever, were  it introducible by  means of speci-
fic contagion.

     But,  supposing  this disease to be,  as
some  alledge,  not  a  native of  the West
Indies,  but, imported  thither in  a  vessel,
from Siam,  our  prospect of its  being  era-
dicated from among us, will  be  in no mea-
sure brijghtened.

     It is almost a century,  since  yellow  fe-
ver is said  to  have been introduced into the
Island of Martinique,  during which time it
has never entirely disappeared. What ground,
then,  have  we   to  hope,  that  it  will  be
less permanent,  in its residence  with us?

     Having taken such immediate and fixed
root, when  brought from the  old world to the
W'est Indies, there is every reason to believe
that the result  will be similar, on its  exporta-
tion from thence to the continent of America,

      Such is the melancholy aspect of things,
presented tQ view by the  importers of yellow 
[   125   3
fever ! Their ill-boding doctrine threatens us
with  nothing less, than an  endless  succes-
sion of our present misfortunes !

     Let us  now, for a moment, attend to
that picture  of the same  subject, drawn by
the advocates of domestic generation.

     How striking is  the  contrast! How de-
lightful the  reverse ! Here is  no perpetuity
of evil, to banish us from our homes !  Here is
no  specific  contagion,  to  be  conveyed,  in
goods, from  the  city to the  country!  Here
is no ground for  apprehension, that  our
clothes,  our  furniture,  or the wails of  our
houses,  are  the  constant reservoirs  of  a
deadly poison.  Here  the period of danger
and alarm is,  only,  co-extensive  with  the
actual ravages of  the evil.  Its utmost  dura-
tion is, from the  middle or close of summer,
to the commencement of winter.  Were the
disease capable of leaving a poison behind it,
the  season  of danger could terminate,  on-
ly with  the existence of those susceptible of
infection.

     In a word, by the advocates of the doc-
trine of  domestic origin,  yellow fever  is re-
presented as an evil of temporary duration, 
I   126  ]
subordinate to the change of seasons,  and to
human controul.   It is declared to be the off-
spring of domestic filth,  co-operating  with  a
malignant  constitution  of atmosphere,  and,
our fellow  citizens are  assured,  that  by the
removal  of this filth,  and  by adopting and
retaining habits of general cleanliness,  they
may k>ok  forward, with confidence, to  a re-
turn of health.   For, however malignant the
general constitution of atmosphere may be,  it
is known to be, for the most part, incapable of
producing  pestilential fever, without the aid
of putrid exhalations.


     I am persuaded, that,  from this view of
things,  a  candid  public will,  henceforward,
concur with me, that the reputation of our city
and country is  endangered,  not by the advo-
cates of  the domestic origin of yellow fever,
but, by those who contend  for its importation
from abroad.


     In matters of ordinary magnitude,  it  is
neither necessary nor  becoming,  to  appeal
from  the reason,  to the passions of  an en-
lightened public.   But,  when  the  lives of
thousands  of our fellow  creatures depend on
the issue ;  when the prosperity, (not to say
the existence) of the metropolis of our country 
C   127  3
is at stake;  when the welfare of our country,
in general, is concerned;  and,  when even the
fate  of posterity is  involved,  the  occasion
will  justify an  attempt to interest every vir-
tuous feeling of the mind, and to touch every
spring of human action !

     Citizens of Philadelphia, bear with my
importunity !  Be assured, that no obstinacy
of opinion, no desire of rendering myself con-
spicuous  in the public  prints, no  spirit  of
voluntary perseverance in error,  induces me
to trouble you with  these communications.
I act under the impulse  of a  sense of duty !
I address  you, from a conviction, that I ad-
vocate a truth connected with your  interests,
and,  that  silence,  on  such   an  occasion,
would  be  no  less  than  criminal.  I am
importunate, because importunity is a virtue,
when we warn our fellow citizens of impen-
ding ruin I

      Is  not the manifest  inefticacy  of the
present health-law, sufficient to convince you,
that  its fundamental  principle  is a principle
of error ?   Are not  the sufferings of  three
sucessive  years, sufficient to  induce you  to
abandon this principle, and to adopt another,
which  reason approves, and experience has
not   yet  denounced  as  fallacious ? To how 
C   128  3
many more hazards of life will  you subject
yourselves—how  many more autumns  will
you pass, in  a state of painful exile,  from
your homes—how many more valuable  citi-
zens will you  resign to the grave, rather than
relinquish this delusive hypothesis ?

     Will nothing but the agonies of  your
expiring friends, and the lamentations of their
disconsolate relatives—Will nothing  but the
desolation  of your own families,  render you
awake to the voice of truth ? Is it your deter-
mination to reject,  in  the face  of  all possible
testimony, a belief in the  domestic origin of
our autumnal epidemics ? Are you determined
to rely, for security  against a recurrence of
these evils, on a  health-law,  founded exclu-
sively on the hypothesis of their necessary im-
portation ?  Under  this determination, are you
farther resolved, to suffer our  present sources
of exhalation,  not  only to remain  as they now
are, but even to accumulate with  the progress
of time ?

     If  so, prepare for the final abandonment
of your  city !  Prepare for the melancholy tale
of some feeling and contemplative traveller,
who,  at no very distant period of time, like
the eloquent Volney, amid the fragments of
Polmyra,  will halt when  he arrives at  the 
C    129    3
ruins of  Philadelphia,  and  record  them,  in
tears, as  a  monument  of  the prejudice  and
delusion  of its inhabitants !
                     No.  VI.  (105


AN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE  THE FOLLOWING  QUESTION, 0/2.
   WHY  DOES  THE  FILTH OF  PHILADELPHIA  PRODUCE
   YELLOW FEVER NOW, WHEREAS IT DID NOT IN FOS3IER
   YEARS, WHEN MUCH MORE ABUNDANT THAN  IT  IS  At
   PRESENT ?



       W ITH the close of my last number,

I thought to have taken leave of  my  subject.
     (10)  Between many passages, in this work, but more
 particularly in the two following numbers, and certain parts of
 Mr. Webster's " History of epidemic and pestilential diseases,"
 there exists  such a  similarity  of  sentiment,  that  the  on*
 might be supposed to have been  copied from the other.
     To exonerate us both, however, from the charge of pla-
 giarism, it is proper to remark, that the present series of num-
 bers was in  print, sometime  before the appearance of Mr*
 Webster's history, and. that his  work was ready for the press,
 long before the publication of this.
     The  discovery of such a coincidence of sentiment with
 one, who, to the man of extensive reading, unites  the accute
 reasoner, and  the  observing philosopher,  while it flatters me
 not a little,  contributes  to heighten my confidence in  the
justness of my opinions.
                          nr1 
                t   130  j

for ever.  Nor is it without regret, that I find
myself impelled to a farther intrusion on the
time of my readers.   But,  like the prospect
of the traveller, who descries Alps towering
over Alps, while,  as he proceeds on his jour-
ney, the most distant ridge gives place  to one
more distant still, my discovery of  new and
important matter,  keeps pace with the pro-
gress I  make in my enquiry.

     In my intercourse with my fellow citi-
zens, I have had,  of late,  an opportunity of
hearing frequent conversations, and considera-
ble debate,  on the following questions, viz.

      I.  Why   does the filth of Philadelphia
produce yellow fever now, whereas it did not,
in former years, when much more abundant
than it  is, at present ?

      II.  Why  does  this  disease   always
make its  first appearance, as  an  epidemic,
in the  neighbourhood  of the wharves ?


      III. If it be the result of  putrefaction)
why does it never break out, and rage, in the
 country,  or in inland towns, remote from com-
 mercial cities ? 
C   131  3
     These questions appear to constitute the
strong hold of those, who believe yellow fever
to be an imported disease.   They have be-
come arguments of such notoriety, that we
find their use familiar  to every  one.  From
the philosopher, whose views are  exalted as
the Heavens, to the  labourer, whose humble
situation is a  counterpart to his mind, these
arguments pass in current  circulation.

     Nor  is it  surprising, that to the public
at large,  whose opportunities  for acquiring
physical knowledge  are very  limited,  and
whose credulity is always paramount to their
spirit of enquiry,  they should  appear, in
some measure, specious and plausible.   But,
by the man of liberal science, whose sources
of information are more extensive, and whose
business and practice it is, always  to examine
before  he believes, they  cannot fail to be
rejected as unsatisfactory  and fallacious.

     To resolve whatever doubts may still
exist, in the minds of  the  candid, to  render
the present series of numbers a final answer
to all objections that have been raised against
the doctrine of the domestic origin of yellow
fever, and,  as  far as  possible,  to remove
every difficulty connected with the subject,  I
beg leave  to state a few observations, in an* 
C   132  ]
swer to the above propositions.   I shall con-
sider   them  in  the  order  in  which  they
stand.

    I. Why does  the  filth  of Philadelphia
produce  yellow  feVer now,  whereas,  it  did
not in  former years, when much more abun-
dant than it is,  at present ?

    Were  I, like my opponents, disposed to
adopt the logic of Socrates—were  it my in-
tention to perplex and  confound, rather than
to enlighten and  Convince, I might reply to
them,  in their own sophistical  snirit of inter-
rogatory.

     Instead of attempting to answer the
question,  why the  summer atmosphere of
Philadelphia, gives  origin now to  diseases,
which  it did not  formerly produce ?  I might
demand of them,

     1. Why, in the eastern hemesphere,  the
plague frequently desolates whole  countries,
in one season, and,  in the  next,  (when  the
sensible qualities of the atmosphere are in no
perceptible degree  different, and, when  the
supposed contagion of this disease  might  be
guspected  to  exist in  ten-fold quantity  and 
[   133  3
power) disappears, and does  not return again
for a considerable period ?

     2.   Why,  when the sensible qualities
of the atmosphere are  precisely  the  same,
we at one time  suffer from,  and at another
escape epidemic  catarrh ?(n)

     3.   Why, in certain  tracts of country,
domestic animals, such as dogs, horses, cows,
sheep, fowls, &c. are occasionally attacked by
epidemic  diseases, which exist for a while,
and then disappear,  without any  perceptible
cause, either for their origin or extinction, in
the seasons, or  in the  state  of any  of the
surrounding elements ?

     4.   Why, in a  place, peopled by  emi-
grants from different nations, the natives of
one  country shall be suddenly attacked by
a mortal epidemic, which shall have no power
to injure the other inhabitants ?

     5.   Why,  certain regions, at one time,
escape,  and,  at  another,  are ravaged  by
myriads  of destructive insects and reptiles,
whose  appearance  and  disappearance  are
£il) Better known by the trivial name of influenza- 
[   134  3
 alike inexplicable, from any preceding  or
 concomitant  phenomena of nature ?

     6.   Finally, why, without being able
 frequently to attribute  either  their good or
 bad fortune  to  any of the sensible qualities
 of  the  atmosphere,  or to  any  perceptible
 properties  of the seasons,  the  inhabitants
 of  low countries  are,  sometimes,  exempt
 from, and at other times, attacked by,  the
 bilious endemic  of summer and autumn ?


     Were I governed by the same illiberal
 principles  of reasoning, which appear to in-
 fluence the advocates of importation, I mighl
 call on them to answer the above propositions,
 and, in case  of their falling  to comply with
 my request,  deny the  existence  of# the  well
 known phenomena, to which the propositions
 relate, and, in  my turn, refuse  to reply to
 their  objections, against the  domestic origin
 of yellow fever.

     But,  to propose  one  difficulty, in  an-
 swer  to  another,  is  equally  uncandid  and
unphilosophical.  It is a mockery of reason—
an expedient  in  controversy,  which tends  to
darken,  rather than elucidate, and, is  there-
fore unworthy of the advocates of truth, 
£   135   ]
     Were we, in all instances, to make our
Ignorance of the operations of nature, a pre-
text for denying,  or doubting of the reality of
her phenomena, we would open a door for
universal scepticism.

     In this case, we would render the  evi-
dence of our senses an absolute nullity.    We
would even deny the existence  of polar at-
traction, of thunder-storms, of volcanos, of
earthquakes,  and of many other familiar and
stupendous phenomena of nature, from  our
incompetency  to  explain the principles  and
modes of their production.

     It is worse than folly; it is presumption
and impiety, to propose our feeble capacities,
and limitted knowledge,  as standards for the
boundless operations of nature !

     But,  actuated by no petty ambition of
triumphing at the embarrassment and silence
of an adversary—Influenced, only by a wish
for the ascertainment of truth, I shall endea-
vour to  reply to the  merits of the foregoing
question, proposed by the advocates of foreign
importation.

     I conceive, then, that yellow fever may
originate from the filth of Philadelphia,  now,
though it did not informer times. 
C   136  3
     I. Because,  as observed in a preceding
number,  we  have, at  present, a  pestilential
constitution of atmosphere, favourable to the
production of yellow fever, which did not exist
with us,  in  its  full force,  previously to the
year ninety three.

     By the term,  pestilential constitution,  I
mean a preternatural aptitude or predisposition
in the air,  to co-operate with other causes in
the production and propagation of pestilence.

     Without the  aid of this  general pre*
disposition of  the  atmosphere,  our  topical
causes, though they might prove the source of
solitary cases of disease, would be too weak
to give rise to an extensive epidemic.

     The evidences, on which I found  my
belief of the prevalence of the above constitu-
tion, are,

     1.   The uncommon  degree of disease
and  mortality, that  has  occurred, for some
years past, among  our domestic animals, such
as dogs, horses, cats, hogs,  and fowls.   Nor
have even the birds and beasts in our forests,
nor the fish in the  depth of our waters, found
shelter from the  effects of this wide spreading 
t   137   3
evil.  They  have all,  in their turns,  been
fellow-sufferers in the pestilence of our coun-
try.   Disease and death, among these inferior
animals, appear to have originated from the
same state of our atmosphere, which has con-
tributed  to  the  generation  and  ravages  of
yellow fever, among the human species.


     This  fact is by no means new, or un-
common, in the  history of  diseases.  Many
such have  occurred,  at  different  times, and
in different countries.  Hence,  we find,  that
in most histories of mortal epidemics, among
men, notice is taken of cotemporary disease
and  death, among other subjects of the ani-
mal kingdom.  This is particularly the case,
in the account, left on record,  of the plague
which prevailed in the Grecian camp, "during
the  siege  of ancient Troy.   It is, in like
manner,  the  case,  in  the history  of  the
memorable plague  of Athens,  by Thucidi-
des,  in  that of a similar calamity, described,
I think,  by Virgil, in one  of  his  Georgics,
and, also, of that which desolated Marseilles,
in the beginning of the present century.


     2.   The late Unusual  violence and ob-
stinacy of febrile diseases, both in the pity and
                    U 
C   138  J
country.  This is a circumstance,  of which
no practitioner of medicine can be ignorant.

     Since the year ninety  three, a memora-
ble revolution has occurred, in the  type and
state of fevers, in many parts of the United
States.   This  event  has, necessarily, given
rise to  a corresponding revolution in their
medical treatment.  Were  it not that I  am
apprehensive  of rendering  my communica*
tions  too lengthy, I  could  bring forward a
host of facts,  in proof of my assertion.  1
Will trouble  my readers with  the  detail of
none but  one.

     So  striking is the  change, Which  has
taken place, of late, in the malignity  of the au>
tumnal endemic, in certain districts  of North
Carolina,  that Doctor Harris, my first medical
preceptor, and now the most eminent physi-
cian in  that  state,  has given it  the name of
the "Yellow  fever  of the country."  From
this,  it is evident, that he considers it, as
nothing else,  than a  lower  grade of  the yel-
low or pestilential fever of our seaports.

     From the  remoteness of  his  situation,
and his want of a correspondence with the
physicians of Philadelphia,  it is  impossi-
ble that Dr.  Harris  can be strongly prepos- 
C   139  3
sessed,  in  favour of  any theory, respecting
the production of yellow fever.

     It is a fact of some importance, that, in
the summer and  autumn of ninety eight, the
season, in which the  pestilential epidemic
rose to  its  height in this place,   the  doctor
found  the  yellow fever of his district, more
general and  malignant,  than  at any other
period.

     But,  the phenomenon in question,  is
by  no means confined to the limits  of our
country.  Jamaica, and  several  other  West
India Islands,   have  witnessed  a  similar
change, in the  character of  their diseases.
Nor have even the diseases of many parts  of
Europe, Asia, and Africa, escaped the influ-
ence of this modifying power.

     Since the year ninety three, the fevers
of winter and spring have exhibited,  in this
place, many of the alarming symptoms, which
formerly characterized  the diseases of sum-
mer and autumn ; while  those of the latter
seasons, have assumed a malignity, which, till
lately,  was altogether unknown in our country.

     For the truth of these facts,  many phy-
sicians, of the  first  respectability, are  ready 
[   WO  ]
to pledge  their observation and experience.
They can be  explained,  only, by admitting
the existence of the foregoing constitution of
atmosphere.

     I pass, in silence, over the swarms of
insects,  by  which we have been  infested,
for a few years past;  nor do I dwell on  cer-
tain  irregular and unusual  appearances,  that
have lately marked the progress of vegetation,
Such phenomena, however, must be  consi-
dered as expressive of something peculiar in
the state of our atmosphere.

     A superabundance of destructive insects,
is an evil which   seldom  fails  to accompany
pestilential epidemics,  in  the countries of the
east.  Nor has  Europe  been,  at all  times,
exempt from a similar concurrence  of cala*
mities.  Indeed  we  find,  that,   during  the
prevalence of most extensive plagues, both of
ancient and modern  times, either the coun-
tries, subject to  the  calamity,  or those im-
mediately bordering on them,  and sometimes
both, have been  overrun by myriads of in-
sects.   This  furnishes a  strong ground of
belief, that the same  state  of air, which far
vours  an excessive multiplication  of these
iribes of animals,  contributes to the genera*
tion  of pestilential diseases. 
[141  3
     Having  delivered  the  foregoing  argu-
ments, in favour of the prevalence of the con-
stitution  of atmosphere  contended for,  I de-
cline entering  into  any speculation respecting
its cause.  The  establishment  of  its  exis-
tence, is  all that is necessary, for my present
purpose.

     It may  not  be amiss,  however, to ob-
serve, that different philosophers have  con-
sidered the above constitution, as the offspring
of different causes.  In this  diversity of opi-
nion, some have ascribed it to planetary influ-
ence,  some  to  volcanic  eruptions, some to
earthquakes,  some  to  a general exhalation
from the bowels of the earth, and some to a
certain  derangement  of  the electric  fluid.
Possibly most, or even the  whole  of  these
causes, may  have  occasionally co-operated
in its production.

     It is not without much  apparent reason,
that mortal epidemics are considered as occa-
sionally  the offspring of, or, at  least,  as in-
timately  connected with,  earthquakes,  and
the eruptions  of volcanos.   In  running over
the history of former ages and distant  coun-
tries, we learn, that pestilence  has been fre-
quently,  not  to say, uniformly preceded,  or
accompanied  by these dreadful  commotions, 
                C  '1*2   ]

     Thus,  (not to mention many other simi-
lar instances,) during the reign of Justinian,
a period,  in which  pestilence and the  sword
threatened little less than the extinction of
the human race, the foundations of the old
world were  shaken by earthquakes  almost
innumerable.  Nor  was  this less  the case,
in the fourteenth century, during the greater
part of which, pestilence appears to have been
epidemic,  over most of the inhabited countries
of the globe.

     In reflecting  on the phenomena  and
power of volcanos, we are  convinced, that
their influence, in changing the state  of the
atmosphere,  must  be extensive beyond cal-
culation.  If,  by the quantity and force of their
imprisoned  gases,  they can project immense
fragments of rock to the  distance  of  many
miles—if  they can raise vast mountains from
the bottom of the fathomless ocean—if they
can  throw  bodies,  so  ponderous  as   ashes
and  cinders, to the  distance of more than
fifty leagues—if, by their smoke  and  visible
exhalation, they can involve the surrounding
countries  in a night of darkness, there is no
doubt, but they may diffuse the  light aeriform
subtances, to which they give origin in such
abundance,  throughout  the  atmosphere of
half the earth, 
C   143  ]
     Nearly  the same  thing may be said,
with  regard to  earthquakes.   The  elastic
fluids, to which these concussions give vent,
must contaminate  the air to a great distance.


     II.  Another reason,  why yellow fever
may now originate, in part, from the filth-of
our streets,  though it did not, in former times,
even when  this nuisance was more abundant
than  it is  at  present, is derived from the
state, in which such filth  must be, in order
to emit the  greatest practicable  quantity  of
noxious exhalation.  This is,  a mean  state,
between the extreme of moisture and the ex-
treme of dryness.


      If animal  and vegetable  substances be
kept perfectly  dry, it is known to every one,
that they will not putrefy,  and  consequently
Will not give origin  to pestilential effluvia.
Nor is the result, as far as human health is
concerned,  in any  degree  different,  when
they are kept completely immersed in water.
For if, in the  latter  situation, they  do un-
dergo the putrefactive process,  the  exhala-
tion which they emit, is mostly absorbed by
the water,  and not suffered to rise and conta-
minate the atmosphere. 
[   144  ]
     Thus, in low marshy  places, Subject
to annual returns of bilious fever,  extremely
wet,  and extremely dry  seasons,   are  alike
unfavourable to the prevalence of this disease.
In the latter, a deficiency, and  in the former, a
superabundance,  of  moisture,  prevents the
generation of the poisonous effluvia, acknow-
ledged to be the cause of the evil in question.
It is  only during  those  seasons,   in which
periods of wet and of warm weather, alternate-
ly succeed each other, that this evil prevails
to the greatest extent.


     In  former  years,  previously to  the,
general paving of our  streets,  the filth of our
city was  in a state of  too  great humidity, to
be a plentiful and dangerous  source of pesti-
lential effluvia.   At  present,  however,  the
case is different.  It appears to be now, in that
intermediate  condition, between the extremes
of moisture and dryness, most favourable to
the production of this fatal poison


     To   become   again exempt   from  this
evil, we   must either keep  our streets,  and
other reservoirs  of filth, perfectly  clean, or
inundate  them with  water,  during the  sum-
mer and autumnal heats. 
                t   145   3

     III. For  more than a century past, the1
ground,  on which  Philadelphia stands,  has
been imbibing pestilential filth from grave-
yards, privies, sewers, and various other sour-
ces of putrefaction.  It would appear, at pre-
sent, to be so completely saturated with these
putrid effluvia, as to be  no longer capable of
receiving any  more.  Whatever  exhalation,
therefore, issues now  from the internal filth
of our  city,  is not,  as formerly,  absorbed
and imprisoned by the ground,  but, partly in
consequence of the above  saturation,  and
partly from the general paving of the streets,
is let loose, either to contaminate the  waters
Which we drink,  or to impregnate our atmos-
phere witn the seeds of pestilence.

     This  we  would assign as another rea-
son, why our domestic sources may now  aid
in giving birth to pestilential epidemics, though
they did not,   in  former years, when even
more abundant than they are  at present.

     It is to be hoped,  that this consideration
will  act  as an additional motive, in urging us
to measures of internal cleanliness.
X 
C   1^  3
                 No.  VII.


Aeason  why yellow fever has  always made It'

 FIRST  APPEARANCE, AS AN EPIDEMIC, IN PHILADEL-

 PHIA, IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE WHARVES--THE

 QUESTION, SO OFTEN PROPOSED, " WHY DOES YELLOW

 FEVER NEVER ORIGINATE AND PREVAIL IN THE COUN-

 TRY,  OR IN INLAND TOWNS, REMOTE FROM COMMER-

 CIAL  CITIES?" CONSIDERED.   FARTHER  OBJECTIONS

 AGAINST THE  ^OCTRINE OF IMPORTATION.
      I. VV HY  does  yellow fever  always
 make its  first appearance, as  an epidemic,
 in the neighbourhood of the wharves ?

      This   question has  been  already,  in
 some measure,  answered,  in a  preceding
 number.   It  was there  observed, that,  in
. consequence of being the seat of commercial
 transactions, of being built entirely of putre-
 fying wood, and, at the same  time, occupy-
 ing the lowest ground in the city, our docks
 and wharves are the reservoirs of an immen-
 sity  of filth.  This  filth, lying mostly  in a
 loose state, mixed with a sufficient quantity
 of moisture,  and, more immediately, than in
 other  situations,  exposed,  not only  to the
 direct rays  of the sun, but also  to those 
C   147  3
 reflected from the water, must necessarily
 be earliest  in giving origin to an abundance
 of pestilential air.  We  must, therefore, ex-
 pect epidemics to appear first, in that place,
 where the poison,  which gives rise to them,
 exists in the  greatest quantity,

     But,  though yellow  fever, as  an  epi-
 demic,  has always made its  earliest  appear-
 ance along  our wharves, it has not been  so
 with  detached or  sporadic  cases.   These
 have seldom failed to  show themselves first,
 in parts  of the city remote from  the river.

     Our earliest  instances of yellow fever,
 in ninety seven, ninety eight, and ninety nine,
 occurred in persons, who  had  had no  pre-
 vious connection with the wharves,  with the
 shipping, or with  seafaring  characters.   In
 support of these facts, I am able to  produce
 the testimony  of  several physicians, of the
 first respectability.

     In ninety eight, I  myself attended  two
 cases of genuine pestilential fever, at a  dis-
 tance from the river, in the month of June ;
 whereas this  disease  did not commence  its
ravages, as an epidemic, along our  wharves,
till  the  beginning  of August.   My  patients
both recovered, with yellow skins, dark eva* 
[   148  ]
euations,  and other symptoms of high ma*
Ugnity,

     Two physicians of the importing party,
who visited one of these cases, declared, that
could they  trace it  to  any  infected source,
they would not hesitate to pronounce it a case
of yellow fever,

     What a melancholy perversion  of the
human intellect!   What a  solecism in rne-i
dical  indecision is  here!   Who,  in  any
instance,  except where yellow fever is com
cerned, ever  heard of practitioners of medi-
cine, deriving their opinion of the  nature of
a disease, from  its equivocal origin,  rather
than,  from its   manifest  and  characteristiq
symptoms ?

     What physician,  of experience and dis-
cernment, on  seeing the small pox or measles,
raging in all their violence,  and  attended by
all their pathognomonic symptoms,  will hesi-
tate to pronounce the cases to be  small pox
or measles, till he shall have ascertained, by
enquiry,  whether  or  not the patients have
been exposed to infected sources ?  What sur-
geon,  on being called to a  case  of  fractured
limb, will suspend his determination, whether
or not it  be a fracture, till made acquainted 
[   H9  ]
with the precise nature and degree of  the
violence  to which the part  has been subject-
ed ?  Where is  the  physician so timid and
sceptical, as to doubt respecting the name he
should give to a paroxism  of intermitting fe-
ver,  from an  ignorance,  whether   or  not
the patient has been exposed to marsh  mias,
ma ? What botanist, after  examining a com*
mon and well known plant, will refuse to be-
stow on  it its  proper name, till particular-
ly informed respecting the  seed from which it
sprang ?  And, what would be our opinion of
that  naturalist, who, on finding, in an uninha-
bited country, a man, complete in all his parts,
and perfect in all his faculties, would hesitate
to acknowledge  him to be a man,  till  assured
of his  descent  from  two  individuals of the
human race ?

     Equally  irrational  and absurd is the
conduct  of that physician,  who refuses to de-*
cide on  the  nature of a well known febrile
disease,   until  particularly   aprized  of  its
origin.

     In our  decisions, relative to the nature
and  identity  of physical  objects, we must
wave  all  visionary  discussions, respecting
their origin,  and rely solely on  their leading
and permanent characters. 
C   150  ]
      When we see an elephant, we must pro.
 nounce  it to  be an  elephant, whether it be
 brought to us  from the  north or  from the
 south,

      When we see  a lion, we must acknow-
 ledge it  to be such,  whether it has been rear.
 ed amid the  Lybian wastes, or in the unex-
 plored forests of our own country,

      And, in like manner, when called to  a
 case  of  pestilential  or  yellow fever, let us
 not  deny  to  it,  either  its nature, its  name, ,
 or its treatment, because  we are  unable to
 trace its descent from a tropical  climate.

      III. If yellow fever be  the offspring of
 putrefaction, why does it never break out and
 rage  in the country,  or  in inland towns, re-
 mote  from commercial cities ?

     This question is incapable of receiving a
 direct reply, because it is  founded on a false
presumption.   A denial of the truth  of its
premises, is the only answer to which it is
entitled.

     But,  even admitting  it to be true, that
yellow fever never  has  originated,  in  the
above places,  it would  operate  as an  argu- 
                 C  isi  1

 merit of but little weight,  in favour of the fo-
 reign origin of this disease.  The accumulation
 of putrid substances, either in inland towns, or
 in any given space of country, is, in common,
 comparatively small, and the quantity of  ex-
 halation proportionablyinconsiderable. These
 circumstances, added to a constant and copious
 supply of fresh air, cannot fail to prevent such
 places, from being as subject to a  highly  vitia-
 ted state of atmosphere, as a city so extensive
 and populous as Philadelphia-

     The  fallacy of the  idea, however,  on
 which the above question is founded, is fully
 exposed,  by the history of Flarrisburgh, and
 several inland towns to the eastward, as well
 as by  that  of some parts  of New-Jersey, of
 an extensive  tract of the Gennesee  country,
 and of certain districts in most of the southern
 states, but, more particularly, in the Carolinas
 and in Georgia.  In these places, yellow fever
 has repeatedly originated,  and prevailed with
 as much malignity, as in any of  the commer-
 cial cities of the Union.

     It  has  been  asserted  by  some, that
 yellow fever has neve** occurred in the United
 States, except when unusually prevalent in the
 West-India  Islands.  This, the  advocates of
foreign  importation have  construed into  an 
                 [  152  ]

argument,  in favour of  its introduction front
that quarter*

     The most diligent enquiry has not been
sufficient to convince me, that the above asser-
tion is founded in truth.  On the contrary, the
farther I carry my researches on the subject^
the more am I inclined to doubt its  authentic!*
ty—I should rather have said, the more am
I convinced of its absolute fallacy.

     Admitting the fact, however, to be as
there  stated",  it  is explicable on  principles,
rational, obvious, and in every respect con-
sistent with the doctrine*of domestic origin.

     It is a presumption neither extravagant
nor improbable, that the  same pestilential con-
stitution of atmosphere, which contributes to
the generation  of yellow  fever here, may
reach  to the West-Indies, and there be pro-
ductive of similar effects.   On some occasions,
such a constitution has been known to extend,
not simply from  One country to another, but,
over half the peopled  surface of the globe.

     This was the case with the  pestilential
constitution of atmosphere, during the reign
of  the Emperor Justinian.    This was the
case with a similar constitution,  in the four- 
C   153  ]
teCnth century.   And,  this was  particulary
the case, with that peculiar constitution, which,
a few years ago,  gave rise to the  disease de-
nominated influenza.   This last is known to
have  pervaded   America,  the West-Indies,
Europe,  and part, or perhaps  the whole of
the continent of Asia.

     Since the year ninety three,  as mention-
ed in my last number,  febrile diseases  have
been more than usually prevalent  and mortal,
in Jamaica, and others of the West-India Isl-
ands,  This is an argument of much weight,
in favour of the opinion, that  these Islands
have not  been exempt from the influence of
that constitution  of atmosphere,  which has
encreased  the malignity  of the diseases of
America.

     Nor  has  the  year eighteen hundred,
been less  productive of evidence in confirma-
tion of the same principle.   If, for some time
past, the West Indies and the United States,
have been ravaged, in common, by  pestilen-
tial diseases,  they have  enjoyed, during the
present year, something like a common exemp-
tion, (12)  from this calamity. The long wish-
    (12) I do not mean, that cither the United States, or the
West-Ir.d;es, have bc^n, dur'no,- the present year,  wholly ex-
                     Y 
[   154   3
 ed for period  would seem  about to return,
 when health shall again  shed her influence
 through the atmospheres of both places, and
 sweep away, or  blast, the  seeds of disease.
 In the declension, therefore, no less than in
 the  attack  and  devastation of  pestilence,
 these  regions  appear to be connected by a
 kindred fate.   But the atmosphere being their
 only physical bond of union,  must necessarily
 be the medium of this apparent sympathy.

     I will now  take  the liberty of  stating,
 under the  form of questions, a few farther
 objections to the importation of yellow fever,
 and will thank  the advocates of that doctrine,
 to answer them,  on principles consistent with
 medical philosophy.

     I. The crews of several  vessels,  char-
ged with having introduced this  disease from
the West-Indies, are  known  to  have arrived
here  in perfect health.   How is it possible,
that,  in these instances, contagion could have
empt from pestilential fever.  I lament that the reverse of
this is true.  They have only escaped that extensive epidemic
rage, by which they have been assailed for  some time past.
How long our present good  fortune may continue, it is not
ior us to risque a prediction.  It may endure for many years,
yet, perhaps, even the next season, may bring us a return of
• ur late calamity. 
[   155  3
remained attached to the timbers or apparel
of the vessels,  or  to  the  seamens' clothes,
during their  whole passage, without injuring
any one  on board, and  have become  active
and deleterious only after their arrival in our
port ?—Real  contagion  (as that of small pox,
measles, &c.) never fails to  act in a very dif-
ferent manner.   It poisons  amid the depura-
ted atmosphere of  the  ocean, with no  less
certainty, than  in  the vitiated air of a large
city.

     II.  It is known, that yellow fever  pre-
vails, to a certain extent, every year, in ma*
ny  parts of the  West-Indies.   Supposing it
then to be a contagious, and  an importable
disease,  what cause can the advocates of this
hypothesis assign, for its not having been in-
troduced  into  Philadelphia, or  some  other
seaport in the  United States, when we  were
wholly destitute of quarantine regulations, be-
tween the years sixty two  and ninety  three,
notwithstanding our constant  and  extensive
intercourse with the Islands ?

     Instead of yellow fever, let us suppose
the West-Indies  to  be  the  birth place  and
nursery  of small pox.   Let us further sup-
pose, all our citizens to have  been suscepti-
hie of this disease, and that, for upwards of 
[   155  3
thirty years,  that is, from sixty two till nine-
ty three, we had kept up  an  extensive and
uninterrupted intercourse with that variolous
climate.  Under  these circumstances, is it
probable, that, without the  aid of the most
rigid  quarantine  regulations,  we could,  for
such  a  length of time,  have escaped the in-
troduction of this disease ?   By no  means—
Common sense revolts from the supposition,
which is indeed too extravagant to be admit-
ted,  even by the advocates  for the doctrine
of importation,

      But the same reasoning would apply,
with  no less force,  to yellow fever, were it a
contagious disease,  and did its contagion pos-
sess but half the activiiy necessarily bestowed.
on it by its importers.

      III. But, this disease exists in the West-
Indies,  not only every year, but likewise du-
ring every season of the year.   Why, then,  if
it be  contagious and importable,  is  it never
introduced  from thence, into our commercial
cities, except in the latter part  of our summer,
or in the first of our autumnal months ?

      IV. If the disease in question, be im-
ported  and  propagated by  contagion, why is
it so immediately checked in this place,  as 
I   157  ]
soon  as the temperature of our  atmosphere
descends beneath the exhaling  point ?  i. e.
as soon as  it becomes so low,  as to put a stop
to the putrefactive process ?  Real  contagion is
not of  a nature  so  tender and perishable.
Small pox and measles defy the rigor of  the
most  inclement  winter,  while, like  the  per-
ishable  cause of yellow fever,,  putrefactive
exhalation, the child and nurseling  of sum-
mer and autumnal heats, expires, as soon as
they withdraw their fostering influence.

    V. If  it be  imported  and  propagated,
not through the  medium of vitiated air,  but
only by human   contagion,   how is it,  that
hundreds have been attacked by it,  who  had
only breathed the  atmosphere of  our streets,
without having been near to any one sick, to any
corpse,  or  to any article  whatever  supposed
to have been infected ? Diseases that are pro-
pagated solely by contagion, may be avoided,
by shunning the immediate atmosphere of the
sick.  But, from those that are produced by
a vitiated state of the air, there is no  certain
escape,  except by removing from the place
where they prevail.

    VI. If  yellow fever be  so frequently
imported into this place, notwithstanding all
our vigilance  and  exertion to the  contrary, 
C   153  ]
why has it  never been introduced, through
the same channel, into Great Britain or France,
whose commercial intercourse with the West-
Indies has  been so  incomparably extensive,
and where no quarantine  restrictions are im-
posed on vessels from that quarter?—To at-
tribute this  exemption,  as  some have done, to
the length of the voyage, from the West-Indies
to the mother countries, is an  argument too
weak to merit a serious reply.   If the suppo-
sed contagion  of yellow  fever can lie  dor-
mant,  for six or eight months, and then  pro- |
duce  disease  in the  United  States, it  may
certainly  produce a  similar effect in Europe,
after having lain inactive for as many weeks.

     VII.  How will the  partizans of the im-
portation  of  yellow  fever,  reconcile   their
ideas on this subject, with those of the most
respectable  physicians  in the  West-Indies,
who declare,  that with them this disease  is
44 wholly  destitute of contagion," and, there-
fore cannot, either in the timbers or rigging
<M'  vessels,  in articles  of  merchandize,  or in
the clothing,  or persons  of the sick, be im-
ported from thence to any other climate ?

     VIII.  The last objection I shall  urge,
against the  contagion  and  importability  of
yellow fever, is founded  on  a fact, which. 
C   159  ]
though already mentioned,  and even familiar
to every one,  is notwithstanding of sufficient
importance to be made a subject of further
consideration.

     If this  disease  be propagated  only by
contagion, why is  a  summer  and autumnal
atmosphere,  particularly the vitiated atmos-
phere of  a  large city, absolutely  necessary
to its  communication? Why  is it not, like
the  small pox,  the  measles, the  hooping-
cough,  Sec.  communicable,  during the sum-
mer and autumnal seasons,  in the pure air of
the country ?  And, why will it not spread, in
a city, in the depth of winter ?  Finally, why,
contrary to the laws which  govern all  other
contagious diseases, is the progress of yellow
fever, as  certainly, and almost as  suddenly,
arrested  by  pure air and  cold  weather, as
life is  destroyed by azotic gas, or fire extin-
guished by the affusion of water ?

     A  truly contagious disease, is a kind of
self-dependent  evil, which  can be but little,
if at all, either accelerated or retarded  in its
course,  by any practicable condition of atmos-
phere.

     As a candid discussion of the foregoing
propositions,  may  tend to  the interest  of 
                C   160  ]

science and humanity, by shedding light on a
subject, in which both are concerned, I flatter
myself the matter will be taken up, and treated
on its merits, by some of my learned fellow
members of the  college of physicians, or by
some of the other few medical characters in the
United States, who  have pronounced yellow
fever to be an imported disease.
                 No.  VIII.


A SUMMARY OF OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE CONTAGIotf,
  AND CONSEQUENTLY AGAINST THE  IMPORTABILITY oi
  YELLOW FEVER--THE FORMER PLAGUES OF GREAT BRI»
  TAIN NOT IMPORTED INTO THAT ISLAND, BUT GENERA-
  TED, IN  A GREAT MEASURE,  BY  THE FILTH OF THE
  INHABITANTS—^CONCLUSION.



     HP
      JL FIE present  communication, which
I contemplate  as  my  last, will contain  but
little else  than a summary of  the  opinions
and  evidences,  that  have been, more  am-
ply  detailed in my  preceding  numbers. 
                 C   161  ]

     Of the  merit of   arguments  thus  a-
 bridged,  simplified,   and  consolidated,  my
 readers  will be  able to judge,  with  much
 more  correctness and facility,  than if they
 were suffered to  remain in their present state
 of diffusion.  If they be erroneous,  their er-
 rors will be more readily detected and expo-
 sed ;  and if they be true, their truth, like the
 converging  rays  of light, will glow more in-
 tensely, by  being collected to a point.

     My reasons for  doubting of, or rather
 disbelieving in, the contagious nature of  yel-
 low fever, are,

     I, A  similar  disbelief,  respecting  the
 contagion of this  disease, being  entertained
 by the most experienced and enlightened phy-
 sicians of the West-Indies,  as well as by  a
 majority of the  same destription of those,
 who have been conversant with it in our own
 country.

     Though  this be  nothing more than an
 argument founded on  opinion, yet, even  the
 opinions  of  men  so respectable, and compe-
tent to judge of the subject in question,  are
not to be rejected without caution.
Z 
C   162  ]
     II.  Because it requires, for its propaga*
tion, a vitiated atmosphere,  and is not,  like
other contagious diseases, communicable from
the sick to  the  well, in the uncontaminated
air of the country.

     The  non-communicable nature  of this
disease, in  the air of the  country,  is a  fact
as  well  ascertained  as  any one  connected
with medical science.   Were it really conta-
gious,  it would,  as formerly observed,  like
the small pox  and measles, bid defiance to
every situation, and diffuse its poison through
every possible description of atmosphere.

     III.  Because, even  in the more clean
and airy parts  of Philadelphia,  this  disease
is not  communicable  from one  person to
another.

     This  was particularly observable,  in
ninety seven,  and  ninety nine, seasons in
which yellow fever was not epidemic over the
whole  city.  During these years,  such  per-
sons as contracted the fever in question, by
exposure along the wharves, or in the lower
parts of the city, and were nursed in situa-
tions  remote from  the exhalation of these
places,  did not,  in any instance,  communi-
cate disease to their physicians, attendants, 
[   163  3
or friends.   It was a knowledge of this fact,
that first impressed me  with serious doubts
respecting the  contagion  of yellow fever.

     IV. Because the disease is  immediate-
ly extinguished by the  occurrence of a frost,
so  slight, as to  affect  only the air of   the
streets,  and be  scarcely perceptible in  the
atmosphere  of  our houses,  which are consi-
dered, by the advocates for importation, as
the principal reservoirs  of the  febrile conta-
gion.   This is  a  fact, of  which none of  the
citizens of  Philadelphia can be ignorant.

     If, then, an impression on the external
atmosphere  alone, is sufficient to check  the
progress of  our autumnal epidemic,  it must
necessarily  depend, for its propagation, on
something contained in  the  air  of our streets,
and not attached  to any  of the contents of
our dwellings.  But, the  general atmosphere
of a  place  can  be impregnated  by nothing
less  than  a general   exhalation;  whereas,
human contagion  is always confined to  the
persons, or  apparel of the sick, or to the walls
or furniture of  the houses where they lie.

     There is  such a striking similarity of
circumstances between the decline and termi-
nation of yellow  fever,  in Philadelphia,  and 
[164  3
 those  of the common bilious fever, in mar-
 shy places (both taking place on the occur-
 rence  of  cold  weather)  as must convince
 every  candid  enquirer, that these diseases
 depend,  for  their existence, on  the  same
 cause.

     V,  Because  yellow fever has neither
 what can be strictly called a specific charac-
 ter,  nor  a definite  period.   In the appear-
 ance of its symptoms, it is the most irregular
 and multiform of all  diseases ; and, its terra
 of  duration is from twenty four hours,  to as
 many days.

     In these respects,   it differs  essentially
 from small pox, measles, scarlatina, and every
 other description of  truly contagious  fever.
 When these latter  diseases occur, they pass
 through  certain regular,  well  defined stages,
 and each stage occupies  a definite time.  Nor
 is it in the power  of the  practitioner,  either
 greatly to shorten or protract these periods,
however he may moderate the violence of the
 symptoms.

     Thus, for example,  when attacked  by
 small pox,  we have, what is denominated the
eruptive  fever, the eruption itself,  the  matu-
ration of the pustules, and their subsequent 
C   165  3
desiccation.  Nor is it possible for  the phy-
sician, during  any one  of these stages,  to
check  the disease entirely,  and prevent the
others from succeeding.


     Similar  observations  may  be  made,
with respect to the whole catalogue of truly
contagious fevers.  Having once taken place,
they have certain stages  and periods, through
which they will inevitably pass, the practi-
tioner having nothing more in his power, than
to moderate the  symptoms, and thus render
the issue less dangerous to the patient.


     How  different, in  this respect,  is the
case with  yellow  fever!  Have  we not fre-
quently  seen this disease arrested, in its in-
cipient state, by a well timed blood-letting, an
active cathartic,   or a plentiful  diaphoresis ?
Can we not, by these means, oftentimes stifle
the monster  in his cradle,  and rescue  our
patients  from his  forming  grasp ?  And does
not this  circumstance tend, still farther, to
destroy our belief in the descent of this dis-
ease from  specific contagion ?  Of all  conta-
gious fevers, why should  yellow fever  alone
resign its  right to a specific character, and
a, determinate period ? 
C   166  3
     Another fact deserves to be mentioned,
 which militates,  not a little,  against the opi-
 nion, that yellow fever  is a contagious dis-
 ease.

     Every  species of human contagion (I
 mean here, febrile contagion)  with which we
 are acquainted, must remain,  in the system,
 a certain  definite period of  time,  before it
 produces its morbid effects.  Nor is this pe-
 riod widely  different, in different  instances
 of the same disease,

     But, this is by no  means the  case  with
 regard to  yellow fever.   Some persons, ex-
 posed to the poison of this disease, have  sick-
 ened in twenty four hours afterwards, while
 others have escaped till the expiration of nearly
 as many  days.

     My  reasons for  believing, that the dis-
 ease in question is not imported, but  origin-
 ates from sources among  ourselves, are,    >

     I. Because it is not a contagious disease,
 and therefore its importation is utterly imprac-
ticable.   A febrile  poison, which cannot be
conveyed from the city,  to the distance  of a
few miles into the country, can much less be
wafted through the pure air of the  ocean. 
[   167  3
 from the West-India Islands, to the shores of
 America.

     II.  Because  it was never  introduced
 among us, from the year sixty two,  till that
 of ninety three, notwithstanding our want of
 quarantine regulations,  under an uninterrupt-
 ed  and extensive intercourse with the West-
 Indies.

     III.  Because it has never been convey-
 ed  into  Britain or  France,  notwithstanding
 the exemption of the West-India vessels from
 quarantine restrictions,  in all the ports of the
 mother countries.

     IV.  Because  all attempts  that  party
 Spirit could prompt, and ingenuity devise, to
 establish the importation of  this disease, and
 to ascertain the channel of  its introduction,
have hitherto proved unsatisfactory and abor-
tive.

     Of  this truth, the late  season  has fur-
nished a  striking  instance.   Though perse-
verance was wearied, and patience exhausted
in the search,  yet no vessel was  found, that
could be rationally  suspected  to  have  intro-
 duced the disease. 
[   168  3
     V. Because  it is the constant product
of putrefaction in other warm climates, abound-
ing in  neglected filth, and  cannot, therefore,
fail to  result from the same cause, under the
tropical temperature of the  summer atmos-
phere of our city.

     Nature is too economical and wise, to
admit into her system a plurality of causes for
any one phenomenon; and, one of our  most
familar rules of philosophy, teaches us,  that,
under similar circumstances, the same causes
are always productive of the  same effects*

     VI. Because it has never raged among
us, except during those months, in which,
owing  to the influence of the  preceding heats,
our atmosphere has been  loaded with putrid
exhalations.

     If it be a disease, depending on  speci-
fic contagion, imported from  the West Indies,
why has it never been introduced,  like the
small pox, in the  winter or  spring, as well
as in the months of summer and autumn ?

     In reply to this it has been said, that the
operation of a certain degree of heat,  is neces-
sary to prepare the air for  the reception and
propagation of /the contagion of yellow fever. 
C   169  3
     It must be observed, however, that heat
alone is not sufficient to produce such a mor-
bid condition of the atmosphere.   In Jamaica,
and others of the West-India Islands, where
the heat is always great,  such places as are
at  a  distance from morasses,  stagnant wa-
ters, and putrefying filth in general,  are not
only exempt from yellow fever, but are among
the most healthy spots on the globe.

     It  may  be  laid down  as  a physical
maxim, to which there is no  exception, that
neither the yellow fever of America,  nor the
plague of the East, has ever been epidemic,  in
any place, where the atmosphere was not load-
ed with putrid exhalations.

     VII. Because a genuine pestilence,  or
yellow fever, prevailed among the Aborigines
of our country,  previously to the existence  of
commercial intercourse with the West-Indies,
and prevails, even at present,  among  our fel-
low citizens, in many  places,  remote  from
maritime situations.

     In proof of the former part of this asser-
tion, testimony may be collected from  the late
Doctor Belknap's  history  of  Connecticut;
and, in support of  the latter, we have  the evi-
                    Aa 
[   170  ]
dence  of many physicians,  of strict  veracity
as  men, and of  high respectability in  the
knowledge  and   practice  of  their   profes-
sion.

     VIII.  The  last reason I shall  mention,
for believing the  yellow fever  to be a disease
of  domestic origin,  is,  the  concurring be-
lief of the  most,  distinguished  medical  and
physical characters  of the   United States,
whose opinion it  would be presumptuous to
treat with indifference.

     The present controversy, respecting the
origin of the  pestilential epidemics of our
country, is  not  the  only  one of the kind to
be found  on the records  of medicine.   A
contrariety of opinion, equally striking, existed .
with regard to the sources of those  plagues
which formerly desolated England, and many
other countries of the old world.

     I  beg  leave to  detail,  in- their  own
words, the  opinions  of two  celebrated  wri-
ters, who believed that the plagues  of Great
Britain were not introduced from abroad, but
generated by the action of their own  domestic
' causes.   In Dr.   Jortin's life of  Erasmus, we
find the following passage : 
C   171   ]
     " Another letter of his" (meaning Eras-
mus) " to  the  same friend, is very singular.
Erasmus   there  ascribes the plague,  from
which England was hardly ever  free, and the
sweating sickness, partly to the incommodious
form  and bad exposition of the houses, to
the filthiness of the streets, and to the slut-
tishness within doors,"

     "  The floors," says he, "  are common-
ly of clay,  strewed with rushes,  under  which
lies, unmolested,  an ancient collection of beer,
grease, fragments, bones, spittle, excrements
of  dogs and cats,  and every thing  that is
nasty," &c,

     " England" (continues Dr. Jortin) " is
happily altered for  the  better,  in these  re-
spects, from its condition in  the days of Eras-
mus ;  to which change, I presume, it may,
in a great  measure,  be  imputed, that we
have been  free,  for  so  many  years,  from
the plague,"

     The following extract is taken from Dr.
Sims'  account of the epidemics of London:

     " In  1665,"  says  our learned author,
" immediately after the frost, began the plague
in London, which killed, according to the least" 
C   172  3
computation,  sixty eight  thousand five hun-
dred  and ninety  six.  Since that time the
plague  has vanished  from the  city,  and all
other epidemics seem to have become less ma-
lignant, owing to many causes; among which
may perhaps be,  a greater use of fresh vegi-
table food, less use of fish,  an universal use
of tea, superior cleanliness in  our persons, a
greater attention to our poor, in times  of scar-
city, which are now  scarcely felt in any  ex-
treme  degree ; and,  lastly, the tremendous
fire  in  1666, since  which  the  streets have
been very much  widened, and the houses so
enlarged,  that the same  number  of  inhabi-
tants  now occupy above double the space."

     On these  extracts I shall offer no com-
ment.   They exhibit the decided opinion, of
two very able judges, that Britain was  indebt-
ed, hot to foreign climates,  not to commerce,
but to her own  atmosphere, aided by the in-
fluence of her domestic causes, for the waste-
ful plagues,  and other epidemics,  which so
frequently spread desolation over a great part
of her territory.   A. considerable  portion of
the writings of Dr. Sydenham,  is little else
than a chain of facts,  calculated to establish
the same doctrine.
     My discussion of the question  at issue
being closed, I am unwilling to retire from the 
[   173  3
public eye,  without leaving a record of  my
regret, for the evils which have resulted (not
indeed from the controversy itself) but, from
the manner of the controversy, respecting the
origin, nature, and treatment, of our autum-
nal pestilence.


     From this source has arisen a determined
and intolerant spirit of party,  which a liberal
and enlightened  philosophy  disowns,  and
humanity has had too  much reason to la-
ment.   This  tyrant of  the mind, devouring
every subordinate sentiment and feeling,  (as
the headlong torrent swallows  up the  inferior
rivulets,  in its course) has, in some instances,
daringly  tresspassed on  the   palladium of
private character, in  others, dissevered  the
bonds of social intercourse, and too frequently
excited distrust and animosity  between indivi-
duals,  who had  been formerly on terms  of
intimacy and friendship.


     Nor is this  the whole amount of the in-
fluence of this spirit of party.   It has  contri-
buted to a temporary degradation of the pro-
fession  of  medicine, and has,  not a  little,
encreased the  quantity of human misery, and
the frequency of death,  by diminishing  the
confidence of the public in medical aid. 
L   174  ]
    Such are a few of the effects^ produced by
the illiberal  and unphilosophic manner of the
controversy in question—Effects, which every
virtuous citizen  must devoutly deplore, and
which nothing  but  a  lapse  of years  will
efface!

     Having thus  endeavoured  to  obviate
whatever objections have been raised against
the doctrine of the domestic origin of  yellow
fever,  and to refute all  arguments,  advanced
in favour of the contrary hypothesis,   I shall
submit the issue to the effects of time, and to
the candid  decision  of  future philosophers.
In the present instance,  I am much more con*
cerned for the interest of truth and humanity,
than for my own reputation, as a  medical
enquirer.   If, therefore, from wrong  impres-
sions,  or a want of better information, I have
been unfortunately engaged in attempting the
inculcation of an error on the  public mind, it
is my hope and fervent  wish,  that  some
auspicious combination of circumstances may
speedly  occur,  that a  spirit  of  illumination
may  be diffused through  our  country,  to
dispel the illusion, and avert the  mischief! 
                t   175   3


                  No.  IX.

kit EXAMINATION OF, AND OBJECTIONS TO, DOCTOR CHIS-
  HOLM'S ACCOUNT OF THE  INTRODUCTION OF A CONTA-
  GIOUS FEVER, INTO THE  TOWN OF St. GEORGE, FROM:
  THE  COLONY OF BULAMA,  IN THE SPRING  OF  NINETY/
  THREE--THE IMPROBABILITY  OF  THE SAME  FEVER,
  HAVING BEEN  BROUGHT  FROM GRENADA TO PHILA-
  DELPHIA,  DURING THE SUMMER OF THE  SAME YEAR,
  EVEN ADMITTING  THAT  IT  HAD  BEEN  INTRODUCED
  INTO THE  FORMER PLACE, FROM THE COAST OF AFRICA.


      _L HOUGH sensible of the  extent, to
which the subject of  the  preceding numbers
has already led me  to tresspass on the time
of my readers, I  must still plead a claim to
their  farther indulgence.

     I am  induced to this,  neither  by  my
devotion to a spirit of controversy, nor by a
belief that any portion of the respectability of
a work, consists in the number of its  pages;
but,  by that versatility of conduct, and mul-
tiform mode  of defence,  adopted  by the ad-
vocates of foreign importation.

      No  sooner  are these indefatigable com-
batants defeated  in one point, and dislodged
from one covert, than they retreat with Parthian 
C   176  ]
swiftness to another.   I had almost said, that
like the Hydra of ancient story, they are no
sooner  deprived  of  one head of error, than
their  ever wakeful  but  misguided industry,
compensates them for their loss by  an hun-
dred more!

     But,  fortunately for the cause of truth,
and the welfare of mankind,  their numerous
retreats of fallacy have been so far detected  ,
and exposed,  that they appear to be reduced  j
to their la/st  hope.   They  have, at  length,  !
been  obliged  to  entrench themselves in an
insulated situation, from which a retreat would  <
seem to be impracticable.  Their only alter-
native now, is successful defense, or uncon-
ditional submission.

     To drop the language of metaphor, and
adopt a style  more suited  to my subject, the
most  active and decided  advocates   for the
importation of yellow fever, rest the whole of
their  doctrine on a  single fact, at least, they
rely on a single  source, for  the collection of
testimony to support it.

     This  change  has   somewhat  altered
the complexion of the controversy, and calls
for a  different mode of refutation. 
[   177  3
     Instead of admitting our late autumnal
epidemics to be the same with the bilious en-
demic  of the West-Indies, and other warm
regions—instead  of granting  them, as  they
did at first, to be produce able in every tropi-
cal country,  the  above  characters  declare
them to  be  necessarily  derived from the
coast  of Africa.  They  consider them  as
the  same with  the Boulam  fever, reported,
by Dr. Chisholm, to have been  introduced,
by the ship Hankey, into the Island  of Gre-
nada.   In short, they hold them to be nothing
else, than so many branches springing direct-
ly from that parent-stock.


   Such appears, at present, to be the state of
the controversy, that the scale of victory  must
incline to the one side or the  other, accor-
ding to the truth  or  fallacy  of this  opinion.
My object, in this number, is, to subject it to
a faithful and candid examination.

     In attempting this, I shall be led to the
consideration  of  two particular  and distinct
heads.

     I. The nature  and force of the evidence,
adduced by Dr.  Chisholm, in support of his
                     B b 
[  178   3
 belief,  that  a  contagious  fever  was intro?
 duced into Grenada, by the ship Hankey.

     II. The  weight  of testimony  brought
 forward, by  the advocates  of foreign origin
 in this place, to prove the importation of this
 fever from Grenada to Philadelphia.

     It would be injustice to the  memory of
 the  late  Dr.  Elihu  Smith, of  New-York,
 (whose pen  was a sunbeam to whatever  it
 touched), not to acknowledge myself indebted
 to his  industry and  accuracy, for several of
 the facts that will be used, in the  discussion
 of the first of these heads.

     I am induced  to believe, that the pesti-
 lence,  described by Doctor  Chisholm, was
 not introduced  into the town of St.  George,
 by the ship  JIajikey, for the following rea-
 sons:

     1.  Because  the doctor appears to be
 himself the  only physician of eminence in
 the West-Indies, who has adopted this opi-
 nion.

    But, the  catalogue  of  medical  charac.
ters in that place, who advocate the doctrine
ttf West-India origin, is extensive and illus. 
[    179   ]
trious.   Among these I  must notice, in parti-
cular, Mosely, M'Clean, Lempriere, Pinkard,
Boreland, and Jackson, (13) men, from whom,
     (13)  Among   several  fanciful  opinions,   and  some
 interesting matter,  contained  in  Dr. Jackson's late publica-
 tion, entitled " An Outline and History of the Cure of Fever,"
 there exists one error, in particular, Which I should deem my-
 self culpable were I  to pass unnoticed.
     What must render this error peculiarly exceptionable to
 the mind of an American physician, is, its being calculated to
 disseminate wrong and unfavourable impressions,  relative to
 the state of medical science and opinion in this country.
     I do hot mean to charge Dr. Jackson with any degree of
 voluntary  misrepresentation.    I  am  confident, that  the
 liberality and rectitude of his mind, are incompatible with false
 and dishonourable intensions.   I cannot, however, bat lament,
 that he should, when possessed of but very imperfect  informa-
 tion, have ventured to toiich on a subject, which involves the
 professional reputation of some  of  the most respectable physi-
 cians in the United States.
     In the above mentioned  work,  page 219,  (Edinburgh
 edition)  our author says,  " The other party (alluding  to the
 physicians  of  Philadelphia) maintains the origin of yellow
 fever to be  strictly domestic,  but that the immediate source
has been ordinarily artificial,  viz. damaged cargoes of coffee,
onions,  &c.   This party,  at one time, supposed the disease to
be virulently and generally contagious, it now supposes it to be
so, only conditionally and in a low degree—Various proofs and
testimonies  are adduced  in support  of these contradictory-
 opinions, which, publicly and privately are maintained by their
respective partizans,  with more zeal than discernment.
     Again, page 220,  the doctor repeats, " The opinion of
general  contagion, maintained at one  time by this party (the
advocates of domestic origin) is now abandoned, but,  a condi-
tional or limitted contagion is still believed to take place."
     The  present memoir (which contains not my own senti-
ments alone,  but the sentiments of most of the physicians of
Philadelphia,  who  believe in the domestic  origin, of yellow 
t    180   ]
to use  Dr.  Chisholm's own expression, " it is
unsafe to  differ,  on medical  subjects."
fever)  furnishes abundant proof of  the  injustice done by Dr.
Jackson, tojthat extensive and respectable class of practitioners.
     It is here  explicitety declared, (and most of my profes-
sional  brethren concur with me in opinion) that  so far from
being conditionallycontagious,  yellow fever is not contagious
at all;  and that,  so far from being essentially  dependent on
foul shipping or damaged cargoes, these constitute only one of
its accidental sources.
     Nor is this opinion, by any means,  of  recent date.  It
has been gaining ground ever since the autumn of ninety seven.
I well recollect, that, in the summer of ninety eight, when Dr.
Jackson was on a visit to Philadelphia, the non-contagious na-
ture of yellow fever was a favourite topic with many of  my
medical acquaintance.
    With respect to the other branch of the hypothesis, which
Dr. Jackson has thought proper to attach to us,  I believe it
has never been advocated by any physician, either in this, or
in any other country.
     It has indeed been said, and apparently with much justice,
that  exhalation from damaged coffee,  and other putrid sub-
stances, discharged from vessels at our wharves, gave  origin to
many of the early cases of yellow fever in ninety three, ninety
seven, and ninety eight.  But, no one has ever yet committed
such an outrage on probability, as to suppose, that the  effluvia
from substances  so Iimitted in extent, could alone disseminate
pestilence  through all Philadelphia, and, independently of con-
tagion, keep it in existence for several months.'
     The  physicians of Philadelphia are no less sensible, than
those  who  have held staff appointments  in the West Indies,
that foul air  from damaged coffee, and other imported veget-
able substances, is of the same nature,  and will  produce the
same disease, with that given out by our own domestic sources
of putrefaction.  And, they have uniformly contended, that a
general epidemic, must have for its  cause a general exhalation.
     It is true,  that all the practitioners of medicine  in this
city, fell into an error, relative to the contagion of yellow fever, 
£    1S1    ]
      These  enlightened physicians were  in-
capable of regarding,  with an  eye of indiffer-
when it first made its appearance  among us in ninety three*
But, by the advocates of domestic origin, this  error has been
long  since abandoned ;  and Dr.  Jackson has found too much
cause to change his own professional/opinions,  to take excep-
tion at changes in the opinions of other physicians.
     I will not contend  with the doctor,  whether  the medical
partizans, in Philadelphia, exhibit most  " zeal" or " discern-
ment" in defence  of their respective opinions.  But,  I  will
venture to assure  him,  (and I feel the  pride of an American
in offering the assurance)  that,  within  the term of the  last
seven years, more true light has been shed on the origin, nature,
and treatment of  pestilential diseases,  by  the writers of the
United States, than by those of all the nations  in Europe.
     I know of no proposition more weak (I might have said,
more absurd) than that which admits yellow fever to be con->
ditionally contagious,  or,  as it is  generally expressed, conta-
gious only under certain circumstances.
     If a disease  be contagious at all,  no  circumstances can
render it otherwise.  Contagion forms an essential trait in its
character, and to be deprived of that trait, would be, to be de-
prived of one of  the most stricking qualities of its nature,—-
would be, in fact, .to be converted into ariother disease.
   Who ever heard of small pox, measles, lues venerea, or any
other really communicable disease, so far relinquishing its nature,
as to become only conditionally contagious ? It is indeed true,
that  at times  certain constitutions resist  the  action of the
poisons of these diseases*   But such instances are extremely
rare, and do not, in any degree, militate against their uncondi-
tionally contagious  nature.  They only bespeak the existence
of a peculiar cast or state of constitution, in  the persons exempt
from the  influence of contagion.
     True febrile  contagion  is  the result of  a  morbid and
specific state of action, in  certain  secreting vessels of the hu-
man body.  Nor can these vessels do  otherwise  than secrete
this contagion, while such  specific action exist?.  But, to alter
or destroy this action, in which the essence  of the disease con-
s  tu, is to alter or destroy  the disease itself. 
C    182   ]
ence,  the  supposed importation  of pestilence*
into  the  Island  of  Grenada.   Though they
felt as men, for the  calamity before  them, yet,
without  suffering  themselves to be  misled,
either by any thing of novelty in its  appear-
   As well might we say, that fire can burn and cold chill in-
only conditionally, or,  that the saliva of a rabid animal, and
the effluvia of the Mancinella,  are only conditionally poisonous,
as that a fever of a contagious nature, is propagable only under
certain circumstances.
     When the poison  of a contagious fever is  once secreted,
it is then a certain modification of matter, capable of a specific
action ;  and,  when applied to  the  human  system,  whether
amidst pure or contaminated air, will as certainly produce that
action, as any other physical cause will give rise to its appro-
priate effect.
     I pass in silence, as being foreign from my subject, certain
illiberal and unfounded remarks,  admitted by Dr. Jackson intd
the same publication, relative to the conduct of the Philadel-
phians, during the yellow  fever of ninety three.
     "Pusillanimity, selfishness,  and depravity of heart,"
are the heavy and  degrading charges, with which our author has
attempted to blacken the  character of this respectable, bene-
volent, and virtuous people.
     I will not enquire from what source the doctor has derived
his  information on this subject.  But,  I sincerely regret his
having been misled by documents, which must  have been in-
spired by envy, and dictated by falsehood !
   If ever courage and magnanimity appeared to tower above
the common level  of humanity ! If ever  considerations of self-
interest were  completely discarded !  If ever, in the midst of
danger and death, virtue  was practised purely  " for virtue's
sake!" Such spectacles ennobled the conduct of many of the1
citizens of Philadelphia, during the calamity in question.
    Were I  not restrained  by motives of delicacy, I could
mention names,   among  which that of "  Marseilles  good
Bishop" would be proud to be enrolled ! 
[   183   ]
ance,  or by popular prejudice, they enquired
into its origin, with the calmness and delibera-
tion of philosophers,

    After  industriously   collecting,  and
weighing with attention, all the evidence which
the subject afforded, they found no reason to
believe, that either the pestilence of Grenada,
or that which appeared afterwards in the neigh-
bouring Islands, was of African descent.   On
the other hand,  the  more they enquired,  the
more  perfect was their conviction, that  the
disease, in question, was  nothing else than
the bilious endemic of their climate, heightened
in malignity by various  causes,

    Nor did their conviction terminate here.
In the course of their researches they became
persuaded, that the disease  was  wholly des-
titute  of contagion,  and,  therefore, incapable
of being either introduced among them, from
the coast of Africa, or exported from the West
Indies to any other country.

     We have,  then, on the one hand, the soli-
tary evidence of Dr.  Chisholm,  surgeon to a
small establishment of ordinance in the Island
of Grenada ; and, on the other, that of a consi-
derable number of medical characters, some of
them  first in military rank,  and all of them in 
[   184  ]
the first grade of  professional eminence, in
the places where they  resided.  It requires
no great power of  discernment,  to discover
on which side the evidence  ought to* prepon-
derate.

     Though the testimony of mere opinion
cannot be  admitted  as  conclusive  on  either
hand, its weight must be in proportion  to  its
accumulation, and to the respectability of those
from whom it is derived.

     2.  Because the history of the Hankey,
previously to her arrival at Grenada, renders
it highly improbable that she could have intro-
duced a contagious disease into that Island.


     This vessel left Bulama, the place where
her disease appears  to have  originated,  on
the 22d of November  1792,  and  arrived at
Grenada, on the 19th of February 1793.  Her
passage from the one  Island  to  the  other,
included a period of three months all but three
days.  During this time she had been  twice
very carefully cleansed and   purified,  v^z.
once at  Biasso, and  once at St. Jago.   SJie
had also undergone a similar process, previ-
ously to  her  sailing  from  the  Island  d
pularca. 
[   IBS   ]
     The purification, which the Hankey un-
 derwent at St. Jago, took place subsequently
 to the termination of disease among her crew
 and passengers.  In point of time, therefore,
 it was  peculiarly calculated  to prevent  her
 from continuing any longer a nidus of conta-
 gion.   Provided the process was skilfully per-
 formed, nothing short of her entire destruction
 could have offered a higher security  against
 future  danger.

     But, these purifications amount to no-
 thing more  than presumptive evidence, that
 the Hankey was clean, on her arrival at  Gre-
 nada.  We are in possession of other testimony,
 more positive in its nature, and more conclu-
 sive in its tendency.

    This vessel,  during her continuance  at
 the Island of  St. Jago, kept up  an uninter-
 rupted intercourse with the Charon and Scor-
pion,   two British   ships  of war,  without
communicating a symptom of disease to either.
On her passage from thence to Grenada, she
touched  first  at the  Island of  Barbadoes,
where  she lay three or four days, and after-
Wards  at  that of  St.  Vincents,  where  she
continued about a day and a half.  At  each
place the  crew were not  only suffered to go
                    C c 
                C   is6  3

on shore, and mingle freely  with the inhabi-
tants, but the latter even came repeatedly on
board, yet no disease resulted from  this li«
beral intercourse.

     With the facts  contained  in  this last
paragraph, and which are so  important in an
enquiry into the state  of the Hankey, Dn
Chisholm appears either to  have been igno-
rant, or to have suppressed them in his nar-
rative respecting that vessel.  To be igno-
rant of them, argued a palpable deficiency in
the  necessary knowledge of his subject, and
their suppression,  if known, could not have
resulted from a spirit of candour.

     It,  notwithstanding  the  above  inter-
course with the Hankey,  the crews  of the
Scorpion and Charon, and the people of Bar-
badoes and St.  Vincents,  escaped infection,
why should  the inhabitants of Grenada have
been more unfortunate ?

     Is  there any thing  in the  constitutions
of the Grenadians,  calculated to  render them
peculiarly liable to pestilence ? Can it be sup-
posed that  the matter of contagion,  in  the
Hankey,  was either  less  abundant,  or less
active, when she touched  at Barbadoes and
St.  Vincents, than when she arrived at Gre- 
[   187   ]
nada ?  Did she  not remain,  at the two for-
mer places,  a  sufficient  length of time, to
have left behind  her the  seeds of disease ?
Finally, is there a single circumstance, in the
whole history of the Hankey and her voyage,
which  can  suggest to us a reason,  why the
Grenadians should have been infected by her,
while others,  equally and  previously exposed
to her, escaped unhurt?

     On the  other hand, if there existed any
difference,  with  respect  to the  chances of
escaping infection,  this certainly appears to
have been in  favour of Grenada.

     The actual sickness  of the Hankey had
ceased before her arrival at either Island.  If,
therefore, time  could have had any effect in
destroying the  contagion she is supposed to
have contained, she must, doubtless, have had
less of this poison on  her arrival at Grenada,
than when she previously touched  at Barba-
does and St.  Vincents.

     The following is, at least, a very plausi-
ble, and, in my view, a just statement of the
matter now under consideration :

     The pestilence of Grenada exhibited, on
its first appearance  in that Island,  consider- 
                 [  188   }

 able novelty, combined with uncommon malig.
 nity of character,

     It did not immediatly occur to Dr. Chis-.
 holm,  that these  novel phenomena might be
 the effects of a new and  pestilential constitu*
 tion of atmosphere, co-operating with a super-
 abundance of the common exhalation of the
 place.

     To  use his own  words,   he  consi-
 dered the disease, as in all respects, a  " nova
 pestis"  specifically different  from the ende-
 mic of the West Indies,  the origin of which
 was to be sought for  only in a distant  cli-
 mate,

     The Hankey, having  arrived  a short
 time before the  appearance of this supposed
 foreigner,  was fixed  on  as the  vessel  in
 which he had made his descent.

     This charge appears to have been, alto-
 gether,  under the influence and direction of
 accident.   It was necessary for Dr. Chisholm
 and  his  associates in opinion, to select some
 vessel, as the vehicle of importation, and the
Hankey,  having,  some  time  before,  had* a
 sickly crew, was more liable to suspicion than,
 $ny o^her- vessel then in the harbour, 
P   189   ]
     PI ad any vessel  from the Levant, arri-
ved, about the same  time, at the port of St,
George, the Hankey would, in all probability,
have  lain  unsuspected,   while  the  former
would have been stigmatized, as the source
of the calamity, and the disease have been
denominated the plague of the East.


     It  was, therefore, the novel appearance
of the epidemic, in question,  connected with
the necessity of coming to some decision with
regard to its origin, rather  than  any direct
evidence against the Hankey, that subjected
her to  the  suspicion  of being  an  infected
vessel.


     Unfortunately for Dr. Chisholm, that
impatient propensity we feel, to assign  im-
mediately some cause for present evils, rai-
sed perhaps to a higher pitch, by repeated and
pressing interrogations from  the inhabitants
of the town of  St.  George, precipitated him
into a decision  on  this subject, before he
had given it a sufficient  examination.   And,
we well know  the  reluctance,  with  which
men relinquish an opinion, for  the truth of
which they  have  pledged  their  judgment,
and, in  some measure, their  character. 
C   19°  ]
     Physicians  of  discernment,  in other
parts of the West-Indies,  remote from the tu-
mult and  confusion, occasioned by the pesti-
lence  of  Grenada, had an opportunity of
viewing the disease, in all its relations, with
that degree of calmness  essential to success
in philosophical researches.  No  cause ex-
isted to hurry  them into a premature  deter-
mination,  with respect to either the origin or
nature  of the evil.   Their decision,  there-
fore when formed, was neither the hasty result
.of the first  impressions made by the novelty
and malignity of the disease, nor wTas it the
offspring  of a troublesome importunity among .
the  inhabitants, pressing in their  enquiries
after the  birth  place of  the calamity.   It
was the  mature  result of  accumulated and
well digested evidence.   But,  this  decision,
as already observed, was uniformly in favor
of the  doctrine of West-India  origin.

     Similar  to the  foregoing situation  of
Doctor Chisholm,  and equally calculated to
betray into error, was that of the physicians
of  Philadelphia,  in the  autumn  of  ninety
three.

     These gentlemen were the  first,  who
were called on to  decide respecting the ori-
gin  of a disease, novel to them in  several of 
                C   19*  1

fos symptoms,  and, in its general malignity*
devastation, and  rapidity  of  progress, alto-
gether unprecedented  in  the annals of our
country.

     Alarmed and disconcerted by such a
formidable combination of circumstances, and,
constantly importuned by the  interrogatories
of their  fellow citizens,  most  of them, in
like manner with Dr.  Chisholm, were hur-
ried into  an opinion, founded on a hasty and
Very partial view of their subject*

     Either  unacquainted with, or not im-
mediately adverting to, the laws which go-
vern  epidemic  diseases,  they  conceived  it
impossible that a pestilence of such gigantic
force, and, in many -respects, so different from
the common diseases of our  country,  could
originate from the action of domestic  causes.
Hence, by one hasty and inconsiderate step,
they were precipitated  into that abyss of error
and inconsistency, which constitutes the doc-
trine of foreign importation.

     But, the case was different with most of
the physicians of New-York, ■ Baltimore, Bos-
ton,  and Norfolk;  not because they were
more enlightened than those of Philadelphia,
but,  because  their  situations' were  more fa- 
C   192  ]
 Vourable for the discovery of truth.  Remote
 from the place where yellow fever appeared
 first, with unmasked features, they were at
 liberty  to  suspend their opinion,  respecting
 its origin, till the  subject had undergone the
 necessary investigation.   Nor was this sus-
 pension of opinion without  its effect.   When
 the  disease  appeared, finally,  at  their own
 doors, actual observation  on it,  instead of
 embarrassing them,  served  only to confirm
 them in that opinion, for which  they were
 prepared by preceding circumstances,  name-
 ly, that it was not the descendant of a foreign
 climate, but,  an evil generated and pampered
 among ourselves.

     Hence  it would appear,  that medical
 characters  have been, at all times,  induced
 to adopt the  doctrine  of foreign importation,
 or that of domestic origin, accordingly as they
 have formed  their determination from a partial
 and  hasty, or, from a general and deliberate
 view of the subject.   And,  hence the reason,
 why so large a proportion of the older prac-
 titioners of Philadelphia, compared with the
 other commercial  cities of the United States,
persist  in their belief of the former doctrine.

     The younger physicians of this country,
generally,  but particularly  those  who have 
C   193  ]
■received their education at the University of
Pennsylvania,  since  the year  ninety  three,
and who, having no  prejudices to encounter
relative  to the present controversy, were, on
that account,  the  more  susceptible of  truth,
have" almost universally adopted the opinion,
that our late epidemics were of domestic ori-
gin*

     3*  A strong  circumstantial  evidence of
the fallacy of any doctrine, is,  its advocates
being obliged to involve  themselves in incon-
sistencies in attempting its support.  Truth
is simple and plain,  seldom requiring  to be
defended by intricate, and never by contradic-
tory arguments.

     Let us examine, by this test, Dr. Chis-
holm's hypothesis, respecting the introduction
of pestilence, by the  Hankey, into the Island
of Grenada.

     We  are  told, by  the doctor, in the se-
venty ninth  page of his " Essay  on the  Ma-
lignant  Pestilential Fever," that a warm cli-
mate, such, for example, as that of Grenada,
and of the  West-Indies in general, is  less
friendly to the  propagation of contagious  dis-
eases,  than a temperate one,  such as that of
                   Dd 
                [   194   ]

Great Britain, and of most of the countries of
Europe.   We are further informed by him,
in the ninety-first page of the same   work,
that between the first of June, and the middle
of August 1793,  during part of which peri-
od, the  pestilence  of Grenada was   at its
height,  two  fleets sailed for  Europe from
the port of St. George.

     As, from our author's  own  narrative,
most of the shipping in the harbour, particu*
larly that part engaged  in the regular  trade
with Britain, appears  to  have suffered from
the ravages  of the epidemic, it is  not  possi-
ble, that all  the vessels  belonging to  these
two fleets, could have entirely escaped.  Some,
probably the greater part of them,  on  sailing
for Europe,  must have  carried along with
them more or less of the disease in question,
Yet, without being previously   subjected,
either  to quarantine  or cleansing, they  all
entered their destined ports, and their  crews
mingled, as usual, with the inhabitants, with-
out disseminating  among them the seeds of
pestilence.

     If,  then, after a voyage of only four  or
five weeks  from a sickly port,  and, without
being cleansed, two whole fleets were unable
to introduce the above disease into  any of the 
[   195  ]
ports of Great Britain, where,  according  to
Dr.  Chisholm, the  climate  is  friendly  to
the propagation of contagious diseases ; how
is it possible, that after a  voyage  of nearly
three months from the  place of her sickness,
and, after two  very faithful cleansings, the
Hankey alone  could  have introduced the
same disease  into the  Island of Grenada,
where,   according  to  the  same author, the
atmosphere is unfriendly to the existence and
spreading of contagion ?

     The following is a  brief  but fair spe-
cimen  of the logic of Dr. Chisholm, on this
point:

     The climate of Grenada  is unfriendly
to the introduction, and propagation of conta-
gious diseases, while  that  of  Great Britain
is favourable to both.    But,  in the year
ninety three,  one  sickly vessel, which  had
been three times cleansed  and purified, from
the  commencement  of her sickness,  intro-
duced  a contagious  fever into the  former
place ; whereas, in the same year, two whole
fleets, a great  part of which had been rava-
ged  by  the  same fever, and, had not been
subjected to  purification at all,  were una-
ble to  disseminate  contagion  through the
latter, 
[   196    ]
     As the doctor has, by his singular mode
of reasoning, proposed this physical enigma,
in the first edition cf his " Essay on Malignant
Pestilential Fever,5'  I  flatter  myself he will
favour the public with  a  solution of it in the
second, which, I am told, he  is  now prepa-
ring for the press.


     For the purpose, of illustrating, and fur,
ther impressing on Dr.  Chisholm's   mind,
(should these memoirs ever fall into his hand)
the inconsistency  of his  reasoning,  in  the
above instance, I beg leave to lay before hint
the following proposition  :


     Let us suppose two persons,  A and B,
to be possessed of different degrees of suscep-
tibility,  with regard to the influence of conta-
gion.  A,  whose  susceptibility  is  much the
weakest, is obliged  to sleep, for a single night,
on  a bed, where,  several weeks  before,  a
person had died of a contagious disease.  The
bed,  however,   had  been  previously well
aired,  and all its  apparel carefully washed.
B,  on the other hand,  who is constitutionally
much more liable to be injured by  contagion,
is obliged to sleep,  for ten or twelve nights
in succession, on  a bed where a person had
died of the same disease, a few days  before^ 
C   197  ]
and where no precautions of cleanliness had
been adopted.

     I beg  to be informed by the  doctor, or
any of his adherents, which of the aforesaid
persons runs the greatest risque  of contracting
disease ?

     Let the names be changed, and, other
circumstances remaining as above, A  will be
Grenada, and  B,   Great  Britain,  in  the
case of  the  fever  described by  Dr. Chis^
holm.

     Our author's making  the pestilence of
Grenada, so  readily introduceable, by single
vessels,  into  Philadelphia,  in the summer of
ninety three, from  thence to St. Pierre, and,
from thence, again to Grenada, the climates
of all which places are much  warmer  than
that of Great Britain,   where it could not be
propagated,  even by fleets,  is  nothing more
than a continuation of the  above inconsis-
tency.

     4.   Another reason for believing, that
the pestilence of Grenada  was  not imported
from  the coast of Africa, but  generated by
the action of domestic  causes,  is, that  in  a
short time,  after  its appearance  in the port 
[   198  ]
and town of St. George, it  became  the  sole
disease of the place, by either banishing all
others, or obliging  them  to  do homage, by
assuming its symptoms.

     As  nothing can be  more explicit and
satisfactory on this head, than the account
given of it, by Dr. Chisholm himself, I beg
leave to  quote it, in his own words :

     " Most other diseases," says the doctor,
" degenerated into, or,.partook very  much of
the  nature of this.  Dysenteries suddenly
stopped, and were immediately succeeded by
the symptoms  of the  pestilential fever. Ca-
tarrhal  complaints,  simple,  at  first,  soon
changed their  nature :  Convalescents  from
other diseases  were  very  subject to  this;
but,  it generally proved mild.  Those labour-
ing at the time, under  chronic complaints,
particularly rheumatism  and hepatitis, were
also very subject to it.  The puerperal fever
became malignant, and, of course, fatal; and
even pregnant  negro-women,  who otherwise
might have had it in the usual mild degree,
peculiar  to that description  of people, were
reduced to  a very dangerous situation by it."

     Had  Dr. Chisholm been endeavouring
to prove  the Grenadian origin of the disease, 
[   199   ]
in question, he could  not have adduced  a
more forcible argument,  in favour of his opi-
nion, than that furnished by the above detail
of facts.

    For, by physicians,  who have  made
the subject of epidemics  their  study,  it has
long been admitted as a  physical axiom, that
a  disease which  banishes  from  the  place
where it  prevails,  or assimilates to itself,  all
others, must result from a morbid  condition
of the  atmosphere, in general: I mean  the
atmosphere of the place  where the disease
exists.   From this  self-evident truth (if any
truth in physics be self-evident) I  am confi-
dent Dr. Chisholm  has too  much discern-
ment and candour to withhold his  assent.

    But, such a  state of atmosphere as the
above, requires for its  production, a  cause
much more  powerful and extenfive, than the
quantity  of contagious  effluvia, issuing from
the bodies of a few hundred, or even of many
thousand sick and dead.

     Dr. Chisholm admits,  that  the  conta-
gion of the pestilential fever of Grenada, ne-
ver operated at the distance of more than ten
feet from its source.  How, then, is it possible,
that a cause so circumscribed, and compara- 
                [   200  ]

tively feeble  (particularly as the sources  of
it were not extremely numerous) could so far
effect the whole atmosphere of a place, as  to
suspend  or  modify  all  its  native diseases?
The supposition is certainly  an extravagant
one, and can originate only in a want of in-
formation, or a negligence of reflection*

     The  small pox has been known to infect
at double  the  distance, assigned as the  limit
of the  above contagion.   Suppose, then, this
disease had  been introduced, simply by in-
fection,  into  Grenada, instead of the pesti-
lence described by Dr.  Chisholm, would  it,
in the  space  of a few weeks,  have so  com-
pletely  revolutionized the atmosphere of the
place,   as to  banish all  other  diseases,  or
transform  them into its own likeness?—By
no  means.  It would,  as  in other  places,
have   spread  gradually  and  slowly  from
house  to house, allowing the usual diseases
of the  season  to  pursue  their  customary
course.

     If a disease, simply contagious, can  so
far usurp  the  ascendency  in  a place, as to
banish, or assimilate to  itself all others, why
is not this  the  case with  small  pox, in  Phi-
ladelphia,  during the seasons of inoculation ? 
C  201   ]
     The number  of persons,  in  this city,
affected with small  pox, in the natural  way,
and by inoculation,  every spring, is superior
to that of those, who were ill of pestilence,
at Grenada, in the  year  ninety  three.  The
volume of variolous contagion with  us must,
therefore, be  greater in  at  least the  same
proportion.

     But this circumstance has no  effect, in
either banishing or modifying our vernal dis-
eases. We have our pneumonies, our rheuma-
tisms, and, our catarrhs, in the same number,
and  with the same  symptoms,  as we would,
were the  small pox unknown in 'our country.

     This latter disease,  being in some sea-
sons more, and  in  others less malignant, is
evidently  influenced  by  the temperature of
the weather, and,  by certain  states  of the
air ;  but,  has never yet been  able, by its
contagion alone, to  give rise  to a  variolous
constitution  of atmosphere—has, never yet
been  able, through  this  medium,,  to make
its  co-temporary diseases  acknowledge  its
empire, and assume its livery.

     It  has been  long  my opinion, that a
variolous constitution of  atmosphere,  prcdu-
                   E e 
[  202  ]
ced  originally,  not by local  contagion, buf,
by the operation of  certain physical causes,
which  philosophers   have  hitherto  sought
after in vain, may, in  any populous district or
country, give rise to an  epidemic small pox,
which shall reign, for a  while, the monarch
of the place.  But, I again  repeat, that me-
dical records furnish no instance, where either
small  pox, or any  other contagious  fever,
has  solely, by  the power  of contagion,  so
far revolutionized  the general atmosphere,
as to suspend or modify  all other diseases.

     Nor  is it  possible  that  such  an event
can  ever occur,  till the  general laws  of na-
ture submit to the controul of topical causes.
As well might we expect  the fervour of the
tropics to be subdued by the coldness  of an
ice-house,  or, the inclemencies of a polar'sky,
to yield to  the warmth of a few  small  fires,
as the general constitution of the atmosphere
to be counteracted by the  influence of local
contagion.

     5.  My last argument against the  impor-
tation of the pestilential  fever of Dr. Chis-
holm, from the  coast of  Africa,  is, because
it attacked .those recently from Europe, and
other high  latitudes,  much more readily than
the natives and old inhabitants of the Island 
[  203   ]
of Grenada.   Negroes, in particular, enjoyed
a greater exemption from it, than  any other
description of people.

   x To physicians of reading and observa-
tion  it is unnecessary to remark,  that  such
discriminations constitute no part of the char-
acter of truly contagious fevers.   The poison
of these  diseases assails, with equal success,
the black and  the fair, the native of the tro-
pics, and the  hardy descendant of the cli-
mates  of the  north.   Of the truth of  this,
small pox, measles, and lues venerea, furnish
conclusive testimony,

     When there was  every possible chance
for introducing the contagion of the pestilence
of Grenada (supposing the  disease to  have
been contagious) into the  Island  of Great
Britain, the inhabitants  remained in perfect
safety.   Why, then,  should the very same
people have been  so peculiarly susceptible
of disease, from the  same  poison,  on remo-
ving from their own, to  a tropical region?
Admitting thjs apparent augmentation of sus-
ceptibility to have been  real, it  would  have
operated in  contradiction  to the  well  known
fact, that warm climates  are more unfriendly
than temperate  ones, to the existence  arrf
propagation of febrile contagion? 
[   204  ]
     But, the peculiar liability of Europeans
 to the foregoing disease, is easily  explicable
 on a different principle,

     Tropical  climates,  though unfriendly
 to the existence and operation  of contagion,
 are the hotbeds of putrefaction,  and  the lfybo*
 ratories of noxious effluvia.  These gases min,
 gling with the  general body of the  atmos-
 phere, perpetuate in it something of a pesti-
 lential constitution,  the power and malignity
 of  which,  are at times greatly augmented,
 by the influence of uninvestigated but general
 causes.   This  appears to  have been  the
 case in the  town of St.  George, in  the year
 ninety three..

     Such,  however, is  the power of habit,
 that the  natives  and old inhabitants of the
 place,  (though apparently  possessed of feeble
 health) having  been  long accustomed to a
 vitiated  atmosphere,  bore  its  impressions
 without much injury, while its malignity was
 destructive  to robust  strangers,  from  high
 latitudes,   who  had always  been  used  to
 uncontaminated air.

     It is thus, that, from habit, an enfeebled
Turk will himself devour, with impunity,  as 
C  205  ]
much opium,  as would prove fatal to several
hardy Europeans.

     If, instead of the natives of Great Bri-
tain  removing to the town of St. George, the
heated and contaminated  atmosphere of that
place could have been transported to them, it
would,  independently  of  contagion,  have
affected them  with pestilence,  in  their own
climate, no less than  it did  beneath that of
the tropics.

     Such are my reasons for believing, that
the pestilence of Grenada, in the year ninety
three, was not imported into  that Island from
the  coast of Africa,  but generated by the
action of domestic  causes.

     But,  even  admitting  that it  was,  in
the  first instance, carried by contagion from
the  coast of Africa  to the  Island  of Gre-
nada, what evidence  is there,  that it was
introduced from thejice into the city of Phi-
ladelphia ?

     Can the  advocates of importation point
out any line of actual communication, in the
summer of  ninety three,  between  this city
and  the port of St.  George, which could have 
[  206  ]
served as a channel for the admission  of this
disease ?

     So conscious are these gentlemen of the
incompetency of their resources, for the  ac-
complishment of this, that they have never
dared to commit themselves in the attempt.
They have only told  us,  in  general  terms,
that the disease was introduced among  us,
leaving the particular manner to our own con-
jecture.

     They did, indeed, during our  distresses,
in ninety three,  at several different times, fix
on as many different vessels, as the vehicles
of its conveyance.   Their  misfortune, how-
ever,  was, that neither of those vessels hacj,
either directly or indirectly, had the slightest
intercourse with the Island of Grenada.

     The only argument I have  ever heard
advanced,  by the advocates of importation, to
prove that  our epidemic of ninety three, was
derived from  the  Island of Grenada, is  so
pitifully weak, that it is impossible  to listen to
it with  a  serious  countenance.  It is taken
from a note to page  201 of Dr. Chisholm's
" Essay on the Malignant Pestilential Fever."
I  shall  give it  in the doctor's own  words,
begging the reader (should he attach to it  no, 
[  207   ]
more weight and respectability than I do) to
be assured, that I introduce it, not because I
think it worthy of refutation ; but, to show
by what  flimsy testimony men will  struggle
for  the support of a favourite doctrine.

     " That  they,"  (meaning the fevers of
Grenada and Philadelphia) " were the same,"
(says our author) and consequently the latter
a descendant of the former, " the following
fact renders evident: A vessel from Philadel ■
phia introduced the disease into  St. Pierre,
Martinique, in October 1793.   Another vessel
from  New-London touched at St. Pierre, in
her way to Grenada, and received the infection.
On  her arrival in February  1794,  the  sick
were  put  under my charge, and I found the
disease to  be my old enemy,  the pestilential
fever.   I treated  it with mercury and  was
successful."

     As there are  certain truths so clear, in
themselves,  that  reasoning  cannot  render
them more impressive, there are, in like man-
ner,   certain  arguments  so  consummately
weak,  that in  refutation of them reasoning
would be  lost,   as we  attempt, in vain,
to increase  the darkness of  a place,  from
whence all light  has  been  alreadv  exclu-
ded. 
t  208  ]
     I shall dismiss this subject, by a single
remark, namely, that to depend solely for the
support of any doctrine, on an  argument so
feeble and  inconclusive as the foregoing one,
bespeaks  either  a  mind disqualified for con*
trovers,y, or a cause incapable of defence*
                   No.  X.

a statement  of  the analogies  between bilious
  and yellow  fever--outlines  of  the practice
  proper  to be pursued in  yellow  fever--the
  Opinion that  yellow f.ever  is  a  disease of
  Domestic or American origin, not new—various
  points of difference between yellow fever,
  and typhus mitior, or common  ship fever.


     AN  my last number, I controverted, at
some length,  the opinion, which derives  our
yellow fever  from the coast  of Africa,  and
Intimated  my belief,  that it is the same with
the endemic of the West Indies,  and the com-
mon autumnal fever  of our own country.

     This belief  is founded principally on
the numerous and striking  analogies,  existing 
[  209  ]
between these  diseases,  of  which  I  beg
leave to offer the following  statement:

     I.  The common bilious,  and the  yellow
fever (I should have  said states or modifi-
cations of fever) of our country, appear and
disappear,  at the same seasons of the  year.

     The  customary period  of  their  preva-
lence,  in temperate  climates,  is, from the
middle  or  last  of  July, till  the commence-
ment of  cold weather.  Sometimes,  owing
to the  warmth of  the  spring  co-operating
with  other  causes, they  appear as  early
as the middle or beginning of June.

     The progress of these forms of disease,
after they have spread to a certain extent,  is
but little affected by rain, unless accompanied
or succeeded  by  cool weather.   It is most
certainly  and  effectually  checked by the
occurrence of  frost.   In climates  bordering
on the line, they prevail indiscriminately at all
seasons.

     II.  They appear only  in situations  of
the  same description, being confined exclu-
sively to such  as  abound, more or less,  in
putrid exhalations.
                   F f 
[  210  ]
      The principal of these  are, low marshy
 places, large cities, and camps, where cleans
 liness is not duly enforced.   Mountainous
 and elevated countries are, to speak compara-
 tively, but seldom and partially afflicted  by
 the above calamities.

     III. The bilious and the  yellow states
 of  fever select  their subjects,  for  the most
 part,  from among persons of the same descrip-
 tion.

     In this country, they attack Europeans
 and their descendants, rather  than negroes,
 or  people   of   colour.  They   attack  men
 rather than women,  and adults rather than
 children.

     Of  adults,  the plethoric and robust are
 more subject to them than the weak and de-
licate ; the inhabitants  of high  and healthy
 situations,  who  visit marshy  countries,  ot
large cities, only occasionally, than those who
reside constantly in these places.

     The natives of tropical countries, who
have never resided in high latitudes, are, in
a great measure, exempt from the  dominion
 of these maladies. 
[  211   ]
     The dissipated and the habitually intern*
 perate, are their most frequent subjects,  and
 their most certain victims.

     IV, They are ushered in,  in  the same
 manner,  they exhibit, during  their course,
 symptoms   differing  only  in  degree,  and
 commit their principal ravages  on the same
 organs and parts of the body.

     Both the common bilious and the yellow
 states of fever may be considered as seated
 primarily in  the  stomach  and abdominal
 viscera, while the  other parts of the  system
 suffer only by sympathy.   As it would seem
 almost impossible for the poison, which gives
 origin to  these diseases, to  have immediate
 access to the brain, lumber regions,  or limbs,
 the pain  experienced, in these parts, is pro*
bably not idiopathic.

     V.  They oftentimes  give  rise to  the
 same forms of chronic disease.

     Jaundice and dropsy are the frequent
 consequences of  illy cured remittent  and
yellow fevers.  Perhaps, jaundice was never
 so common, in this city,  as in the the winter
and  spring, immediately subsequent  to  the
yellow fever of  ninety three.  But the  fre« 
[  212  ]
quent occurrence of this hepatic disease, in
places subject,  from their situation,  to com-
mon bilious fever, is a circumstance of which
no practitioner  of medicine  can be ignorant.

     VI.  These  states of  fever  may be
reciprocally converted  into  each other.

     Thus, by proper  treatment, a genuine
yellow fever may be reduced to a remittent,
while,   by improper,   the  latter  may be
changed into  the  former  state of disease,
accompanied by the most highly aggravated
symptoms,

     Our  late  epidemics, particularly, when
on  the  decline, assumed, in many instances,
something  of the  form and character of remit-
tents,

     VII.  The common  bilious and yellow
States of fever are alike destitute of the power
of contagion.

     When  patients labouring under them,
and even exhibiting symptoms  of the highest
malignity,  are  removed to a distance from  a
contaminated atmosphere, they are uniformly
nursed  and attended with impunity.  I  have
never known one instance,  where  either of 
[  213  ]
the forms of disease, in question,  has been
unequivocally communicated from  the  sick
to the well,  in the pure air of the country,

     However active, therefore, the poison
producing these maladies may be,  and how-
ever great the derangement it creates  in the
human system,  yet, when it has taken effect,
it appears to be entirely lost, and that without
issue, having no power to perpetuate itself.

     VIII. The progress of both these forms
of disease has been, at times,  arrested by a
continuance of very dry and warm weather.

     In such instances, like vegetables trans-
planted to a barren soil,  they have died for
want of proper  nourishment.   By being ex-
hausted of  moisture, in consequence  of the
heat and dryness of the weather, the sources
of putrefaction  have failed to  supply them
with the food of noxious exhalations.

     No objection against this can be  derived
from the continuance  of  our  epidemic,  in
ninety three,  notwithstanding a drought  ©f
nearly three months duration.  Our sources
of putrefaction  did not,  at that time,  depend
immediately on the  clouds  for a  supply of
moisture,   The quantity of water  absolutely 
[  214  ]
- necessary  in  the  economy of our  city,  was
 amply sufficient to continue the process.

     In the surrounding country,  many mar-
 shy tracts, by being completely exhausted of
 their superfluous  moisture, enjoyed, during
 that season, an.exemption from the prevalence
 of their common autumnal endemic.

     IX.  These states  of fever frequently
 prevail in the same place,  at the same time,
 and,  therefore,  under the same constitution
 of atmosphere.

     In  the  maritime parts,  and  other low
 lands  of the  southern  states,  while a great
 proportion of the  inhabitants are  attacked,
 in autumn, by the endemic of the country,
 the disease, in many instances, assumes  die
 malignity of  true  yellow fever, carrying off
 its victims on the third  or fifth  day.  This
 melancholy result  happens, most commonly,
 to the  inhabitants of more healthy places,
 wrho have visited the  flat country during  the
 sickly season.

     The  co-temporary  occurence  of  two
diseases,  or forms  of disease, in  the  same
place, during a time of health, is no evidence
of their  identity or kindred nature.  There 
t  215  ]
prevails, at  such a  time,  no common and
general cause,  to give  existence to a com-
mon  disease.   The  complaints of  such a
period must b^,  in a great  measure, the off-
spring of accident.  And, as the very essence
of accident is variety, so must it be of accident
tal  diseases.

     But,  the case is  different, during the
prevalence of a morbid and powerful consti-
tution of atmosphere.   Such  a  constitution
is known to banish or suffocate every disease,
except that which it  is peculiarly calculated
to produce. During its continuance no essen-
tial variety exists among acute  febrile dis-
eases.

      This  is the case with  what  I  shall
denominate the endemic or  autumnal consti-
tution of atmosphere, which  prevails,  annual-
ly,  in a higher or lower degree, in the  mari-
time parts of the  southern states.

    This constitution is no sooner completely
formed, than  catarrhs, pneumonies,  rheuma-
tisms, and  all other acute diseases, are su-
spended, while its peculiar offspring and nurse-
ling, the bilious endemic, becomes in a  great
measure the monarch of the place, 
[  216  ]
     Were the common bilious and the yellow
fever two diseases radically different,  as well
might we expect them to occur in the system
of the same patient, at the same time, as  to
appear, at once, in the same place, and under
the same constitution of atmosphere.  Their
co-temporary occurrence, therefore, under the
above circumstances,  bespeaks  them to be
nothing else than modifications  of  the same
complaint.

     X.  The  last point of analogy between
the bilious and  yellow states  of fever, which
I shall mention, is, that the  same  mode  of
practice,  urged with  different  degrees  of
energy, and to  different degrees of  extent,
is found to  be alike  efficacious  in their
cure.

     This  leads  me,  not unnaturally,  to
offer a few remarks, relative to the treatment
of yellow fever.   Under this head I shall be
very  brief, as it is not my intention to enter
into the detail  of practice, but only to touch
on general  principles.

     Yellow  fever, though not in every in-
stance, a disease of excessive  action, appears
to be always produced and continued by an
excess of stimulus.  Hence, in its early stages, 
C  217  ]
the mode of  treatment consists in the use of
sedative or evacuant remedies.

     The only exception to this rule, is, when
the cause  of the disease has existed in such
concentration and force, or the body been in
such a state of preparation for its action, that
the powers of  life  have been paralysed, by
the first impressions,  and the  system imme-
diately sunk below the depleting point*

     In instances  like  this, the practitioner
must   administer  sedative remedies  with  a
cautious hand.  Yet   even  here,  intestinal
evacuations . are allowable and necessary. In
some  cases of original and great prostration,
venesection,  to the  amount of three or four
ounces  at  a time,  and  frequently  repeated,
has, by relieving the  system  from an op-
pressive load  of stimuli,  allowed its action to
rise,  and,  in this  way, contributed  to the
restoration of health.  But,  in other cases, of
a  similar nature, the  same mode of practice
has not only failed of success, but  apparently
precipitated the dissolution of the patients.

     In yellow fever, as  in  all other febrile
diseases,  the morbid excitement is  both gene-
ral and local.  It is general, as diffused through- 
                t  218   ]

out the whole vascular system; it is local, as
determined,   more particularly,  to  the  sto-
mach  and other  abdominal  viscera.  The
pain in the  head, though frequently excru-
ciating, appears,  as already  observed, to be
only  sympathetic,  and  the  affection of the
brain but seldom amounts to  actual inflamma-
tion.

     In  the  stomach a  degree of morbid
excitement running on to inflammation occurs,
which may   perhaps   be  considered  as the
radix of the  disease.   It appears to be the
first link in  the  chain of phenomena, which
constitute, collectively, the malady in ques-
tion.   The  other links  most probably grow
out of this, on  the all-perVading principles of
sympathy.

     That the stomach is actually inflamed,
in every severe attack of yellow fever, is a
truth which no longer admits  of a doubt.
To the physician  of experience  and  discern-
ment,  it is evidenced, no less unequivocally,
by the nature of  the  symptoms which uni-
formly occur, than by the demonstrative dis-
coveries resulting from dissection.

     This affection of the stomach, frequent-
ly runs  so high, as to terminate  in gangrene, 
[  219   ]
or death, from  excessive action.  Hence, a
vitiated secretion from  the internal surface of
that organ  in its  moribund state, appears to
constitute the matter of " black vomit."

     Somewhat analogous to this discharge
from the stomach, are the  grumous hemorr-
hagies,  that oftentimes occur, about the same
period,  from different  parts  of the  body.
They  bespeak  a tendency to  dissolution in
the parts or organs from which they issue.

     Corresponding to the  symptoms they
are  intended to  combat,   the remedies for
yellow fever must be both general and local.

     The general remedies are, rest, silence,
a recumbent posture, cool air, or affusions of
cold  water,  sudorifics, and blood letting.

     These exert an immediate influence in
reducing the action  of the system, at large.
They are peculiarly calculated, to meet and
counteract  what I have already denominated
the general excitement.

   The local remedies are cathartics, enemas,
cool drinks, and whatever has a tendency to di-
minish immediately the excessive action in the
blood-vessels of the stomach and its appendages 
[  220  3
Though these exert also an influence  on the
general excitement,  they  do it only through
the medium of  sympathy.  They affect, in
the first instance,  the stomach and intestines,
while these organs,  by their extensive range
of sympathy, produce  similar effects  on the
Other parts of the body.

     These  local  remedies  act  probably
through the same medium, by which the poi-
son of yellow fever  makes its way  into the
system.   This  pestilential  gas  enters the
mouth, by respiration,  is arrested by the
saliva,  food, or  drink, and conveyed into the
stomach,  from whence, as from a centre,  it
diffuses its malignity through all  the  frame.

     Were venesection, in the stomach, a
practicable operation, I  have no doubt, but in
certain cases of yellow fever, and subsequent-
ly to the  reduction  of general excitement,  a
small quantity  of blood,  drawn immediately
from  that organ, would prove an invaluable
remedy.  It would act,like scarification of the
turgid vessels of  the eye, in opthalmia, or,
like cupping,  in  cases  of local  inflamma-;
tion,

    The  reader will perceive, that the above
remedies  are, with regard to  their  mode cf 
[  221   3
 operation, partly negative,  and partly  posi-
 tive.


     The negative are, rest, silence, and a
 recumbent posture.


     These  produce  their  effects  by  their
 prevention  of the  stimulus of  sound  and
 muscular  motion, in  the  same  manner as
 darkness operates as a  sedative, by the exch>
; sion of light,


     The positive remedies belong exclusive-
 ly to the class  of evacuants.


     To this, cool air,  cold affusion, and cool
 drinks, constitute no exception.  By carrying
 off the fluid of heat, from those parts of the
 system,  with  which they come  in contact,
 they prove  evacuants  no less  genuine, than
 cathartics or blood-letting.


    A free admission of cool air, and a general
 affusion of cold water, evacuate heat from the
 whole surface of the body,  while cool drink
 performs the  same  office to the primse  vise,
 particularly to the stomach. 
[  222  3
     Cold,  therefore, in  whatever  manner
 applied,  may be  denominated,   in  medical
 nomenclature, the evacuant of heat.

     Sudorific remedies possess the power
 of a twofold operation, and, therefore,  when
 judiciously  administered,  appear  to  be  pro-
 ductive of a twofold advantage.

     Besides their  operation  as evacuants,
 in carrying off perspirable effluvia, in combi-
 nation with an  abundance of the matter  of
 heat, they alter the general drift or  determi-
 nation of the morbid action.  They change a
 centripetal into  what  may be denominated  a
 centrifugal disease.   They transfer excessive
 excitement from organs that are more, to such
 as are less, essential to life.   By  opening the
 pores of the skin, exciting action in them, and
 rendering them  outlets for constant  and in-
 nummerable currents of stimulating fluids,
 they operate on an  inflamed  stomach, like
 setons in the cure of troublesome ulcers.

     Such is the first,  or what may be termed
 the  sedative  class of remedies,  usually em-
 ployed in the treatment of yellow fever. They
 are indicated in that stage of the disease, where
 excessive action constitutes the predominant
feature. 
[  223  3
     The second class shall be briefly spoken
of under  the  denomination  of alterants  or
equalizers.

     The aid of these is  generally required,
after the febrile symptoms have been suffi-
ciently moderated by the operation of the first.
Their  effect is,  to equalize excitement,  to
remove the  occasional paralysis or torpidity of
certain  organs,  and  to prevent  any part of
the system from being debilitated or destroyed
by excessive action.

     The reader will perceive, that the princi-
pal object in the use of these remedies, (as
has been already observed, with respect to
one of the effects of sudorifics) is, to transfer
morbid action from organs that  are  more, to
such as are  less, essential to the economy of
life.   Being always applied at a distance from
the part they  are  intended  to  relieve, they
operate entirely through the  medium of sym-
pathy.


     The principal remedies  in this  class,
are, the hot and the cold bath, sometimes alter-
nated with each other, sinapisms, blisters,  and
mercury, pushed to the extent of  salivation.
The operation  of cupping  has,  though not 
[  224  3
perhaps with strict  propriety, been arrange J
by some under the  same head.


     For the  purpose of  exciting action  on
the surface of the body generally, and in this
way relieving  deep  seated affections on  prin-
ciples  of sympathy, both the  hot and the
cold bath has been repeatedly  used with the
happiest effects.


     The application of blisters and sinapisms,
is a point,  in  which practitioners of medicine
have an opportunity for the  display of  no
small degree of judgment.


     These remedies, not extending, like the
warm  bath, over the whole system, but, being"
confined to particular parts of it, will be applied
to no purpose, unless such parts be  selected
with skill.


     To render blisters  and other  external
applications  effectual in the  removal of local
disease, they  must  not be laid indiscriminately
on any part of the body,  but,  on such places
only, as sympathize actively with the parts to
be relieved. 
[  225   3
     A thorough knowledge of these seats of
sympathy would furnish one of the best secu-
rities for the success of our practice.

     Thus, in affections of the stomach, it is,
in a. great measure,  useless to apply  blisters
to the  shoulders or thighs, while much bene-
fit results  from   their  application  to   the
epigastric region or wrists.  In like manner,
by blistering the  ancles or neck, we often-
times relieve affections of the head, whereas,
in such cases,  no benefit  would be derived
from similar  applications to  the abdomen or
breast.

     To discover and make known the numer*
ous and diversified points of sympathy of the
human system,  should constitute  a primary
object  with teachers  of medicine. The above
are  refered to, not  as any thing new,  nor
as  a statement  of  all  the  sympathies  at
present known,  but  only in illustration of a
principle of practice.

     Mercury, when urged,  in  febrile cases,
to the  point of salivation, appears,  in  like
manner, to produce its  salutary  effects  by
means of sympathy.  It transfers morbid  ex-
citement from  the brain, stomach,  liver, &c.
                   H h 
                £  226   ]

to the salivary glands and parts  adjacent,   tt
even appears  to possess a power of exten-
ding and strengthening the bond of sympa-
thy, and thus connecting  the  different parts
of the human system more firmly together,
by this nice and inexplicable tie.

     During what may be denominated  the
salivary or mercurial  state of action,  certain
parts of the body seem to  sympathize with
each other,  which have  no evident  connec-
tion, on this principle, in a state of health.

     Such  are the leading remedies that have
been found most efficacious, in the treatment
of yellow fever, and,  such appear to be theit
principles  and  modes of operation.  The
reader need not  be  informed,  for  his own
penetration will  discover it,  that they are  cal-
culated  to answer two  general  indications,
namely, the reduction of excessive action, and
the equalization of the excitement of the sys-
tem.   In  other  words,   they  possess  the
power of  reducing general  fever,  and,  of
transfering  morbid  excitement  from such
organs and parts as are more, to such as are
less essential to life.

     Respecting the treatment of  patients,
jn  a state  of convalscence, I shall say no- 
C  227  3
thing, as diet and exercise,  rather than medi*
cine, are to be  relied on here.

     To those who wish for  fuller  informa-
tion on  the whole  subject, I  beg  leave  to
recommend the  perusal of several late publi-
cations, by the physicians  of New-York,
Philadelphia,  and  the  West-Indies,  but,
particularly of  the  three  last  volumes  of
" Medical  Enquiries and Observations," by
Dr.  Rush.

     It yet remains that I should notice one
argument  more, which  has been occasionally
urged against the  doctrine of the  domestic
origin of yellow fever.

     By persons of illiberal and uninformed
minds,  it has  been alleged,  that  this doc-
trine is altogether  new, and  such  supposed
novelty has been construed into  an  objection
against its authenticity.

     In reply to this, I beg leave to remark,
that the charge of novelty,  even when just,
constitutes no  solid  argument against the
truth of an  opinion.   Perpetual innovations
on long established doctrines in physics,  are
the necessary result of the progress of science,
Discovery and  novelty are,  in a certain  re« 
[  228  3
 spect,  synonomous  terms ;  for, every dis-
 covery must  be  new to  those,  to whom
 it was before  unknown.   To  decry  and
 attempt to check  enterprize and innovation
 in science, is  to meditate  destruction to  the
 spirit of improvement,

     It is much to be lamented, that the anti-
 quity of opinions  is too frequently made the
 standard of their truth and respectability, as,
 in vulgar  estimation,  the wisdom of an indivi-
 dual is apportioned  to  the number of  his
 grey  hairs.  Young men, and new  opinions,
 have  to encounter alike  the prejudices and
 distrust of the weak and  illiberal.  They
 are duly respected, only by those few minds,
 that are sufficiently enlightened to appreciate
 dieir  intrinsic worth.

     But,  the opinion that yellow  fever is  a
 disease of domestic origin, is not justly sub-
ject to the charge of novelty.  It is  perhaps
 no  less  reverend   from  age,  than   that
 which derives it  from the West-Indies.   It
 can be iraced b?.ck,  with  certainty, to the
year  1746, at which  time this disease pre-
vailed  in the  city  of  New-York.  The Re-
verend  Dr. Dickinson, an enlightened cler-
gyman, and a respectable  physician, of Eli-
zabeth  Town (New-Jersey),  in an  address 
[  229  3
  published  in  the  " New-York Weekly Post-
  Boy," a public print of that period, declared
  to the  citizens,  during their calamity, that
  the pestilence which afflicted them was neither
  an immediate scouf^e from the hand of Dei-
  ty, nor yet an evil  imported from  a  distant
  country, but the offspring  of their own do-
  mestic filth.

      A similar sentiment was entertained by
  the late Dr. Bond,  of this place, respecting
  the yellow fever, which  prevailed here in the
.  year sixty two.   The  doctor's  opinion,  on
!..  this subject, is stated in a  lecture,  delivered
  by him,  in  the Pennsylvania hospital,  and
  preserved, in manuscript, among  the records
  of  that  institution.  With  an   enlightened
  boldness and  liberality that do honour to his
  memory,  he there declared the  filth of our
  city to be competent to the production of the
  aboye disease.

      I shall close the present memoir  by a
  few remarks relative to the difference between
  yellow fever and  the typhus  mitior of Dr.
  Cullen, better  known perhaps by the names
  of jail, hospital,  and ship fever.

      I am  led to this by an opinion, adopted
  by some of the advocates of importation, « that 
[  230  3
our late epidemics  were nothing  more than
the common ship fever, under a highly malig-
nant form."  They even say,  that the same
disease, only  inferior in degree,  has  been
often introduced into this&ountry,  in crouded
passenger-vessels,  from  Ireland, Flamburgh,
and  other parts  of Europe,

     That  yellow fever  may originate  on
board a foul vessel, from  any port, and  in
any  latitude, is  certainly true ; and in grant,
ing this,  the  advocates  of  importation fur-
nish an argument readily convertible against
themselves.  No testimony, however, can be
collected from hence, that this complaint is
the same with typhus mitior.

     The opinion of the  identity of these two
diseases, appears to be   satisfactorily refuted
by the following considerations :

     1.  Typhus mitior  is acknowledged, by
every one, to be unequivocally contagious.

     Yellow fever is declared, by the, most
experienced and enlightened  physicians, to be
destitute of contagion,

     2.  Typhus mitior is a disease of temper*
ate and cold climates, and prevails indiscrimi- 
C  2*1   ]
iiately at all seasons, but commits its greatest
ravages during the winter.   Regions bordering
on the Line appear to be altogether inimical to
its existence.

     Yellow fever is a perennial  disease of
tropical climates only.    It  originates  and
prevails, however,  occasionally in all coun-
tries, but,  in  temperate  and high latitudes,
rages as an epidemic,  only during the warmth
of summer and autumn.   It is arrested by
the cold of winter no less effectually than the
putrefaction of animal and vegetable substan-
ces.

     3.  Those persons most subject to typhus
mitior are,  the weakly  and such as  suffer
from a deficiency  of  nourishment.   From
some observations  on  the subject,  women
appear  more  liable to it  than men.   I do
not know that it makes  any discrimination in
favour of blacks or people of colour.

     Yellow fever attacks, more particularly,
the healthy, plethoric,  and well fed  part of
the  community.   Women are known to be
less  subject to it than men.   Against Africans
and  their descendants, it appears  to possess,
comparatively speaking, but little enmity. Jn 
                [   232   3

favour of people of colour it  makes, in like
manner,  a marked  discrimination.

     4.  Typhus  mitior  seldom,  (I  believe
never,)  spreads,  as  an   epidemic, through
whole cities, or tracts of  country, banishing
all other diseases, or imperiously forcing them
to assume its  symptoms.   Depending, for its
propagation,   on  contagion alone, it  is  too
feeble to assume  such an  ascendency  in the
atmosphere.

     But,  the reverse of this is known to
constitute a very striking trait in the character
of yellow fever.

      5.  Typhus  mitior,   in  its  attack,  is
generally gradual and slow,  as if intending
to destroy the system by sap.

     Yellow  fever  is  mostly   rapid  and
impetuous,  in its onset,  determined to carry
every thing by a coup de main.

     The former disease often continues from
four to nine weeks, while  the latter is limit-
ted to as many days.

     The former originates only in situations
illy ventilated, and too  much  thronged by 
[  233  3
 human inhabitants.   But the latter, though
 rendered more malignant by such  situations,
 may  originate,   at  least in sporadic cases,
 wherever  the  atmosphere  is   impregnated
 with  putrid  exhalations.   The  one  appears
 to be the result of a poison formed by a vitia-
 ted  animal secretion, the other of  a much
 more powerful one,  produced by the process
 of putrefaction.

     6.  From  its   commencement,  typhus
 mitior is marked with great prostration and
 languor  of the moving powers of the system.
 It does  not  admit of free evacuations, but
 calls  for the use of cordials and stimulants.

     With  regard  to yellow fever,  the  case
is different.   In  its  first  stages, the  commo-
tion of the  system is, for the most part, ex-
cessive,  copious evacuations are indispensi-
ble,  and stimulant  remedies inevitably de-
structive,

     7, Yellow fever is characterized by
certain degrees of remission,  which  serve  to
confirm  its  identity  with  common  bilious
fever,  while typhus mitior  gives no  hour  of
respite throughout its whole course. 
[  234  3
  ■   8. From dissection we learn, that typhus
mitior and yellow fever occupy different seats,
in the system.


     The former appears to commit  its chief
topical ravages on the brain, while the  latter
is more particularly the vulture of the  ab-
dominal viscera.

     Such are a few,  though  perhaps  not
the  whole of  the  points, in which typhus
mitior  and yellow fever  differ  from each
other.


     As I write this part  of my memoir in
haste, it is even  probable, that I may  have
omitted  some,  more important  than those I
have mentioned-


     I flatter myself, however, that the facts,
here stated, are  sufficient  to  convince  every
candid  enquirer, that  there exists a radical
difference  between  the  two  diseases   in
question.

     I am unwilling to conclude this  lengthy
memoir,  without declaring,  that as truth  and
not victory is  my object in  writing it, I  will 
[   235  ]
rejoice  no  less  sincerely,  at the refutation
of its errors  (for who can boast an exemption
from error ?) than at the general prevalence
of the principles  which it advocates, 
f  236  ]
MEMOIR  IIL
 ON THE WINTER RETREAT OF SWALLOWS.

      JL HE  winter  destination of swallows
(hirundines purpureas, rus'ticEe, &c.)  though
of  little,  perhaps, no  practical  importance,
is a subject interesting  to the naturalist and
philosopher.   It  has attracted the notice  of
both hemispheres, and  of all  countries.  It
has long engaged the attention, and employed
the pens, of  characters  grown  old  in the
study of nature, whole names will be immor-
tal  as  the science  which they  cultivated.
What has given  scope  to the talents  of a
Ray, a  Willoughby, a Catesby, an Adanson,
a Buffon,  a Linnaeus,  a Kalm,  a Pennant,
and a  Hunter,  without being   exhausted,
must still  claim  a respectable place, as  an
object of research, with more modern natura-
lists.

     It  is to be lamented that the elucidation
which this  subject has received,  is, by  no 
[  $37   ]
means,  in proportion, either  to its antiquity
as an object of enquiry,  or to  the  number
and  eminence  of the  characters,  who  have
taken part in its discussion.

     Judging from  these  latter  circumstan-
ces,  we  would be  led to class it with the
most  luminous points  in  natural  history;
whereas,  so far is this from being the  case,
that it  may,  perhaps, be ranked among the
most  dark and vmdecided.

     I have  not the vanity to suppose my-
self  qualified to unloose,  at  once,  as  by a
touch of  magic influence,  all the intricacies
of this  gordian knot of science,  which has
so long withstood the united efforts of the
philosophers of Europe and  America.  Be-
lieving,  however, as  I do,  that the  point in
question  is  capable of receiving additional
illustration,  I have  ventured to  make it the
subject of the following memoir.

     As  I do not  aim at  the  character of
much  originality,  I  shall proceed  in  what
I may conceive to be the most natural  order
of enquiry,  without  discriminating particu-
larly  between the  arguments, that are my
own,  and those for which I  am indebted to
the writings of others.  My best  apology to 
£  228  3
the reader for  this, is,  an unwillingness to
trouble him with what  to  myself is irksome
and disagreeable, I mean, a repeated  refer-
ence to authorities.

     To  those who have  made  philosophical
ornithology their study, it is unnecessary to
remark,  that  three different opinions  have
been advanced,  and defended, by naturalists,
relative  to  the winter retreat  of swallows.-
They are,

     I. That these birds migrate from high
latitudes, and pass their  winters in  warm
climates,   where  they can  readily  procure
appropriate food, and where the temperature
is congenial to their delicacy of constitution.

     II.  That they do not migrate to a dis-
tant climate at all, but retire to rocks, caverns,
hollow trees,  and  other  places of  security,
and there spend their winters in  a state of tor-
pidity.

     III.  That they retreat,  about the close
of stmmer, not to any  dry land abodes, but
to the  bottoms of rivers,  lakes, and arms of
the sea,   where,   embedded in mud,  they
remain torpid, till  awakened to  life by the
return of spring. 
[  239  3
     Each, of these opinions, however con-
tradictory they may be, has been occasionally
defended by philosophers of equal talents,  ac-
quirements, and fame.

     The last  has  been  supported,   more
particularly,  by the  naturalists of  Sweden,
and the two first, by those of Britain, France,
and America.

     It  must not, however, be  concealed,
that  some late writers, in this country, have
advocated the hypothesis of the watery  hyber-
nation of swallows.

     On the  second  opinion, I  mean that
which places the winter habitation of swallows,
in rocks, caverns,  and hollow trees, I shall
bestow but  little  attention.   As  it does  not
appear to be opposed to  any general  law of
animated nature, it carries with it no physical
or intrinsic  improbability, sufficient to  render
it altogether incredible.   Many warm blooded
animals are known to pass  the winter, in  a
state  of  hybernation,  and  it is,  therefore,
possible  that the swallow may be of this num-
ber.

     I am willing, to admit,  with Dr. Barton,
(to whose  lectures and  writings  I am  much 
[  240  3
indebted for what knowledge I possess  on
subjects of natural  history) " that  swallows
have  occasionally been found  in the hollows
of  decayed trees,, in  different parts  of  our
country, during that very season, when it is
suppossed these birds  are in a  more southern
climate."   But, with that enlightened natura-
list, I must also believe, that these  are to be
considered as " extraordinary instances, which
very  rarely occur," and not as facts  illustra-
tive of the common history of these animals,

     I am  persuaded  that the  entrance  of
swallows  into the above places of retirement,
is altogether accidental, and that none have
ever  been  found there, except  either such
as, through indisposition or weakness, have
been  unable to accompany  their fellows in
their  autumnal  migration, or,  as have been
arrested by cold weather,  in consequence of
a premature return to northern regions, in the
spring.

     Under such circumstances, these  un-
fortunate birds have been obliged to betake
themselves to the best  shelter they could find,
from the inclemencies  of the season,

     Were it  a general fact, that  all  the
swallows of our country  hybernate in such 
C  241   3
situations,  it is impossible that they  should
not be found,  more frequently, and in much
greater numbers,  than the advocates of this
hypothesis presume to be the case.

     But,  it is the  first and third  of the
preceding  opinions, that claim my attention
in  the present  memoir.  Before  entering,
however, on the immediate consideration of
them,  I beg leave to  offer a few remarks, in
reply to a sentiment  of Professor Kalm, one
of the most able and decided advocates for
the  winter submersion of swallows.

     " Natural history," says the professor,
" as all other histories, depends  not  always
upon the intrinsic degree of probability, but
upon facts  founded on the testimony  of peo-
ple of noted veracity."

     This  is certainly true,  when the facts
related are of  a common cast, and  neither
opposed to, nor above, any of the well known
laws of nature.  But, when such opposition
or  superiority  exists,  they  are  beyond  the
reach of common testimony.  In such  a state
of things,  the  evidence necessary  for their
support,  must be such  as would, in any
case, be  sufficient for the establishment of
                   K k 
[  242  3
a  belief in  miracles.   For,   a miracle is
nothing else than  an event,  either contra-
ry or  paramount to the established laws of
nature.

     Earth  and air are the natural elements
of man.   A watery abode  is  known  to be
incompatibfe with the terms of his existence;
for,  when  he ceases to respire, he ceases to
live.

     The  same  is  the  case  with all  truly
warm  blooded  animals, of which we  have
any  knowledge. Submersion, continued even
for a  short  space  of time, proves  no  less
certainly destructive to them,; than the most
deadly poison. -

     It may be laid down, then, as a general
law of nature, that  a submarine habitation, is
incompatible with the  life of warm blooded
animals.

     If,  notwithstanding this, a few voya-
gers,  or   travellers, even  of  unimpeached
veracity, should give an account of a newly
discovered country or island,  the  inhabitants
of which  are accustomed to pass five months
of the year on land,  in the  full display of
all -their faculties,  and  the  other  seven  in  a 
[  243   3
state  of torpidity,  at  the bottoms  of their
lakes  and rivers, what reception  would such
a story meet with from an. enlightened public ?
Would  any weight of human  testimony be
sufficient  to  give  it  respectability, and an
accredited  circulation ?   Would not its  own
intrinsic improbability,   resulting  from its
opposition to a law of nature, be sufficient to
stamp it as the offspring of deception, or as  a
monster of fable ?

     In such  a case, the  physical  improba-
bility of the  story  might, without the  least
departure  from the spirit of philosophy, be
urged  as  an  argument  subversive of the
weight  of any common testimony brought
forward in its  support.

     These  general  remarks   amount  so
nearly  to  self-evident   principles,  that no
farther  reasoning is  necessary  for their  esta-
blishment.  Their  application to" the present
subject, will appear  in  subsequent parts of
this memoir,

     At the  present  time  it  may not be
amiss to remark, that I  mean  to  controvert
the hypothesis  of  the winter submersion of
swallows,  rather by  endeavouring to expose
its improbability,   than  by advancing  facts 
[  244  3
in direct  opposition.  On  the  other hand,
the strong  probability of the  migration of
these birds, shall  be made  the principal
foundation for a belief in that doctrine.

     In  the farther  consideration  of  this
subject,  the following order  shall  be ob-
served :

     1.   I shall  take  a brief view  of the
testimony in favour of the  submersion of
swallows, advanced by the  advocates of that
hypothesis.  And,

     2.  Adduce such arguments, as appear
to  militate  against this  opinion,   and to
favour a belief in their migration to a distant
climate.

     Those  who  have  ventured to   give
positive  testimony  in  favour of  the winter
submersion of swallows, may  be divided into
two classes,

     The first  assert, that  they  have  seen
these birds  descending into the water, in the
autumn ;  the  second,  that,  in the  depth of
winter,   they have seen them brought from
the bottoms of lakes, or rivers, in a torpid 
[  245  3
state, and  recalled to life by the  application
of heat.

     Of  the former  class,  the most distin-
guished is Dr. Wallerius, a Swedish chemist,
who informs us,  " that he has  seen, more
than  once,  swallows  assembling on a reed,
till they  were all immersed,  and went to  the
bottom," meaning the bottom of the  lake, or
river, where the reed grew.

     The credibility of this  assertion  is much
impaired, if not  wholly destroyed,  by  the
following considerations :

     A reed,  being  a  tubular  plant,   and
containing  in its cavity a quantity of air, is
specifically lighter  than  water.  It will  not,
therefore,  sink  in  this  fluid,  unless forced
downwards by  a considerable weight.

     But,   the  same  thing  is  true,  with
regard to swallows.  These birds, possessing
a great extent of plumage, in proportion to
their size,  will  not sink in  water, in conse-
quence of their  specific levity.

     How  then is it possible, that two sub-
stances, each specifically lighter  than water,
can sink together to the bottom of a river or 
[   246  3
lake, without  some additional force to uroe
    7                                    o
them downwards ?  As well might we  expect
heat to result from the joint  operation  of ice
and snow, or darkness to follow the combined
action of two  luminous bodies, as the  above
event to take place under  the above circum-
stances.

     The only other eye-witness  I shall men-
tion of the decent of swallows into the water,
is, a certain Peter Cole, author of a late article
in the Medical Repository of New-York. (See
Medical Repositor}^ Vol II.  page 178).

     "As I was standing," says  this  gentle-  .
man," at my door, between the hours of five and
six in the morning, I observed a very large
flock of swallows, flying in an easterly direc-
tion.  I immediately repaired to the pond,  (u)
where there  was already a vast  number  col-
lected  in  the reeds and rushes.   They con-
tinued coming for nearly the space of  half an
hour, and vast numbers of them were flying
over the water,  in  almost  every  direction.
Some of these birds appeared to run  on  the
surface of  the  water,  with great rapidity,
   (14) A pond of fresh water, adjoining a marsl} ir. th?
vicinity of the city of New-York, 
C  247  ]
towards the east corner of the pond, and, in
the twinkling  of an eye,  disappeared  under
the water,  and rose no more."

    Though I am far from doubting Mr.  Cole's
veracity as a man,  he must suffer me,  in the
present instance,   to- call in question  his
accuracy as a  philosopher.


     It appears from his account of the above
phenomenon,  that he made  use of  a  " spy-
glass" in attending to the  motions and actions
of the swallows.   This he surely would never
have done,  had not these birds been too remote
from him,  to have  their  conduct examined
with the naked  eye.  From  the face of his
narrative,  therefore, we  have reason  to be-
lieve, that  he  was  considerably distant from
them when he made his observations.

     But,  every one acquainted with the use
of small optical  tubes,  must be  sensible of
the extreme difficulty, not to say  the imprac-
ticability,   of keeping  an object, no  larger
than  a swallow, and moving, " with  great
rapidity,"  in the proper field of vision. The
slightest motion of  the  glass,  or the least
deviation of the bird from a right-lined direc-
tion, would make  the animal  disappear, as 
[  248  3
suddenly and certainly, as if  it had plunged
to the bottom of the pond.

     This  circumstance,  therefore,  indepen-
dently of the inherent improbability of the fact,
renders the  story of  Mr. Cole extremely
equivocal.   It  is  further evident from his
own account, that his mind, from early im-
pressions,  was  predisposed to  a belief, in the
submersion of swallows.   It would,  perhaps,
be thought uncandid  in me to say,  how  far
this might  have influenced him in the present
instance.   It is a truth,  however, for men-
tioning which I can incur no  censure, that a
strong predilection for an  opinion is unfavour-
able to accuracy of observation respecting the
subject.ofit. The fallacious nature of a system-
building spirit is already proverbial.

     Indeed,   our author's whole  narrative
appears much more like the loose story of a
man relating a common event,  as it  appeared
to the eye of common observation, than like
the  accurate  statement   of  a philosopher,
drawn up after a faithful   examination of his
subject.

     As the place of the  supposed descent of
the swallows,  appears to  have been near to
the  " east  corner of the  pond," is  it  not 
[  249   3
probable, that instead of actually immerrnig
beneath the water, they alighted, either on the
shore  itself, or  on  some  of the reeds  or
rushes which grew about its borders ?

     Thfse birds, when flying near to  the
surface of water, are seen frequently, either
for the purpose of procuring drink, of washing
themselves,  or in pursuit of insects, to strike
against the water, and immediately rise again
and pursue their course.   Might not occur-
rences  of this kind, have  readily  deceived
Mr. Cole, especially  as  he  trusted the accu-
racy of his observations to a " spy-glass  ?"

     In  one  respect, at  least,  our author's
investigation of his subject,  must be acknow-
ledged, even by  himself, to be extremely im-
perfect.

     As he seems  to have been  sensible of
the particular place where  the swallows de-
scended into the  water,  why did he not pro-
ceed to make search  for them, in the bottom
of that part of the pond ? Had he done this,
and succeeded in discovering them, the truth
of his narrative would have been rendered in-
controvertible. He would then have had the
honour of finally deciding a point of contro-
                     ls 
[  230  ]
versy,  which had hitherto set bounds to the"
researches of philosophers.

     But, till Mr.  Cole's observations shall
have been conducted in a more accurate and
satisfactory manner, his testimony can never
be admitted as decisive.   On the other hand,
its weight  must  be considered as more  than
counterbalanced,  by the improbability of the
event which it is intended to establish.

     Among the stories  of all those,  who
profess to have  been eye-witnesses  of the
resuscitation of  swallows,  from a  state  of
submersion, that relate,d  by Professor Kalm,
appears to be the only one  worthy of atten-
tion.

     " In  January," says   this  gentleman,
" the lake  of Lybshaw,  (a  lake  in Polish
Prussia) being  covered  with ice, I  ordered
the fishermen to fish therein,  and,  in my
presence, several swallows were taken, which
the  fishermen  threw  in  again; but, one I
took up to myself, brought  it home, which
was  five miles  from thence, and it revived,
but died about an hour after its reviving."

     I feel that it is no easy matter to speak of
this  narrative exactly as  it deserves. Wliile, 
[   251    3
from the  character  of  its  author,  it  would
seem to possess a claim to  our  respect raid
behef,  its  want  of internal  probability is  so
glaring,  that  it  appears  better calculated to
mingle with  the stones  of romance, than to
occupy  a  place  in  a  work  devoted   to sci-
ence (   ).
    (15) Tf a swallow were first rendered so  torpid, by the
action of cold, as to have its respiration completely suspended,
and then submersed in watjr., or pUced under the mud of the
bott'-m of a river, there is  little doubt but it might remain
th-re for a considerable time, and be afterwards resuscitated by
the proper application of heat.
    The same thing  is perhaps true with  respect  to every
other animal capable of being reduced to a slate of torpidity.
For, after an animal is completely torpid,  I think it probable,
that it may be preserved in water nearly as well as in air.
    Supposing Professor Kalm to have been accurate, in his
statement Gf the fact already mentioned, this must have been
the case  with the  swallow, which he saw reanimated, after
having been taken from under the ice.  It must have been over-
taken by the water when  already in a torpid state,
    I do not, therefore, contend against the possibility of  a
few swallows having, in consequence of  proper treatment,
revived, after having lain,  by accident, for days,  weeks, or
even months, under water.   I only argue against the generality""
of the fact, by endeavouring  to shew, that this is not the com-
mon destination of these birds.  And I farther contend, against
the possibility of such swallows having placed themselves in
that situation,  by their own Voluntary act.  They must havs
been first rendered torpid, and then placed there by the hand
of accident.  Nor could they  ever,  by their  own exertions,
have extricated themselves from such a situation.   Withoul;
assistance from  some  quarter, the  sleep  they were in irr,;.-*.
have been the sleep of death, 
[   252   3
      That a  swallow  which  has  lain  somq
time  torpid, in a dry situation,  may be reani-
mated, is a circumstance that does not surpass
belief;,  because,  (independently of the  fact
itself being well ascertained) the animal king-
dom  furnishes many analogies, which render
such an occurrence probable.


      But, the resuscitation of one  of  these
birds,  after  having been  first drov/ned,  and
then macerated, for  several months, in  water
covered with ice, is s»n event so wholly unsup-
ported, either by  principle or analogy,  that
it appears impossible  for  the  unprejudiced
mind to admit it as  a fact.   Such  an occur-
rence would be no less truly miraculous, than
    Wr, frequently meet with extraordinary facts, of animals
being found torpid, yet capable of resuscitation, in the hearts
of recks and trees, and at great depths beneath the surface of
th' earth, where, circumstances wou'd induce us to  behove,
they had continued for ages.  Nor do the respectable autho-
rities,  on which these facts are related, allow us any shadow
of ground to suspect their truth.
    They appear to be explicable only on the same principles,
vnj'n'h  I have anvdiedto the explication of the above accidental
nh' nomena, relative to the  submersion cf  swa>k.nv".
    The Inclosed animals, in  question, must have been placed
in the situations, where they  were founet,  when in a torpid
Kr.ite.  Ann, b.hng in that state, and requiring no air for thtdr
subsistence,  such situations  were perhaps as compatdde as any
olLer.  with their retenti-CT'. ci a certi-ln degre; of vital .energy. 
[  255  3
the resuscitation  of the human body, after a
similar continuance in the same  element.

     I now  proceed, agreeably  to  the order
proposed, to a more  particular statement of
such  facts and  arguments,  as, while they
militate against the opinion of the submersion
of swallows, favour that of their migration to
distant climates.

     1. My  first argument, under this head,
is  derived from Dr. Barton's " Fragments of
the Natural History of Pennsylvania," page
16.

     " My friend, William Eartram," says the
doctor, " assures me that he has seen, in the
spring, large flocks of all our swallows,  upon
their passage from the south, and in autumn,
on their return southward, from  Pennsylvania
through Carolina to Florida,  where,  however,
neither of them winter, but continue  farther on
southward." " I cannot," continues our author,
" but  consider the  testimony of this gentle-
man,   in  matters  of  this  kind, as of high
value."

     This is, perhaps, the most respectable
and  conclusive  fact,  on this subject, to be
found in  any writer on  the natural  history of 
[  254  3
the swallow. It, alone, falls but little short of a
full  refutation  of those,  already  mentioned,
relative  to  the  winter  submersion  of  this
bird.

     Many  similar  facts  may be collected
from the journals  of navigators,  and the
wr/an,73 of  naturalists.


     We  are informed,  by  Mr.  Adanson,
that, on  the sixth  of October,  about  fifty
leagues from  the coast  of  Senegal,   four
swallows settled on  the  ship,  in which he
sailed.   These  birds were  recognized,  by
Gur  author,  as the swallow of Europe,  and
appeared to him to  be on their passage from
that continent to the  coast of Africa.


     Mr. Kalm,  himself,  furnishs  us with
a fact no less in point, relative to the settling
■of a swallow on a vessel in the Atlantic Ocean,
nearly  midway between  the continents of
Europe and America.


     Under this  article I shcdl  only add  a
brief extract from a  memoir, by  Sir Charles
Wager, published in the  fifty-third  volume
of the Transactions of the Royal Society. . 
C  255  ]
       " Returning home," says our author,
  tf in the spring of the year, as I came into
  soundings in our channel, (the British Chan-
  nel) a great flock of swallows came and settled
  on all my rigging: every rope was coverea; they
  hung on one  another  like a swarm  of  bees ;
  the decks and carving were filled  with  them.
  They seemed almost famished and spent, and
'' were  only  feathers  and bones;  but,  being
  recruited with a night's rest, took flight in the
  morning."

       The  foregoing  facts, though they do
  not amount  to  what can  strictly be  called
  possitive proof, yet very  strongly favour the
  opinion of the migratory movements of swal-
  lows.   The  testimony which they furnish,
  derives strength from  this circumstance, that
  the above  mentioned  flights  of these  birds,
  have occurred only in the spring and autumn,
  the proper  seasons of migration.

       2. The  flight of swallows,  when they
  have been  observed  in  autumn,  have  been
  always  in  a southerly, and, when in the
  spring, in a northerly direction.

       This, fact rests on the testimony of many
  respectable naturalists, and favours a  belief 
I   256  ]
in the  northerly and  southerly migration of
these birds.

     3. Swalilows, when they disappear in
the autumn, are fat, full, and vigorous ; but,
when they appear again in the  spring,  lean,
empty, and languid.

     In the  former instance, they  resemble
fairds prepared to undergo, and, in the latter,
those  that  have already  undergone,  the-
fatigues  of  a long journey, where  food is
not easily procured by the way.

     Nothing like  this  happens  to  other
animals, in  consequence of passing through
a state of hybernation, particularly to  those
that remain perfectly torpid, as must be the
case with swallows,  if they reside  under
water.

     In such a state, there can be  no  more
consumption of the substance of the body, in
consequence of vital action,  than would occur
in a piece of inanimate matter;  because, all
the motions of life, which could produce such
consumption,   are  completely   suspended.
The animal,  therefore, must  emerge in the
spring,  possessed of the very  same  flesh 
C   157  ]
which it carried with it in the autumn, to  its
winter retreat.

     4. It is evident, from many circumstan-
ces, that swallows,  like other birds,  moult,
or cast their feathers, at stated periods.


      But  this process never takes place,
during the summer residence of fhese birds
in northern latitudes.  This  season  appears
to be appropriated exclusively to the pleasures
of love, and to the care of their offspring.


     They  must moult,  therefore,  during
their absence from us, in winter.   But this
could never be the case, did they lie all that-
time in a state of torpidity, at the bottoms of
our lakes  and rivers.   For,  the business of
casting an old,  and  giving  birth  to a new
crop of feathers, is no less the result of vital
action, than the  general nourishment and
growth of the  body.


     5. Insuperable  objections against  the
hypothesis  of the  submersion of swallows,
arise out of the nature  of the situations,  in
which they are  supposed to  reside.
                   M m 
[  258  ]
     Not  to  mention the impracticability of
*hese  little anim Is descending to any depth
into the water, in consequence of their speci-
fic levity, (a circumstance to which I  have
already adverted), and to pass unnoticed the
hazards they would  run of being devoured
by rapacious fish, aquatic quadrupeds, water
serpents,   etc.  they  would still incur many
additional  dangers,  of being destroyed by
the changes the banks and bottoms" of rivers
and lakes suffer, inconsequence of the action
of their own waters.

     By the autumnal and winter rains, and
the melting  of snows in  the spring, these
bodies of water are subject to frequent swells,
and  occasionally  to  extensive  inundations.
Hence, their shores, and  the  mud and  sand
which  constitute their bottoms, are sometimes
washed promiscuously away, by the impe-
tuosity of their currents,  and  at other times
covered with vast quantities of alluvial matter,
deposited by the gradual  subsidence  of their
waters.  I need not add,  that either of these
occurrences would prove  alike destructive to
swallows in a state of submersion.

     6. In  high latitudes  swallows disappear
as early as the latter  end of  August, while
the weather is yet very warm,  and, sometimes 
[  259  3
 after long severe winters,  appear again  in
 the  spring, before the  lakes and rivers are
 clear of ice.

     How will the advocates of  submersion
 reconcile, with their extraordinary hypothesis,
 facts which speak such a contradictory  lan-
 guage ?

     A state  of hybernation in animals,  is
 always  the result of necessity, not  of choice.
 Jf,  then,  the  temperature  of  the  month  of
 August, when the mean heat is as high  as
 75°,  renders  it necessary  for  swallows  to
 take  shelter from it,  by descending to the
 bottoms of lakes and rivers, how is it possi-
 ble that these same  birds, can ascend again
 in the spring,  amid sheets of floating ice, and
 through water but little above  the freezing
 point ?

     But the  fact is otherwise.  Nature ad-
 mits no such paradoxical phenomenon among
 fier works, as that of a bird becoming torpid
 beneath the fervors of August, to be recalled
 to life by the  chills of April.  Animals  that
are known to hybernate, never go into  that
state till  the  actual commencement of  cold
weather. 
[  260  3
     One of the strongest  evidences of the
fallacy of an  opinion, is the  incompatibility
of the facts with which it  is connected. But,
such incompatibility, and that  in a very high
degree, must be encountered by the advocates
of the submersion  of swallows.

     Even, in the  climate  of Pennsylvania,
if we take  one of these birds,  on  its first
appearance in the  spring, and immerse  it in
one of our lakes or rivers, all but the head,
so that  the  process of respiration may still
go forward,  it will become,  in the course  of
a  few hours, so  torpid as to be unable  to
fly, or to make any effectual  efforts to extri-
cate itself from the surrounding element.  If,
in this situation, it be  abandoned  to its  fate,
it will immediately perish, by the well known
and inevitable action of water on warm blood*
ed animals.

     Here,  then,  the advocates of submer-
sion are  reduced to the  necessity  of either
relinquishing  their  doctrine  altogether,  or
admitting the absurd  proposition,  that  the
very same temperature,  which  has already
roused a  swallow from the deepest  torpidity,
may, in  a few  days (I  might have said a
few hours)  afterwards, reduce it again, from
a state of perfect life and activity, to  the same 
[  261  3
deruh-like condition.  But,  I  need not add,
that  to attribute such opposite effects  to the
same cause, is an abuse of reason, and  an
outrage on the spirit of sound philosophy.

     7.  Sensible, that, in common  times,
swallows are as liable to be  drowned as other
warm blooded  animals,  I conceived, that in
case the hypothesis of their submersion were
true, the constitution of these birds  must,
at the period of their disappearance in autumn,
undergo such  a change,  as to  render their
lives indestructible by the action of water.

     To reduce this supposition to its  proper
test, the following experiment, (which, were
it not my own, I would call interesting)  was
performed in  the presence  of my invaluable
friend, the late Dr, Cooper.

     In the close of the summer of ninety six,
I was so fortunate as  to become possessed of
two swallows, (the hirundo rustica) just be.
fore the annual disappearance of these birds,
I kept them uninjured, till such disappearance
actually took place.

      Immediately on the occurrence  of  this
 event,  the above gentleman and myself  lost
 no time in repairing to  the  Schuylkill, where 
t  262  3
We immersed our two little prisoners in the
river,  whir  weights  appended  sufficiently
heavy to sink them to the bottom.

     That our experiment might be rendered
as unexceptionable  as possible,  the  weights
were fixed in  such a  manner, as \6 draw
one  of the  swallows  down headforemost,
and the other in the contrary direction.

     We chose a part of the river  of such
a depth, and with  such  a  bottom, that  the
actions  of our  birds   could be   distinctly
observed.

     These  little  animals  no sooner came
in contact with the water, than they  mani-
fested signs  of great  alarm, and  struggled
with their wings, as  if desirous  to escape
from the embraces  of an element  that was
unnatural to  them.

     When   immersed  to  the  bottom,   air
began to escape from them,  partly from their
lungs,  and, in part perhaps from among their
feathers,  and  rose to  the  surface  of  the
water,  in considerable bubbles.   They exhi-
bited, for  a  short time, the  anxiety and con.
vulsions of animals  in a drowning state, but, 
[  263   3
m less  than three minutes, became perfectly
motionless.


     Having allowed  them to remain under
Water about three hours, we took them out,
with such caution as to prevent  them from
sustaining any  violence, and  made  use  of
every mean we could devise, to restore them
to life.   All our efforts,  however, for this
purpose,  were  fruitless.   Our birds  were
reduced, not to  a state of torpidity, or sus-
pended  animation,  but, of absolute  death.
The water appeared to have affected tiiem,
in all respects,  as it would have done other
warm  blooded   animals,  if subjected  an
equal length of time to its action.


     Experiments,  similar  to  the  above,
but  at different  seasons  of the year,  have
been  performed, by other  gentlemen, with
the same  result.

     Have  we  not ample reason,  then to
conclude,  that all swallows would, in similar
situations,  and, at all seasons, share precise-
ly the same fate, whether immersed in wa-
ter, by their own act,  or by the hand of  an
experimenter ? 
[  264  3
     8.  But, should we even admit the prac-
ticability  of swallows  descending,  without
being actually  drowned,  to  the bottoms  of
lakes and rivers,  of their becoming torpid
there,   and remaining  unmolested  in  that
condition, throughout the winter, how  could
they possibly be resuscitated in the  spring ?


     It is well known, that warm  blooded
animals can pass from  a state of torpidity to
that of actual life,  only  through the medium
of respiration.   When  about  to  revive, res-
piratory efforts  constitute  the first of their
voluntary  actions.   In such a situation, if
air be excluded from them,  they  can never
regain a state of activity,  but must inevitably
perish.


     Nor do swallows  form an exception to
this general rule.   These birds have been
frequently rendered torpid by means of cold,
and restored to life again,  by the  gradual
application  of heat.   During this process,
their dependence on air for  a recovery  has
been satisfactorily illustrated.   Their  first
voluntary efforts have  always  been those of
the respiratory kind, or  what are denominated,
in  common  language,  gasping  for breath. 
i  ^5   3
Nor have they been capable of any consider-
able degree of muscular exertion, till respira-
tion has  become perfectly free,  and  even
continued for some time.

     But,  it is unnecessary  for me to add,
that it is impossible for these birds to breathe,
when submersed to the bottom of a lake or
river.   And, 'it  is  equally  impossible for
them to acquire,.without respiration,  strength
sufficient, either to shake off  the  accumula-
ted mud of a whole winter, or to rise beneath
its pressure to  the surface of the water.

    Here,  then,  the  advocates for sub-
sion are  reduced  to a most  serious  and
obstinate dilemma.

    They must  either admit, that swallows
can breathe,  at  the  bottoms of lakes  and
rivers,  where  there is no air,  or that they
can pass from  torpidity to active life, without
the aid  of this vital process.

     I submit  the matter, thus  analysed,  to
their consideration, convinced that it presents
them with nothing but a choice of difficulties.
For, to  admit  either  branch of the  dilemma,
N n 
               C   2f,6  ]

would involve  them in  error  too  gross to
mislead.

     9.  Swallows  are not  birds  of dark-
ness, and,  therefore,  make  none  of their
movements by night.

     But, were their descent into lakes and
rivers a general fact, and,  were this  descent
always performed in open day,  it is impossi-
ble  that there  should not  have been more
spectators  of the  phenomenon,  than the
advocates of submersion  are  able  to ad-
duce.

     Dr.,  Wallfrius, of Sweden,  and Mr,
Cole,  of New-York,  (the weaknesses and
improbabilities  of  whose  stories have been
already exposed) are  the only characters, I
now . recollect,  who have publicly  declared
themselves to have been eye-witnesses of the
submersion  of swallows.

     But, the  number of persons is consi-
derable, who have seen flocks of these birds
on their passage, in the autumn,  to southern*
and  in the  spring,  to  northern climates.  I
have already mentioned the names of several
naturalists,  who have been spectators of 
[  267   3
these migratory  flights,  and could,  were  it
necessary,  add many more to the catalogue.

     Notwithstanding this,  I know it has
been  frequently asked, by  the advocates of
submersion, why,  if  swallows  are migratory
birds, have they not been still more frequently
seen on  their passage from one  climate to
another-?

     There are several circumstances, which,
when jointly considered,  furnish a  satisfac-
tory answer to this question.

     Swallows are  very small, they soar  to
a  great height in the atmosphere,  they fly
with  much rapidity, they are mostly  silent
when on the wing,  and are capable of perform-
ing a vast journey, without halting for the
purpose of rest or  nourishment.   These I
conceive to be the principal, perhaps I might
have said, the only reasons, why the birds,
in question,  are  less  frequently  observed,
during their migrations,  than  the heron, the
wild  goose, or  the  storck.

      But, were the hypothesis of submer-
 sion true,  no  such weighty  considerations
 exist, to prevent the discovery of swallows,
 when descending  into the water.   Were the 
C^ r. o   n
descent conducted, in every instance, as in
that described by our countryman, Mr. Cole,
the phenomenon must be annually witnessed
by thousands.

     10.  In the construction and mechanism
of the heart  and large blood vessels of  ani-
mals,   nature has drawn  lines  of  essential
distinction between  the truly aquatic,  the
amphibious,  and the  terrestrial.

     Judging  from   this source,  swallows
r-re found,   on examination, to  be no  less
really terrestrial than the human race.  This
fact alone,   must  convince  the  naturalist,
that they are  calculated for  an  exclusive
residence  in  air.

    As  well,  therefore,  might  we  expect
man, himself, to  descend, without drowning,
to the bottoms of lakes and  rivers,  to remain
there   throughout the  winter,  in a  torpid
state,  and to  emerge again to life  on  the
approach  of spring.

     11.  Though, in matters of science,  ana-
logy is not a ground of conclusive evidence,
yet, when it coincides with facts,  it is not
to be disregarded. 
[  269  3
     But analogy is  directly opposed to the
 submersion of swallows.

     On  examining  the  habits of  all  the
terrestrial animals, that pass  their  winters
in a state of torpidity,  we  do  not find  one
that forsakes  its native element,  in  making
choice of a hybernating residence.

     Aquatic aninwds  do not, on  this occa-
sion,  seek an  asylum  on land, nor do the
truly terrestrial  retreat to the  water.  Each
one chooses to reside, during its torpid state,
in that element which is most congenial to
its  nature, when  in  the  enjoyment  of per-
fect life.

     Why then, I beg  leave to  ask, should
swallows  alone constitute  an  exception to
this general rule ? Why should these  birds,
which appear to be among the  most perfectly
terrestrial (I might have said aerial) of all
animals, choose, without the shadow of neces-
sitv to compel  them to the  choice, a watery
residence  for more than half the year ?

     12.  It has been already remarked,  that
a state of torpidity in animals, is always the
result of physical necessity. 
[  270  3
     None hybernate that  are  capable  of
escaping  the  severities of winter,  by migra-
ting from a northern to a southern  climate.
None are doomed to encounter, annual y, this
near approach to  death,  except  such as are
disqualified for  the  performance  of  long
journies.


     Of  this  description  are  several  of the
smaller quadrupeds, in  high  latitudes, and
a great proportion of the class  of reptiles.


     Exposed, . as  these animals  are,  to
numerous enemies, but illy  qualified  for a
journey over  land, and wholly incapable  of
making the passage of large rivers,  they are
excluded  from the privilege of migrating to
southern climates.   Possessed of constitutions
unable to endure, unprotected, the rigors  of
their native winters,  the are obliged,  during
that season, to retreat to the best hybernacula
their own inclement regions afford.


     But, how different  is the  case,  with
regard to birds in  general,  and particularly
with regard to swallows,   which are  among
the most active of the feathered race ? 
[  271   ]
     No unfitness for migration confines them
to a particular region, no necessity interposes
to prevent them from travelling  even from
the Pole  to the Line.

     Such  is  the  swiftness  of  these birds,
and  such  their  power of wing,  that they
would require but a short time  to  make the
entire circuit of the globe.  Neither  moun-
tains, rivers, nor  even  oceans  themselves,
are  able  to set boundaries  to their  course
through  the Heavens.   They have only to
will  it,   and  their passage  from climate  to
climate, is  but little more  than an  excursion
of pleasure.

     From the facility and  speed, with which
the feathered  race  in general, can perform
long journies,  and from  their being  able  to
find  appropriate  food  in  different regions,
there are but few, if any of them, doomed to
endure a state of hybernation. More favoured
b_y  nature  than certain  other  branches  of
the  animal kingdom,  they  appear  to   be
exempt from the horrors of this  semi-annual
death.

      But, if such be the situation of birds, in
general, why should the swallow be selected
to constitute  an exception ? 
C  272  ]
     Whether we take into view its capacity
for flying,  or its  living on  insects, which
are  known to  abound in  every region of
the earth, it certainly deserves to be ranked
with the foremost of the feathered race, with
respect to qualifications for the business of
migration.

     For what purpose clo the old swallows
exercise  themselves so sedulously, and with
so  much industry and apparent  solicitude,
train  up  their young,  in  the art of flying,
for some time previously  to taking leave of
us in the autumn ?—To what end is  all this
parade of preparation  directed ?—Is it to fit
these birds for  a  state of torpidity, during
the six  or  seven succeeding  months, or to
strengthen them for a  journey to  a  distant
climate ?—If, for the latter purpose, nature, in
this instance, is wise, and  consistent  with
herself;  but,  if for the former, she appears
to deviate,  strangely,  from that  wisdom of
design,  which constitutes  such a prominent
feature in her economy.

      To encounter  the  fatigues of a long
journey, animals  should-be strong, active, and
inured to labour; but,  a state of  preparation
for a lengthy and  profound  sleep, consists
rather in slothfulness and debility. 
C  *7$  ]
       13.  When  swallows  disappear,  in
autumn, the young of the preceding season
can be  readily distinguished from the  old.

     This, however, is not the  case, on their
return in the following spring.   During the
absence  of  these   birds,  such  a  perfect
similitude  takes place, that it  is  impossible
to  distinguish  the   parents   from   their
offspring.

     But,  such  an  assimilation  could  bv
no means occur, were they consigned,  du-
ring the winter, to a  state of  torpidity.  In
that case,  no  vital action would  go  on in
their  systems, to  produce any  change in
their  general appearance.   Each  swallow
would awake,  in  the spring,  possessed of
the same colour,  length,  and  firmness of
feathers, and of other parts, which it carried
with it, in  the  autumn, to its winter retreat.

     14. Nature  delights in  the life  and
enjoyments  of  all  her creatures.  Nor does
she ever, even for a  moment,  deprive one
of them of the pleasures of existence, unless
impelled to it by a necessity resulting from
the principles and laws of their beinv>
O  o 
[  274  3
     But, a state of  torpidity  in swallows,
would,  during its  continuance,  be  no  less
incompatible with their enjoyment of pleasure,
than actual death.

     It has been already observed,  and the
observation  substantiated by facts,  that the
nature and condition of these birds  is such,
as to  give  rise to no  shadow  of  necessity
for their sinking, at  any time,  into  a torpid
state.

     Why, then,  should  nature,   as  if  in
sport  and wantonness  in her  treatment  of
the swallow  alone,  eminently  qualify  this
bird  for  migrating  to,  and  subsisting  in,
climates the  most  remote from each other,
and afterwards  deprive  it of the pleasures
and  advantages  which  might  result from
such qualifications, by unnecessarily rendering
it  torpid,  and obstructing  all its avenues  of
enjoyment, for more  than half the year?

     Such tantalizing inconsistency is incom-
patible  with  that  wisdom of  arrangement,
and  benignity  of design,  so conspicuously
displayed in the economy of  the universe 1

      15. The last argument  I shall  urge  in
favour of the migration of swallows, is derived 
[  275  3
from what appears to be the principal use of
these birds, in the economy of nature.


     I am not ignorant of the inconclusiveness
of this mode  of reasoning,  when  separately
considered; for to argue  from final  causes
alone, (of which we know but little) is, by
no means,  conformable to the spirit of philo-
sophy.  But,  when taken in conjunction with
other arguments, it must be acknowledged to
add  something to the general weight  and
respectability of testimony.


     As far as  we  are able to carry our
researches into the system of final  causes,
the principal use of the  swallow  appears to
be,  to feed on, and  destroy, a  variety of
noxious insects,  which are  at enmity  with
rnan, and other parts of nature, and would,
if proper bounds were not set to their increase,
become a most formidable and wide spreading
 evil.

      But, such insects  are  not  confined to
 any  particular tract  of  country, nor to the
 summer of high latitudes.   They abound in
 all countries,  and in  certain  regions, during
 all seasons of the year, 
[  276  3
     At all seasons, therefore, as well during
its winter  absence from us,  as during  its
residence  with  us  in  summer,  may the
swallow  be engaged  in  contributing to the
general balance of nature.

     Why,  then,  should the  Deity,   who
delights  no less  in  the  utility,  than  in  the
happiness  of  his  creatures,  deprive  us,
without  any obvious  reason, of more  than
half the  usefulness  of this bird, by burying
it, for more than half its time,  in a state of
torpidity ?

     I shall close  this memoir, by expressing
a confidence,  that no splendour of talents,
nor  authority of names,  will ever  be able to
give permanency to a belief in the submersion
of swallows.

     When the history  and science of nature
shall be better understood, I have no  doubt
but  this extraordinary  hypothesis  will  be
classed with the  story of the phoenix, which
is  said  to descend from  the  ashes  of its
parent,  or, with the fable  of Proserpine,
who,  after her marriage, was  reported to be
in the annual habit  of  passing six months
with her lover,  in the infernal, and six with
her mother in the celestial regions? 
      MEDICAL  & PHYSICAL






  MEMOIRS.







i.ir  ■ L......,ri- illi buiium.^.iu^i,.',,, ,.jfun  ^.,,'kn .. :sc 
 
   £  279  ]


MEMOIR IV.
             STRICTURES
                    ON
     " A MEMOIR CONCERNING THE DISEASE Of
               GOITRE,
     AS IT PREVAILS IN DIFFERENT PARTS Of
             NORTH AMERICA.
       BY  BENJAMIN SMITH BARTON, U. D.''
                 LTc. isrc. Isrc.



     J_T  is  not my intention to offer  any
remarks, either on the historical, or therapeu-
tic part of the  memoir  before  me.

     Were  I to  analyse  and examine the
former of these, I should run a risque of
being charged  with a spirit of flattery; for,
my analysis would be but little else  than an
effusion of eulogy. Respecting this part, there-
fore,  I  shall  only observe  in general,  that
it exhibits  that variety of matter and simplicity
of  manner—that richness  and  perspecuity 
C  sso  3
which characterize  most of the writings  of
its author.   But, its chief merit consists  in
its  embodying more information respecting
the appearance and range of Goitre, intneNew
World, than is to be found in any other publi-
cation on the subject.

     My strictures  shall  be confined  to that
division of our author's third- section,  wirere
he  offers " his own opinion upon the cause
of Goitre."

     This  opinion is submitted to the  public,
with so much of the modesty and candour of
true philosophy,  as to disarm  criticism  of
all  its severity,  and almost  persuade it  to
relax in its justice.

     In  the  beginning of that  part of his
memoir,  where the doctor states the grounds
of his  opinion relative to the cause of Goitre,
he bestows on his reasoning (the very best,
perhaps,  of which his side of the  point  in
question will admit) nothing but the humble
name  of conjecture.  Had he even  gone no
farther than this, I should still have consi-
dered  a  reply to  him  necessary;  because,
the very conjectures of men distinguised  in
science, and more particularly of those,  who 
I  281   3
act as public  teachers, produce an affect on
subordinate minds.

     But, in the  close of an appendix to his
memoir, our author assumes a tone of more
confidence  and decision,  and says, " Upon
the whole,  the  farther  I  proceed in   this
enquiry, the more I  am  inclined to believe,
that the principal  remote cause of Goitre, is
a miasm of the same  species, as  that which
produces intermittent  and  remittent fevers,
dysenteries, and other similar complaints."

     The plan which I mean to pursue, in
the present memoir, in reply to Dr. Barton,
is,

     First, to enquire into the nature  and
force  of the evidence, on which  the above
belief is founded.  And,'

     Secondly, to state a  few  arguments,
which seem to militate against  the opinion,
that Goitre and bilious fever result  from the
■same cause.

     The  doctor's first reason, in support of
his opinion, is  expressed  in the  following
words :
                   p P 
[  232  ]
     u As glandular affections," says he, " of
different kinds, are  not  unfrequent in  coun-
tries  in  which intermittent fevers prevail, I
Was early led to  conjecture, that the Goitre
might be occasioned by the same  matter  or
matters,  which induce these fevers."

     To  this I would reply, that if we except
the liver, spleen,  and mesenteric  glands, (I
allude, more particularly,  to the  mesenteric
glands of children) glandular affections arc
not, in proportion to  other diseases,  more
frequent  in  bilious regions, than in  other
places.   It will  be  found on enquiry,  that,
with the  above exception, the inhabitants of
our maritime flats, in the United States, are
no  more  subject to diseases of these organs,
than those who reside in midland or mountain-
ous tracts.

     Marsh miasma appears  to  possess  a
peculiar  power  of producing disease in the
Stomach,  intestines,  and  abdominal  viscera,
in general.  Hence, the frequency  of indura-
ted spleens and  livers, and of bowel  com-
plaints, in marshy countries.

     But, I  believe pathology furnishes no
fact, in proof,  lhat the poisonous exhalation,
in question, has  ever been  known  to  give 
[  283  3
origin to idiopathic affections of the glands, ia
other parts of tne body. Next to the abdominal
viscera, the  vascular system suffers  most
from its deleterious influence.

     This argument of our author appears,
therefore,   to  be  founded in error,  and can
furnish no shadow of support to his hypothe-
sis.

     The  doctor proceeds next  to show, by
a number  of facts, that most  places, both in
Europe and  America, where Goitre prevails,
are also subject to intermittent and remittent
fever.

     This position is undoubtedly true; but,
it is no less true,  that many other places are
Still  more subject to these latter  diseases,
wbere  the former has never  possessed an
existence.

     Bilious fever, under some form, may
be denominated,  not improperly, the endemic
of the earth.   There appears to be no  habit-
able tract of  country,  of whatever elevation,
or in whatever latitude,  where this disease
may not,  under certain circumstances,  origi-
nate and  prevail.  Like the light and heat of
its parent, the sun, it extends its dominion 
[  284  3
from the valley to the mountain, and from the
Line to the Pole.

     How  different  is  the  case with regard
to Goitre ?  This disease is so circumscribed,
in its extent, that when compared  with  the
other, it may be said to occupy only a point
on the surface of our globe. But, in diseases,
as in  other  things,  a community  of  origin
should  produce something like a community
of extent.

     If wre consider Goitre as derived from
the same origin with bilious fever, for no other
reason, but because it exists occasionally in the
same place,  we  may,  with equal  propriety,
draw a  similar conclusion,  respecting every
other description of  complaint.  For bilious
fever being,  as  already observed, a common
tenant of our globe, it  is impossible for other
diseases to find out a  single  spot,  of  which
it is not already an occupant.

     In relation to this  earth, man, like bilious
fever, possesses a kind of ubiquity, inhabit-
ing  occasionally every part of it,  from the
Line to the Pole.  Elephants,  on  the  other
hand, are found native only in certain districts
of the Torrid Zone, where man also resides.
What would we think of the resoning of that 
[  235   3
naturalist, who, in consequence of this partial
(I might have said accidental) coincidence of
habitation,  would venture to infer, that men
and elephants are descendants from a common
progenitor?—We would  certainly consider
him, either as visionary  almost to madness,
or as  attempting to expose and  weaken his
hypothesis by ridicule, rather than to support
it by serious argument.


     But,  such  evidence, however  fanciful,
respecting the common origin of man and the
elephant,  would  stand on precisely the same
footing, with that which I am now examining,
relative to the common origin  of Goitre and
bilious fever.


     It  would be  uncandid,  however,  to
close  my remarks  on  this  head,  without
acknowledging  that  Dr.  Barton appears to
have considered the argument, now under con-
sideration, of but little weight in the defence
of his opinion.


      Our author's next reason,  for believing
in the common origin of Goitre and  bilious
 fever,  is  communicated  in the following 
[  286  3
     " The  complexion  of many  goitrous
persons,"  says  he,  " especially those  in
whom the disease has arisen to a considerable
height,  is an additional circumstance in favour
of the opinion which  I have advanced. Their
complexion,5'  says Dr. Saussure, speaking
of the Cretins " is  a yellow,  approaching to
brown, from which,  probably, they  obtained
the name of Marons  (  ') which  is given to.
them in the Valley of Aoste,"

     From  the  simple circumstance of  the
complexion of patients,  but little  solid infor-
mation  can be derived, relative to the origin
of the diseases which aSLct them.

     All permanent  constitutional affections
(phthisis  perhaps  alone excepted)  have  a
very  perceptible influence  in darkening  the
skin.  But,  there is a reason  why this effect
should be more particularly, and to a greater
extent,  produced  in  those  " in  whom  the
disease of Goitre has arisen to a considerable
height."

      Cretins,  or  persons  affected  with
a high degree of the disease in question,  are
(17) « The maron is a large kind of thcsr.ut." 
[  287   }
pretty generally subject to an imbecillity of
mind, approaching to idiotisrn.   In conse-
quence, therefore,  of that inattention to dress,
Which  never fails  to accompany this unfortu-
hate state,  they are exposed,  unprotected, to
the influence of the weather.  This circum-
stance, accompanied by a neglect of cleanliness,
(another uniform  characteristic of  idiotisrn)
are causes  sufficiently powerful to produce
the Cretin  complexion, independently of the
operation of marsh miasma.


     Further, in  Cretins,  the powers  of life
are uncommonly weak, and, therefore,  worse
calculated  than in most other descriptions of
persons, to resist the influence of the weather,
and of other causes,  that have a tendency to
darken  the  complexion.   For,  the   more
vigorous  and  healthy the human system,
the farther is   it removed from  the  condition
of  inanimate matter,  and  the less  liable to
receive  and retain the alterative impressions
of-external agents.

     I  shall only add, that cretinism prevails
most in the   lower  walks  of  life,  where
swarthiness of complexion is no uncommon
occurrence, even  among those exempt from
disease. 
[  288   3
     I  come now  to our author's  last argu-
ment, in favour  of the  common  origin of
Goitre and bilious fever.

    " I was informed," says he, " that in the
state of  New-York, those persons vwho are
affected  with  Goitre are commonly  exempt
from intermittents, though in  the midst of
persons  labouring under  these  latter com-
plaints.   If this be a fact, it  would  rather
serve to  show,  that the Goitre and the inter-
mittent  are owing to the same cause."

     I  have no disposition to question the
truth of the fact, that Goitre, especially in an
advanced singe, serves as a  shield  against
intermittents.   In  this  respect, however,  it
stands by no  means alone,   a similar effect
being produced by many other diseases. But,
that power which it possesses, only in com-
mon with other complaints, can furnish no
solid testimony relative to its origin.

     Who does not know, that  the  human
system is often preserved from bilious fever,
by phthisis, scrophula, large wens, especially
when painful,  large painful bubos, inveterate
gleets, and psora  or itch ?  Yet,  who .will
venture  to infer  from hence,  that  these 
[  289   3
complaints result from the operation of the
effluvia of marshes ?

     Finally,  is not  the  circumstance of
Goitre guarding its subjects from intermitting
fever,  explicable on the well known principle,
that two general morbid actions  (for Goitre,
in an advanced  stage, is certainly a general
disease)  cannot exist  in the  same system at
the same  time ?

     As well might we expect in the  same
patient, a co-existence of measles and  small
pox, as of Goitre  and any form of bilious
fever.  And,  as well might  we expect two
particles  of matter to occupy, at once, the
same point of space, as two distinct kinds of
action to co-exist  in the same  parts of living
matter.

     Having  endeavoured  briefly to  show
the inconclusive nature of Dr. Barton's rea-
soning, relative to the cause  of Goitre,  I
shall pass to  the  second part of my  memoir,
namely,

     To state a few arguments, which  seem
to  militate  against the  opinion, that  this
Qq 
                t  290  ]

disease  possesses  a  common  origin  with
bilious fever.

     I.  To whatever quarter of the  globe
we direct our attention, we observe, that in
those tracts of country, where bilious fever
produces  its  greatest ravages,  and  conse-
quently where the noxious  exhalation, that
gives origin to it, is  most abundant, Goitre
has never possessed an existence.

      THfs remark  is forcibly exemplified
in that range  of sea-coast,   which extends
from the  Delaware to the  river St. Mary.
Though this maritime region produces more
bilious fever, than exists in all other parts of
the  United States,  it has never,  I believe,
been known to give origin to  a case of Goitre.

     This fact (as Dr. Barton has himself
had  the  penetration  to  discover,   and the
candour  to   acknowledge)   militates  much
against his opinion  respecting the cause of
the disease in question.  For,  if Goitre were
the descendant of marsh miasma, it is physi-
cally impossible that no cases of  it should
ever occur, in  the above maritime tract of
country, where, for three months in the year*
the' atmosphere is saturated  with this poison-
ous exhalation. 
[  291   3
     II. Goitre,  though not exclusively  a
disease  of the female  sex,  attacks women
much more  generally than men.

     But  the reverse  of this  is  true with
respect to  bilious fever.   Of those who suffer
from this complaint, the number of men, in
relation to that of women, bears the proportion
of about five to three,

     If, then,  Goitre and  bilious fever  are
descendants from  a common origin, whence
is  the reason of their selecting the opposite
sexes as their proper subjects ?

     III.  Though  particular attention has
been paid to this point,  yet it  does not appear
to  be a general fact, that the disease of Goitre
is more troublesome from the'middle of summer
till the  close  of autumn, than  during any
other season of the year.

     But,  this would  unquestionably  be
the case, were it  the offspring and nurseling
of marsh miasma.   For, it may be laid down
as a medical axiom, that diseases are always
in their highest state, when the causes which
produce  them are most active.  But, it  is
unnecessary to add, that the close  of'sunv 
[  292  3
 mer  and the  months  of autumn constitute
 the season of riot to marsh exhalation.

      IV.   Were  Goitre  produced  by  the
 miasm of putrefaction, it  would, generally,
 like other  forms  of bilious fever, make its
 first appearance in summer or autumn.

      But,  the case is directly the reverse of
 this.  Winter and^ spring (I mean the begin-
 ning  of spring) are the most common seasons
 for the commencement of Goitre.

      Hence,  this disease  has  been so fre-
 quently  ascribed to the  action of cold, but
 more frequently still,  to the use of water
 obtained from the  solution of snow,

     V. Diseases, or forms of disease, which
 spring from  a  common  cause,  oftentimes
 exchange appearances, or alternate with each
 other.

      This  well  known  fact  constitutes  a
 principal  point of  evidence,  in favour of
the opinion,  which ascribes  a common origin
to intermitting fever, remitting fever, yellow
 ievcr4 and  dysentery.   To  the  practitioner
ta experience  and observation,  it is unneces-
 sary to remari;? that these  complaints possess, 
[  293   3
and  frequently exhibit, what may be termed
a reciprocal trans mutability, or vicarious exist-
ence.

     But, this is  by no  means the  case,
with  regard to  Goitre and bilious  fever.
Medical records  furnish no instance,  where
these two diseases  appear to  have  been
changed, by vicarious action, the one into the
other.

     VI. Goitre, as formerly observed,  is
oftentimes accompanied by an  approach  to
fatuity.

     But, no such  affect  as this has ever
been  known to  result  from the  action  of
marsh miasma, except  as a  consequence  of
general  and protracted fever.  The  inhabi-
tants of bilious tracts of country possess,  in
general, as  much strength  and acuteness  of
intellect, as  those of other places.

     VII. In  all places where bilious fever
prevails  as an endemic,  it  is  marked by a
kind of  periodical violence ; that is, the inha-
bitants are severely afflicted by it for one  or
more years, after  which  they are in some
measure exempt  from  it,  for  an equal,  or
pcrh3ps a  greater  length  of time.   Similar 
[  294  3
remissions,  with  regard  to  their epidemic
force, are observable in the pestilential dis*
eases of the  East.


     But no  such intervals  occur  in  the
prevalence of  Goitre.   Checked by  no sea-
son, and fed by no periodical constitution of
atmosphere, this disease, wherever it prevails,
is, at all times, nearly uniform in its extent
and violence.
     VIII. The last argument I shall propose,
in  opposition  to  the  opinion,  that marsh
miasma  gives  origin to Goitre, is,  that this
noxious gas is never known to produce, in any
instance  (except perhaps in the hepatitis of
the east) a topical and chronic affection, unless
as the result of preceding general fever.


     This is undoubtedly the case with regard
to the enlargement and induration, which it
occasionally produces with us, in the viscera
of the abdomen.   Indeed, the  above miasm,
when it  gives rise to disease,  appears to  be
almost as uniformly and  essentially a febrile
stimulus, as  that  which gives origin to small
pox, measles, or scarlatina. 
I  295  ]
     But, Goitre occurs at first independently
of fever, and must, therefore, be attributed to
some other source.

     I shall make no apology  to Dr. Barton
for the freedom I have  used, in the consider-
ation of his opinion.  I know his  mind to be
too  enlightened and liberal, to take umbrage
at an enquiry,  where truth is the object,  and
where all personalities are studiously avoided.

     When characters  conspicuous for their
talents and philosophical attainments, become,
through mistake, the advocates of error,  it is
necessary that  early opposition be  made to
their opinions, lest, like encreasing torrents,
they prove  at length irresistable, and hurry
along with them inferior minds, in a triumph-
ant wreck.

     By this consideration alone, have I been
principally actuated, in offering the foregoing
strictures on the opinion of our author,  rela-
tive to the cause of the  disease of Goitre.

     It will probably be  expected, that  after
having  rejected the theory of Dr.  Barton,
respecting   the origin of  the complaint in
question, I should  now proceed to deliver a
less exceptionable theory of my own.   This 
                [   296  3

task, however, I must for the present decline^
It belongs, more particularly, to those physl*
cians,  whose  lot,  by throwing  them  into
goitrous  regions, has given them access  to
the only kind of knowledge worth possessing
on the subject, I mean the knowledge derived
from observation.
FINIS.
THOMAS £3* WILLIAM BRADFORD, PRINTERS. 
ADDRESS
TO the
Philadelphia Medical  Society, 
 
Am
ADDRESS
TO THE
Pnlatrelp&fa JHrtrical §botittp,

       ON THE ANALOGIES BETWEEN

   Yellow Fever and True Plague^

            DELIVERED,

          »T APPOINTMENT,

     OH THE 20th OF FEBRUARY, 1801.'
BY CHARLES CALDWELL, M. D.
PfriteMpfria:
PRINTED BY THOMAS ^WILLIAM BRADFORD, BOOKSELLERS
   AND STATIONERS, NO. 8, SOUTH FRONT STREET.
1801, 
 
ADDRESS,
       &C &C &d
'Gentlemen of the Medical Society,

     IT is not of my own but of your choice*
that I rise to commemorate  the anniversary of
our institution.   An obedience to your will,
and a resolution against delinquency, in what-
ever may become my duty by the suffrages of
the society, are the  only motives which could
have drawn me  from the   secure  walks of
private membership, to appear as the minister
of the present occasion.  These considerations
encourage me to  hope, that the  same senti-
ments of partiality, which predominated in my
appointment as your orator,  will induce  you
now to palliate my faults,  and to  condemn
even my errors with a spirit of mildness. For,
who will venture to become a candidate for your
indulgence,  if it be denied to a functionary of
your own election, whose asnbition is rendered
virtuous, by consisting  in a wish to merit
your approbation! 
[  306   ]
     As the art of oratory is foreign from the
profession  to which  I am devoted*, and, as I
mean to address myself, at present, to your
understandings,  not to  your imaginations or
your feelings, I disclaim all pretension to the
ornaments  of rhetoric.  It neither  comports
with my qualifications, nor falls within my
aim, to awaken your sorrows by the enginery
of pathos: it belongs not to me to  conduct
you  enwraptured  through  the Elysium of
fancy,  to cull on our way the flowers of taste,
and strew  them before you  in the extrava-
gance of declamation: nor is mine the power
to overwhelm your souls by the grandeur of
imagery, to lead them captive by the magic of
harmony,  nor to hurry them  away by the
energy of action : the accomplishment of these
ends calls for endowments which none but the
favourites of nature can boast.

     Speaking as  I do, not to persuade and
rouse to action, but simply to elucidate my
subject, and to produce, if possible, a convic-
tion of its truth,  some degree  of perspicuity,
and  correctness  of argument,  are the only
properties  of  oratory at which  I  shall aim.
For such is the modest  simplicity of attire in
which physical science delights to appear.

     Having attempted, in a work which will
be shortly before the public,  to establish the 
                [   307  3

identity of the common bilious and the yellow
fever, I beg leave to lay before you, in the follow-
ing address,  a  statement  of  a few analogies
between the latter disease and true plague, or,
in other words, between the American and the
Oriental pestilence.


     I am persuaded you  will accompany me,
without reluctance,  in  a  brief contemplation
of these diseases, of which one has so lately
been  the  scourge of  our own country,  and
the other is now spreading terror through the
continent  of Europe.    Calamities of such
magnitude and extent, call for  the united
exertion of the intellect  of nations, to shed
light on their nature and  cause, and for the
strenuous co-operation of  society at large,  to
stay or avert  their desolating progress.


     Though the analogies between yellow
fever  and the pestilence of the East might be
treated of on a very extensive  scale, I shall
confine myself to narrower bounds, and dwell
chiefly on those, which relate to the epidemiq
rise, progress,  and termination of these forms
of disease.   Analogies  resting on the corres-
pondence of  either their general or particular
symptoms,   being   less  characteristic  shaU
receive less of  our regard. 
[  308  3
     It is alike inconsistent with my intention,
and  with the necessary limits of my address,
to attempt  a detail of  all  the hypotheses  on
the origin of pestilence, that have contributed
to mislead  the world,  and to perpetuate the
weakness and ignorance of their authors.

     A  certain writer, (]) however,  in  our
own  country,  whose  pen has been  lately
employed  on this subject, has given birth
to such a  physico-theological monster—has
erected such a Colossus of bigotry, error, and
absurdity,  that a few words in describing and
exposing its deformities  may not be  amiss!
Indeed this hypothesis, while  it constitutes,
in its nature, a paragon of ignorance, is, in
its form, so perfect a non-descript in the cata-
logue of folly, that to pass it unnoticed would
bespeak inattention.

     The  writer,  to whom  I allude,  is Mr.
James Tytler, a plodding compiler in medi-
cine, much more accustomed to reading than
to thinking,  and much more remarkable for
illiberal invective than for solid argument. An
Indefatigable  drudge   in  medical  literature,

»'.. ''  --------------------• ■' *-----------------------:------------------:--------------------    ■
   (1) The  following remarks  relate exclusively to this
writer's medical pretensions,  and have  no reference  to hi«
sic«jnirements in any other department of knowledge. 
[  3©9   3
but  wholly  incapable  of  combination  or
arrangement, the summit of even his proba-
ble usefulness will be (like that of those who
supply  the  mason  with mortar  and stone)
to furnish materials for others  to systemize.


   This author, whose vanity is the only coun-
terpart to his  weakness, supposes the conta-
gion of plague to have been manufactured in
Heaven, for the express purpose  of inflicting
the vengeance of Deity on the profligate Jews.
Respecting the manner in which this celestial
poison, when  compounded,  was conveyed to
the devoted theatre  of its ravages, our author
has unfortunately left us in the dark.   But,
as conjecture is allowable, where  information
is  wanting,  we  may supply this deficiency,
by supposing  it consistent with this  gentle-
man's  belief,  that  a  special  messenger was
dispatched from above, bearing the matter of
contagion in  a box,   which, like  that of
Pandora,  was opened  in the midst of the
camp of Isreal,  and its contents  suffered to
escape,  and attach themselves to  the objects
of divine resentment. However  extravagant
this  supposition may appear, and however
near it  may be thought to approach to the
reveries  of lunacy,  it commits  no greater
outrage on reason  and common  sense, than 
C  310  3
may be found in many parts of Mr.  Tytler's
publication.

      Spreading,  through the  medium  of
conquest  and otherwise,  from  the  chosen
people  to  surrounding  nations, the plague
has been thus, through  every vicissitude  of
seasons, and every revolution in our atmos-
phere,  perpetuated  by  contagion  from the
days of Moses to the present period !


     Such is the monument of ignorance and
superstition,  which a man, who pretends to
instruct  his   cotemporaries,  has erected  in
the close of the eighteenth century! A monu-
ment,  worthy of a place  amid the barbarism
of Egypt, where the inhabitants  attribute the
cessation of the plague, in common with the
swelling of the Nile, to the immediate agency
©f a tutelary angel!


     So  monstrous  are  the errors, and  sq
gross the absurdities  of this hypothesis,  as
to preclude the necessity, and even to render
doubtful the  propriety, of a  refutation.  For,
in the words  of the poet,

      " Vice is a monster of  such hideous mien,
      « As to be hated, needs  but to be seer. \" 
[  an   ]
And such is also  the case with the consum-
mation of bigotry and folly !—But to proceed
to an  enumeration  of  the  analogies pro-
posed.

     The plague  of Asia,  like the yellow
fever or pestilence of our own country,  is a
disease which delights in the devastation of
populous  cities.  Perhaps neither of these
calamities has ever been known to originate,
as an epidemic,  in villages or country situa-
tions ; nor do they oftentimes extend to such
places, even  in times of their  most general
prevalence.   It  is only  in the  artificial and
vitiated atmospheres  of large  cities, that they
are able to find  a  sufficiency of their proper
nourishment.

     True plague, when it has prevailed in
the cities of Europe, has always made  its
appearance  about the close  of spring, or in
the course  of the summer,  has  reached its
summit in the autumnal months, and declined
or wholly disappeared on the commencement
of cold weather.   But such is  known to be,
in like  manner,  the course of the  yellow
fever or  pestilence  of  America.  To  the
generation  and propagation of both these
diseases, therefore, a warm atmosphere is no
less necessary,  than the filth  and  crouded 
                  [   312   j

population of large cities.   Even when com-
mitting  their heaviest devastations,  a  few
nights  of cold weather, particularly if it be
accompanied by frost, will  check  them as
certainly,  and  almost as speedily, as it  will
the vegetation of tropical plants.  I know of
no instance on  record of either of these disea-
ses having prevailed,  to any extent, through-
out the winter of high latitudes, (2)


     It is a circumstance alike common to
plague  and  yellow  fever,   that  they occur
epidemically, in places subject to them,  only
at certain irregular periods, or after indefinite
intervals oftimei Fortunately these destroyers
of the human race do not appear as the regu-
lar  endemics  of  any  situation.   Though
summer and autumn are their native seasons,
yet  these seasons are not  alone  sufficient
to produce them, unless they be aided  by  a
pestilential constitution of atmosphere.
    (2) It is perhaps possible that, independently of summer
and autumnal exhalation, the atmospheres of places may b:
rendered so malignant by more general causes, ?.s to protract
pestilence throughout  the winter.   But such  occurrence*
(supposing their existence practicable) have been certainly n3
less rare than calamitousi 
[  313   ]
       Epiuemic plague banishes from around
  it  every other form  of  febrile  disease, and
  reigns itself the solitary tyrant of the place
  where it prevails.  It would be superfluous
  to offer testimony in confirmation of this fact..
  Most authors on pestilence, who have written
  from observation, bear  witness to its  truth.
,  But the same thing is true with regard to the
  epidemic state of yellow  fever.  Taking pos-
  session of the atmosphere, it expels or suf-
  focates  all  other descriptions of fever, and
  creates for itself a dismal solitude.   During
  the late autumns in which it prevailed in this
  place, it is known by  our practitioners to have
  suffered no rival disease to approach it.

       Plague  and  yellow  fever  are  alike
  remarkable  for  being preceded, followed, or
  accompanied  in  adjacent places,  either  by
  new diseases, or by an increase  in the fre-
  quency, but more particularly  in the malignity
  of common diseases.   Since the  year eighty
  nine, this  country has  been several  times
  visited  by  epidemic catarrh, and in   some
  places  by an epidemic,  cynanche,  diseases
  which had not before occurred to such extent,
  within the  memory  of  our  oldest  citizens-.
  bince the same  period, the common diseases,
  in different parts of the  United States,  have
                       S s 
t.  314  ]
 Undergone such a striking change, as to call
 tor a different and much more energetic mode
 of treatment.   That similar phenomena are
 connected  with the prevalence  of plague  in
 Europe,  and in the East, we learn from many
 works on the subject,  particularly from that
 of Dr. Patrick Russel, and from Mr. Webster's
 excellent " History of Epidemic and Pestilen-
 tial Diseases."

     It  belongs in  common to  plague and
 yellow fever to  be attended with most fatality
 on their first occurrence.  It is a melancholy
 truth,  that these diseases'seldomfail to hurry
 to the grave a great proportion of their earlier
 subjects.  As they become more general, but
 especially when they are on the decline, indi-
 vidual cases, laying  aside  their  malignity,
 prove  much more  manageable,  and may be
 generally conducted to a favourable  issue.
 These circumstances are probably attributa-
 ble to a threefold cause.

     1. Those first attacked by, would appear
 to be most strongly  predisposed to, the above
 diseases,  and therefore to  be most likely to
 have them in a violent degree.

    2. In this early state of things, an igno-
rance of  the dangerous nature of their com- 
C  315  3
plaints,  prevents  patients  from being suffi-.
ciently   prompt  in applying  for  medical
aid.

     3.  On  the first  occurrence of an epi-
demic,  physicians  themselves, neither ac^
qnainted with its  character nor aware  of its
malignity,  generally fail to  treat the early
cases of it  with sufficient  boldness.

     Neither  plague nor  yellow  fever  can
prevail  at any time, nor in any place, which
is not calculated  to give  rise to an  abun-
dance of putrid  exhalation.   Whatever is
inimical  to  the origin  of  such  exhalation,
proves  equally  inimical  to these complaints,
But the production of this  poisonous gas is
particularly prevented by three causes, name-
ly, cold,  great humidity, and  excessive heat
accompanied by an excessive  aridity of the
atmosphere.

     The  hostility of  the  first  of  these
causes  to  the  diseases  in  question,  has
been  already  mentioned,   that  of the two
latter shall be treated of in a subsequent part
of my address.

     Thus  far on  the  analogies  derived
more  immediately  from  the origin of plaguq 
r  si6  J
and  yellow  fever.  In  the  phenomena c'oiv*
nected with their propagation,  they exhibit
no less of a  kindred nature.

     Though they have both somewhat the
appearance of spreading by contagion,  their
progress is  certainly too rapid,  to depend on
a cause of,such  limitted powers.  Allow me
to call your attention to a palpable inconsis-
tency (not to say an  absolute  contradiction)
which exists in the state of common opinion
on this subject.

     Plague and yellow fever  are  acknow*
ledged by every one to  be much  less  con-
tagious  than small pox, because they attack
with  much  less  certainty persons  exposed
for a short   time to  their  influence    Nor
are they supposed to  be communicated to
so great  a   distance as small  pox.   Not-
withstanding this, they spread with nearly
tenfold  its  rapidity.   In the  course  of  a
few  weeks,  they will overrun  an extent of
city,  which  it   would  scarcely  pervade in
twice as many  months.  Here then, admit-
ting  plague  and yellow fever  to spread by
contagion at all, they  would appear  to be
both  more  and less   contagious than the
small pox.  But this is a  position  which
even  the advocates of  contagion will  reject. 
C  sit  3
Perhaps  the only method of removing the
contradiction, is to admit that the two  for-
mer  diseases are not propagated  by conta?
gion  at  all, but by  the   more  powerful
medium  of a  vitiated atmosphere.   But
more of this hereafter.
     It is a fact notorious in the United States,
that  if  a  patient,  in  the  most  malignant
state of yellow fever, be removed  from the
city  to the  country,  he may there be visi-
ted  and nursed,  without endangering  the
health of his physicians or attendants.  But
we learn from  Prosper Alpinus,  Russell,
Mariti, Sonnini, and  various other writers,
that  the same  thing is true with regard
to the  pestilence of the  East.  When per-
sons ill of that disease are conveyed from  a
place where it is epidemic,  to one  where  it
is not, they may be approached and attended
without hazard.
     True  plague,   therefore,  exhibits  no
unequivocal marks of contagion, when remo-
ved without the limits of a malignant atmos-
phere.  That calamity is believed to be, for
die  most part,  introduced  into Syria and
Egypt from Constantinople.   Yet, in common 
[  318  3
 years,  when  no  pestilential  state  of the
 elements prevails, persons in all stages  of it
 arrive from the latter in different parts of the
 former  places, without communicating infecr
 tion to any one.

     The  physicians  of  America have not
 now to learn,  that  certain  classes  of  per-
 sons are much more  liable than others to be
 attacked  by yellow  fever.  But this is  in
 like manner true with respect to the oriental
 pestilence: and it is not a little remarkable,
 that these two diseases manifest a predilection
 for persons and habits of the same descrip-
 tion.

     Does yellow fever attack  and  destroy
 men rather than women ?  So does pestilence.

     Does the  former select, as its victims,
 the robust, the healthy, and the young, rather
 than the  weak,  the  infirm,  and  the  aged ?
 Such is also the case  with the  destroyer of
the East.   Persons turned of their seventieth
year have, comparatively speaking, but  little
to apprehend from that dreadful calamity.

     Does yellow fever spare  infants  and
children rather  than adults I  And does not a 
[  319  3
similar discrimination characterize  the  deso«
lating course of pestilence !

     Finally,  do  not  both these  diseases
either entirely pass over, or but slightly affect,
the frugal and  the sober,  while they attack
more' certainly, and more  certainly destroy
the luxurious and the intemperate ?

     But it is not alone for the same descrip-
tions of the human race, that these two dis-
eases possess and exhibit a common predilec-
tion.  They also attack, in common,, the same
species  of  inferior animals.   Of  creatures
subservient to  man,  the dog,  the  cat, the
horse, and the cow, have been pre-eminent in
their sufferings from yellow fever and  pesti-
lence. And, to extend the analogy still farther,
these diseases  appear  to have  attacked,  in
common, even  the tenants of the air, and the
more secure inhabitants of the flood.   The
liability of  such  a variety  of disconnected
animals  to  their  influence,  would  seem  to
furnish incontestible evidence, that their cause
exists in the common atmosphere of the places
where they prevail.

     The prevalence of plague and yellow
fever is marked,  in the countries where they
appear, or  in  adjacent places, with similar 
                [   320  3

peculiarities  in  the  surrounding  and conco-
mitant phenomena of nature.  Some of these
peculiarities are,

     I.  Certain irregularities in the seasons
and weather;   such as,  extremely severe
winters, intensely hot  summers, excessive
droughts, or profuse rains, and an uncommon
prevalence, but more frequently an unusual
absence, of hurricanes  and thunder storms.
To these phenomena may be added, the occur-
rence of earthquakes, and  the  eruptions of
volcanos.

     II. The  temporary  disappearance  of
certain  species  of birds.   As many of the
feathered race  emigrate annually to shun the
-severe  winters  of the north, some  of them
have been known to forsake for a while their
places of residence, to escape the effects of a
vitiated atmosphere.

     III.  Hosts of new,  or  an excessive
increase in the  numbers of common insects
and reptiles.  It would be needless to remind
you of the  myriads of locusts,  that so-fre-
quently desolate the countries of the  East,
during  periods  of pestilence; and  many  of
'you will  long   remember the  profusion  of
musquitos, grasshoppers, wcrm^,  Sec. which 
[  321   3
for some  years past,  have  infested certain
parts of the United States.

     IV. Great luxuriance, alarming  steri-
lity,  or an unusual degree of disease, in the
vegetable   kingdom.   Though in  common
expression, and in the  association of our
ideas,  pestilence is generally connected with
famine, yet medical records inform us, that this
calamity has also prevailed  in times  of un-
common plenty.

     Such are a few of the irregular phe-
nomena, which, in  their respective countries,
accompany in common the course  of yellow
fever,  and the  course of pestilence.   Some
of them appear to be the effects, and  others
only the kindred concomitants,  of that malig-
nant  constitution of atmosphere,  which  co-
operates in the production of pestilential dis-
eases.

     By plague  as well as by  yellow  fever
we are liable to be  affected sundry  times:
yet these  diseases  resemble each  other, in
leaving  the  system,  which   has  already
suffered from  them, less liable than  before
to further attacks*
Tt 
[  322  ]
     The present is  not  an improper place
to remark,   that  the  leading  pathological
characters  of plague and yellow fever bear
a reciprocal and strong  resemblance.

     They are  both ushered  in by febrile
symptoms,  sometimes  rapid,  violent,  and
alarming; at other times,  slow in their pro-
gress,  and light in appearance, yet in reality
insidious  and dangerous.  It is common  to
these diseases, that the subjects of them are,
in some  instances,  to  the  greatest degree
prostrated in their  strength, from the  com-
mencement  of their  illness,  and  in  others
walk about,  apparently but little indisposed,
till within a few hours of dissolution.

     They both direct  their principal  force
against the head,  stomach, and  abdominal
viscera.  Evidence in favour  of this assertion
may be collected, no less from the symptoms
and  complaints of patients while living, than
from dissections of their  bodies after death.
In both  diseases the stomach,  in  particular,
is observed to be almost uniformly  affected
by inflammation.

     Does yellow fever oftentimes  terminate
in the black vomit,  and in hemorrhages from
different  parts  of  the  body?  And do not 
[  323   3
similar phenomena sometimes mark the termi-
nation of pestilence ?

     Does yellow fever derive its name from
the frequent colour of the eyes and skin, in
those whom it affects ?  And  does not  a
similar yellowness  oftentimes appear in pro-
tracted cases of true  plague? When death
occurs on the first  or second  day of illness)
this  symptom  is alike wanting  in both  dis-
eases.              , -

     Is plague  characterized,  in most cases,
by bubos, and,  in  many, by carbuncles or
malignant ulcers of the skin ?  And is  not
yellow fever accompanied at times with  the
same symptoms ? Occurrences by no means
unfrequent in  the  autumns of ninety three,
ninety seven, and ninety eight, authorize the
physicians   of  Philadelphia to reply in  the
affirmative.

     It is certain,  however, that, in the fre-
quency of  these  glandular  swellings  and
cutaneous  ulcers,  plague differs more from
yellow fever, than it  does in any other  par-
ticular.  But an occasional difference between
the  external symptoms  of two  diseases,  is
not alone  sufficient to establish the existence
of an essential  difference between  their  na« 
                [   32-4  3

Jure and causes. Even  the  same disease,
under different circumstances,  never fails to
appear under a  different form.    To  such
an extent is this  true,  that we seldom  find
an entire  similarity between any two cases of
the same epidemic.

     It is a truth, of which no one acquainted
with medical science  can be ignorant,  that
yellow or bilious  fever is  oftentimes attended
with certain cutaneous affections in the West
Indies, which but seldom accompany it in the
United States.  Yet  no physician will suffer
such a circumstance  to excite a doubt in his
mind, respecting the  identity of this disease as
it prevails in the two countries.

     What complaints can be more different
in their appearance and general character, than
the British plague  of 1666, and  the  Sudor
Anglicanus or sweating sickness of the same
century?  . Yet, have not these diseases been
uniformly considered as  nothing  else  than
modifications  or varieties  of pestilence ?

,  .  Who does  not know,  that  even  the
complaints of  pregnancy and  the pains of
parturition, are greatly modified by the influx
enc§ of climate ?   Yet,  who wih  deny  that 
                [   325  3

these processes are the same, in every inhabit-
ed portion of the globe ?

     It  may  be further observed, on  this
subject, that plague is more generally charac-
terized by glandular swellings in the Turkish
dominions,  and in  other parts of the East,
than it is when it prevails in the countries of
Europe.   Hence there appears strong ground
to infer,  that these affections, instead of con-
stituting one of its essential symptoms, are only
the  result of accidental circumstances.   And
hence, from this difference, on  the score of
bubos and carbuncles,  between  plague  and
yellow fever,  no argument of weight can be
drawn, to establish a difference in their nature
and cause.    <

     In  their  type, their  critical days,  and
indeed their whole  course, cases  of plague
and yellow fever exhibit a perfect  similitude.

     They are both marked with very evident
morning  remissions, and evening  exacerba-
tions.

     They  both attack,  in some instances,
with  such force,  as to prove destructive to
life in a few  hours.  But, in general,  their
progress is not so  rapid. They seldomreach 
[  52a  3
their crisis  before the third, fifth, or seventh,
and sometimes not  before  the  ninth, or the
eleventh day.   It will be observed, that with
regard to their critical days, they seem alike
partial to odd  numbers.   Even that state  of
apyrexia, which oftentimes occurs  about the
third day in yellow fever, and which has been
considered by some as peculiarly characteristic
of that disease, forms no uncommon feature
in the  pestilence of the East.

     But  epidemic plague  and yellow fever
resemble each  other in their decline and ter-
mination, no less  than they do in their rise
and progress.

     Having raged with more or less violence
throughout the summer and autumnal months,
the career of both is immediately closed on
the accession of cold weather.  So completely
are their semina blasted by a moderate frost,
that, after such an occurrence,  there remains
in general  no shadow of ground to dread their
influence. It is indeed true, that  sporadic,cases
of these diseases appear even in the depth of
winter: but they are the  offspring of causes
which  operate only on a circumscribed scale.
It belongs  to  spring, summer, and autumn,
particularly to the two latter seasons, to render
the plague  and yellow fever epidemic.  The 
t  327   3
teason of this is obvious.  It is during these
seasons  only,  that  a  sufficiency of  putrid
exhalation can be evolved, to impregnate the
atmosphere  to the pestilential point.

     To the foregoing account of the  termi-
nation of plague,  I am not  ignorant  that
there exists an  exception.   Instead of con-
tinuing  till  the  commencement  of winter,
this  disease, in Egypt and Syria, terminates
uniformly about the summer solstice.  Hence
it has  become proverbial,  that extremes of
heat and cold are alike  destructive  to pesti-
lential contagion.

     Does not this circumstance,  it may be
asked,  constitute  an essential difference be-
tween plague and yellow fever ? I answer,  it
does not.  For, did  the latter disease visit
the above mentioned countries, it would ter-
minate at the same  season with the former.

     However  paradoxical  it may appear,
it is  unquestionably  true, that in Syria and
Egypt,   plague expires  during the  heats of
summer,  on the  same  principle, which, in
European countries, leads to  its  termination
on the commencement of winter.  The cause,
in both  cases, is a   failure  of the food of
putrid exhalation,.  For, as already observed, 
                C  328   3

plague and  yellow fever prevail only at such
times and in such places,  as are favourable
to the  production of this gaseous poison.

     In most parts of Asia ^and Africa  the
climates are materially different from those of
corresponding latitudes in Europe and Ame-
rica.  This difference is in a great  measure
attributable  to  the  burning  desarts  of the
East, which, by communicating their tem-
perature to the surrounding countries, render
them much warmer than others remote from
such torrid  regions.   But  epidemic  diseases
are known to be greatly under the  controul
of the temperature of the  atmosphere.  We
must therefore expect, that the epidemics of
countries so dissimilar in their  climates as
those just  mentioned, will not only be some-
what different in appearance, but will  rise
and terminate  at different seasons  of the
year.

     Syria  and Egypt may  both be consi-
dered as southern  regions, subject no  less
to  extremely  dry   than  to  intensely  hot
weather.   In the former country  no  rain
falls from the middle of May till the  middle
of September,  while the  latter  suffers   a
drought of a much  longer continuance.  Nor
has nature  been more liberal in supplying 
t;>229  ]
them with terrestrial streams, than  she  is in
refreshing them with the waters of Heaven.
Syria contains no river of note but the Oron-
tes, and the Nile is the only one  that waters
the land of  the Pharoahs.  The existence of
smaller  streams is  rendered  impracticable,
partly by the scanty falls of rain, and pardy
by the thirsty nature of the soil.


     In consequence  of this  deficiency  of
moisture  co-operating with  the extreme  heat
of their  climates,   these  places,  through-
out the  summer months,  exhibit the most
parched and  dreary prospect.  During this
inclement season  so  completely suspended
are  the powers of vegetation,  and so dead
and  withered  the  foliage  of  most  plants,
that both countries appear as  if scorched by
actual fire.   Exhausted  of their waters,  to
the last drop, even the  air and the earth con-
tribute to heighten the general aridity. Under
sucli circumstances,  putrefaction, no  longer
able to go forward for want of humidity, Ceases
to impregnate the atmosphere with deletetrious
effluvia. For, to the existence  of this process
moisture is do  less necessary, than it is  to
preserve the verdure, or to promote the growth
of the tenderest vegetable.
                   U  u 
                C  330   3

     No  sooner  have the  heat and drought
of the  season produced in every thing such
an excess of dryness, which happens about
the 20th or 24th of June ; no sooner has the
atmosphere become  thus depurated  of pu-
trid exhalation, than the ravages of the plague,
which  had been  kept up by the putrefaction
of  the  vernal  months,   are immediately at
an end,  as if staid by the influence of super-
natural agency.   Deprived of its  proper ali-
ment,  in consequence of this deficiency of
water,  the monster may  be said to perish by
famine.   Were  .Syria and Egypt supplied
with uniform rains,  like  the  countries  of
Europe,  there is no doubt but summer  and
autumn  would  be their  principal period of
suffering  from this disease.   After the au-
tumnal rains  of Syria, there is not  a suffi-
ciency  of heat, previously to the commence-
ment of winter,  to generate afresh the seeds
of pestilence.


     We may lay  it down, then,  as a physi-
cal axiom,  that the destruction  of putrid
exhalation, whether effected by the  frost of
winter,  or by the co-operation of heat  and
drought,  will  arrest the  desolating progress
of plague.   But  the same thing is true with
regard to yellow  fever,  which depends for 
i  331   3
its origin and propagation on the  same  efflu-
via.   In this  particular,  therefore, no less
than in others already mentioned, these two
diseases exhibit a striking affinity.

     I am not ignorant that several writers of
note,   have ascribed  the cessation  of  the
Egyptian plague to a different cause, namely,
to the  superflux of the river Nile, which they
ailedge purifies the air, either  by drowning,
or washing from the neigbouring  country,
all existing sources of putrefaction.   But a
reference  to dates will immediately convince
you  that these  authors are  mistaken.

     The  Nile  begins to swell about  the
seventeenth of June, rises at the rate of four
inches  a  day,  and  does  not overflow its
banks  till  the middle  of August.   But  the
plague  ceases uniformly  about  the  twenty
fourth  of June.   How then is  it possible,
that  the waters of this  river,  which do  not
begin  to inundate  the country  for   nearly
two months afterwards, can, at  this period,
either overwhelm  or wash away the filth of
its surface ?

     Were the  face  of Egypt covered with
water at the time when the  Nile is  in  reality
only beginning to swell,  I would be disposed 
[  332  ]
to attribute the ceasing of the  plague to this.
inundation.   For an excess is no less inimical
than a deficiency of water to the putrefactive
process.   But, as every cause must  necesr
sarily precede its effect, it is  unphilosophical,
pot to say absurd, to ascribe the cessation of
the plague of Cajro, on the twenty foirrth  of
June, to the  overflowing  of the  Nile  about
the middle of August.   Though the superflux
of this  river  is the  saviour of  Egypt from
depopulation by famine, it  does not appear,
from  our  latest  and  best accounts of that
country, to have any  particular influence on
the health of its inhabitants.

     Those persons acquainted with my infi-
delity  respecting  the  contagion of yellow
fever, will, no doubt,  suppose me  at a loss
to  discover,  on  that score, any analogy
between this  disease  and  the pestilence  ex
the East.

     On this subject it becomes  me to speak
with  diffidence and caution, because  I am
unable to speak from observation.  To  the
writings  and  conversation  of others am  I
indebted  for  the  principal  part of  what
knowledge I  possess, relative to the nature
of true  plague.  But  from  all  I have been
able to collect through these  channels, I'finc} 
[  233  ]
no solid ground of belief, that this disease is
really contagious.   On the  other  hand,  the
farther I  pursue  the  enquiry, the  more am
1 inclined to consider it as  propagated, not
by contagion, but solely through the medium
of a vitiated atmosphere.

     My principal reasons for this opinion I
will endeavour to lay before you in a few
Words.

     I. Plague  prevails only under certain
constitutions of the atmosphere, which  medi-
cal writers denominate pestilential, and during
those  seasons  of the year, which favour the
generation of putrid exhalations.   Two  cir-
cumstances  therefore  seem  essential to its
existence  and  propagation,  an  atmosphere
radically malignant, rendered still  more  so
by the  admixture of deleterious  gases.   On
the aid of these  two adventitious causes it
is  as  dependent  for its  prevalence, as  com-
bustion is on that of vital air.

     But,  how different is  the  case with
Small  pox, measles, lues venera,  and  other
truly  contagious  diseases?-Possessed of an
inherent and independent power of self-pro-
pagation,  these maladies  prevail  and spread
at  all seasons  of  the  year,  and under every 
[  334  3
varying constitution of atmosphere.   To their-
communication from  the  sick  to  the  well,
foul air is no more necessary, than it is  for
the spreading of flame from one combustible
body to- another.

     II. When plague is epidemic  in a town
or  city,  and cases  of  it  are  removed  to
healthy situations in the surrounding coun-
try,  or  to neighbouring  towns  and villages
free from  disease,  it is not communicated
to the nurses or attendants of the sick.  This
fact is amply attested, and  seems to declare
in the  most  explicit terms, that  the disease
in question is not  possessed of any specific
contagion, or inherent power of self-propaga-
tion, but is altogether the creature of adven-
titious causes.  Under  similar circumstances
how different are  the phenomena  exhibited
by small pox? Like an  election per se, this
disease, by means of an infectious  power, of
which nothing can deprive it, propagates itself
alike in every situation,

     III. The sudden  and entire  cessation
of plague in  Syria and Egypt about the sum-
mer solstice, and  in Constantinople on  the
accession of cold  weather,  is inimical to a
belief  in its  contagious nature.  Immediately
after its termination  in  these places ^which 
                 [   335   ]

iS ^"p^times almost instantaneous, and where
a belief in the  doctrine  of fatality prevents
every measure for  the removal or destruction
of contagion) the apparel of the dead is worn
by  their surviving   connections, their beds
are slept  on,  and  their furniture in general
used and handled in the most familiar manner*
Nor is this all:  Even the low filthy hovels*
which had been utterly depopulated by  the
disease, are,  without purification,  presently
filled  up  again  by fresh inhabitants:  Yet,
from all this intercourse, apparently co incon-
siderate  and  dangerous,  no  inconvenience
whatever  is experienced.   Instead  of imme-
diately, sweeping off those who thus plunge
into  the  midst  of  its supposed fomites,  the
disease is heard  of no more, till  the return
of the next season  of exhalation, or perhaps
till  a much more  distant  period,  and then
appears again without being attributable  to
any cause, except  the existing state of  the
atmosphere.

     Under   the  foregoing  circumstances,
plague ceases  at the very time when its sup-
posed matter of contagion would seem to exist
in the  greatest  abundance, and when things
would  consequently appear to be in the best
state of preparation for the continuance of its
lavages,   But if this disease cannot be con- 
                t   S3C  ]

tinned in action, by such an immense vdluiv-f*
of fresh contagious  matter issuing immediate-
ly from the bodies of many thousand sick and
dead,  how can it be called into being  again^
some time afterwards,  by an inconsiderable
quantity of the same contagion  (now perhaps
grown stale with age)  adhering to a bale of
goods, a chest of clothes,  or even to a single
article of wearing apparei ?  As well might we
attribute to a solitary and fading spark a power
of producing and propagating flame,  superior
to that possessed by an extensive and vigorous
conflagration, as to  alledge, that from a small
and weakened portion of contagion a disease
may originate, which an incalculable quantity
of the same contagion  in  the most  active
state, was unable even to preserve in exist-
ence.


     Ind£ed Were plague possessed of  real
contagion,  I know not how it could terminate
in any place, except with the final extermina-
tion of the inhabitants.   For as the system is
known to  be subject to  repeated invasions-of
this disease, even during the same season, a
first attack would (particularly in places  where
all precautions of cleanliness  are  neglected)
prepare a  sufficiency of poison for  the  super-
inducement of a second, which, on the same 
[  $37  3
 principle,  would again prepare the way for a
 third,  till death would  finally  step  in  and
 relieve the patient from his accumulated suk
 ferings.

   But it  is said, that plague is only condi-
 tionally contagious ;  that it  is communicable
 from the sick t > 'the well, only under certain
 States or conditions of atmosphere ; and,  that
 with the termination of these states or condi-
 tions,  terminates also the communicability of
 this disease.  This  is  certainly  a kind of
 compromise,  or  half-way business,  which
 approaches to an acknowledgement, that the
 evil under  consideration   results  from  a
 malignant  constitution of the air.

     The  most enlightened and respectable
 contagionists alledge,  that the foregoing states
 or conditions of atmosphere contribute to the
 propagation, of plague, not  by heightening
the virulence of its contagion,  but only  by
 encreasing the predisposition  of the  human
 system, i. e. by rendering it  more susceptible
 of the  action of pestilential poison.

     A brief analysis of this proposition wilt
expose the fallacy of the principles on which
it is founded.
                   Xx 
t  338  ]
     It is known to physicians that  the  con-
stitution of man is  not so extremely mutable
as to be materially affected in its predisposi-
tions or susceptibilities, by the action of the
atmosphere continued only for a few hours
or a few  days.   There is reason to believe
that a period  of many  months is not more
than  sufficient  for  the  production  of such
an  effect.   Agreeably  to the  reasoning of
our contagionists, then, it would be necessa-
ry for a person  from a  healthy  situation to
reside a considerable time in a place suffering
from pestilence,  before he  would be liable to
an attack of the  disease.   For in what other
way could his system be rendered  suscepti-
ble of the action of contagion ?


     But,  how  does this  inference comport
with observation ?  Do we not find that the
Very reverse of  it is true  ? When a  city is
overrun by plague, strangers, on their first
arrival,  ar.e known  to be even more  liable to
an  attack of it,  than the old  and permanent
inhabitants of the  place.  Yet, according to
the foregoing theory of our contagionists, the
latter should be  alone subject  to the disease,
because they alone  have resided long enough
in a malignant  atmosphere,  to  have their
systems  prepared for its poison 
[  339  3
     IV. The last reason I  shall offer for
disbelieving in the contagion of the plague is,
because it is a disease wnich unquestionably
has possession of the atmosphere, as is mani-
fest from its either banishing or assimilating
to itself,  all other  diseases of the place where
it prevails.  For,  it may be laid down as an
axiom  (if indeed medical  science admit of a
self-evident  truth)  that  whatever  disease
acquires such  an  ascendency over  its  co-
temporaries, as  either to banish  them, or
oblige  them to assume its own likeness, must
do it by gaining the  entire command of the
atmosphere.   Through   no  other  medium
could it exercise such authority, because no
other medium is so general in its influence.

     But  I hold  it  superfluous  to  remark
to you, that contagion, resulting from disor-
dered  action in the human system, is a cause
by far too limitted and feeble to revolutionize
the atmosphere of a large city.  Though the
confined atmosphere of a  single room, or even.
of a whole house, may be  thoroughly contami-
nated by exhalation from the sick, it is im-
possible that from a source so disproportion-
ate,  the same thing can happen to a body of
external atmosphere,  several miles in extent,
and renovated by  a constant influx  of fresh
air. 
C  340   3
     Ih opposition to the  opinion that plague
results from a general vitiation of the air, it
will no doubt  be urged, that in the cities of
the East, Europeans secure themselves against
this disease, by shutting themselves  up  in
their own houses, • and  observing a  strict
quarantine during its prevalence.


     This objection will probably have much
weight with those,  who eitnei do  riot  know,
or  do not recollect,  that an exciting is no
less necessary than a predisposing cause, to
produce  an  attack of pestilential  disease.
It is a truth which must be familiar to every
one who has made medical science his  study,
that our systems may be charged with  the
exhalation or  seeds of pestilence,  and  yet,
if no excess or irregularity  occur to  excite
them into action, we may still escape a formal
attack.


     Such appears  to be  the  case  with  the
above mentioned Europeans.   Though many
of them retire into their houses carrying along
with  diem the  remote  cause of  pestilence,
and though probably the whole cf  them  be-
come impregnated with this poison afterwards,
yet,  by avoiding every thing  that might  act
as  an exciting  cause,  they  finally  escape 
[  341   3
the ravages of the disease.  If however they
act in a different manner ; if instead of being
cautious and circumspect in  their mode of
living, they indulge, during their confinement,
in intemperance or  any kind of irregularity,
they seldom find safety even in the most rigid
seclusion  from  the  sick.   Hence, different
individuals in the same house remain healthy,
or  sicken, accordingly  as  their  habits are
temperate  or  otherwise:  and  hence, those
who escape plague under such  circumstan-
ces, owe their exemption, not to  the want of
an intercourse with the  infected, but to  their
avoiding such causes,  as might  rouse  into'
action  the principles of disease  which lurk
in their systems.   Nor  are such  persons
ever clear of danger from  exciting  causes,
till by  time and a change  in the state of their
atmosphere, their bodies are purged of the
miasm they contain.

     But farther, it is customary with most
Europeans  in  Constantinople,  Syria,   and
Egypt,  to  confine themselves to  the  upper
Stories of their houses,  during their quaran-
tine, in times  of pestilence.  To this  prac-
tice they have been led  by observing,  that
those who reside below during their confine-
ment,  are by  far  the  most  liable  to suffer
from the disease. 
[  342  3
     The explanation of this fact  is  simple
and  obvious.   It would  appear  that  the
putrid exhalation  which  contributes  to  the
pestilential state  of their atmosphere, rises
to but an inconsiderable distance above  the
surface of the ground.  It either,  therefore,
does not reach the air  of their upper  stories
at all, or exists in it in such a state of dilution
and weakness, as  to be incapable of derang-
ing the functions of the body.

     Were it practicable for the citizens of
Philadelphia  to  pass their time wholly in the
upper parts  of their houses, and  to  remain
inaccessible  to the  lower  stratum of  air,
during the prevalence of yellow fever, it is
probable they might, by thus living above tie
region of the  cause of  disease,   enjoy  an
equal exemption from its influence.

     It remains that I should advert  to  that
opinion, which regards plague as nothing  else
than  the  highest  grade  of jail  or  typhus
fever.

     Were   I to  express,  in general terms,
my sentiments respecting this hypothesis, I
would say, that  what entitles it to "most consi-
deration  and  credit is, its ranking in the cata-
logue of its advocates, the illustrious nrofessor 
[  343  3
 of the institutes and practice of medicine, in
 the  University of Pennsylvania.   But,  not
 even the authority of that great teacher can
.lead  me to a belief in the identity of plague
 and typhus fever.

     These diseases  appear to  be  different
 for the following reasons :

      I.   Because they prevail  in  different
 seasons of  the  year,  and under different de-
 grees of  heat.  Typhus fever is a disease of
 high  latitudes,  and  rages  most  during the
 winter season ;  whereas plague is  most com-
 mon  in  countries nearer to the tropics,  and
 originates and spreads only under the influ-
 ence of a summer temperature.

     II.  Typhus fever is certainly propagated
 by contagion, and requires,  for its communi-
 cation from the  sick to the well, no peculiarly
 malignant constitution of  atmosphere.  If a
 case  of  it be removed from a city, town, or
 hospital, where  it prevails, to a healthy situa-
 tion in the country, it remains still  a source of
 danger to nurses and  attendants.   But it
 has been already mentioned, that  the case is
 different  with regard to plague;  because a
 similar removal disarms it entirely of its power 
[  344  3
of propagation.   How, I beg  leave to ask,
are tiiese facts reconcileable with the opinion,
which regards the latter as a higher and mote
malignant grade of the former disease ? Sup-
posing them to be  in reality  nothing more
than different modifications or degrees of the
same malady, would not the  foregoing  cir-
cumstances  bespeak  plague to be of the two
the most weak and perishable ?


     III. Typhus fever attacks women rather
than men, and the weakly and  such as  sub-
sist  on  impoverished  fare,  rather than  the
robust and such as indulge in a generous diet.
But it was stated in  a former part of my  ad-
dress, that the  reverse  of this is  true with
respect  to   plague.    Its  favourite victims
are,  high livers, and those  who possess the
most vigorous constitutions.


     VI. In the countries of the East, which
are  so  frequently the  mournful theatre  of
pestilence, typhus fever is altogether unknown.
But this would not be the case were it only a
subordinate  modification  of plague : for in
such a  state of things,  an inferior degree of
the same  circumstances which produce the
latter disease, would inevitably in some instan-
ces give origin  to the former.  Perhaps  the 
[  345  ]
warmth of eastern countries, and the general
circulation of air which the inhabitants conse-
quently  preserve in  their dwellings, is  the
cause of their  exemption from typhus fever.
For this,  as already  mentioned,  is a disease
of cold latitudes and  seasons, rather than  of
warm.

   v  V. True plague  never prevails except
during the season,  and within the sphere,  of
putrid exhalation.   The aid of this poison,
therefore,  seems essential  to its  existence.
But the case is different with regard to typhus.
Perfectly independent of the  putrefactive pro-
cess,  a  vitiated secretion from  the human
system  is all  it requires for its  origin and
propagation.   Nor  is it liable, like plague, to
be arrested in its course by a long continuance
of dry weather.

     VI.  To  whatever extent  typhus fever
may spread in a town or city,  it never acquires
such  an  ascendency over   its  cotemporary
diseases, as either to banish them, or force them
to assume  its own characteristic  symptoms.
The reason of this is,  that it never becomes
truly  epidemic  by gaining possession of the
general  atmosphere  of the  place  where it
prevails.   It may be  regarded as  at all times
                   Y  y 
[  346   3
an insulated disease, resulting entirely from
human  contagion,  and is neither preceded,
accompanied,  nor  followed  by   uncommon
malignity in other  diseases.   Nor  is its pre-
valence  marked  by  striking  peculiarities in
any of the cotemporary phenomena of nature.
No commotions  of the  earth, nor frightful
meteors in the Heavens, usher in its ravages ;
no volcanic eruptions give token of its approach,
nor break forth during its continuance to cele-
brate  its orgies ;  nor do drought and insects,
the harbingers of famine, co-operate  with it
in the work of destruction.


     Perfectly  local in  its  origin, and  cir-
cumscribed in  its  extent, typhus fever appears
to possess no relationship to.those sweeping
epidemics, which are properly entitled to the
name of pestilential.   The  disease of want
and wretchedness, it is more   peculiarly  con-
fined  to  the  abodes of  poverty;  but they,
operating on  a  more extensive scale,   and
taking  a loftier  aim,  attack, without   dis-
tinction,  the monarch on  his throne, and the
pauper  who  subsists  on the fragments of
charity.


     But, conscious of  the  tresspass which
the  copiousness of  nv subiect has  already 
[  347   3
obliged me  to commit on your time,  I shall
conclude by laying before you a few  general
remarks.

     Pestilence  should be  regarded as a
generic term,  including  every description of
disease,  which  depends  for  its origin  and
propagation on a malignant atmosphere.

     As plague and yellow fever  appears to
result  from this source,  and  as they agree
whh each other in so many and such essential
points,  they would  seem to be  nothing else
than varieties  of pestilence,  modified by the
difference of circumstances under which they
prevail.

     As  the   contagious nature  of these
diseases is,  at least, extremely problematical,
and as the propagation and ravages of both
are certainly promoted by putrid exhalations,
officers of police, in the cities of this and other
countries, should be much less solicitous  to
close the  avenues  of their introduction from
abroad, than to prevent  their  generation and
nourishment from domestic causes.

     Finally, as a malignant  disease, whose
features declare it to belong to the family of
pestilence,  has lately made its appearance in 
                C   243   3

the kingdom of Spain, I cannot, without min-
gled emotions of pity and contempt,  contem-
plate the unenlightened and feeble efforts that
are made to prevent its  introduction into adja-
cent nations.  Unless the pestilential consti-
tution which appears to prevail in their atmos-
phere be done away, or a  system  of domestic
cleanliness  be rigorously  enforced,  as well
might those nations  attempt  to countermand
the laws of planetary  attraction, or  to  stay,
by  their military guards,  the  course of the
angel that rides on the whirlwind, as to set
limits to  the ravages of this calamity.
FINIS.
THOMAS AND WILLIA3I BKADFORD, PRINTERS.
 
 
 
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MEDICAL LIBRARY
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