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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Epidemics Examined and Explained: or,
+Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease, by John Grove
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Epidemics Examined and Explained: or, Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease
+
+Author: John Grove
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2010 [EBook #34603]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPIDEMICS EXAMINED ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Keith Edkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
+are listed at the end of the text.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Page numbers enclosed by curly braces (example: {25}) have been
+incorporated to facilitate the use of the Table of Contents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+EPIDEMICS
+
+EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED:
+
+OR,
+
+LIVING GERMS
+
+PROVED BY ANALOGY TO BE
+
+A SOURCE OF DISEASE.
+
+BY
+
+JOHN GROVE, M.R.C.S.L.
+
+AUTHOR OF "SULPHUR AS A REMEDY IN EPIDEMIC CHOLERA."
+
+LONDON:
+
+JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.
+
+MDCCCL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    "The tendencies of the mind, the turn of thought of whole ages, have
+    frequently depended on prevailing diseases; for nothing exercises a
+    more potent influence over man, either in disposing him to calmness and
+    submission, or in kindling in him the wildest passions, than the
+    proximity of inevitable and universal danger."--_Hecker's Epidemics of
+    the Middle Ages._
+
+    "The grand field of investigation lies immediately before us; we are
+    trampling every hour upon things which to the ignorant seem nothing but
+    dirt, but to the curious are precious as gold."--_Sewell on the
+    Cultivation of the Intellect._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TO
+
+BENJAMIN GUY BABINGTON, F.R.S., M.D.,
+
+PHYSICIAN TO GUY'S HOSPITAL,
+
+AND
+
+PRESIDENT OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
+
+ETC. ETC.
+
+THESE PAGES ARE, BY HIS KIND PERMISSION,
+
+Respectfully Dedicated,
+
+BY HIS OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{v}
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The following pages have been written with a view to render some aid in
+establishing a sound and firm basis for future research, on that absorbing
+topic, the Causes and Nature of Epidemic Diseases.
+
+The amount of information already published on Fevers, on the Exanthemata,
+and on the Plague, is truly astonishing, and the more so when it is
+considered, that at present no rational account or explanation is given of
+the causes of these affections.
+
+It appears to me but reasonable to suppose that as every thing on this
+earth has been created on a wise and unerring principle, Epidemic and
+Infectious Diseases are only indicative of some serious errors in our
+social arrangements and habits. The dangers and misery brought upon us by
+disease, may, as shewn by Dr. Spurzheim and Mr. Combe, be warnings against
+the infringement of the natural laws.
+
+Indeed, what is more rational than to suppose that the Seeds of Disease are
+coeval with the fall of man. His first disobedience {vi} brought
+death:--that his subsequent errors should hasten its approaches is not to
+be marvelled at. The undetected murderer, though he may escape the
+punishment human justice would inflict upon him for his delinquency,
+suffers a penalty in the tortures of conscience, infinitely more horrifying
+than the most ignominious death. The law of nature is triumphant.
+
+No less certain, though after a different manner, are the consequences of
+minor forms of disobedience. It is so ordained, that certain diseases shall
+arise, under peculiar conditions, which may have been brought about by a
+train of causes, easily imagined, and difficult to be explained, but all
+having their origin in the vices and errors of man in his moral and social
+relations.
+
+If man neglects the cultivation of the ground; with rank vegetation, the
+germs of fever will invisibly grow and multiply; if he harbours that which
+is rotten and corrupt, he is himself consumed by those agents destined to
+remove the rottenness and corruption; it is a part of the law of nature
+that there should be active and energetic agents for this purpose. The
+seeds of disease, like the seeds of plants, may be shewn to have {vii}
+their indigenous localities; like them they may be spread and multiplied;
+like them they may lie dormant, and after awhile spring as it were into
+active existence; like them, when the soil and other conditions favour,
+they are ever ready to make their appearance. And this is the law, the
+germs of all disease exist, and have existed. Despise the dictates of
+nature, be careless of yourself and those around you, neglect to use the
+means which a noble intelligence has placed at your command, and above all,
+transgress the laws of God, then will disease pursue and attend you, as the
+conscience of the murderer pursues and attends him until he is finally cut
+off.
+
+His wants and necessities, his sufferings and privations, are the basis of
+the intellectual progress of man. The wonders of Omnipotence are revealed
+through the whirlwind, the storm, the pestilence, and the famine.
+
+The constructive and perceptive faculties of man have been developed by the
+necessity of protecting himself from injury by winds and rains; his
+intellectual faculties have been cultivated, by the sufferings of disease
+having led him to the study of {viii} organization and life, to discover
+the cause,--and to chemistry, and other sciences for the cure of his
+ailments.
+
+Famine and distress have aroused his emotions, and softened down his
+asperities, so that what appears at first to be the infliction of a Curse
+without Pity, is in reality a Judgment with Mercy.
+
+It occurred to me, that on the formation of the Epidemiological Society,
+the first question for consideration should be, What is the nature of those
+agents, which induce Epidemic Diseases? are they composed of animate or
+inanimate matter? In other words, do the manifestations of these diseases
+exhibit the operations of living or of chemical forces.
+
+Having, in my study, dwelt on the subject with an earnest desire to find
+the truth, I put the suggestion, with my ideas, before the public to reject
+or receive them. If they be rejected, I can but think a full discussion of
+the enquiry will lead to the most important results. If they be received
+with favour, I doubt not others, with more ability, will take up the strain
+and resolve the discords into harmony.
+
+  J. G.
+
+  _Wandsworth, September, 1850._
+
+{ix}
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+                                                                   PAGE
+  INTRODUCTION                                                        1
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+  IS IT PROBABLE THAT EPIDEMIC, ENDEMIC, AND INFECTIOUS
+  DISEASES, DEPEND UPON VITAL GERMS
+  FOR THEIR MANIFESTATIONS?                                          11
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+  THE NUMBER AND VALUE OF FACTS TO SUPPORT
+  THE PROPOSITION.
+
+  SECTION I.--On Reproduction                                        22
+
+  SECTION II.--Historical Notice of Epidemic Diseases                34
+
+  SECTION III.--The Dispersion of Plants and Diseases                64
+
+  SECTION IV.--The Relation between Epidemic and Endemic
+  Diseases                                                           96
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+  THE REASONABLENESS OF THE APPLICATION OF
+  THE FACTS TO THE INFERENCE.
+
+  SECTION I.--The Chemical Theory of Epidemics untenable            108
+
+  SECTION II.--The Animalcular Theory of Epidemics untenable        128
+
+  SECTION III.--Sketch of the Physiology and Pathology of
+  Plants and Animals                                                138
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+  RESULTS IN PROOF OF THE TENABLENESS OF THE
+  PROPOSITION.
+
+  SECTION I.--Observations on some of the Laws of Epidemic
+  Diseases                                                          155
+
+  SECTION II.--What is the nature of those Poisons which most
+  resemble the Morbid Poisons in their effects on the body?         166
+
+  SECTION III.--What results do we obtain from the effects of
+  remedial agents, in proof of the hypothesis?                      176
+
+  CONCLUSION                                                        189
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{1}
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+It is one thing for a man to convince himself, but a very different thing
+to be able to convince others.
+
+I am not now speaking of a conviction arising from the impression made by a
+few startling facts, nor of one forced on the mind by early prejudices, or
+by the dogmas of the schools, but of a conviction arising from careful
+enquiry.
+
+In the course of that enquiry, the collector of facts, sees their relations
+to the idea in his mind, in a multiplicity of ways, from their remaining,
+each, as one succeeds the other, an appreciable time on the sensorium, and
+undergoing a certain process of comparison and relation, with all other
+facts and ideas which have been previously stored up. As the materials for
+an edifice which have been shaped and prepared in accordance with the
+completion of the design, so do the facts and ideas which are accumulated
+{2} in the mind, become shaped and prepared for the elimination of a truth.
+The ultimate design of the architect can no more be conceived by the
+examination of the framework of a window, or the capital of a column, than
+the whole truth of a proposition by the examination of separate facts; the
+whole must be conceived and all the relations of all the parts thoroughly
+understood, before the architect can be comprehended or the harmony of his
+design appreciated.
+
+The process of thought in the minds of the architect, and in the framer of
+a proposition, is never exactly the same as in those who contemplate and
+examine their completed works. Much may be done, however, by both to aid
+others in comprehending them. The more accurately they keep in view the
+course their minds have taken, the more readily will their descriptions be
+understood.
+
+To simplify the elements of our knowledge is to give others a ready access
+to our thoughts.
+
+To arrange the course of our ideas in harmony with the elements of our
+knowledge should be the end of all writing, as it is the only means of
+multiplying knowledge. {3}
+
+It is not the mere accumulation of facts which constitutes science, any
+more than a collection of building materials constitutes a house, it is the
+arrangement and adaptation of the means to the end by which the house
+becomes built and science cultivated.
+
+These reflections have been suggested by the circumstance that for the last
+3000 years and upwards, Pestilences have at certain intervals done their
+work of destruction, and opened the springs of misery to untold millions,
+and yet I see not that we are much further advanced as to the knowledge of
+the cause of these inflictions than the Jews in the time of Moses. In the
+Levitical law, as I shall have occasion more particularly to shew
+hereafter, were directions specially given in reference to the plague of
+leprosy; what means should be adopted for the cure of the disease, and for
+preventing its extension, and moreover pointing very significantly to
+certain facts having connexion with the cause of the affection. Since that
+time historians generally, and medical writers in particular, have
+diligently recorded their observations and accumulated facts, on the
+various desolating plagues which {4} have afflicted mankind. Some of these
+men have grappled with the whole subject, and endeavoured to shew the
+presumed relation of the supposed causes in all their intricacies, but it
+is hardly necessary to say that all have signally failed in their attempts
+to furnish us with any practical information.
+
+Satisfied in my own mind that the whole subject is beyond the labour of one
+man, and impressed with the belief that the basis of the enquiry is in
+anything but a satisfactory state, I have applied myself entirely to the
+study of the groundwork only, as the primary proceeding for a solid
+superstructure.
+
+The days are past, when imaginary spirits, ethers, and astronomical
+phenomena, were believed to have any essential influence over our destinies
+in a physical point of view; we have therefore to deal with _matter_ in
+some form or other.
+
+The question, therefore, which I have proposed for enquiry, is, whether the
+matter which causes epidemic and endemic diseases, exhibits the properties
+of inorganic or organized matter.
+
+The properties and qualities of organized {5} bodies, as well as those of
+inorganic matter, need but be stated, and in some instances we may picture
+to ourselves the object, without having seen it, and not be very far from a
+true conception. But for this purpose a clear and definite idea must be
+previously formed, and have taken possession of the mind, of the great
+general divisions of objects in the material world.
+
+Having made these preliminary remarks, I have suggested a certain mode of
+procedure in making enquiries of this kind, not perhaps in strict
+accordance with logical systems, but on the principle of nature's
+operations in our own minds, which appears to me, when reduced to a
+systematic and simple form, to be sufficiently clear and strict for
+synthetical application, and so concise as to be usefully and practicably
+applied.
+
+In endeavouring to establish a theory for the explanation of extraordinary
+phenomena, there are certain rules which should guide us in the thorny and
+treacherous path of speculation. But these rules readily flow from the
+train of thought, and if we examine our own minds during their operations,
+we {6} shall find that the following is the course of our instinctive
+reflections. It is a course we adopt as the test of theories when formed,
+and is a guide in all cases for their construction.
+
+We first commence with an idea, which exists in our minds in the form of a
+proposition: then the following rules naturally suggest themselves:--
+
+1. The probability of the value of our proposition from inference.
+
+2. The number and value of facts to support the proposition.
+
+3. The reasonableness of the application of the facts to the inference.
+
+4. What amount of information in the form of results can be produced in
+proof of the tenableness of the proposition.[1]
+
+In illustration of the value of these rules the history of Dr. Jenner's
+discovery affords an appropriate example. To use the words of Dr. Gregory,
+"he appears very early in {7} life to have had his attention fixed by a
+popular notion among the peasantry of Gloucestershire, of the existence of
+an affection in the cow, supposed to afford security against the Small Pox;
+but he was not successful in convincing his professional brethren of the
+importance of the _idea_."
+
+The popular notion of the peasantry originated the idea in Jenner's mind,
+and it became fixed there as a proposition.
+
+1. He commenced his enquiry by observing that the hands of milkers on the
+dairy farms were subject to an eruption, and he _inferred_ that the notion
+of the peasantry bore the stamp of probability, which strengthened the idea
+in his mind and gave force to the proposition.
+
+2. His next step was to accumulate facts; he found on enquiry that the
+persons engaged on these farms in milking, possessed an immunity from Small
+Pox to an extent sufficient to strengthen the value of his proposition.
+
+3. The reasonableness of the application of the facts to the inference is
+clear from the coincidence that the eruption on the hands of the dairy
+people bore a striking {8} resemblance to the Small Pox, and as this
+disease does not usually occur twice in the same individual, the inference
+was most reasonable that this eruption protected the people from Small Pox.
+
+4. We have but to take the almost universal adoption of vaccination, and
+its acknowledged prophylactic powers against the propagation of Small Pox
+to shew the application of our fourth rule.[2]
+
+Between the conception of the idea and the accomplishment of Jenner's
+designs, vaccination seems to have undergone an incubation of nearly twenty
+years. During that period, with an energy and perseverance only to be
+obtained by confidence, did this great man brood over and elaborate his
+idea; and well might the 14th day of May, {9} 1796, be styled the birth day
+of vaccination, for on that day was a child first inoculated from the hands
+of a milker.
+
+In adopting the above method I have endeavoured to bear in mind M.
+Quetelet's observations on the requirements necessary for medical
+authorship; he says, "All reasonable men will, I think, agree on this
+point, that we must inform ourselves by observation, collect well-recorded
+facts, render them rigorously comparable, before seeking to discuss them
+with a view of declaring their relations, and methodically proceeding to
+the appreciation of causes."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{10}
+
+{11}
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+IS IT PROBABLE THAT EPIDEMIC, ENDEMIC, AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, DEPEND UPON
+VITAL GERMS FOR THEIR MANIFESTATIONS?
+
+It is, I believe, almost universally considered that Epidemic, Endemic, and
+Infectious diseases, originate from some imaginary poisons of a specific
+nature, each disease having its own peculiar poison. That this conception
+should have taken possession of the minds of men, is most natural from the
+symptoms which characterize these diseases, but when we come to enquire
+into the nature of these agents, or supposed poisons, we are at once struck
+with the idea that they exhibit one peculiarity which separates them in a
+marked manner, from those poisons with which we are familiar; for the
+poisons of Small Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Hooping Cough, Fever, &c.
+possess the power of multiplication, or spontaneous increase, a property
+which attaches only to the organic kingdom, and is never known in the
+inorganic kingdom. The source of most of the poisons is to be found among
+mineral or vegetable products. A mineral in combination with an acid or
+oxygen may become a poison, and {12} nitrogen in various combinations with
+oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, or with carbon alone, may become a poison;
+these combinations are, however, in most instances the products of
+vegetable life, others again are obtained from the animal kingdom, such as
+the poison of the serpent, &c. but in all of these instances, there is not
+one in which the power of self-multiplication is to be found.
+
+We are, therefore, constrained to admit that this feature, which
+distinguishes poisons, is one well worthy attentive consideration. The
+varieties of poisons may be classified into those which act topically as
+escharotic poisons, those which act chemically on the blood, and those
+whose effects are manifested in inducing a speedy annihilation of organic
+or vital action, as in the case of hydrocyanic acid, which is supposed
+specifically to affect the nervous centres from which originate the vital
+manifestations. It is rather remarkable that the vital poisons (as I will
+call them for distinction), seem to have their appropriate locality in the
+blood, they do not primarily affect one organ more than another, all the
+effects we witness resulting from them are to be traced progressively from
+the blood to other parts of the body. When a person is inoculated with
+small pox, a very minute portion (indeed it is impossible to say how minute
+it may be) is sufficient, when absorbed, to excite a certain train of
+symptoms, all due to absorption of the materies of the disease, and the
+process by which {13} that materies arrives at maturity, is that known in
+the vegetable world as the fructification; this process of fructification
+is a process of development and increase.
+
+I here may repeat that among all the poisons known, constituted as they are
+of various combinations of elementary matter, they are without exception
+destitute of the power of development or increase. Now, it is pretty
+accurately known what amount of these poisons is necessary to produce their
+effects on the living body; we can say how many drops are sufficient of
+hydrocyanic acid of Scheeles strength, to destroy a man instantaneously.
+Again, how many grains of arsenious acid are sufficient to induce such an
+inflammatory condition of the stomach and intestine as will end in death,
+and how many grains of morphia, will bring about a fatal coma,--but who
+shall say the amount of the vital poisons necessary to produce their
+results? It far exceeds the limit of conjecture, to what extent the
+dilution of miasmatic or contagious matter may be carried, and the poison
+yet be capable of committing in a short time the most frightful ravages.
+
+We may fairly then infer, that if a quantity of matter inappreciable in
+amount be sufficient to exhibit the characters of growth and increase, that
+it is endowed with the properties of vitality. That the poisons of scarlet
+fever, of measles, and of small-pox have this power of growth and increase,
+is as much a matter of universal belief as that "the sun {14} will rise and
+set to-morrow, and that all living beings will die."
+
+This power of individual increase, or reproduction, is the very summit of
+vital manifestation; indeed Coleridge, in his Theory of Life, (in which he
+says, "I define life as the _principle of individuation_, or the power
+which unites a given _all_ into a whole that is presupposed by all its
+parts,") places reproduction in the first rank, and expresses his
+hypothesis thus: "the constituent forces of life in the human living body
+are, first, the power of length or reproduction; 2nd, the power of surface,
+or irritability; 3rd, the power of depth, or sensibility--life itself is
+neither of these separately, but the copula of all three."
+
+Extensive research is not required to shew that many thinking men believe
+in the existence of living organic beings, as the elements of contagious
+and epidemic diseases; the idea indeed seems to flow spontaneously in that
+direction. Whenever thought, and enduring contemplation, have been
+concentrated on the subject, the result appears to have been the same, a
+firm conviction in each individual mind that a vital force must be in
+operation; or as Schlegel would define it, "a living reproductive power,
+capable of and designed to develope and propagate itself."--"Its Maker
+originally fixed and assigned to it the end towards which all its efforts
+were ultimately to be directed."
+
+Referring further to beings having the property of reproduction and
+propagation, he says, (using {15} the word nature here evidently as the
+vital principle for want of a better term,) "Nature indeed is not free like
+man, but still is not a piece of dead clockwork. _There is life in
+it._"--"Thus we know that even plants sleep, and that they too as much as
+animals, though after a different sort, have a true impregnation and
+propagation."
+
+When Schlegel wrote this, how little could he have imagined the intricacy
+of this proceeding among the lower forms of vegetation. It has been shewn
+by Suminski, and verified by many others, that the mode of impregnation,
+and the period at which it occurs in the ferns, do not at all correspond to
+the general notion on this subject. He has discovered in the early
+development of the frond of ferns certain cells, which he denominates
+antheridia, or sperm cells; these contain in their cavity a number of
+subordinate cells, each containing a spermatazoon. At a certain period of
+the progress of the frond, the parent cells become ruptured and liberate
+the spermatoza, these move about in a mucilaginous fluid, which bedews the
+inferior surface of the frond, and become the means of impregnating the
+germ cells, or pistillidia, with which they readily come in contact. Thus
+the process of impregnation in these plants occurs during the germination,
+or what corresponds to the period of germination in the seeds of exogenous
+and endogenous plants.
+
+I have referred to the discovery of Suminski in {16} this place to recal to
+the mind the great and incomprehensible wonders of creation, for who could
+conceive it possible or feasible that even for the impregnation of an
+inferior vegetable, animal life should form an indispensable and essential
+appurtenant of the process. Truly may we say with Coleridge, of plants and
+insects, "so reciprocally inter-dependent and necessary are they to each
+other, that we can almost as little think of vegetation without insects, as
+of insects without vegetation."
+
+I will make but two more quotations on the supposed vital character of the
+germs of disease. "That the air and atmosphere of our globe is in the
+highest degree full of life, I may, I think, take here for granted, and
+generally admitted. It is, however, of a mixed kind and quality, combining
+the refreshing breath of spring with the parching simooms of the desert,
+and where the healthy odours fluctuate in chaotic struggle with the most
+deadly vapours. What else in general _is the wide-spread and spreading
+pestilence_, but a living propagation of foulness, corruption, and death?
+Are not many poisons, _especially animal poisons, in a true sense, living
+forces_?"--Schlegel.[3]
+
+It were useless to multiply quotations to shew {17} that the opinions here
+entertained are matters of general belief among thinking men.[4] I will at
+once then conclude with an observation of Dr. C. J. B. Williams: he puts
+the question, "Does the matter of contagion consist of vegetable seeds? Are
+infectious diseases the results of the operations and invasions of living
+parasites, disturbing in sundry ways the structures and functions of the
+body, each after its own kind, until the vital powers either fail or
+succeed in expelling the invading tribes from the system?"
+
+And this expression, the seeds, is an universal expression, it is a
+"Household Word" in connexion with disease. That it has obtained this
+position in the popular vocabulary is alone a proof of the applicability of
+the term to the thing intended to be {18} signified. Popular notions, as we
+have seen in the case of Jenner's discovery, are not to be unheeded. An
+instance occurs to me, it was a popular belief, that in acne punctata, the
+matter of a sebaceous follicle, was itself, when pressed out, a worm, the
+dark portion which results from the accumulation of dust upon the matter at
+the mouth of the follicle was supposed to be the head of the maggot, as it
+was called; subsequent observation, however, has proved that though this
+matter is not a worm, it contains an animal within its substance, the
+Acarus folliculorum.
+
+The popular notions found among savage tribes as to the efficacy of certain
+remedies in the cure of disease have been the means of furnishing us with
+some of our most valuable medicines, indeed it is almost impossible to say
+whether originally man did not derive his remedies from the herbs and trees
+by an instinctive faculty impelling him, as it does the animals when in a
+state of liberty and with freedom of range, to seek certain plants as they
+avoid others.
+
+It is well known that animals when indisposed will find out some spot as if
+almost led to it by a visionary guide where the "healing plant" is to be
+discovered. I am told that sheep have this faculty, and that they will,
+when affected with the rot, feed upon some plant when they can discover it,
+which eradicates the disease.
+
+Almost every one is familiar with the fact that cats and dogs will crop
+herbage and eat it; I have {19} seen them frequently leave the house and
+proceed to the grass in the most business-like manner, partake of some
+quantity, and quietly return.
+
+A close observer of diseased animals might obtain some useful information
+by noticing the plants cropped by them while in that condition. The
+observations should be made in a variety of districts in consequence of the
+uncertain distribution of some even of the most commonly scattered plants;
+in one year they may be abundant, but in another they may be almost
+entirely absent from the same spot.[5]
+
+Were it only on the fact of reproduction, I would be contented to take my
+stand that the force of life is the indwelling power of pestilential
+matter. Reproduction is a law of nature, and the law of nature is the law
+of God. And where do we find He prevaricates with us? The more we study His
+laws the more harmony and perfection we find; what is seeming confusion in
+the ignorance of to-day, is order in the knowledge of to-morrow. If any one
+ignorant of the law which regulates the diffusion of gases were {20} told
+that a heavier gas would ascend contrary to its specific gravity through
+the septum in a vessel containing a lighter gas above the heavier, he would
+naturally doubt your assertion, and say, "that is contrary to the law of
+gravity;" but explain to him the principle by which this comes about, and
+the objects of the law; the order and beauty of the design become manifest.
+But this is no equivocation, it is evidence there, that subordinate laws
+exist and nothing more. It has never been found that men have gathered
+"grapes of thorns and figs of thistles," nor has it ever been discovered
+that inanimate matter multiplies itself. The seed of disease "is within
+itself," multiplying and propagating itself; whether it formed a part of
+creation at the beginning or not, is rather a question to be solved by
+divines than physicians. When we know, however, the latency of seeds and
+even of entire plants, and that they may be dried and remain so for years
+yet being brought again into conditions adapted to their active existence,
+they, as it were, revive from their sleep, and renew again their
+reproductive properties: can we wonder if, in the great scheme of nature,
+existences new to mankind should make their appearance? When the New
+Zealander saw the surface of his ground producing to him unknown plants,
+and the skins of his children generating peculiar eruptions, and each
+propagating its kind, would he look, think you, to the wood or the stones,
+the air or the water,--for the solution of the {21} mystery? No, he would
+naturally say these people brought the _seeds_ with them. From the property
+of reproduction possessed by these forms of matter, we infer the value of
+the proposition.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{22}
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE NUMBER AND VALUE OF FACTS TO SUPPORT THE PROPOSITION.
+
+--------
+
+SECTION I.
+
+ON REPRODUCTION.
+
+It is inferred that the proposition, "_the matter which operates in the
+production of Epidemic, Endemic, and Infectious Diseases, possesses the
+property of vitality_," we proceed now to the enumeration of those facts
+which further elucidate this subject.
+
+The facts must necessarily be such as illustrate the identity of properties
+in the imaginary germs, that are known to exist in demonstrable germs: we
+take therefore the law of reproduction to be to life, what the law of
+attraction is to gravitation.[6]
+
+{23}
+
+But further; do those matters which engender disease furnish to our minds
+the properties inseparable from life in the abstract? Though the faculty of
+reproduction is essentially an evidence that the thing which reproduces its
+kind must be a living body, yet it is only a property or power of living
+beings and is not itself life, it therefore is necessary to establish the
+fact that the _materies morbi_ not only has the power of reproduction, but
+also those properties which in the abstract will prove as far as
+demonstration can go, that it has the essential properties common to all
+living bodies.
+
+I must again quote from Coleridge, he says: "By life I every where mean the
+true idea of life, or that most general form under which life manifests
+itself to us, which includes all its other forms. This I have stated to be
+the _tendency to individuation_ and the degrees or intensities of life, to
+consist in the progressive realization of this tendency. The {24} power
+which is acknowledged to exist wherever the realization is found, must
+subsist wherever the tendency is manifested. The power which comes forth
+and stirs abroad in the bird, must be latent in the egg."
+
+The tendency to individuation cannot be more strongly marked than in the
+simple experiment of vaccination: we insert a small particle of the
+so-called vaccine lymph under the skin, and by this means we multiply to an
+enormous extent, the power which, in the first instance, we had in the form
+of minute corpuscles in a dry and apparently inert state; nevertheless,
+though in this condition there must have existed the tendency to
+individuation or multiplication of individual existence, and the germs are
+here to their active existence, as seen in the development of the vaccine
+vesicle, what the egg is to the bird,[7] as described above; we may,
+therefore, say that the power which exhibits itself in the production of a
+vaccine vesicle, must have been latent in the dried matter. It is the
+opinion of Muller that the entire vital principle of the egg {25} resides
+in the germinal disk alone, and since _the external influences which act on
+the germs_ of the most different organic beings are the same, we must
+regard the simple germinal disk, consisting of granular amorphous matter,
+as the potential whole of the future animal, endowed with the essential and
+specific force or principle of the future being, and capable of increasing
+the very small amount of this specific force and matter, which it already
+possesses, by the assimilation of new matter.
+
+After speaking of inanimate objects, Dr. Carpenter says; "and what compared
+with the permanence of these is the duration of any structure subject to
+the conditions of _vitality_? _To be born_, to grow, to arrive at maturity,
+to decline, to die, to decay, is the sum of the history of every being that
+lives; from man, in the pomp of royalty, or the pride of philosophy, to the
+gay and thoughtless insect that glitters for a few hours in the sunbeam and
+is seen no more; from the stately oak, the monarch of the forest through
+successive centuries, to the humble fungus which shoots forth and withers
+in a day."
+
+To be born, signifies the faculty of reproduction existing or having
+existed in an antecedent being to that one born, and also that itself
+possesses equally a like power. To be born, is the first expression which
+must be used in speaking of the faculties or properties of living beings as
+independent existences, the annual formation of buds, trees, and shrubs, is
+a multiplication of the species; the coral {26} and various budding polypes
+increase by this process, indeed what is the seed of a plant, or the egg of
+a bird, or the ovum of mammalia, but cast off buds; in all, the new being
+was originally a portion of its parent, and if we examine the ovary of the
+vegetable, the bird, or the mammal, can we find any expression more fitting
+to designate the process than that of budding. To be born then, is the
+evidence of an act of one living being, and the commencement of a series of
+vital phenomena in another, but all these are subsequent to reproduction,
+and constitute another chain of vital acts, all tending to a similar
+result, the multiplication of the species.[8]
+
+Now, whether we apply the philosophical language of Coleridge, or the
+language of observation of Muller, in confirmation of the doctrine here
+inculcated, we arrive at the same point.
+
+Do we not witness in the newly formed vaccine vesicle, an increase of the
+specific force and principle? We certainly have acquired by the process of
+vaccination a manifold multiplication of power, and is there not also
+assimilation of new matter in {27} which this power resides? And does not
+every particle of this new matter contain within itself the same force and
+principle, as existed in that which generated it?
+
+"We revert again to potentiated length in the power of magnetism
+(reproduction); to surface in the power of electricity, and to the
+synthesis of both or potentiated depth in constructive, that is chemical
+affinity."[9]
+
+Some may be at a loss to conceive, at first, how irritability may be
+considered a property of all vegetable matter; that it does exist in some
+vegetables is certain, but that it does exist in all living beings is
+equally certain;[10] the term, however, which would appear more appropriate
+when that irritability does not exhibit itself in an appreciable form, is
+_impressibility_. Irritability, as commonly understood, is seen in its
+highest condition in muscular tissue; but "the irritable power and an
+analogon of voluntary motion first dawn on us in the vegetable world in the
+stamina and anthers at the period of {28} impregnation."--"The insect world
+is the exponent of irritability, as the vegetable is of reproduction."
+
+The property of irritability attains its acme in man, the most highly
+organized of all beings; and its gradations pass downwards through the
+whole scale of animate creation; not so reproduction, for this faculty
+observes the very opposite direction, for in plants a single impregnation
+is sufficient for the evolution of myriads of detached lives.
+
+Reproduction is a fact, it is an essential property of life, and is a
+reality to us from observation; but irritability is not so tangible and
+demonstrable a property. We nevertheless may assume its universality, from
+the circumstance that we lose sight of it by imperceptible degrees; the
+irritability of the sensitive plant is as much irritability as that of the
+highly organized muscle; but because the faculty evades our perception, "in
+tapering by degrees, becoming beautifully less," we have no reason for
+pronouncing its total extinction at any one point of the vegetable
+kingdom,[11] any more than we should have {29} in saying that we see the
+end of the earth, when describing the extent of our vision as we stand on
+the sea shore. The extreme limit of our vision is the tangent of the circle
+in reference to our visual organs; but how many tangential points there may
+be beyond, it is impossible to say without knowing the dimensions of the
+circle.
+
+I think we are now in a condition to assume, as far as abstraction will
+conduct us without proceeding to an extreme length, that the _materies
+morbi_, or, as I will now call them for the sake of clearer distinction,
+_semina morbi_, possess those properties which in the abstract are common
+to all living beings.
+
+Another argument strikes me as capable of adding further strength to the
+proposition. We need but be told that a small piece of iron was placed in a
+certain position with regard to another piece of iron, and that the smaller
+piece moved through a given space and became attached to the larger, to
+infer that magnetic force was in operation. Supposing this magnet then to
+be folded in paper, and that it {30} be promiscuously placed near a
+compass, the deflection of the needle would indicate that some object in
+the vicinity was the cause of the deflection; we may farther try what
+positions the needle takes by varying the position of the packet, and thus
+point out which is the north and which the south pole of the screw of
+paper. If we may consider attraction then to be to gravitation what
+reproduction is to life, we do not err in saying in the one instance that
+there is a living being, and in the other there is a magnet.
+
+The nebular theory, from which some astronomers made the foundation of many
+speculations, came with so much interest to our minds that the fascination
+could not be resisted. It was most delightful to revel in the imagination
+that we possessed a key to the mode of formation of the starry hosts, and
+when speculation had taken its extreme limits in the "Vestiges of the
+Natural History of Creation," and the nebulæ had served as the ground work
+of a gigantic scheme, Lord Ross's monster telescope swept the heavens of
+its cobwebs. We can imagine this great promoter of science saying to us,
+Gentlemen, the clouds which have obscured you, are composed of myriads of
+stars, and comprise systems as vast and as luminous as our own, had you but
+power of vision to discern them. A new light thus appeared to philosophers,
+and though no great practical results may flow from the discovery, it is
+instructive from the fact that the imperfectly aided or unaided vision,
+should not limit legitimate {31} inference. The nebulæ before Lord Ross's
+discovery were to the astronomer what the materies of epidemic and
+infectious disease are to medical men. In the absence however of a giant
+microscope to reveal such great truths, we may yet dimly shadow them by the
+light of our reason. It was predicted in 1849 that minute vegetable germs,
+in all probability all of the same type, were the agents producing epidemic
+and infectious disease. In 1850, Mr. Oke Spooner says,[12] "On examining
+the matter of Small {32} Pox and Cow Pox in every stage, he finds its
+essential character to consist of a number of minute cells not exceeding
+the 10,000th part of an inch in diameter: being about one-fourth smaller
+than the globules of the blood, containing within their circumference many
+still more minute nuclei, and presenting beyond their circumference
+bud-like cells of the same size and character as those contained within the
+circle."
+
+Should these observations made by Mr. Spooner turn out to be correct, they
+will but fulfil my anticipations. Then again shall we see the same
+application of imperfect vision to the limitation or temporary obstruction
+of solid and determinate knowledge.
+
+We may reasonably expect that these bodies, discovered by Mr. Spooner,
+should be the elementary matters of disease. Their existence was predicted
+from the probability that living matter must be the agent; moreover, that
+this matter when discovered {33} would be cellular, most probably
+resembling the yeast plant as described by Mr. Spooner.
+
+It was predicted that a planet would be discovered in a certain position in
+the heavens, because the perturbations of a comet indicated an attracting
+body in the path of the eccentric wanderer; the prediction and the
+fulfilment were almost simultaneous.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{34}
+
+SECTION II.
+
+HISTORICAL NOTICE OF EPIDEMIC DISEASES.
+
+The earliest notices we have of Pestilences are contained in Holy Writ. The
+plagues which smote the Egyptians in the time of Moses are not unworthy
+some comment here. Of those ten plagues, four out of the number were due to
+the miraculous appearance of myriads of the lower animal tribes, in three
+instances of insects,[13] viz. lice, flies, and locusts; in the fourth,
+when Aaron stretched forth his hand with his rod over the streams, over the
+rivers, and the ponds, frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. In
+these instances living beings are made the instruments in God's hand for
+the punishment of the wicked. These plagues include the second, third,
+fourth, and eighth. The first plague is mentioned as a conversion of the
+waters into blood. Now if we may take this expression as being literal,
+there is no reason to suppose that this blood differed in any respect from
+ordinary sanguineous liquid; we therefore may assume, as the blood is every
+where in Scripture spoken of as the _life_, that this fluid was endowed
+with vital properties.
+
+{35}
+
+The fifth plague is described as a murrain among beasts; and the sixth, as
+exhibiting itself as "a boil breaking forth with blains, upon man and upon
+beast."[14] Now these affections bear a resemblance to the diseases known
+to us at the present day through authentic records. The Black Death of the
+14th century affords in its history but too awful a picture of the horrors
+of such pestilences. In the tenth plague, the smiting of the first-born, we
+are not told by what means it was brought about; but we have something even
+here to lead us to conjecture. In the second visitation of the Black Death,
+there were destroyed a great many children whom it had formerly spared, and
+but few women. The seventh plague of hail is within our conception; as is
+also that of darkness, the ninth plague.
+
+It is not a little remarkable that of the ten plagues, seven of them
+depended upon agents intelligible to our comprehension; we can conceive of
+{36} the invasion of a country by myriads of loathsome insects and
+reptiles, and can imagine the wrath of an offended Deity directing the
+force of a supernatural storm of hail upon a disobedient people; and we can
+conjecture, though faintly, the consternation of human nature on being
+subjected to a total darkness of three days' duration, when we consider
+_that_ darkness has been described, as "a darkness that might be felt."
+
+From this abstract we discover that the three plagues whose causes we
+cannot understand, or rather upon which no light has been thrown by
+Scripture, bear analogies to those which we recognise, in the writings of
+modern authors, as fearful pestilences.
+
+It is now our province to reflect on the causes supposed to be in operation
+in the three instances, which become naturally separated from the rest.
+
+We are told that a murrain appeared among the cattle, without any
+preliminary step. When the blains broke out upon man and beast, Moses had
+been previously directed by the Almighty to take handfuls of the ashes of
+the furnace, and sprinkle them towards the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
+"_And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt_, and shall be a
+boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast, throughout all the
+land of Egypt."
+
+Another coincidence, in connexion with subsequent pestilences, arrests the
+attention, on the subject of the mysterious appearance on these occasions
+of {37} matter resembling dust being prevalent about the houses, and on the
+clothes of the people. Clouds also, and showers of dust-like particles,
+were not of infrequent occurrence. Indeed, in the summer of 1849, during
+the progress of the Cholera, several phenomena of a similar nature were
+observed and authenticated; I myself can bear testimony to one instance of
+the kind. It was observed by many persons in my neighbourhood after the
+passage of an ominous and lurid cloud, that as they walked their clothes
+became covered with a singular dust-like matter of very peculiar
+appearance. That this phenomenon was not destitute of significance may be
+gathered from the fact, that on the night of that day several severe cases
+of Cholera occurred, though our village had been comparatively free for ten
+days.
+
+Hecker, in writing on the Black Death says, the German accounts expressly
+speak of a "thick stinking mist which advanced from the east,[15] and {38}
+spread itself over Italy; there could be no deception in so palpable a
+phenomenon." It is not unworthy of mention, that in the East successive
+invasions of locusts "which had never perhaps darkened the sun in thicker
+swarms," preceded the great outbreak of this disease, for they left famine
+in their train.
+
+From 1500 to 1503 in Germany and France, during the prevalence of the
+sweating sickness, spots of different colours made their appearance,
+"principally red, but also white, yellow, grey, and black, often in a very
+short time, on the roofs of houses, on clothes, on the veils and
+neckerchiefs of women, &c." Blood rain is also mentioned as having occurred
+at this time, which consisted of the aggregation of minute particles of red
+matter.
+
+In the seven plagues, miraculous operations of the Deity consisted in the
+unusual manifestation of phenomena, but which in their effects are
+recognizable as of clear and definite import. The miracles here are,--in
+the _mode_ of producing the swarms of frogs, locusts, &c. but they are
+manifest and unmistakeable _causes_ of plague and famine; in the other
+three, on the contrary, we witness only the effects, the causes are hidden
+from us; we may, therefore, as in current events, legitimately investigate
+the subject, and what better course can be adopted than that which
+classifies the traditionary past with all subsequent history. Presuming
+such a method of research to be admitted, I have assumed that as {39} the
+_causes_ of the seven plagues have been distinctly given, the others,
+though only mentioned in their effects, were due to causes of a nature in
+some way to be compared with their concomitants, that is to say, if a
+special intervention of the Deity brought about a miraculous appearance of
+frogs, lice, &c. there is but little reason to doubt that some other agent
+was miraculously multiplied and concentrated to induce the murrain,
+engender the blain, and smite the first-born: as if to lead us into this
+enquiry, on the visitation of the blain in man and beast, the Bible History
+tells us that Moses threw ashes of the furnace, which became a dust
+throughout all the land of Egypt; we cannot imagine that this simply as
+ashes could have caused the blain, we may conclude that by some special
+miracle, either the ashes were converted into a specific form of matter
+capable of inducing the effects recorded, or that an independent septic
+matter was generated for the purpose. If the latter, the act of throwing
+the ashes of the furnace into the air may have been intended to signify
+that the extremely minute division of the particles when thus cast into
+space, typified the inscrutable and hidden nature of the matter endowed
+with such marvellous properties.[16]
+
+{40}
+
+Further on in the book of Leviticus are passages which I cannot forbear
+transcribing, for they point out to us most indubitably a line of enquiry
+in reference to diseases of a contagious nature.
+
+"The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen
+garment, or a linen garment, whether it be in the warp or woof, of linen or
+of woollen, whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin, and if the
+plague be greenish or reddish in the garment ... it is a plague of leprosy,
+and shall be shewed unto the Priest, and the Priest shall look upon the
+plague and shut up it that hath the plague seven days; and he shall look on
+the plague on the seventh day; if the plague be spread in the garment,
+either in the warp, &c. ... the plague is a fretting leprosy, it is
+unclean. He shall therefore burn that garment ... wherein the plague is,
+for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. And if the
+Priest shall look, and behold, the plague be not spread in the garment ...
+then the Priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague
+is, and he shall shut it up seven days more: and the Priest shall look on
+the plague, after that it is washed: and behold if the plague have _not_
+changed his colour, and the plague be not spread, it is unclean; thou {41}
+shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward; whether it be bare within or
+without. And if the Priest look and behold the plague be somewhat dark
+after the washing of it, then he shall rend it out of the garment ... and
+if it appear still in the garment either in the warp or the woof ... it is
+a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire.
+And the garment ... which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from
+them, then it shall be washed the second time and shall be clean."--Chap.
+xiii. 47-58.
+
+Again in Deuteronomy. The curse for disobedience: "The Lord shall make the
+pestilence cleave to thee until he have consumed thee from off the
+land.--The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and
+with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the drought,
+and with blasting, and with _mildew_, and they shall pursue thee until thou
+perish.--The Lord shall make the rain of thy land _powder_ and _dust_: from
+heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed."
+
+It may be said, and I doubt not will be said, all this is unnecessarily
+dragging the sacred volume into an enquiry totally foreign to its general
+tenor; on the contrary, however, I maintain by that Book we are to learn
+the ways of God to man, and further, that no study can impress mankind with
+so awful, so terrific an idea of his responsible position, as that which
+leads him into the investigation of the causes {42} by which the Almighty,
+doubtless in His wisdom, has thought fit at various epochs of this world's
+history, to place man face to face with pestilence, famine and sudden
+death.
+
+There is no man would less willingly than myself introduce profanely the
+revelations of Scripture. The observations here made are not, therefore,
+intended for light or heedless controversy; if they have a significance of
+any import, let them be alluded to in the same spirit with which they have
+been quoted; if they convey nothing for approval to the reader, let silence
+rest upon them. To those who would fain disregard my request, let me recall
+to their minds the veneration which from childhood I trust we have always
+felt on hearing or seeing those two words--Holy Bible.
+
+It is yet to be determined, whether the greenish or reddish appearance of
+the garment spoken of, as being contaminated with the plague of the leprosy
+had any specific relation to the disease itself. The priest orders that the
+garment shall be shut up seven days, and on the seventh day, if the plague
+be increased, by which, of course, is meant if the greenish or reddish
+colour have increased, and from which we may gather that a power of
+spontaneous increase was possessed by the matter, such a result indicated a
+fretting leprosy, and the garment was to be burnt. Again, though there may
+have been no increase, but a persistence of the coloured matter after
+shutting up and washing the garment, it is to {43} be burnt, for it is fret
+inward, signifying, that the germs of the affection are still there, and
+may soon increase. Other rules follow in reference to the plague of
+leprosy, and the mode of deciding whether an article be unclean or clean is
+definitely laid down, but our purpose is served in mentioning the above, to
+shew that in the time of Moses the spontaneous increase of certain minute
+multiplying germs was supposed to have a close connexion with disease. It
+is equally clear, that the priests were aware by the order given them, that
+if the ordinary modes of purifying articles of clothing failed in their
+effect, the safest and surest method of destroying infectious matter was to
+resort to the practice of consuming by fire all materials capable of
+propagating an infectious malady.
+
+The facts above noticed, accurately correspond to what we now know as
+applicable to the matter of infectious and contagious maladies. It is a
+rule, I believe universally adopted throughout the Poor-houses of this
+country, to put the clothes of all persons about to become residents in
+these establishments, into ovens, where they are submitted to a temperature
+incompatible with the existence of either animal or vegetable life. By this
+means all living matters are destroyed, but the fabrics and inorganic
+matters retain their properties intact. This simple proceeding, I am
+credibly informed, is an effectual preventive of contamination by articles
+of clothing, a desideratum of no small importance, when it is {44}
+remembered that the diseases among the poor owe much of their inveteracy to
+the accumulation of effete organic matters about their persons and clothes.
+
+A few more observations are called for on the quotation from Deuteronomy,
+in which allusion is made to living matter being an agent in the production
+of disease. In the curse upon the children of Israel for disobedience, we
+read that they are to be smitten with mildew. No further information,
+however, is vouchsafed to us, nevertheless, we can conceive the wretched
+condition of those on whom the curse might fall. Again, we find in a
+continuation of this curse that the Almighty uses means such as He adopted
+in the sixth plague of the Egyptians. The ashes of the furnace became a
+small dust in all the land of Egypt, breaking forth with blains upon man
+and beast. In the curse of the Israelites the words are: "The Lord shall
+make the rain of thy land _powder and dust_: from Heaven shall it come down
+upon thee until thou be destroyed."
+
+It might be conjectured that the absence of rain would be sufficient to
+account for the extinction of the people on whom the curse was pronounced,
+by the famine and drought necessarily attendant upon the loss of moisture.
+But this does not appear to be the meaning of the passage, for the powder
+and dust are mentioned as the agents of destruction; besides, in the
+continuation of the curse, the locust is to destroy the grain, the worm the
+grapes, and {45} the olive is to shed his fruit; we may thus take for
+granted that drought and famine are not to be caused by the showering of
+powder and dust, it must consequently be supposed that the effects of the
+dust in the instance of the Egyptians are to be compared and classified
+with those of the dust which smote the Israelites.
+
+As far then as Sacred History conducts us in the enquiry, concerning the
+causes of pestilences, we gain encouragement in the belief that living
+germs are the active agents, for in the case of the leprosy, we have
+evidence of reproduction in connexion with infection, which, if our line of
+argument be tenable, amounts to demonstration; then, in the other instances
+of the plagues, by boils and blains, they distinctly bear comparison with
+the accounts given by profane writers, of the visitations of pestilences on
+the earth, subsequently to those mentioned in Scripture history.
+
+This leads now to the consideration of recorded facts observed and noted
+during the various Epidemics in the early and subsequent periods of Man's
+History, as given by those on whom reliance may be fairly placed.
+
+Setting aside the uncertain information contained in the writings of the
+Chinese,[17] a people whose {46} progress in the science and practice of
+Medicine has nothing to commend it (even as it is at the present day) to
+the notice either of the physician or the historian, unless it be to the
+latter as a mark of peculiarity both in a social and political point of
+view,--passing also over the Egyptians, the Arabians, and the Greeks,--and
+even Hippocrates himself, we are driven to the Romans for any authentic or
+precise notice of Epidemic Affections. It has been attributed to
+Hippocrates that he predicted the appearance of the Plague at Athens, {47}
+and that when it was introduced into Greece he dispelled it, "by purifying
+the air with fires into which were thrown sweet-scented herbs and flowers
+along with other perfumes."[18] But little advantage can be derived from
+enquiries concerning the first appearance of any disease, for the
+probability of discovering the primary cause is certainly a {48} hopeless
+case, if attempted by means of the writings of ancient authors, when it is
+recollected that with all the science and learning of the ancient
+Egyptians, the use of optical instruments was not comprised among the
+paraphernalia of their arts. The knowledge that was limited to the powers
+of natural vision, where the foundation of knowledge is based upon facts
+obtained through the aid of that penetrator of nature's secrets, the
+microscope, offers no advantages to the student of the present day.
+
+To say that a disease commenced in the East and travelled westward, and at
+length found a habitation and a name in every part of the globe, is no more
+than to say that disease is coeval with the fall of man. The cause is as
+much hidden in the region of its birth, as in that where it sojourns for a
+time. The cause of the sweating sickness was as much a mystery in England
+as in all the other nations of Europe, which were visited by its
+devastating power. And these observations apply with as much force to one
+disease as another; for even our indigenous ague, originating in some
+places so limited that the shadow of a passing cloud may mark the boundary
+of its dwelling place, as inscrutably evades our vigilance, with all the
+appliances that art can bring to our assistance, in endeavouring to evoke
+its extraordinary properties under the cognizance of our senses.
+
+If we weigh the air which carries the poison, or analyze it by the most
+delicate chemical tests, or {49} take the weight of the atmosphere which is
+charged with it, or if we take the blood which carries the germs of the
+disease to the tissues of the body, and submit them after the work of
+destruction is accomplished, to the most rigid inspection, we can but
+exclaim,
+
+ "These are Thy marvellous works!"
+
+and confess our total inability to fathom the unbounded.
+
+If then no practical advantage can accrue from investigating the writings
+of the ancients on these subjects, beyond comparing their historical
+statements with those of more recent date, our purpose will be served by
+occasionally embodying any remarkable observations of the former with those
+of the latter.
+
+In proceeding with this course it were better to confine our minds chiefly
+to two diseases which appear from history to have been known from the
+earliest periods, these are the Plague and the Small Pox, mentioning other
+diseases only _en route_.
+
+Passing then, to the sixth century of the Christian era for the first
+distinct and connected account of the Plague, it appears from a host of
+testimony, that the history of this disease, as given by Procopius, well
+merits our attention. Drs. Friend and Hamilton, in their Histories of
+Medicine, and Gibbon, in his History of Rome, are equally warm in their
+praise of Procopius: the latter says, he "emulated the skill and diligence
+of Thucydides in the {50} description of the Plague at Athens." The account
+given by Procopius of this disease, does not differ materially from that
+given by subsequent eye-witnesses of similar pestilences. Its point of
+origin is clearly marked, and its mode of dispersion in all directions
+distinctly traced from "the neighbourhood of Pelusium, between the
+Serbonian bog and the eastern channel of the Nile." It commenced in the
+year 542. It raged in Constantinople in the following year, and it was in
+this city that our historian gathered the materials which are handed down
+to us. When, however, we anxiously look for any explanation as to the cause
+of the malady, we are told that it must have been a direct visitation from
+Heaven, in consequence of the eccentric characters exhibited in its
+wide-spreading influence, in not yielding to the scrutiny nor bending to
+the laws known to prevail, and to regulate the course of other diseases:
+neither country nor clime, age nor sex, the strong and healthy, nor the
+weakly and previously diseased, could be said to be free from its
+indiscriminate destruction.
+
+But some phenomena preceding the outbreak of the pestilence are observed as
+coincidences by all authors. Gibbon thus writes: "I shall conclude this
+chapter with the comets, the earthquakes, and the plague which astonished
+or afflicted the age of Justinian." From the accounts given by this author,
+earthquakes for some years had been threatening and destroying many
+portions of the globe, {51} that in the ruins of cities and in the chasms
+of the earth, great was the sacrifice of human life. Constantinople, which
+suffered so severely from the plague is said to have been shaken for forty
+days. These great disturbances of the globe have been always looked upon as
+indicating other and important influences of a secret or hidden nature;
+these impressions on the minds of the people are traceable throughout the
+histories of all epidemics, and have been sufficiently distinct among the
+people of our own time, preceding and during the period of infliction.
+
+From this short notice of the Plague of 543, I pass to the ninth century,
+when Rhazes, the Arabian physician, endeavoured to enlighten the world on
+the subject of Small Pox.[19] In quoting his opinions, I am not to be
+understood as subscribing to them, but merely endeavouring to point out
+some peculiar and interesting observations.
+
+First, then, Rhazes attributes the disease to a condition of the blood,
+which he thus describes, to shew how it happens that in infancy and
+childhood the disease is most prevalent, and that old age is {52} least
+liable to the affection.[20] "The blood of infants and children may be
+compared to _must_, in which the coction leading to perfect ripeness has
+not yet begun, nor the movement towards fermentation taken place; the blood
+of young men may be compared to must which has already fermented and made a
+hissing noise, and has thrown out abundant vapours and its superfluous
+parts, like wine which is now still and quiet, and arrived at its full
+strength, and as to the blood of old men, it may be compared to wine which
+has now lost its strength, and is beginning to grow vapid and sour."
+
+"Now the Small Pox arises when the blood putrifies and ferments, so that
+the superfluous vapours are thrown out of it, and it is changed from the
+blood of infants which is like must, into the blood of young men which is
+like wine perfectly ripened: and the Small Pox itself may be compared to
+the fermentation and the hissing noise which take place at that time."
+
+But the cause of the disease is simply alluded to by this author, as
+depending upon "occult dispositions in the air," and as he speaks here of
+Measles with the Small Pox he goes on to say--"which necessarily cause
+these diseases and predispose bodies to them." This notion of Rhazes that
+there is some peculiar condition of the blood which favours a process
+resembling fermentation is not without interest. The circumstance that
+individuals are not {53} usually liable to a second attack of the disease,
+no doubt directed the attention of this physician to compare the process of
+fermentation with disease of such a nature, seeing that when the whole of
+the saccharine matter was converted into spirit, the hissing noise, as he
+calls it, or the disengagement of carbonic acid gas would cease, and the
+capacity for fermentation be entirely gone. So that the occult conditions
+of the air, their power of inducing a disease, and multiplying the matter
+capable of engendering a similar affection, stood in the mind of Rhazes as
+analogous if not identical phenomena.
+
+We pass now without further comment to the epidemics of the Middle Ages;
+and here the work of the philosophical Hecker leaves us little else to
+desire in the way of information, as far as it is obtainable from published
+records. From the manner in which he has grouped the facts which presented
+themselves to his mind in the course of a most laborious research, he has
+saved the student of this subject much toil in acquiring matter for
+reflection; he has here but to read and digest.
+
+I know not how to select from this invaluable work the most striking
+passages, to strengthen and support my hypothesis, for not a page is
+destitute of facts corroborative of the doctrine that vital germs are the
+material agents of pestilential disorders. The opening paragraph to the
+Black Death is a most cogent illustration of the assertion; it is, as it
+were, the theme of the work. "That {54} Omnipotence, which has called the
+world with all _its living creatures into one animated being_, especially
+reveals himself in the desolation of great pestilences. The powers of
+creation come into violent collision; the sultry dryness of the atmosphere;
+the subterranean thunders; the mist of overflowing waters are the
+harbingers of destruction. Nature is not satisfied with the ordinary
+alternations of life and death, and the destroying angel waves over man and
+beast his flaming sword."
+
+I must here apologise for large transcripts from Hecker's work, for neither
+could I command the amount of knowledge there displayed, nor use such
+appropriate language as the learned translator has employed.
+
+It is not doubted that the Black Death was an Oriental plague, only of more
+than usual severity, and wider spread influence of the infectious nature of
+this disease, and the active properties of the matter producing it. Hecker
+says, "articles of this kind--bedding and clothes--removed from the access
+of air, not only retain the matter of contagion for an indefinite period,
+_but also increase its activity, and engender it like a living being_,
+frightful ill consequences followed for many years after the first fury of
+the pestilence was past."[21]
+
+{55}
+
+As extraordinary atmospheric and telluric phenomena preceded the Plague in
+the time of Justinian, so do we find similar instances recorded as the
+precursor of a similar visitation 700 years later. I am concerned more with
+those circumstances which refer more especially to my subject, _viz._ the
+development of organic matter, and the peculiar odours of the atmosphere,
+the latter being evidence of some foreign and unusual production in our
+respiratory media. "On the island of Cyprus, before the earthquake, a
+pestiferous wind spread so poisonous an odour, that many being overpowered
+by it, fell down suddenly and expired in dreadful agonies. A thick stinking
+mist advanced from the east, and spread itself over Italy."
+
+{56}
+
+It is probable that the atmosphere contained foreign and sensibly
+perceptible admixtures to a great extent, which, at least in the lower
+regions, could not be decomposed or rendered ineffective by separation. In
+1348 an unexampled earthquake shook Greece, Italy, and the neighbouring
+countries. During this earthquake the wine in the casks became turbid, a
+proof that changes causing a decomposition of the atmosphere had taken
+place. "The insect tribe was wonderfully called into life, as if animated
+beings were destined to complete the destruction which astral and telluric
+powers had began."
+
+"The corruption of the atmosphere came from the east, but the disease
+itself came not upon the wings of the wind, but was only excited and
+increased by the atmosphere where it had previously existed."
+
+"The most powerful of all the springs of the disease was contagion; for in
+the most distant countries, which had scarcely yet heard the echo of the
+first concussion, the people fell a sacrifice to organic poison, the
+untimely offspring of vital energies thrown into violent commotion."
+
+"After the cessation of the Black Plague, a greater fecundity in women was
+every where remarkable, a grand phenomena, which from its occurrence after
+every destructive pestilence, proves to conviction the prevalence of a
+higher power in the direction of general organic life." {57}
+
+In the article Contagion, of the Essay, Sweating Sickness: "Most fevers
+which are produced by general causes, propagate themselves for a time
+spontaneously." "The exhalations of the affected become the germs of a
+similar decomposition in those bodies which receive them, and produce in
+these a like attack upon the internal organs, _and thus a merely morbid
+phenomenon of life, shows that it possesses the fundamental property of all
+life, that of propagating itself in an appropriate soil. On this point
+there is no doubt, the phenomena which prove it have been observed from
+time immemorial, in an endless variety of circumstances, but always with a
+uniform manifestation of a fundamental law._"
+
+Mead, in his Essay on the Plague, makes many observations of great interest
+and worthy a physician of eminence; and where, in recent times, shall we
+look for any more definite information concerning the causes of
+pestilences? It is not a little singular that at the time this book was
+published, it was read with such avidity that it went through seven
+editions in one year.[22] From this circumstance we may gather that the
+public generally took a lively and proper interest in a subject that was
+not only of domestic, but national importance. Whether this interest was
+stimulated by the fact that the work was written expressly by order of the
+{58} government, it is now impossible to say, at any rate much credit is
+due to the Lords of the Regency for having placed so important a duty upon
+one so thoroughly and in every way so duly qualified for the task as Dr.
+Mead. It had been well if some of the advice given at that time, as means
+of protection against the Plague, had been applied and put in force during
+the late visitation of epidemic Cholera, for, however the minds of some may
+be convinced of the non-contagiousness of Cholera, there are many who hold
+a different opinion, and all will acknowledge, that if not strictly a
+contagious affection, it is clearly proved to be capable of being carried
+from place to place, or to use Dr. Copland's words, it is "a portable
+disease." But this is not the place to discuss the subject of contagion,
+allusion will be made to it hereafter. To return, Mead's expressions are
+singularly illustrative of the vital power possessed by the germs of
+disease; he says, "There are instances of the distemper's being stopt by
+the winter cold, and yet the seeds of it not destroyed, but only kept
+unactive, _till the warmth of the following spring has given them new life
+and force_. His confession as to the hidden cause of the disease, is worthy
+transcribing: "We are acquainted too little with the laws, by which the
+small parts of matter act upon each other, to be able precisely to
+determine the qualities requisite to change animal juices into such
+acrimonious humours, or to explain {59} how all the distinguishing symptoms
+attending the disease are produced."[23]
+
+On the spread of the Plague is the following:--"The plague is a _real
+poison_, which being bred in the southern parts of the world, maintains
+itself there by circulating from infected persons to goods, that when the
+constitution of the air happens to favour infection, it rages with great
+violence." Contagious matter is lodged in goods of a loose and soft
+texture, which being packed up, and carried into other countries, let out,
+when opened, the imprisoned seeds of contagion, and produce the disease
+whenever the air is disposed to give them force, "otherwise they may be
+dispersed without any considerable ill effects." Gibbon thus speaks of the
+above quoted work: "I have read with pleasure Mead's short but elegant
+Treatise concerning Pestilential Disorders;" many also might read it at the
+present day with infinite advantage. Mead most satisfactorily combats the
+opinions of the French physicians who maintained the non-contagiousness of
+the Plague. Experience proves beyond doubt, that certain conditions of
+atmosphere, of {60} which we are ignorant, favour the growth and increase
+of pestilences as they do of all vegetation.
+
+Dr. Bancroft was of opinion that specific contagions are each and severally
+creatures of Divine Wisdom, as distinctly and designedly exerted for their
+production, as it was to create the several species of animals and
+vegetables around us.
+
+The indigenous fever of Ireland, which has several times shewn itself in an
+epidemic form, appears to have been as fatal, as the Plague in the South of
+Europe. Its devastations have generally been associated or preceded by
+famine and general distress. Dr. Harty, writing in 1820, says that thrice
+within the last eighty years has the same fever appeared in its epidemic
+character. In the year 1741 Ireland lost 80,000 of her inhabitants from
+this cause. It is a maculated typhus, and considered to be a special
+product of the Emerald Isle. It has been shewn that fever began to exceed
+its ordinary rate in those places first where famine and want of employment
+were most severely felt,[24] and that in such places and under such
+circumstances, it was most prevalent and fatal. The physicians generally
+believed it to have been spontaneously produced and not to have been
+imported. In the last Famine Fever of Ireland, Liverpool and several other
+places suffered severely from the {61} importation of their Channel
+neighbours with the disease in some instances, and the infection in others
+about their persons. Hitherto these have to all appearance been the limits
+of the affection; we know not, however, how soon the time may come when the
+invisible bonds which have thus chained the disease to certain localities
+may be severed, and spreading itself like other pestilences in an
+aggravated form, attack this country as a last and crowning act of
+retributive justice. At present it has but cost us money and regrets, but
+if the history of pestilences is to be heeded, there are many tokens which
+seem to indicate that a few slight concurrent circumstances only are
+wanting, to bring the full force of this disease upon us; then will there
+be a sacrifice of life. Edinburgh and other towns of Scotland have had some
+visitations already, ourselves but slightly, but let our labouring
+population suffer to any large extent for want of work, and we shall
+inevitably be the sufferers from that fever which in consequence of general
+destitution is now always more or less prevalent in Ireland.
+
+The Sweating Sickness prevailed in England alone at first, but at length
+sought foreign victims. The Cholera is an exotic disease, as well as the
+Plague, but they occasionally have visited our shores, and their seeds
+remain among us. The Small Pox is now even not known in some parts of the
+world, but when once it is established, who can predict the period of its
+first appearance in an {62} epidemic form. The history of the disease
+informs us that in all the countries where it has been introduced, sooner
+or later an epidemic has seized the inhabitants.
+
+A disease previously unknown in India appeared at Rangoon in the year 1824,
+which obtained the name of Scarlatina Rheumatica. Four years afterwards it
+attacked the Southern States of North America, and though the disease was
+so impartial as scarcely to spare a single individual of any town to which
+it extended its influence, it was not accompanied with that mortality which
+has usually been the characteristic of wide spread epidemics.
+
+There is one peculiar feature of all epidemics which may be here mentioned
+as indicative of some definite, though at present unaccountable cause,
+operating in the sudden suppression of the disease after a certain period
+of duration. This distinctive character may almost be considered as a law
+in reference to these affections; if we take three distinct diseases, the
+Plague, the Irish Fever and the Cholera, we find the rule apply to all. Of
+the latter disease we have so recently been witnesses, that I need not
+quote authorities on this point concerning it. In Dr. Patrick Russell's
+work on the Plague at Aleppo I find the following remarkable passage. After
+alluding to the great increase of pestilential effluvia that there must be
+towards the close of an epidemic, compared with the amount at the onset of
+the disease, and expressing his {63} astonishment that so many escape
+infection, he says: "The fact, however unaccountable, is unquestionably
+certain; the distemper seems to be extinguished by some cause or causes
+equally unknown, as those which concurred to render it more or less
+epidemical in its advance and at its height." He then mentions that in
+Europe the sudden cessation may be partly attributable to the measures
+adopted for preventing its extension; but "at Aleppo, where the disease is
+left to run its natural course, and few or no means of purification are
+employed, it pursues nearly the same progress in different years; it
+declines and revives in certain seasons, and at length, without the
+interference of human aid, ceases entirely."
+
+The expressions of Dr. Harty on this subject, in connexion with the Irish
+Fever, would apply as well to all other epidemics: "It is a fact, that
+though every diversity of management was resorted to for effecting the
+suppression of the disease, yet, nevertheless, there was an almost
+simultaneous and apparently spontaneous decline of the epidemic in the
+various and most remote parts of Ireland. It is not an easy matter to offer
+a satisfactory explanation of this circumstance, _some general cause must_
+no doubt have influenced the subsidence of the disease, yet that cause
+could not be atmospheric, inasmuch as the decline, though it might be said
+to be simultaneous, was not sufficiently so to admit of that explanation."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{64}
+
+SECTION III.
+
+THE DISPERSION OF PLANTS AND DISEASES.
+
+The dispersion of Diseases and the dispersion of Plants, exhibit analogies
+which might be little expected, on a superficial view of the enquiry.
+
+We are led to believe, that the earth as a whole, was not covered with
+vegetation in a day, the geological history of this planet is one of
+development, and though at first sight this expression of opinion may
+appear to savour of doubt in the Mosaic record, a more extended
+acquaintance with the subject, favours rather and confirms Scripture
+history.
+
+As the peopling of the earth has been a gradual process with the animal
+creation, so has it been also with the vegetable kingdom. We see at the
+present day, that plants by various means of transit from place to place,
+multiply themselves on new soils and in new climes, the same with animals.
+By other means we observe, or can trace, the extinction from various
+localities and countries, of members of both the animal and vegetable
+kingdom.
+
+We learn that originally this planet had a temperature much higher than at
+present, and that the variation of temperature between the equator and the
+poles, which we now witness, did not obtain in the earlier condition of the
+globe. We are given to understand, and not without considerable proof, {65}
+if not demonstration, that the earth was a vast bog, in which rank
+vegetation grew, and in which the ichthyosauri and plesiosauri, must have
+floundered about as unwieldy and loathsome bodies. We can readily conceive
+a condition of atmosphere at this time to have been loaded with pestiferous
+vapours of an organized nature; it is entirely in accordance with all we
+know, that it should have been so. Allied forms of plants to those now in
+existence, are found in the form of fossils, by which comparisons are made,
+but how the transition into the present Flora took place, or at what
+period, it is impossible to say. That these plants should have been
+entirely destroyed during the revolutions of the earth by earthquakes, and
+their consequences; the collection of waters into the vacuities formed, and
+their draining off from other places by elevations of the land, is not to
+be dwelt on without astonishment; then again the ultimate changes of
+temperature on the surface of the earth, may have been another element in
+the history of their extinction. But if we may be allowed to imagine that
+there were organic germs floating in the vapours of the atmosphere, these
+would hardly be subject to the same influences as those which depended
+solely on their fixation to the soil for subsistence. The atmosphere, their
+native element, being influenced by the commotions from below, would be
+agitated; vortiginous currents would be established, hurricanes would sweep
+over the stagnant pool and reeking morass, {66} and the higher regions of
+the air might have thus given protection to these subtle germs, while
+almost a total extinction of the elegant ferns, the stately palm, and the
+towering cane was in course of procedure. Then when the strife of the earth
+and elements had subsided, these would descend with the gentle breezes, and
+again find in various spots a local habitation--
+
+ "Where blue mists, through the unmoving atmosphere,
+  Scatter the seeds of pestilence _and feed unnatural vegetation_."
+
+In the new era, when the earth took its present physiognomy, who shall say
+whether much of the pestiferous matter may not have been enclosed and
+condensed in the bowels of the earth, and when it is remembered, that
+earthquakes and convulsions of nature,[25] have invariably preceded the
+outbreak of {67} any great pestilences, that stinking mists, coming from
+some unknown regions, and unusual vegetations have made their appearance in
+concert at these times, what I ask is more natural than to imagine, that
+they have been let loose during the general convulsion? It may be asked,
+what is to be said about that revolution of the earth, when the great
+Deluge spread over the whole face of the globe? It can only be replied,
+that this is a part of the scheme of cosmogony into which we are not called
+upon to enter. There are yet strenuous supporters of the partial as well as
+total submersion of this planet, but whether it be true that the vast
+torrents which appear to have swept the surface uniformly in a southern
+direction, were of a date coeval with the deluge, and constituted an
+essential portion of the phenomena, of which one was, that "the fountains
+of the great deep were broken up," or whether they were anterior to this
+catastrophe, will not at all interfere with the conjecture of a very early
+formation and propagation of the germs of pestilential diseases, for the
+commotions of a deluge were less likely to interfere with the vapours of
+the atmosphere, than extensive volcanic and electric disturbances.
+Moreover, it is rather in favour of this theory, that the {68} regions
+where the temperature and exhalations most nearly resemble those of the
+former condition of the earth, are those in which pestilential disorders
+most frequently arise, and where their virulence has always been most
+strongly marked.
+
+After the various commotions which left the globe, with its present
+physiognomy of mountains, plains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and oceans; a new
+Flora and Fauna appeared to adorn and animate the scene of man's existence.
+Plants and animals were created apparently in adaptation to the numerous
+climes, which the seasons in the various latitudes or the elevations of the
+soil, were prepared to render fruitful and useful each in its own sphere.
+Besides this, the plants of the same latitude, in some instances, differ
+materially from each other; in this case it seems that the soil has much to
+do with this peculiarity, for it is certain that the soil and the
+contiguous atmosphere, have a close and intimate relation; the drought of
+the desert depends upon the sand, as humid atmosphere is connected with the
+morass. To illustrate the tendency which vegetation shews in appropriating
+one locality more than another, I may quote the following: "Some of the
+volcanic masses of the Æolian or Lipari Islands, that have existed beyond
+the reach of history, are still without a blade of verdure; while others in
+various parts, of little more than two hundred years date, bear spontaneous
+vegetation, and the same is seen on two lavas of Etna near each other, for
+the one {69} of 1536 is still black and arid, while that of 1636, is
+covered with oaks, fruit trees, and vines."
+
+In comparing the diffusion of plants, and the diffusion of diseases, the
+different modes by which this generally has been effected may be considered
+under heads, that the comparison may be more readily traced.
+
+_First_, seeds are diffused by the atmosphere, either by the prevalence of
+certain currents, which are produced by known laws, in which case, no
+difficulty occurs in the explanations; or in a more imperceptible manner,
+as by those more uncertain atmospheric currents of a partial nature, which,
+though they seem to have laws governing them, are not yet understood.
+
+_Second_, seeds are transported by water across oceans, &c. when they can
+be floated on any material by which they are preserved, as by wrecks and
+masses of wood, which have been washed down the rivers.
+
+_Third_, they are conveyed by man to all parts of the globe.
+
+_Fourth_, a period of latency is observed to apply to them, that is, they
+require certain essential conditions before germination occurs; so that
+even in some localities, a plant may not have been known to exist in a
+particular neighbourhood, but by a train of circumstances, it may make its
+appearance, and again be a centre of development.
+
+1st. I shall not here wander into the speculation, {70} whether plants had
+originally one birth-place, as a centre from which they spread by various
+agencies, as supposed by Linnæus, nor into any enquiry beyond those facts,
+which may fairly come within our own comprehension, and within our own
+means of demonstration.
+
+Many seeds are provided with means adapting them for floating in the
+atmosphere, these are by pappi, or winglets and hairs, but it cannot be
+doubted that the agency of atmospheric currents, is productive of
+considerable effects in the dispersion of lighter seeds, such as those of
+mosses, fungi, and lichens--lichens have been discovered in Brittany, which
+are peculiar to Jamaica, and Monsieur De Candolle concludes, that their
+seeds had been carried thence by the south-westerly winds, which prevail
+during a great part of the year on this portion of the French coast.
+
+But Humboldt's testimony on the subject of winds is most satisfactory, for
+he says, "Small singing birds, and even butterflies, are found at sea, at
+great distances from the coast (as I have several times had opportunities
+of observing in the Pacific), being carried there by the force of the wind,
+when storms come off the land." It is generally believed, from abundance of
+proofs, that the trade winds, and other continuous currents, are means by
+which plants are conveyed from one country to another.[26]
+
+{71}
+
+As to the partial currents, Humboldt further says, "The heated crust of the
+earth occasions an ascending vertical current of air by which light bodies
+are borne upwards. M. Boussingault, and Don Mariano De Rivero, in ascending
+the summit of the Silla, one of the gneiss mountains of Caraccas, saw in
+the middle of the day, about noon, whitish shining bodies rise from the
+valley to the summit of the mountain, 5755 feet high, and then sink down
+towards the neighbouring sea coast. These movements continued
+uninterruptedly for the space of an hour. The whitish shining bodies proved
+to be small agglomerations of straws, or blades of grass, which were
+recognized by Professor Kunth, for a species of vilfa, a genus, which
+together with agrostis, is very abundant in the provinces of Caraccas and
+Cumana."
+
+On the plague of locusts we read, that "the Lord brought an east wind upon
+the land, all that day and all that night, and when it was morning the east
+wind brought the locusts."
+
+On the Black Death we read, "There were many locusts which had been blown
+into the sea by a hurricane, and a dense and awful fog was seen in the
+heavens, rising in the east, and descending upon Italy."
+
+Of the Plague of 542, Gibbon says, "The winds might diffuse that subtle
+venom, but unless the atmosphere be previously disposed for its reception,
+the plague would soon expire in the cold or {72} temperate regions of the
+north. The disease alternately languished and revived, but it was not till
+a calamitous period of fifty-two years, that mankind recovered their
+health, or the air resumed its pure and salubrious quality."
+
+In the history of the Sweating Sickness, of which there were five distinct
+visitations, we find ample allusions to the atmosphere, and the mode in
+which the disease was conveyed by this medium.
+
+I quote again from Hecker: "It seemed that _the banks of the Severn_ were
+the _focus of the malady_, and that from hence, a true impestation of the
+atmosphere, was diffused in every direction. Whithersoever the winds wafted
+the stinking mists, the inhabitants became infested with the sweating
+sickness. _These poisonous clouds of mists were observed moving from place
+to place_, with the disease in their train, affecting one town after
+another, and morning and evening spreading their nauseating insufferable
+stench. At greater distances, these clouds being dispersed by the wind,
+became gradually attenuated yet their dispersion set no bounds to the
+pestilence, and it was as if they had imparted to the lower strata of the
+atmosphere, _a kind of ferment which went on engendering itself even
+without the presence of the thick misty vapour_, and being received into
+men's lungs, produced the frightful disease everywhere."[27]
+
+{73}
+
+Mr. K. B. Martin, harbour-master of Ramsgate, in a communication to Lord
+Carlisle on the Cholera of last autumn, says, "At midnight of the 31st
+August (1849), the Samson (steam-tug) proceeded to the Goodwin Sands, where
+the crew were employed under the Trinity agent, assisting in work carried
+on there by that corporation. While there, at 3 A.M. 1st September, _a hot
+humid haze, with a bog-like smell_, passed over them; and the greater
+number of the men there employed instantly felt a nausea. They were in two
+parties. One man at work on the sand was obliged to be carried to the boat;
+and before they reached the steam vessel at anchor, the cramps and spasm
+had supervened upon the vomitings; but here they found two of the party on
+board similarly affected. Here then is a very marked case without any known
+predisposing local cause. Doubtless it was atmospheric, and in the hot
+blast of pestilence which passed over them."
+
+Many more instances might be quoted, to shew that the germs of disease, as
+well as of plants, are borne on the wings of the wind from place to place
+{74} in one country, and from one country to another, the distance being no
+obstacle, however great that may be.[28] "Dust and sands," says Sharon
+Turner, "heavier than many seeds, are borne by the winds and clouds for
+several hundred miles across the atmosphere, falling on the earth and seas
+as they pass along." "The clouds not only bring us occasionally meteoric
+stones, hail, and _epidemics_, but also vegetable seeds."[29]
+
+2nd. The transportation of seeds of plants by water requires very little
+notice; every one is familiar with the mode in which coral islands, which
+gradually rise out of the sea, become covered with vegetation. "If new
+lands are formed, the organic forces are ever ready to cover the naked rock
+with life.--Lichens form the first covering of the barren {75} rocks, where
+afterwards lofty forest trees wave their airy summits. The successive
+growth of mosses, grasses, herbaceous plants and shrubs or bushes, occupies
+the intervening period of long but undetermined duration."
+
+The following may be cited as an instance of the transportation of disease
+by water. "Cyprus lost almost all its inhabitants, and ships without crews
+were often seen in the Mediterranean, or afterwards in the North Sea,
+driving about, _and spreading the plague wherever they went on shore_."[30]
+
+It requires no argument to enforce the conviction that cottons, woollens,
+furs, skins, &c. will retain the matter of infection for almost an
+indefinite period; instances of the kind have been already given; it is
+therefore easy to understand that portions of wrecks and ship's goods would
+be a frequent though unsuspected source of infection. Dr. Halley mentions a
+case, in which a bale of cotton was put on shore at Bermuda by stealth; it
+lay above a month without prejudice, where it was hid, but when opened and
+distributed among the inhabitants, it produced such a contagion that the
+living scarce sufficed to bury the dead. Dr. Walker found seeds dropt
+accidentally into the sea in the West Indies cast ashore on the Hebrides.
+He says, "the sea and rivers waft more seed than sails." The waters of many
+rivers induce diarrhoea and dysentery.[31] Well water also in many {76}
+places has a similar effect, especially if any surface drainage happens to
+find its way into the well.
+
+3rd. The part performed by man himself in the communication of disease to
+his fellow creatures, is perhaps the most fruitful source of the extensive
+spread of epidemic and contagious diseases.
+
+In the time of Moses, restrictions were laid on those who had the plague of
+the leprosy to avoid contagion; the dictum for one so affected was, "he
+shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."[32] All the
+ancient authors believed in the {77} infectious nature of pestilential
+fevers, and some other diseases; but, according. to Mr. Adams, they held
+that no specific virus was the cause, and merely a contamination of the
+surrounding air by effluvia from the sick. Thucydides, Hippocrates,
+Procopius, Galen, Plutarch, all recognized the property of communicability
+from one individual to another of the plague; and Hecker, on the epidemics
+of the middle ages, abounds with instances in support of contagion. As
+regards small-pox and measles, Rhazes observes particularly the connection
+that exists between the condition of the air and the severity or mildness
+of these diseases, remarking that small-pox seldom happens to old men,
+except in pestilential, putrid, and malignant constitutions of the air in
+which this disease is usually prevalent.
+
+The history of the introduction of Scarlet Fever, Hooping Cough, Lues, and
+other diseases into the various countries of the globe, is sufficiently
+convincing that men carry about with them the seeds of disease; that while
+these attach themselves to the persons and clothing of those who introduce
+them into new climes, and flourish independently of cultivation, yet the
+exotics which they foster with so much care, often disappoint their most
+sanguine expectations; and these "languishing in our {78} hothouses can
+give but a very faint idea of the majestic vegetation of the tropical
+zone." Art in this procedure fails to accomplish here, what nature but too
+sadly, under some circumstances, effects most readily. The germs of some
+diseases though of an exotic character, under congenial influences of
+various kinds, appear to flourish with native vigour: is it not so, also,
+with some forms of vegetation? The aloe, a native of Mexico, which lives,
+but does not thrive well, or reproduce under ordinary circumstances in this
+country, will occasionally send forth a most luxuriant blossom;[33] so rare
+is this, that some say it occurs every 50 or 100 years, but no law seems to
+be established on this point, any more than the statement that we may
+expect pestilential diseases at certain intervals. But that there are
+intervals of _uncertain_ duration when the aloe will blossom, when the
+grapes will ripen, and a general productiveness of exotics will occur, is
+as certain as that seasons will occur when contagion will be rife, and a
+most unusual multiplication of disease prevail. This is not an imaginary or
+speculative notion,--all observers of seasons and diseases within the last
+twenty years, may fully verify the statement.
+
+In 1846, a large vine, the black Hambro-grape, {79} ripened its fruit out
+of doors, and was as fine as any green-house production; but during nine
+years that the vine has been under my inspection, this was the only time I
+have witnessed such a result.
+
+We are apt to attribute an abundant or scarce fruit season to temperature
+alone, but this is an error--for we have before remarked, that though
+certain lands may be in the same degree of latitude, the plants which
+thrive well on one land, will not do so on the other: in fine, that where
+reason and analogy would lead one to expect a particular form of
+vegetation, a totally different Flora is presented to the view. These facts
+are indeed suggestive of new and important deductions. Is it yet explained
+why the town of Birmingham should be free from Cholera? There is a large
+manufacturing population, a great number of poor, the usual overcrowding of
+individuals in small chambers, a considerable amount of destitution and
+depravity; irregular habits of living, and unwholesome diet, and doubtless
+many parts of the town, which on investigation would have yielded all the
+elements usually considered necessary for the localization of the disease:
+but no--here was some repelling cause, some opposing agent to the
+generation and propagation of the pestilential seeds. There are no known
+laws by which inorganic matter could be supposed to observe such a
+selection, or such an antagonism. Electricity, magnetism, ozone, gases,
+exhibit no such elective properties that here they will destroy, and {80}
+there they will spare; that they can almost depopulate small villages, and
+scarcely find a victim in Birmingham and Bath. But if we suppose a living,
+and multiplying matter as the cause of disease, many local causes may
+conspire to arrest the development of the germs, or perhaps, even utterly
+destroy them.
+
+4th. As to the time of latency, facts crowd upon us indefinitely, as
+elements of comparison between vegetation generally, and disease in its
+early stages and history. The seeds of plants are extraordinarily tenacious
+of life. What a mysterious arrangement of the ultimate particles of matter
+must there be, by which the vital force remains apparently inactive for
+many years, and yet when the conditions arise favourable to its
+manifestation, as it were by an extraordinary fiat, life appears.
+
+Previous to the year 1715, no broom grew in the King's Park, at Stirling;
+but in that year a camp was formed there, and the surface of the ground
+consequently was broken in many places. Wherever it was broken, broom
+sprang up. The plant was subsequently destroyed; but in 1745 a similar
+growth appeared after the ground had been again broken for a like purpose.
+Some time afterwards the park was ploughed up, and the broom became
+generally spread over it. "In several places in the neighbourhood of
+Edinburgh," says Professor Graham, "the breaking of the surface produces an
+abundant crop of Fumaria parviflora, {81} although the same plant had never
+before been observed in the neighbourhood. It is impossible to say the
+lapse of time since these were buried, before they were again excited to
+the performance of all their vital functions." Dr. Graham also gives
+another proof of the vital force existing in seeds. "To the westward of
+Stirling there is a large peat bog, a great part of which has been flooded
+away by raising water from the River Teith, and discharging it into the
+Forth,--the under soil of clay being then cultivated. The clergyman of the
+parish standing by while the workmen were forming a ditch in this clay,
+which had been covered with fourteen feet of peat earth, saw some seeds in
+the clay which was thrown out of the ditch; he took some of them up and
+sowed them: they germinated and produced a crop of Chrysanthemum septum.
+What a period of years must have elapsed while the seeds were getting their
+covering of clay, and while this clay became buried under fourteen feet of
+peat earth!"[34]
+
+{82}
+
+What limit can there be to the dispersion of seeds when their vital
+properties may remain so long unimpaired? The seeds of which we have been
+speaking were, no doubt many of them, washed away with the waters of the
+Teith, and carried by the stream into the Forth; and who shall then mark
+their destination; for we have seen that by such means the most distant
+lands are supplied with vegetation; for whence come the plants which cover
+the Coral Islands, unless by the air and the water, and that both
+contribute, has been incontestably proved. Dr. Lindley states that melon
+seeds have been known to grow when forty-one years old; maize thirty years,
+rye forty years, the sensitive plant sixty years, kidney-beans a hundred
+years. But seeds in general have an indefinite period, apparently, at which
+they can retain their power of germination; for many of the seeds which had
+been kept in the herbarium of Tournefort for more than a century, were
+found to have preserved their fertility.
+
+It has now to be shewn that the germs of disease also retain their vital
+powers in a state of dormancy during a lengthened period.
+
+{83}
+
+Mead has very judiciously observed, "to breed a distemper, and to give
+force to it when bred, are two different things." He further remarks, that
+the seeds of the Plague may confine themselves to a house or two during a
+hard frosty winter, and be preserved, and again put forth their malignant
+quality as soon as the warmth of the spring gives them force. It is
+certainly very remarkable that the Plague of London, which commenced at the
+latter end of the year 1664, should "lie asleep," as Mead says, from
+Christmas to the middle of February, and then break out in the same parish.
+
+It has been also known that an infected bed laid by for seven years had
+done infinite mischief on being again brought into use. Indeed, it is quite
+uncertain for how long a period woollen, fur, linen, cotton, and other
+articles may retain infectious matter in a dormant state. It has been
+supposed by some that in closely packed bed and body clothes a
+multiplication of the germs may and does take place, nor do I see any
+reason why this should not be the case, for these articles contain within
+their structure the effluvia of the animal body, and they may possibly
+there find sufficient nutriment for their development. Nees von Esenbeck
+believed that some of the minute Cryptogamia were re-produced in the air,
+we are not therefore exceeding philosophical conjecture when we imagine a
+basis and substratum, though an unusual one, for the germs of vegetation.
+Exclusion from air and light, {84} however, as would be the case in
+packed-up clothes, would _a priori_ give a better colour to the conjecture,
+as these are the usual conditions necessary for the growth of seeds.
+
+Small Pox and Cow Pox matter, which are now proved to be the same virus,
+the former modified by having been through a process of growth and
+maturation in the cow, are both remarkable for exhibiting their active
+properties after having lain dormant for a considerable time. And each,
+though so closely allied, retaining its specific properties.
+
+This peculiarity in the history of Small Pox virus suggests a comparison
+with some phenomena of vegetation, _viz._ that of grafting or budding. The
+lower Cryptogamia in their fructifications resemble rather multiplication
+by buds than by seeds. M. Moyen's idea is that every spore or little
+globule, independently of its neighbouring one, lives, absorbs,
+assimilates, grows, and re-produces on its own account; this is certainly
+the characteristic of the Torula and the Uredo, and doubtless is so of many
+other of the Cryptogamia, the Protococcus nivalis is another instance.
+Other modes of cultivation produce also great varieties of results of an
+unexpected kind.
+
+Would any one, says Dr. Walker, imagine that cabbage, cauliflower, savoy,
+kale, brocoli, and turnip-rooted cabbage, were the same species? yet
+nothing is more certain than that they are only varieties produced by the
+cultivation of the Brassica oleracea, {85} a plant which grows wild on the
+sea-shores of Europe.
+
+These varieties in vegetables have now become permanent, and though it is
+supposed that each is liable to return to its original condition, I am not
+yet certain that such is the tendency. A deterioration is not unlikely to
+ensue in the course of time, because the propagation by seeds must
+necessarily very much approach the system of intermarriage, on which Mr.
+Walker has so ably written and clearly shewn that as a result we may
+invariably expect a deterioration of the species. Dr. Darwin has also
+poetically described what his experience taught him.
+
+ "So grafted trees with shadowy summits rise,
+  Spread their fair blossoms and perfume the skies,
+  _Till canker taints the vegetable blood_,
+  Mines round the bark and feeds upon the wood;
+  So years successive from perennial roots,
+  The wire or bulb with lessened vigour shoots,
+  Till curled leaves or barren flowers betray
+  A waning lineage verging to decay;
+  Or till amended by connubial powers,
+  Rise seedling progenies from sexual flowers."
+
+The minute nature of the germs of disease preclude all possibility of their
+being submitted, as far as we know at present, to the inspection of the
+physiologist, but we may infer many facts from results. In the same way,
+though with humbler {86} ideas, as Cuvier could build up an animal from a
+single bone, can we by a combination of facts infer the existence of living
+beings and conjecture their forms. "The re-production or generation of
+living organized bodies is the great criterion or characteristic which
+distinguishes animation from mechanism." We find the virus of Small Pox,
+according to Mr. Ceely's experiments, developing itself as a constitutional
+disease upon the cow, and becoming modified into a form known as the Cow
+Pox; this resembles the process of cultivation by which a species is
+converted into a variety, this variety remains for a certain time
+persistent; the time is not yet known, but it is known that by degrees, as
+stated above, a deterioration occurs, and fertility becomes impaired, "a
+waning lineage verging to decay," and this has been observed as a feature
+in the result of vaccination. I believe Dr. Gregory was one of the first to
+notice this fact, and deemed it necessary to obtain fresh lymph from the
+cow; this has been done, and it is not improbable, if the analogy we have
+drawn be correct, that the slowly spreading scepticism regarding
+vaccination may be arrested in its progress. If we can explain the
+deterioration of cow pox virus on this principle we have a hold at once
+upon the public, and can assure them that the efficacy of the proceeding is
+as certain as in the time of Jenner. The people, I contend, have a right to
+demand of us the reason why vaccination is not so efficacious as formerly,
+and I {87} affirm as unhesitatingly that we are bound to give the subject
+our most earnest attention.[35]
+
+Now concerning the re-production of Cow Pox matter, and assuming it to
+resemble that of the lower Cryptogamia, we can easily understand how
+degeneration in a course of years should ensue, for we find that though the
+Small Pox is a constitutional disease, that produced by vaccine lymph is a
+local affection, so that it bears the relation that grafting does to
+vegetation, and it is not improbable that such a modification takes place
+in the germs by passing through or becoming generated in the blood of the
+cow, that they entirely lose their original and characteristic form of
+reproduction: the seeds of the disease were originally capable of
+vegetating, if I may be allowed to use the term, by diffusion through the
+atmosphere; they now, however, have lost that property, and require to be
+grafted to exhibit any manifestation of vitality.
+
+How often will the seeds of a cultivated fruit grow? If you bud it upon
+another plant, you obtain a being exactly like the parent, but this, as we
+have seen, deteriorates in a course of years, we have also seen that the
+virus deteriorates; but not to stretch this point to an unseemly length, I
+cannot avoid expressing my conviction, that these are elements of
+comparison, possessing an interest and a practical utility of no small
+value.
+
+{88}
+
+I have before said, that the reproduction in the Cryptogamia, rather
+resembles budding than seeding. If we observe the Torula, or take the
+process of all formation, generally it will be found to accord more exactly
+with the budding than the seeding process, and this peculiarity is not
+confined to vegetation, it is also a marked feature in the reproduction of
+infusoria, sponges, polypes, &c.
+
+    "New buds surround the microscopic plant."
+
+The reproduction of plants and animals appears to be of two kinds, solitary
+and sexual; the former occurs in the formation of the buds of trees, and
+the bulbs of tulips.
+
+The microscopic productions of spontaneous vitality propagate by solitary
+generation only.
+
+We have but reached the threshold of this vast and interesting subject, the
+experiments which suggest themselves to the mind while reflecting upon it,
+would alone occupy a whole life of leisure, and I can but feel how forcibly
+Mr. Sewell's words apply to us: "The grand field of investigation lies
+immediately before us, we are trampling every hour upon things which to the
+ignorant seem nothing but dirt, but to the curious are precious as gold."
+
+It is difficult, perhaps, to bring many instances, in which the germs of
+disease have lain dormant for a lengthened period, because many may take
+exception to them, from the fact, that sporadic cases of {89} most epidemic
+and infectious diseases, are rarely absent from any country in which those
+diseases have become indigenous, and these cases may be said to be the foci
+whence originates the epidemic constitution of the air; this, however,
+would not invalidate the supposition, because one of two inferences must be
+drawn, either that the germs of disease always exist in a dormant state,
+requiring circumstances and conditions only for their development, or that
+the germs are imported from some distant locality, where the disease has
+occurred, and finding a nidus there, grow and multiply.[36] Whichever
+notion we take, however, matters very little to the fact of the dormancy of
+the germs, for in both, a certain period elapses between their transmission
+and their propagation. It may fairly be presumed, that sometimes one method
+may apply {90} and sometimes the other, perhaps both during general
+epidemic conditions of the atmosphere.
+
+The Oidium vitis attacked the vines partially last year, and I believe
+generally spared other forms of vegetation; but this year in my vicinity,
+cucumbers, melons, and vegetable marrows, are all suffering more or less
+under the disease.[37] How shall we say, whether are the seeds of last year
+the cause of the general diffusion at the present time, or were there a
+sufficient number of old and dormant seeds, universally diffused, and only
+waiting opportunities for multiplying themselves? We are here on the horns
+of a dilemma; and spontaneous generation, from which one naturally shrinks,
+can alone extricate us, if we do not admit diffusion and dormancy. I think
+I may, without undue assumption, affirm that a period of latency of
+indefinite duration, applies as cogently to the germs of disease as to
+those of plants.
+
+There is yet one other point in connection with this subject, and that is
+the apparent extinction of some diseases, at any rate their non-appearance
+in certain localities, which had been at one time congenial to them, and in
+which they flourished. We have seen, in illustrating the dormancy of seeds,
+that the broom must have been a common plant at {91} some considerable
+period back, in the King's Park at Stirling, or on that site.
+
+Then again, the appearance of Fumaria parviflora in the vicinity of
+Edinburgh, in several places where the ground is broken, is sufficiently
+convincing that this plant must once have been a common form of vegetation
+there; and as it had never before been observed in the neighbourhood, there
+must have been a combination of peculiar circumstances capable of rendering
+germination impossible, otherwise a continued multiplication, as in other
+forms of vegetation, would have followed of necessity.
+
+But besides these instances, how many are passing under our own eyes of the
+disappearance of plants under the influence of cultivation, and the
+generation of the noxious fumes arising from different and innumerable
+manufactories. In the vicinity of large cities and manufacturing towns, how
+rarely do we see healthy vegetation; shrubs and animals drag on a sickly
+and almost unprolific existence, and their term of natural life is much
+shortened.
+
+And if we compare diseases with this peculiar feature of vegetation, how
+very close do we find the analogies. The Sweating Sickness which appeared
+in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and at certain intervals
+multiplied and extended itself at first only in this country, but
+ultimately more or less over the continent of Europe, has {92} never since
+the year 1551 shewn any symptom of productiveness, indeed for all we know
+the disease may be extinct; on the other hand, it is impossible to say
+whether or not circumstances may arise, under which it may commence again,
+to put forth its energies and again desolate the land.[38]
+
+Since 1665, the Bubo-plague has not found a congenial soil in this country,
+or if the seeds be here, which is more than probable, the necessary
+conditions to excite them to activity do not exist.
+
+It cannot be imagined that with all the merchandize which comes into this
+country from the Mediterranean, but that an abundance of the germs of the
+disease are annually brought into our ports, and disseminated throughout
+the land. The law by which we have seen that they possess a power of
+vitality and reproduction, holds now as it did in former times;--the
+properties of matter never alter, but the conditions under which they exist
+may be so modified, as to influence their properties, and the usual course
+of their operations. It is therefore to {93} an alteration or modification
+of conditions that we are to look for the exemption, during the last two
+centuries, from an invasion of the Plague. To say what those conditions may
+be in their totality is difficult, perhaps impossible. We may generalize on
+the subject, and imagine the reason discovered, but all those causes which
+were said to have conspired to favour the spread and contamination with
+Plague, were as distinctly specified and attributed, as the cause of our
+late infliction with Epidemic Cholera. Why then did we have the Cholera and
+not the Plague? To what particular element was it--in the mode of living,
+of destitution, of filth and want of drainage--can it be ascribed that we
+suffer under one disease, and not under the other?
+
+We have made some few observations and comparisons on the mode of
+dispersion of plants and diseases,--but there is yet one more point which
+invites notice. Not only do seasons vary in their effects on vegetation in
+a remarkable and unexplained manner, but there are many localities to which
+some special form of vegetation attaches, and which appear to have a power
+of exclusion of other forms; and as yet I have not been able to trace the
+connexion, nor can I discover it in the writings of botanists and
+travellers, who would be most likely to have sought an explanation of so
+interesting and curious a fact. Dr. Prichard has on this subject some very
+apposite illustrations. "Still further southward, the austral temperated
+zone completely {94} changes the physiognomy of vegetation, and the Isle of
+Norfolk has, in common with New Holland, the Auracania found also in the
+harbour of Balade, and with New Zealand, the Phormium tenax. It is however
+remarkable, that this vast island, composed of two lands, separated by a
+channel, though so near New Holland, and lying under the same latitude,
+differs from it so completely, that they display no resemblance in their
+vegetation. Yet New Zealand, so rich in genera peculiar to its soil, and
+little known, has some Indian plants: such as Pepper, the Olea, and a
+reniform Fern, which is said to exist in the Isle of Maurice."
+
+I must quote one more passage from Dr. Prichard's excellent work. "We have
+one instance of an island at no great distance from a continent, having a
+peculiar vegetation. Mr. R. Brown has remarked, that there is not even a
+single indigenous species characterising the vegetation of St. Helena, that
+has been found either on the banks of the Congo, or on any other part of
+the Western coast of Africa. Does the diversity of marine and atmospheric
+currents more completely separate this island from the continent, than its
+situation would imply; or are the nature of soil and other local
+circumstances, the cause of so marked a diversity? The last supposition
+seems the most probable; because not only the species of plants, but
+likewise the genera in St. Helena, are different from those of the African
+coast." {95}
+
+We are not without instances of diseases, observing this peculiarity which
+attaches to plants; but their specific characters have hardly been
+sufficiently considered in reference to climate and situation, together
+with diet and local influences, to afford us accurate data for comparison.
+It has, however, been remarked, in every country where Epidemics have
+prevailed, that some districts or tracts of country, though supposed to
+possess all the qualities favourable to the development of the diseases,
+have nevertheless been entirely or nearly free from them. The following
+passage on the course of the Cholera gives an example of this peculiarity.
+"Whenever the malady deviated, so to speak, from its normal direction, and
+passed towards the west, it seemed incapable of propagating itself; and
+_died away spontaneously, even in places which appeared to be well fitted
+for its reception_.--The rich fertile and densely peopled countries to the
+right of the Dneiper, enjoyed an equal freedom from attack, which can only
+be explained by the fact that they were situated _beyond the line of the
+disease_." With this I close the subject of the diffusion of plants and
+diseases, though it would require a volume of itself, to record all that
+has been noticed. I have endeavoured to select such instances as shall mark
+distinctly the features which point to comparison without overloading the
+enquiry.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{96}
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+THE RELATION BETWEEN EPIDEMIC AND ENDEMIC DISEASES.
+
+Epidemic diseases, which multiply their germs in any climate, and under
+apparently the most varying conditions of temperature and hygrometric and
+electrical states of atmosphere, offer many points of contrast with Endemic
+affections, and many of relationship. The latter are traceable to a certain
+extent, to geological and geographical positions of the localities where
+they are observed to prevail, in combination with atmospheric vicissitudes
+and peculiarities, as well as to extent of cultivation of the soil: it has
+been remarked that the sickly island (as it is called) of St. Lucia has
+certain salubrious parts, but these are where sulphur abounds; this
+geological peculiarity has been deemed sufficient to account for the
+absence of endemic affections in these parts, and with much force of
+reason; for in the neighbourhoods where sulphur or sulphurous acid, a
+compound of sulphur, is an element prevalent in the soil or atmosphere,
+vegetation and the ague disappear together.
+
+Now ague, and other endemic fevers, doubtless originate from some allied,
+if not identical cause; for the localities in which they appear have so
+many {97} features in common, that we are constrained to acknowledge that
+endemic fevers have some relations and analogies, though not yet
+unravelled.
+
+Geographical situation, together with certain vegetation, particularly of
+grounds which grow rice, is one remarkable for the production of endemic
+affections. But the soil which generates or gives force to the
+contaminating matter, is not alone the part where human beings feel its
+influence most severely. A low marshy ground, prolific of malaria, may be
+comparatively free; while some neighbouring elevated land, to which
+prevailing currents of air waft the volatile elements of disease, may be
+desolated by their virulent and concentrated action. "Malaria may be
+conveyed a considerable distance from its source, _and be condensed_ in the
+exhaled vapour, when attracted by hills or acclivities in the vicinity, and
+when there are no high trees or woods to confine it, or to intercept it in
+its passage."
+
+The inhabitants of the city of Abydos were at one time subject to disease,
+arising from malaria, generated in some neighbouring marshes; by draining
+these marshes, which suspended the growth of rank vegetation, the city
+became healthy.
+
+Rome is in like manner even now subject to fevers, having a similar origin.
+Sir James Clark says, "Among the more prevalent diseases of Rome, malaria
+fevers are the most remarkable, and claim our first notice." He considers
+the fevers to be of exactly the same nature as those of Lincolnshire {98}
+and Essex in this country, of Holland, and certain districts over the
+greater part of the globe. To the climate, the season, or the concentration
+of the cause of these fevers, he attributes their varieties. It is the same
+disease, he says, whether from the swamps of Walcheren, or the pestilential
+shores of Africa.
+
+From July to October the inhabitants of Rome are most subject to these
+affections.
+
+Sir James Clark further says: "It may be stated as a general rule, that
+houses in confined shaded situations, with damp courts or gardens, or
+standing water close to them, are unhealthy in every climate and season;
+but especially in a country subject to intermittent fevers, and during
+summer and autumn. The exemption of the central parts of a large town from
+these fevers, is explained by the dryness of the atmosphere, and by the
+comparative equality of temperature which prevails there."
+
+In this respect there is a marked difference between an epidemic and an
+endemic affection; for when an epidemic disease attacks a city or town we
+do not discover that the central parts are more exempt than others; indeed,
+it is rather the contrary; for the most crowded parts of towns and cities
+are those, if not exactly in the centre, which would be comprised in a
+space nearer to the centre than the circumference; and it has been in those
+parts generally where the epidemic influences seem to have exercised the
+most potent sway. One would more naturally suppose, that a city surrounded
+by {99} paludal miasm, and not itself being capable of generating the
+poison, should be more affected at the circumference, from the simple fact
+that the paludal germs, which rise in the air, are suspended in the fogs
+and dews of the atmosphere. These, unless widely dispersed by the winds,
+would remain within a comparatively confined space; and those situations
+nearest to them would be most subject to their influence. Besides, it has
+been shewn, that a small wood or hill, or even a wall, has been sufficient
+to cut off or obstruct the paludal miasm.
+
+Without enumerating all the known endemic diseases, two or three may be
+alluded to for our present purpose; viz. that of shewing that endemic and
+epidemic diseases have a similar origin.[39]
+
+It is well known that under certain favouring conditions an endemic may
+become a malignant and pestilential disease; that Yellow Fever, which is
+always endemic in the west, Cholera in the east, and the Plague in the
+south of Europe and north of Africa, every few years takes on an epidemic
+form, and desolates considerable tracts of country.[39]
+
+The Pestilence which raged in the summer and autumn of 1804 in Spain,
+commenced at Malaga, and remained for a considerable time confined to its
+{100} boundaries, in consequence of the measures of precaution that were
+used, in preventing all communication between the inhabitants of the
+infected city and those living in the surrounding country. It was only in
+consequence of persons escaping through the cordon, and passing into the
+interior of the country, that the disease spread, and extended its ravages
+to distant places.
+
+It appears to be quite clear, that this disease may properly be considered
+in the first instance of endemic origin; but the tendencies, atmospheric
+and otherwise, were such as to favour its multiplication in other districts
+than that in which it first came into active existence. From this we may
+infer, that the seeds of the disease were dormant, and only became roused
+into vital activity by fortuitous circumstances. Dr. Rush states, that the
+endemic disorders of Pennsylvania were converted, by clearing the soil, to
+bilious and malignant remittents, and to destructive epidemics. Dr. Copland
+says, it has been observed, especially in warm climates, and in hot seasons
+in temperate countries, that when the air has been long undisturbed by high
+winds and thunder-storms, and at the same time hot and moist, endemic
+diseases have assumed a very severe and even epidemic character.
+
+Dr. Robertson also confirms this view. "Endemic diseases, in cases of
+neglect and preposterous management, are found to become more malignant
+even in the most temperate climates; and to {101} generate a matter in
+their course, capable of producing a particular disease in any
+circumstances. _Indeed the origin of every_ contagious fever unattended
+with eruptions, with the exception of Plague, must commence in this way."
+Why Dr. Robertson should except eruptive Fevers and Plague I cannot
+understand, for they must have had a commencement; and their many points of
+similarity indicate, if not an identical, an analogous source to other
+endemic fevers.
+
+It will doubtless be generally acknowledged that endemic and epidemic
+diseases depend upon some unknown agents, having their source in malarious
+districts, and being capable of assuming either a contagious or
+non-contagious character, according to circumstances.
+
+If, therefore, we find that under any conditions an endemic affection
+becomes capable of being propagated by contagion, the same law will hold
+with regard to it as to the Plague; that the power of reproduction in this
+matter is evidence of life, according to the doctrine laid down in the
+earlier part of this work. But whether or not infection be admitted, a
+matter generated in a malarious district, if confined in its effects to
+that district alone, would not necessarily imply an inorganic nature of the
+poison; for it is difficult to understand how inorganic poison, prevailing
+generally over a certain tract of country, could select particular
+individuals for its victims. If chloroform, chlorine, carbonic acid,
+sulphuretted hydrogen, or even spores of poisonous fungi, (as {102}
+supposed by Mitchell, which, as he regards their effects, would act in a
+similar manner to inorganic compounds) were the agents, all persons would
+suffer more or less, and the majority be similarly affected. We do not find
+that uniformity of symptoms, which attend upon the exhibition of poisons in
+the ordinary acceptation of the term, poisoning. This subject shall be more
+particularly considered, when treating of the influence of organic germs on
+animals and plants.
+
+The history of the Eclair steamer is particularly interesting, as shewing
+the extraordinary tenacity with which the germs of disease attach
+themselves to vessels, which we may call floating houses.
+
+The crew of the Eclair contracted Yellow Fever on the coast of Africa, and
+a number of them died. The remainder, sick and well, landed at Bona Vista,
+one of the Cape de Verde Islands, and the vessel underwent a process of
+washing, whitewashing, and fumigating. Nevertheless, on the return of the
+ship's company, the disease broke out again with equal intensity, and the
+vessel was ordered home. Sixty-five out of 146 officers and men, who
+composed the crew, died of the disease before reaching Portsmouth, and
+twenty-three were sick at the time of arrival.
+
+Eight days after the Eclair left Bona Vista, a Portuguese soldier who had
+mixed with her crew died in the fort which had been occupied by them. Other
+soldiers then fell sick, and the fort was abandoned. The fever still
+spread.
+
+From the 20th September, when the first soldier {103} was attacked, to the
+first week in December, the fever continued to rage, and at that period it
+had found its way into almost all the country villages. The fever was
+believed to be the genuine black vomit fever; it proved contagious almost
+without exception to the nurses of the sick.
+
+This is an abstract of Mr. Rendell's letter to Lord Aberdeen, Mr. Rendell
+being British Consul at Bona Vista.
+
+Now at the time the fever broke out in the island the weather was
+extraordinarily hot, and much rain had fallen, and the town itself was
+badly drained and in a filthy state; can it be imagined then that the seeds
+of a disease liable to assume a pestilential character should lie dormant
+or be annihilated under circumstances the most favourable for their
+development, especially when we know that endemic diseases may assume a
+malignant character?
+
+This is just one of many cases which confirm our opinion in this respect,
+that plants and diseases are not long in making their appearance where the
+soil and atmosphere are congenial.
+
+The tenacity with which the disease attached itself to the Eclair is
+sufficiently explained in the absence of due ventilation; in fact, that in
+the first instance there was no ventilation at all in the hold of the ship.
+This also the more readily affords a clue to the disaster through all its
+stages, first in the contraction of the disease as an endemical affection
+in the vessel; secondly, in the multiplication of the {104} germs in the
+damp ill-ventilated hold, in a warm climate; and thirdly, the persistence
+and entire localization of the disease to the vessel when it arrived in the
+climate of the British shores; while, fourth and lastly, in the unusually
+hot and damp island of Bona Vista, the seeds of the disease were sown, and,
+as we might expect, multiplied indefinitely.
+
+The consecutive attacks of the crew of the Eclair shew that here a noxious
+gas or a vaporized inorganic poison could not have been the cause of the
+disease, for as I have before said, in this case the attacks should have
+been simultaneous; we find, on the contrary, that as the depressing effects
+of the melancholy condition of the crew was almost hourly undermining the
+health of the stoutest of them they as surely became the victims. The
+Kroomen, or natives on board the ship had not suffered, shewing that they
+were inured to the miasm, or were destitute of that condition of blood
+which would be favourable to a propagation of the materies of the disease.
+
+The Eclair we learn had left Bona Vista eight days when the first victim
+breathed his last; this would give perhaps three or four days for the
+incubation of the disease in the patient, or supposing he had not
+contracted the germs of the disease before the crew of the Eclair left the
+fort, some local favouring conditions were the means of keeping the germs
+in a fertilizing state, for it is clear from this spot the infection spread
+as from a centre or focus. {105} Such instances as these might be
+multiplied to extend the length of the enquiry, but, I think, to little
+advantage. The chief facts to be gathered are that an endemic affection
+became epidemic and pestilential, contrary to its usual mode, for the
+Portuguese official physician, on being consulted by the Governor of the
+Island as to the safety of landing the contaminated crew, said, "No danger
+at all; I have often brought sick men on shore coming in vessels from the
+African coast, and I never knew any ill effects to arise." Putting the most
+reasonable construction on this emphatic and straightforward language, we
+may presume that ordinary, remittent, and yellow fever had been commonly
+imported into the island, for it is not to be supposed but that both forms
+of disease must have existed among those sick men who had "_often been
+landed_," under the sanction of the Portuguese physician.
+
+To take another instance; intermittent fever or ague, is a disease known
+among almost all nations of the world, but it usually occurs in the endemic
+form only. It is universally supposed to depend entirely upon marsh
+effluvia, and we are accustomed to consider it as attaching only to low
+lying countries;[40] but this is not always the case, for disease in {106}
+this respect, like vegetation, may be found in various latitudes, to
+accommodate itself at varying altitudes, to the temperature and climatic
+relations, so as to appear indigenous. But though our prejudices are in
+favour of a simple miasmatic source of ague, as its sole cause, there are
+some who believe in its infectious nature. M. Sigaud, in his work on the
+Climate and Diseases of Brazil, speaks of Epidemics of _grave intermittent
+Fever_, and Dr. Copland says, that the epidemic prevalence of ague is a
+better established fact than its infection, and has been admitted by most
+writers.[41] We have, therefore, but to go one step further to arrive at
+infection, after having found that an endemic disease under peculiar
+circumstances, though but rarely, becomes {107} epidemic. The number of
+persons attacked by ague in a malarious district, in proportion to the
+population, is not so great as might be expected, considering that they are
+always subject by night and day, more or less, to respire the air
+containing the germs of intermittent fever; we might, therefore, deny the
+paludal source of the affection, as reasonably as deny infection, if we
+found that occasionally, persons, though subject to all the usual
+influences, yet escaped all injurious consequences.
+
+There are grades and varieties of infectious diseases, from the most
+inveterate to the most mild and doubtful; but that all, without exception,
+which can in any way be traced to a specific generating and organic cause,
+may assume an exalted infectious character, and that the most inveterate,
+on the contrary, may more resemble the mild and doubtfully infectious
+forms, is a conviction that must be forced on all who pursue this enquiry
+with unbiassed interest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{108}
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE REASONABLENESS OF THE APPLICATION OF THE FACTS TO THE INFERENCE.
+
+--------
+
+SECTION I.
+
+THE CHEMICAL THEORY OF EPIDEMICS UNTENABLE.
+
+It has been inferred that the germs of disease possess the property of
+vitality, and a number of facts have been adduced to support the
+proposition that vitality is the indwelling force by which the matter
+generating epidemic and endemic disease exercises its influence over man
+and animals. The reasonableness of the application of these facts to the
+end in view has now to be considered. Chemistry cannot account for
+epidemics.
+
+Our first subject of reflection points to the chemical discoveries of the
+last few years, and particularly to those of the great German chemist
+Liebig. We find in the first paragraph of his Organic Chemistry applied to
+Physiology and Pathology, the following words: "In the animal ovum, as well
+as in the seed of the plant, we recognize a certain remarkable force, _the
+source of growth_ or increase in the mass, _and of reproduction_ or of
+supply of the matter consumed; a force in a state of rest. By the action of
+external influences, by impregnation, by the presence of air and moisture,
+the condition {109} of static equilibrium is disturbed. This force is
+called the _vital force_, _vis vitæ_, or vitality."
+
+The doctrine of Liebig, that the vital force manifests itself in two
+conditions, or rather, that it is known to be in two different states, that
+of static equilibrium as in the seed, and in a dynamic state, as in that of
+growth and reproduction, is perfectly applicable to the germs of disease;
+the static equilibrium is referrible to the matter of vaccine lymph when
+dried and preserved for use, and the dynamic forces of the matter are known
+to be in operation during its reproduction and growth in the system of the
+vaccinated child.
+
+Then as to reproduction of matter by any chemical process, our author can
+furnish us with no examples, for even in his explanation of the causes of
+disease he is quite silent on this point, merely acknowledging that
+diseased products must be either rendered "harmless, destroyed, or expelled
+from the body." He further says, that "in all diseases where the formation
+of contagious matter and of exanthemata is accompanied by fever, two
+diseased conditions simultaneously exist, and two processes are
+simultaneously completed," and that it is by means of the blood as a
+carrier of oxygen that neutralization or equilibrium is established. Liebig
+thus admits that an agent exists in the blood, capable of deteriorating it
+at the expense of the oxygen, which he maintains is contained in the red
+globules; he further acknowledges that two processes of diseased {110}
+action are going on at the same time, and though he does not explain them,
+I imagine him to mean that new contagious matter is generated and
+eliminated from the blood, and that at the same time, there is that
+condition of body which he would call simply a diseased state, and
+characterizes it thus: "Disease occurs when the sum of vital force which
+tends to neutralize all causes of disturbance, (in other words, when the
+resistance offered by the vital force) is weaker than the acting cause of
+the disturbance."
+
+If I rightly apprehend his notions, they perfectly harmonize with my ideas,
+to a certain extent, on the subject. They accord, at any rate, most
+completely with the theory attempted to be established, and fully confirm
+the reasonableness of the application of the facts recorded to the
+inference drawn from other sources. The difference only rests on the
+question whether vitalized or non-vitalized matter is the _fons et origo
+mali_.
+
+How is the production of new matter, resembling that originally causing the
+disease, to be explained by any known hypothesis, except on the assumption
+of living organized matter? Though Liebig and Mulder both deny the fact,
+that the Torula cerevisiæ is the sole agent in the process of fermentation:
+they both equally fail in shewing upon what it does depend, and their
+difficulty rests entirely on their incapacity to explain the uniform
+reproductive properties of the matter engaged in this, as well as in all
+other allied operations. Liebig's statement {111} however on this matter
+requires notice--he says, "that _putrifying_ blood, white of egg, flesh and
+cheese, produce the same effects in a solution of sugar, as yeast or
+ferment. The explanation is simply this; that ferment or yeast is nothing
+but vegetable fibrine, albumen or caseine, in a state of decomposition."
+
+This state of decomposition, however, involves a much more complex
+proceeding, than simply a reduction of matter into its elementary forms of
+gases, earths, and minerals; for we nowhere find decomposition of this kind
+going on without the development of some organized bodies, either animal or
+vegetable: and since we have seen that the spores of the cryptogami are
+always in existence in the atmosphere, and making their appearance under
+favouring conditions, and especially when we find that fermentation is
+invariably accompanied, and I may safely say, preceded by the deposition in
+the fluid of the sporules of the Torula, we can hardly believe that they
+are any other than the sole agents of the process. I have now a
+considerable quantity of the Torula obtained from the urine of a diabetic
+patient, in which they appeared, as it were, spontaneously. After the urine
+had been allowed access to the air for a certain time, and the whole of the
+saccharine matter was converted into new compounds, reproduction of the
+Torula ceased;--and those which remained when the process was completed,
+still continue as organic cells, deposited {112} in the bottle in an inert
+state, but ready, on the addition of fresh sugar, as has been proved, to
+resume an active existence. These germs, it is now well known, may be dried
+into powder, so as to be blown away like dust without any, or but little,
+detriment to their vital energies; and there is now no doubt that they
+exist in this condition in the air, as do the spores of mucor, aspergillus,
+oidium, agaricus, and all other fungi.
+
+Mulder, however, does allow some properties to the yeast vesicle; he says,
+"a variety of strange ideas have been entertained respecting the nature of
+yeast; recent experiments have convinced me that it undoubtedly is a
+cellular plant consisting of isolated cells. They resemble the composition
+of cellulose in some respects, but differ from it in many." "These
+vesicles, consisting of a substance resembling that of cells, do not
+contribute in the least to the fermentation, but are exosmotically
+penetrated during fermentation by the protein compound." These chemists
+seem to have an instinctive horror of allowing any active properties to the
+yeast vesicle, that is as far as the conversion of sugar into carbonic acid
+and alcohol is concerned in the act of fermentation. Dr. Carpenter, as if
+desiring to conciliate the chemical and physiological disputants, considers
+that the truth is to be found in the mean of the two extremes,--that is,
+that the process of fermentation is neither entirely dependent on chemical
+laws, nor on those laws which preside {113} over the growth of reproductive
+matter, but is a process in which both perform certain offices, each
+depending on the other to produce the combined result; he thus approaches
+more nearly to the theory of Mulder, than that of Liebig.
+
+But to revert to Mulder, he speaks of the Torula cells being "exosmotically
+penetrated during the process of fermentation by the protein compound." Now
+the Torula is acknowledged to be one of the Fungals, and the chemical
+constituents of the Fungi approach very nearly that of animal tissues. They
+contain a peculiar principle, residing in and obtainable from them, termed
+Fungin, which is as highly azotised as animal fibre. The protein compound
+alluded to, Mulder says, is not gluten, because insoluble in boiling
+alcohol, and not albumen, because it is very readily dissolved in acetic
+acid, and he regards it as a superoxide of protein. This superoxide of
+protein can only have been produced by a vital action in the cells of the
+Torula, and as the fungi consume oxygen, and give out carbonic acid, we
+clearly have all the elementary conditions for their growth in almost all
+decomposing animal and vegetable matters. It is the nature of the fungi to
+live on organized matter, but always when it has a tendency to decay; it is
+for this reason they have been called "Scavengers." Again, we can
+understand why some animalized or nitrogenous matter should be necessary
+for fermentation, otherwise fungi could not grow, nitrogen being an
+essential constituent of {114} their structure, and further fermentation
+does not commence without the presence of oxygen, and like as in animals,
+this gas supports their existence. The conversion of sugar into alcohol is
+represented by the following formula:--
+
+                             RESULT.
+              Sugar.  Alcohol.  Carbonic Acid.
+  Hydrogen      3        3
+  Oxygen        3        1            2
+  Carbon        3        2            1
+
+If therefore the process were merely of a chemical nature, where is the
+necessity for atmospheric oxygen to accomplish the end? it is quite certain
+that fermentation cannot go on without its presence. Let us compare the
+action of ferment or yeast in a dried state to the action of albumen, which
+Liebig says is sufficient when decomposing to set up fermentation. "The
+white of eggs when added to saccharine liquors requires a period of three
+weeks, with a temperature of 96° F. before it will excite
+fermentation."[42] But any saccharine liquor on exposure to the air, though
+entirely destitute of albumen or gluten, will ferment, and the Torula may
+be found in it. I have found the Torula in a great variety of syrups which
+have spontaneously undergone fermentation. I have also discovered that the
+development of the cells is delayed or accelerated by the nature of the
+ingredient used in flavouring {115} the syrups, with other peculiarities
+which need not here be mentioned.
+
+But the conversion of starch into sugar by means of gluten requires some
+notice, as by some persons it is associated in their minds with the organic
+process of fermentation.[43] Mulder ascribes the latter in the first
+instance to the action of heat, evidently believing that the
+pseudo-catalytic operation of gluten upon starch is the type of all such
+actions, and regarding them all as simply chemical, but we here distinguish
+a wide difference; in the latter instance the gluten is decomposed, and
+rendered unfit for a repetition of the chemical phenomenon, and if it is
+desired to renew the action fresh gluten must be obtained, and a certain
+temperature kept up, otherwise the experiment fails. How different is
+fermentation: in the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere the yeast
+vesicle will multiply, no incremental or unnatural addition of heat is
+requisite, and it is one of the commonest and most natural instances of
+vegeto-chemistry: the grape cannot shed its juice, nor the sugar cane its
+sap without admitting these germs, which, under certain {116} conditions
+multiply themselves and convert the saccharine elements into new compounds.
+The method by which the conversion of starch into sugar is accomplished is
+thus described by Dr. Ure. He says that if starch one part be boiled with
+twelve parts of water and left to itself, water merely being stirred in it
+as it evaporates, at the end of a month or two in summer weather it is
+changed into sugar and gum, bearing certain proportions to the amount of
+starch used. But "if we boil two parts of potato starch into a paste, with
+twenty parts of water, mix this paste with one part of the gluten of wheat
+flour, and set the mixture for eight hours in a temperature of from 122° to
+167° F. the mixture soon loses its pasty character, and becomes by degrees
+limpid, transparent, and sweet, passing at the same time first into gum and
+then into sugar."--"The residue has lost the faculty of acting upon fresh
+portions of starch."
+
+Four points of contrast present themselves for notice as elements of
+comparison with true fermentation. 1st. The starch solution has to be
+boiled, so that heat, by which it is to be supposed that the starch globule
+is ruptured, seems to be an essential portion of the chemical change, and
+even this may in fact alone be sufficient in such a case to produce some
+elementary change in the starch, and may prepare it for the subsequent
+catalytic action of some related organic, though not vital material.[44]
+{117} 2nd. Not only a summer heat is necessary, but a period of one or two
+months time must elapse before the starch with the water simply becomes
+converted into sugar, and if artificial heat is to be used to hasten the
+operation, a temperature from 122° to 167° F. must be resorted to in order
+to obtain the desired result. 3rd. When even this is accomplished there is
+no reproduction of the fermenting matter, and artificial and chemical means
+must again be applied to repeat the experiment. 4th. The conversion of
+starch into sugar can be accomplished without the presence of gluten at
+all, by the aid only of temperature and time. It seems to me, therefore, to
+be entirely unnecessary to occupy more space in the elaboration of a proof
+of the doctrine that the germs of the Torula are the sole agents in the
+conversion of saccharine fluids into alcohol and carbonic acid. By another
+chemical process starch can be converted into sugar, but I am not aware
+that hitherto any method has been discovered by which sugar can be
+converted into alcohol except by the process of fermentation proper.
+
+I have been thus particular in commenting on this subject, as it bears, in
+an especial manner, on the question under consideration.
+
+{118}
+
+The physiologist cannot afford to lose this process from the category of
+chemico-vital, or biochemical manifestations.[45] The philosophy of the age
+has a tendency to make every thing chemical; it is true that the Divinity
+is as much seen in the laws which govern the elementary particles of
+matter, as in those laws which preside over the transmutation and
+sustentation of those elementary and inorganic particles, when compounded
+in the tissues which are engaged in the formation of living beings. The
+laws by which acids and alkalies neutralize each other, and the affinities
+single, double and elective, which the particles of matter exhibit,
+together with the influences of light, heat, and electricity upon almost
+every condition of matter, are as truly wonderful as the creative power.
+Man may, in many instances, imitate the processes of nature, he can render
+iron magnetic, and form alkaloids, but the {119} laws which govern the
+particles of matter are still the secret of the whole proceedings. We do
+but interpret the language of nature in discovery, the book is ever open
+before us, and every atom of the world is a word and a theme, capable of
+occupying the short span of sublunary existence allotted to man. We have
+read of "sermons in stones," but a book has been written on a "pebble."[46]
+
+To return, as we every where in nature find a gradual transition in the
+forms, arrangements and properties of matter, so we may expect to find a
+link between the inorganic and vital chemistry of nature. The fungi, by
+which we contend this transition appears to be accomplished, are also a
+link in chemical composition, between the animal and vegetable kingdom, and
+not only in that, but in their subsisting upon matter which has been
+organized, they are deoxidizers and reducers, as the vegetable kingdom in
+its highest function is a compounder. To their functions and offices in the
+great scheme of creation, we may fairly apply ourselves with a sure and
+certain result of the most interesting discovery. Is it no hint that
+wherever decaying organic matter is found, there do we find fungi? is it no
+hint that they are found in all parts of the world? that even in snow the
+germs of fungi will grow and multiply to such an extent, according to Capt.
+Ross, that the protococcus was seen {120} by him, clothing the sides of the
+mountains at Baffin's Bay, rising, according to his report, to the height
+of several _hundred feet_, and extending to the distance of _eight miles_?
+
+Even stones contain in their interior, or interspaces of their structure,
+the germs of fungi. A species of Tufa is found in the vicinity of Naples of
+a porous texture, which, when moistened and shaded, produces vast
+mushrooms, four or five inches high, and eight or ten inches broad.[47]
+This author further says: "In the Maremma, where the volcanic tufa is the
+basis of the soil the surface is intermixed with the animal remains of
+departed empires, and the ordure of cattle, is covered with grasses of old
+pasturages, and is wet with heavy dews. Everything, therefore, conspires
+there to a fungiferous end."
+
+They are found growing in and upon both vegetables and animals. Nees von
+Esenbeck imagined, that minute forms multiplied themselves in the
+atmosphere; and really, when we consider the amount of effluvia composed of
+the atoms cast off from the bodies of living or decaying organic matters,
+which are incessantly passing into the atmosphere, the conjecture is not an
+unreasonable one. The minuteness of those, which we know are always found
+growing on decomposing bodies, does not preclude the possibility, nay,
+further favours {121} the probability, that others infinitely more
+minute,[48] may be destined to remove the more subtle and vaporous
+particles which escape into the air.
+
+We can, therefore, I think, conclude, that the lower tribes of vegetation,
+may consistently be regarded as capable of existing in almost any
+condition, and almost under any circumstances, they may be made to grow in
+plants by inoculation, as shewn by De Candolle, and Dr. Hassall. If the
+stem of wheat also is inoculated with vibriones, they will make their
+appearance in the grain.[49] If the seed contain them and have not lost its
+germinating properties, these worms will be found again in the grain. If
+the grain containing them be dried for years, and moistened again with
+water, these animalcules, according to Bauer and Steinbach, will present
+all the phenomena of life. This experiment I have witnessed, and can
+confirm the statement. These animalcules in the diseased grain, have under
+the microscope the appearance of an immense {122} number of eels crowded
+together in a small space, and presenting a movement more, perhaps,
+vermicular than any other, and it is continued for a considerable time. Now
+if these animalcules, or their ova, can be proved to pass with the sap to
+the seed, there can be no difficulty in comprehending how germs,
+considerably more minute and of a vegetable nature, should be found subject
+to the same peculiar mode of obtaining an entrance into animals and
+vegetables for sustenance. "It is usually imagined," says Dr. Carpenter,
+"that the germs liberated by one plant are taken up by the roots of others,
+and being carried along the current of the sap, are deposited and
+developed, where vegetation is most active."
+
+The chemical theory of disease would be better sustained by a comparison of
+"the artificial formation of alkaloids," and the phenomena of
+transformation of blood into the tissues of animals, and their degeneration
+into effete matters, and of sap into the tissues of plants and their
+degenerations.
+
+Professor Kopp of Strasburg, says, "In a chemical point of view, the
+alkaloids are remarkable for their composition, for their special
+properties, both physical and chemical, and for the interesting reactions
+to which many of them give rise, when exposed to the influence of different
+reagents. Considered medically, the organic bases are distinguished by
+their energetic properties. They {123} constitute at the same time, the
+most violent and sudden poisons, and the most valuable and heroic
+remedies."
+
+Upon this very intricate and interesting part of chemical philosophy, it is
+rather dangerous to enter without a thorough and practical knowledge of the
+subject. This, however, falls to the lot of few men. We, who are engaged in
+the study of disease, and of the best methods of cure, are obliged to take
+the investigations of the analytical chemist, and examine them for
+ourselves in the intervals of leisure allowed us during the active exercise
+of our calling. Though with less advantages for the study of these
+transcendental relations of organic and inorganic matter, we are not,
+nevertheless, precluded from forming our opinions on their practical
+bearings to the phenomena and treatment of disease.
+
+That there is a matter of a poisonous nature concerned in the production of
+endemic and epidemic affections, cannot be doubted by any one; I believe
+indeed, that the chemical theorists admit this, at all events Liebig does,
+for he says, "The morbid poison changes in the blood are fermentative, just
+such as occur in beer making." If we start, then, with the consideration
+that poisons, in a chemical point of view, are the objects of our research;
+the obvious course to take is to enquire what is the source of poisons
+generally, and what their effects on the animal economy? The mineral
+poisons are entirely excluded from the enquiry by their {124} inaptitude
+for diffusion, and their uniform effects upon all persons, differing only
+in degree in their operation. The same objections apply to gaseous poisons,
+except that to them the property of diffusion would be admitted.[50] We
+come then to the alkaloids, which constitute, as Kopp says, the most
+violent and sudden poisons. For the production of alkaloids by artificial
+means, organic products of some kind are required. Artificial heat,
+powerful chemical agents or length of time, are, as far as information at
+present extends, the indispensable requirements to induce these peculiar
+changes in matter. The only instance I can find, in which elementary
+matters can by artificial means be combined, so as to resemble the products
+of nature, is that of the conversion of carbon and nitrogen into cyanogen.
+But the process by which this is accomplished, leads rather to doubt
+whether it be really and simply by a combination of _elementary_ carbon and
+nitrogen. I extract the following from the Annual Report of the Progress of
+Chemistry, for 1848. "H. Delbruck has performed some experiments on the
+important subject of the formation of cyanogen. He confirms the statements
+of Desfosses and Fownes, inasmuch as a _weak but distinct_ formation of
+cyanogen was observed on igniting {125} _sugar-charcoal_[51] with carbonate
+of potassa in an atmosphere of nitrogen." The use of sugar-charcoal, may be
+perhaps an explanation of the weak formation of cyanogen, for in these
+numerous and successive chemical changes of matter, it is impossible to say
+how many sources of error may arise. The constant contradictions of each
+other, and the opposite statements made by chemists, of equal eminence,
+leave us in a wilderness of doubt, from which we are not likely to be
+freed, until definite laws shall be discovered to act as a guide in the
+comprehension of the higher branches of Chemical Philosophy.
+
+But supposing that the generation of alkaloids could take place in the
+body, or some analogous poisonous matter, we have yet to imagine a whole
+host of peculiar and essential conditions to effect this change, besides an
+atmospheric agent or agents to set in motion those compositions and
+decompositions, capable of bringing out these new products from the
+elements of blood. We are aware that in the blood, carbon and nitrogen are
+sufficiently abundant as well as saline compounds, to generate cyanides,
+and, with hydrogen also there in plenty, hydrocyanates, and thus from them
+many other poisonous products, but how is all this to be effected? And even
+if effected, it is yet a question if such compounds can in any way simulate
+the attacks of epidemic disease. We have {126} already shewn that the
+amount of most poisons necessary to destroy an individual, can be pretty
+clearly estimated, and their _modus operandi_ is tolerably well understood.
+Again, the most essential part, in which all chemical theory fails, is an
+explanation of the reproduction of contagious matter.
+
+The catalytic process, by which decompositions are said to be effected, and
+in which Liebig includes the various fermentations, is one of those
+chemical relations of matter to matter, considered by some as the probable
+cause of infection. Mr. Simon, in a late lecture, has said, "I consider the
+phenomena of infective diseases, to be essentially chemical, and I look to
+chemistry to enlighten the darkness of their pathology. Qualitative
+modifications, affecting the molecules of matter as to their modes of
+action and reaction, are such as form the subject of chemical science; and
+those humoral changes which arise as the result of infection clearly fall
+within the terms of its definitions." Further on he adds: "The phenomena of
+infected diseases appears then, in many respects, to be sui generis.
+Certainly they are chemical. _Probably_ they belong to that _class_ of
+chemical actions called _catalytic_."[52]
+
+{127}
+
+It is not improbable that something resembling a catalytic action may take
+place in the blood in those diseases of endemic and epidemic origin, but
+that it can be by a chemical process alone is contrary to all experience of
+catalytic operations, for except in the instance of fermentation proper,
+there is no multiplication of the fermentative matter. The action of the
+matter of contagion seems to stand on the confines between electro-chemical
+and bio-chemical manifestations, and so long as no chemical explanation can
+be given for the multiplication of the matter of infection, the most
+rational course to adopt is to assume that life under some unknown form is,
+as we every where find it, the sole reproductive agent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{128}
+
+SECTION II.
+
+THE ANIMALCULAR THEORY OF EPIDEMICS UNTENABLE.
+
+The animalcular theory of disease, after remaining almost unnoticed for
+nearly two centuries, has been again revived under the auspices of Dr.
+Holland in this country, and Henle of Berlin. And though not entirely
+buried in obscurity, this theory had completely failed to modify the
+practice of physicians in the treatment of those diseases which were
+supposed to owe their existence to these invisible atoms of created being.
+The resuscitated notions and all their amplifications, to which the advance
+of science has contributed so much, are threatened with a like fate, an
+absence of all practical results.
+
+Though I would not attempt to deny the possibility, nay, even the
+probability, that insect life may yet be discovered as the cause of some
+diseases,[53] still {129} there are many and cogent reasons against both,
+and which are at variance with facts and observations. Where insect life
+has been found associated with disease, it more especially appears as a
+consequence than as a cause.
+
+Disease, in its most enlarged sense, is a conversion of one form of matter
+into another; it is a transformation of healthy blood and tissue into new
+and abnormal products. Where insects in all their variety of forms are
+discovered, their voracious propensities are their chief characteristics,
+they are the consumers of matter after its partial disintegration, if
+animal matter be their food, unless they be carnivorous and predacious, or
+if herbivorous they usually feed upon the tender shoots of plants. Thus far
+we are certain of the manner in which insects destroy living matter; it is
+a process the unassisted eye may every where witness, and which experience
+has amply attested. To take, however, the animalcular world as it presents
+itself to us under the microscope, and as the intermediate step between the
+manifest and the hidden for a fairer and more direct method of reaching the
+truth, what do we observe to be the ruling law of infusory instinct? They
+live to feed; the term polygastrica sufficiently implies their natural
+tendency to consume. The simplest form of animalcular life, seen in the
+genera of monads, still preserves the animal character by possessing a
+stomach or stomachs in which the food is received, to be digested for the
+nourishment of the {130} system; and even some of these minute objects
+which vary in size from one _two-thousandth_, to one _three-thousandth_ of
+a line in diameter, are said to be carnivorous and predacious. Upon this
+fact alone, I would place the improbability of insects being the cause of
+epidemic disease. Each insect doubtless has its own peculiar food, and
+whether it be a vegetable or animal feeder, it consumes the matter already
+organized for conversion into its own tissue, and the only change which
+could be affected by them in the blood, would necessarily be that of
+appropriation of some one of the constituents as an element of food; when
+that food is digested, (taking digestion generally as an identical
+process,) the excrementitious matter is composed of secretions and
+disorganized matter, mixed together as an _effete_ product, and destined
+then for reorganization by the vegetable kingdom. Now all animals, whether
+they be large or small, live on organized matter,--they convert that matter
+into an inorganic form, and I cannot help imagining that if epidemic
+diseases and fevers depended upon animalcular growth and development in the
+blood or tissues of the body, the excretions or secretions from them would
+have yielded some information to the searching enquiries of the chemist,
+supposing that these excretions and secretions were capable of reaching to
+a sufficient amount in quantity, to bring about those fatal effects of
+poisoning, we witness in Cholera and other epidemic affections. Insects, I
+{131} believe are poisonous only by their secretions, and though they are
+known to multiply with exceeding rapidity, I can hardly imagine that by
+their development, however rapid, they could produce such a change in the
+human body, as to bring about the speedy dissolution, and generally
+gangrenous appearance, that has invariably been observed in those suddenly
+dying under the influence of epidemic poisons. The vibriones, whose
+destructive effects on wheat are so well known, are a genus of animalcules,
+which at first would seem to favour the animalcular theory in a remarkable
+manner; for on examining them, they do not appear to possess any other
+structure than a gelatinous absorbing mass, in this respect resembling a
+vegetable.
+
+But Ehrenberg's scrutiny corrected the error of De Blanville, and shewed,
+that they were far from being agastria, or stomachless animals. The Rev.
+William Kirby says, "Ehrenberg has studied the vibriones in almost every
+climate, and has discovered, by keeping them in coloured waters, that they
+are not the simple animals that Lamarck and others supposed, and that
+almost all have a mouth and digestive organs, and that numbers of them have
+many stomachs." All the discoveries indeed which have been made on the
+minuter forms of animal life, have tended to confirm the doctrine that the
+stomach is the exponent organ of an animal; that is, in all animals there
+exists, in a variety of modified conditions, a receptacle for food. Some of
+the {132} animalcules, however, are still supposed to exist by absorption,
+as the vinegar eel, _vibrio anguilla_,[54] but when we find that the law
+is, generally speaking, that the receptacles of food become multiplied in
+number in these minute beings, and the vibriones which were supposed to be
+stomachless, have been proved to emulate their associates in the number of
+these organs; it would be more reasonable to conclude that our imperfect
+vision is the barrier to their detection, rather than to suppose that they
+do not exist. Besides, when we are told on undoubted authority that some of
+the animals of this class, have as many as _forty or fifty_ stomachs; the
+least we can do, is to allow that all of them possess, at least one
+digestive organ, though we may not be able to detect it.[55]
+
+So far then for the consideration of animalcular structure: let us now more
+particularly enquire into their destructive habits, and their functions,
+inasmuch {133} as they may be supposed capable of engendering epidemic
+diseases and fever. The truly carnivorous animalcules, or those truly
+herbivorous in their instincts, we may presume to be beyond the limits of
+our enquiry. We have rather to do with those which take an intermediate
+position, namely, those which feed upon matter undergoing decomposition, or
+upon fluids containing organic matters in solution, or suspension. If we
+take Entozoa generally, they may be considered as most conveniently to be
+placed in this intermediate class; and here we find still the digestive
+apparatus, and more than this,--for upon the modifications of the organs
+appropriated to digestion is their classification founded. "Rudolphi
+divided the Entozoa into Sterelmintha, or those in which the nutrient tubes
+without anal outlet are simply excavated in the general parenchyma, and
+into the Coelelmintha, in which an intestinal canal with proper parietes
+floats in a distinct abdominal cavity, and has a separate outlet for the
+excrements."[56]
+
+How do these animals obtain their sustenance, and what changes can they
+produce upon the vital fluid of the body? Analogy is here our only guide.
+If the trichina spiralis is examined, it is found to be enclosed in a cyst
+containing fluid; and this is, {134} doubtless, the source of its
+nutriment, and contains in solution the elements for its nutrition; but in
+this instance there is no selection, and there can be no locomotion to an
+extent sufficient to imply searching for food, as the animalcule in its
+natural state, when taken from the human muscle, is found coiled upon
+itself, making about two and a half turns. The fluid of the cyst is thus in
+all likelihood prepared by endosmosis, for the immediate and appropriate
+nutrition of the parasite. The cyst is thus the part which performs the
+diseased process, the containing animalcule is merely the consumer of what
+is prepared for it by the cyst. And this would seem to be the rule with all
+parasites, of the encysted kind.
+
+We have alluded to the vibriones which are found in the fluids of living
+bodies, and the trichina which is found in the solid muscle; we have now to
+refer to those which infest the cavities. It was, I believe, Ehrenberg, who
+shewed that the tartar which accumulates on the teeth is composed of the
+debris of minute animalcules; in fact, that it consists of calcareous
+matter, having once formed a portion of the structure of their bodies, the
+ubiquity of these creatures is therefore as much and clearly established as
+the lower forms of vegetation. The intestinal worms, of which perhaps the
+Tænia is the most curious and important to be noticed, are from the
+locality in which they are found, chiefly injurious by the irritation they
+set up, and by appropriating {135} to themselves the nutrient juices
+elaborated in the process of animal digestion, thus depriving the
+individuals they infest of that which was destined for their own
+nourishment. In this, as in all associated instances, the character by
+which these parasitic animals are marked is their consuming propensity.
+There is, however, one more observation to make upon parasitic growths; but
+the question is yet unsettled in what kingdom of nature is the
+acephalocyst, or hydatid, to be placed. Mr. Owen says, "As the best
+observers agree in stating, that the acephalocyst is impassive under the
+application of stimuli of any kind, and manifests no contractile power,
+either partial or general, save such as results from elasticity, in short,
+neither feels nor moves, it cannot, as the animal kingdom is at present
+characterized, be referred to that division of organic nature."
+
+We thus arrive at the simple cell, and the multiplication of living beings
+by cell buds; it is the point at which the confines of the animal kingdom
+are reached, and at which we are driven to speculation. The hydatid lives
+like a plant, by imbibition; and procreates, like a plant, by budding,
+either endogenously or exogenously, as regards the original or parent
+cell.[57]
+
+{136}
+
+This condition of being, suggested the notion of Protozoa, or first
+animals, in the same way that the purely cellular plants, that is, each
+individual, consisting of a single cell, gave the idea of Protophyta, or
+first plants. Mr. Kirby thus expresses himself on this subject: "The first
+plants, and the first animals, are scarcely more than animated molecules,
+and appear analogues of each other; and those above them in each kingdom
+represent jointed fibrils."
+
+Admitting, then, that animals as well as plants exist in the form of simple
+cells, and that their multiplication proceeds apparently upon the same
+principle in each, it is nevertheless abundantly manifest, that the
+cellular form of perfect individuals is infinitely more numerous in the
+vegetable than in the animal kingdom.
+
+{137}
+
+From the mosses downwards to the fungi, the whole structure of the plants
+consists of an aggregation of cells, more or less in number and complicate
+arrangement, until, through a variety of gradations, we reach the single
+cell as a perfect individual.
+
+It is rather remarkable, that the lower forms of vegetables and animals
+seem to derive their nutriment from matter of a similar kind; and though
+the office of plants is as a rule, to convert inorganic into organized
+matter, it appears that some of the fungi may live as animals do on organic
+matter when in a state of solution. This, however, is uncertain; for we do
+not know what are the first signs of decomposition in organized bodies, and
+for aught we can tell, it may be perpetually going on; so far as the
+disengagement of carbon from the system is concerned, this is certain; but
+whether the nitrogenous compounds also are subject to a resolution into
+their elements in the living body, is another question, and not so easy of
+solution. The partially decomposed elements of animal structures are,
+however, particularly adapted for the nutrition of the lower forms of
+vegetation; it is, indeed, from the decaying organic matters that the fungi
+derive, it may be said, their entire food.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{138}
+
+SECTION III.
+
+SKETCH OF THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS.
+
+Animals and plants depend for their existence upon a nutritive fluid, which
+permeates their structure; it is the element from which all their
+secretions are formed, and their organs are nourished.
+
+The food of animals is composed of previously organized matters, and is
+conveyed into a reservoir called a stomach, where it undergoes a process of
+solution, previously to entering the circulation. At this period, the
+animal and the plant again present points of resemblance, the lymphatics or
+absorbent vessels take up the products of digestion, and convey them to the
+blood-vessels, where mingling with the current of the blood, they are
+conveyed to the lungs, there to undergo a process of oxygenation before
+they become fitted for the renovation of the tissues of the body. Such is
+the nature of the food of man, that it contains all the elements necessary
+and adapted for transformation into bone, muscle, brain, and parenchyma, as
+well as the other tissues of the body; besides other elementary matters,
+which, though they form a very insignificant portion of {139} animal
+textures, from their constant presence in the vital fluid, evidently
+perform some important offices in the general economy of life; they are
+partly, perhaps, occupied in forming constituents of secretions.
+
+Plants do not require a stomach,--the humus or soil to which they are fixed
+is the laboratory, where the nutritive matter is prepared in a state fit
+for absorption by the spongioles of their roots, and these correspond to
+the lymphatics of animals; after being taken up by the spongioles, this new
+fluid mingles with the sap, and passes to the leaves or breathing apparatus
+of plants, where carbonic acid gas combines with the crude vital liquid,
+and converts it into a condition fit for all the offices to be performed by
+the plant: viz. the growth of tissues, and the elaboration of secretions.
+
+The tissues, however, of plants, though more simple in their nature,
+present a much more varied character than those of animals, when the
+different species are compared.
+
+The bones of animals which give them their form, are invariably constituted
+of phosphate and carbonate of lime, deposited in a matrix of gluten;
+muscle, nerve, brain, tendons, and ligaments, have nearly, if not
+completely, an identical composition throughout the whole range of the
+animal kingdom: their secretions, however, vary much more considerably, as
+also do the secretions of vegetables. But vegetable tissue may contain, as
+in the stems of {140} grasses, a considerable amount of silex, and some
+notable quantity of sulphur, and so essential to their existence is the
+former element, that they cannot live without its presence in the soil, and
+also with it an alkali, to render it soluble. A large amount of soda, is an
+invariable attendant upon the structure of marine plants, as potash is of
+those growing on the land.
+
+Thus, whether we regard the health of animals, or vegetables, we discover,
+that besides the matters which are absolutely indispensable for the
+nutriment of the tissues which undergo rapid transformation, those of a
+more permanent and durable nature require in an almost insensible degree, a
+restitution of elements; and though not apparently absolutely necessary to
+preserve vitality in the being, yet have so marked an influence over it, as
+to indicate an extensive bearing of each individual part, on the whole
+associated entity.
+
+The elementary tissues of both kingdoms have been traced, in whatever form
+they may be found, to a cellular origin. The minutest vegetable germ, is a
+cell containing a granular matter within it, and even man himself, in his
+embryonic state, may be represented as an insignificant point in the realms
+of space; and might be placed side by side with the smallest particle of
+living matter, without suffering by the comparison.
+
+The laws by which the development of these elementary cells is regulated,
+so that each advances {141} to its limit, and fulfils its destination, is
+one of those inscrutable and overwhelming mysteries of nature, which leads
+the admirer of creation on and on into the abyss of the future, and fills
+his soul with aspirations for that time, when the veil of ignorance shall
+be withdrawn. But this is not my subject.
+
+The organization of the two animated kingdoms, is then regulated by
+definite laws, and all matter, whether acting upon them as agents of
+nutrition or destruction, are equally under their dominion; to investigate
+and to endeavour to fathom some of these laws, is the aim I have in view.
+
+The sap is to the plant, what the blood is to the animal,--the elements of
+nutrition and secretion are contained in it, and whatever interferes with
+its normal constitution by subtracting from, or adding to it, deteriorates
+its qualities, and retards or accelerates the functions of the individual.
+Excess or deficiency of the natural elements may also be a source of
+disturbance; if carbonic acid be too abundantly liberated in the soil, as
+Dr. Lindley expresses it, "plants become gorged;" and if, on the other
+hand, the elimination be too slow, they become starved. It has been also
+shewn, that plants though they give out oxygen from their leaves, do not
+throw it off as animals do carbonic acid from their lungs; but that this
+arises as a result of digestion, and the fixation of carbon in the system,
+and that they really respire oxygen as {142} animals do, and give off
+carbonic acid, both by day and night.
+
+That light is the stimulant of the digestive functions, and that,
+therefore, during the day, the amount of oxygen thrown off, far exceeds the
+amount of carbonic acid liberated during the same period.
+
+The great and important distinction between animals and plants is, that the
+former possess a nervous system, by which they are subject to a very
+extended series of psychological relations; it is in these chiefly, if not
+entirely, that we are to look for the distinctive and well-marked
+differences of diseased action. In animals there are special media of
+communication between the sources of dynamic power, and the parts upon
+which the force is exercised: and again, a return communication exists,
+which conveys impressions to the source of power, and to use a simple
+comparison, a system of telegraphing is in incessant and watchful
+operation. This force is influenced and modified in its action, when
+exercised in the regulation of nutrition, growth, and reproduction of
+tissues, by the passions and emotions of the mind. All the secretions and
+functions of the body are more or less susceptible of being accelerated,
+retarded or modified by the psychical relations of mind and matter. Though
+we are apt to imagine that in man alone, these phenomena obtain much
+importance--there can be but little doubt, that wherever a {143} nervous
+system exists, whether in the form of aggregated or diffused ganglia, the
+interdependence of force and organization, each upon the other, bears a
+certain and definite physiological comparison; the more aggregated the
+ganglia, the more close, intimate, and extensive the psychical connexions,
+and the gradations pass downwards, until they appear to be lost on the
+confines of the vegetable kingdom.
+
+The diseases of plants and animals deserve a more careful comparison than,
+I think, has hitherto been bestowed upon them.[58] If the study of
+physiology, or an enquiry into the laws which regulate the functions of
+living beings in a state of health, has been materially aided by the
+intimate knowledge of vegetable physiology, which, from the simple
+structure of plants, so favours the experiments of the student, there is
+every reason to suppose that vegetable pathology may also lead us to an
+equally important and useful result.
+
+It is quite certain, that if a healthy seed, or leaf-bud, be placed in such
+a situation, that, according to the laws known, it will in all likelihood
+germinate, if all the elements for its sustenance exist in the soil, and
+the temperature and hygrometric {144} condition of the atmosphere are
+adapted to it, a healthy plant will be the result. Light, heat, moisture,
+and soil are therefore to be considered as the agents required to exist in
+a certain balance, or proportion, in reference to the health or power of
+vitality of the plant. Within a certain amount of variation, health may
+persist in virtue of the power of selection, which appertains to the
+spongioles of the root in absorbing nutriment; and also as regards light,
+from the tendency which most plants have to accommodate themselves to any
+deficiency of this element, by presenting their leafy expansion in that
+direction where the most of its influence may be obtained. But beyond a
+certain limit an unhealthy condition sets in. If the soil contain not the
+inorganic elements, which are absolutely indispensable for the tissues of
+the plant, or even if they be there and not in a state to be absorbed, a
+dwindling and degeneration ensue; if light be deficient in quantity,
+pallor, feebleness, and elongation of tissue follow, with more fluidity and
+general softness of texture. These conditions of plants have their
+analogues in the ill-fed and ill-nourished children in some of our
+manufacturing districts; they are stunted and diseased. Transport a healthy
+country lad, with the bloom of health on his cheek, from his native hills
+and valleys, or woods and fields, to the stool behind a desk for eight
+hours a day, in a narrow street in any city, where the rays of the sun
+rarely penetrate, it will not be long before {145} the skin of the animal
+and the cuticle of the plant may be submitted for comparison, when both
+will testify to the importance of the solar rays, as an indispensable agent
+in supporting the normal processes of organic life. So far common
+observation is competent to a solution of the facts; but beyond this we
+come to the enquiry, what resemblances are there in the early conditions of
+plants and animals. Each originates from nucleated cells, endowed by the
+All-seeing Power with a blind impulse of progressive development; the most
+simple cell of a vegetable multiplies itself by a generation of new cells
+within it, when the parent dies, and liberates the offspring. Here
+progression is simply multiplication; it is, as it were, progression in
+length only. The original cell, however, of animals, which is styled the
+germinal vesicle, extends or becomes developed into dissimilar parts; and
+whatever may be the variety, all alike proceed from the original germ cell,
+and the _tout ensemble_ of parts constitutes the one and indivisible whole;
+in this instance there is addition besides multiplication, tissues and
+organs are added in all variety, until the maximum of organic development
+is attained in the wonderful being, man.
+
+Yet how many points of resemblance are there between the vegetable cell and
+the fully developed human being, in a physiological and pathological point
+of view. There must be nourishment to sustain both; both require a certain
+amount of light {146} and heat for their growth and increase, and are
+dependent upon various unknown causes for active and healthy existence; and
+when a certain time has expired, all alike return to a condition, in which
+the particles composing them are subject only to the dominion of the laws
+which preside over inorganic matter.
+
+But during the existence of plants and animals, we discover other features
+of comparison; plants, as well as animals, are liable to disease; they are
+subject to functional and organic affections. The former, among plants, are
+usually traceable to atmospheric vicissitudes or irregularities, changes of
+situation, &c.; and in man to irregularities of diet, and mental and bodily
+excesses, as well as to atmospheric vicissitudes.[59]
+
+The organic diseases of plants and animals depend upon a repetition, or
+continuance, of functional derangement. As a consequence of this, the
+nutrition and reproduction of tissues lose their normal and definite
+character, wherefrom an indefinite and abnormal result is obtained. There
+is a limit to abnormal productions, and they are apparently {147} subject
+to laws, though not yet understood. In animals, they may be either
+excessive development of natural tissue in natural localities, as obesity
+and fatty tumours; they may be natural products in unnatural situations, as
+fatty degenerations of muscular tissue; or altogether new and unnatural
+products, as tubercle and cancer.
+
+In plants, from their greater simplicity of structure, organic affections
+are perhaps entirely limited to the two first forms of animal organic
+disease; viz. to undue development of tissue in natural situations, and to
+the formation of natural tissue in parts of a plant where they are not
+usually found in a state of nature. The variety of excrescences seen on the
+stems, branches, and twigs of plants, may be given as instances of the
+former; and the conversion of stamina into petals, as in double flowers, as
+an instance of the latter.
+
+We derive our sustenance from vegetables, and they from us; they produce
+for us the soothing opiate and the deadly strychnia; we for them the
+animating ammonia, and the distortions and sterility of excessive culture;
+we engender in them, by the latter, debility, disease, and death; and in
+our turn we become their prey. All this indeed is but a cycle of events,
+that requires no learned mind to fathom, and to comprehend; it is a matter
+of every day occurrence, and, though perhaps not entirely unheeded, is not
+dwelt upon in the fulness of its bearings and importance. {148}
+
+Let us now consider the diseases of plants, as a study progressive to those
+of man; and as their physiology has so extensively served us, we may
+possibly also find in their pathology much material for instruction; not
+that it will be attempted to shew that the same diseases affect both
+kingdoms, but that diseases, though dissimilar in effects, may have similar
+sources.
+
+Unfortunately, there are not many men in this country, who need go further
+than their own gardens to find abundance of disease among their fruit trees
+and vegetables. The vine, the apple and the potato, common to most gardens,
+will furnish specimens.
+
+It is an error of a serious kind to suppose, that the parasites which
+infest plants are not essentially the cause, or, perhaps, more properly
+speaking, the elements of disease. I confine myself here to disease of
+parasitic origin, as that is the subject of which I am chiefly treating.
+
+That parasitic growths are the elements of disease in some instances, is
+now beyond dispute. The experiments of Mr. Hassall, detailed in Part II. of
+the Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London, are most
+conclusive; and they are of that simple nature, that any one may convince
+himself of their accuracy, by a repetition of them from the directions
+there laid down.
+
+He says, the decay is communicable at will "to any fruits of the apple and
+peach kind, no matter {149} how strong their vital energies may be, by the
+simple act of inoculation of the sound fruit with a portion of decayed
+matter, containing filaments of the fungi. We may use with success the
+sporules of such fungi; but in this case the decomposition does not set in
+so quickly; in the one case, the smaller filaments of the fungi have
+advanced several stages in their growth; while in the other, the sporules
+have yet to pass through the several stages of their development."
+
+Mr. Hassan, however, seems to speak doubtfully as to the mode in which the
+disease becomes naturally introduced;[60] how the spores enter the fruit,
+"is not very clear--though probably, it is by insinuating themselves
+between the cells of which the cuticle is composed, or perhaps by means of
+the stomata, where they are present. I may here state that the experiments
+were made on fruit, while living, and attached to the tree."
+
+But why should there be a doubt as to the parts by which the sporules of
+minute fungi enter the plant, when it is clear, that not only can they
+enter {150} by the spongioles, but by the stomata of the leaves, and mingle
+with the sap. It is true, that they make their appearance and grow upon the
+leaves and the fruit; but these are the situations most adapted for their
+fructification. I have seen the spores of the fungi which attack the
+cucumber and vegetable-marrow, in the cells of the hairs, and even their
+filamentous prolongations; these appropriate the fluids conveyed to the
+cells of the hair, rupture them, and at length fructify.
+
+On referring to Dr. Lindley's Medical and Economic Botany, I find that many
+fungi are the active elements of disease, and in a manner which renders it
+highly improbable that they are so in any other way, than by obtaining an
+entrance to the sap of the plants. Of the microscopic fungus which destroys
+wheat, the Uredo caries of De Candolle, we find the habitat to be within
+the ovary of the corn, and that 4,000,000 may be contained in a grain of
+wheat,--now this and another fungus, the Lanosa nivalis, are said to
+destroy whole crops of corn: we cannot imagine that such an extensive
+affection, can have any other source than by means of the spores through
+the sap, seeing that bruising of the surface, or rupture of the cuticle of
+the apple, a comparatively soft fruit is necessary to produce the disease
+artificially in them; besides, a grain of corn containing vibriones, when
+grown and having fruited, the new fruit also contains them--now here, as
+this is I believe almost invariably the {151} case, either they or their
+ova must be carried with the sap to the new germs.
+
+It is rather a remarkable fact, that these entophytes appropriate the
+nutriment destined for the plant in which they grow, they are consequently
+the means in many instances of its entire destruction, though only
+partially so in others.
+
+There are many Fungi which have this tendency. The Puccinia gramienis,
+"preys upon the juices of plants, and prevents the grain from swelling."
+The Æcidium urticæ, common on nettles, deprives the plant on which it
+grows, of the organizable matter, intended for its own nutrition. The
+Erysiphe communis, overruns and destroys peas. The Botrytis infestans,
+"attacks the leaves and stems of potatoes." The Oidium abortifaciens,
+attacks the ovaries of grasses--and the Oidium Tuckeri, "a formidable
+parasite, destroys the functions of the skin, of the parts it attacks." The
+latter has been most injurious to the vines, during the last two years. I
+have known instances in which the vines have been cut down, and every means
+taken to rid the houses of the disease; but this year, it has made its
+appearance, with all its former virulence, in the new shoots.
+
+This, however, is sufficient to shew that plants are liable to disease,
+depending upon parasitic growths, which affect their vital powers, and
+deprive them of their natural nutritive fluids.
+
+But somewhat similar diseases belong also to {152} warm climates; in a
+letter from Cuba, dated Dec. 1843,--Mr. Bastian writes, "_a plague_ has
+appeared among the orange trees--a mildew attacking the leaves and the
+blossoms, which finally dry up. It most frequently kills the trees. None of
+the orange family are exempt; lemons, limes, and their varieties, with the
+shaddock and forbidden fruit, have all suffered." This disease has
+continued without intermission, till the present year,--when the same
+gentleman writes, Feb. 20th, 1850: "The evil exists, although in a
+diminished degree, so much so, as to have allowed the trees to produce me
+30,000 oranges again. In old times, the same plantations produced me
+100,000."
+
+The West India sugar-canes are also liable to a disease, which the Rev. Mr.
+Griffiths, in his Natural History of the Island of Barbadoes, speaks of, in
+the following manner: "This, among diseases peculiar to canes, as among
+those which happen to men, too justly claims the horrible precedence." This
+disease is called the Yellow Blast. It is difficult to distinguish the
+Blast in its infancy, from the effect of dry weather.
+
+There are often seen on such sickly canes, many small protuberant knobs, of
+a soft downy substance. It is likewise observable, that such blades will be
+full of brownish decaying spots. The disease is very destructive to the
+canes. It is observed, that the Blast usually appears successively in the
+same fields, and often in the very same spot of land. {153}
+
+This Blast is often found far from "infected places," and the infection
+always spreads faster to the leeward, or with the wind.
+
+"_It is remarkable if canes_ have been once infected with the Blast,
+although they afterwards to all appearance, seem to recover; yet the juice
+of such canes will neither afford so much sugar, nor so good of its kind,
+as if obtained from canes which were never infected."
+
+I may here allude to the circumstance, that in the island of Cuba, the
+destructive mildew is commonly called, _la pesta_.
+
+It were needless to multiply instances of other endemic and epidemic
+diseases of vegetables; they are well known by practical observers to be
+very numerous, and I believe, in most instances, depending upon fungoid
+growths. The destruction of vegetables by insects, is of a very different
+nature to that produced by the fungi; it would be as unreasonable to
+consider the consumption of corn and herbage by locusts, as a disease of
+vegetation, as the massacre and devouring of human beings by cannibals, a
+disease of the human body.
+
+It is true that insects are exceedingly destructive to plants, but as far
+as I am able to obtain information, they appear to be so chiefly by their
+voracious propensities; they consume the structure of the plant in its
+entity, and do not primarily interfere with its vitality. The instance of
+the vibriones, before-mentioned, seems at first to be an exception {154} to
+the rule, but this is rather apparent, than real; and it may be made to
+apply more as a confirmation, than an obstacle to the vegetable theory: for
+if we may fairly compare the diseases of animals with those of plants, the
+existence of entozoa in the latter, would be considered an essential point
+to be substantiated.
+
+Having now considered the question as to the infeasibility of supposing
+that chemical fermentation is the basis upon which a theory of diseases can
+be sustained, and having shewn that life is inseparable from infection, and
+miasmatic generation;--having explained the phenomena of the dispersion of
+diseases by comparison with the dispersion of plants, and finally, having
+demonstrated that the physiology and pathology of plants bear so close a
+relation to each other, and that their epidemic affections depend upon
+minute organic germs, I submit to the judgment of my readers, whether there
+is not much reasonableness in the application of the facts to the
+inference--that living germs are the cause of epidemic disease in man and
+animals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{155}
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+RESULTS IN PROOF OF THE TENABLENESS OF THE PROPOSITION.
+
+--------
+
+SECTION I.
+
+OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE LAWS OF EPIDEMIC DISEASES.
+
+The results obtained by comparing certain facts connected with Epidemic
+Affections of animals, with analogous affections in plants, afford, from
+the few instances I shall here notice, a very strong presumption, that
+analogous causes operate in the production of these affections. I have
+already quoted from Hecker, to shew that previously to, and during the
+Epidemics of the Middle Ages, the minuter forms of animal and vegetable
+life appeared to be called into existence, much more abundantly than usual;
+that famines prevailed in consequence of failure of cereal crops, no doubt
+depending then, as now, upon the various forms of fungiferous growth. I
+cannot refrain quoting here, a passage or two from our old friend Virgil;
+for he confirms not only the fact of peculiar showers in {156} connexion
+with diseases, but he also refers to the rust of corn, thus:
+
+  150. "Mox et frumentis labor additus; ut mala culmos
+  Esset rubigo ...
+  ... Intereunt segetes."
+
+  _Georg. 1._
+
+Then:
+
+  311. "Quid tempestates autumni et sidera dicam?
+
+    .    .    .    .    .    .
+
+  322. "Sæpe etiam[61] immensum coelo venit agmen aquarum
+  Et foedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris
+  Collectæ ex alto nubes."
+
+  _Georg. 1._
+
+The occurrence of black showers in this country has been observed during
+the present year, and I understand that in the fenny countries of the East,
+the corn has suffered much from the Uredo. I am not mentioning the
+circumstances as cause and effect, but merely to call attention to the
+fact, that unusual phenomena of this kind have been generally associated
+with disease of the animal and vegetable tribes.
+
+The same causes also predispose plants as well as animals, to epidemic
+attacks of disease. The repeated observations in the public journals on the
+subject of ventilation, drainage, and over-crowding, render all notice from
+me needless, to shew that these, though they do not produce the diseases
+{157} treated of, yet that under the influence of bad air, bad drainage,
+and over-crowding, epidemics are fostered and spread.
+
+Lastly, says the Count Philippo Ré, "I would remark that if _bad
+cultivation, and especially bad drainage, does not produce bunt or smut, it
+is certain that those fields, the worst treated in these respects, suffer
+the most from these diseases_."
+
+It has been remarked by many observers, that a greater fecundity has
+attended upon Pestilences, and this has been proved by comparison, that the
+births in proportion have far exceeded the ordinary limit.[62] In
+juxtaposition with this observation, I will place the following, not as a
+proof, but as a remark made quite independently of the subject of which I
+am treating. "From the first the diseased ears are larger than the healthy
+ones, and are sooner matured. What appears singular, but which I have not,
+perhaps, sufficiently verified, is _that the seeds are more abundant than
+in a sound ear_."
+
+{158}
+
+Now these are facts which require amplification, and if these two alone
+should be shewn upon an extensive field of observation, to apply not only
+to corn, but to other members of the vegetable kingdom, as I doubt not will
+be the case, though I am not fully prepared to prove it, it would be
+difficult to dissociate the fertility of the two living kingdoms from the
+operations of one and the same, or an analogous law.
+
+The epidemic diseases of plants are both infectious and contagious, at
+times they are observed to be endemic only, and then depending particularly
+upon some local causes. This is a law of diseases which applies equally to
+those of men and animals. In connexion with this law is another, which, as
+far as I am aware, has not hitherto been noticed in connexion with plants.
+The potato disease, which excited so much interest and created so much
+anxiety for the poorer classes of society, led the Government of this
+country to employ the most learned men to investigate the subject, in the
+hope of propounding some reasons which should explain the cause of the
+calamity, and thereby deduce a method of eradicating the evil, or, in other
+words, discover a cure for the disease. Many were the opinions as to the
+cause of the distemper, which it were useless here to recount, but a method
+was suggested, to which most people, I believe, looked forward with great
+anticipations, and this was to obtain native seed, and to sow it on virgin
+soil. Was the end accomplished? No. {159} For though the seed was sown, and
+the plants grew, the disease still appeared among the newly imported
+individuals, to as great an extent, as among the native or domesticated
+plants.
+
+As a parallel to this, it may be stated, that, as regards either endemic or
+epidemic disease, those persons newly arrived, either in a district or
+country where these prevail, are even more liable to them than the
+residents.[63] Again, I have learned, that where the potato disease has
+been so bad as to render the crop almost valueless, the best plan to be
+adopted is, to allow the plants to remain in the earth, and thus leave such
+as retain their germinating powers to come up spontaneously the following
+year. I certainly saw one large field treated in this way, yield a crop
+almost without disease.
+
+{160}
+
+The seasoning, in this instance, seems to bear a comparison with the
+seasoning of animals and man, under a variety of diseases, which for a time
+renders them insusceptible of another attack. It therefore does not appear
+so improbable, that these affections may be regarded, as Unger, the German
+botanist supposed, the Exanthemata, or Eruptive Fevers of vegetables.
+
+Another feature seems to associate the Epidemics of plants and animals, in
+a manner suggestive of analogous causes operating in both instances.
+
+The lungs of animals and the leaves of vegetables, are their respiratory
+organs, by means of which, the blood in the one case and the sap in the
+other, derive gas from the air, and impart gas to it, each taking what is
+thrown off by the other.
+
+Now the epidemics among vegetables, have a remarkable tendency to exhibit
+their effects primarily on the leaves, and particularly on those parts
+which are appropriated to the function of respiration. It is from the
+stomates that many of the fungi commence to germinate, and their
+fructification may be seen sprouting from the opening composed of a chink,
+surrounded by a peculiar arrangement of cells, which constitute the
+breathing apparatus of their victim.
+
+In the earlier epidemics, of which we read, one of the most remarkable
+circumstances, was the extraordinary influence the poisonous matter
+appeared to {161} exercise over the lungs,[64] and they again, were the
+means of propagating the disease, and spreading the contagious particles
+through the atmosphere, for we read: "Thus did the plague rage in Avignon
+for six or eight weeks, and the pestilential breath of the sick, who
+expectorated blood, caused a terrible contagion far and near, for even the
+vicinity of those who had fallen ill of plague was certain death; so that
+parents abandoned their infected children, and all the ties of kindred were
+dissolved."[65] "The like was seen in Egypt. Here also inflammation of the
+lungs was predominant." "Here too the _breath_ of the sick spread a deadly
+contagion."
+
+It is more than probable that all infectious matter obtains an entrance to
+the system through the lungs. Inspiring the air containing the pestilential
+semina is, indeed, the only plausible explanation of infection; for though
+the skin is indubitably an absorbing {162} surface, and capable of taking
+up and conveying to the blood any noxious matter applied to it, yet it is
+far more probable that the lungs would effect this process with greater
+rapidity. Then the stomach, the only other absorbing surface to which
+extraneous matter can be applied, is not likely to be the part where the
+elements of disease would obtain an entrance to the system, for many facts
+prove, that infectious matter may be swallowed without any injurious
+consequences, unless in a very concentrated state. Instances are not easily
+found of diseased matter having been swallowed, except where diseased
+vegetables have formed under some combination of circumstances, a portion
+of diet.[66]
+
+Many facts are on record which prove the powerful effect of diseased grain
+when made into bread, and taken for any length time as a principal article
+of food. The history of Ergot of Rye is too fresh in the memory of most
+people to require more than an allusion here. The stomach had no power over
+the secale, its poisonous properties were retained, after having been
+submitted to the digestive process, as was evidenced by the abortions and
+gangrenes it occasioned.
+
+But diseased wheat is also capable of inducing {163} gangrene, and it is
+more than probable, that many diseases might be traced to the use of
+infected grain of various kinds. An interesting account of a family who
+lived at Wattisham, near Stowmarket, in Suffolk, and all of whom suffered
+more or less from living on bread made of smutty wheat, may be found in the
+Philosophical Transactions. The mother of this family and five of the
+children, consisting of three girls and two boys, all suffered from
+gangrene of the extremities; the father lost the nails from his hands, and
+had ulceration of two of his fingers.[67] Dr. Woollaston wrote thus in a
+letter on this case: "The corn with which they made their bread was
+certainly very bad: it was wheat that had been cut in a rainy season, and
+had lain on the ground till many of the grains were black and totally
+decayed, but many other poor families in the same village made use of the
+same corn without receiving any injury from it. One man lost the use of his
+arm for some time, and still imagines himself that he was afflicted with
+the same disorder as Downing's family." It is not unlikely this was the
+case, for numbness and loss of power was one of the well marked characters
+of the disease.
+
+What other afflictions may be due to diseased vegetation and adulterated
+articles of food, and what loss of life may accrue from cheap and
+adulterated {164} drugs and chemicals is hardly yet dreamt of.[68] The
+systematic practice of adulteration of almost every article of diet which
+comes to table has become a serious question for the legislature to
+consider. Take only the article of milk, upon which the young children of
+large towns and cities, make their chief meals, with the addition of bread.
+How much milk comes into London from the country, how much is obtained from
+stall and grain-fed cows in the metropolis, and how much is said to be
+consumed, would be an interesting calculation. It is pretty well known that
+a mixture is sold by which a retailer of milk may increase his supply by
+one-third or one-half. It was discovered in Paris that the brains of
+animals, when prepared in a particular manner, formed, when mixed with a
+certain proportion of milk and water, a very fine and deceptive cream; in
+that city this system was carried on to a considerable extent. I could not
+help alluding to these facts while speaking of diseased grain, for who
+shall say to what extent a miller in a large way of business, may be able
+to "work in," as it is called, a considerable amount of smutty corn in the
+manufacture of flour? Now, as diseased grain is known {165} to induce
+abortion, it is impossible to tell how small a portion may in some cases
+produce the effect; we may therefore say with Thomas of Malmesbury, "There
+is no action of man in this life which is not the beginning of so long a
+chain of consequences, as that no human providence is high enough to give
+us a prospect to the end."[69]
+
+To return,--associated with these observations are other facts of
+considerable weight. Before and during pestilences, abortions are more
+frequent than in ordinary times; infectious and contagious diseases induce
+abortion; besides this, and independently of disease, conditions of the
+atmosphere have been known to exist when abortion has been an epidemic
+affection; of this Dr. Copland says, "to certain states of the atmosphere
+only can be attributed those frequent abortions sometimes observed which
+have even assumed an epidemic form, and of which Hippocrates, Fischer,
+Tessier, Desormeaux, and others have made mention." With this reference I
+will close the subject of comparison between the affections of the
+breathing apparatus in animals and plants, merely alluding to the
+probability that under some conditions of atmosphere, independently of
+heat, &c. vegetables without any other assignable cause will become
+abortive.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{166}
+
+SECTION II.
+
+WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THOSE POISONS WHICH MOST RESEMBLE THE MORBID POISONS
+IN THEIR EFFECTS ON THE BODY?
+
+In the early part of this book, I considered the nature of poisons
+generally, and had occasion to remark upon the characters which separated
+poisons into two distinct classes. 1st, Those which have the power of self
+multiplication; and 2nd, Those destitute of this property.
+
+Of the first we have seen that the poisons of epidemic diseases multiply
+both in and out of the body.
+
+The poisons of infectious diseases, not usually epidemic, do the same.
+Those of endemic affections, such as ague and some fevers, usually become
+multiplied out of the body only, but under some circumstances, and peculiar
+atmospheric conditions, they may be also multiplied within the body. The
+amount of these poisons necessary to produce their specific effects, may be
+inappreciable. Of the second class, there are two kinds, those derived from
+the organic kingdom and those derived from the inorganic kingdom. Of these,
+the amount necessary to produce their specific effects is appreciable and
+pretty well known.
+
+But among those poisons, consisting of organic {167} products, there is one
+which seems to hold an intermediate place. This is derived from one of the
+Fungals, and as it takes this remarkable position as a link of connexion
+between the two classes of poisons, I may be excused quoting a passage of
+some length upon this agent, from Dr. Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom. "One of
+the most poisonous of our fungi, is the Amanita muscaria, so called from
+its power of killing flies, when steeped in milk. Even this is eaten in
+Kamchatka, with no other than intoxicating effects, according to the
+following account by Langsdorf, as translated by Greville. This variety of
+Amanita muscaria, is used by the inhabitants of the north-eastern parts of
+Asia in the same manner as wine, brandy, arrack, opium, &c. is by other
+nations."--"The most singular effect of the amanita is the influence it
+possesses over the urine. It is said, that from time immemorial, the
+inhabitants have known that the fungus imparts an intoxicating quality to
+that secretion, which _continues for a considerable time after taking it_.
+For instance, a man moderately intoxicated to-day, will by the next morning
+have slept himself sober, but (as is the custom) by taking a teacup of his
+urine, he will be _more powerfully intoxicated_ than he was the preceding
+day. It is, therefore, not uncommon for confirmed drunkards to preserve
+their urine, as a precious liquor against a scarcity of the fungus. The
+intoxicating property of the urine _is capable of_ {168} _being
+propagated_; for every one who partakes of it has his urine similarly
+affected. Thus with a very few amanitæ, a party of drunkards may keep up
+their debauch for a week."
+
+This property of the amanita, at once places it in a separate category from
+all other organic poisons, it has yet to be shewn upon what this
+intoxicating fungus depends for its activity. Whether some secretion is
+formed in the tissue of the plant, or whether some new arrangement of the
+particles of matter or modification of the sporules, is brought about by
+entering the system, it is impossible to say. Langsdorf states that the
+small deep-coloured specimens of amanita, and thickly covered with warts,
+are said to be more powerful than those of a larger size and paler colour.
+As the effect is not produced until from one to two hours after swallowing
+the bolus, and as a pleasant intoxication may be obtained by this agent for
+a whole day, and from one dose only, there is a defined line between this
+and the ordinary narcotics and stimulants in common use. That the digestive
+powers of the stomach have no influence over the intoxicating properties of
+the plant, is manifested in the fact, that the active principle passes into
+the urine, not only not deteriorated but apparently increased, for, as we
+have seen, a teacup of the urine from a man, intoxicated by taking the
+amanita into his stomach, will cause him to be more powerfully intoxicated
+than by the {169} original dose. We have, therefore, but two conjectures
+left for consideration, either the original intoxicating principle is
+excreted from the system in a condensed form, in which case its
+indestructibility by digestion, makes it approach the ordinary organic
+poisons, or there must be an increase of the toxic agent, in which case we
+must suppose a reproductive process having taken place in the system.
+"There is," says Dr. Mitchell, "in the wild regions of our western country,
+a disease called the _milk sickness_, the _trembles_, the _tires_, the
+_slows_, the _stiff-joints_, the _puking fever_, _&c._" The animals
+affected with this disease, "stray irregularly, apparently without motive;"
+they lose their power of attention, and finally tremble, stagger, and die.
+"When other animals--men, dogs, cats, poultry, crows, buzzards, and hogs,
+drink the milk or eat the flesh of a diseased cow, they suffer in a
+somewhat similar manner." This disease is attributed by Dr. Mitchell to the
+animals having grazed on pasture contaminated with mildew, and the
+resemblance to the effects of the amanita, together with the persistence of
+the specific principle within the fluids and tissues of the body, render it
+more than probable that to some fungoid growth, is due the peculiar toxic
+effects here noticed. Further: "The animals made sick by the beef of the
+first one, have been in their turn the cause of a like affection in others;
+so that three or four have thus fallen victims successively." De Graaf
+states, that butter {170} made from the milk of diseased cows, though
+heated until it caught fire, did not lose its deleterious properties. The
+urine of diseased animals, collected and reduced by evaporation, produced
+the characteristic symptoms. All these facts point to some peculiarity in
+the properties of matter not yet investigated or at least not explained. If
+we may assume that reproduction is here an element of the persistence and
+apparent multiplication of active matter, I know only of one instance to
+compare with it. A gentleman about to deliver a lecture on the properties
+of arsenic, and its history generally, made two solutions of a given
+quantity of arsenious acid, in the following manner. He took a certain
+amount of distilled water, and the same of filtered Thames water, and made
+his solutions of arsenic by separate boilings, he then as soon as possible
+placed the liquids in identical bottles, carefully prepared for their
+reception. In the one which contained the arsenic boiled in river water,
+the hygrocrocis is now growing, while that boiled in distilled water
+remains perfectly limpid and free from any vegetable production. There can
+scarcely be a doubt, that the filtration of river water was not
+sufficiently purifying to remove the minute spores of some lower forms of
+vegetation, which not only live in arsenic but have resisted the
+temperature employed in boiling an arsenical solution to saturation.
+
+As to the first class, or truly reproductive and {171} morbid poisons, the
+most heterogenous ideas have from all time existed. I have introduced the
+notice of the above poisons, viz. the Amanita, and that which engenders the
+milk sickness, to compare the results of the morbid poisons on the human
+body with them, and also to associate them with the effects of diseased
+grain. From the Amanita and that other fungoid matter which is said to
+produce the milk sickness, there appears to be a purely toxic action on the
+system, but in the instance of diseased grain, a blood disease, ending in
+gangrene, or a specific and peculiar action of the generative organs is the
+consequence, and where the latter occurs, the poison usually expends itself
+on these parts, either by inducing abortion, or augmenting the catamenial
+secretion.
+
+Now, the morbid poisons, if studied only in their results, shew that there
+is a combination of these two actions. There is usually, in the first
+place, a toxic or poisonous action, and secondly, a deteriorating or
+decomposing action on the blood, by which there is a tendency to low or
+asthenic inflammation and gangrene. It matters not what form of fever we
+take as an illustration, whether intermittent, pestilential, or
+exanthematous, either will serve the purpose of shewing how completely the
+effects of vegetable organic poisons resemble those which for the sake of
+distinction (I suppose) have been denominated Morbid Poisons.
+
+Take an attack from the paludal poison. It is {172} usually ushered in with
+head-ache, weariness, pains in the limbs, and thirst, with other symptoms;
+all these are indicative of a poisonous agent in the blood: then come the
+full phenomena of the disease at a longer or shorter interval, and tending
+ultimately to destroy some organ of the body. The mind suffers during the
+course of the attack, and delirium occasionally happens. In severe cases of
+this disease, which were more frequent formerly than now, coma, delirium,
+and frenzy were observed at the commencement of the attack, and a tendency
+to rapid disorganization of one or several of the viscera.
+
+If we take the effects of poison of Erysipelas, of Scarlet Fever, or
+Plague, in each we find at the onset more or less general derangement of
+the system, usually with cerebral disturbance and disordered action of all
+the dynamic forces of the body, which clearly indicate the action of a
+poison; then, unless some favourable symptoms arise, the blood exhibits a
+steady advance towards disorganization, and sphacelation of one or more
+tissues or parts of the body ensues. In Erysipelas the force of the
+diseased action is expended on the skin, and subcutaneous cellular tissue;
+in Scarlet Fever the fauces ulcerate, and slough and the parotids
+suppurate; in the Plague there is a general tendency to putrefaction, and
+the formation of glandular abscesses with sphacelas. Without going any
+further into this matter, for my present intention is merely to draw {173}
+notice to certain facts, let me now ask, whether or not, do the poisons of
+the Ergot, the Uredo, and the Amanita, exhibit more analogy in their action
+on the nervous system, the blood and the tissues, than any other poisonous
+agents with which we are acquainted? If the whole range of the lower fungi
+could be examined in reference to their operation on the blood, as
+decomposers of organic compounds,--if experiments could be made, by which
+the properties of fungoid matter could be detected, I would venture to say
+the whole of the phenomena of these diseases could be readily comprehended
+and their intricacies unravelled.
+
+We know that the fungi are poisonous, that at times and seasons, and under
+variations of climate, they vary in their effects, and perhaps lose
+altogether these properties. We know that the fungi produce gangrene of the
+tissues, and disorganization of the blood; we know that their spores
+pervade the atmosphere, and are ready, under favouring conditions, to
+increase and multiply; we know that they are ubiquitous, and that those
+conditions most favourable to their development, are exactly such as are
+proved to foster and engender disease, and above all, they have been proved
+to be the elements of some diseases in man, in animals, and in plants. Can
+as much be said of any other known agents, animate or inanimate, comprised
+in our category?
+
+It has been said, we do not see after death,--the {174} interlacing
+mycilium, or the sprouting pileus; therefore the fungi are not the agents
+of disease--it has been said that carbonic acid and alcohol are not found
+as products of diseased action--consequently disease is not a fermentative
+process. "In all cases," says Liebig, "where the strictest investigation
+has failed to demonstrate the presence of organic beings in the contagion
+of a miasm, or contagious disease, the hypothesis that such beings have
+cooperated, or do cooperate in the morbid process, must be rejected as
+totally void of foundation and support." Much as I admire the genius of
+this great man, it is difficult to refrain from remarking, that I doubt if
+any of his great discoveries would have been made, if, in the first
+instance, hypotheses had not formed the basis of all his researches. It has
+been said, "that casual conjunctions in chemistry, gave us most of our
+valuable discoveries:" and it is from casual conjunctions that hypotheses
+are usually formed, the working out proves either their fallacy or their
+truth, but to say that an hypothesis has no foundation, until demonstrated
+to be true, is rather knocking down argument. And who, let me ask, has been
+more prolific of hypotheses than our continental neighbour? Yet he,
+according to his mode of reasoning, would sweep away all such words from
+the vocabularies of philosophers. What foundation has the chemical
+hypothesis of disease, when it fails to explain the most important element
+{175} of contagious and infectious diseases: viz. the reproductive property
+of their germs?
+
+It is perhaps necessary to say something in explanation of the sudden
+deaths arising from morbid poisons. They may occur from two causes. One
+being the result of a concentrated amount of poison germs being inhaled
+into the lungs, and acting as an ordinary toxic agent; and the other, which
+I put only hypothetically, the consequence of the rapid evolution of gas in
+the vessels arising from a sudden decomposition of blood, as it passes
+through the lungs. The only authority I have for this supposition, is the
+fact that the blood after death, from pestilential affections, is found to
+be far advanced towards decomposition; that in Paris last year, two
+patients were bled while suffering from Cholera, and with the small
+quantity of blood which flowed, bubbles of air also escaped:[70] and
+besides this, it was demonstrated by Mr. Herapath, that ammonia was given
+off from Cholera patients, both by the lungs and skin. These facts, though
+they are not conclusive, nevertheless render it probable that such an
+explanation is not entirely out of reason--especially too, when we know how
+fatal are the effects of uncombined air, when it enters the vessels near to
+the heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{176}
+
+SECTION III.
+
+WHAT RESULTS DO WE OBTAIN FROM THE EFFECTS OF REMEDIAL AGENTS, IN PROOF OF
+THE HYPOTHESIS?
+
+I have here used the word hypothesis, because, having so far advanced in
+the enquiry, I trust sufficient has been said to render the term
+applicable.
+
+Under the term remedial agents, I shall include all those causes, whether
+natural or artificial, which tend to neutralize or destroy the germs of
+infection, or miasmatic poison, whether this be effected out of or within
+the body.
+
+First, then, let us consider the results of drainage and cultivation in
+removing the causes of endemic disease. One well authenticated case is as
+good as a thousand. I will take one, which, from its source, will be
+received as unexceptionable; and from its association with a very learned
+and amusing book, will be accepted as an agreeable reminder of the many
+pleasant hours spent in the perusal of the poet Southey's "Doctor."
+
+"Doncaster is built upon a peninsula, or ridge of land, about a mile
+across, having a gentle slope from east to west, and bounded on the west by
+the river; this ridge is composed of three strata; to wit, of the alluvial
+soil deposited by the river in former {177} ages, and of limestone on the
+north and west; and of sandstone to the south and east. To the south of
+this neck of land, lies a tract called Potteric Carr, which is much below
+the level of the river, and was a morass, or range of fens when our Doctor
+first took up his abode in Doncaster. This tract extends about four miles
+in length, and nearly three in breadth, and the security which it afforded
+against an attack on that side, while the river protected the peninsula by
+its semicircular bend on the other, was evidently one reason why the Romans
+fixed upon the site of Doncaster for a station. In Brockett's Glossary of
+North Country words, Carr is interpreted to mean 'flat marshy land,' 'a
+pool or lake;' but the etymology of the word is yet to be discovered.
+
+"These fens were drained and enclosed pursuant to an Act of Parliament,
+which was obtained for that purpose in the year 1766. Three principal
+drains were then cut, fourteen feet wide, and about four miles long, into
+which the water was conducted from every part of the Carr southward, to the
+little river Torne, at Rossington Bridge, whence it flows into the Trent.
+Before these drainings, the ground was liable to frequent inundations; and
+about the centre there was a decoy for wild ducks; there is still a deep
+water there of considerable extent, in which very large pike and eels are
+found. The soil, which was so boggy at first that horses were lost in
+attempting to drink at the drains, has been brought {178} into good
+cultivation, (as all such ground may be) to the great improvement of the
+district; for till this improvement was effected, _intermittent fevers and
+sore throats were prevalent there, and they have ceased from the time the
+land was drained_. The most unhealthy season now, is the spring, when cold
+winds, from the north and north-east, usually prevail during some six
+weeks; at other times Doncaster is considered to be a healthy place. It has
+been observed that when endemic(?) diseases arrive there, they uniformly
+come from the south; and that the state of the weather may be foretold from
+a knowledge of what it has been at a given time in London, making an
+allowance of about three days, for the chance of winds. Here, as in all
+places which lie upon a great and frequented road, the transmission of
+disease has been greatly facilitated by the increase of travelling."
+
+I feel certain of being excused for transcribing this long passage from
+Southey. It would have been impossible to convey its whole meaning without
+giving it entire. The continuation of the chapter is no less instructive
+and applicable to our subject, though more particularly so to an extension
+of the enquiry. The sore throats and intermittents, from which Doncaster
+has been freed, by the drainage of Potteric Carr, informs us at once that
+decomposing matter is the material by which the poison of fever is vivified
+and sustained, the wet and boggy state of the soil is just the condition,
+when no drainage exists, to bring into activity the germs of {179} disease,
+which otherwise would lie latent. So satisfied and acquainted are we with
+the elements necessary for the production of fever, that we might as
+certainly bring about an endemic intermittent by forming an artificial bog,
+as we could be sure of growing mushrooms by making a bed in the manner laid
+down by gardeners for this purpose. Dr. Lindley also says, "the _Polyporus
+fomentarius_ has been artificially produced in Germany, but merely by
+placing wood in a favourable situation, and keeping it well moistened. Five
+or six crops were obtained in the year."
+
+Let warmth, moisture, darkness, and decaying matter be given, and inanimate
+disintegrated particles will soon be converted into definite forms and
+combinations instinct with life. It is by the unseen forms of living
+beings, that the atmosphere is preserved from becoming charged with deadly
+gases; they take the first rank in the great scheme of animated beings, the
+plant first, and then the animal. "Let the earth bring forth grass." "Let
+there be lights in the firmament." "Let the waters bring forth the moving
+creature, and fowl that may fly," and "Let the earth bring forth the
+cattle, the creeping thing, and the beast." This is the order of creation,
+of living things, and the earth was prepared by vegetation for the animal
+world. The work of conversion is accomplished by vegetation; and this is
+consumed for the construction of higher organizations.
+
+The laws which govern and control the universe, {180} are as definite and
+as wonderful among invisible atoms, as those which regulate the enormous
+masses floating in space; and the time will come when the advancing
+intellect of man will measure and weigh the morbid poisons, as he measures
+and weighs the stars. Why should the laws of Epidemics be less understood,
+than the laws which govern the course of comets? The aspirations of man
+have led him to penetrate the heavens, which charm and inspire him; he
+studies rather the more violent disturbing elements of nature, the
+thunder-cloud and the fire of heaven, than the silent pestilence which
+steals over the earth. I cannot conceive it possible that the Intellects,
+which are occupied in procuring means for the Majesty of this empire to
+issue her mandates with the velocity of a spirit to the nethermost parts of
+the earth, should be incapable of solving so deeply interesting a mystery
+as the causes and nature of pestilential diseases. It would seem that man
+prefers to issue a mandate of destruction many thousand miles distant, than
+to disarm the pestilence at his door. It is barely a century since Galvani
+observed the twitchings in the muscles of a frog's leg, and the battery,
+still named after him, has already become an agent of instantaneous
+communication between places many miles distant. But how many centuries
+have passed away, each one succeeding the other, with its millions of
+victims to epidemics? And where are the remedies for the evils? Drainage
+and cleanliness, with all their advantages, were better understood and more
+fully carried out by the ancient {181} Romans than by ourselves; there are
+monuments, though crumbling to decay, to tell us of the vast enterprise of
+these people and of the value they set upon a healthy and vigorous
+constitution, and how well they understood the means of warding of disease.
+
+Cultivation and drainage are now fully understood to be the basis by which
+a healthy condition of air is to be obtained, next to that, cleanliness and
+ventilation; if either be neglected a sickly, mouldy, and unwholesome
+contamination of atmosphere ensues; the odour of a bog is proverbially
+mouldy, and so is that of an ill-ventilated house or cellar; dryness, or
+the fresh pleasant scent of clean water, are the antagonists of these; the
+aromatic odours of vegetation are opponents of putrefaction, and
+consequently of the development of the lower forms of life. All
+empyreumatic matters prevent mouldiness and decomposition; and odours
+arrest and prevent the growth of mouldiness. The oil of birch, with which
+the Russia leather is impregnated, and which gives it so pleasant an odour,
+effectually prevents mouldiness, and consequently decay.
+
+Lindley says, "It is a most remarkable circumstance, and one which
+_deserves particular enquiry_, that the growth of the _minute fungi_, which
+constitute what is called mouldiness, is _effectually prevented_ by any
+kind of perfume."[71] Cedar has {182} been used, from time immemorial, for
+a like purpose; and I doubt not the recommendation of Virgil, before
+quoted, in reference to the burning of cedar, was founded on some practical
+utility of this kind, though its _modus operandi_ was unknown to him.
+Allied to these is a curious circumstance, and worthy attention. I copy the
+following from an old work on Pestilences. "It is remarkable that when the
+Plague raged in London, Bucklersbury, which stood in the very heart of the
+city, was free from that distemper; the reason given for it is, that it was
+chiefly inhabited by druggists and apothecaries, the scent of whose drugs
+kept away the infection, which were so unnatural to the pestilential
+insects, that they were killed or driven away by the strong smell of some
+sorts of them." "The smell of _rue_, and the smoke of tobacco, were
+prescribed as remedies against the infection; but especially tar and pitch
+barrels, which it was imagined preserved Limehouse, and some of the
+dock-yards from infection."[72]
+
+Pitch and tar dealers are everywhere spoken of as being remarkably exempt
+from infectious diseases.
+
+Cold infusion of tar was used in our colonies as a prophylactic against the
+Small Pox. Bishop {183} Berkeley was induced to try it when this disease
+raged in his neighbourhood. The trial fully answered expectation--for all
+those who took tar-water, either escaped the disease, or had it very
+slightly.
+
+Tan yards and places in the immediate vicinity, are said to be free from
+pestilences. The tanners of Bermondsey are said to have escaped the Plague
+of London, and one person only died in Gutter Lane, where was a tan yard.
+The tanners of Rome are also stated to have been free from Plague. Dr.
+McLean refers to the exemption of tanners at Cairo. _Tannin is prejudicial
+to most vegetables_,--but Dr. Lindley says it is not always so to fungi. "A
+species of Rhizomorpha is often developed in tan pits." I should imagine
+that neither plants nor insects would be found very abundantly, where
+tannin prevails; yet we find that the gall-nut is formed for the protection
+of an insect from injury by weather, and as a temporary means of
+sustenance.
+
+The custom of fumigating with odoriferous substances, does not therefore
+appear upon this view of the matter to be destitute of importance; indeed,
+the universal practice stamps it at once, as an efficacious remedy for the
+purposes of disinfection. The introduction of chlorine fumigation, seems to
+have superseded, in a great measure, the use of fragrant herbs and woods;
+and it is questionable whether the substitution be altogether desirable or
+{184} advantageous. Many scents may be agreeably and usefully employed,
+with much less chance of annoyance to the patient, and considerably less
+injury to articles of furniture, &c.
+
+The fumigations of sulphurous acid and chlorine are, perhaps, more adapted
+as disinfectants in uninhabited apartments;--their power to destroy
+vegetation, is well known. They have been used, chiefly, with the idea of
+neutralizing gaseous exhalations, particularly chlorine, as it tends to
+combine with hydrogen, to form hydrochloric acid, and then to unite with
+ammoniacal matters, forming hydrochlorate of ammonia. This, supposing
+noxious or pestilential effluvia consisted of the ammoniacal exudations
+variously combined, was an exceedingly efficacious method of rendering them
+inert; but as we feel convinced that no ammoniacal compound could possibly
+be the cause of infection, we must look to the influence these gases
+possess over other forms of matter, and as they are so destructive, even in
+minute quantities, to vegetable existence, it is possible that their
+beneficial effects may be due to this property. The immediate neighbourhood
+of gas works is prejudicial to vegetation, I imagine, from the amount of
+sulphurous vapours, and to this has been attributed the exemption of
+persons employed in these works. Many other instances might be cited of a
+similar nature.
+
+I have now to speak of medicinal agents, and here comes a considerable
+difficulty. {185}
+
+If we might believe all that has been written on the sure and certain
+remedies for the "ills that man is heir to," we should be led to
+acknowledge that both nature and art were prodigal in antidotes and
+specifics. The all-bountiful hand of nature, I do not doubt, has at the
+same time scattered the seeds of good and of evil. The fertilizing showers
+fall to irrigate the soil, and produce food and nourishment to man; here
+and there is the reeking morass "feeding unnatural vegetation," and if man
+takes up his abode in its vicinity, the rains which made it unhealthy, have
+also made it highly fertile; by labour and cultivation he may convert the
+mephitic bog into a waving corn-field, and the seeds of life and sustenance
+be made to supplant the seeds of death and corruption.
+
+It is generally believed, that where there are particular and specific
+diseases, there also may be found appropriate and specific remedies; the
+discoveries of chemistry, it is not improbable, may in some respects have
+retarded the progress of natural medicine. In the early ages of the world,
+the "healing plant" must have formed the staple of medical commerce, for
+though Tubal Cain[73] has been considered as the first surgical instrument
+maker, because he was the first artificer in brass and iron, we have not
+discovered that chemical compounds entered into the composition of physic,
+till very {186} many years after his time. To the alchemists we owe the
+science of chemistry, and much of the physic of the present day may be
+traced to them. The multiplicity of ingredients which at one time entered
+into the composition of one dose of physic could only be spoken of under
+the title of "legion." Who shall specify the active and curative ingredient
+(if there be one), when from five to a hundred may have been exhibited at
+the same time? It has been the pride of our physicians, that the
+pharmacopoeia has been simplified; it has not reached its most simple form
+yet. That many simple plants have specific and wonderful power over
+disease, is an indubitable fact, but I firmly believe that the laudable,
+though mistaken efforts of physicians to improve their effect by various
+combinations, have been the means of throwing many valuable medicines into
+oblivion; I must also add, that cheap physic and adulterations have had no
+small share too in the banishment of much valuable physic from ordinary
+practice. It has been believed, and I think with much reason, that a
+thorough search into the qualities of plants, would shew that "they are
+capable of affording not only great relief, but also effectual and specific
+remedies." "That they are not already found, is rather an argument that we
+have not been sufficiently inquisitive, than that there are no such plants
+endued with these virtues."
+
+Of the result obtained by medical treatment, in cases of epidemic or
+infectious disease, it is most {187} difficult to speak, but as my province
+here is only to shew that living germs are the morbific agents, I have but
+to refer to such remedies as have been most extolled in controlling these
+affections. The disinfectants have already been mentioned in a cursory
+manner. An enumeration only of simple medicines used during the late
+Epidemic, shall conclude this work, as the treatment in former times could
+not by any possibility furnish satisfactory information. Aromatics and
+fragrant stimulants have in all times taken the foremost rank with acids,
+such as vinegar, lime and lemon juice. Mr. Guthrie's adoption of lemon
+juice in preference to bark, which he said made him worse while suffering
+from an attack of fever, during the Peninsular campaign, and his speedy
+recovery from the disease, though not from its effects, shews, when many
+others can bear equal testimony to its value, that such a remedy though
+simple is not to be despised.
+
+But to the late Epidemic. Dr. Stevens' saline treatment, appears, on the
+whole, to have been the most successful. Common salt was used both
+medically and dietetically, and formed the greatest bulk of the medicine
+employed. Chlorate of potash and carbonate of soda were added to the
+medicine.
+
+The nitro-hydrochloric acid was used with success at St. Thomas's Hospital.
+
+Dr. Copland used chlorate of potash, bicarb. soda, hydrochloric, ether, and
+camphor water.
+
+Dr. Ayre's calomel treatment had as many, if {188} not more, opponents than
+advocates. Phosphorus had several advocates.
+
+Creasote and camphor were lauded by some. The beneficial operation of all
+these remedies might be explained on the theory here supposed, that living
+germs are the cause of Epidemic disease, but the specific action of any one
+remedy has not yet had sufficient attention or trial to enable me to make
+any deductions of a satisfactory or conclusive nature.
+
+In the uncertainty which generally prevailed as to the best method of
+treating Cholera patients, I was induced (for reasons stated in a pamphlet
+published last year) to try the efficacy of sulphur, which had been
+extolled as a specific. In its effects I was not disappointed; but as the
+results are already before the public, I need not do more than refer to it
+among other remedies.
+
+I did not contemplate even alluding to this subject, as it would extend far
+beyond my intended limits. This portion of the enquiry would be more
+properly carried out by keeping records of cases, treated in accordance
+with the view attempted to be established, and I have not the slightest
+hesitation in saying, that the most ample success would ultimately attend a
+well directed practice, based upon the principles inculcated in these
+pages.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{189}
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+In making the foregoing sketch, I have attempted to put together some ideas
+on a subject, which has for the last few years been a theme for meditation
+in leisure hours, viz. What are the causes of Epidemic, Endemic, and
+Infectious Diseases? The occurrence of Epidemic Cholera last year in this
+country, awakened a spirit of enquiry. Where there is unrest, whatever may
+be the cause, there also is disquiet and discontent. When the oracles of
+the age were consulted in the emergency, the discordant answers perplexed
+and confused the anxious searcher after truth. In the spring of last year,
+when the enemy was approaching, unseen and unheard, and the thousands of
+unconscious victims, who are now lying in their graves, were faithfully
+trusting and fully relying on the heads of our profession, and the
+resources of our art, what was the state of our defences, and what the
+nature or character of our resistance? One considerable body of men would
+discharge from a little tube of glass, a host of almost invisible globular
+atoms of sugar, said to be as potent and inscrutably operative as the
+unseen enemy. These infinitesimal practitioners assured the people that
+they "_had powerful means of subduing the disease_," {190} but even they
+differed among themselves, though they carried out to the fullest extent
+the doctrine of their leader, _similia similibus_, which we may suppose to
+refer in this case to the minuteness of the opposing armamenta. Without,
+however, agreeing with this school, I may quote a passage from Dr. Curie,
+which is, alas! too true: "We have shewn, as they must (allopathists), and
+many of them do acknowledge, that they have no fixed basis, no natural law
+upon which their treatment rests."
+
+Who can deny the force of this observation? Sheltered by a principle, it
+matters not how fallacious, a man is placed as behind a barrier. If with
+any reason it could be shewn that the infinitesimal doses, could by no
+possibility effect a cure in Cholera; if it could be demonstrated by any
+line of argument, that a poison, a living poison, circulates with the
+blood, or lodges in the tissues, the homæopathist must fall; his
+"electricity and mineral magnetism," and "_powerful concentration of life
+power towards the digestive canal_," will stand for what they are worth.
+That minute doses of medicine can exert an active influence over the body
+is not to be denied, but these must consist of powerful drugs, as arnica,
+aconite, and nux vomica, with others, and it is more than probable, that of
+such medicines, an inconceivably small amount may produce a specific effect
+upon some portion of the organic nervous system.
+
+How is it that a dose of nitre or digitalis, "can {191} convert
+cheerfulness into low spirits," or a grain of red sulphuret of antimony,
+"excite warmth and lively spirits?"[74]
+
+Why should indigo dyers become melancholy, and scarlet dyers choleric?[75]
+We do not know. But there is one thing we most certainly do know, that a
+poison may be disarmed by an antidote, and the amount of the latter must be
+in proportion to that of the former, and as epidemic and contagious
+diseases do most unquestionably depend upon poisons of a specific nature,
+and of great amount and activity, an infinitesimal remedy, however it may
+claim to direct and control the organic forces, under slight and ordinary
+disturbances, can be no more effectual in destroying the poison of fever,
+or small pox, than in neutralizing arsenic or prussic acid.
+
+The uncertainty which generally prevails as to the treatment of Epidemic
+diseases, Fevers, &c. induced me to put together the notions which are
+contained in these pages, in the hope of leading to some definite ideas of
+the causes of these affections, and consequently to a more uniform and
+scientific mode of treating them.
+
+I have endeavoured to shew that reproduction is a phenomenon inseparable
+from morbific matter, and that in all probability the vegetable kingdom is
+the source of the germs.
+
+{192}
+
+The train of argument adopted is such as appeared to me most natural for
+such an enquiry, and it rests now only with those who are capable of
+deciding whether such a course, though (I am sensibly aware) not without
+many faults in conception and execution, is calculated to advance the
+science of medicine and the interests of mankind.
+
+The real tree of knowledge, possesses in the spongioles of its roots, an
+elective property, by which truth alone can enter; nourished and sustained
+by this, it sends a fragrant incense and breathing odour on high, and
+dispels the mists of ignorance and superstition. In natural causes and
+reasonable deductions we must seek for instruction and solid information,
+for in over-straining either nature or art, deformity and error must
+inevitably be the result.
+
+THE END.
+
+NORMAN AND SKEEN, PRINTERS, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTES
+
+[1] "It matters little how vague and false hypotheses may appear at first:
+experiment will gradually reduce and correct them, and all that is
+required, is industry to elaborate the proof, and impartiality to secure it
+from distortion."--_Sewell_ "On the Cultivation of the Intellect."
+
+[2] It is stated by Mr. Crosse, of Norwich, that vaccination was adopted in
+Denmark, and made compulsory in 1800. After the year 1808 Small Pox no
+longer existed there, and was a thing totally unknown; whereas during the
+twelve years preceding the introduction of the preventive disease, 5,500
+persons died of the Small Pox in Copenhagen alone.--_Dr. Watson's
+Lectures._
+
+Dr. Blick, an intelligent Danish physician, corroborated the above
+statement to Dr. Watson himself in the year 1838.
+
+[3] Philosophy of Life, Lecture 6, translated by the Rev. A. J. W.
+Morrison, M.A.
+
+[4] The following I quote from Dr. Fuller on Small Pox and Measles:--
+
+"To this purpose some (and particularly Kircherus) are of opinion that
+animalcules have been the causes of malignant and pestilential fevers in
+epidemic times, which differ in essence and symptoms, according to the
+nature and venoms of those creatures.
+
+"Thus the atmosphere and air is filled both from above and beneath with
+innumerable millions of millions of species or corpuscles, aporrhoeas,
+steams, vapours, fumes, dust, little insects, &c. all which make it such a
+wonderful chaotic compost of things that contains the _seeds_ of good and
+evil to man as surpasseth the understanding (as I suppose) of even the
+highest order of archangels."
+
+[5] I learn from an undoubted authority that the cow when "slack of health"
+eats with avidity the "field parsley;" the sheep under similar
+circumstances seeks the ivy, and the goat the plantain.
+
+From an equally good source I have the following: that rabbits and hares,
+when they are what is commonly called _pot-gutted_, seek the green broom,
+though at a distance of _twenty miles_.
+
+[6] "My settled opinion is, that in regard every effect is necessarily such
+as its cause; it must needs be that every sort of venomous fevers is
+produced by its proper and peculiar species of virus.
+
+"And that the manner and symptoms of every such fever is not so much from
+the particular constitution of the sick; as from the different nature and
+genius of their specific venom which caused them.
+
+"And I conceive that venomous febrile matters differ not in degree of
+intenseness only, but in essence and _toto genere_ also; and that venomous
+fevers are for the most part contagious."--_Thomas Fuller, M. D. 1730._
+"Another important class of organic poisons are those which when introduced
+in almost inappreciable quantities into the system, seem to increase in
+quantity; and which when communicated in the same inappreciable quantity
+from the individual poisoned to one who is healthy, excite the same series
+of febrile phenomena and local inflammation, and the same increase in the
+quantity of the poisonous agent."--_Med. Chir. Review._
+
+"This unseen influence working in the body, presents very striking
+analogies to the modes of operation of different poisons."--_Dr. Ormerod on
+Continued Fever._
+
+[7] I am aware that the vesicle does not here strictly bear the relation to
+the original germ, supposing one active particle alone to be sufficient for
+its production, that the egg does to the bird, for in the former case
+multitudes of active particles may have been generated from one. I have,
+therefore, merely used this expression to signify an aggregation of vital
+forces, such as may be imagined to exist in the bird.
+
+[8] "At an early period the form of the ovisacs is usually elliptical, and
+their size extremely minute,--their long diameter measuring in the ox no
+more than 1/562 of an inch, so that a cubic inch would contain nearly two
+hundred millions of them. They are _at this time_ quite distinct from the
+_stroma_ of the ovarium; this forms a cavity in which they are loosely
+embedded."
+
+[9] Coleridge, p. 56.
+
+[10] "All vegetables," says Sharon Turner, "from that pettiness which
+escapes our natural sight, to that magnitude which we feel to be gigantic,
+have these properties in common with all animals--organization; an interior
+power of progressive growth, a principle of life, with many phenomena that
+resemble irritability, excitability, and susceptibility, and a
+self-reproductive and multiplying faculty."--_Sharon Turner's Sacred
+History._
+
+[11] "Plants highly sensitive to light are those of the leguminous, or Pea
+kind. They always close up in the evening and clasp their two upper
+surfaces together, presenting only their backs to the air. Plants of
+pinnated leaves, as the Tansy, are more sensible than these to the effects
+of light. They fold up when light is too strong, as in Robinia; it produces
+the same effect as want of light. Its leaves close up, apparently, because
+they are receiving too much. So they do if a hot iron be brought near them.
+They contract as if to avoid the heat. Sensitive plants, and those of the
+Oxalis Lent. are so sensitive that the least motion, even a breath of air,
+will make them close."--_Sir J. Smith._
+
+"The vitality of plants seems to depend upon the existence of an
+irritability, which although far inferior to that of animals, is
+nevertheless of an analogous character."--_Lindley's Introduction to
+Botany._
+
+[12] Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal. July 10th, 1850. No. xiv. p.
+367. "Practical Observations on the Vaccination Question." By E. Oke
+Spooner, M. R. C. S., Blandford.
+
+"If we examine the Cow Pox and the Small Pox microscopically, as I have
+done very carefully in every stage, we find that the essential character
+consists of a number of minute cells, not exceeding the 10,000th part of an
+inch in diameter, being about one-fourth smaller than the globules of the
+blood, containing _within their circumference many still more minute
+nuclei, and presenting_ beyond their circumference bud-like cells of the
+same size and character as those contained within the circle. They exactly
+resemble in everything except the size, the globules of the yeast plant,
+the Torula Cerevesiæ. Now if we examine more circumstantially the analogies
+of what I would call the Torula Variolæ with the Torula Cerevesiæ, we
+observe the following corresponding facts.
+
+"What do we accomplish by inoculation as it is called? Simply this. We take
+on the top of a lancet, or an ivory point, a few of these minute cells or
+germs, and we put them _in their appropriate nidus_, the subcuticular
+tissue, where, after a few days if they find their appropriate nutrient
+elements, they grow and multiply."
+
+Simon, Chemistry of Man, vol. i. p. 127. "Macgregor ascertained that the
+air expired by persons ill of confluent Small Pox, contained as much as
+_eight_ per cent of carbonic acid, and in proportion as health was restored
+the percentage was diminished to its natural standard." Carbonic acid is
+also produced during the process of fermentation and germination.
+
+[13] See History of the Jews, p. 71.
+
+[14] It is said by Whewell, that the murrain is supposed to have fallen
+only on the animals which were in the open pasture.--_History of the Jews._
+
+"J. S. Michael Leger, published at Vienna, in 1775, a treatise concerning
+the mildew as the principal cause of the epidemic disease among cattle. The
+mildew is that which _burns_ and _dries_ the grass and leaves. It is
+observed early in the morning, particularly after _thunder-storms_. Its
+poisonous quality, which does not last above twenty-four hours, never
+operates but when it is swallowed immediately after its
+falling."--_Mitchell on Fevers._
+
+[15] "The prevalence of the south-east wind was observed to be particularly
+favourable to the increase of both cholera and influenza: and I cannot but
+think that this had some connexion with the general tendency exhibited by
+the former to spread from east to west. Has the morbific property of this
+wind aught to do with the haziness of the air when it prevails--a haziness
+seen in the country remote from smoke, and quite distinct from fog? What is
+this haze? In the west of England a hazy day in spring is called a
+_blight_."--_Dr. Williams' Principles of Medicine._
+
+[16] We are to understand also that some peculiar operation took place of a
+nature difficult to comprehend, which seems also to typify reproduction,
+for the handfuls of ashes which Moses threw into the air _became a dust in
+all the land of Egypt_, thus signifying an enormous reproduction of atomic
+matter.
+
+[17] The Chinese affect to trace the origin of Small Pox back to a period
+of at least 3000 years, or 20 years beyond the era of the Trojan war, 1212,
+A. C.
+
+The Chinese pretend to discriminate no less than 40 different species of
+Small Pox.
+
+"They also pretend to discover whether a person has died by violence or
+from natural causes, not only after the body has been some time interred
+and decomposition of the softer parts has commenced, but even after the
+total disappearance of the soft parts, and when the dry skeleton alone is
+left."--For the process, see _Hamilton's History of Medicine_, vol. i. p.
+31.
+
+To give some notion of the state of Medical Science among the Chinese, I
+may quote the following: "The theory of the circulation of the blood, Du
+Halde affirms, was known by the Chinese about 400 years after the deluge;
+be this assertion veracious or not, no correct knowledge up to the present
+day, do the nation possess of the circulating system of the human
+frame."--_China and the Chinese, Henry Charles Sirr, M. A._
+
+According to their anatomy, the trachea extends from the larynx through the
+lungs to the heart, whilst the oesophagus goes over them to the stomach.
+
+[18] "And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the
+congregation: and behold the plague was begun among the people; and he put
+on incense and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the
+dead and the living, and the plague was stayed."--_Numbers._
+
+The practice of burning scented herbs has been observed in all times during
+an invasion of the plague, as a means of protection. Also wearing perfumes
+and aromatic preparations has been recommended. Whether they have any
+counteracting influence, it is impossible to say.
+
+Virgil in the third Georgic speaks of a murrain among cattle. He says, if
+any wore a vestment made of wool from an infected sheep, fiery blains and
+filthy sweat overspread his body, and ere long a pestilential fire preyed
+upon his infected limbs.
+
+In his directions for preserving the health of flocks he says--
+
+ "Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum."
+
+The motive for burning the fragrant cedar is not mentioned; we cannot doubt
+but it was a good one, and having some great practical utility, from the
+following line--
+
+ "Galbaneoque agitare graves nidore chelydros."
+
+[19] The earliest mention of this complaint upon which reliance can be
+placed, is an ancient Arabic MS. preserved in the public library at Leyden.
+"This year, in fine, the Small Pox and Measles made their first appearance
+in Arabia." The year alluded to being that of the birth of Mahomet, or the
+year 572 of the Christian æra.--_Hamilton's History of Medicine_, vol. i.
+p. 215.
+
+[20] Dr. W. A. Greenhill's translation.
+
+[21] The Black Assize at Oxford, 1572, is an instance in which a
+pestilential vapour suddenly appeared in the court, "whereby the judge,
+several noblemen, and more than 300 others, died within three days."
+
+"Of an unaccountable vapour suddenly coming, I have this relation from
+Richard Humphrey, my neighbour, and a man of veracity, that on Wednesday,
+April 27, 1727, as he and one Walter, were travelling a-foot from
+Canterbury; when they came to Rainham, they were assaulted with such a
+strong loathsome stink, as he thought was like the stench from a corrupted
+human corpse. They were so offended at it, as thinking it was from carrion
+in that town, that they would not stay there to rest and refresh
+themselves, but travelled on for about two hours, mostly in the stench, but
+sometimes out of it, till they came to the hill that leads down to Chatham:
+and there they went clear out of it and smelt it no more."--_Dr. Fuller_.
+
+It appears that these persons did not fall sick of any disease, but the
+fact of itself is remarkable enough.
+
+[22] Hamilton's History of Medicine.
+
+[23] It has been said, that "an induction once carefully drawn, is as
+perfect from a single instance as it is from ten thousand, and that it is
+only an uncultivated mind which requires a load and accumulation of
+knowledge to assist his thoughts."--_Sewell_ "on the Cultivation of the
+Intellect."
+
+[24] See Dr. Alison's Pamphlet on the Fever in Edinburgh.
+
+[25] Earthquakes have in all times been considered to have some connexion
+with pestilences. "A most grievous pestilence broke out in Seleucia, which
+from thence to Parthia, Greece, and Italy, spread itself through a great
+part of the world, from the opening of an ancient vault in the temple of
+Apollo, and that it raged with so much fury as to sweep away a third part
+of the inhabitants of those countries it visited."--_Dr. Quincy, on the
+Causes of Pestilential Disease._
+
+"Upon an earthquake the earth sends forth noisome vapours which infect the
+air; so it was observed to be at Hull in Yorkshire, by the Rev. Mr. Banks,
+of that place, after a small earthquake there in 1703, it was a most sickly
+time for a considerable while afterwards, and the greatest mortality that
+had been known for fifteen years."--_Anonymous_, 1769.
+
+[26] See Sharon Turner's Sacred History, text and notes, vol. i. p. 161 &
+162.
+
+[27]
+
+ "Each seed includes a plant; that plant, again,
+  Has other seeds, which other plants contain,
+  Those other plants have all their seeds; and those
+  More plants, again, successively enclose.
+  Thus ev'ry single berry that we find,
+  Has really in itself whole forests of its kind.
+  Empire and wealth one acorn may dispense,
+  By fleets to sail a thousand ages hence;
+  Each myrtle-seed includes a thousand groves,
+  Where future bards may warble forth their loves."
+
+[28] "On June 5th, 1849, a man and his son, a lad aged 14 years, left Noss
+to fish, and when five miles out at sea, no vessel being in sight, they
+both simultaneously became aware of a hot _offensive_ stream of air passing
+over them. It was so decided, that the crab pots were examined to discover
+if it were from them, but it did not, and five minutes after the father's
+attention was directed to the boy, who was vomiting and purging."--_Dr. Roe
+on the Cholera at Plymouth, Med. Gaz. Aug. 24th, 1850._
+
+[29] Linnæus remarked that Erigeron Canadense was introduced into gardens
+near Paris from North America. The seeds had been carried by the wind, and
+this plant was in the course of a century spread over all France, Italy,
+Sicily and Belgium.
+
+[30] Hecker.
+
+[31] This is found most generally to be the case where rivers flow through
+uncultivated tracts of country. The Californian emigrants suffer much from
+diarrhoea and dysentery, if they drink of the river and certain well waters
+of that gold district.
+
+[32] "Purification from leprosy. As this fearful disease was contagious and
+hereditary to the third and fourth generation, the separation of lepers
+from the camp and congregation, and the destruction of infected houses and
+clothes, was of the utmost importance to the preservation of public health.
+
+"Leprosy was of three kinds: 1st, Leprosy in man. 2nd, Leprosy in houses.
+3rd, Leprosy in clothes.
+
+"Contagious or malignant leprosy was of two kinds, viz.
+
+"1st. The white leprosy, or bright berat, which was the most serious and
+obstinate form which leprosy assumes. It exhibited itself as a bright white
+and spreading scale, on an elevated base; turning the hair white in
+patches, which were continually spreading.
+
+"2nd. The black leprosy, or dusky berat, which was less serious than the
+foregoing. It did not change the colour of the hair, nor was there any
+depression in the dusky spot; but the patches were perpetually spreading,
+as in the white leprosy."--_Analysis and Summary of Old Testament History._
+_Oxford._
+
+[33] The Mexican Aloe blows when nine years old, and then dies. At least
+this is its usual course in the island of Cuba.
+
+[34] "Ground that has not been disturbed for some hundred years, on being
+ploughed, has frequently surprised the cultivator by the appearance of
+plants which he never sowed, and often which were then unknown to the
+country. The principle has been ascertained to be capable of existing in
+this latent state for above 2000 years, unextinguished, and springing again
+into active vegetation, as soon as planted in a congenial soil.
+
+"In boring for water near Kingston on Thames, some earth was brought up
+from a depth of 360 feet, and though carefully covered with a hand-glass to
+prevent the possibility of other seeds being deposited on it, was yet in a
+short time covered with vegetation.
+
+"Turner says, from the depth, these seeds must have been of the diluvian
+age."--_Jesse's Gleanings._
+
+[35] Hamilton's History of Medicine, vol. ii. p. 276, note.
+
+[36] "What I wish you to remark is this, that while almost all men are
+prone to take the disorder, large portions of the world have remained for
+centuries entirely exempt from it, until at length it was imported, and
+that then it infallibly diffused and established itself in those
+parts."--_Dr. Watson on the Principles and Practice of Physic._
+
+Dr. R. Williams says, "The seeds of intermittent fever lay dormant for
+months, it was not at all uncommon for cases of intermittent fever to be
+brought into the hospital eight or ten months after the patients had
+subjected themselves to the influence of paludal or marsh effluvia."
+
+[37] I have observed in the hot-houses, that many of the exotic plants,
+which are in company with the diseased vines, have been attacked, while
+others again have been entirely free.
+
+[38] By causes of the greatest variety plants may become extinct for a
+time. It is not very easy to trace them, but one fact may be mentioned in
+proof of the statement. Dr. Prichard states that vast forests are destroyed
+either for the purpose of tillage or accidentally by conflagrations. "The
+same trees do not reappear in the same spots, but they have successors,
+which seem regularly to take their place. Thus the pine forests of North
+America when burnt, afford room to forests of oak trees."
+
+[39] Hecker says of Chalin de Vinario, that "he asserted boldly and with
+truth, that _all epidemic diseases might become contagious, and all fevers
+epidemic_,--which attentive observers of all subsequent ages have
+confirmed." P. 60.
+
+[40] In 1539, the thirty-first year of Henry the Eighth, was great death of
+burning agues and flixes; and such a drought that welles and small rivers
+were dryed up, and many cattle dyed for lacke of water; the salt water
+flowed above London Bridge.--_Stowe._
+
+In 1556, the fourth of Mary, and the third of Philip, about this time began
+the burning fevers, quarterne agues, and other strange diseases, whereof
+died many.--_Stowe._
+
+The next winter, 1557, the quarterne agues continued in like manner, or
+more vehemently than they had done the last yere.--_Stowe._
+
+[41] Every writer on the climate of Egypt has remarked, that the Endemic
+Fever which is so frequent, originating on the coast, particularly about
+Alexandria, becomes occasionally so virulent, that it cannot be
+distinguished from the _true Plague._--_Robertson on the Atmosphere_, vol.
+2. p. 384.
+
+"Endemial Fevers of every situation become occasionally so aggravated, that
+they cannot be distinguished from such as originate from contagion; and in
+every unusual virulence of this Endemic Fever, it is probable that it may
+be propagated afterwards by contagion as every epidemic." _Ibid._ p. 388.
+
+[42] Dr. Ure.
+
+[43] "The metamorphosis of starch into sugar depends simply, as is proved
+by analysis, on the addition of the elements of water. All the carbon of
+the starch is found in the sugar; none of its elements have been separated,
+and except the elements of water, no foreign element has been added to it
+in this transformation."--_Liebig_, _Organic Chemistry_, p. 71.
+
+[44] As regards starch there appears to be some peculiar faculty regarding
+it. It is converted into sugar during the ripening of fruit, and it is just
+possible that being as it is of a cellular nature, the property of vitality
+may attach to it until it has, by being converted into sugar, fulfilled its
+destination.
+
+[45] Though I do not consider that the fermentation process is a fac-simile
+of diseased action, yet I think its phenomena generally afford an apt
+illustration of the changes which may be effected by living germs. Many
+able chemists still maintain the entire dependence of fermentation upon the
+Torula: "M. Blondeau propounds the view that _every kind_ of fermentation
+is _caused_ by the development of fungi."
+
+The varieties of opinions found in the literature of this subject, forms a
+curious specimen of scientific enquiry, and is sufficient alone to convince
+us of its vast importance and extensive relations.
+
+[46] By Dr. Mantell.
+
+[47] Mitchell on Fevers.
+
+[48] We wonder, and ask ourselves: "What does SMALL mean in
+Nature?"--_Schleiden's Lectures on Botany._
+
+[49] Speaking of the bunt in wheat: "It appears certainly to be contagious,
+from numerous experiments, which shew that the contagious principle lasts a
+long time. I have tried it myself; some, however, doubt it, but it cannot
+be denied, that seed sown, infected with bunt, produces plants similarly
+affected; every one who has had the slightest experience must be convinced
+of it."--_Essay on the Diseases of Plants._ _Count Ré._
+
+[50] We have already spoken of the effects of these poisons, and have
+stated that the amount of each poison capable of destroying the body is
+pretty accurately known.
+
+[51] The italics are my own.
+
+[52] Gmelin says: "But the mode of action in these transformations,
+sometimes admits of other explanations; and when this is not the case, our
+conception of it is by no means sufficiently clear to justify the positive
+assumption of this, so called contact-action or catalytic force, which,
+after all, merely states the fact without explaining it"--_Gmelin's
+Hand-book of Chemistry_, vol. i. p. 115.
+
+[53] The history and symptoms of some epidemic diseases, such as cholera
+and influenza, are not inconsistent with the hypothesis that they are
+caused by the sudden development of animalcules from ova in the blood. But
+there is a total want of direct observation in support of this
+hypothesis.--_Dr. Williams' Principles of Medicine._
+
+[54] Since writing the above, I have referred for information on this
+subject, and find, that the Anguillula aceti exhibits sexual distinctions;
+and that the ovaries of the females are situated on each side of the
+alimentary canal.--_Cyclo. Anat. and Phys. Art. Entozoa._
+
+[55] Speaking of the examination of the infusory animalcules--Mr. Kirby
+says: "But to us the wondrous spectacle is seen, and known only in part;
+for those that still escape all our methods of assisting sight, and remain
+members of the invisible world, may probably _far exceed those that we
+know_."--_Bridgewater Treatise_, vol. i. p. 158.
+
+[56] Mr. Owen has added another class, as the first, called Protelmintha,
+which comprises the cercariadæ and vibrionidæ.
+
+[57] "It is probable that in the waters of our globe an infinity of animal
+and vegetable molecules are suspended, that are too minute to form the food
+of even the lowest and minute animals of the visible creation: and
+therefore an infinite host of invisibles was necessary to remove them as
+nuisances."--_Bridgewater Treatise_, vol. i. p. 159.
+
+"When Creative Wisdom covered the earth with plants, and peopled it with
+animals, He laid the foundations of the vegetable and animal kingdoms with
+such as were most easily convertible into nutriment for the tribes
+immediately above them. The first plants, and the first animals, are
+scarcely more than animated molecules,* and appear analogues of each other;
+and those above them in each kingdom represent jointed
+fibrils."+--_Bridgewater Treatise_, vol. i. p. 162.
+
+* Globulina and Monus. + Oscillatoria and Vibrio.
+
+[58] "A treatise which should present a systematic arrangement of all the
+diseases of plants, giving in detail the exact history of each, and adding
+the means of preventing and curing them, would certainly be of the greatest
+utility to agriculture." --_Essay on the Diseases of Plants, Count Philippo
+Ré, translated into Gardener's Chron._
+
+[59] "Plenck published a treatise on Vegetable Pathology, in which he
+divided diseases into eight classes: 1. External injuries; 2. Flux of
+juices; 3. Debility; 4. Cachexies; 5. Putrefactions; 6. Excrescences; 7.
+Monstrosities; and 8. Sterility. And he concludes with an enumeration of
+the animals which injure plants."--_Essay on the Diseases of Plants,
+Gardener's Chronicle._
+
+[60] The Bunt. "This disease appears at the moment of the germination of
+the plant. The affected individuals are of a dark green, and the stem is
+discoloured. As the ears are issuing from the sheaths, their stalks are of
+a dark green, but very slender. When the ear has fully grown out, its dull,
+dirty colour, causes it to be immediately distinguished from the healthy
+ones, and it soon turns white."--_Essay on the Diseases of Plants._
+
+[61] _Vidi_ understood.
+
+[62] "At the close of the year 1665," says Dr. Hodges, "even women, before
+deemed barren, were said to prove prolific."
+
+"After the cessation of the Black Plague, a greater fecundity in women was
+every where remarkable--a grand phenomenon, which from its occurrence after
+every destructive pestilence proves to conviction, if any occurrence can do
+so, the prevalence of a higher power in the direction of general organic
+life. Marriages were almost without exception prolific; and double and
+treble births were more frequent than at other times."--_Hecker_, p. 31.
+
+[63] It is stated that on the decline of the Plague, 1665, those who
+returned early to London, or new comers, were certain to be attacked. In
+proof of this the 1st week of November, the deaths increased 400, and
+"physicians reported that above 3000 fell sick that week, mostly new
+comers."
+
+See also Dr. Copland's Dict. Pract. Med. Epidemic and Endemic Diseases.
+
+"The hardy mountaineer is a surer victim of paludal fever, whether he
+visits the low countries of the tropics, or the marshes of a more temperate
+climate, than the feebler native of those countries."--_Dr. R. Williams on
+Morbid Poisons._
+
+[64] "Substances presented to the gastro-intestinal surfaces, are mixed up
+with various secretions, mucus, saliva, gastric juice, bile, pancreatic
+liquor, and special exudations from the peculiar glands of each successive
+section, while aerial poisons, unmixed and unfettered, are applied at once
+to a surface on which, behind scarcely a shadow of a film, circulates the
+blood prepared, by the habitual action of the respiratory function, to
+absorb almost every vapour, and every odour, which may not be too
+irritating to pass the gates of the _glottis_."--_Mitchell on Fevers._
+
+[65] Hecker on the "Black Death."
+
+[66] The stomach in some cases is no doubt the medium by which some
+diseases are contracted. It is well known, that in many places the water
+induces diarrhoea, the permanent residents, however, may not suffer, but
+all new comers are more or less affected by drinking it.
+
+[67] "Similar effects have been experienced from the use of mouldy
+provisions."--_Dr. Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom._
+
+[68] "Untold numbers die of the diseases produced by scanty and
+_unwholesome food_."--_Southey._
+
+A large, nay, a most extensive adulteration of flour with plaster of Paris
+was detected not many years since. The flour was supplied by a contractor
+for the manufacture of biscuits for the navy.
+
+[69] See Southey's Doctor, vol. ii. interchapter vi. p. 115, for an
+illustration of this subject.
+
+[70] Both these patients died.
+
+[71] "A good part of the clove trees which grew so plentifully in the
+island of Ternate, being felled at the solicitation of the Dutch, in order
+to heighten the price of that fruit, such a change ensued in the air, _as
+shewed the salutary effect of the effluvia of clove trees and their
+blossoms; the whole island, soon after they were cut down, becoming
+exceeding sickly_."
+
+[72] The observation is originally taken from the City Remembrancer, 133.
+
+[73] See Hamilton's History of Medicine, vol. i. p. 4.
+
+[74] Feuchtersleben's Medical Psychology, p. 176, 177.
+
+[75] Ibid. p. 321.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+CHANGES MADE AGAINST PRINTED ORIGINAL.
+
+Page 136. "the idea of Protophyta, or first plants": 'Prolophyta' in
+original.
+
+Page 140. "an extensive bearing of each individual part": 'indivdual' in
+original.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Epidemics Examined and Explained: or,
+Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease, by John Grove
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Epidemics Examined and Explained: or,
+Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease, by John Grove
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Epidemics Examined and Explained: or, Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease
+
+Author: John Grove
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2010 [EBook #34603]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPIDEMICS EXAMINED ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Keith Edkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;">
+<tr>
+<td style="width:25%; vertical-align:top">
+Transcriber's note:
+</td>
+<td>
+A few typographical errors have been corrected. They
+appear in the text <span class="correction" title="explanation will pop up">like this</span>, and the
+explanation will appear when the mouse pointer is moved over the marked
+passage.<br /><br />
+
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<h1>EPIDEMICS</h1>
+
+<h3>EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED:</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead">OR,</p>
+
+<h2>LIVING GERMS</h2>
+
+<p class="cenhead">PROVED BY ANALOGY TO BE</p>
+
+<h2>A SOURCE OF DISEASE.</h2>
+
+<p class="cenhead">BY</p>
+
+<h2>JOHN GROVE, M.R.C.S.L.</h2>
+
+<p class="cenhead">AUTHOR OF "SULPHUR AS A REMEDY IN EPIDEMIC CHOLERA."</p>
+
+<h3>LONDON:</h3>
+
+<h3>JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.</h3>
+
+<h3>MDCCCL.</h3>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<blockquote class="b1n">
+
+  <p>"The tendencies of the mind, the turn of thought of whole ages, have
+  frequently depended on prevailing diseases; for nothing exercises a more
+  potent influence over man, either in disposing him to calmness and
+  submission, or in kindling in him the wildest passions, than the
+  proximity of inevitable and universal danger."&mdash;<i>Hecker's
+  Epidemics of the Middle Ages.</i></p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote class="b1n">
+
+  <p>"The grand field of investigation lies immediately before us; we are
+  trampling every hour upon things which to the ignorant seem nothing but
+  dirt, but to the curious are precious as gold."&mdash;<i>Sewell on the
+  Cultivation of the Intellect.</i></p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h3>TO</h3>
+
+<h2>BENJAMIN GUY BABINGTON, F.R.S., M.D.,</h2>
+
+<h3>PHYSICIAN TO GUY'S HOSPITAL,</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead">AND</p>
+
+<h3>PRESIDENT OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SOCIETY,</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead">ETC. ETC.</p>
+
+<h3>THESE PAGES ARE, BY HIS KIND PERMISSION,</h3>
+
+<h2>Respectfully Dedicated,</h2>
+
+<h3>BY HIS OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,</h3>
+
+<h2>THE AUTHOR.</h2>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><!-- Page v --><span class="pagenum"><a name="pagev"></a>{v}</span></p>
+
+<h3>PREFACE.</h3>
+
+  <p>The following pages have been written with a view to render some aid
+  in establishing a sound and firm basis for future research, on that
+  absorbing topic, the Causes and Nature of Epidemic Diseases.</p>
+
+  <p>The amount of information already published on Fevers, on the
+  Exanthemata, and on the Plague, is truly astonishing, and the more so
+  when it is considered, that at present no rational account or explanation
+  is given of the causes of these affections.</p>
+
+  <p>It appears to me but reasonable to suppose that as every thing on this
+  earth has been created on a wise and unerring principle, Epidemic and
+  Infectious Diseases are only indicative of some serious errors in our
+  social arrangements and habits. The dangers and misery brought upon us by
+  disease, may, as shewn by Dr. Spurzheim and Mr. Combe, be warnings
+  against the infringement of the natural laws.</p>
+
+  <p>Indeed, what is more rational than to suppose that the Seeds of
+  Disease are coeval with the fall of man. His first disobedience <!-- Page
+  vi --><span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevi"></a>{vi}</span>brought
+  death:&mdash;that his subsequent errors should hasten its approaches is
+  not to be marvelled at. The undetected murderer, though he may escape the
+  punishment human justice would inflict upon him for his delinquency,
+  suffers a penalty in the tortures of conscience, infinitely more
+  horrifying than the most ignominious death. The law of nature is
+  triumphant.</p>
+
+  <p>No less certain, though after a different manner, are the consequences
+  of minor forms of disobedience. It is so ordained, that certain diseases
+  shall arise, under peculiar conditions, which may have been brought about
+  by a train of causes, easily imagined, and difficult to be explained, but
+  all having their origin in the vices and errors of man in his moral and
+  social relations.</p>
+
+  <p>If man neglects the cultivation of the ground; with rank vegetation,
+  the germs of fever will invisibly grow and multiply; if he harbours that
+  which is rotten and corrupt, he is himself consumed by those agents
+  destined to remove the rottenness and corruption; it is a part of the law
+  of nature that there should be active and energetic agents for this
+  purpose. The seeds of disease, like the seeds of plants, may be shewn to
+  have <!-- Page vii --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="pagevii"></a>{vii}</span>their indigenous localities; like them
+  they may be spread and multiplied; like them they may lie dormant, and
+  after awhile spring as it were into active existence; like them, when the
+  soil and other conditions favour, they are ever ready to make their
+  appearance. And this is the law, the germs of all disease exist, and have
+  existed. Despise the dictates of nature, be careless of yourself and
+  those around you, neglect to use the means which a noble intelligence has
+  placed at your command, and above all, transgress the laws of God, then
+  will disease pursue and attend you, as the conscience of the murderer
+  pursues and attends him until he is finally cut off.</p>
+
+  <p>His wants and necessities, his sufferings and privations, are the
+  basis of the intellectual progress of man. The wonders of Omnipotence are
+  revealed through the whirlwind, the storm, the pestilence, and the
+  famine.</p>
+
+  <p>The constructive and perceptive faculties of man have been developed
+  by the necessity of protecting himself from injury by winds and rains;
+  his intellectual faculties have been cultivated, by the sufferings of
+  disease having led him to the study of <!-- Page viii --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="pageviii"></a>{viii}</span>organization and
+  life, to discover the cause,&mdash;and to chemistry, and other sciences
+  for the cure of his ailments.</p>
+
+  <p>Famine and distress have aroused his emotions, and softened down his
+  asperities, so that what appears at first to be the infliction of a Curse
+  without Pity, is in reality a Judgment with Mercy.</p>
+
+  <p>It occurred to me, that on the formation of the Epidemiological
+  Society, the first question for consideration should be, What is the
+  nature of those agents, which induce Epidemic Diseases? are they composed
+  of animate or inanimate matter? In other words, do the manifestations of
+  these diseases exhibit the operations of living or of chemical
+  forces.</p>
+
+  <p>Having, in my study, dwelt on the subject with an earnest desire to
+  find the truth, I put the suggestion, with my ideas, before the public to
+  reject or receive them. If they be rejected, I can but think a full
+  discussion of the enquiry will lead to the most important results. If
+  they be received with favour, I doubt not others, with more ability, will
+  take up the strain and resolve the discords into harmony.</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>J. G.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p><i>Wandsworth, September, 1850.</i></p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p><!-- Page ix --><span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix"></a>{ix}</span></p>
+
+<h3>CONTENTS.</h3>
+
+<table class="nobctr" summary="Contents" title="Contents">
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Introduction</span> </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page1">1</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; padding-top:1em" colspan="2"> CHAPTER I.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> IS IT PROBABLE THAT EPIDEMIC, ENDEMIC, AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES,<br />
+DEPEND UPON VITAL GERMS FOR THEIR MANIFESTATIONS? </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page11">11</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; padding-top:1em" colspan="2"> CHAPTER II.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; padding-top:1em" colspan="2"> THE NUMBER AND VALUE OF FACTS TO SUPPORT
+THE PROPOSITION.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section I.</span>&mdash;On Reproduction </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page22">22</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section II.</span>&mdash;Historical Notice of Epidemic Diseases</td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page34">34</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section III.</span>&mdash;The Dispersion of Plants and Diseases</td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page64">64</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section IV.</span>&mdash;The Relation between Epidemic and Endemic
+Diseases </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page96">96</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; padding-top:1em" colspan="2"> CHAPTER III.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; padding-top:1em" colspan="2"> THE REASONABLENESS OF THE APPLICATION OF
+THE FACTS TO THE INFERENCE.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section I.</span>&mdash;The Chemical Theory of Epidemics untenable</td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page108">108</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section II.</span>&mdash;The Animalcular Theory of Epidemics untenable</td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page128">128</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section III.</span>&mdash;Sketch of the Physiology and Pathology of
+Plants and Animals </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page138">138</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; padding-top:1em" colspan="2"> CHAPTER IV.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; padding-top:1em" colspan="2"> RESULTS IN PROOF OF THE TENABLENESS OF THE
+PROPOSITION.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section I.</span>&mdash;Observations on some of the Laws of Epidemic
+Diseases </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page155">155</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section II.</span>&mdash;What is the nature of those Poisons which most
+resemble the Morbid Poisons in their effects on the body?</td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page166">166</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Section III.</span>&mdash;What results do we obtain from the effects of
+remedial agents, in proof of the hypothesis? </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page176">176</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> <span class="sc">Conclusion</span> </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom"> <a href="#page189">189</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 1 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1"></a>{1}</span></p>
+
+<h3>INTRODUCTION.</h3>
+
+  <p>It is one thing for a man to convince himself, but a very different
+  thing to be able to convince others.</p>
+
+  <p>I am not now speaking of a conviction arising from the impression made
+  by a few startling facts, nor of one forced on the mind by early
+  prejudices, or by the dogmas of the schools, but of a conviction arising
+  from careful enquiry.</p>
+
+  <p>In the course of that enquiry, the collector of facts, sees their
+  relations to the idea in his mind, in a multiplicity of ways, from their
+  remaining, each, as one succeeds the other, an appreciable time on the
+  sensorium, and undergoing a certain process of comparison and relation,
+  with all other facts and ideas which have been previously stored up. As
+  the materials for an edifice which have been shaped and prepared in
+  accordance with the completion of the design, so do the facts and ideas
+  which are accumulated <!-- Page 2 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page2"></a>{2}</span>in the mind, become shaped and prepared for
+  the elimination of a truth. The ultimate design of the architect can no
+  more be conceived by the examination of the framework of a window, or the
+  capital of a column, than the whole truth of a proposition by the
+  examination of separate facts; the whole must be conceived and all the
+  relations of all the parts thoroughly understood, before the architect
+  can be comprehended or the harmony of his design appreciated.</p>
+
+  <p>The process of thought in the minds of the architect, and in the
+  framer of a proposition, is never exactly the same as in those who
+  contemplate and examine their completed works. Much may be done, however,
+  by both to aid others in comprehending them. The more accurately they
+  keep in view the course their minds have taken, the more readily will
+  their descriptions be understood.</p>
+
+  <p>To simplify the elements of our knowledge is to give others a ready
+  access to our thoughts.</p>
+
+  <p>To arrange the course of our ideas in harmony with the elements of our
+  knowledge should be the end of all writing, as it is the only means of
+  multiplying knowledge. <!-- Page 3 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page3"></a>{3}</span></p>
+
+  <p>It is not the mere accumulation of facts which constitutes science,
+  any more than a collection of building materials constitutes a house, it
+  is the arrangement and adaptation of the means to the end by which the
+  house becomes built and science cultivated.</p>
+
+  <p>These reflections have been suggested by the circumstance that for the
+  last 3000 years and upwards, Pestilences have at certain intervals done
+  their work of destruction, and opened the springs of misery to untold
+  millions, and yet I see not that we are much further advanced as to the
+  knowledge of the cause of these inflictions than the Jews in the time of
+  Moses. In the Levitical law, as I shall have occasion more particularly
+  to shew hereafter, were directions specially given in reference to the
+  plague of leprosy; what means should be adopted for the cure of the
+  disease, and for preventing its extension, and moreover pointing very
+  significantly to certain facts having connexion with the cause of the
+  affection. Since that time historians generally, and medical writers in
+  particular, have diligently recorded their observations and accumulated
+  facts, on the various desolating plagues which <!-- Page 4 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page4"></a>{4}</span>have afflicted mankind.
+  Some of these men have grappled with the whole subject, and endeavoured
+  to shew the presumed relation of the supposed causes in all their
+  intricacies, but it is hardly necessary to say that all have signally
+  failed in their attempts to furnish us with any practical
+  information.</p>
+
+  <p>Satisfied in my own mind that the whole subject is beyond the labour
+  of one man, and impressed with the belief that the basis of the enquiry
+  is in anything but a satisfactory state, I have applied myself entirely
+  to the study of the groundwork only, as the primary proceeding for a
+  solid superstructure.</p>
+
+  <p>The days are past, when imaginary spirits, ethers, and astronomical
+  phenomena, were believed to have any essential influence over our
+  destinies in a physical point of view; we have therefore to deal with
+  <i>matter</i> in some form or other.</p>
+
+  <p>The question, therefore, which I have proposed for enquiry, is,
+  whether the matter which causes epidemic and endemic diseases, exhibits
+  the properties of inorganic or organized matter.</p>
+
+  <p>The properties and qualities of organized <!-- Page 5 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page5"></a>{5}</span>bodies, as well as those of
+  inorganic matter, need but be stated, and in some instances we may
+  picture to ourselves the object, without having seen it, and not be very
+  far from a true conception. But for this purpose a clear and definite
+  idea must be previously formed, and have taken possession of the mind, of
+  the great general divisions of objects in the material world.</p>
+
+  <p>Having made these preliminary remarks, I have suggested a certain mode
+  of procedure in making enquiries of this kind, not perhaps in strict
+  accordance with logical systems, but on the principle of nature's
+  operations in our own minds, which appears to me, when reduced to a
+  systematic and simple form, to be sufficiently clear and strict for
+  synthetical application, and so concise as to be usefully and practicably
+  applied.</p>
+
+  <p>In endeavouring to establish a theory for the explanation of
+  extraordinary phenomena, there are certain rules which should guide us in
+  the thorny and treacherous path of speculation. But these rules readily
+  flow from the train of thought, and if we examine our own minds during
+  their operations, we <!-- Page 6 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page6"></a>{6}</span>shall find that the following is the course of
+  our instinctive reflections. It is a course we adopt as the test of
+  theories when formed, and is a guide in all cases for their
+  construction.</p>
+
+  <p>We first commence with an idea, which exists in our minds in the form
+  of a proposition: then the following rules naturally suggest
+  themselves:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>1. The probability of the value of our proposition from inference.</p>
+
+  <p>2. The number and value of facts to support the proposition.</p>
+
+  <p>3. The reasonableness of the application of the facts to the
+  inference.</p>
+
+  <p>4. What amount of information in the form of results can be produced
+  in proof of the tenableness of the proposition.<a name="NtA1"
+  href="#Nt1"><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>In illustration of the value of these rules the history of Dr.
+  Jenner's discovery affords an appropriate example. To use the words of
+  Dr. Gregory, "he appears very early in <!-- Page 7 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page7"></a>{7}</span>life to have had his
+  attention fixed by a popular notion among the peasantry of
+  Gloucestershire, of the existence of an affection in the cow, supposed to
+  afford security against the Small Pox; but he was not successful in
+  convincing his professional brethren of the importance of the
+  <i>idea</i>."</p>
+
+  <p>The popular notion of the peasantry originated the idea in Jenner's
+  mind, and it became fixed there as a proposition.</p>
+
+  <p>1. He commenced his enquiry by observing that the hands of milkers on
+  the dairy farms were subject to an eruption, and he <i>inferred</i> that
+  the notion of the peasantry bore the stamp of probability, which
+  strengthened the idea in his mind and gave force to the proposition.</p>
+
+  <p>2. His next step was to accumulate facts; he found on enquiry that the
+  persons engaged on these farms in milking, possessed an immunity from
+  Small Pox to an extent sufficient to strengthen the value of his
+  proposition.</p>
+
+  <p>3. The reasonableness of the application of the facts to the inference
+  is clear from the coincidence that the eruption on the hands of the dairy
+  people bore a striking <!-- Page 8 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page8"></a>{8}</span>resemblance to the Small Pox, and as this
+  disease does not usually occur twice in the same individual, the
+  inference was most reasonable that this eruption protected the people
+  from Small Pox.</p>
+
+  <p>4. We have but to take the almost universal adoption of vaccination,
+  and its acknowledged prophylactic powers against the propagation of Small
+  Pox to shew the application of our fourth rule.<a name="NtA2"
+  href="#Nt2"><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Between the conception of the idea and the accomplishment of Jenner's
+  designs, vaccination seems to have undergone an incubation of nearly
+  twenty years. During that period, with an energy and perseverance only to
+  be obtained by confidence, did this great man brood over and elaborate
+  his idea; and well might the 14th day of May, <!-- Page 9 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page9"></a>{9}</span>1796, be styled the birth
+  day of vaccination, for on that day was a child first inoculated from the
+  hands of a milker.</p>
+
+  <p>In adopting the above method I have endeavoured to bear in mind M.
+  Quetelet's observations on the requirements necessary for medical
+  authorship; he says, "All reasonable men will, I think, agree on this
+  point, that we must inform ourselves by observation, collect
+  well-recorded facts, render them rigorously comparable, before seeking to
+  discuss them with a view of declaring their relations, and methodically
+  proceeding to the appreciation of causes."</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 10 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10"></a>{10}</span></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 11 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page11"></a>{11}</span></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead">IS IT PROBABLE THAT EPIDEMIC, ENDEMIC, AND
+INFECTIOUS DISEASES, DEPEND UPON VITAL
+GERMS FOR THEIR MANIFESTATIONS?</p>
+
+  <p>It is, I believe, almost universally considered that Epidemic,
+  Endemic, and Infectious diseases, originate from some imaginary poisons
+  of a specific nature, each disease having its own peculiar poison. That
+  this conception should have taken possession of the minds of men, is most
+  natural from the symptoms which characterize these diseases, but when we
+  come to enquire into the nature of these agents, or supposed poisons, we
+  are at once struck with the idea that they exhibit one peculiarity which
+  separates them in a marked manner, from those poisons with which we are
+  familiar; for the poisons of Small Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Hooping
+  Cough, Fever, &amp;c. possess the power of multiplication, or spontaneous
+  increase, a property which attaches only to the organic kingdom, and is
+  never known in the inorganic kingdom. The source of most of the poisons
+  is to be found among mineral or vegetable products. A mineral in
+  combination with an acid or oxygen may become a poison, and <!-- Page 12
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page12"></a>{12}</span>nitrogen in
+  various combinations with oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, or with carbon
+  alone, may become a poison; these combinations are, however, in most
+  instances the products of vegetable life, others again are obtained from
+  the animal kingdom, such as the poison of the serpent, &amp;c. but in all
+  of these instances, there is not one in which the power of
+  self-multiplication is to be found.</p>
+
+  <p>We are, therefore, constrained to admit that this feature, which
+  distinguishes poisons, is one well worthy attentive consideration. The
+  varieties of poisons may be classified into those which act topically as
+  escharotic poisons, those which act chemically on the blood, and those
+  whose effects are manifested in inducing a speedy annihilation of organic
+  or vital action, as in the case of hydrocyanic acid, which is supposed
+  specifically to affect the nervous centres from which originate the vital
+  manifestations. It is rather remarkable that the vital poisons (as I will
+  call them for distinction), seem to have their appropriate locality in
+  the blood, they do not primarily affect one organ more than another, all
+  the effects we witness resulting from them are to be traced progressively
+  from the blood to other parts of the body. When a person is inoculated
+  with small pox, a very minute portion (indeed it is impossible to say how
+  minute it may be) is sufficient, when absorbed, to excite a certain train
+  of symptoms, all due to absorption of the materies of the disease, and
+  the process by which <!-- Page 13 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page13"></a>{13}</span>that materies arrives at maturity, is that
+  known in the vegetable world as the fructification; this process of
+  fructification is a process of development and increase.</p>
+
+  <p>I here may repeat that among all the poisons known, constituted as
+  they are of various combinations of elementary matter, they are without
+  exception destitute of the power of development or increase. Now, it is
+  pretty accurately known what amount of these poisons is necessary to
+  produce their effects on the living body; we can say how many drops are
+  sufficient of hydrocyanic acid of Scheeles strength, to destroy a man
+  instantaneously. Again, how many grains of arsenious acid are sufficient
+  to induce such an inflammatory condition of the stomach and intestine as
+  will end in death, and how many grains of morphia, will bring about a
+  fatal coma,&mdash;but who shall say the amount of the vital poisons
+  necessary to produce their results? It far exceeds the limit of
+  conjecture, to what extent the dilution of miasmatic or contagious matter
+  may be carried, and the poison yet be capable of committing in a short
+  time the most frightful ravages.</p>
+
+  <p>We may fairly then infer, that if a quantity of matter inappreciable
+  in amount be sufficient to exhibit the characters of growth and increase,
+  that it is endowed with the properties of vitality. That the poisons of
+  scarlet fever, of measles, and of small-pox have this power of growth and
+  increase, is as much a matter of universal belief as that "the sun <!--
+  Page 14 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page14"></a>{14}</span>will
+  rise and set to-morrow, and that all living beings will die."</p>
+
+  <p>This power of individual increase, or reproduction, is the very summit
+  of vital manifestation; indeed Coleridge, in his Theory of Life, (in
+  which he says, "I define life as the <i>principle of individuation</i>,
+  or the power which unites a given <i>all</i> into a whole that is
+  presupposed by all its parts,") places reproduction in the first rank,
+  and expresses his hypothesis thus: "the constituent forces of life in the
+  human living body are, first, the power of length or reproduction; 2nd,
+  the power of surface, or irritability; 3rd, the power of depth, or
+  sensibility&mdash;life itself is neither of these separately, but the
+  copula of all three."</p>
+
+  <p>Extensive research is not required to shew that many thinking men
+  believe in the existence of living organic beings, as the elements of
+  contagious and epidemic diseases; the idea indeed seems to flow
+  spontaneously in that direction. Whenever thought, and enduring
+  contemplation, have been concentrated on the subject, the result appears
+  to have been the same, a firm conviction in each individual mind that a
+  vital force must be in operation; or as Schlegel would define it, "a
+  living reproductive power, capable of and designed to develope and
+  propagate itself."&mdash;"Its Maker originally fixed and assigned to it
+  the end towards which all its efforts were ultimately to be
+  directed."</p>
+
+  <p>Referring further to beings having the property of reproduction and
+  propagation, he says, (using <!-- Page 15 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page15"></a>{15}</span>the word nature here evidently as the vital
+  principle for want of a better term,) "Nature indeed is not free like
+  man, but still is not a piece of dead clockwork. <i>There is life in
+  it.</i>"&mdash;"Thus we know that even plants sleep, and that they too as
+  much as animals, though after a different sort, have a true impregnation
+  and propagation."</p>
+
+  <p>When Schlegel wrote this, how little could he have imagined the
+  intricacy of this proceeding among the lower forms of vegetation. It has
+  been shewn by Suminski, and verified by many others, that the mode of
+  impregnation, and the period at which it occurs in the ferns, do not at
+  all correspond to the general notion on this subject. He has discovered
+  in the early development of the frond of ferns certain cells, which he
+  denominates antheridia, or sperm cells; these contain in their cavity a
+  number of subordinate cells, each containing a spermatazoon. At a certain
+  period of the progress of the frond, the parent cells become ruptured and
+  liberate the spermatoza, these move about in a mucilaginous fluid, which
+  bedews the inferior surface of the frond, and become the means of
+  impregnating the germ cells, or pistillidia, with which they readily come
+  in contact. Thus the process of impregnation in these plants occurs
+  during the germination, or what corresponds to the period of germination
+  in the seeds of exogenous and endogenous plants.</p>
+
+  <p>I have referred to the discovery of Suminski in <!-- Page 16 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page16"></a>{16}</span>this place to recal to
+  the mind the great and incomprehensible wonders of creation, for who
+  could conceive it possible or feasible that even for the impregnation of
+  an inferior vegetable, animal life should form an indispensable and
+  essential appurtenant of the process. Truly may we say with Coleridge, of
+  plants and insects, "so reciprocally inter-dependent and necessary are
+  they to each other, that we can almost as little think of vegetation
+  without insects, as of insects without vegetation."</p>
+
+  <p>I will make but two more quotations on the supposed vital character of
+  the germs of disease. "That the air and atmosphere of our globe is in the
+  highest degree full of life, I may, I think, take here for granted, and
+  generally admitted. It is, however, of a mixed kind and quality,
+  combining the refreshing breath of spring with the parching simooms of
+  the desert, and where the healthy odours fluctuate in chaotic struggle
+  with the most deadly vapours. What else in general <i>is the wide-spread
+  and spreading pestilence</i>, but a living propagation of foulness,
+  corruption, and death? Are not many poisons, <i>especially animal
+  poisons, in a true sense, living forces</i>?"&mdash;Schlegel.<a
+  name="NtA3" href="#Nt3"><sup>[3]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>It were useless to multiply quotations to shew <!-- Page 17 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page17"></a>{17}</span>that the opinions here
+  entertained are matters of general belief among thinking men.<a
+  name="NtA4" href="#Nt4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> I will at once then conclude
+  with an observation of Dr. C. J. B. Williams: he puts the question, "Does
+  the matter of contagion consist of vegetable seeds? Are infectious
+  diseases the results of the operations and invasions of living parasites,
+  disturbing in sundry ways the structures and functions of the body, each
+  after its own kind, until the vital powers either fail or succeed in
+  expelling the invading tribes from the system?"</p>
+
+  <p>And this expression, the seeds, is an universal expression, it is a
+  "Household Word" in connexion with disease. That it has obtained this
+  position in the popular vocabulary is alone a proof of the applicability
+  of the term to the thing intended to be <!-- Page 18 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page18"></a>{18}</span>signified. Popular
+  notions, as we have seen in the case of Jenner's discovery, are not to be
+  unheeded. An instance occurs to me, it was a popular belief, that in acne
+  punctata, the matter of a sebaceous follicle, was itself, when pressed
+  out, a worm, the dark portion which results from the accumulation of dust
+  upon the matter at the mouth of the follicle was supposed to be the head
+  of the maggot, as it was called; subsequent observation, however, has
+  proved that though this matter is not a worm, it contains an animal
+  within its substance, the Acarus folliculorum.</p>
+
+  <p>The popular notions found among savage tribes as to the efficacy of
+  certain remedies in the cure of disease have been the means of furnishing
+  us with some of our most valuable medicines, indeed it is almost
+  impossible to say whether originally man did not derive his remedies from
+  the herbs and trees by an instinctive faculty impelling him, as it does
+  the animals when in a state of liberty and with freedom of range, to seek
+  certain plants as they avoid others.</p>
+
+  <p>It is well known that animals when indisposed will find out some spot
+  as if almost led to it by a visionary guide where the "healing plant" is
+  to be discovered. I am told that sheep have this faculty, and that they
+  will, when affected with the rot, feed upon some plant when they can
+  discover it, which eradicates the disease.</p>
+
+  <p>Almost every one is familiar with the fact that cats and dogs will
+  crop herbage and eat it; I have <!-- Page 19 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page19"></a>{19}</span>seen them frequently leave the house and
+  proceed to the grass in the most business-like manner, partake of some
+  quantity, and quietly return.</p>
+
+  <p>A close observer of diseased animals might obtain some useful
+  information by noticing the plants cropped by them while in that
+  condition. The observations should be made in a variety of districts in
+  consequence of the uncertain distribution of some even of the most
+  commonly scattered plants; in one year they may be abundant, but in
+  another they may be almost entirely absent from the same spot.<a
+  name="NtA5" href="#Nt5"><sup>[5]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Were it only on the fact of reproduction, I would be contented to take
+  my stand that the force of life is the indwelling power of pestilential
+  matter. Reproduction is a law of nature, and the law of nature is the law
+  of God. And where do we find He prevaricates with us? The more we study
+  His laws the more harmony and perfection we find; what is seeming
+  confusion in the ignorance of to-day, is order in the knowledge of
+  to-morrow. If any one ignorant of the law which regulates the diffusion
+  of gases were <!-- Page 20 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page20"></a>{20}</span>told that a heavier gas would ascend
+  contrary to its specific gravity through the septum in a vessel
+  containing a lighter gas above the heavier, he would naturally doubt your
+  assertion, and say, "that is contrary to the law of gravity;" but explain
+  to him the principle by which this comes about, and the objects of the
+  law; the order and beauty of the design become manifest. But this is no
+  equivocation, it is evidence there, that subordinate laws exist and
+  nothing more. It has never been found that men have gathered "grapes of
+  thorns and figs of thistles," nor has it ever been discovered that
+  inanimate matter multiplies itself. The seed of disease "is within
+  itself," multiplying and propagating itself; whether it formed a part of
+  creation at the beginning or not, is rather a question to be solved by
+  divines than physicians. When we know, however, the latency of seeds and
+  even of entire plants, and that they may be dried and remain so for years
+  yet being brought again into conditions adapted to their active
+  existence, they, as it were, revive from their sleep, and renew again
+  their reproductive properties: can we wonder if, in the great scheme of
+  nature, existences new to mankind should make their appearance? When the
+  New Zealander saw the surface of his ground producing to him unknown
+  plants, and the skins of his children generating peculiar eruptions, and
+  each propagating its kind, would he look, think you, to the wood or the
+  stones, the air or the water,&mdash;for the solution of the <!-- Page 21
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page21"></a>{21}</span>mystery? No, he
+  would naturally say these people brought the <i>seeds</i> with them. From
+  the property of reproduction possessed by these forms of matter, we infer
+  the value of the proposition.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 22 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page22"></a>{22}</span></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead">THE NUMBER AND VALUE OF FACTS TO SUPPORT
+THE PROPOSITION.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION I.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">ON REPRODUCTION.</span></p>
+
+  <p>It is inferred that the proposition, "<i>the matter which operates in
+  the production of Epidemic, Endemic, and Infectious Diseases, possesses
+  the property of vitality</i>," we proceed now to the enumeration of those
+  facts which further elucidate this subject.</p>
+
+  <p>The facts must necessarily be such as illustrate the identity of
+  properties in the imaginary germs, that are known to exist in
+  demonstrable germs: we take therefore the law of reproduction to be to
+  life, what the law of attraction is to gravitation.<a name="NtA6"
+  href="#Nt6"><sup>[6]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 23 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page23"></a>{23}</span></p>
+
+  <p>But further; do those matters which engender disease furnish to our
+  minds the properties inseparable from life in the abstract? Though the
+  faculty of reproduction is essentially an evidence that the thing which
+  reproduces its kind must be a living body, yet it is only a property or
+  power of living beings and is not itself life, it therefore is necessary
+  to establish the fact that the <i>materies morbi</i> not only has the
+  power of reproduction, but also those properties which in the abstract
+  will prove as far as demonstration can go, that it has the essential
+  properties common to all living bodies.</p>
+
+  <p>I must again quote from Coleridge, he says: "By life I every where
+  mean the true idea of life, or that most general form under which life
+  manifests itself to us, which includes all its other forms. This I have
+  stated to be the <i>tendency to individuation</i> and the degrees or
+  intensities of life, to consist in the progressive realization of this
+  tendency. The <!-- Page 24 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page24"></a>{24}</span>power which is acknowledged to exist
+  wherever the realization is found, must subsist wherever the tendency is
+  manifested. The power which comes forth and stirs abroad in the bird,
+  must be latent in the egg."</p>
+
+  <p>The tendency to individuation cannot be more strongly marked than in
+  the simple experiment of vaccination: we insert a small particle of the
+  so-called vaccine lymph under the skin, and by this means we multiply to
+  an enormous extent, the power which, in the first instance, we had in the
+  form of minute corpuscles in a dry and apparently inert state;
+  nevertheless, though in this condition there must have existed the
+  tendency to individuation or multiplication of individual existence, and
+  the germs are here to their active existence, as seen in the development
+  of the vaccine vesicle, what the egg is to the bird,<a name="NtA7"
+  href="#Nt7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> as described above; we may, therefore, say
+  that the power which exhibits itself in the production of a vaccine
+  vesicle, must have been latent in the dried matter. It is the opinion of
+  Muller that the entire vital principle of the egg <!-- Page 25 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page25"></a>{25}</span>resides in the germinal
+  disk alone, and since <i>the external influences which act on the
+  germs</i> of the most different organic beings are the same, we must
+  regard the simple germinal disk, consisting of granular amorphous matter,
+  as the potential whole of the future animal, endowed with the essential
+  and specific force or principle of the future being, and capable of
+  increasing the very small amount of this specific force and matter, which
+  it already possesses, by the assimilation of new matter.</p>
+
+  <p>After speaking of inanimate objects, Dr. Carpenter says; "and what
+  compared with the permanence of these is the duration of any structure
+  subject to the conditions of <i>vitality</i>? <i>To be born</i>, to grow,
+  to arrive at maturity, to decline, to die, to decay, is the sum of the
+  history of every being that lives; from man, in the pomp of royalty, or
+  the pride of philosophy, to the gay and thoughtless insect that glitters
+  for a few hours in the sunbeam and is seen no more; from the stately oak,
+  the monarch of the forest through successive centuries, to the humble
+  fungus which shoots forth and withers in a day."</p>
+
+  <p>To be born, signifies the faculty of reproduction existing or having
+  existed in an antecedent being to that one born, and also that itself
+  possesses equally a like power. To be born, is the first expression which
+  must be used in speaking of the faculties or properties of living beings
+  as independent existences, the annual formation of buds, trees, and
+  shrubs, is a multiplication of the species; the coral <!-- Page 26
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page26"></a>{26}</span>and various
+  budding polypes increase by this process, indeed what is the seed of a
+  plant, or the egg of a bird, or the ovum of mammalia, but cast off buds;
+  in all, the new being was originally a portion of its parent, and if we
+  examine the ovary of the vegetable, the bird, or the mammal, can we find
+  any expression more fitting to designate the process than that of
+  budding. To be born then, is the evidence of an act of one living being,
+  and the commencement of a series of vital phenomena in another, but all
+  these are subsequent to reproduction, and constitute another chain of
+  vital acts, all tending to a similar result, the multiplication of the
+  species.<a name="NtA8" href="#Nt8"><sup>[8]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Now, whether we apply the philosophical language of Coleridge, or the
+  language of observation of Muller, in confirmation of the doctrine here
+  inculcated, we arrive at the same point.</p>
+
+  <p>Do we not witness in the newly formed vaccine vesicle, an increase of
+  the specific force and principle? We certainly have acquired by the
+  process of vaccination a manifold multiplication of power, and is there
+  not also assimilation of new matter in <!-- Page 27 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page27"></a>{27}</span>which this power resides?
+  And does not every particle of this new matter contain within itself the
+  same force and principle, as existed in that which generated it?</p>
+
+  <p>"We revert again to potentiated length in the power of magnetism
+  (reproduction); to surface in the power of electricity, and to the
+  synthesis of both or potentiated depth in constructive, that is chemical
+  affinity."<a name="NtA9" href="#Nt9"><sup>[9]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Some may be at a loss to conceive, at first, how irritability may be
+  considered a property of all vegetable matter; that it does exist in some
+  vegetables is certain, but that it does exist in all living beings is
+  equally certain;<a name="NtA10" href="#Nt10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> the
+  term, however, which would appear more appropriate when that irritability
+  does not exhibit itself in an appreciable form, is <i>impressibility</i>.
+  Irritability, as commonly understood, is seen in its highest condition in
+  muscular tissue; but "the irritable power and an analogon of voluntary
+  motion first dawn on us in the vegetable world in the stamina and anthers
+  at the period of <!-- Page 28 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page28"></a>{28}</span>impregnation."&mdash;"The insect world is
+  the exponent of irritability, as the vegetable is of reproduction."</p>
+
+  <p>The property of irritability attains its acme in man, the most highly
+  organized of all beings; and its gradations pass downwards through the
+  whole scale of animate creation; not so reproduction, for this faculty
+  observes the very opposite direction, for in plants a single impregnation
+  is sufficient for the evolution of myriads of detached lives.</p>
+
+  <p>Reproduction is a fact, it is an essential property of life, and is a
+  reality to us from observation; but irritability is not so tangible and
+  demonstrable a property. We nevertheless may assume its universality,
+  from the circumstance that we lose sight of it by imperceptible degrees;
+  the irritability of the sensitive plant is as much irritability as that
+  of the highly organized muscle; but because the faculty evades our
+  perception, "in tapering by degrees, becoming beautifully less," we have
+  no reason for pronouncing its total extinction at any one point of the
+  vegetable kingdom,<a name="NtA11" href="#Nt11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> any
+  more than we should have <!-- Page 29 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page29"></a>{29}</span>in saying that we see the end of the earth,
+  when describing the extent of our vision as we stand on the sea shore.
+  The extreme limit of our vision is the tangent of the circle in reference
+  to our visual organs; but how many tangential points there may be beyond,
+  it is impossible to say without knowing the dimensions of the circle.</p>
+
+  <p>I think we are now in a condition to assume, as far as abstraction
+  will conduct us without proceeding to an extreme length, that the
+  <i>materies morbi</i>, or, as I will now call them for the sake of
+  clearer distinction, <i>semina morbi</i>, possess those properties which
+  in the abstract are common to all living beings.</p>
+
+  <p>Another argument strikes me as capable of adding further strength to
+  the proposition. We need but be told that a small piece of iron was
+  placed in a certain position with regard to another piece of iron, and
+  that the smaller piece moved through a given space and became attached to
+  the larger, to infer that magnetic force was in operation. Supposing this
+  magnet then to be folded in paper, and that it <!-- Page 30 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page30"></a>{30}</span>be promiscuously placed
+  near a compass, the deflection of the needle would indicate that some
+  object in the vicinity was the cause of the deflection; we may farther
+  try what positions the needle takes by varying the position of the
+  packet, and thus point out which is the north and which the south pole of
+  the screw of paper. If we may consider attraction then to be to
+  gravitation what reproduction is to life, we do not err in saying in the
+  one instance that there is a living being, and in the other there is a
+  magnet.</p>
+
+  <p>The nebular theory, from which some astronomers made the foundation of
+  many speculations, came with so much interest to our minds that the
+  fascination could not be resisted. It was most delightful to revel in the
+  imagination that we possessed a key to the mode of formation of the
+  starry hosts, and when speculation had taken its extreme limits in the
+  "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," and the nebulæ had served
+  as the ground work of a gigantic scheme, Lord Ross's monster telescope
+  swept the heavens of its cobwebs. We can imagine this great promoter of
+  science saying to us, Gentlemen, the clouds which have obscured you, are
+  composed of myriads of stars, and comprise systems as vast and as
+  luminous as our own, had you but power of vision to discern them. A new
+  light thus appeared to philosophers, and though no great practical
+  results may flow from the discovery, it is instructive from the fact that
+  the imperfectly aided or unaided vision, should not limit legitimate <!--
+  Page 31 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page31"></a>{31}</span>inference. The nebulæ before Lord Ross's
+  discovery were to the astronomer what the materies of epidemic and
+  infectious disease are to medical men. In the absence however of a giant
+  microscope to reveal such great truths, we may yet dimly shadow them by
+  the light of our reason. It was predicted in 1849 that minute vegetable
+  germs, in all probability all of the same type, were the agents producing
+  epidemic and infectious disease. In 1850, Mr. Oke Spooner says,<a
+  name="NtA12" href="#Nt12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> "On examining the matter of
+  Small <!-- Page 32 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page32"></a>{32}</span>Pox and Cow Pox in every stage, he finds its
+  essential character to consist of a number of minute cells not exceeding
+  the 10,000th part of an inch in diameter: being about one-fourth smaller
+  than the globules of the blood, containing within their circumference
+  many still more minute nuclei, and presenting beyond their circumference
+  bud-like cells of the same size and character as those contained within
+  the circle."</p>
+
+  <p>Should these observations made by Mr. Spooner turn out to be correct,
+  they will but fulfil my anticipations. Then again shall we see the same
+  application of imperfect vision to the limitation or temporary
+  obstruction of solid and determinate knowledge.</p>
+
+  <p>We may reasonably expect that these bodies, discovered by Mr. Spooner,
+  should be the elementary matters of disease. Their existence was
+  predicted from the probability that living matter must be the agent;
+  moreover, that this matter when discovered <!-- Page 33 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page33"></a>{33}</span>would be cellular, most
+  probably resembling the yeast plant as described by Mr. Spooner.</p>
+
+  <p>It was predicted that a planet would be discovered in a certain
+  position in the heavens, because the perturbations of a comet indicated
+  an attracting body in the path of the eccentric wanderer; the prediction
+  and the fulfilment were almost simultaneous.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 34 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page34"></a>{34}</span></p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION II.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">HISTORICAL NOTICE OF EPIDEMIC DISEASES.</span></p>
+
+  <p>The earliest notices we have of Pestilences are contained in Holy
+  Writ. The plagues which smote the Egyptians in the time of Moses are not
+  unworthy some comment here. Of those ten plagues, four out of the number
+  were due to the miraculous appearance of myriads of the lower animal
+  tribes, in three instances of insects,<a name="NtA13"
+  href="#Nt13"><sup>[13]</sup></a> viz. lice, flies, and locusts; in the
+  fourth, when Aaron stretched forth his hand with his rod over the
+  streams, over the rivers, and the ponds, frogs came up and covered the
+  land of Egypt. In these instances living beings are made the instruments
+  in God's hand for the punishment of the wicked. These plagues include the
+  second, third, fourth, and eighth. The first plague is mentioned as a
+  conversion of the waters into blood. Now if we may take this expression
+  as being literal, there is no reason to suppose that this blood differed
+  in any respect from ordinary sanguineous liquid; we therefore may assume,
+  as the blood is every where in Scripture spoken of as the <i>life</i>,
+  that this fluid was endowed with vital properties.</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 35 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35"></a>{35}</span></p>
+
+  <p>The fifth plague is described as a murrain among beasts; and the
+  sixth, as exhibiting itself as "a boil breaking forth with blains, upon
+  man and upon beast."<a name="NtA14" href="#Nt14"><sup>[14]</sup></a> Now
+  these affections bear a resemblance to the diseases known to us at the
+  present day through authentic records. The Black Death of the 14th
+  century affords in its history but too awful a picture of the horrors of
+  such pestilences. In the tenth plague, the smiting of the first-born, we
+  are not told by what means it was brought about; but we have something
+  even here to lead us to conjecture. In the second visitation of the Black
+  Death, there were destroyed a great many children whom it had formerly
+  spared, and but few women. The seventh plague of hail is within our
+  conception; as is also that of darkness, the ninth plague.</p>
+
+  <p>It is not a little remarkable that of the ten plagues, seven of them
+  depended upon agents intelligible to our comprehension; we can conceive
+  of <!-- Page 36 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page36"></a>{36}</span>the invasion of a country by myriads of
+  loathsome insects and reptiles, and can imagine the wrath of an offended
+  Deity directing the force of a supernatural storm of hail upon a
+  disobedient people; and we can conjecture, though faintly, the
+  consternation of human nature on being subjected to a total darkness of
+  three days' duration, when we consider <i>that</i> darkness has been
+  described, as "a darkness that might be felt."</p>
+
+  <p>From this abstract we discover that the three plagues whose causes we
+  cannot understand, or rather upon which no light has been thrown by
+  Scripture, bear analogies to those which we recognise, in the writings of
+  modern authors, as fearful pestilences.</p>
+
+  <p>It is now our province to reflect on the causes supposed to be in
+  operation in the three instances, which become naturally separated from
+  the rest.</p>
+
+  <p>We are told that a murrain appeared among the cattle, without any
+  preliminary step. When the blains broke out upon man and beast, Moses had
+  been previously directed by the Almighty to take handfuls of the ashes of
+  the furnace, and sprinkle them towards the heaven in the sight of
+  Pharaoh. "<i>And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt</i>,
+  and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast,
+  throughout all the land of Egypt."</p>
+
+  <p>Another coincidence, in connexion with subsequent pestilences, arrests
+  the attention, on the subject of the mysterious appearance on these
+  occasions of <!-- Page 37 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page37"></a>{37}</span>matter resembling dust being prevalent about
+  the houses, and on the clothes of the people. Clouds also, and showers of
+  dust-like particles, were not of infrequent occurrence. Indeed, in the
+  summer of 1849, during the progress of the Cholera, several phenomena of
+  a similar nature were observed and authenticated; I myself can bear
+  testimony to one instance of the kind. It was observed by many persons in
+  my neighbourhood after the passage of an ominous and lurid cloud, that as
+  they walked their clothes became covered with a singular dust-like matter
+  of very peculiar appearance. That this phenomenon was not destitute of
+  significance may be gathered from the fact, that on the night of that day
+  several severe cases of Cholera occurred, though our village had been
+  comparatively free for ten days.</p>
+
+  <p>Hecker, in writing on the Black Death says, the German accounts
+  expressly speak of a "thick stinking mist which advanced from the east,<a
+  name="NtA15" href="#Nt15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> and <!-- Page 38 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page38"></a>{38}</span>spread itself over Italy;
+  there could be no deception in so palpable a phenomenon." It is not
+  unworthy of mention, that in the East successive invasions of locusts
+  "which had never perhaps darkened the sun in thicker swarms," preceded
+  the great outbreak of this disease, for they left famine in their
+  train.</p>
+
+  <p>From 1500 to 1503 in Germany and France, during the prevalence of the
+  sweating sickness, spots of different colours made their appearance,
+  "principally red, but also white, yellow, grey, and black, often in a
+  very short time, on the roofs of houses, on clothes, on the veils and
+  neckerchiefs of women, &amp;c." Blood rain is also mentioned as having
+  occurred at this time, which consisted of the aggregation of minute
+  particles of red matter.</p>
+
+  <p>In the seven plagues, miraculous operations of the Deity consisted in
+  the unusual manifestation of phenomena, but which in their effects are
+  recognizable as of clear and definite import. The miracles here
+  are,&mdash;in the <i>mode</i> of producing the swarms of frogs, locusts,
+  &amp;c. but they are manifest and unmistakeable <i>causes</i> of plague
+  and famine; in the other three, on the contrary, we witness only the
+  effects, the causes are hidden from us; we may, therefore, as in current
+  events, legitimately investigate the subject, and what better course can
+  be adopted than that which classifies the traditionary past with all
+  subsequent history. Presuming such a method of research to be admitted, I
+  have assumed that as <!-- Page 39 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page39"></a>{39}</span>the <i>causes</i> of the seven plagues have
+  been distinctly given, the others, though only mentioned in their
+  effects, were due to causes of a nature in some way to be compared with
+  their concomitants, that is to say, if a special intervention of the
+  Deity brought about a miraculous appearance of frogs, lice, &amp;c. there
+  is but little reason to doubt that some other agent was miraculously
+  multiplied and concentrated to induce the murrain, engender the blain,
+  and smite the first-born: as if to lead us into this enquiry, on the
+  visitation of the blain in man and beast, the Bible History tells us that
+  Moses threw ashes of the furnace, which became a dust throughout all the
+  land of Egypt; we cannot imagine that this simply as ashes could have
+  caused the blain, we may conclude that by some special miracle, either
+  the ashes were converted into a specific form of matter capable of
+  inducing the effects recorded, or that an independent septic matter was
+  generated for the purpose. If the latter, the act of throwing the ashes
+  of the furnace into the air may have been intended to signify that the
+  extremely minute division of the particles when thus cast into space,
+  typified the inscrutable and hidden nature of the matter endowed with
+  such marvellous properties.<a name="NtA16"
+  href="#Nt16"><sup>[16]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 40 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page40"></a>{40}</span></p>
+
+  <p>Further on in the book of Leviticus are passages which I cannot
+  forbear transcribing, for they point out to us most indubitably a line of
+  enquiry in reference to diseases of a contagious nature.</p>
+
+  <p>"The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a
+  woollen garment, or a linen garment, whether it be in the warp or woof,
+  of linen or of woollen, whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin,
+  and if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment ... it is a
+  plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the Priest, and the Priest
+  shall look upon the plague and shut up it that hath the plague seven
+  days; and he shall look on the plague on the seventh day; if the plague
+  be spread in the garment, either in the warp, &amp;c. ... the plague is a
+  fretting leprosy, it is unclean. He shall therefore burn that garment ...
+  wherein the plague is, for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in
+  the fire. And if the Priest shall look, and behold, the plague be not
+  spread in the garment ... then the Priest shall command that they wash
+  the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more:
+  and the Priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and
+  behold if the plague have <i>not</i> changed his colour, and the plague
+  be not spread, it is unclean; thou <!-- Page 41 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page41"></a>{41}</span>shalt burn it in the
+  fire; it is fret inward; whether it be bare within or without. And if the
+  Priest look and behold the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of
+  it, then he shall rend it out of the garment ... and if it appear still
+  in the garment either in the warp or the woof ... it is a spreading
+  plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire. And the
+  garment ... which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them,
+  then it shall be washed the second time and shall be clean."&mdash;Chap.
+  xiii. 47-58.</p>
+
+  <p>Again in Deuteronomy. The curse for disobedience: "The Lord shall make
+  the pestilence cleave to thee until he have consumed thee from off the
+  land.&mdash;The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a
+  fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with
+  the drought, and with blasting, and with <i>mildew</i>, and they shall
+  pursue thee until thou perish.&mdash;The Lord shall make the rain of thy
+  land <i>powder</i> and <i>dust</i>: from heaven shall it come down upon
+  thee until thou be destroyed."</p>
+
+  <p>It may be said, and I doubt not will be said, all this is
+  unnecessarily dragging the sacred volume into an enquiry totally foreign
+  to its general tenor; on the contrary, however, I maintain by that Book
+  we are to learn the ways of God to man, and further, that no study can
+  impress mankind with so awful, so terrific an idea of his responsible
+  position, as that which leads him into the investigation of the causes
+  <!-- Page 42 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page42"></a>{42}</span>by
+  which the Almighty, doubtless in His wisdom, has thought fit at various
+  epochs of this world's history, to place man face to face with
+  pestilence, famine and sudden death.</p>
+
+  <p>There is no man would less willingly than myself introduce profanely
+  the revelations of Scripture. The observations here made are not,
+  therefore, intended for light or heedless controversy; if they have a
+  significance of any import, let them be alluded to in the same spirit
+  with which they have been quoted; if they convey nothing for approval to
+  the reader, let silence rest upon them. To those who would fain disregard
+  my request, let me recall to their minds the veneration which from
+  childhood I trust we have always felt on hearing or seeing those two
+  words&mdash;Holy Bible.</p>
+
+  <p>It is yet to be determined, whether the greenish or reddish appearance
+  of the garment spoken of, as being contaminated with the plague of the
+  leprosy had any specific relation to the disease itself. The priest
+  orders that the garment shall be shut up seven days, and on the seventh
+  day, if the plague be increased, by which, of course, is meant if the
+  greenish or reddish colour have increased, and from which we may gather
+  that a power of spontaneous increase was possessed by the matter, such a
+  result indicated a fretting leprosy, and the garment was to be burnt.
+  Again, though there may have been no increase, but a persistence of the
+  coloured matter after shutting up and washing the garment, it is to <!--
+  Page 43 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page43"></a>{43}</span>be
+  burnt, for it is fret inward, signifying, that the germs of the affection
+  are still there, and may soon increase. Other rules follow in reference
+  to the plague of leprosy, and the mode of deciding whether an article be
+  unclean or clean is definitely laid down, but our purpose is served in
+  mentioning the above, to shew that in the time of Moses the spontaneous
+  increase of certain minute multiplying germs was supposed to have a close
+  connexion with disease. It is equally clear, that the priests were aware
+  by the order given them, that if the ordinary modes of purifying articles
+  of clothing failed in their effect, the safest and surest method of
+  destroying infectious matter was to resort to the practice of consuming
+  by fire all materials capable of propagating an infectious malady.</p>
+
+  <p>The facts above noticed, accurately correspond to what we now know as
+  applicable to the matter of infectious and contagious maladies. It is a
+  rule, I believe universally adopted throughout the Poor-houses of this
+  country, to put the clothes of all persons about to become residents in
+  these establishments, into ovens, where they are submitted to a
+  temperature incompatible with the existence of either animal or vegetable
+  life. By this means all living matters are destroyed, but the fabrics and
+  inorganic matters retain their properties intact. This simple proceeding,
+  I am credibly informed, is an effectual preventive of contamination by
+  articles of clothing, a desideratum of no small importance, when it is
+  <!-- Page 44 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page44"></a>{44}</span>remembered that the diseases among the poor
+  owe much of their inveteracy to the accumulation of effete organic
+  matters about their persons and clothes.</p>
+
+  <p>A few more observations are called for on the quotation from
+  Deuteronomy, in which allusion is made to living matter being an agent in
+  the production of disease. In the curse upon the children of Israel for
+  disobedience, we read that they are to be smitten with mildew. No further
+  information, however, is vouchsafed to us, nevertheless, we can conceive
+  the wretched condition of those on whom the curse might fall. Again, we
+  find in a continuation of this curse that the Almighty uses means such as
+  He adopted in the sixth plague of the Egyptians. The ashes of the furnace
+  became a small dust in all the land of Egypt, breaking forth with blains
+  upon man and beast. In the curse of the Israelites the words are: "The
+  Lord shall make the rain of thy land <i>powder and dust</i>: from Heaven
+  shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed."</p>
+
+  <p>It might be conjectured that the absence of rain would be sufficient
+  to account for the extinction of the people on whom the curse was
+  pronounced, by the famine and drought necessarily attendant upon the loss
+  of moisture. But this does not appear to be the meaning of the passage,
+  for the powder and dust are mentioned as the agents of destruction;
+  besides, in the continuation of the curse, the locust is to destroy the
+  grain, the worm the grapes, and <!-- Page 45 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page45"></a>{45}</span>the olive is to shed his fruit; we may thus
+  take for granted that drought and famine are not to be caused by the
+  showering of powder and dust, it must consequently be supposed that the
+  effects of the dust in the instance of the Egyptians are to be compared
+  and classified with those of the dust which smote the Israelites.</p>
+
+  <p>As far then as Sacred History conducts us in the enquiry, concerning
+  the causes of pestilences, we gain encouragement in the belief that
+  living germs are the active agents, for in the case of the leprosy, we
+  have evidence of reproduction in connexion with infection, which, if our
+  line of argument be tenable, amounts to demonstration; then, in the other
+  instances of the plagues, by boils and blains, they distinctly bear
+  comparison with the accounts given by profane writers, of the visitations
+  of pestilences on the earth, subsequently to those mentioned in Scripture
+  history.</p>
+
+  <p>This leads now to the consideration of recorded facts observed and
+  noted during the various Epidemics in the early and subsequent periods of
+  Man's History, as given by those on whom reliance may be fairly
+  placed.</p>
+
+  <p>Setting aside the uncertain information contained in the writings of
+  the Chinese,<a name="NtA17" href="#Nt17"><sup>[17]</sup></a> a people
+  whose <!-- Page 46 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page46"></a>{46}</span>progress in the science and practice of
+  Medicine has nothing to commend it (even as it is at the present day) to
+  the notice either of the physician or the historian, unless it be to the
+  latter as a mark of peculiarity both in a social and political point of
+  view,&mdash;passing also over the Egyptians, the Arabians, and the
+  Greeks,&mdash;and even Hippocrates himself, we are driven to the Romans
+  for any authentic or precise notice of Epidemic Affections. It has been
+  attributed to Hippocrates that he predicted the appearance of the Plague
+  at Athens, <!-- Page 47 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page47"></a>{47}</span>and that when it was introduced into Greece
+  he dispelled it, "by purifying the air with fires into which were thrown
+  sweet-scented herbs and flowers along with other perfumes."<a
+  name="NtA18" href="#Nt18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> But little advantage can be
+  derived from enquiries concerning the first appearance of any disease,
+  for the probability of discovering the primary cause is certainly a <!--
+  Page 48 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page48"></a>{48}</span>hopeless
+  case, if attempted by means of the writings of ancient authors, when it
+  is recollected that with all the science and learning of the ancient
+  Egyptians, the use of optical instruments was not comprised among the
+  paraphernalia of their arts. The knowledge that was limited to the powers
+  of natural vision, where the foundation of knowledge is based upon facts
+  obtained through the aid of that penetrator of nature's secrets, the
+  microscope, offers no advantages to the student of the present day.</p>
+
+  <p>To say that a disease commenced in the East and travelled westward,
+  and at length found a habitation and a name in every part of the globe,
+  is no more than to say that disease is coeval with the fall of man. The
+  cause is as much hidden in the region of its birth, as in that where it
+  sojourns for a time. The cause of the sweating sickness was as much a
+  mystery in England as in all the other nations of Europe, which were
+  visited by its devastating power. And these observations apply with as
+  much force to one disease as another; for even our indigenous ague,
+  originating in some places so limited that the shadow of a passing cloud
+  may mark the boundary of its dwelling place, as inscrutably evades our
+  vigilance, with all the appliances that art can bring to our assistance,
+  in endeavouring to evoke its extraordinary properties under the
+  cognizance of our senses.</p>
+
+  <p>If we weigh the air which carries the poison, or analyze it by the
+  most delicate chemical tests, or <!-- Page 49 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page49"></a>{49}</span>take the weight of the atmosphere which is
+  charged with it, or if we take the blood which carries the germs of the
+  disease to the tissues of the body, and submit them after the work of
+  destruction is accomplished, to the most rigid inspection, we can but
+  exclaim,</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p class="hg3">"These are Thy marvellous works!"</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>and confess our total inability to fathom the unbounded.</p>
+
+  <p>If then no practical advantage can accrue from investigating the
+  writings of the ancients on these subjects, beyond comparing their
+  historical statements with those of more recent date, our purpose will be
+  served by occasionally embodying any remarkable observations of the
+  former with those of the latter.</p>
+
+  <p>In proceeding with this course it were better to confine our minds
+  chiefly to two diseases which appear from history to have been known from
+  the earliest periods, these are the Plague and the Small Pox, mentioning
+  other diseases only <i>en route</i>.</p>
+
+  <p>Passing then, to the sixth century of the Christian era for the first
+  distinct and connected account of the Plague, it appears from a host of
+  testimony, that the history of this disease, as given by Procopius, well
+  merits our attention. Drs. Friend and Hamilton, in their Histories of
+  Medicine, and Gibbon, in his History of Rome, are equally warm in their
+  praise of Procopius: the latter says, he "emulated the skill and
+  diligence of Thucydides in the <!-- Page 50 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page50"></a>{50}</span>description of the Plague at Athens." The
+  account given by Procopius of this disease, does not differ materially
+  from that given by subsequent eye-witnesses of similar pestilences. Its
+  point of origin is clearly marked, and its mode of dispersion in all
+  directions distinctly traced from "the neighbourhood of Pelusium, between
+  the Serbonian bog and the eastern channel of the Nile." It commenced in
+  the year 542. It raged in Constantinople in the following year, and it
+  was in this city that our historian gathered the materials which are
+  handed down to us. When, however, we anxiously look for any explanation
+  as to the cause of the malady, we are told that it must have been a
+  direct visitation from Heaven, in consequence of the eccentric characters
+  exhibited in its wide-spreading influence, in not yielding to the
+  scrutiny nor bending to the laws known to prevail, and to regulate the
+  course of other diseases: neither country nor clime, age nor sex, the
+  strong and healthy, nor the weakly and previously diseased, could be said
+  to be free from its indiscriminate destruction.</p>
+
+  <p>But some phenomena preceding the outbreak of the pestilence are
+  observed as coincidences by all authors. Gibbon thus writes: "I shall
+  conclude this chapter with the comets, the earthquakes, and the plague
+  which astonished or afflicted the age of Justinian." From the accounts
+  given by this author, earthquakes for some years had been threatening and
+  destroying many portions of the globe, <!-- Page 51 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page51"></a>{51}</span>that in the ruins of
+  cities and in the chasms of the earth, great was the sacrifice of human
+  life. Constantinople, which suffered so severely from the plague is said
+  to have been shaken for forty days. These great disturbances of the globe
+  have been always looked upon as indicating other and important influences
+  of a secret or hidden nature; these impressions on the minds of the
+  people are traceable throughout the histories of all epidemics, and have
+  been sufficiently distinct among the people of our own time, preceding
+  and during the period of infliction.</p>
+
+  <p>From this short notice of the Plague of 543, I pass to the ninth
+  century, when Rhazes, the Arabian physician, endeavoured to enlighten the
+  world on the subject of Small Pox.<a name="NtA19"
+  href="#Nt19"><sup>[19]</sup></a> In quoting his opinions, I am not to be
+  understood as subscribing to them, but merely endeavouring to point out
+  some peculiar and interesting observations.</p>
+
+  <p>First, then, Rhazes attributes the disease to a condition of the
+  blood, which he thus describes, to shew how it happens that in infancy
+  and childhood the disease is most prevalent, and that old age is <!--
+  Page 52 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page52"></a>{52}</span>least
+  liable to the affection.<a name="NtA20" href="#Nt20"><sup>[20]</sup></a>
+  "The blood of infants and children may be compared to <i>must</i>, in
+  which the coction leading to perfect ripeness has not yet begun, nor the
+  movement towards fermentation taken place; the blood of young men may be
+  compared to must which has already fermented and made a hissing noise,
+  and has thrown out abundant vapours and its superfluous parts, like wine
+  which is now still and quiet, and arrived at its full strength, and as to
+  the blood of old men, it may be compared to wine which has now lost its
+  strength, and is beginning to grow vapid and sour."</p>
+
+  <p>"Now the Small Pox arises when the blood putrifies and ferments, so
+  that the superfluous vapours are thrown out of it, and it is changed from
+  the blood of infants which is like must, into the blood of young men
+  which is like wine perfectly ripened: and the Small Pox itself may be
+  compared to the fermentation and the hissing noise which take place at
+  that time."</p>
+
+  <p>But the cause of the disease is simply alluded to by this author, as
+  depending upon "occult dispositions in the air," and as he speaks here of
+  Measles with the Small Pox he goes on to say&mdash;"which necessarily
+  cause these diseases and predispose bodies to them." This notion of
+  Rhazes that there is some peculiar condition of the blood which favours a
+  process resembling fermentation is not without interest. The circumstance
+  that individuals are not <!-- Page 53 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page53"></a>{53}</span>usually liable to a second attack of the
+  disease, no doubt directed the attention of this physician to compare the
+  process of fermentation with disease of such a nature, seeing that when
+  the whole of the saccharine matter was converted into spirit, the hissing
+  noise, as he calls it, or the disengagement of carbonic acid gas would
+  cease, and the capacity for fermentation be entirely gone. So that the
+  occult conditions of the air, their power of inducing a disease, and
+  multiplying the matter capable of engendering a similar affection, stood
+  in the mind of Rhazes as analogous if not identical phenomena.</p>
+
+  <p>We pass now without further comment to the epidemics of the Middle
+  Ages; and here the work of the philosophical Hecker leaves us little else
+  to desire in the way of information, as far as it is obtainable from
+  published records. From the manner in which he has grouped the facts
+  which presented themselves to his mind in the course of a most laborious
+  research, he has saved the student of this subject much toil in acquiring
+  matter for reflection; he has here but to read and digest.</p>
+
+  <p>I know not how to select from this invaluable work the most striking
+  passages, to strengthen and support my hypothesis, for not a page is
+  destitute of facts corroborative of the doctrine that vital germs are the
+  material agents of pestilential disorders. The opening paragraph to the
+  Black Death is a most cogent illustration of the assertion; it is, as it
+  were, the theme of the work. "That <!-- Page 54 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page54"></a>{54}</span>Omnipotence, which has
+  called the world with all <i>its living creatures into one animated
+  being</i>, especially reveals himself in the desolation of great
+  pestilences. The powers of creation come into violent collision; the
+  sultry dryness of the atmosphere; the subterranean thunders; the mist of
+  overflowing waters are the harbingers of destruction. Nature is not
+  satisfied with the ordinary alternations of life and death, and the
+  destroying angel waves over man and beast his flaming sword."</p>
+
+  <p>I must here apologise for large transcripts from Hecker's work, for
+  neither could I command the amount of knowledge there displayed, nor use
+  such appropriate language as the learned translator has employed.</p>
+
+  <p>It is not doubted that the Black Death was an Oriental plague, only of
+  more than usual severity, and wider spread influence of the infectious
+  nature of this disease, and the active properties of the matter producing
+  it. Hecker says, "articles of this kind&mdash;bedding and
+  clothes&mdash;removed from the access of air, not only retain the matter
+  of contagion for an indefinite period, <i>but also increase its activity,
+  and engender it like a living being</i>, frightful ill consequences
+  followed for many years after the first fury of the pestilence was
+  past."<a name="NtA21" href="#Nt21"><sup>[21]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 55 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page55"></a>{55}</span></p>
+
+  <p>As extraordinary atmospheric and telluric phenomena preceded the
+  Plague in the time of Justinian, so do we find similar instances recorded
+  as the precursor of a similar visitation 700 years later. I am concerned
+  more with those circumstances which refer more especially to my subject,
+  <i>viz.</i> the development of organic matter, and the peculiar odours of
+  the atmosphere, the latter being evidence of some foreign and unusual
+  production in our respiratory media. "On the island of Cyprus, before the
+  earthquake, a pestiferous wind spread so poisonous an odour, that many
+  being overpowered by it, fell down suddenly and expired in dreadful
+  agonies. A thick stinking mist advanced from the east, and spread itself
+  over Italy."</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 56 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page56"></a>{56}</span></p>
+
+  <p>It is probable that the atmosphere contained foreign and sensibly
+  perceptible admixtures to a great extent, which, at least in the lower
+  regions, could not be decomposed or rendered ineffective by separation.
+  In 1348 an unexampled earthquake shook Greece, Italy, and the
+  neighbouring countries. During this earthquake the wine in the casks
+  became turbid, a proof that changes causing a decomposition of the
+  atmosphere had taken place. "The insect tribe was wonderfully called into
+  life, as if animated beings were destined to complete the destruction
+  which astral and telluric powers had began."</p>
+
+  <p>"The corruption of the atmosphere came from the east, but the disease
+  itself came not upon the wings of the wind, but was only excited and
+  increased by the atmosphere where it had previously existed."</p>
+
+  <p>"The most powerful of all the springs of the disease was contagion;
+  for in the most distant countries, which had scarcely yet heard the echo
+  of the first concussion, the people fell a sacrifice to organic poison,
+  the untimely offspring of vital energies thrown into violent
+  commotion."</p>
+
+  <p>"After the cessation of the Black Plague, a greater fecundity in women
+  was every where remarkable, a grand phenomena, which from its occurrence
+  after every destructive pestilence, proves to conviction the prevalence
+  of a higher power in the direction of general organic life." <!-- Page 57
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page57"></a>{57}</span></p>
+
+  <p>In the article Contagion, of the Essay, Sweating Sickness: "Most
+  fevers which are produced by general causes, propagate themselves for a
+  time spontaneously." "The exhalations of the affected become the germs of
+  a similar decomposition in those bodies which receive them, and produce
+  in these a like attack upon the internal organs, <i>and thus a merely
+  morbid phenomenon of life, shows that it possesses the fundamental
+  property of all life, that of propagating itself in an appropriate soil.
+  On this point there is no doubt, the phenomena which prove it have been
+  observed from time immemorial, in an endless variety of circumstances,
+  but always with a uniform manifestation of a fundamental law.</i>"</p>
+
+  <p>Mead, in his Essay on the Plague, makes many observations of great
+  interest and worthy a physician of eminence; and where, in recent times,
+  shall we look for any more definite information concerning the causes of
+  pestilences? It is not a little singular that at the time this book was
+  published, it was read with such avidity that it went through seven
+  editions in one year.<a name="NtA22" href="#Nt22"><sup>[22]</sup></a>
+  From this circumstance we may gather that the public generally took a
+  lively and proper interest in a subject that was not only of domestic,
+  but national importance. Whether this interest was stimulated by the fact
+  that the work was written expressly by order of the <!-- Page 58 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page58"></a>{58}</span>government, it is now
+  impossible to say, at any rate much credit is due to the Lords of the
+  Regency for having placed so important a duty upon one so thoroughly and
+  in every way so duly qualified for the task as Dr. Mead. It had been well
+  if some of the advice given at that time, as means of protection against
+  the Plague, had been applied and put in force during the late visitation
+  of epidemic Cholera, for, however the minds of some may be convinced of
+  the non-contagiousness of Cholera, there are many who hold a different
+  opinion, and all will acknowledge, that if not strictly a contagious
+  affection, it is clearly proved to be capable of being carried from place
+  to place, or to use Dr. Copland's words, it is "a portable disease." But
+  this is not the place to discuss the subject of contagion, allusion will
+  be made to it hereafter. To return, Mead's expressions are singularly
+  illustrative of the vital power possessed by the germs of disease; he
+  says, "There are instances of the distemper's being stopt by the winter
+  cold, and yet the seeds of it not destroyed, but only kept unactive,
+  <i>till the warmth of the following spring has given them new life and
+  force</i>. His confession as to the hidden cause of the disease, is
+  worthy transcribing: "We are acquainted too little with the laws, by
+  which the small parts of matter act upon each other, to be able precisely
+  to determine the qualities requisite to change animal juices into such
+  acrimonious humours, or to explain <!-- Page 59 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page59"></a>{59}</span>how all the
+  distinguishing symptoms attending the disease are produced."<a
+  name="NtA23" href="#Nt23"><sup>[23]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>On the spread of the Plague is the following:&mdash;"The plague is a
+  <i>real poison</i>, which being bred in the southern parts of the world,
+  maintains itself there by circulating from infected persons to goods,
+  that when the constitution of the air happens to favour infection, it
+  rages with great violence." Contagious matter is lodged in goods of a
+  loose and soft texture, which being packed up, and carried into other
+  countries, let out, when opened, the imprisoned seeds of contagion, and
+  produce the disease whenever the air is disposed to give them force,
+  "otherwise they may be dispersed without any considerable ill effects."
+  Gibbon thus speaks of the above quoted work: "I have read with pleasure
+  Mead's short but elegant Treatise concerning Pestilential Disorders;"
+  many also might read it at the present day with infinite advantage. Mead
+  most satisfactorily combats the opinions of the French physicians who
+  maintained the non-contagiousness of the Plague. Experience proves beyond
+  doubt, that certain conditions of atmosphere, of <!-- Page 60 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page60"></a>{60}</span>which we are ignorant,
+  favour the growth and increase of pestilences as they do of all
+  vegetation.</p>
+
+  <p>Dr. Bancroft was of opinion that specific contagions are each and
+  severally creatures of Divine Wisdom, as distinctly and designedly
+  exerted for their production, as it was to create the several species of
+  animals and vegetables around us.</p>
+
+  <p>The indigenous fever of Ireland, which has several times shewn itself
+  in an epidemic form, appears to have been as fatal, as the Plague in the
+  South of Europe. Its devastations have generally been associated or
+  preceded by famine and general distress. Dr. Harty, writing in 1820, says
+  that thrice within the last eighty years has the same fever appeared in
+  its epidemic character. In the year 1741 Ireland lost 80,000 of her
+  inhabitants from this cause. It is a maculated typhus, and considered to
+  be a special product of the Emerald Isle. It has been shewn that fever
+  began to exceed its ordinary rate in those places first where famine and
+  want of employment were most severely felt,<a name="NtA24"
+  href="#Nt24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> and that in such places and under such
+  circumstances, it was most prevalent and fatal. The physicians generally
+  believed it to have been spontaneously produced and not to have been
+  imported. In the last Famine Fever of Ireland, Liverpool and several
+  other places suffered severely from the <!-- Page 61 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page61"></a>{61}</span>importation of their
+  Channel neighbours with the disease in some instances, and the infection
+  in others about their persons. Hitherto these have to all appearance been
+  the limits of the affection; we know not, however, how soon the time may
+  come when the invisible bonds which have thus chained the disease to
+  certain localities may be severed, and spreading itself like other
+  pestilences in an aggravated form, attack this country as a last and
+  crowning act of retributive justice. At present it has but cost us money
+  and regrets, but if the history of pestilences is to be heeded, there are
+  many tokens which seem to indicate that a few slight concurrent
+  circumstances only are wanting, to bring the full force of this disease
+  upon us; then will there be a sacrifice of life. Edinburgh and other
+  towns of Scotland have had some visitations already, ourselves but
+  slightly, but let our labouring population suffer to any large extent for
+  want of work, and we shall inevitably be the sufferers from that fever
+  which in consequence of general destitution is now always more or less
+  prevalent in Ireland.</p>
+
+  <p>The Sweating Sickness prevailed in England alone at first, but at
+  length sought foreign victims. The Cholera is an exotic disease, as well
+  as the Plague, but they occasionally have visited our shores, and their
+  seeds remain among us. The Small Pox is now even not known in some parts
+  of the world, but when once it is established, who can predict the period
+  of its first appearance in an <!-- Page 62 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page62"></a>{62}</span>epidemic form. The history of the disease
+  informs us that in all the countries where it has been introduced, sooner
+  or later an epidemic has seized the inhabitants.</p>
+
+  <p>A disease previously unknown in India appeared at Rangoon in the year
+  1824, which obtained the name of Scarlatina Rheumatica. Four years
+  afterwards it attacked the Southern States of North America, and though
+  the disease was so impartial as scarcely to spare a single individual of
+  any town to which it extended its influence, it was not accompanied with
+  that mortality which has usually been the characteristic of wide spread
+  epidemics.</p>
+
+  <p>There is one peculiar feature of all epidemics which may be here
+  mentioned as indicative of some definite, though at present unaccountable
+  cause, operating in the sudden suppression of the disease after a certain
+  period of duration. This distinctive character may almost be considered
+  as a law in reference to these affections; if we take three distinct
+  diseases, the Plague, the Irish Fever and the Cholera, we find the rule
+  apply to all. Of the latter disease we have so recently been witnesses,
+  that I need not quote authorities on this point concerning it. In Dr.
+  Patrick Russell's work on the Plague at Aleppo I find the following
+  remarkable passage. After alluding to the great increase of pestilential
+  effluvia that there must be towards the close of an epidemic, compared
+  with the amount at the onset of the disease, and expressing his <!-- Page
+  63 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page63"></a>{63}</span>astonishment
+  that so many escape infection, he says: "The fact, however unaccountable,
+  is unquestionably certain; the distemper seems to be extinguished by some
+  cause or causes equally unknown, as those which concurred to render it
+  more or less epidemical in its advance and at its height." He then
+  mentions that in Europe the sudden cessation may be partly attributable
+  to the measures adopted for preventing its extension; but "at Aleppo,
+  where the disease is left to run its natural course, and few or no means
+  of purification are employed, it pursues nearly the same progress in
+  different years; it declines and revives in certain seasons, and at
+  length, without the interference of human aid, ceases entirely."</p>
+
+  <p>The expressions of Dr. Harty on this subject, in connexion with the
+  Irish Fever, would apply as well to all other epidemics: "It is a fact,
+  that though every diversity of management was resorted to for effecting
+  the suppression of the disease, yet, nevertheless, there was an almost
+  simultaneous and apparently spontaneous decline of the epidemic in the
+  various and most remote parts of Ireland. It is not an easy matter to
+  offer a satisfactory explanation of this circumstance, <i>some general
+  cause must</i> no doubt have influenced the subsidence of the disease,
+  yet that cause could not be atmospheric, inasmuch as the decline, though
+  it might be said to be simultaneous, was not sufficiently so to admit of
+  that explanation."</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 64 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page64"></a>{64}</span></p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION III.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">THE DISPERSION OF PLANTS AND DISEASES.</span></p>
+
+  <p>The dispersion of Diseases and the dispersion of Plants, exhibit
+  analogies which might be little expected, on a superficial view of the
+  enquiry.</p>
+
+  <p>We are led to believe, that the earth as a whole, was not covered with
+  vegetation in a day, the geological history of this planet is one of
+  development, and though at first sight this expression of opinion may
+  appear to savour of doubt in the Mosaic record, a more extended
+  acquaintance with the subject, favours rather and confirms Scripture
+  history.</p>
+
+  <p>As the peopling of the earth has been a gradual process with the
+  animal creation, so has it been also with the vegetable kingdom. We see
+  at the present day, that plants by various means of transit from place to
+  place, multiply themselves on new soils and in new climes, the same with
+  animals. By other means we observe, or can trace, the extinction from
+  various localities and countries, of members of both the animal and
+  vegetable kingdom.</p>
+
+  <p>We learn that originally this planet had a temperature much higher
+  than at present, and that the variation of temperature between the
+  equator and the poles, which we now witness, did not obtain in the
+  earlier condition of the globe. We are given to understand, and not
+  without considerable proof, <!-- Page 65 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page65"></a>{65}</span>if not demonstration, that the earth was a
+  vast bog, in which rank vegetation grew, and in which the ichthyosauri
+  and plesiosauri, must have floundered about as unwieldy and loathsome
+  bodies. We can readily conceive a condition of atmosphere at this time to
+  have been loaded with pestiferous vapours of an organized nature; it is
+  entirely in accordance with all we know, that it should have been so.
+  Allied forms of plants to those now in existence, are found in the form
+  of fossils, by which comparisons are made, but how the transition into
+  the present Flora took place, or at what period, it is impossible to say.
+  That these plants should have been entirely destroyed during the
+  revolutions of the earth by earthquakes, and their consequences; the
+  collection of waters into the vacuities formed, and their draining off
+  from other places by elevations of the land, is not to be dwelt on
+  without astonishment; then again the ultimate changes of temperature on
+  the surface of the earth, may have been another element in the history of
+  their extinction. But if we may be allowed to imagine that there were
+  organic germs floating in the vapours of the atmosphere, these would
+  hardly be subject to the same influences as those which depended solely
+  on their fixation to the soil for subsistence. The atmosphere, their
+  native element, being influenced by the commotions from below, would be
+  agitated; vortiginous currents would be established, hurricanes would
+  sweep over the stagnant pool and reeking morass, <!-- Page 66 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page66"></a>{66}</span>and the higher regions of
+  the air might have thus given protection to these subtle germs, while
+  almost a total extinction of the elegant ferns, the stately palm, and the
+  towering cane was in course of procedure. Then when the strife of the
+  earth and elements had subsided, these would descend with the gentle
+  breezes, and again find in various spots a local habitation&mdash;</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p class="hg3">"Where blue mists, through the unmoving atmosphere,</p>
+      <p>Scatter the seeds of pestilence <i>and feed unnatural vegetation</i>."</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>In the new era, when the earth took its present physiognomy, who shall
+  say whether much of the pestiferous matter may not have been enclosed and
+  condensed in the bowels of the earth, and when it is remembered, that
+  earthquakes and convulsions of nature,<a name="NtA25"
+  href="#Nt25"><sup>[25]</sup></a> have invariably preceded the outbreak of
+  <!-- Page 67 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page67"></a>{67}</span>any
+  great pestilences, that stinking mists, coming from some unknown regions,
+  and unusual vegetations have made their appearance in concert at these
+  times, what I ask is more natural than to imagine, that they have been
+  let loose during the general convulsion? It may be asked, what is to be
+  said about that revolution of the earth, when the great Deluge spread
+  over the whole face of the globe? It can only be replied, that this is a
+  part of the scheme of cosmogony into which we are not called upon to
+  enter. There are yet strenuous supporters of the partial as well as total
+  submersion of this planet, but whether it be true that the vast torrents
+  which appear to have swept the surface uniformly in a southern direction,
+  were of a date coeval with the deluge, and constituted an essential
+  portion of the phenomena, of which one was, that "the fountains of the
+  great deep were broken up," or whether they were anterior to this
+  catastrophe, will not at all interfere with the conjecture of a very
+  early formation and propagation of the germs of pestilential diseases,
+  for the commotions of a deluge were less likely to interfere with the
+  vapours of the atmosphere, than extensive volcanic and electric
+  disturbances. Moreover, it is rather in favour of this theory, that the
+  <!-- Page 68 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page68"></a>{68}</span>regions where the temperature and
+  exhalations most nearly resemble those of the former condition of the
+  earth, are those in which pestilential disorders most frequently arise,
+  and where their virulence has always been most strongly marked.</p>
+
+  <p>After the various commotions which left the globe, with its present
+  physiognomy of mountains, plains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and oceans; a
+  new Flora and Fauna appeared to adorn and animate the scene of man's
+  existence. Plants and animals were created apparently in adaptation to
+  the numerous climes, which the seasons in the various latitudes or the
+  elevations of the soil, were prepared to render fruitful and useful each
+  in its own sphere. Besides this, the plants of the same latitude, in some
+  instances, differ materially from each other; in this case it seems that
+  the soil has much to do with this peculiarity, for it is certain that the
+  soil and the contiguous atmosphere, have a close and intimate relation;
+  the drought of the desert depends upon the sand, as humid atmosphere is
+  connected with the morass. To illustrate the tendency which vegetation
+  shews in appropriating one locality more than another, I may quote the
+  following: "Some of the volcanic masses of the Æolian or Lipari Islands,
+  that have existed beyond the reach of history, are still without a blade
+  of verdure; while others in various parts, of little more than two
+  hundred years date, bear spontaneous vegetation, and the same is seen on
+  two lavas of Etna near each other, for the one <!-- Page 69 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page69"></a>{69}</span>of 1536 is still black
+  and arid, while that of 1636, is covered with oaks, fruit trees, and
+  vines."</p>
+
+  <p>In comparing the diffusion of plants, and the diffusion of diseases,
+  the different modes by which this generally has been effected may be
+  considered under heads, that the comparison may be more readily
+  traced.</p>
+
+  <p><i>First</i>, seeds are diffused by the atmosphere, either by the
+  prevalence of certain currents, which are produced by known laws, in
+  which case, no difficulty occurs in the explanations; or in a more
+  imperceptible manner, as by those more uncertain atmospheric currents of
+  a partial nature, which, though they seem to have laws governing them,
+  are not yet understood.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Second</i>, seeds are transported by water across oceans, &amp;c.
+  when they can be floated on any material by which they are preserved, as
+  by wrecks and masses of wood, which have been washed down the rivers.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Third</i>, they are conveyed by man to all parts of the globe.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Fourth</i>, a period of latency is observed to apply to them, that
+  is, they require certain essential conditions before germination occurs;
+  so that even in some localities, a plant may not have been known to exist
+  in a particular neighbourhood, but by a train of circumstances, it may
+  make its appearance, and again be a centre of development.</p>
+
+  <p>1st. I shall not here wander into the speculation, <!-- Page 70
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page70"></a>{70}</span>whether plants
+  had originally one birth-place, as a centre from which they spread by
+  various agencies, as supposed by Linnæus, nor into any enquiry beyond
+  those facts, which may fairly come within our own comprehension, and
+  within our own means of demonstration.</p>
+
+  <p>Many seeds are provided with means adapting them for floating in the
+  atmosphere, these are by pappi, or winglets and hairs, but it cannot be
+  doubted that the agency of atmospheric currents, is productive of
+  considerable effects in the dispersion of lighter seeds, such as those of
+  mosses, fungi, and lichens&mdash;lichens have been discovered in
+  Brittany, which are peculiar to Jamaica, and Monsieur De Candolle
+  concludes, that their seeds had been carried thence by the south-westerly
+  winds, which prevail during a great part of the year on this portion of
+  the French coast.</p>
+
+  <p>But Humboldt's testimony on the subject of winds is most satisfactory,
+  for he says, "Small singing birds, and even butterflies, are found at
+  sea, at great distances from the coast (as I have several times had
+  opportunities of observing in the Pacific), being carried there by the
+  force of the wind, when storms come off the land." It is generally
+  believed, from abundance of proofs, that the trade winds, and other
+  continuous currents, are means by which plants are conveyed from one
+  country to another.<a name="NtA26" href="#Nt26"><sup>[26]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 71 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71"></a>{71}</span></p>
+
+  <p>As to the partial currents, Humboldt further says, "The heated crust
+  of the earth occasions an ascending vertical current of air by which
+  light bodies are borne upwards. M. Boussingault, and Don Mariano De
+  Rivero, in ascending the summit of the Silla, one of the gneiss mountains
+  of Caraccas, saw in the middle of the day, about noon, whitish shining
+  bodies rise from the valley to the summit of the mountain, 5755 feet
+  high, and then sink down towards the neighbouring sea coast. These
+  movements continued uninterruptedly for the space of an hour. The whitish
+  shining bodies proved to be small agglomerations of straws, or blades of
+  grass, which were recognized by Professor Kunth, for a species of vilfa,
+  a genus, which together with agrostis, is very abundant in the provinces
+  of Caraccas and Cumana."</p>
+
+  <p>On the plague of locusts we read, that "the Lord brought an east wind
+  upon the land, all that day and all that night, and when it was morning
+  the east wind brought the locusts."</p>
+
+  <p>On the Black Death we read, "There were many locusts which had been
+  blown into the sea by a hurricane, and a dense and awful fog was seen in
+  the heavens, rising in the east, and descending upon Italy."</p>
+
+  <p>Of the Plague of 542, Gibbon says, "The winds might diffuse that
+  subtle venom, but unless the atmosphere be previously disposed for its
+  reception, the plague would soon expire in the cold or <!-- Page 72
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page72"></a>{72}</span>temperate
+  regions of the north. The disease alternately languished and revived, but
+  it was not till a calamitous period of fifty-two years, that mankind
+  recovered their health, or the air resumed its pure and salubrious
+  quality."</p>
+
+  <p>In the history of the Sweating Sickness, of which there were five
+  distinct visitations, we find ample allusions to the atmosphere, and the
+  mode in which the disease was conveyed by this medium.</p>
+
+  <p>I quote again from Hecker: "It seemed that <i>the banks of the
+  Severn</i> were the <i>focus of the malady</i>, and that from hence, a
+  true impestation of the atmosphere, was diffused in every direction.
+  Whithersoever the winds wafted the stinking mists, the inhabitants became
+  infested with the sweating sickness. <i>These poisonous clouds of mists
+  were observed moving from place to place</i>, with the disease in their
+  train, affecting one town after another, and morning and evening
+  spreading their nauseating insufferable stench. At greater distances,
+  these clouds being dispersed by the wind, became gradually attenuated yet
+  their dispersion set no bounds to the pestilence, and it was as if they
+  had imparted to the lower strata of the atmosphere, <i>a kind of ferment
+  which went on engendering itself even without the presence of the thick
+  misty vapour</i>, and being received into men's lungs, produced the
+  frightful disease everywhere."<a name="NtA27"
+  href="#Nt27"><sup>[27]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 73 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73"></a>{73}</span></p>
+
+  <p>Mr. K. B. Martin, harbour-master of Ramsgate, in a communication to
+  Lord Carlisle on the Cholera of last autumn, says, "At midnight of the
+  31st August (1849), the Samson (steam-tug) proceeded to the Goodwin
+  Sands, where the crew were employed under the Trinity agent, assisting in
+  work carried on there by that corporation. While there, at 3 A.M. 1st
+  September, <i>a hot humid haze, with a bog-like smell</i>, passed over
+  them; and the greater number of the men there employed instantly felt a
+  nausea. They were in two parties. One man at work on the sand was obliged
+  to be carried to the boat; and before they reached the steam vessel at
+  anchor, the cramps and spasm had supervened upon the vomitings; but here
+  they found two of the party on board similarly affected. Here then is a
+  very marked case without any known predisposing local cause. Doubtless it
+  was atmospheric, and in the hot blast of pestilence which passed over
+  them."</p>
+
+  <p>Many more instances might be quoted, to shew that the germs of
+  disease, as well as of plants, are borne on the wings of the wind from
+  place to place <!-- Page 74 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page74"></a>{74}</span>in one country, and from one country to
+  another, the distance being no obstacle, however great that may be.<a
+  name="NtA28" href="#Nt28"><sup>[28]</sup></a> "Dust and sands," says
+  Sharon Turner, "heavier than many seeds, are borne by the winds and
+  clouds for several hundred miles across the atmosphere, falling on the
+  earth and seas as they pass along." "The clouds not only bring us
+  occasionally meteoric stones, hail, and <i>epidemics</i>, but also
+  vegetable seeds."<a name="NtA29" href="#Nt29"><sup>[29]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>2nd. The transportation of seeds of plants by water requires very
+  little notice; every one is familiar with the mode in which coral
+  islands, which gradually rise out of the sea, become covered with
+  vegetation. "If new lands are formed, the organic forces are ever ready
+  to cover the naked rock with life.&mdash;Lichens form the first covering
+  of the barren <!-- Page 75 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page75"></a>{75}</span>rocks, where afterwards lofty forest trees
+  wave their airy summits. The successive growth of mosses, grasses,
+  herbaceous plants and shrubs or bushes, occupies the intervening period
+  of long but undetermined duration."</p>
+
+  <p>The following may be cited as an instance of the transportation of
+  disease by water. "Cyprus lost almost all its inhabitants, and ships
+  without crews were often seen in the Mediterranean, or afterwards in the
+  North Sea, driving about, <i>and spreading the plague wherever they went
+  on shore</i>."<a name="NtA30" href="#Nt30"><sup>[30]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>It requires no argument to enforce the conviction that cottons,
+  woollens, furs, skins, &amp;c. will retain the matter of infection for
+  almost an indefinite period; instances of the kind have been already
+  given; it is therefore easy to understand that portions of wrecks and
+  ship's goods would be a frequent though unsuspected source of infection.
+  Dr. Halley mentions a case, in which a bale of cotton was put on shore at
+  Bermuda by stealth; it lay above a month without prejudice, where it was
+  hid, but when opened and distributed among the inhabitants, it produced
+  such a contagion that the living scarce sufficed to bury the dead. Dr.
+  Walker found seeds dropt accidentally into the sea in the West Indies
+  cast ashore on the Hebrides. He says, "the sea and rivers waft more seed
+  than sails." The waters of many rivers induce diarrh&oelig;a and
+  dysentery.<a name="NtA31" href="#Nt31"><sup>[31]</sup></a> Well water
+  also in many <!-- Page 76 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page76"></a>{76}</span>places has a similar effect, especially if
+  any surface drainage happens to find its way into the well.</p>
+
+  <p>3rd. The part performed by man himself in the communication of disease
+  to his fellow creatures, is perhaps the most fruitful source of the
+  extensive spread of epidemic and contagious diseases.</p>
+
+  <p>In the time of Moses, restrictions were laid on those who had the
+  plague of the leprosy to avoid contagion; the dictum for one so affected
+  was, "he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."<a
+  name="NtA32" href="#Nt32"><sup>[32]</sup></a> All the ancient authors
+  believed in the <!-- Page 77 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page77"></a>{77}</span>infectious nature of pestilential fevers,
+  and some other diseases; but, according. to Mr. Adams, they held that no
+  specific virus was the cause, and merely a contamination of the
+  surrounding air by effluvia from the sick. Thucydides, Hippocrates,
+  Procopius, Galen, Plutarch, all recognized the property of
+  communicability from one individual to another of the plague; and Hecker,
+  on the epidemics of the middle ages, abounds with instances in support of
+  contagion. As regards small-pox and measles, Rhazes observes particularly
+  the connection that exists between the condition of the air and the
+  severity or mildness of these diseases, remarking that small-pox seldom
+  happens to old men, except in pestilential, putrid, and malignant
+  constitutions of the air in which this disease is usually prevalent.</p>
+
+  <p>The history of the introduction of Scarlet Fever, Hooping Cough, Lues,
+  and other diseases into the various countries of the globe, is
+  sufficiently convincing that men carry about with them the seeds of
+  disease; that while these attach themselves to the persons and clothing
+  of those who introduce them into new climes, and flourish independently
+  of cultivation, yet the exotics which they foster with so much care,
+  often disappoint their most sanguine expectations; and these "languishing
+  in our <!-- Page 78 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page78"></a>{78}</span>hothouses can give but a very faint idea of
+  the majestic vegetation of the tropical zone." Art in this procedure
+  fails to accomplish here, what nature but too sadly, under some
+  circumstances, effects most readily. The germs of some diseases though of
+  an exotic character, under congenial influences of various kinds, appear
+  to flourish with native vigour: is it not so, also, with some forms of
+  vegetation? The aloe, a native of Mexico, which lives, but does not
+  thrive well, or reproduce under ordinary circumstances in this country,
+  will occasionally send forth a most luxuriant blossom;<a name="NtA33"
+  href="#Nt33"><sup>[33]</sup></a> so rare is this, that some say it occurs
+  every 50 or 100 years, but no law seems to be established on this point,
+  any more than the statement that we may expect pestilential diseases at
+  certain intervals. But that there are intervals of <i>uncertain</i>
+  duration when the aloe will blossom, when the grapes will ripen, and a
+  general productiveness of exotics will occur, is as certain as that
+  seasons will occur when contagion will be rife, and a most unusual
+  multiplication of disease prevail. This is not an imaginary or
+  speculative notion,&mdash;all observers of seasons and diseases within
+  the last twenty years, may fully verify the statement.</p>
+
+  <p>In 1846, a large vine, the black Hambro-grape, <!-- Page 79 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page79"></a>{79}</span>ripened its fruit out of
+  doors, and was as fine as any green-house production; but during nine
+  years that the vine has been under my inspection, this was the only time
+  I have witnessed such a result.</p>
+
+  <p>We are apt to attribute an abundant or scarce fruit season to
+  temperature alone, but this is an error&mdash;for we have before
+  remarked, that though certain lands may be in the same degree of
+  latitude, the plants which thrive well on one land, will not do so on the
+  other: in fine, that where reason and analogy would lead one to expect a
+  particular form of vegetation, a totally different Flora is presented to
+  the view. These facts are indeed suggestive of new and important
+  deductions. Is it yet explained why the town of Birmingham should be free
+  from Cholera? There is a large manufacturing population, a great number
+  of poor, the usual overcrowding of individuals in small chambers, a
+  considerable amount of destitution and depravity; irregular habits of
+  living, and unwholesome diet, and doubtless many parts of the town, which
+  on investigation would have yielded all the elements usually considered
+  necessary for the localization of the disease: but no&mdash;here was some
+  repelling cause, some opposing agent to the generation and propagation of
+  the pestilential seeds. There are no known laws by which inorganic matter
+  could be supposed to observe such a selection, or such an antagonism.
+  Electricity, magnetism, ozone, gases, exhibit no such elective properties
+  that here they will destroy, and <!-- Page 80 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page80"></a>{80}</span>there they will spare; that they can almost
+  depopulate small villages, and scarcely find a victim in Birmingham and
+  Bath. But if we suppose a living, and multiplying matter as the cause of
+  disease, many local causes may conspire to arrest the development of the
+  germs, or perhaps, even utterly destroy them.</p>
+
+  <p>4th. As to the time of latency, facts crowd upon us indefinitely, as
+  elements of comparison between vegetation generally, and disease in its
+  early stages and history. The seeds of plants are extraordinarily
+  tenacious of life. What a mysterious arrangement of the ultimate
+  particles of matter must there be, by which the vital force remains
+  apparently inactive for many years, and yet when the conditions arise
+  favourable to its manifestation, as it were by an extraordinary fiat,
+  life appears.</p>
+
+  <p>Previous to the year 1715, no broom grew in the King's Park, at
+  Stirling; but in that year a camp was formed there, and the surface of
+  the ground consequently was broken in many places. Wherever it was
+  broken, broom sprang up. The plant was subsequently destroyed; but in
+  1745 a similar growth appeared after the ground had been again broken for
+  a like purpose. Some time afterwards the park was ploughed up, and the
+  broom became generally spread over it. "In several places in the
+  neighbourhood of Edinburgh," says Professor Graham, "the breaking of the
+  surface produces an abundant crop of Fumaria parviflora, <!-- Page 81
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"></a>{81}</span>although the
+  same plant had never before been observed in the neighbourhood. It is
+  impossible to say the lapse of time since these were buried, before they
+  were again excited to the performance of all their vital functions." Dr.
+  Graham also gives another proof of the vital force existing in seeds. "To
+  the westward of Stirling there is a large peat bog, a great part of which
+  has been flooded away by raising water from the River Teith, and
+  discharging it into the Forth,&mdash;the under soil of clay being then
+  cultivated. The clergyman of the parish standing by while the workmen
+  were forming a ditch in this clay, which had been covered with fourteen
+  feet of peat earth, saw some seeds in the clay which was thrown out of
+  the ditch; he took some of them up and sowed them: they germinated and
+  produced a crop of Chrysanthemum septum. What a period of years must have
+  elapsed while the seeds were getting their covering of clay, and while
+  this clay became buried under fourteen feet of peat earth!"<a
+  name="NtA34" href="#Nt34"><sup>[34]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 82 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page82"></a>{82}</span></p>
+
+  <p>What limit can there be to the dispersion of seeds when their vital
+  properties may remain so long unimpaired? The seeds of which we have been
+  speaking were, no doubt many of them, washed away with the waters of the
+  Teith, and carried by the stream into the Forth; and who shall then mark
+  their destination; for we have seen that by such means the most distant
+  lands are supplied with vegetation; for whence come the plants which
+  cover the Coral Islands, unless by the air and the water, and that both
+  contribute, has been incontestably proved. Dr. Lindley states that melon
+  seeds have been known to grow when forty-one years old; maize thirty
+  years, rye forty years, the sensitive plant sixty years, kidney-beans a
+  hundred years. But seeds in general have an indefinite period,
+  apparently, at which they can retain their power of germination; for many
+  of the seeds which had been kept in the herbarium of Tournefort for more
+  than a century, were found to have preserved their fertility.</p>
+
+  <p>It has now to be shewn that the germs of disease also retain their
+  vital powers in a state of dormancy during a lengthened period.</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 83 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page83"></a>{83}</span></p>
+
+  <p>Mead has very judiciously observed, "to breed a distemper, and to give
+  force to it when bred, are two different things." He further remarks,
+  that the seeds of the Plague may confine themselves to a house or two
+  during a hard frosty winter, and be preserved, and again put forth their
+  malignant quality as soon as the warmth of the spring gives them force.
+  It is certainly very remarkable that the Plague of London, which
+  commenced at the latter end of the year 1664, should "lie asleep," as
+  Mead says, from Christmas to the middle of February, and then break out
+  in the same parish.</p>
+
+  <p>It has been also known that an infected bed laid by for seven years
+  had done infinite mischief on being again brought into use. Indeed, it is
+  quite uncertain for how long a period woollen, fur, linen, cotton, and
+  other articles may retain infectious matter in a dormant state. It has
+  been supposed by some that in closely packed bed and body clothes a
+  multiplication of the germs may and does take place, nor do I see any
+  reason why this should not be the case, for these articles contain within
+  their structure the effluvia of the animal body, and they may possibly
+  there find sufficient nutriment for their development. Nees von Esenbeck
+  believed that some of the minute Cryptogamia were re-produced in the air,
+  we are not therefore exceeding philosophical conjecture when we imagine a
+  basis and substratum, though an unusual one, for the germs of vegetation.
+  Exclusion from air and light, <!-- Page 84 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page84"></a>{84}</span>however, as would be the case in packed-up
+  clothes, would <i>a priori</i> give a better colour to the conjecture, as
+  these are the usual conditions necessary for the growth of seeds.</p>
+
+  <p>Small Pox and Cow Pox matter, which are now proved to be the same
+  virus, the former modified by having been through a process of growth and
+  maturation in the cow, are both remarkable for exhibiting their active
+  properties after having lain dormant for a considerable time. And each,
+  though so closely allied, retaining its specific properties.</p>
+
+  <p>This peculiarity in the history of Small Pox virus suggests a
+  comparison with some phenomena of vegetation, <i>viz.</i> that of
+  grafting or budding. The lower Cryptogamia in their fructifications
+  resemble rather multiplication by buds than by seeds. M. Moyen's idea is
+  that every spore or little globule, independently of its neighbouring
+  one, lives, absorbs, assimilates, grows, and re-produces on its own
+  account; this is certainly the characteristic of the Torula and the
+  Uredo, and doubtless is so of many other of the Cryptogamia, the
+  Protococcus nivalis is another instance. Other modes of cultivation
+  produce also great varieties of results of an unexpected kind.</p>
+
+  <p>Would any one, says Dr. Walker, imagine that cabbage, cauliflower,
+  savoy, kale, brocoli, and turnip-rooted cabbage, were the same species?
+  yet nothing is more certain than that they are only varieties produced by
+  the cultivation of the Brassica oleracea, <!-- Page 85 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page85"></a>{85}</span>a plant which grows wild
+  on the sea-shores of Europe.</p>
+
+  <p>These varieties in vegetables have now become permanent, and though it
+  is supposed that each is liable to return to its original condition, I am
+  not yet certain that such is the tendency. A deterioration is not
+  unlikely to ensue in the course of time, because the propagation by seeds
+  must necessarily very much approach the system of intermarriage, on which
+  Mr. Walker has so ably written and clearly shewn that as a result we may
+  invariably expect a deterioration of the species. Dr. Darwin has also
+  poetically described what his experience taught him.</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p class="hg3">"So grafted trees with shadowy summits rise,</p>
+      <p>Spread their fair blossoms and perfume the skies,</p>
+      <p><i>Till canker taints the vegetable blood</i>,</p>
+      <p>Mines round the bark and feeds upon the wood;</p>
+      <p>So years successive from perennial roots,</p>
+      <p>The wire or bulb with lessened vigour shoots,</p>
+      <p>Till curled leaves or barren flowers betray</p>
+      <p>A waning lineage verging to decay;</p>
+      <p>Or till amended by connubial powers,</p>
+      <p>Rise seedling progenies from sexual flowers."</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>The minute nature of the germs of disease preclude all possibility of
+  their being submitted, as far as we know at present, to the inspection of
+  the physiologist, but we may infer many facts from results. In the same
+  way, though with humbler <!-- Page 86 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page86"></a>{86}</span>ideas, as Cuvier could build up an animal
+  from a single bone, can we by a combination of facts infer the existence
+  of living beings and conjecture their forms. "The re-production or
+  generation of living organized bodies is the great criterion or
+  characteristic which distinguishes animation from mechanism." We find the
+  virus of Small Pox, according to Mr. Ceely's experiments, developing
+  itself as a constitutional disease upon the cow, and becoming modified
+  into a form known as the Cow Pox; this resembles the process of
+  cultivation by which a species is converted into a variety, this variety
+  remains for a certain time persistent; the time is not yet known, but it
+  is known that by degrees, as stated above, a deterioration occurs, and
+  fertility becomes impaired, "a waning lineage verging to decay," and this
+  has been observed as a feature in the result of vaccination. I believe
+  Dr. Gregory was one of the first to notice this fact, and deemed it
+  necessary to obtain fresh lymph from the cow; this has been done, and it
+  is not improbable, if the analogy we have drawn be correct, that the
+  slowly spreading scepticism regarding vaccination may be arrested in its
+  progress. If we can explain the deterioration of cow pox virus on this
+  principle we have a hold at once upon the public, and can assure them
+  that the efficacy of the proceeding is as certain as in the time of
+  Jenner. The people, I contend, have a right to demand of us the reason
+  why vaccination is not so efficacious as formerly, and I <!-- Page 87
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page87"></a>{87}</span>affirm as
+  unhesitatingly that we are bound to give the subject our most earnest
+  attention.<a name="NtA35" href="#Nt35"><sup>[35]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Now concerning the re-production of Cow Pox matter, and assuming it to
+  resemble that of the lower Cryptogamia, we can easily understand how
+  degeneration in a course of years should ensue, for we find that though
+  the Small Pox is a constitutional disease, that produced by vaccine lymph
+  is a local affection, so that it bears the relation that grafting does to
+  vegetation, and it is not improbable that such a modification takes place
+  in the germs by passing through or becoming generated in the blood of the
+  cow, that they entirely lose their original and characteristic form of
+  reproduction: the seeds of the disease were originally capable of
+  vegetating, if I may be allowed to use the term, by diffusion through the
+  atmosphere; they now, however, have lost that property, and require to be
+  grafted to exhibit any manifestation of vitality.</p>
+
+  <p>How often will the seeds of a cultivated fruit grow? If you bud it
+  upon another plant, you obtain a being exactly like the parent, but this,
+  as we have seen, deteriorates in a course of years, we have also seen
+  that the virus deteriorates; but not to stretch this point to an unseemly
+  length, I cannot avoid expressing my conviction, that these are elements
+  of comparison, possessing an interest and a practical utility of no small
+  value.</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 88 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page88"></a>{88}</span></p>
+
+  <p>I have before said, that the reproduction in the Cryptogamia, rather
+  resembles budding than seeding. If we observe the Torula, or take the
+  process of all formation, generally it will be found to accord more
+  exactly with the budding than the seeding process, and this peculiarity
+  is not confined to vegetation, it is also a marked feature in the
+  reproduction of infusoria, sponges, polypes, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<blockquote class="b1n">
+
+  <p>"New buds surround the microscopic plant."</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+  <p>The reproduction of plants and animals appears to be of two kinds,
+  solitary and sexual; the former occurs in the formation of the buds of
+  trees, and the bulbs of tulips.</p>
+
+  <p>The microscopic productions of spontaneous vitality propagate by
+  solitary generation only.</p>
+
+  <p>We have but reached the threshold of this vast and interesting
+  subject, the experiments which suggest themselves to the mind while
+  reflecting upon it, would alone occupy a whole life of leisure, and I can
+  but feel how forcibly Mr. Sewell's words apply to us: "The grand field of
+  investigation lies immediately before us, we are trampling every hour
+  upon things which to the ignorant seem nothing but dirt, but to the
+  curious are precious as gold."</p>
+
+  <p>It is difficult, perhaps, to bring many instances, in which the germs
+  of disease have lain dormant for a lengthened period, because many may
+  take exception to them, from the fact, that sporadic cases of <!-- Page
+  89 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89"></a>{89}</span>most epidemic
+  and infectious diseases, are rarely absent from any country in which
+  those diseases have become indigenous, and these cases may be said to be
+  the foci whence originates the epidemic constitution of the air; this,
+  however, would not invalidate the supposition, because one of two
+  inferences must be drawn, either that the germs of disease always exist
+  in a dormant state, requiring circumstances and conditions only for their
+  development, or that the germs are imported from some distant locality,
+  where the disease has occurred, and finding a nidus there, grow and
+  multiply.<a name="NtA36" href="#Nt36"><sup>[36]</sup></a> Whichever
+  notion we take, however, matters very little to the fact of the dormancy
+  of the germs, for in both, a certain period elapses between their
+  transmission and their propagation. It may fairly be presumed, that
+  sometimes one method may apply <!-- Page 90 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page90"></a>{90}</span>and sometimes the other, perhaps both during
+  general epidemic conditions of the atmosphere.</p>
+
+  <p>The Oidium vitis attacked the vines partially last year, and I believe
+  generally spared other forms of vegetation; but this year in my vicinity,
+  cucumbers, melons, and vegetable marrows, are all suffering more or less
+  under the disease.<a name="NtA37" href="#Nt37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> How
+  shall we say, whether are the seeds of last year the cause of the general
+  diffusion at the present time, or were there a sufficient number of old
+  and dormant seeds, universally diffused, and only waiting opportunities
+  for multiplying themselves? We are here on the horns of a dilemma; and
+  spontaneous generation, from which one naturally shrinks, can alone
+  extricate us, if we do not admit diffusion and dormancy. I think I may,
+  without undue assumption, affirm that a period of latency of indefinite
+  duration, applies as cogently to the germs of disease as to those of
+  plants.</p>
+
+  <p>There is yet one other point in connection with this subject, and that
+  is the apparent extinction of some diseases, at any rate their
+  non-appearance in certain localities, which had been at one time
+  congenial to them, and in which they flourished. We have seen, in
+  illustrating the dormancy of seeds, that the broom must have been a
+  common plant at <!-- Page 91 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page91"></a>{91}</span>some considerable period back, in the King's
+  Park at Stirling, or on that site.</p>
+
+  <p>Then again, the appearance of Fumaria parviflora in the vicinity of
+  Edinburgh, in several places where the ground is broken, is sufficiently
+  convincing that this plant must once have been a common form of
+  vegetation there; and as it had never before been observed in the
+  neighbourhood, there must have been a combination of peculiar
+  circumstances capable of rendering germination impossible, otherwise a
+  continued multiplication, as in other forms of vegetation, would have
+  followed of necessity.</p>
+
+  <p>But besides these instances, how many are passing under our own eyes
+  of the disappearance of plants under the influence of cultivation, and
+  the generation of the noxious fumes arising from different and
+  innumerable manufactories. In the vicinity of large cities and
+  manufacturing towns, how rarely do we see healthy vegetation; shrubs and
+  animals drag on a sickly and almost unprolific existence, and their term
+  of natural life is much shortened.</p>
+
+  <p>And if we compare diseases with this peculiar feature of vegetation,
+  how very close do we find the analogies. The Sweating Sickness which
+  appeared in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and at certain
+  intervals multiplied and extended itself at first only in this country,
+  but ultimately more or less over the continent of Europe, has <!-- Page
+  92 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page92"></a>{92}</span>never since
+  the year 1551 shewn any symptom of productiveness, indeed for all we know
+  the disease may be extinct; on the other hand, it is impossible to say
+  whether or not circumstances may arise, under which it may commence
+  again, to put forth its energies and again desolate the land.<a
+  name="NtA38" href="#Nt38"><sup>[38]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Since 1665, the Bubo-plague has not found a congenial soil in this
+  country, or if the seeds be here, which is more than probable, the
+  necessary conditions to excite them to activity do not exist.</p>
+
+  <p>It cannot be imagined that with all the merchandize which comes into
+  this country from the Mediterranean, but that an abundance of the germs
+  of the disease are annually brought into our ports, and disseminated
+  throughout the land. The law by which we have seen that they possess a
+  power of vitality and reproduction, holds now as it did in former
+  times;&mdash;the properties of matter never alter, but the conditions
+  under which they exist may be so modified, as to influence their
+  properties, and the usual course of their operations. It is therefore to
+  <!-- Page 93 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page93"></a>{93}</span>an
+  alteration or modification of conditions that we are to look for the
+  exemption, during the last two centuries, from an invasion of the Plague.
+  To say what those conditions may be in their totality is difficult,
+  perhaps impossible. We may generalize on the subject, and imagine the
+  reason discovered, but all those causes which were said to have conspired
+  to favour the spread and contamination with Plague, were as distinctly
+  specified and attributed, as the cause of our late infliction with
+  Epidemic Cholera. Why then did we have the Cholera and not the Plague? To
+  what particular element was it&mdash;in the mode of living, of
+  destitution, of filth and want of drainage&mdash;can it be ascribed that
+  we suffer under one disease, and not under the other?</p>
+
+  <p>We have made some few observations and comparisons on the mode of
+  dispersion of plants and diseases,&mdash;but there is yet one more point
+  which invites notice. Not only do seasons vary in their effects on
+  vegetation in a remarkable and unexplained manner, but there are many
+  localities to which some special form of vegetation attaches, and which
+  appear to have a power of exclusion of other forms; and as yet I have not
+  been able to trace the connexion, nor can I discover it in the writings
+  of botanists and travellers, who would be most likely to have sought an
+  explanation of so interesting and curious a fact. Dr. Prichard has on
+  this subject some very apposite illustrations. "Still further southward,
+  the austral temperated zone completely <!-- Page 94 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page94"></a>{94}</span>changes the physiognomy
+  of vegetation, and the Isle of Norfolk has, in common with New Holland,
+  the Auracania found also in the harbour of Balade, and with New Zealand,
+  the Phormium tenax. It is however remarkable, that this vast island,
+  composed of two lands, separated by a channel, though so near New
+  Holland, and lying under the same latitude, differs from it so
+  completely, that they display no resemblance in their vegetation. Yet New
+  Zealand, so rich in genera peculiar to its soil, and little known, has
+  some Indian plants: such as Pepper, the Olea, and a reniform Fern, which
+  is said to exist in the Isle of Maurice."</p>
+
+  <p>I must quote one more passage from Dr. Prichard's excellent work. "We
+  have one instance of an island at no great distance from a continent,
+  having a peculiar vegetation. Mr. R. Brown has remarked, that there is
+  not even a single indigenous species characterising the vegetation of St.
+  Helena, that has been found either on the banks of the Congo, or on any
+  other part of the Western coast of Africa. Does the diversity of marine
+  and atmospheric currents more completely separate this island from the
+  continent, than its situation would imply; or are the nature of soil and
+  other local circumstances, the cause of so marked a diversity? The last
+  supposition seems the most probable; because not only the species of
+  plants, but likewise the genera in St. Helena, are different from those
+  of the African coast." <!-- Page 95 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page95"></a>{95}</span></p>
+
+  <p>We are not without instances of diseases, observing this peculiarity
+  which attaches to plants; but their specific characters have hardly been
+  sufficiently considered in reference to climate and situation, together
+  with diet and local influences, to afford us accurate data for
+  comparison. It has, however, been remarked, in every country where
+  Epidemics have prevailed, that some districts or tracts of country,
+  though supposed to possess all the qualities favourable to the
+  development of the diseases, have nevertheless been entirely or nearly
+  free from them. The following passage on the course of the Cholera gives
+  an example of this peculiarity. "Whenever the malady deviated, so to
+  speak, from its normal direction, and passed towards the west, it seemed
+  incapable of propagating itself; and <i>died away spontaneously, even in
+  places which appeared to be well fitted for its reception</i>.&mdash;The
+  rich fertile and densely peopled countries to the right of the Dneiper,
+  enjoyed an equal freedom from attack, which can only be explained by the
+  fact that they were situated <i>beyond the line of the disease</i>." With
+  this I close the subject of the diffusion of plants and diseases, though
+  it would require a volume of itself, to record all that has been noticed.
+  I have endeavoured to select such instances as shall mark distinctly the
+  features which point to comparison without overloading the enquiry.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 96 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page96"></a>{96}</span></p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION IV.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">THE RELATION BETWEEN EPIDEMIC AND ENDEMIC DISEASES.</span></p>
+
+  <p>Epidemic diseases, which multiply their germs in any climate, and
+  under apparently the most varying conditions of temperature and
+  hygrometric and electrical states of atmosphere, offer many points of
+  contrast with Endemic affections, and many of relationship. The latter
+  are traceable to a certain extent, to geological and geographical
+  positions of the localities where they are observed to prevail, in
+  combination with atmospheric vicissitudes and peculiarities, as well as
+  to extent of cultivation of the soil: it has been remarked that the
+  sickly island (as it is called) of St. Lucia has certain salubrious
+  parts, but these are where sulphur abounds; this geological peculiarity
+  has been deemed sufficient to account for the absence of endemic
+  affections in these parts, and with much force of reason; for in the
+  neighbourhoods where sulphur or sulphurous acid, a compound of sulphur,
+  is an element prevalent in the soil or atmosphere, vegetation and the
+  ague disappear together.</p>
+
+  <p>Now ague, and other endemic fevers, doubtless originate from some
+  allied, if not identical cause; for the localities in which they appear
+  have so many <!-- Page 97 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page97"></a>{97}</span>features in common, that we are constrained
+  to acknowledge that endemic fevers have some relations and analogies,
+  though not yet unravelled.</p>
+
+  <p>Geographical situation, together with certain vegetation, particularly
+  of grounds which grow rice, is one remarkable for the production of
+  endemic affections. But the soil which generates or gives force to the
+  contaminating matter, is not alone the part where human beings feel its
+  influence most severely. A low marshy ground, prolific of malaria, may be
+  comparatively free; while some neighbouring elevated land, to which
+  prevailing currents of air waft the volatile elements of disease, may be
+  desolated by their virulent and concentrated action. "Malaria may be
+  conveyed a considerable distance from its source, <i>and be condensed</i>
+  in the exhaled vapour, when attracted by hills or acclivities in the
+  vicinity, and when there are no high trees or woods to confine it, or to
+  intercept it in its passage."</p>
+
+  <p>The inhabitants of the city of Abydos were at one time subject to
+  disease, arising from malaria, generated in some neighbouring marshes; by
+  draining these marshes, which suspended the growth of rank vegetation,
+  the city became healthy.</p>
+
+  <p>Rome is in like manner even now subject to fevers, having a similar
+  origin. Sir James Clark says, "Among the more prevalent diseases of Rome,
+  malaria fevers are the most remarkable, and claim our first notice." He
+  considers the fevers to be of exactly the same nature as those of
+  Lincolnshire <!-- Page 98 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page98"></a>{98}</span>and Essex in this country, of Holland, and
+  certain districts over the greater part of the globe. To the climate, the
+  season, or the concentration of the cause of these fevers, he attributes
+  their varieties. It is the same disease, he says, whether from the swamps
+  of Walcheren, or the pestilential shores of Africa.</p>
+
+  <p>From July to October the inhabitants of Rome are most subject to these
+  affections.</p>
+
+  <p>Sir James Clark further says: "It may be stated as a general rule,
+  that houses in confined shaded situations, with damp courts or gardens,
+  or standing water close to them, are unhealthy in every climate and
+  season; but especially in a country subject to intermittent fevers, and
+  during summer and autumn. The exemption of the central parts of a large
+  town from these fevers, is explained by the dryness of the atmosphere,
+  and by the comparative equality of temperature which prevails there."</p>
+
+  <p>In this respect there is a marked difference between an epidemic and
+  an endemic affection; for when an epidemic disease attacks a city or town
+  we do not discover that the central parts are more exempt than others;
+  indeed, it is rather the contrary; for the most crowded parts of towns
+  and cities are those, if not exactly in the centre, which would be
+  comprised in a space nearer to the centre than the circumference; and it
+  has been in those parts generally where the epidemic influences seem to
+  have exercised the most potent sway. One would more naturally suppose,
+  that a city surrounded by <!-- Page 99 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page99"></a>{99}</span>paludal miasm, and not itself being capable
+  of generating the poison, should be more affected at the circumference,
+  from the simple fact that the paludal germs, which rise in the air, are
+  suspended in the fogs and dews of the atmosphere. These, unless widely
+  dispersed by the winds, would remain within a comparatively confined
+  space; and those situations nearest to them would be most subject to
+  their influence. Besides, it has been shewn, that a small wood or hill,
+  or even a wall, has been sufficient to cut off or obstruct the paludal
+  miasm.</p>
+
+  <p>Without enumerating all the known endemic diseases, two or three may
+  be alluded to for our present purpose; viz. that of shewing that endemic
+  and epidemic diseases have a similar origin.<a name="NtA39"
+  href="#Nt39"><sup>[39]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>It is well known that under certain favouring conditions an endemic
+  may become a malignant and pestilential disease; that Yellow Fever, which
+  is always endemic in the west, Cholera in the east, and the Plague in the
+  south of Europe and north of Africa, every few years takes on an epidemic
+  form, and desolates considerable tracts of country.<a
+  href="#Nt39"><sup>[39]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>The Pestilence which raged in the summer and autumn of 1804 in Spain,
+  commenced at Malaga, and remained for a considerable time confined to its
+  <!-- Page 100 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page100"></a>{100}</span>boundaries, in consequence of the measures
+  of precaution that were used, in preventing all communication between the
+  inhabitants of the infected city and those living in the surrounding
+  country. It was only in consequence of persons escaping through the
+  cordon, and passing into the interior of the country, that the disease
+  spread, and extended its ravages to distant places.</p>
+
+  <p>It appears to be quite clear, that this disease may properly be
+  considered in the first instance of endemic origin; but the tendencies,
+  atmospheric and otherwise, were such as to favour its multiplication in
+  other districts than that in which it first came into active existence.
+  From this we may infer, that the seeds of the disease were dormant, and
+  only became roused into vital activity by fortuitous circumstances. Dr.
+  Rush states, that the endemic disorders of Pennsylvania were converted,
+  by clearing the soil, to bilious and malignant remittents, and to
+  destructive epidemics. Dr. Copland says, it has been observed, especially
+  in warm climates, and in hot seasons in temperate countries, that when
+  the air has been long undisturbed by high winds and thunder-storms, and
+  at the same time hot and moist, endemic diseases have assumed a very
+  severe and even epidemic character.</p>
+
+  <p>Dr. Robertson also confirms this view. "Endemic diseases, in cases of
+  neglect and preposterous management, are found to become more malignant
+  even in the most temperate climates; and to <!-- Page 101 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page101"></a>{101}</span>generate a matter in
+  their course, capable of producing a particular disease in any
+  circumstances. <i>Indeed the origin of every</i> contagious fever
+  unattended with eruptions, with the exception of Plague, must commence in
+  this way." Why Dr. Robertson should except eruptive Fevers and Plague I
+  cannot understand, for they must have had a commencement; and their many
+  points of similarity indicate, if not an identical, an analogous source
+  to other endemic fevers.</p>
+
+  <p>It will doubtless be generally acknowledged that endemic and epidemic
+  diseases depend upon some unknown agents, having their source in
+  malarious districts, and being capable of assuming either a contagious or
+  non-contagious character, according to circumstances.</p>
+
+  <p>If, therefore, we find that under any conditions an endemic affection
+  becomes capable of being propagated by contagion, the same law will hold
+  with regard to it as to the Plague; that the power of reproduction in
+  this matter is evidence of life, according to the doctrine laid down in
+  the earlier part of this work. But whether or not infection be admitted,
+  a matter generated in a malarious district, if confined in its effects to
+  that district alone, would not necessarily imply an inorganic nature of
+  the poison; for it is difficult to understand how inorganic poison,
+  prevailing generally over a certain tract of country, could select
+  particular individuals for its victims. If chloroform, chlorine, carbonic
+  acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, or even spores of poisonous fungi, (as <!--
+  Page 102 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page102"></a>{102}</span>supposed by Mitchell, which, as he regards
+  their effects, would act in a similar manner to inorganic compounds) were
+  the agents, all persons would suffer more or less, and the majority be
+  similarly affected. We do not find that uniformity of symptoms, which
+  attend upon the exhibition of poisons in the ordinary acceptation of the
+  term, poisoning. This subject shall be more particularly considered, when
+  treating of the influence of organic germs on animals and plants.</p>
+
+  <p>The history of the Eclair steamer is particularly interesting, as
+  shewing the extraordinary tenacity with which the germs of disease attach
+  themselves to vessels, which we may call floating houses.</p>
+
+  <p>The crew of the Eclair contracted Yellow Fever on the coast of Africa,
+  and a number of them died. The remainder, sick and well, landed at Bona
+  Vista, one of the Cape de Verde Islands, and the vessel underwent a
+  process of washing, whitewashing, and fumigating. Nevertheless, on the
+  return of the ship's company, the disease broke out again with equal
+  intensity, and the vessel was ordered home. Sixty-five out of 146
+  officers and men, who composed the crew, died of the disease before
+  reaching Portsmouth, and twenty-three were sick at the time of
+  arrival.</p>
+
+  <p>Eight days after the Eclair left Bona Vista, a Portuguese soldier who
+  had mixed with her crew died in the fort which had been occupied by them.
+  Other soldiers then fell sick, and the fort was abandoned. The fever
+  still spread.</p>
+
+  <p>From the 20th September, when the first soldier <!-- Page 103 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page103"></a>{103}</span>was attacked, to the
+  first week in December, the fever continued to rage, and at that period
+  it had found its way into almost all the country villages. The fever was
+  believed to be the genuine black vomit fever; it proved contagious almost
+  without exception to the nurses of the sick.</p>
+
+  <p>This is an abstract of Mr. Rendell's letter to Lord Aberdeen, Mr.
+  Rendell being British Consul at Bona Vista.</p>
+
+  <p>Now at the time the fever broke out in the island the weather was
+  extraordinarily hot, and much rain had fallen, and the town itself was
+  badly drained and in a filthy state; can it be imagined then that the
+  seeds of a disease liable to assume a pestilential character should lie
+  dormant or be annihilated under circumstances the most favourable for
+  their development, especially when we know that endemic diseases may
+  assume a malignant character?</p>
+
+  <p>This is just one of many cases which confirm our opinion in this
+  respect, that plants and diseases are not long in making their appearance
+  where the soil and atmosphere are congenial.</p>
+
+  <p>The tenacity with which the disease attached itself to the Eclair is
+  sufficiently explained in the absence of due ventilation; in fact, that
+  in the first instance there was no ventilation at all in the hold of the
+  ship. This also the more readily affords a clue to the disaster through
+  all its stages, first in the contraction of the disease as an endemical
+  affection in the vessel; secondly, in the multiplication of the <!-- Page
+  104 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page104"></a>{104}</span>germs in
+  the damp ill-ventilated hold, in a warm climate; and thirdly, the
+  persistence and entire localization of the disease to the vessel when it
+  arrived in the climate of the British shores; while, fourth and lastly,
+  in the unusually hot and damp island of Bona Vista, the seeds of the
+  disease were sown, and, as we might expect, multiplied indefinitely.</p>
+
+  <p>The consecutive attacks of the crew of the Eclair shew that here a
+  noxious gas or a vaporized inorganic poison could not have been the cause
+  of the disease, for as I have before said, in this case the attacks
+  should have been simultaneous; we find, on the contrary, that as the
+  depressing effects of the melancholy condition of the crew was almost
+  hourly undermining the health of the stoutest of them they as surely
+  became the victims. The Kroomen, or natives on board the ship had not
+  suffered, shewing that they were inured to the miasm, or were destitute
+  of that condition of blood which would be favourable to a propagation of
+  the materies of the disease.</p>
+
+  <p>The Eclair we learn had left Bona Vista eight days when the first
+  victim breathed his last; this would give perhaps three or four days for
+  the incubation of the disease in the patient, or supposing he had not
+  contracted the germs of the disease before the crew of the Eclair left
+  the fort, some local favouring conditions were the means of keeping the
+  germs in a fertilizing state, for it is clear from this spot the
+  infection spread as from a centre or focus. <!-- Page 105 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page105"></a>{105}</span>Such instances as these
+  might be multiplied to extend the length of the enquiry, but, I think, to
+  little advantage. The chief facts to be gathered are that an endemic
+  affection became epidemic and pestilential, contrary to its usual mode,
+  for the Portuguese official physician, on being consulted by the Governor
+  of the Island as to the safety of landing the contaminated crew, said,
+  "No danger at all; I have often brought sick men on shore coming in
+  vessels from the African coast, and I never knew any ill effects to
+  arise." Putting the most reasonable construction on this emphatic and
+  straightforward language, we may presume that ordinary, remittent, and
+  yellow fever had been commonly imported into the island, for it is not to
+  be supposed but that both forms of disease must have existed among those
+  sick men who had "<i>often been landed</i>," under the sanction of the
+  Portuguese physician.</p>
+
+  <p>To take another instance; intermittent fever or ague, is a disease
+  known among almost all nations of the world, but it usually occurs in the
+  endemic form only. It is universally supposed to depend entirely upon
+  marsh effluvia, and we are accustomed to consider it as attaching only to
+  low lying countries;<a name="NtA40" href="#Nt40"><sup>[40]</sup></a> but
+  this is not always the case, for disease in <!-- Page 106 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page106"></a>{106}</span>this respect, like
+  vegetation, may be found in various latitudes, to accommodate itself at
+  varying altitudes, to the temperature and climatic relations, so as to
+  appear indigenous. But though our prejudices are in favour of a simple
+  miasmatic source of ague, as its sole cause, there are some who believe
+  in its infectious nature. M. Sigaud, in his work on the Climate and
+  Diseases of Brazil, speaks of Epidemics of <i>grave intermittent
+  Fever</i>, and Dr. Copland says, that the epidemic prevalence of ague is
+  a better established fact than its infection, and has been admitted by
+  most writers.<a name="NtA41" href="#Nt41"><sup>[41]</sup></a> We have,
+  therefore, but to go one step further to arrive at infection, after
+  having found that an endemic disease under peculiar circumstances, though
+  but rarely, becomes <!-- Page 107 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page107"></a>{107}</span>epidemic. The number of persons attacked
+  by ague in a malarious district, in proportion to the population, is not
+  so great as might be expected, considering that they are always subject
+  by night and day, more or less, to respire the air containing the germs
+  of intermittent fever; we might, therefore, deny the paludal source of
+  the affection, as reasonably as deny infection, if we found that
+  occasionally, persons, though subject to all the usual influences, yet
+  escaped all injurious consequences.</p>
+
+  <p>There are grades and varieties of infectious diseases, from the most
+  inveterate to the most mild and doubtful; but that all, without
+  exception, which can in any way be traced to a specific generating and
+  organic cause, may assume an exalted infectious character, and that the
+  most inveterate, on the contrary, may more resemble the mild and
+  doubtfully infectious forms, is a conviction that must be forced on all
+  who pursue this enquiry with unbiassed interest.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 108 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page108"></a>{108}</span></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead">THE REASONABLENESS OF THE APPLICATION
+OF THE FACTS TO THE INFERENCE.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION I.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">THE CHEMICAL THEORY OF EPIDEMICS UNTENABLE.</span></p>
+
+  <p>It has been inferred that the germs of disease possess the property of
+  vitality, and a number of facts have been adduced to support the
+  proposition that vitality is the indwelling force by which the matter
+  generating epidemic and endemic disease exercises its influence over man
+  and animals. The reasonableness of the application of these facts to the
+  end in view has now to be considered. Chemistry cannot account for
+  epidemics.</p>
+
+  <p>Our first subject of reflection points to the chemical discoveries of
+  the last few years, and particularly to those of the great German chemist
+  Liebig. We find in the first paragraph of his Organic Chemistry applied
+  to Physiology and Pathology, the following words: "In the animal ovum, as
+  well as in the seed of the plant, we recognize a certain remarkable
+  force, <i>the source of growth</i> or increase in the mass, <i>and of
+  reproduction</i> or of supply of the matter consumed; a force in a state
+  of rest. By the action of external influences, by impregnation, by the
+  presence of air and moisture, the condition <!-- Page 109 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page109"></a>{109}</span>of static equilibrium
+  is disturbed. This force is called the <i>vital force</i>, <i>vis
+  vitæ</i>, or vitality."</p>
+
+  <p>The doctrine of Liebig, that the vital force manifests itself in two
+  conditions, or rather, that it is known to be in two different states,
+  that of static equilibrium as in the seed, and in a dynamic state, as in
+  that of growth and reproduction, is perfectly applicable to the germs of
+  disease; the static equilibrium is referrible to the matter of vaccine
+  lymph when dried and preserved for use, and the dynamic forces of the
+  matter are known to be in operation during its reproduction and growth in
+  the system of the vaccinated child.</p>
+
+  <p>Then as to reproduction of matter by any chemical process, our author
+  can furnish us with no examples, for even in his explanation of the
+  causes of disease he is quite silent on this point, merely acknowledging
+  that diseased products must be either rendered "harmless, destroyed, or
+  expelled from the body." He further says, that "in all diseases where the
+  formation of contagious matter and of exanthemata is accompanied by
+  fever, two diseased conditions simultaneously exist, and two processes
+  are simultaneously completed," and that it is by means of the blood as a
+  carrier of oxygen that neutralization or equilibrium is established.
+  Liebig thus admits that an agent exists in the blood, capable of
+  deteriorating it at the expense of the oxygen, which he maintains is
+  contained in the red globules; he further acknowledges that two processes
+  of diseased <!-- Page 110 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page110"></a>{110}</span>action are going on at the same time, and
+  though he does not explain them, I imagine him to mean that new
+  contagious matter is generated and eliminated from the blood, and that at
+  the same time, there is that condition of body which he would call simply
+  a diseased state, and characterizes it thus: "Disease occurs when the sum
+  of vital force which tends to neutralize all causes of disturbance, (in
+  other words, when the resistance offered by the vital force) is weaker
+  than the acting cause of the disturbance."</p>
+
+  <p>If I rightly apprehend his notions, they perfectly harmonize with my
+  ideas, to a certain extent, on the subject. They accord, at any rate,
+  most completely with the theory attempted to be established, and fully
+  confirm the reasonableness of the application of the facts recorded to
+  the inference drawn from other sources. The difference only rests on the
+  question whether vitalized or non-vitalized matter is the <i>fons et
+  origo mali</i>.</p>
+
+  <p>How is the production of new matter, resembling that originally
+  causing the disease, to be explained by any known hypothesis, except on
+  the assumption of living organized matter? Though Liebig and Mulder both
+  deny the fact, that the Torula cerevisiæ is the sole agent in the process
+  of fermentation: they both equally fail in shewing upon what it does
+  depend, and their difficulty rests entirely on their incapacity to
+  explain the uniform reproductive properties of the matter engaged in
+  this, as well as in all other allied operations. Liebig's statement <!--
+  Page 111 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page111"></a>{111}</span>however on this matter requires
+  notice&mdash;he says, "that <i>putrifying</i> blood, white of egg, flesh
+  and cheese, produce the same effects in a solution of sugar, as yeast or
+  ferment. The explanation is simply this; that ferment or yeast is nothing
+  but vegetable fibrine, albumen or caseine, in a state of
+  decomposition."</p>
+
+  <p>This state of decomposition, however, involves a much more complex
+  proceeding, than simply a reduction of matter into its elementary forms
+  of gases, earths, and minerals; for we nowhere find decomposition of this
+  kind going on without the development of some organized bodies, either
+  animal or vegetable: and since we have seen that the spores of the
+  cryptogami are always in existence in the atmosphere, and making their
+  appearance under favouring conditions, and especially when we find that
+  fermentation is invariably accompanied, and I may safely say, preceded by
+  the deposition in the fluid of the sporules of the Torula, we can hardly
+  believe that they are any other than the sole agents of the process. I
+  have now a considerable quantity of the Torula obtained from the urine of
+  a diabetic patient, in which they appeared, as it were, spontaneously.
+  After the urine had been allowed access to the air for a certain time,
+  and the whole of the saccharine matter was converted into new compounds,
+  reproduction of the Torula ceased;&mdash;and those which remained when
+  the process was completed, still continue as organic cells, deposited
+  <!-- Page 112 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page112"></a>{112}</span>in the bottle in an inert state, but
+  ready, on the addition of fresh sugar, as has been proved, to resume an
+  active existence. These germs, it is now well known, may be dried into
+  powder, so as to be blown away like dust without any, or but little,
+  detriment to their vital energies; and there is now no doubt that they
+  exist in this condition in the air, as do the spores of mucor,
+  aspergillus, oidium, agaricus, and all other fungi.</p>
+
+  <p>Mulder, however, does allow some properties to the yeast vesicle; he
+  says, "a variety of strange ideas have been entertained respecting the
+  nature of yeast; recent experiments have convinced me that it undoubtedly
+  is a cellular plant consisting of isolated cells. They resemble the
+  composition of cellulose in some respects, but differ from it in many."
+  "These vesicles, consisting of a substance resembling that of cells, do
+  not contribute in the least to the fermentation, but are exosmotically
+  penetrated during fermentation by the protein compound." These chemists
+  seem to have an instinctive horror of allowing any active properties to
+  the yeast vesicle, that is as far as the conversion of sugar into
+  carbonic acid and alcohol is concerned in the act of fermentation. Dr.
+  Carpenter, as if desiring to conciliate the chemical and physiological
+  disputants, considers that the truth is to be found in the mean of the
+  two extremes,&mdash;that is, that the process of fermentation is neither
+  entirely dependent on chemical laws, nor on those laws which preside <!--
+  Page 113 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page113"></a>{113}</span>over
+  the growth of reproductive matter, but is a process in which both perform
+  certain offices, each depending on the other to produce the combined
+  result; he thus approaches more nearly to the theory of Mulder, than that
+  of Liebig.</p>
+
+  <p>But to revert to Mulder, he speaks of the Torula cells being
+  "exosmotically penetrated during the process of fermentation by the
+  protein compound." Now the Torula is acknowledged to be one of the
+  Fungals, and the chemical constituents of the Fungi approach very nearly
+  that of animal tissues. They contain a peculiar principle, residing in
+  and obtainable from them, termed Fungin, which is as highly azotised as
+  animal fibre. The protein compound alluded to, Mulder says, is not
+  gluten, because insoluble in boiling alcohol, and not albumen, because it
+  is very readily dissolved in acetic acid, and he regards it as a
+  superoxide of protein. This superoxide of protein can only have been
+  produced by a vital action in the cells of the Torula, and as the fungi
+  consume oxygen, and give out carbonic acid, we clearly have all the
+  elementary conditions for their growth in almost all decomposing animal
+  and vegetable matters. It is the nature of the fungi to live on organized
+  matter, but always when it has a tendency to decay; it is for this reason
+  they have been called "Scavengers." Again, we can understand why some
+  animalized or nitrogenous matter should be necessary for fermentation,
+  otherwise fungi could not grow, nitrogen being an essential constituent
+  of <!-- Page 114 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page114"></a>{114}</span>their structure, and further fermentation
+  does not commence without the presence of oxygen, and like as in animals,
+  this gas supports their existence. The conversion of sugar into alcohol
+  is represented by the following formula:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table class="nobctr" summary="Conversion of sugar into alcohol" title="Conversion of sugar into alcohol">
+
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; padding-top:1em" colspan="2"> <span class="sc">Result.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> Sugar.</td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> Alcohol. </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> Carbonic Acid.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> Hydrogen </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> 3 </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> 3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> Oxygen </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> 3 </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> 1 </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> 2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="hspcsingle"> Carbon </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> 3 </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> 2 </td><td class="hspcsingle" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom"> 1</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+  <p>If therefore the process were merely of a chemical nature, where is
+  the necessity for atmospheric oxygen to accomplish the end? it is quite
+  certain that fermentation cannot go on without its presence. Let us
+  compare the action of ferment or yeast in a dried state to the action of
+  albumen, which Liebig says is sufficient when decomposing to set up
+  fermentation. "The white of eggs when added to saccharine liquors
+  requires a period of three weeks, with a temperature of 96° F. before it
+  will excite fermentation."<a name="NtA42"
+  href="#Nt42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> But any saccharine liquor on exposure to
+  the air, though entirely destitute of albumen or gluten, will ferment,
+  and the Torula may be found in it. I have found the Torula in a great
+  variety of syrups which have spontaneously undergone fermentation. I have
+  also discovered that the development of the cells is delayed or
+  accelerated by the nature of the ingredient used in flavouring <!-- Page
+  115 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page115"></a>{115}</span>the
+  syrups, with other peculiarities which need not here be mentioned.</p>
+
+  <p>But the conversion of starch into sugar by means of gluten requires
+  some notice, as by some persons it is associated in their minds with the
+  organic process of fermentation.<a name="NtA43"
+  href="#Nt43"><sup>[43]</sup></a> Mulder ascribes the latter in the first
+  instance to the action of heat, evidently believing that the
+  pseudo-catalytic operation of gluten upon starch is the type of all such
+  actions, and regarding them all as simply chemical, but we here
+  distinguish a wide difference; in the latter instance the gluten is
+  decomposed, and rendered unfit for a repetition of the chemical
+  phenomenon, and if it is desired to renew the action fresh gluten must be
+  obtained, and a certain temperature kept up, otherwise the experiment
+  fails. How different is fermentation: in the ordinary temperature of the
+  atmosphere the yeast vesicle will multiply, no incremental or unnatural
+  addition of heat is requisite, and it is one of the commonest and most
+  natural instances of vegeto-chemistry: the grape cannot shed its juice,
+  nor the sugar cane its sap without admitting these germs, which, under
+  certain <!-- Page 116 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page116"></a>{116}</span>conditions multiply themselves and convert
+  the saccharine elements into new compounds. The method by which the
+  conversion of starch into sugar is accomplished is thus described by Dr.
+  Ure. He says that if starch one part be boiled with twelve parts of water
+  and left to itself, water merely being stirred in it as it evaporates, at
+  the end of a month or two in summer weather it is changed into sugar and
+  gum, bearing certain proportions to the amount of starch used. But "if we
+  boil two parts of potato starch into a paste, with twenty parts of water,
+  mix this paste with one part of the gluten of wheat flour, and set the
+  mixture for eight hours in a temperature of from 122° to 167° F. the
+  mixture soon loses its pasty character, and becomes by degrees limpid,
+  transparent, and sweet, passing at the same time first into gum and then
+  into sugar."&mdash;"The residue has lost the faculty of acting upon fresh
+  portions of starch."</p>
+
+  <p>Four points of contrast present themselves for notice as elements of
+  comparison with true fermentation. 1st. The starch solution has to be
+  boiled, so that heat, by which it is to be supposed that the starch
+  globule is ruptured, seems to be an essential portion of the chemical
+  change, and even this may in fact alone be sufficient in such a case to
+  produce some elementary change in the starch, and may prepare it for the
+  subsequent catalytic action of some related organic, though not vital
+  material.<a name="NtA44" href="#Nt44"><sup>[44]</sup></a> <!-- Page 117
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page117"></a>{117}</span>2nd. Not only
+  a summer heat is necessary, but a period of one or two months time must
+  elapse before the starch with the water simply becomes converted into
+  sugar, and if artificial heat is to be used to hasten the operation, a
+  temperature from 122° to 167° F. must be resorted to in order to obtain
+  the desired result. 3rd. When even this is accomplished there is no
+  reproduction of the fermenting matter, and artificial and chemical means
+  must again be applied to repeat the experiment. 4th. The conversion of
+  starch into sugar can be accomplished without the presence of gluten at
+  all, by the aid only of temperature and time. It seems to me, therefore,
+  to be entirely unnecessary to occupy more space in the elaboration of a
+  proof of the doctrine that the germs of the Torula are the sole agents in
+  the conversion of saccharine fluids into alcohol and carbonic acid. By
+  another chemical process starch can be converted into sugar, but I am not
+  aware that hitherto any method has been discovered by which sugar can be
+  converted into alcohol except by the process of fermentation proper.</p>
+
+  <p>I have been thus particular in commenting on this subject, as it
+  bears, in an especial manner, on the question under consideration.</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 118 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page118"></a>{118}</span></p>
+
+  <p>The physiologist cannot afford to lose this process from the category
+  of chemico-vital, or biochemical manifestations.<a name="NtA45"
+  href="#Nt45"><sup>[45]</sup></a> The philosophy of the age has a tendency
+  to make every thing chemical; it is true that the Divinity is as much
+  seen in the laws which govern the elementary particles of matter, as in
+  those laws which preside over the transmutation and sustentation of those
+  elementary and inorganic particles, when compounded in the tissues which
+  are engaged in the formation of living beings. The laws by which acids
+  and alkalies neutralize each other, and the affinities single, double and
+  elective, which the particles of matter exhibit, together with the
+  influences of light, heat, and electricity upon almost every condition of
+  matter, are as truly wonderful as the creative power. Man may, in many
+  instances, imitate the processes of nature, he can render iron magnetic,
+  and form alkaloids, but the <!-- Page 119 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page119"></a>{119}</span>laws which govern the particles of matter
+  are still the secret of the whole proceedings. We do but interpret the
+  language of nature in discovery, the book is ever open before us, and
+  every atom of the world is a word and a theme, capable of occupying the
+  short span of sublunary existence allotted to man. We have read of
+  "sermons in stones," but a book has been written on a "pebble."<a
+  name="NtA46" href="#Nt46"><sup>[46]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>To return, as we every where in nature find a gradual transition in
+  the forms, arrangements and properties of matter, so we may expect to
+  find a link between the inorganic and vital chemistry of nature. The
+  fungi, by which we contend this transition appears to be accomplished,
+  are also a link in chemical composition, between the animal and vegetable
+  kingdom, and not only in that, but in their subsisting upon matter which
+  has been organized, they are deoxidizers and reducers, as the vegetable
+  kingdom in its highest function is a compounder. To their functions and
+  offices in the great scheme of creation, we may fairly apply ourselves
+  with a sure and certain result of the most interesting discovery. Is it
+  no hint that wherever decaying organic matter is found, there do we find
+  fungi? is it no hint that they are found in all parts of the world? that
+  even in snow the germs of fungi will grow and multiply to such an extent,
+  according to Capt. Ross, that the protococcus was seen <!-- Page 120
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page120"></a>{120}</span>by him,
+  clothing the sides of the mountains at Baffin's Bay, rising, according to
+  his report, to the height of several <i>hundred feet</i>, and extending
+  to the distance of <i>eight miles</i>?</p>
+
+  <p>Even stones contain in their interior, or interspaces of their
+  structure, the germs of fungi. A species of Tufa is found in the vicinity
+  of Naples of a porous texture, which, when moistened and shaded, produces
+  vast mushrooms, four or five inches high, and eight or ten inches
+  broad.<a name="NtA47" href="#Nt47"><sup>[47]</sup></a> This author
+  further says: "In the Maremma, where the volcanic tufa is the basis of
+  the soil the surface is intermixed with the animal remains of departed
+  empires, and the ordure of cattle, is covered with grasses of old
+  pasturages, and is wet with heavy dews. Everything, therefore, conspires
+  there to a fungiferous end."</p>
+
+  <p>They are found growing in and upon both vegetables and animals. Nees
+  von Esenbeck imagined, that minute forms multiplied themselves in the
+  atmosphere; and really, when we consider the amount of effluvia composed
+  of the atoms cast off from the bodies of living or decaying organic
+  matters, which are incessantly passing into the atmosphere, the
+  conjecture is not an unreasonable one. The minuteness of those, which we
+  know are always found growing on decomposing bodies, does not preclude
+  the possibility, nay, further favours <!-- Page 121 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page121"></a>{121}</span>the probability, that
+  others infinitely more minute,<a name="NtA48"
+  href="#Nt48"><sup>[48]</sup></a> may be destined to remove the more
+  subtle and vaporous particles which escape into the air.</p>
+
+  <p>We can, therefore, I think, conclude, that the lower tribes of
+  vegetation, may consistently be regarded as capable of existing in almost
+  any condition, and almost under any circumstances, they may be made to
+  grow in plants by inoculation, as shewn by De Candolle, and Dr. Hassall.
+  If the stem of wheat also is inoculated with vibriones, they will make
+  their appearance in the grain.<a name="NtA49"
+  href="#Nt49"><sup>[49]</sup></a> If the seed contain them and have not
+  lost its germinating properties, these worms will be found again in the
+  grain. If the grain containing them be dried for years, and moistened
+  again with water, these animalcules, according to Bauer and Steinbach,
+  will present all the phenomena of life. This experiment I have witnessed,
+  and can confirm the statement. These animalcules in the diseased grain,
+  have under the microscope the appearance of an immense <!-- Page 122
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page122"></a>{122}</span>number of eels
+  crowded together in a small space, and presenting a movement more,
+  perhaps, vermicular than any other, and it is continued for a
+  considerable time. Now if these animalcules, or their ova, can be proved
+  to pass with the sap to the seed, there can be no difficulty in
+  comprehending how germs, considerably more minute and of a vegetable
+  nature, should be found subject to the same peculiar mode of obtaining an
+  entrance into animals and vegetables for sustenance. "It is usually
+  imagined," says Dr. Carpenter, "that the germs liberated by one plant are
+  taken up by the roots of others, and being carried along the current of
+  the sap, are deposited and developed, where vegetation is most
+  active."</p>
+
+  <p>The chemical theory of disease would be better sustained by a
+  comparison of "the artificial formation of alkaloids," and the phenomena
+  of transformation of blood into the tissues of animals, and their
+  degeneration into effete matters, and of sap into the tissues of plants
+  and their degenerations.</p>
+
+  <p>Professor Kopp of Strasburg, says, "In a chemical point of view, the
+  alkaloids are remarkable for their composition, for their special
+  properties, both physical and chemical, and for the interesting reactions
+  to which many of them give rise, when exposed to the influence of
+  different reagents. Considered medically, the organic bases are
+  distinguished by their energetic properties. They <!-- Page 123 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page123"></a>{123}</span>constitute at the same
+  time, the most violent and sudden poisons, and the most valuable and
+  heroic remedies."</p>
+
+  <p>Upon this very intricate and interesting part of chemical philosophy,
+  it is rather dangerous to enter without a thorough and practical
+  knowledge of the subject. This, however, falls to the lot of few men. We,
+  who are engaged in the study of disease, and of the best methods of cure,
+  are obliged to take the investigations of the analytical chemist, and
+  examine them for ourselves in the intervals of leisure allowed us during
+  the active exercise of our calling. Though with less advantages for the
+  study of these transcendental relations of organic and inorganic matter,
+  we are not, nevertheless, precluded from forming our opinions on their
+  practical bearings to the phenomena and treatment of disease.</p>
+
+  <p>That there is a matter of a poisonous nature concerned in the
+  production of endemic and epidemic affections, cannot be doubted by any
+  one; I believe indeed, that the chemical theorists admit this, at all
+  events Liebig does, for he says, "The morbid poison changes in the blood
+  are fermentative, just such as occur in beer making." If we start, then,
+  with the consideration that poisons, in a chemical point of view, are the
+  objects of our research; the obvious course to take is to enquire what is
+  the source of poisons generally, and what their effects on the animal
+  economy? The mineral poisons are entirely excluded from the enquiry by
+  their <!-- Page 124 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page124"></a>{124}</span>inaptitude for diffusion, and their
+  uniform effects upon all persons, differing only in degree in their
+  operation. The same objections apply to gaseous poisons, except that to
+  them the property of diffusion would be admitted.<a name="NtA50"
+  href="#Nt50"><sup>[50]</sup></a> We come then to the alkaloids, which
+  constitute, as Kopp says, the most violent and sudden poisons. For the
+  production of alkaloids by artificial means, organic products of some
+  kind are required. Artificial heat, powerful chemical agents or length of
+  time, are, as far as information at present extends, the indispensable
+  requirements to induce these peculiar changes in matter. The only
+  instance I can find, in which elementary matters can by artificial means
+  be combined, so as to resemble the products of nature, is that of the
+  conversion of carbon and nitrogen into cyanogen. But the process by which
+  this is accomplished, leads rather to doubt whether it be really and
+  simply by a combination of <i>elementary</i> carbon and nitrogen. I
+  extract the following from the Annual Report of the Progress of
+  Chemistry, for 1848. "H. Delbruck has performed some experiments on the
+  important subject of the formation of cyanogen. He confirms the
+  statements of Desfosses and Fownes, inasmuch as a <i>weak but
+  distinct</i> formation of cyanogen was observed on igniting <!-- Page 125
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page125"></a>{125}</span><i>sugar-charcoal</i><a name="NtA51"
+  href="#Nt51"><sup>[51]</sup></a> with carbonate of potassa in an
+  atmosphere of nitrogen." The use of sugar-charcoal, may be perhaps an
+  explanation of the weak formation of cyanogen, for in these numerous and
+  successive chemical changes of matter, it is impossible to say how many
+  sources of error may arise. The constant contradictions of each other,
+  and the opposite statements made by chemists, of equal eminence, leave us
+  in a wilderness of doubt, from which we are not likely to be freed, until
+  definite laws shall be discovered to act as a guide in the comprehension
+  of the higher branches of Chemical Philosophy.</p>
+
+  <p>But supposing that the generation of alkaloids could take place in the
+  body, or some analogous poisonous matter, we have yet to imagine a whole
+  host of peculiar and essential conditions to effect this change, besides
+  an atmospheric agent or agents to set in motion those compositions and
+  decompositions, capable of bringing out these new products from the
+  elements of blood. We are aware that in the blood, carbon and nitrogen
+  are sufficiently abundant as well as saline compounds, to generate
+  cyanides, and, with hydrogen also there in plenty, hydrocyanates, and
+  thus from them many other poisonous products, but how is all this to be
+  effected? And even if effected, it is yet a question if such compounds
+  can in any way simulate the attacks of epidemic disease. We have <!--
+  Page 126 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page126"></a>{126}</span>already shewn that the amount of most
+  poisons necessary to destroy an individual, can be pretty clearly
+  estimated, and their <i>modus operandi</i> is tolerably well understood.
+  Again, the most essential part, in which all chemical theory fails, is an
+  explanation of the reproduction of contagious matter.</p>
+
+  <p>The catalytic process, by which decompositions are said to be
+  effected, and in which Liebig includes the various fermentations, is one
+  of those chemical relations of matter to matter, considered by some as
+  the probable cause of infection. Mr. Simon, in a late lecture, has said,
+  "I consider the phenomena of infective diseases, to be essentially
+  chemical, and I look to chemistry to enlighten the darkness of their
+  pathology. Qualitative modifications, affecting the molecules of matter
+  as to their modes of action and reaction, are such as form the subject of
+  chemical science; and those humoral changes which arise as the result of
+  infection clearly fall within the terms of its definitions." Further on
+  he adds: "The phenomena of infected diseases appears then, in many
+  respects, to be sui generis. Certainly they are chemical. <i>Probably</i>
+  they belong to that <i>class</i> of chemical actions called
+  <i>catalytic</i>."<a name="NtA52" href="#Nt52"><sup>[52]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 127 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page127"></a>{127}</span></p>
+
+  <p>It is not improbable that something resembling a catalytic action may
+  take place in the blood in those diseases of endemic and epidemic origin,
+  but that it can be by a chemical process alone is contrary to all
+  experience of catalytic operations, for except in the instance of
+  fermentation proper, there is no multiplication of the fermentative
+  matter. The action of the matter of contagion seems to stand on the
+  confines between electro-chemical and bio-chemical manifestations, and so
+  long as no chemical explanation can be given for the multiplication of
+  the matter of infection, the most rational course to adopt is to assume
+  that life under some unknown form is, as we every where find it, the sole
+  reproductive agent.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 128 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page128"></a>{128}</span></p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION II.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">THE ANIMALCULAR THEORY OF EPIDEMICS UNTENABLE.</span></p>
+
+  <p>The animalcular theory of disease, after remaining almost unnoticed
+  for nearly two centuries, has been again revived under the auspices of
+  Dr. Holland in this country, and Henle of Berlin. And though not entirely
+  buried in obscurity, this theory had completely failed to modify the
+  practice of physicians in the treatment of those diseases which were
+  supposed to owe their existence to these invisible atoms of created
+  being. The resuscitated notions and all their amplifications, to which
+  the advance of science has contributed so much, are threatened with a
+  like fate, an absence of all practical results.</p>
+
+  <p>Though I would not attempt to deny the possibility, nay, even the
+  probability, that insect life may yet be discovered as the cause of some
+  diseases,<a name="NtA53" href="#Nt53"><sup>[53]</sup></a> still <!-- Page
+  129 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page129"></a>{129}</span>there are
+  many and cogent reasons against both, and which are at variance with
+  facts and observations. Where insect life has been found associated with
+  disease, it more especially appears as a consequence than as a cause.</p>
+
+  <p>Disease, in its most enlarged sense, is a conversion of one form of
+  matter into another; it is a transformation of healthy blood and tissue
+  into new and abnormal products. Where insects in all their variety of
+  forms are discovered, their voracious propensities are their chief
+  characteristics, they are the consumers of matter after its partial
+  disintegration, if animal matter be their food, unless they be
+  carnivorous and predacious, or if herbivorous they usually feed upon the
+  tender shoots of plants. Thus far we are certain of the manner in which
+  insects destroy living matter; it is a process the unassisted eye may
+  every where witness, and which experience has amply attested. To take,
+  however, the animalcular world as it presents itself to us under the
+  microscope, and as the intermediate step between the manifest and the
+  hidden for a fairer and more direct method of reaching the truth, what do
+  we observe to be the ruling law of infusory instinct? They live to feed;
+  the term polygastrica sufficiently implies their natural tendency to
+  consume. The simplest form of animalcular life, seen in the genera of
+  monads, still preserves the animal character by possessing a stomach or
+  stomachs in which the food is received, to be digested for the
+  nourishment of the <!-- Page 130 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page130"></a>{130}</span>system; and even some of these minute
+  objects which vary in size from one <i>two-thousandth</i>, to one
+  <i>three-thousandth</i> of a line in diameter, are said to be carnivorous
+  and predacious. Upon this fact alone, I would place the improbability of
+  insects being the cause of epidemic disease. Each insect doubtless has
+  its own peculiar food, and whether it be a vegetable or animal feeder, it
+  consumes the matter already organized for conversion into its own tissue,
+  and the only change which could be affected by them in the blood, would
+  necessarily be that of appropriation of some one of the constituents as
+  an element of food; when that food is digested, (taking digestion
+  generally as an identical process,) the excrementitious matter is
+  composed of secretions and disorganized matter, mixed together as an
+  <i>effete</i> product, and destined then for reorganization by the
+  vegetable kingdom. Now all animals, whether they be large or small, live
+  on organized matter,&mdash;they convert that matter into an inorganic
+  form, and I cannot help imagining that if epidemic diseases and fevers
+  depended upon animalcular growth and development in the blood or tissues
+  of the body, the excretions or secretions from them would have yielded
+  some information to the searching enquiries of the chemist, supposing
+  that these excretions and secretions were capable of reaching to a
+  sufficient amount in quantity, to bring about those fatal effects of
+  poisoning, we witness in Cholera and other epidemic affections. Insects,
+  I <!-- Page 131 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page131"></a>{131}</span>believe are poisonous only by their
+  secretions, and though they are known to multiply with exceeding
+  rapidity, I can hardly imagine that by their development, however rapid,
+  they could produce such a change in the human body, as to bring about the
+  speedy dissolution, and generally gangrenous appearance, that has
+  invariably been observed in those suddenly dying under the influence of
+  epidemic poisons. The vibriones, whose destructive effects on wheat are
+  so well known, are a genus of animalcules, which at first would seem to
+  favour the animalcular theory in a remarkable manner; for on examining
+  them, they do not appear to possess any other structure than a gelatinous
+  absorbing mass, in this respect resembling a vegetable.</p>
+
+  <p>But Ehrenberg's scrutiny corrected the error of De Blanville, and
+  shewed, that they were far from being agastria, or stomachless animals.
+  The Rev. William Kirby says, "Ehrenberg has studied the vibriones in
+  almost every climate, and has discovered, by keeping them in coloured
+  waters, that they are not the simple animals that Lamarck and others
+  supposed, and that almost all have a mouth and digestive organs, and that
+  numbers of them have many stomachs." All the discoveries indeed which
+  have been made on the minuter forms of animal life, have tended to
+  confirm the doctrine that the stomach is the exponent organ of an animal;
+  that is, in all animals there exists, in a variety of modified
+  conditions, a receptacle for food. Some of the <!-- Page 132 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page132"></a>{132}</span>animalcules, however,
+  are still supposed to exist by absorption, as the vinegar eel, <i>vibrio
+  anguilla</i>,<a name="NtA54" href="#Nt54"><sup>[54]</sup></a> but when we
+  find that the law is, generally speaking, that the receptacles of food
+  become multiplied in number in these minute beings, and the vibriones
+  which were supposed to be stomachless, have been proved to emulate their
+  associates in the number of these organs; it would be more reasonable to
+  conclude that our imperfect vision is the barrier to their detection,
+  rather than to suppose that they do not exist. Besides, when we are told
+  on undoubted authority that some of the animals of this class, have as
+  many as <i>forty or fifty</i> stomachs; the least we can do, is to allow
+  that all of them possess, at least one digestive organ, though we may not
+  be able to detect it.<a name="NtA55" href="#Nt55"><sup>[55]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>So far then for the consideration of animalcular structure: let us now
+  more particularly enquire into their destructive habits, and their
+  functions, inasmuch <!-- Page 133 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page133"></a>{133}</span>as they may be supposed capable of
+  engendering epidemic diseases and fever. The truly carnivorous
+  animalcules, or those truly herbivorous in their instincts, we may
+  presume to be beyond the limits of our enquiry. We have rather to do with
+  those which take an intermediate position, namely, those which feed upon
+  matter undergoing decomposition, or upon fluids containing organic
+  matters in solution, or suspension. If we take Entozoa generally, they
+  may be considered as most conveniently to be placed in this intermediate
+  class; and here we find still the digestive apparatus, and more than
+  this,&mdash;for upon the modifications of the organs appropriated to
+  digestion is their classification founded. "Rudolphi divided the Entozoa
+  into Sterelmintha, or those in which the nutrient tubes without anal
+  outlet are simply excavated in the general parenchyma, and into the
+  C&oelig;lelmintha, in which an intestinal canal with proper parietes
+  floats in a distinct abdominal cavity, and has a separate outlet for the
+  excrements."<a name="NtA56" href="#Nt56"><sup>[56]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>How do these animals obtain their sustenance, and what changes can
+  they produce upon the vital fluid of the body? Analogy is here our only
+  guide. If the trichina spiralis is examined, it is found to be enclosed
+  in a cyst containing fluid; and this is, <!-- Page 134 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page134"></a>{134}</span>doubtless, the source
+  of its nutriment, and contains in solution the elements for its
+  nutrition; but in this instance there is no selection, and there can be
+  no locomotion to an extent sufficient to imply searching for food, as the
+  animalcule in its natural state, when taken from the human muscle, is
+  found coiled upon itself, making about two and a half turns. The fluid of
+  the cyst is thus in all likelihood prepared by endosmosis, for the
+  immediate and appropriate nutrition of the parasite. The cyst is thus the
+  part which performs the diseased process, the containing animalcule is
+  merely the consumer of what is prepared for it by the cyst. And this
+  would seem to be the rule with all parasites, of the encysted kind.</p>
+
+  <p>We have alluded to the vibriones which are found in the fluids of
+  living bodies, and the trichina which is found in the solid muscle; we
+  have now to refer to those which infest the cavities. It was, I believe,
+  Ehrenberg, who shewed that the tartar which accumulates on the teeth is
+  composed of the debris of minute animalcules; in fact, that it consists
+  of calcareous matter, having once formed a portion of the structure of
+  their bodies, the ubiquity of these creatures is therefore as much and
+  clearly established as the lower forms of vegetation. The intestinal
+  worms, of which perhaps the Tænia is the most curious and important to be
+  noticed, are from the locality in which they are found, chiefly injurious
+  by the irritation they set up, and by appropriating <!-- Page 135
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page135"></a>{135}</span>to themselves
+  the nutrient juices elaborated in the process of animal digestion, thus
+  depriving the individuals they infest of that which was destined for
+  their own nourishment. In this, as in all associated instances, the
+  character by which these parasitic animals are marked is their consuming
+  propensity. There is, however, one more observation to make upon
+  parasitic growths; but the question is yet unsettled in what kingdom of
+  nature is the acephalocyst, or hydatid, to be placed. Mr. Owen says, "As
+  the best observers agree in stating, that the acephalocyst is impassive
+  under the application of stimuli of any kind, and manifests no
+  contractile power, either partial or general, save such as results from
+  elasticity, in short, neither feels nor moves, it cannot, as the animal
+  kingdom is at present characterized, be referred to that division of
+  organic nature."</p>
+
+  <p>We thus arrive at the simple cell, and the multiplication of living
+  beings by cell buds; it is the point at which the confines of the animal
+  kingdom are reached, and at which we are driven to speculation. The
+  hydatid lives like a plant, by imbibition; and procreates, like a plant,
+  by budding, either endogenously or exogenously, as regards the original
+  or parent cell.<a name="NtA57" href="#Nt57"><sup>[57]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 136 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page136"></a>{136}</span></p>
+
+  <p>This condition of being, suggested the notion of Protozoa, or first
+  animals, in the same way that the purely cellular plants, that is, each
+  individual, consisting of a single cell, gave the idea of <span
+  class="correction" title="Original reads 'Prolophyta'."
+  >Protophyta</span>, or first plants. Mr. Kirby thus expresses himself on
+  this subject: "The first plants, and the first animals, are scarcely more
+  than animated molecules, and appear analogues of each other; and those
+  above them in each kingdom represent jointed fibrils."</p>
+
+  <p>Admitting, then, that animals as well as plants exist in the form of
+  simple cells, and that their multiplication proceeds apparently upon the
+  same principle in each, it is nevertheless abundantly manifest, that the
+  cellular form of perfect individuals is infinitely more numerous in the
+  vegetable than in the animal kingdom.</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 137 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page137"></a>{137}</span></p>
+
+  <p>From the mosses downwards to the fungi, the whole structure of the
+  plants consists of an aggregation of cells, more or less in number and
+  complicate arrangement, until, through a variety of gradations, we reach
+  the single cell as a perfect individual.</p>
+
+  <p>It is rather remarkable, that the lower forms of vegetables and
+  animals seem to derive their nutriment from matter of a similar kind; and
+  though the office of plants is as a rule, to convert inorganic into
+  organized matter, it appears that some of the fungi may live as animals
+  do on organic matter when in a state of solution. This, however, is
+  uncertain; for we do not know what are the first signs of decomposition
+  in organized bodies, and for aught we can tell, it may be perpetually
+  going on; so far as the disengagement of carbon from the system is
+  concerned, this is certain; but whether the nitrogenous compounds also
+  are subject to a resolution into their elements in the living body, is
+  another question, and not so easy of solution. The partially decomposed
+  elements of animal structures are, however, particularly adapted for the
+  nutrition of the lower forms of vegetation; it is, indeed, from the
+  decaying organic matters that the fungi derive, it may be said, their
+  entire food.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 138 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page138"></a>{138}</span></p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION III.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">SKETCH OF THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS.</span></p>
+
+  <p>Animals and plants depend for their existence upon a nutritive fluid,
+  which permeates their structure; it is the element from which all their
+  secretions are formed, and their organs are nourished.</p>
+
+  <p>The food of animals is composed of previously organized matters, and
+  is conveyed into a reservoir called a stomach, where it undergoes a
+  process of solution, previously to entering the circulation. At this
+  period, the animal and the plant again present points of resemblance, the
+  lymphatics or absorbent vessels take up the products of digestion, and
+  convey them to the blood-vessels, where mingling with the current of the
+  blood, they are conveyed to the lungs, there to undergo a process of
+  oxygenation before they become fitted for the renovation of the tissues
+  of the body. Such is the nature of the food of man, that it contains all
+  the elements necessary and adapted for transformation into bone, muscle,
+  brain, and parenchyma, as well as the other tissues of the body; besides
+  other elementary matters, which, though they form a very insignificant
+  portion of <!-- Page 139 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page139"></a>{139}</span>animal textures, from their constant
+  presence in the vital fluid, evidently perform some important offices in
+  the general economy of life; they are partly, perhaps, occupied in
+  forming constituents of secretions.</p>
+
+  <p>Plants do not require a stomach,&mdash;the humus or soil to which they
+  are fixed is the laboratory, where the nutritive matter is prepared in a
+  state fit for absorption by the spongioles of their roots, and these
+  correspond to the lymphatics of animals; after being taken up by the
+  spongioles, this new fluid mingles with the sap, and passes to the leaves
+  or breathing apparatus of plants, where carbonic acid gas combines with
+  the crude vital liquid, and converts it into a condition fit for all the
+  offices to be performed by the plant: viz. the growth of tissues, and the
+  elaboration of secretions.</p>
+
+  <p>The tissues, however, of plants, though more simple in their nature,
+  present a much more varied character than those of animals, when the
+  different species are compared.</p>
+
+  <p>The bones of animals which give them their form, are invariably
+  constituted of phosphate and carbonate of lime, deposited in a matrix of
+  gluten; muscle, nerve, brain, tendons, and ligaments, have nearly, if not
+  completely, an identical composition throughout the whole range of the
+  animal kingdom: their secretions, however, vary much more considerably,
+  as also do the secretions of vegetables. But vegetable tissue may
+  contain, as in the stems of <!-- Page 140 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page140"></a>{140}</span>grasses, a considerable amount of silex,
+  and some notable quantity of sulphur, and so essential to their existence
+  is the former element, that they cannot live without its presence in the
+  soil, and also with it an alkali, to render it soluble. A large amount of
+  soda, is an invariable attendant upon the structure of marine plants, as
+  potash is of those growing on the land.</p>
+
+  <p>Thus, whether we regard the health of animals, or vegetables, we
+  discover, that besides the matters which are absolutely indispensable for
+  the nutriment of the tissues which undergo rapid transformation, those of
+  a more permanent and durable nature require in an almost insensible
+  degree, a restitution of elements; and though not apparently absolutely
+  necessary to preserve vitality in the being, yet have so marked an
+  influence over it, as to indicate an extensive bearing of each <span
+  class="correction" title="Original reads 'indivdual'.">individual</span>
+  part, on the whole associated entity.</p>
+
+  <p>The elementary tissues of both kingdoms have been traced, in whatever
+  form they may be found, to a cellular origin. The minutest vegetable
+  germ, is a cell containing a granular matter within it, and even man
+  himself, in his embryonic state, may be represented as an insignificant
+  point in the realms of space; and might be placed side by side with the
+  smallest particle of living matter, without suffering by the
+  comparison.</p>
+
+  <p>The laws by which the development of these elementary cells is
+  regulated, so that each advances <!-- Page 141 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page141"></a>{141}</span>to its limit, and
+  fulfils its destination, is one of those inscrutable and overwhelming
+  mysteries of nature, which leads the admirer of creation on and on into
+  the abyss of the future, and fills his soul with aspirations for that
+  time, when the veil of ignorance shall be withdrawn. But this is not my
+  subject.</p>
+
+  <p>The organization of the two animated kingdoms, is then regulated by
+  definite laws, and all matter, whether acting upon them as agents of
+  nutrition or destruction, are equally under their dominion; to
+  investigate and to endeavour to fathom some of these laws, is the aim I
+  have in view.</p>
+
+  <p>The sap is to the plant, what the blood is to the animal,&mdash;the
+  elements of nutrition and secretion are contained in it, and whatever
+  interferes with its normal constitution by subtracting from, or adding to
+  it, deteriorates its qualities, and retards or accelerates the functions
+  of the individual. Excess or deficiency of the natural elements may also
+  be a source of disturbance; if carbonic acid be too abundantly liberated
+  in the soil, as Dr. Lindley expresses it, "plants become gorged;" and if,
+  on the other hand, the elimination be too slow, they become starved. It
+  has been also shewn, that plants though they give out oxygen from their
+  leaves, do not throw it off as animals do carbonic acid from their lungs;
+  but that this arises as a result of digestion, and the fixation of carbon
+  in the system, and that they really respire oxygen as <!-- Page 142
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page142"></a>{142}</span>animals do,
+  and give off carbonic acid, both by day and night.</p>
+
+  <p>That light is the stimulant of the digestive functions, and that,
+  therefore, during the day, the amount of oxygen thrown off, far exceeds
+  the amount of carbonic acid liberated during the same period.</p>
+
+  <p>The great and important distinction between animals and plants is,
+  that the former possess a nervous system, by which they are subject to a
+  very extended series of psychological relations; it is in these chiefly,
+  if not entirely, that we are to look for the distinctive and well-marked
+  differences of diseased action. In animals there are special media of
+  communication between the sources of dynamic power, and the parts upon
+  which the force is exercised: and again, a return communication exists,
+  which conveys impressions to the source of power, and to use a simple
+  comparison, a system of telegraphing is in incessant and watchful
+  operation. This force is influenced and modified in its action, when
+  exercised in the regulation of nutrition, growth, and reproduction of
+  tissues, by the passions and emotions of the mind. All the secretions and
+  functions of the body are more or less susceptible of being accelerated,
+  retarded or modified by the psychical relations of mind and matter.
+  Though we are apt to imagine that in man alone, these phenomena obtain
+  much importance&mdash;there can be but little doubt, that wherever a <!--
+  Page 143 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page143"></a>{143}</span>nervous system exists, whether in the form
+  of aggregated or diffused ganglia, the interdependence of force and
+  organization, each upon the other, bears a certain and definite
+  physiological comparison; the more aggregated the ganglia, the more
+  close, intimate, and extensive the psychical connexions, and the
+  gradations pass downwards, until they appear to be lost on the confines
+  of the vegetable kingdom.</p>
+
+  <p>The diseases of plants and animals deserve a more careful comparison
+  than, I think, has hitherto been bestowed upon them.<a name="NtA58"
+  href="#Nt58"><sup>[58]</sup></a> If the study of physiology, or an
+  enquiry into the laws which regulate the functions of living beings in a
+  state of health, has been materially aided by the intimate knowledge of
+  vegetable physiology, which, from the simple structure of plants, so
+  favours the experiments of the student, there is every reason to suppose
+  that vegetable pathology may also lead us to an equally important and
+  useful result.</p>
+
+  <p>It is quite certain, that if a healthy seed, or leaf-bud, be placed in
+  such a situation, that, according to the laws known, it will in all
+  likelihood germinate, if all the elements for its sustenance exist in the
+  soil, and the temperature and hygrometric <!-- Page 144 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page144"></a>{144}</span>condition of the
+  atmosphere are adapted to it, a healthy plant will be the result. Light,
+  heat, moisture, and soil are therefore to be considered as the agents
+  required to exist in a certain balance, or proportion, in reference to
+  the health or power of vitality of the plant. Within a certain amount of
+  variation, health may persist in virtue of the power of selection, which
+  appertains to the spongioles of the root in absorbing nutriment; and also
+  as regards light, from the tendency which most plants have to accommodate
+  themselves to any deficiency of this element, by presenting their leafy
+  expansion in that direction where the most of its influence may be
+  obtained. But beyond a certain limit an unhealthy condition sets in. If
+  the soil contain not the inorganic elements, which are absolutely
+  indispensable for the tissues of the plant, or even if they be there and
+  not in a state to be absorbed, a dwindling and degeneration ensue; if
+  light be deficient in quantity, pallor, feebleness, and elongation of
+  tissue follow, with more fluidity and general softness of texture. These
+  conditions of plants have their analogues in the ill-fed and
+  ill-nourished children in some of our manufacturing districts; they are
+  stunted and diseased. Transport a healthy country lad, with the bloom of
+  health on his cheek, from his native hills and valleys, or woods and
+  fields, to the stool behind a desk for eight hours a day, in a narrow
+  street in any city, where the rays of the sun rarely penetrate, it will
+  not be long before <!-- Page 145 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page145"></a>{145}</span>the skin of the animal and the cuticle of
+  the plant may be submitted for comparison, when both will testify to the
+  importance of the solar rays, as an indispensable agent in supporting the
+  normal processes of organic life. So far common observation is competent
+  to a solution of the facts; but beyond this we come to the enquiry, what
+  resemblances are there in the early conditions of plants and animals.
+  Each originates from nucleated cells, endowed by the All-seeing Power
+  with a blind impulse of progressive development; the most simple cell of
+  a vegetable multiplies itself by a generation of new cells within it,
+  when the parent dies, and liberates the offspring. Here progression is
+  simply multiplication; it is, as it were, progression in length only. The
+  original cell, however, of animals, which is styled the germinal vesicle,
+  extends or becomes developed into dissimilar parts; and whatever may be
+  the variety, all alike proceed from the original germ cell, and the
+  <i>tout ensemble</i> of parts constitutes the one and indivisible whole;
+  in this instance there is addition besides multiplication, tissues and
+  organs are added in all variety, until the maximum of organic development
+  is attained in the wonderful being, man.</p>
+
+  <p>Yet how many points of resemblance are there between the vegetable
+  cell and the fully developed human being, in a physiological and
+  pathological point of view. There must be nourishment to sustain both;
+  both require a certain amount of light <!-- Page 146 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page146"></a>{146}</span>and heat for their
+  growth and increase, and are dependent upon various unknown causes for
+  active and healthy existence; and when a certain time has expired, all
+  alike return to a condition, in which the particles composing them are
+  subject only to the dominion of the laws which preside over inorganic
+  matter.</p>
+
+  <p>But during the existence of plants and animals, we discover other
+  features of comparison; plants, as well as animals, are liable to
+  disease; they are subject to functional and organic affections. The
+  former, among plants, are usually traceable to atmospheric vicissitudes
+  or irregularities, changes of situation, &amp;c.; and in man to
+  irregularities of diet, and mental and bodily excesses, as well as to
+  atmospheric vicissitudes.<a name="NtA59"
+  href="#Nt59"><sup>[59]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>The organic diseases of plants and animals depend upon a repetition,
+  or continuance, of functional derangement. As a consequence of this, the
+  nutrition and reproduction of tissues lose their normal and definite
+  character, wherefrom an indefinite and abnormal result is obtained. There
+  is a limit to abnormal productions, and they are apparently <!-- Page 147
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page147"></a>{147}</span>subject to
+  laws, though not yet understood. In animals, they may be either excessive
+  development of natural tissue in natural localities, as obesity and fatty
+  tumours; they may be natural products in unnatural situations, as fatty
+  degenerations of muscular tissue; or altogether new and unnatural
+  products, as tubercle and cancer.</p>
+
+  <p>In plants, from their greater simplicity of structure, organic
+  affections are perhaps entirely limited to the two first forms of animal
+  organic disease; viz. to undue development of tissue in natural
+  situations, and to the formation of natural tissue in parts of a plant
+  where they are not usually found in a state of nature. The variety of
+  excrescences seen on the stems, branches, and twigs of plants, may be
+  given as instances of the former; and the conversion of stamina into
+  petals, as in double flowers, as an instance of the latter.</p>
+
+  <p>We derive our sustenance from vegetables, and they from us; they
+  produce for us the soothing opiate and the deadly strychnia; we for them
+  the animating ammonia, and the distortions and sterility of excessive
+  culture; we engender in them, by the latter, debility, disease, and
+  death; and in our turn we become their prey. All this indeed is but a
+  cycle of events, that requires no learned mind to fathom, and to
+  comprehend; it is a matter of every day occurrence, and, though perhaps
+  not entirely unheeded, is not dwelt upon in the fulness of its bearings
+  and importance. <!-- Page 148 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page148"></a>{148}</span></p>
+
+  <p>Let us now consider the diseases of plants, as a study progressive to
+  those of man; and as their physiology has so extensively served us, we
+  may possibly also find in their pathology much material for instruction;
+  not that it will be attempted to shew that the same diseases affect both
+  kingdoms, but that diseases, though dissimilar in effects, may have
+  similar sources.</p>
+
+  <p>Unfortunately, there are not many men in this country, who need go
+  further than their own gardens to find abundance of disease among their
+  fruit trees and vegetables. The vine, the apple and the potato, common to
+  most gardens, will furnish specimens.</p>
+
+  <p>It is an error of a serious kind to suppose, that the parasites which
+  infest plants are not essentially the cause, or, perhaps, more properly
+  speaking, the elements of disease. I confine myself here to disease of
+  parasitic origin, as that is the subject of which I am chiefly
+  treating.</p>
+
+  <p>That parasitic growths are the elements of disease in some instances,
+  is now beyond dispute. The experiments of Mr. Hassall, detailed in Part
+  II. of the Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London, are most
+  conclusive; and they are of that simple nature, that any one may convince
+  himself of their accuracy, by a repetition of them from the directions
+  there laid down.</p>
+
+  <p>He says, the decay is communicable at will "to any fruits of the apple
+  and peach kind, no matter <!-- Page 149 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page149"></a>{149}</span>how strong their vital energies may be, by
+  the simple act of inoculation of the sound fruit with a portion of
+  decayed matter, containing filaments of the fungi. We may use with
+  success the sporules of such fungi; but in this case the decomposition
+  does not set in so quickly; in the one case, the smaller filaments of the
+  fungi have advanced several stages in their growth; while in the other,
+  the sporules have yet to pass through the several stages of their
+  development."</p>
+
+  <p>Mr. Hassan, however, seems to speak doubtfully as to the mode in which
+  the disease becomes naturally introduced;<a name="NtA60"
+  href="#Nt60"><sup>[60]</sup></a> how the spores enter the fruit, "is not
+  very clear&mdash;though probably, it is by insinuating themselves between
+  the cells of which the cuticle is composed, or perhaps by means of the
+  stomata, where they are present. I may here state that the experiments
+  were made on fruit, while living, and attached to the tree."</p>
+
+  <p>But why should there be a doubt as to the parts by which the sporules
+  of minute fungi enter the plant, when it is clear, that not only can they
+  enter <!-- Page 150 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page150"></a>{150}</span>by the spongioles, but by the stomata of
+  the leaves, and mingle with the sap. It is true, that they make their
+  appearance and grow upon the leaves and the fruit; but these are the
+  situations most adapted for their fructification. I have seen the spores
+  of the fungi which attack the cucumber and vegetable-marrow, in the cells
+  of the hairs, and even their filamentous prolongations; these appropriate
+  the fluids conveyed to the cells of the hair, rupture them, and at length
+  fructify.</p>
+
+  <p>On referring to Dr. Lindley's Medical and Economic Botany, I find that
+  many fungi are the active elements of disease, and in a manner which
+  renders it highly improbable that they are so in any other way, than by
+  obtaining an entrance to the sap of the plants. Of the microscopic fungus
+  which destroys wheat, the Uredo caries of De Candolle, we find the
+  habitat to be within the ovary of the corn, and that 4,000,000 may be
+  contained in a grain of wheat,&mdash;now this and another fungus, the
+  Lanosa nivalis, are said to destroy whole crops of corn: we cannot
+  imagine that such an extensive affection, can have any other source than
+  by means of the spores through the sap, seeing that bruising of the
+  surface, or rupture of the cuticle of the apple, a comparatively soft
+  fruit is necessary to produce the disease artificially in them; besides,
+  a grain of corn containing vibriones, when grown and having fruited, the
+  new fruit also contains them&mdash;now here, as this is I believe almost
+  invariably the <!-- Page 151 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page151"></a>{151}</span>case, either they or their ova must be
+  carried with the sap to the new germs.</p>
+
+  <p>It is rather a remarkable fact, that these entophytes appropriate the
+  nutriment destined for the plant in which they grow, they are
+  consequently the means in many instances of its entire destruction,
+  though only partially so in others.</p>
+
+  <p>There are many Fungi which have this tendency. The Puccinia gramienis,
+  "preys upon the juices of plants, and prevents the grain from swelling."
+  The Æcidium urticæ, common on nettles, deprives the plant on which it
+  grows, of the organizable matter, intended for its own nutrition. The
+  Erysiphe communis, overruns and destroys peas. The Botrytis infestans,
+  "attacks the leaves and stems of potatoes." The Oidium abortifaciens,
+  attacks the ovaries of grasses&mdash;and the Oidium Tuckeri, "a
+  formidable parasite, destroys the functions of the skin, of the parts it
+  attacks." The latter has been most injurious to the vines, during the
+  last two years. I have known instances in which the vines have been cut
+  down, and every means taken to rid the houses of the disease; but this
+  year, it has made its appearance, with all its former virulence, in the
+  new shoots.</p>
+
+  <p>This, however, is sufficient to shew that plants are liable to
+  disease, depending upon parasitic growths, which affect their vital
+  powers, and deprive them of their natural nutritive fluids.</p>
+
+  <p>But somewhat similar diseases belong also to <!-- Page 152 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page152"></a>{152}</span>warm climates; in a
+  letter from Cuba, dated Dec. 1843,&mdash;Mr. Bastian writes, "<i>a
+  plague</i> has appeared among the orange trees&mdash;a mildew attacking
+  the leaves and the blossoms, which finally dry up. It most frequently
+  kills the trees. None of the orange family are exempt; lemons, limes, and
+  their varieties, with the shaddock and forbidden fruit, have all
+  suffered." This disease has continued without intermission, till the
+  present year,&mdash;when the same gentleman writes, Feb. 20th, 1850: "The
+  evil exists, although in a diminished degree, so much so, as to have
+  allowed the trees to produce me 30,000 oranges again. In old times, the
+  same plantations produced me 100,000."</p>
+
+  <p>The West India sugar-canes are also liable to a disease, which the
+  Rev. Mr. Griffiths, in his Natural History of the Island of Barbadoes,
+  speaks of, in the following manner: "This, among diseases peculiar to
+  canes, as among those which happen to men, too justly claims the horrible
+  precedence." This disease is called the Yellow Blast. It is difficult to
+  distinguish the Blast in its infancy, from the effect of dry weather.</p>
+
+  <p>There are often seen on such sickly canes, many small protuberant
+  knobs, of a soft downy substance. It is likewise observable, that such
+  blades will be full of brownish decaying spots. The disease is very
+  destructive to the canes. It is observed, that the Blast usually appears
+  successively in the same fields, and often in the very same spot of land.
+  <!-- Page 153 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page153"></a>{153}</span></p>
+
+  <p>This Blast is often found far from "infected places," and the
+  infection always spreads faster to the leeward, or with the wind.</p>
+
+  <p>"<i>It is remarkable if canes</i> have been once infected with the
+  Blast, although they afterwards to all appearance, seem to recover; yet
+  the juice of such canes will neither afford so much sugar, nor so good of
+  its kind, as if obtained from canes which were never infected."</p>
+
+  <p>I may here allude to the circumstance, that in the island of Cuba, the
+  destructive mildew is commonly called, <i>la pesta</i>.</p>
+
+  <p>It were needless to multiply instances of other endemic and epidemic
+  diseases of vegetables; they are well known by practical observers to be
+  very numerous, and I believe, in most instances, depending upon fungoid
+  growths. The destruction of vegetables by insects, is of a very different
+  nature to that produced by the fungi; it would be as unreasonable to
+  consider the consumption of corn and herbage by locusts, as a disease of
+  vegetation, as the massacre and devouring of human beings by cannibals, a
+  disease of the human body.</p>
+
+  <p>It is true that insects are exceedingly destructive to plants, but as
+  far as I am able to obtain information, they appear to be so chiefly by
+  their voracious propensities; they consume the structure of the plant in
+  its entity, and do not primarily interfere with its vitality. The
+  instance of the vibriones, before-mentioned, seems at first to be an
+  exception <!-- Page 154 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page154"></a>{154}</span>to the rule, but this is rather apparent,
+  than real; and it may be made to apply more as a confirmation, than an
+  obstacle to the vegetable theory: for if we may fairly compare the
+  diseases of animals with those of plants, the existence of entozoa in the
+  latter, would be considered an essential point to be substantiated.</p>
+
+  <p>Having now considered the question as to the infeasibility of
+  supposing that chemical fermentation is the basis upon which a theory of
+  diseases can be sustained, and having shewn that life is inseparable from
+  infection, and miasmatic generation;&mdash;having explained the phenomena
+  of the dispersion of diseases by comparison with the dispersion of
+  plants, and finally, having demonstrated that the physiology and
+  pathology of plants bear so close a relation to each other, and that
+  their epidemic affections depend upon minute organic germs, I submit to
+  the judgment of my readers, whether there is not much reasonableness in
+  the application of the facts to the inference&mdash;that living germs are
+  the cause of epidemic disease in man and animals.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 155 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page155"></a>{155}</span></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<p class="cenhead">RESULTS IN PROOF OF THE TENABLENESS OF THE
+PROPOSITION.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION I.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE LAWS OF EPIDEMIC DISEASES.</span></p>
+
+  <p>The results obtained by comparing certain facts connected with
+  Epidemic Affections of animals, with analogous affections in plants,
+  afford, from the few instances I shall here notice, a very strong
+  presumption, that analogous causes operate in the production of these
+  affections. I have already quoted from Hecker, to shew that previously
+  to, and during the Epidemics of the Middle Ages, the minuter forms of
+  animal and vegetable life appeared to be called into existence, much more
+  abundantly than usual; that famines prevailed in consequence of failure
+  of cereal crops, no doubt depending then, as now, upon the various forms
+  of fungiferous growth. I cannot refrain quoting here, a passage or two
+  from our old friend Virgil; for he confirms not only the fact of peculiar
+  showers in <!-- Page 156 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page156"></a>{156}</span>connexion with diseases, but he also
+  refers to the rust of corn, thus:</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>150. "Mox et frumentis labor additus; ut mala culmos</p>
+      <p>Esset rubigo ...</p>
+      <p>... Intereunt segetes."</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p><i>Georg. 1.</i></p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>Then:</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>311. "Quid tempestates autumni et sidera dicam?</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>&nbsp; &nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; . &nbsp;</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>322. "Sæpe etiam<a name="NtA61" href="#Nt61"><sup>[61]</sup></a> immensum c&oelig;lo venit agmen aquarum</p>
+      <p>Et f&oelig;dam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris</p>
+      <p>Collectæ ex alto nubes."</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p><i>Georg. 1.</i></p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>The occurrence of black showers in this country has been observed
+  during the present year, and I understand that in the fenny countries of
+  the East, the corn has suffered much from the Uredo. I am not mentioning
+  the circumstances as cause and effect, but merely to call attention to
+  the fact, that unusual phenomena of this kind have been generally
+  associated with disease of the animal and vegetable tribes.</p>
+
+  <p>The same causes also predispose plants as well as animals, to epidemic
+  attacks of disease. The repeated observations in the public journals on
+  the subject of ventilation, drainage, and over-crowding, render all
+  notice from me needless, to shew that these, though they do not produce
+  the diseases <!-- Page 157 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page157"></a>{157}</span>treated of, yet that under the influence
+  of bad air, bad drainage, and over-crowding, epidemics are fostered and
+  spread.</p>
+
+  <p>Lastly, says the Count Philippo Ré, "I would remark that if <i>bad
+  cultivation, and especially bad drainage, does not produce bunt or smut,
+  it is certain that those fields, the worst treated in these respects,
+  suffer the most from these diseases</i>."</p>
+
+  <p>It has been remarked by many observers, that a greater fecundity has
+  attended upon Pestilences, and this has been proved by comparison, that
+  the births in proportion have far exceeded the ordinary limit.<a
+  name="NtA62" href="#Nt62"><sup>[62]</sup></a> In juxtaposition with this
+  observation, I will place the following, not as a proof, but as a remark
+  made quite independently of the subject of which I am treating. "From the
+  first the diseased ears are larger than the healthy ones, and are sooner
+  matured. What appears singular, but which I have not, perhaps,
+  sufficiently verified, is <i>that the seeds are more abundant than in a
+  sound ear</i>."</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 158 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page158"></a>{158}</span></p>
+
+  <p>Now these are facts which require amplification, and if these two
+  alone should be shewn upon an extensive field of observation, to apply
+  not only to corn, but to other members of the vegetable kingdom, as I
+  doubt not will be the case, though I am not fully prepared to prove it,
+  it would be difficult to dissociate the fertility of the two living
+  kingdoms from the operations of one and the same, or an analogous
+  law.</p>
+
+  <p>The epidemic diseases of plants are both infectious and contagious, at
+  times they are observed to be endemic only, and then depending
+  particularly upon some local causes. This is a law of diseases which
+  applies equally to those of men and animals. In connexion with this law
+  is another, which, as far as I am aware, has not hitherto been noticed in
+  connexion with plants. The potato disease, which excited so much interest
+  and created so much anxiety for the poorer classes of society, led the
+  Government of this country to employ the most learned men to investigate
+  the subject, in the hope of propounding some reasons which should explain
+  the cause of the calamity, and thereby deduce a method of eradicating the
+  evil, or, in other words, discover a cure for the disease. Many were the
+  opinions as to the cause of the distemper, which it were useless here to
+  recount, but a method was suggested, to which most people, I believe,
+  looked forward with great anticipations, and this was to obtain native
+  seed, and to sow it on virgin soil. Was the end accomplished? No. <!--
+  Page 159 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page159"></a>{159}</span>For
+  though the seed was sown, and the plants grew, the disease still appeared
+  among the newly imported individuals, to as great an extent, as among the
+  native or domesticated plants.</p>
+
+  <p>As a parallel to this, it may be stated, that, as regards either
+  endemic or epidemic disease, those persons newly arrived, either in a
+  district or country where these prevail, are even more liable to them
+  than the residents.<a name="NtA63" href="#Nt63"><sup>[63]</sup></a>
+  Again, I have learned, that where the potato disease has been so bad as
+  to render the crop almost valueless, the best plan to be adopted is, to
+  allow the plants to remain in the earth, and thus leave such as retain
+  their germinating powers to come up spontaneously the following year. I
+  certainly saw one large field treated in this way, yield a crop almost
+  without disease.</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 160 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page160"></a>{160}</span></p>
+
+  <p>The seasoning, in this instance, seems to bear a comparison with the
+  seasoning of animals and man, under a variety of diseases, which for a
+  time renders them insusceptible of another attack. It therefore does not
+  appear so improbable, that these affections may be regarded, as Unger,
+  the German botanist supposed, the Exanthemata, or Eruptive Fevers of
+  vegetables.</p>
+
+  <p>Another feature seems to associate the Epidemics of plants and
+  animals, in a manner suggestive of analogous causes operating in both
+  instances.</p>
+
+  <p>The lungs of animals and the leaves of vegetables, are their
+  respiratory organs, by means of which, the blood in the one case and the
+  sap in the other, derive gas from the air, and impart gas to it, each
+  taking what is thrown off by the other.</p>
+
+  <p>Now the epidemics among vegetables, have a remarkable tendency to
+  exhibit their effects primarily on the leaves, and particularly on those
+  parts which are appropriated to the function of respiration. It is from
+  the stomates that many of the fungi commence to germinate, and their
+  fructification may be seen sprouting from the opening composed of a
+  chink, surrounded by a peculiar arrangement of cells, which constitute
+  the breathing apparatus of their victim.</p>
+
+  <p>In the earlier epidemics, of which we read, one of the most remarkable
+  circumstances, was the extraordinary influence the poisonous matter
+  appeared to <!-- Page 161 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page161"></a>{161}</span>exercise over the lungs,<a name="NtA64"
+  href="#Nt64"><sup>[64]</sup></a> and they again, were the means of
+  propagating the disease, and spreading the contagious particles through
+  the atmosphere, for we read: "Thus did the plague rage in Avignon for six
+  or eight weeks, and the pestilential breath of the sick, who expectorated
+  blood, caused a terrible contagion far and near, for even the vicinity of
+  those who had fallen ill of plague was certain death; so that parents
+  abandoned their infected children, and all the ties of kindred were
+  dissolved."<a name="NtA65" href="#Nt65"><sup>[65]</sup></a> "The like was
+  seen in Egypt. Here also inflammation of the lungs was predominant."
+  "Here too the <i>breath</i> of the sick spread a deadly contagion."</p>
+
+  <p>It is more than probable that all infectious matter obtains an
+  entrance to the system through the lungs. Inspiring the air containing
+  the pestilential semina is, indeed, the only plausible explanation of
+  infection; for though the skin is indubitably an absorbing <!-- Page 162
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page162"></a>{162}</span>surface, and
+  capable of taking up and conveying to the blood any noxious matter
+  applied to it, yet it is far more probable that the lungs would effect
+  this process with greater rapidity. Then the stomach, the only other
+  absorbing surface to which extraneous matter can be applied, is not
+  likely to be the part where the elements of disease would obtain an
+  entrance to the system, for many facts prove, that infectious matter may
+  be swallowed without any injurious consequences, unless in a very
+  concentrated state. Instances are not easily found of diseased matter
+  having been swallowed, except where diseased vegetables have formed under
+  some combination of circumstances, a portion of diet.<a name="NtA66"
+  href="#Nt66"><sup>[66]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Many facts are on record which prove the powerful effect of diseased
+  grain when made into bread, and taken for any length time as a principal
+  article of food. The history of Ergot of Rye is too fresh in the memory
+  of most people to require more than an allusion here. The stomach had no
+  power over the secale, its poisonous properties were retained, after
+  having been submitted to the digestive process, as was evidenced by the
+  abortions and gangrenes it occasioned.</p>
+
+  <p>But diseased wheat is also capable of inducing <!-- Page 163 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page163"></a>{163}</span>gangrene, and it is
+  more than probable, that many diseases might be traced to the use of
+  infected grain of various kinds. An interesting account of a family who
+  lived at Wattisham, near Stowmarket, in Suffolk, and all of whom suffered
+  more or less from living on bread made of smutty wheat, may be found in
+  the Philosophical Transactions. The mother of this family and five of the
+  children, consisting of three girls and two boys, all suffered from
+  gangrene of the extremities; the father lost the nails from his hands,
+  and had ulceration of two of his fingers.<a name="NtA67"
+  href="#Nt67"><sup>[67]</sup></a> Dr. Woollaston wrote thus in a letter on
+  this case: "The corn with which they made their bread was certainly very
+  bad: it was wheat that had been cut in a rainy season, and had lain on
+  the ground till many of the grains were black and totally decayed, but
+  many other poor families in the same village made use of the same corn
+  without receiving any injury from it. One man lost the use of his arm for
+  some time, and still imagines himself that he was afflicted with the same
+  disorder as Downing's family." It is not unlikely this was the case, for
+  numbness and loss of power was one of the well marked characters of the
+  disease.</p>
+
+  <p>What other afflictions may be due to diseased vegetation and
+  adulterated articles of food, and what loss of life may accrue from cheap
+  and adulterated <!-- Page 164 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page164"></a>{164}</span>drugs and chemicals is hardly yet dreamt
+  of.<a name="NtA68" href="#Nt68"><sup>[68]</sup></a> The systematic
+  practice of adulteration of almost every article of diet which comes to
+  table has become a serious question for the legislature to consider. Take
+  only the article of milk, upon which the young children of large towns
+  and cities, make their chief meals, with the addition of bread. How much
+  milk comes into London from the country, how much is obtained from stall
+  and grain-fed cows in the metropolis, and how much is said to be
+  consumed, would be an interesting calculation. It is pretty well known
+  that a mixture is sold by which a retailer of milk may increase his
+  supply by one-third or one-half. It was discovered in Paris that the
+  brains of animals, when prepared in a particular manner, formed, when
+  mixed with a certain proportion of milk and water, a very fine and
+  deceptive cream; in that city this system was carried on to a
+  considerable extent. I could not help alluding to these facts while
+  speaking of diseased grain, for who shall say to what extent a miller in
+  a large way of business, may be able to "work in," as it is called, a
+  considerable amount of smutty corn in the manufacture of flour? Now, as
+  diseased grain is known <!-- Page 165 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page165"></a>{165}</span>to induce abortion, it is impossible to
+  tell how small a portion may in some cases produce the effect; we may
+  therefore say with Thomas of Malmesbury, "There is no action of man in
+  this life which is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequences,
+  as that no human providence is high enough to give us a prospect to the
+  end."<a name="NtA69" href="#Nt69"><sup>[69]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>To return,&mdash;associated with these observations are other facts of
+  considerable weight. Before and during pestilences, abortions are more
+  frequent than in ordinary times; infectious and contagious diseases
+  induce abortion; besides this, and independently of disease, conditions
+  of the atmosphere have been known to exist when abortion has been an
+  epidemic affection; of this Dr. Copland says, "to certain states of the
+  atmosphere only can be attributed those frequent abortions sometimes
+  observed which have even assumed an epidemic form, and of which
+  Hippocrates, Fischer, Tessier, Desormeaux, and others have made mention."
+  With this reference I will close the subject of comparison between the
+  affections of the breathing apparatus in animals and plants, merely
+  alluding to the probability that under some conditions of atmosphere,
+  independently of heat, &amp;c. vegetables without any other assignable
+  cause will become abortive.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 166 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page166"></a>{166}</span></p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION II.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THOSE POISONS WHICH MOST RESEMBLE THE MORBID POISONS IN THEIR EFFECTS ON THE BODY?</span></p>
+
+  <p>In the early part of this book, I considered the nature of poisons
+  generally, and had occasion to remark upon the characters which separated
+  poisons into two distinct classes. 1st, Those which have the power of
+  self multiplication; and 2nd, Those destitute of this property.</p>
+
+  <p>Of the first we have seen that the poisons of epidemic diseases
+  multiply both in and out of the body.</p>
+
+  <p>The poisons of infectious diseases, not usually epidemic, do the same.
+  Those of endemic affections, such as ague and some fevers, usually become
+  multiplied out of the body only, but under some circumstances, and
+  peculiar atmospheric conditions, they may be also multiplied within the
+  body. The amount of these poisons necessary to produce their specific
+  effects, may be inappreciable. Of the second class, there are two kinds,
+  those derived from the organic kingdom and those derived from the
+  inorganic kingdom. Of these, the amount necessary to produce their
+  specific effects is appreciable and pretty well known.</p>
+
+  <p>But among those poisons, consisting of organic <!-- Page 167 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page167"></a>{167}</span>products, there is one
+  which seems to hold an intermediate place. This is derived from one of
+  the Fungals, and as it takes this remarkable position as a link of
+  connexion between the two classes of poisons, I may be excused quoting a
+  passage of some length upon this agent, from Dr. Lindley's Vegetable
+  Kingdom. "One of the most poisonous of our fungi, is the Amanita
+  muscaria, so called from its power of killing flies, when steeped in
+  milk. Even this is eaten in Kamchatka, with no other than intoxicating
+  effects, according to the following account by Langsdorf, as translated
+  by Greville. This variety of Amanita muscaria, is used by the inhabitants
+  of the north-eastern parts of Asia in the same manner as wine, brandy,
+  arrack, opium, &amp;c. is by other nations."&mdash;"The most singular
+  effect of the amanita is the influence it possesses over the urine. It is
+  said, that from time immemorial, the inhabitants have known that the
+  fungus imparts an intoxicating quality to that secretion, which
+  <i>continues for a considerable time after taking it</i>. For instance, a
+  man moderately intoxicated to-day, will by the next morning have slept
+  himself sober, but (as is the custom) by taking a teacup of his urine, he
+  will be <i>more powerfully intoxicated</i> than he was the preceding day.
+  It is, therefore, not uncommon for confirmed drunkards to preserve their
+  urine, as a precious liquor against a scarcity of the fungus. The
+  intoxicating property of the urine <i>is capable of</i> <!-- Page 168
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page168"></a>{168}</span><i>being
+  propagated</i>; for every one who partakes of it has his urine similarly
+  affected. Thus with a very few amanitæ, a party of drunkards may keep up
+  their debauch for a week."</p>
+
+  <p>This property of the amanita, at once places it in a separate category
+  from all other organic poisons, it has yet to be shewn upon what this
+  intoxicating fungus depends for its activity. Whether some secretion is
+  formed in the tissue of the plant, or whether some new arrangement of the
+  particles of matter or modification of the sporules, is brought about by
+  entering the system, it is impossible to say. Langsdorf states that the
+  small deep-coloured specimens of amanita, and thickly covered with warts,
+  are said to be more powerful than those of a larger size and paler
+  colour. As the effect is not produced until from one to two hours after
+  swallowing the bolus, and as a pleasant intoxication may be obtained by
+  this agent for a whole day, and from one dose only, there is a defined
+  line between this and the ordinary narcotics and stimulants in common
+  use. That the digestive powers of the stomach have no influence over the
+  intoxicating properties of the plant, is manifested in the fact, that the
+  active principle passes into the urine, not only not deteriorated but
+  apparently increased, for, as we have seen, a teacup of the urine from a
+  man, intoxicated by taking the amanita into his stomach, will cause him
+  to be more powerfully intoxicated than by the <!-- Page 169 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page169"></a>{169}</span>original dose. We have,
+  therefore, but two conjectures left for consideration, either the
+  original intoxicating principle is excreted from the system in a
+  condensed form, in which case its indestructibility by digestion, makes
+  it approach the ordinary organic poisons, or there must be an increase of
+  the toxic agent, in which case we must suppose a reproductive process
+  having taken place in the system. "There is," says Dr. Mitchell, "in the
+  wild regions of our western country, a disease called the <i>milk
+  sickness</i>, the <i>trembles</i>, the <i>tires</i>, the <i>slows</i>,
+  the <i>stiff-joints</i>, the <i>puking fever</i>, <i>&amp;c.</i>" The
+  animals affected with this disease, "stray irregularly, apparently
+  without motive;" they lose their power of attention, and finally tremble,
+  stagger, and die. "When other animals&mdash;men, dogs, cats, poultry,
+  crows, buzzards, and hogs, drink the milk or eat the flesh of a diseased
+  cow, they suffer in a somewhat similar manner." This disease is
+  attributed by Dr. Mitchell to the animals having grazed on pasture
+  contaminated with mildew, and the resemblance to the effects of the
+  amanita, together with the persistence of the specific principle within
+  the fluids and tissues of the body, render it more than probable that to
+  some fungoid growth, is due the peculiar toxic effects here noticed.
+  Further: "The animals made sick by the beef of the first one, have been
+  in their turn the cause of a like affection in others; so that three or
+  four have thus fallen victims successively." De Graaf states, that butter
+  <!-- Page 170 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page170"></a>{170}</span>made from the milk of diseased cows,
+  though heated until it caught fire, did not lose its deleterious
+  properties. The urine of diseased animals, collected and reduced by
+  evaporation, produced the characteristic symptoms. All these facts point
+  to some peculiarity in the properties of matter not yet investigated or
+  at least not explained. If we may assume that reproduction is here an
+  element of the persistence and apparent multiplication of active matter,
+  I know only of one instance to compare with it. A gentleman about to
+  deliver a lecture on the properties of arsenic, and its history
+  generally, made two solutions of a given quantity of arsenious acid, in
+  the following manner. He took a certain amount of distilled water, and
+  the same of filtered Thames water, and made his solutions of arsenic by
+  separate boilings, he then as soon as possible placed the liquids in
+  identical bottles, carefully prepared for their reception. In the one
+  which contained the arsenic boiled in river water, the hygrocrocis is now
+  growing, while that boiled in distilled water remains perfectly limpid
+  and free from any vegetable production. There can scarcely be a doubt,
+  that the filtration of river water was not sufficiently purifying to
+  remove the minute spores of some lower forms of vegetation, which not
+  only live in arsenic but have resisted the temperature employed in
+  boiling an arsenical solution to saturation.</p>
+
+  <p>As to the first class, or truly reproductive and <!-- Page 171
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page171"></a>{171}</span>morbid
+  poisons, the most heterogenous ideas have from all time existed. I have
+  introduced the notice of the above poisons, viz. the Amanita, and that
+  which engenders the milk sickness, to compare the results of the morbid
+  poisons on the human body with them, and also to associate them with the
+  effects of diseased grain. From the Amanita and that other fungoid matter
+  which is said to produce the milk sickness, there appears to be a purely
+  toxic action on the system, but in the instance of diseased grain, a
+  blood disease, ending in gangrene, or a specific and peculiar action of
+  the generative organs is the consequence, and where the latter occurs,
+  the poison usually expends itself on these parts, either by inducing
+  abortion, or augmenting the catamenial secretion.</p>
+
+  <p>Now, the morbid poisons, if studied only in their results, shew that
+  there is a combination of these two actions. There is usually, in the
+  first place, a toxic or poisonous action, and secondly, a deteriorating
+  or decomposing action on the blood, by which there is a tendency to low
+  or asthenic inflammation and gangrene. It matters not what form of fever
+  we take as an illustration, whether intermittent, pestilential, or
+  exanthematous, either will serve the purpose of shewing how completely
+  the effects of vegetable organic poisons resemble those which for the
+  sake of distinction (I suppose) have been denominated Morbid Poisons.</p>
+
+  <p>Take an attack from the paludal poison. It is <!-- Page 172 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page172"></a>{172}</span>usually ushered in with
+  head-ache, weariness, pains in the limbs, and thirst, with other
+  symptoms; all these are indicative of a poisonous agent in the blood:
+  then come the full phenomena of the disease at a longer or shorter
+  interval, and tending ultimately to destroy some organ of the body. The
+  mind suffers during the course of the attack, and delirium occasionally
+  happens. In severe cases of this disease, which were more frequent
+  formerly than now, coma, delirium, and frenzy were observed at the
+  commencement of the attack, and a tendency to rapid disorganization of
+  one or several of the viscera.</p>
+
+  <p>If we take the effects of poison of Erysipelas, of Scarlet Fever, or
+  Plague, in each we find at the onset more or less general derangement of
+  the system, usually with cerebral disturbance and disordered action of
+  all the dynamic forces of the body, which clearly indicate the action of
+  a poison; then, unless some favourable symptoms arise, the blood exhibits
+  a steady advance towards disorganization, and sphacelation of one or more
+  tissues or parts of the body ensues. In Erysipelas the force of the
+  diseased action is expended on the skin, and subcutaneous cellular
+  tissue; in Scarlet Fever the fauces ulcerate, and slough and the parotids
+  suppurate; in the Plague there is a general tendency to putrefaction, and
+  the formation of glandular abscesses with sphacelas. Without going any
+  further into this matter, for my present intention is merely to draw <!--
+  Page 173 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page173"></a>{173}</span>notice to certain facts, let me now ask,
+  whether or not, do the poisons of the Ergot, the Uredo, and the Amanita,
+  exhibit more analogy in their action on the nervous system, the blood and
+  the tissues, than any other poisonous agents with which we are
+  acquainted? If the whole range of the lower fungi could be examined in
+  reference to their operation on the blood, as decomposers of organic
+  compounds,&mdash;if experiments could be made, by which the properties of
+  fungoid matter could be detected, I would venture to say the whole of the
+  phenomena of these diseases could be readily comprehended and their
+  intricacies unravelled.</p>
+
+  <p>We know that the fungi are poisonous, that at times and seasons, and
+  under variations of climate, they vary in their effects, and perhaps lose
+  altogether these properties. We know that the fungi produce gangrene of
+  the tissues, and disorganization of the blood; we know that their spores
+  pervade the atmosphere, and are ready, under favouring conditions, to
+  increase and multiply; we know that they are ubiquitous, and that those
+  conditions most favourable to their development, are exactly such as are
+  proved to foster and engender disease, and above all, they have been
+  proved to be the elements of some diseases in man, in animals, and in
+  plants. Can as much be said of any other known agents, animate or
+  inanimate, comprised in our category?</p>
+
+  <p>It has been said, we do not see after death,&mdash;the <!-- Page 174
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page174"></a>{174}</span>interlacing
+  mycilium, or the sprouting pileus; therefore the fungi are not the agents
+  of disease&mdash;it has been said that carbonic acid and alcohol are not
+  found as products of diseased action&mdash;consequently disease is not a
+  fermentative process. "In all cases," says Liebig, "where the strictest
+  investigation has failed to demonstrate the presence of organic beings in
+  the contagion of a miasm, or contagious disease, the hypothesis that such
+  beings have cooperated, or do cooperate in the morbid process, must be
+  rejected as totally void of foundation and support." Much as I admire the
+  genius of this great man, it is difficult to refrain from remarking, that
+  I doubt if any of his great discoveries would have been made, if, in the
+  first instance, hypotheses had not formed the basis of all his
+  researches. It has been said, "that casual conjunctions in chemistry,
+  gave us most of our valuable discoveries:" and it is from casual
+  conjunctions that hypotheses are usually formed, the working out proves
+  either their fallacy or their truth, but to say that an hypothesis has no
+  foundation, until demonstrated to be true, is rather knocking down
+  argument. And who, let me ask, has been more prolific of hypotheses than
+  our continental neighbour? Yet he, according to his mode of reasoning,
+  would sweep away all such words from the vocabularies of philosophers.
+  What foundation has the chemical hypothesis of disease, when it fails to
+  explain the most important element <!-- Page 175 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page175"></a>{175}</span>of contagious and
+  infectious diseases: viz. the reproductive property of their germs?</p>
+
+  <p>It is perhaps necessary to say something in explanation of the sudden
+  deaths arising from morbid poisons. They may occur from two causes. One
+  being the result of a concentrated amount of poison germs being inhaled
+  into the lungs, and acting as an ordinary toxic agent; and the other,
+  which I put only hypothetically, the consequence of the rapid evolution
+  of gas in the vessels arising from a sudden decomposition of blood, as it
+  passes through the lungs. The only authority I have for this supposition,
+  is the fact that the blood after death, from pestilential affections, is
+  found to be far advanced towards decomposition; that in Paris last year,
+  two patients were bled while suffering from Cholera, and with the small
+  quantity of blood which flowed, bubbles of air also escaped:<a
+  name="NtA70" href="#Nt70"><sup>[70]</sup></a> and besides this, it was
+  demonstrated by Mr. Herapath, that ammonia was given off from Cholera
+  patients, both by the lungs and skin. These facts, though they are not
+  conclusive, nevertheless render it probable that such an explanation is
+  not entirely out of reason&mdash;especially too, when we know how fatal
+  are the effects of uncombined air, when it enters the vessels near to the
+  heart.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 176 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page176"></a>{176}</span></p>
+
+<p class="cenhead">SECTION III.</p>
+
+<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">WHAT RESULTS DO WE OBTAIN FROM THE EFFECTS OF REMEDIAL AGENTS, IN PROOF OF THE HYPOTHESIS?</span></p>
+
+  <p>I have here used the word hypothesis, because, having so far advanced
+  in the enquiry, I trust sufficient has been said to render the term
+  applicable.</p>
+
+  <p>Under the term remedial agents, I shall include all those causes,
+  whether natural or artificial, which tend to neutralize or destroy the
+  germs of infection, or miasmatic poison, whether this be effected out of
+  or within the body.</p>
+
+  <p>First, then, let us consider the results of drainage and cultivation
+  in removing the causes of endemic disease. One well authenticated case is
+  as good as a thousand. I will take one, which, from its source, will be
+  received as unexceptionable; and from its association with a very learned
+  and amusing book, will be accepted as an agreeable reminder of the many
+  pleasant hours spent in the perusal of the poet Southey's "Doctor."</p>
+
+  <p>"Doncaster is built upon a peninsula, or ridge of land, about a mile
+  across, having a gentle slope from east to west, and bounded on the west
+  by the river; this ridge is composed of three strata; to wit, of the
+  alluvial soil deposited by the river in former <!-- Page 177 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page177"></a>{177}</span>ages, and of limestone
+  on the north and west; and of sandstone to the south and east. To the
+  south of this neck of land, lies a tract called Potteric Carr, which is
+  much below the level of the river, and was a morass, or range of fens
+  when our Doctor first took up his abode in Doncaster. This tract extends
+  about four miles in length, and nearly three in breadth, and the security
+  which it afforded against an attack on that side, while the river
+  protected the peninsula by its semicircular bend on the other, was
+  evidently one reason why the Romans fixed upon the site of Doncaster for
+  a station. In Brockett's Glossary of North Country words, Carr is
+  interpreted to mean 'flat marshy land,' 'a pool or lake;' but the
+  etymology of the word is yet to be discovered.</p>
+
+  <p>"These fens were drained and enclosed pursuant to an Act of
+  Parliament, which was obtained for that purpose in the year 1766. Three
+  principal drains were then cut, fourteen feet wide, and about four miles
+  long, into which the water was conducted from every part of the Carr
+  southward, to the little river Torne, at Rossington Bridge, whence it
+  flows into the Trent. Before these drainings, the ground was liable to
+  frequent inundations; and about the centre there was a decoy for wild
+  ducks; there is still a deep water there of considerable extent, in which
+  very large pike and eels are found. The soil, which was so boggy at first
+  that horses were lost in attempting to drink at the drains, has been
+  brought <!-- Page 178 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page178"></a>{178}</span>into good cultivation, (as all such ground
+  may be) to the great improvement of the district; for till this
+  improvement was effected, <i>intermittent fevers and sore throats were
+  prevalent there, and they have ceased from the time the land was
+  drained</i>. The most unhealthy season now, is the spring, when cold
+  winds, from the north and north-east, usually prevail during some six
+  weeks; at other times Doncaster is considered to be a healthy place. It
+  has been observed that when endemic(?) diseases arrive there, they
+  uniformly come from the south; and that the state of the weather may be
+  foretold from a knowledge of what it has been at a given time in London,
+  making an allowance of about three days, for the chance of winds. Here,
+  as in all places which lie upon a great and frequented road, the
+  transmission of disease has been greatly facilitated by the increase of
+  travelling."</p>
+
+  <p>I feel certain of being excused for transcribing this long passage
+  from Southey. It would have been impossible to convey its whole meaning
+  without giving it entire. The continuation of the chapter is no less
+  instructive and applicable to our subject, though more particularly so to
+  an extension of the enquiry. The sore throats and intermittents, from
+  which Doncaster has been freed, by the drainage of Potteric Carr, informs
+  us at once that decomposing matter is the material by which the poison of
+  fever is vivified and sustained, the wet and boggy state of the soil is
+  just the condition, when no drainage exists, to bring into activity the
+  germs of <!-- Page 179 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page179"></a>{179}</span>disease, which otherwise would lie latent.
+  So satisfied and acquainted are we with the elements necessary for the
+  production of fever, that we might as certainly bring about an endemic
+  intermittent by forming an artificial bog, as we could be sure of growing
+  mushrooms by making a bed in the manner laid down by gardeners for this
+  purpose. Dr. Lindley also says, "the <i>Polyporus fomentarius</i> has
+  been artificially produced in Germany, but merely by placing wood in a
+  favourable situation, and keeping it well moistened. Five or six crops
+  were obtained in the year."</p>
+
+  <p>Let warmth, moisture, darkness, and decaying matter be given, and
+  inanimate disintegrated particles will soon be converted into definite
+  forms and combinations instinct with life. It is by the unseen forms of
+  living beings, that the atmosphere is preserved from becoming charged
+  with deadly gases; they take the first rank in the great scheme of
+  animated beings, the plant first, and then the animal. "Let the earth
+  bring forth grass." "Let there be lights in the firmament." "Let the
+  waters bring forth the moving creature, and fowl that may fly," and "Let
+  the earth bring forth the cattle, the creeping thing, and the beast."
+  This is the order of creation, of living things, and the earth was
+  prepared by vegetation for the animal world. The work of conversion is
+  accomplished by vegetation; and this is consumed for the construction of
+  higher organizations.</p>
+
+  <p>The laws which govern and control the universe, <!-- Page 180 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page180"></a>{180}</span>are as definite and as
+  wonderful among invisible atoms, as those which regulate the enormous
+  masses floating in space; and the time will come when the advancing
+  intellect of man will measure and weigh the morbid poisons, as he
+  measures and weighs the stars. Why should the laws of Epidemics be less
+  understood, than the laws which govern the course of comets? The
+  aspirations of man have led him to penetrate the heavens, which charm and
+  inspire him; he studies rather the more violent disturbing elements of
+  nature, the thunder-cloud and the fire of heaven, than the silent
+  pestilence which steals over the earth. I cannot conceive it possible
+  that the Intellects, which are occupied in procuring means for the
+  Majesty of this empire to issue her mandates with the velocity of a
+  spirit to the nethermost parts of the earth, should be incapable of
+  solving so deeply interesting a mystery as the causes and nature of
+  pestilential diseases. It would seem that man prefers to issue a mandate
+  of destruction many thousand miles distant, than to disarm the pestilence
+  at his door. It is barely a century since Galvani observed the twitchings
+  in the muscles of a frog's leg, and the battery, still named after him,
+  has already become an agent of instantaneous communication between places
+  many miles distant. But how many centuries have passed away, each one
+  succeeding the other, with its millions of victims to epidemics? And
+  where are the remedies for the evils? Drainage and cleanliness, with all
+  their advantages, were better understood and more fully carried out by
+  the ancient <!-- Page 181 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page181"></a>{181}</span>Romans than by ourselves; there are
+  monuments, though crumbling to decay, to tell us of the vast enterprise
+  of these people and of the value they set upon a healthy and vigorous
+  constitution, and how well they understood the means of warding of
+  disease.</p>
+
+  <p>Cultivation and drainage are now fully understood to be the basis by
+  which a healthy condition of air is to be obtained, next to that,
+  cleanliness and ventilation; if either be neglected a sickly, mouldy, and
+  unwholesome contamination of atmosphere ensues; the odour of a bog is
+  proverbially mouldy, and so is that of an ill-ventilated house or cellar;
+  dryness, or the fresh pleasant scent of clean water, are the antagonists
+  of these; the aromatic odours of vegetation are opponents of
+  putrefaction, and consequently of the development of the lower forms of
+  life. All empyreumatic matters prevent mouldiness and decomposition; and
+  odours arrest and prevent the growth of mouldiness. The oil of birch,
+  with which the Russia leather is impregnated, and which gives it so
+  pleasant an odour, effectually prevents mouldiness, and consequently
+  decay.</p>
+
+  <p>Lindley says, "It is a most remarkable circumstance, and one which
+  <i>deserves particular enquiry</i>, that the growth of the <i>minute
+  fungi</i>, which constitute what is called mouldiness, is <i>effectually
+  prevented</i> by any kind of perfume."<a name="NtA71"
+  href="#Nt71"><sup>[71]</sup></a> Cedar has <!-- Page 182 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page182"></a>{182}</span>been used, from time
+  immemorial, for a like purpose; and I doubt not the recommendation of
+  Virgil, before quoted, in reference to the burning of cedar, was founded
+  on some practical utility of this kind, though its <i>modus operandi</i>
+  was unknown to him. Allied to these is a curious circumstance, and worthy
+  attention. I copy the following from an old work on Pestilences. "It is
+  remarkable that when the Plague raged in London, Bucklersbury, which
+  stood in the very heart of the city, was free from that distemper; the
+  reason given for it is, that it was chiefly inhabited by druggists and
+  apothecaries, the scent of whose drugs kept away the infection, which
+  were so unnatural to the pestilential insects, that they were killed or
+  driven away by the strong smell of some sorts of them." "The smell of
+  <i>rue</i>, and the smoke of tobacco, were prescribed as remedies against
+  the infection; but especially tar and pitch barrels, which it was
+  imagined preserved Limehouse, and some of the dock-yards from
+  infection."<a name="NtA72" href="#Nt72"><sup>[72]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Pitch and tar dealers are everywhere spoken of as being remarkably
+  exempt from infectious diseases.</p>
+
+  <p>Cold infusion of tar was used in our colonies as a prophylactic
+  against the Small Pox. Bishop <!-- Page 183 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page183"></a>{183}</span>Berkeley was induced to try it when this
+  disease raged in his neighbourhood. The trial fully answered
+  expectation&mdash;for all those who took tar-water, either escaped the
+  disease, or had it very slightly.</p>
+
+  <p>Tan yards and places in the immediate vicinity, are said to be free
+  from pestilences. The tanners of Bermondsey are said to have escaped the
+  Plague of London, and one person only died in Gutter Lane, where was a
+  tan yard. The tanners of Rome are also stated to have been free from
+  Plague. Dr. M&lsquo;Lean refers to the exemption of tanners at Cairo.
+  <i>Tannin is prejudicial to most vegetables</i>,&mdash;but Dr. Lindley
+  says it is not always so to fungi. "A species of Rhizomorpha is often
+  developed in tan pits." I should imagine that neither plants nor insects
+  would be found very abundantly, where tannin prevails; yet we find that
+  the gall-nut is formed for the protection of an insect from injury by
+  weather, and as a temporary means of sustenance.</p>
+
+  <p>The custom of fumigating with odoriferous substances, does not
+  therefore appear upon this view of the matter to be destitute of
+  importance; indeed, the universal practice stamps it at once, as an
+  efficacious remedy for the purposes of disinfection. The introduction of
+  chlorine fumigation, seems to have superseded, in a great measure, the
+  use of fragrant herbs and woods; and it is questionable whether the
+  substitution be altogether desirable or <!-- Page 184 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page184"></a>{184}</span>advantageous. Many
+  scents may be agreeably and usefully employed, with much less chance of
+  annoyance to the patient, and considerably less injury to articles of
+  furniture, &amp;c.</p>
+
+  <p>The fumigations of sulphurous acid and chlorine are, perhaps, more
+  adapted as disinfectants in uninhabited apartments;&mdash;their power to
+  destroy vegetation, is well known. They have been used, chiefly, with the
+  idea of neutralizing gaseous exhalations, particularly chlorine, as it
+  tends to combine with hydrogen, to form hydrochloric acid, and then to
+  unite with ammoniacal matters, forming hydrochlorate of ammonia. This,
+  supposing noxious or pestilential effluvia consisted of the ammoniacal
+  exudations variously combined, was an exceedingly efficacious method of
+  rendering them inert; but as we feel convinced that no ammoniacal
+  compound could possibly be the cause of infection, we must look to the
+  influence these gases possess over other forms of matter, and as they are
+  so destructive, even in minute quantities, to vegetable existence, it is
+  possible that their beneficial effects may be due to this property. The
+  immediate neighbourhood of gas works is prejudicial to vegetation, I
+  imagine, from the amount of sulphurous vapours, and to this has been
+  attributed the exemption of persons employed in these works. Many other
+  instances might be cited of a similar nature.</p>
+
+  <p>I have now to speak of medicinal agents, and here comes a considerable
+  difficulty. <!-- Page 185 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page185"></a>{185}</span></p>
+
+  <p>If we might believe all that has been written on the sure and certain
+  remedies for the "ills that man is heir to," we should be led to
+  acknowledge that both nature and art were prodigal in antidotes and
+  specifics. The all-bountiful hand of nature, I do not doubt, has at the
+  same time scattered the seeds of good and of evil. The fertilizing
+  showers fall to irrigate the soil, and produce food and nourishment to
+  man; here and there is the reeking morass "feeding unnatural vegetation,"
+  and if man takes up his abode in its vicinity, the rains which made it
+  unhealthy, have also made it highly fertile; by labour and cultivation he
+  may convert the mephitic bog into a waving corn-field, and the seeds of
+  life and sustenance be made to supplant the seeds of death and
+  corruption.</p>
+
+  <p>It is generally believed, that where there are particular and specific
+  diseases, there also may be found appropriate and specific remedies; the
+  discoveries of chemistry, it is not improbable, may in some respects have
+  retarded the progress of natural medicine. In the early ages of the
+  world, the "healing plant" must have formed the staple of medical
+  commerce, for though Tubal Cain<a name="NtA73"
+  href="#Nt73"><sup>[73]</sup></a> has been considered as the first
+  surgical instrument maker, because he was the first artificer in brass
+  and iron, we have not discovered that chemical compounds entered into the
+  composition of physic, till very <!-- Page 186 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page186"></a>{186}</span>many years after his
+  time. To the alchemists we owe the science of chemistry, and much of the
+  physic of the present day may be traced to them. The multiplicity of
+  ingredients which at one time entered into the composition of one dose of
+  physic could only be spoken of under the title of "legion." Who shall
+  specify the active and curative ingredient (if there be one), when from
+  five to a hundred may have been exhibited at the same time? It has been
+  the pride of our physicians, that the pharmacop&oelig;ia has been
+  simplified; it has not reached its most simple form yet. That many simple
+  plants have specific and wonderful power over disease, is an indubitable
+  fact, but I firmly believe that the laudable, though mistaken efforts of
+  physicians to improve their effect by various combinations, have been the
+  means of throwing many valuable medicines into oblivion; I must also add,
+  that cheap physic and adulterations have had no small share too in the
+  banishment of much valuable physic from ordinary practice. It has been
+  believed, and I think with much reason, that a thorough search into the
+  qualities of plants, would shew that "they are capable of affording not
+  only great relief, but also effectual and specific remedies." "That they
+  are not already found, is rather an argument that we have not been
+  sufficiently inquisitive, than that there are no such plants endued with
+  these virtues."</p>
+
+  <p>Of the result obtained by medical treatment, in cases of epidemic or
+  infectious disease, it is most <!-- Page 187 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page187"></a>{187}</span>difficult to speak, but as my province
+  here is only to shew that living germs are the morbific agents, I have
+  but to refer to such remedies as have been most extolled in controlling
+  these affections. The disinfectants have already been mentioned in a
+  cursory manner. An enumeration only of simple medicines used during the
+  late Epidemic, shall conclude this work, as the treatment in former times
+  could not by any possibility furnish satisfactory information. Aromatics
+  and fragrant stimulants have in all times taken the foremost rank with
+  acids, such as vinegar, lime and lemon juice. Mr. Guthrie's adoption of
+  lemon juice in preference to bark, which he said made him worse while
+  suffering from an attack of fever, during the Peninsular campaign, and
+  his speedy recovery from the disease, though not from its effects, shews,
+  when many others can bear equal testimony to its value, that such a
+  remedy though simple is not to be despised.</p>
+
+  <p>But to the late Epidemic. Dr. Stevens' saline treatment, appears, on
+  the whole, to have been the most successful. Common salt was used both
+  medically and dietetically, and formed the greatest bulk of the medicine
+  employed. Chlorate of potash and carbonate of soda were added to the
+  medicine.</p>
+
+  <p>The nitro-hydrochloric acid was used with success at St. Thomas's
+  Hospital.</p>
+
+  <p>Dr. Copland used chlorate of potash, bicarb. soda, hydrochloric,
+  ether, and camphor water.</p>
+
+  <p>Dr. Ayre's calomel treatment had as many, if <!-- Page 188 --><span
+  class="pagenum"><a name="page188"></a>{188}</span>not more, opponents
+  than advocates. Phosphorus had several advocates.</p>
+
+  <p>Creasote and camphor were lauded by some. The beneficial operation of
+  all these remedies might be explained on the theory here supposed, that
+  living germs are the cause of Epidemic disease, but the specific action
+  of any one remedy has not yet had sufficient attention or trial to enable
+  me to make any deductions of a satisfactory or conclusive nature.</p>
+
+  <p>In the uncertainty which generally prevailed as to the best method of
+  treating Cholera patients, I was induced (for reasons stated in a
+  pamphlet published last year) to try the efficacy of sulphur, which had
+  been extolled as a specific. In its effects I was not disappointed; but
+  as the results are already before the public, I need not do more than
+  refer to it among other remedies.</p>
+
+  <p>I did not contemplate even alluding to this subject, as it would
+  extend far beyond my intended limits. This portion of the enquiry would
+  be more properly carried out by keeping records of cases, treated in
+  accordance with the view attempted to be established, and I have not the
+  slightest hesitation in saying, that the most ample success would
+  ultimately attend a well directed practice, based upon the principles
+  inculcated in these pages.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 189 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page189"></a>{189}</span></p>
+
+<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3>
+
+  <p>In making the foregoing sketch, I have attempted to put together some
+  ideas on a subject, which has for the last few years been a theme for
+  meditation in leisure hours, viz. What are the causes of Epidemic,
+  Endemic, and Infectious Diseases? The occurrence of Epidemic Cholera last
+  year in this country, awakened a spirit of enquiry. Where there is
+  unrest, whatever may be the cause, there also is disquiet and discontent.
+  When the oracles of the age were consulted in the emergency, the
+  discordant answers perplexed and confused the anxious searcher after
+  truth. In the spring of last year, when the enemy was approaching, unseen
+  and unheard, and the thousands of unconscious victims, who are now lying
+  in their graves, were faithfully trusting and fully relying on the heads
+  of our profession, and the resources of our art, what was the state of
+  our defences, and what the nature or character of our resistance? One
+  considerable body of men would discharge from a little tube of glass, a
+  host of almost invisible globular atoms of sugar, said to be as potent
+  and inscrutably operative as the unseen enemy. These infinitesimal
+  practitioners assured the people that they "<i>had powerful means of
+  subduing the disease</i>," <!-- Page 190 --><span class="pagenum"><a
+  name="page190"></a>{190}</span>but even they differed among themselves,
+  though they carried out to the fullest extent the doctrine of their
+  leader, <i>similia similibus</i>, which we may suppose to refer in this
+  case to the minuteness of the opposing armamenta. Without, however,
+  agreeing with this school, I may quote a passage from Dr. Curie, which
+  is, alas! too true: "We have shewn, as they must (allopathists), and many
+  of them do acknowledge, that they have no fixed basis, no natural law
+  upon which their treatment rests."</p>
+
+  <p>Who can deny the force of this observation? Sheltered by a principle,
+  it matters not how fallacious, a man is placed as behind a barrier. If
+  with any reason it could be shewn that the infinitesimal doses, could by
+  no possibility effect a cure in Cholera; if it could be demonstrated by
+  any line of argument, that a poison, a living poison, circulates with the
+  blood, or lodges in the tissues, the homæopathist must fall; his
+  "electricity and mineral magnetism," and "<i>powerful concentration of
+  life power towards the digestive canal</i>," will stand for what they are
+  worth. That minute doses of medicine can exert an active influence over
+  the body is not to be denied, but these must consist of powerful drugs,
+  as arnica, aconite, and nux vomica, with others, and it is more than
+  probable, that of such medicines, an inconceivably small amount may
+  produce a specific effect upon some portion of the organic nervous
+  system.</p>
+
+  <p>How is it that a dose of nitre or digitalis, "can <!-- Page 191
+  --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page191"></a>{191}</span>convert
+  cheerfulness into low spirits," or a grain of red sulphuret of antimony,
+  "excite warmth and lively spirits?"<a name="NtA74"
+  href="#Nt74"><sup>[74]</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>Why should indigo dyers become melancholy, and scarlet dyers
+  choleric?<a name="NtA75" href="#Nt75"><sup>[75]</sup></a> We do not know.
+  But there is one thing we most certainly do know, that a poison may be
+  disarmed by an antidote, and the amount of the latter must be in
+  proportion to that of the former, and as epidemic and contagious diseases
+  do most unquestionably depend upon poisons of a specific nature, and of
+  great amount and activity, an infinitesimal remedy, however it may claim
+  to direct and control the organic forces, under slight and ordinary
+  disturbances, can be no more effectual in destroying the poison of fever,
+  or small pox, than in neutralizing arsenic or prussic acid.</p>
+
+  <p>The uncertainty which generally prevails as to the treatment of
+  Epidemic diseases, Fevers, &amp;c. induced me to put together the notions
+  which are contained in these pages, in the hope of leading to some
+  definite ideas of the causes of these affections, and consequently to a
+  more uniform and scientific mode of treating them.</p>
+
+  <p>I have endeavoured to shew that reproduction is a phenomenon
+  inseparable from morbific matter, and that in all probability the
+  vegetable kingdom is the source of the germs.</p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 192 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page192"></a>{192}</span></p>
+
+  <p>The train of argument adopted is such as appeared to me most natural
+  for such an enquiry, and it rests now only with those who are capable of
+  deciding whether such a course, though (I am sensibly aware) not without
+  many faults in conception and execution, is calculated to advance the
+  science of medicine and the interests of mankind.</p>
+
+  <p>The real tree of knowledge, possesses in the spongioles of its roots,
+  an elective property, by which truth alone can enter; nourished and
+  sustained by this, it sends a fragrant incense and breathing odour on
+  high, and dispels the mists of ignorance and superstition. In natural
+  causes and reasonable deductions we must seek for instruction and solid
+  information, for in over-straining either nature or art, deformity and
+  error must inevitably be the result.</p>
+
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+
+  <p>NORMAN AND SKEEN, PRINTERS, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h3>NOTES</h3>
+
+<div class="note">
+  <p><a name="Nt1" href="#NtA1">[1]</a> "It matters little how vague and
+  false hypotheses may appear at first: experiment will gradually reduce
+  and correct them, and all that is required, is industry to elaborate the
+  proof, and impartiality to secure it from
+  distortion."&mdash;<i>Sewell</i> "On the Cultivation of the
+  Intellect."</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt2" href="#NtA2">[2]</a> It is stated by Mr. Crosse, of
+  Norwich, that vaccination was adopted in Denmark, and made compulsory in
+  1800. After the year 1808 Small Pox no longer existed there, and was a
+  thing totally unknown; whereas during the twelve years preceding the
+  introduction of the preventive disease, 5,500 persons died of the Small
+  Pox in Copenhagen alone.&mdash;<i>Dr. Watson's Lectures.</i></p>
+
+  <p>Dr. Blick, an intelligent Danish physician, corroborated the above
+  statement to Dr. Watson himself in the year 1838.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt3" href="#NtA3">[3]</a> Philosophy of Life, Lecture 6,
+  translated by the Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, M.A.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt4" href="#NtA4">[4]</a> The following I quote from Dr.
+  Fuller on Small Pox and Measles:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"To this purpose some (and particularly Kircherus) are of opinion that
+  animalcules have been the causes of malignant and pestilential fevers in
+  epidemic times, which differ in essence and symptoms, according to the
+  nature and venoms of those creatures.</p>
+
+  <p>"Thus the atmosphere and air is filled both from above and beneath
+  with innumerable millions of millions of species or corpuscles,
+  aporrh&oelig;as, steams, vapours, fumes, dust, little insects, &amp;c.
+  all which make it such a wonderful chaotic compost of things that
+  contains the <i>seeds</i> of good and evil to man as surpasseth the
+  understanding (as I suppose) of even the highest order of
+  archangels."</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt5" href="#NtA5">[5]</a> I learn from an undoubted authority
+  that the cow when "slack of health" eats with avidity the "field
+  parsley;" the sheep under similar circumstances seeks the ivy, and the
+  goat the plantain.</p>
+
+  <p>From an equally good source I have the following: that rabbits and
+  hares, when they are what is commonly called <i>pot-gutted</i>, seek the
+  green broom, though at a distance of <i>twenty miles</i>.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt6" href="#NtA6">[6]</a> "My settled opinion is, that in
+  regard every effect is necessarily such as its cause; it must needs be
+  that every sort of venomous fevers is produced by its proper and peculiar
+  species of virus.</p>
+
+  <p>"And that the manner and symptoms of every such fever is not so much
+  from the particular constitution of the sick; as from the different
+  nature and genius of their specific venom which caused them.</p>
+
+  <p>"And I conceive that venomous febrile matters differ not in degree of
+  intenseness only, but in essence and <i>toto genere</i> also; and that
+  venomous fevers are for the most part contagious."&mdash;<i>Thomas
+  Fuller, M. D. 1730.</i> "Another important class of organic poisons are
+  those which when introduced in almost inappreciable quantities into the
+  system, seem to increase in quantity; and which when communicated in the
+  same inappreciable quantity from the individual poisoned to one who is
+  healthy, excite the same series of febrile phenomena and local
+  inflammation, and the same increase in the quantity of the poisonous
+  agent."&mdash;<i>Med. Chir. Review.</i></p>
+
+  <p>"This unseen influence working in the body, presents very striking
+  analogies to the modes of operation of different poisons."&mdash;<i>Dr.
+  Ormerod on Continued Fever.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt7" href="#NtA7">[7]</a> I am aware that the vesicle does
+  not here strictly bear the relation to the original germ, supposing one
+  active particle alone to be sufficient for its production, that the egg
+  does to the bird, for in the former case multitudes of active particles
+  may have been generated from one. I have, therefore, merely used this
+  expression to signify an aggregation of vital forces, such as may be
+  imagined to exist in the bird.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt8" href="#NtA8">[8]</a> "At an early period the form of the
+  ovisacs is usually elliptical, and their size extremely
+  minute,&mdash;their long diameter measuring in the ox no more than 1/562
+  of an inch, so that a cubic inch would contain nearly two hundred
+  millions of them. They are <i>at this time</i> quite distinct from the
+  <i>stroma</i> of the ovarium; this forms a cavity in which they are
+  loosely embedded."</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt9" href="#NtA9">[9]</a> Coleridge, p. 56.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt10" href="#NtA10">[10]</a> "All vegetables," says Sharon
+  Turner, "from that pettiness which escapes our natural sight, to that
+  magnitude which we feel to be gigantic, have these properties in common
+  with all animals&mdash;organization; an interior power of progressive
+  growth, a principle of life, with many phenomena that resemble
+  irritability, excitability, and susceptibility, and a self-reproductive
+  and multiplying faculty."&mdash;<i>Sharon Turner's Sacred
+  History.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt11" href="#NtA11">[11]</a> "Plants highly sensitive to
+  light are those of the leguminous, or Pea kind. They always close up in
+  the evening and clasp their two upper surfaces together, presenting only
+  their backs to the air. Plants of pinnated leaves, as the Tansy, are more
+  sensible than these to the effects of light. They fold up when light is
+  too strong, as in Robinia; it produces the same effect as want of light.
+  Its leaves close up, apparently, because they are receiving too much. So
+  they do if a hot iron be brought near them. They contract as if to avoid
+  the heat. Sensitive plants, and those of the Oxalis Lent. are so
+  sensitive that the least motion, even a breath of air, will make them
+  close."&mdash;<i>Sir J. Smith.</i></p>
+
+  <p>"The vitality of plants seems to depend upon the existence of an
+  irritability, which although far inferior to that of animals, is
+  nevertheless of an analogous character."&mdash;<i>Lindley's Introduction
+  to Botany.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt12" href="#NtA12">[12]</a> Provincial Medical and Surgical
+  Journal. July 10th, 1850. No. xiv. p. 367. "Practical Observations on the
+  Vaccination Question." By E. Oke Spooner, M. R. C. S., Blandford.</p>
+
+  <p>"If we examine the Cow Pox and the Small Pox microscopically, as I
+  have done very carefully in every stage, we find that the essential
+  character consists of a number of minute cells, not exceeding the
+  10,000th part of an inch in diameter, being about one-fourth smaller than
+  the globules of the blood, containing <i>within their circumference many
+  still more minute nuclei, and presenting</i> beyond their circumference
+  bud-like cells of the same size and character as those contained within
+  the circle. They exactly resemble in everything except the size, the
+  globules of the yeast plant, the Torula Cerevesiæ. Now if we examine more
+  circumstantially the analogies of what I would call the Torula Variolæ
+  with the Torula Cerevesiæ, we observe the following corresponding
+  facts.</p>
+
+  <p>"What do we accomplish by inoculation as it is called? Simply this. We
+  take on the top of a lancet, or an ivory point, a few of these minute
+  cells or germs, and we put them <i>in their appropriate nidus</i>, the
+  subcuticular tissue, where, after a few days if they find their
+  appropriate nutrient elements, they grow and multiply."</p>
+
+  <p>Simon, Chemistry of Man, vol. i. p. 127. "Macgregor ascertained that
+  the air expired by persons ill of confluent Small Pox, contained as much
+  as <i>eight</i> per cent of carbonic acid, and in proportion as health
+  was restored the percentage was diminished to its natural standard."
+  Carbonic acid is also produced during the process of fermentation and
+  germination.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt13" href="#NtA13">[13]</a> See History of the Jews, p.
+  71.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt14" href="#NtA14">[14]</a> It is said by Whewell, that the
+  murrain is supposed to have fallen only on the animals which were in the
+  open pasture.&mdash;<i>History of the Jews.</i></p>
+
+  <p>"J. S. Michael Leger, published at Vienna, in 1775, a treatise
+  concerning the mildew as the principal cause of the epidemic disease
+  among cattle. The mildew is that which <i>burns</i> and <i>dries</i> the
+  grass and leaves. It is observed early in the morning, particularly after
+  <i>thunder-storms</i>. Its poisonous quality, which does not last above
+  twenty-four hours, never operates but when it is swallowed immediately
+  after its falling."&mdash;<i>Mitchell on Fevers.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt15" href="#NtA15">[15]</a> "The prevalence of the
+  south-east wind was observed to be particularly favourable to the
+  increase of both cholera and influenza: and I cannot but think that this
+  had some connexion with the general tendency exhibited by the former to
+  spread from east to west. Has the morbific property of this wind aught to
+  do with the haziness of the air when it prevails&mdash;a haziness seen in
+  the country remote from smoke, and quite distinct from fog? What is this
+  haze? In the west of England a hazy day in spring is called a
+  <i>blight</i>."&mdash;<i>Dr. Williams' Principles of Medicine.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt16" href="#NtA16">[16]</a> We are to understand also that
+  some peculiar operation took place of a nature difficult to comprehend,
+  which seems also to typify reproduction, for the handfuls of ashes which
+  Moses threw into the air <i>became a dust in all the land of Egypt</i>,
+  thus signifying an enormous reproduction of atomic matter.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt17" href="#NtA17">[17]</a> The Chinese affect to trace the
+  origin of Small Pox back to a period of at least 3000 years, or 20 years
+  beyond the era of the Trojan war, 1212, A. C.</p>
+
+  <p>The Chinese pretend to discriminate no less than 40 different species
+  of Small Pox.</p>
+
+  <p>"They also pretend to discover whether a person has died by violence
+  or from natural causes, not only after the body has been some time
+  interred and decomposition of the softer parts has commenced, but even
+  after the total disappearance of the soft parts, and when the dry
+  skeleton alone is left."&mdash;For the process, see <i>Hamilton's History
+  of Medicine</i>, vol. i. p. 31.</p>
+
+  <p>To give some notion of the state of Medical Science among the Chinese,
+  I may quote the following: "The theory of the circulation of the blood,
+  Du Halde affirms, was known by the Chinese about 400 years after the
+  deluge; be this assertion veracious or not, no correct knowledge up to
+  the present day, do the nation possess of the circulating system of the
+  human frame."&mdash;<i>China and the Chinese, Henry Charles Sirr, M.
+  A.</i></p>
+
+  <p>According to their anatomy, the trachea extends from the larynx
+  through the lungs to the heart, whilst the &oelig;sophagus goes over them
+  to the stomach.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt18" href="#NtA18">[18]</a> "And Aaron took as Moses
+  commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation: and behold the
+  plague was begun among the people; and he put on incense and made an
+  atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living,
+  and the plague was stayed."&mdash;<i>Numbers.</i></p>
+
+  <p>The practice of burning scented herbs has been observed in all times
+  during an invasion of the plague, as a means of protection. Also wearing
+  perfumes and aromatic preparations has been recommended. Whether they
+  have any counteracting influence, it is impossible to say.</p>
+
+  <p>Virgil in the third Georgic speaks of a murrain among cattle. He says,
+  if any wore a vestment made of wool from an infected sheep, fiery blains
+  and filthy sweat overspread his body, and ere long a pestilential fire
+  preyed upon his infected limbs.</p>
+
+  <p>In his directions for preserving the health of flocks he
+  says&mdash;</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p class="hg3">"Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum."</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>The motive for burning the fragrant cedar is not mentioned; we cannot
+  doubt but it was a good one, and having some great practical utility,
+  from the following line&mdash;</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p class="hg3">"Galbaneoque agitare graves nidore chelydros."</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt19" href="#NtA19">[19]</a> The earliest mention of this
+  complaint upon which reliance can be placed, is an ancient Arabic MS.
+  preserved in the public library at Leyden. "This year, in fine, the Small
+  Pox and Measles made their first appearance in Arabia." The year alluded
+  to being that of the birth of Mahomet, or the year 572 of the Christian
+  æra.&mdash;<i>Hamilton's History of Medicine</i>, vol. i. p. 215.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt20" href="#NtA20">[20]</a> Dr. W. A. Greenhill's
+  translation.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt21" href="#NtA21">[21]</a> The Black Assize at Oxford,
+  1572, is an instance in which a pestilential vapour suddenly appeared in
+  the court, "whereby the judge, several noblemen, and more than 300
+  others, died within three days."</p>
+
+  <p>"Of an unaccountable vapour suddenly coming, I have this relation from
+  Richard Humphrey, my neighbour, and a man of veracity, that on Wednesday,
+  April 27, 1727, as he and one Walter, were travelling a-foot from
+  Canterbury; when they came to Rainham, they were assaulted with such a
+  strong loathsome stink, as he thought was like the stench from a
+  corrupted human corpse. They were so offended at it, as thinking it was
+  from carrion in that town, that they would not stay there to rest and
+  refresh themselves, but travelled on for about two hours, mostly in the
+  stench, but sometimes out of it, till they came to the hill that leads
+  down to Chatham: and there they went clear out of it and smelt it no
+  more."&mdash;<i>Dr. Fuller</i>.</p>
+
+  <p>It appears that these persons did not fall sick of any disease, but
+  the fact of itself is remarkable enough.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt22" href="#NtA22">[22]</a> Hamilton's History of
+  Medicine.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt23" href="#NtA23">[23]</a> It has been said, that "an
+  induction once carefully drawn, is as perfect from a single instance as
+  it is from ten thousand, and that it is only an uncultivated mind which
+  requires a load and accumulation of knowledge to assist his
+  thoughts."&mdash;<i>Sewell</i> "on the Cultivation of the Intellect."</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt24" href="#NtA24">[24]</a> See Dr. Alison's Pamphlet on the
+  Fever in Edinburgh.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt25" href="#NtA25">[25]</a> Earthquakes have in all times
+  been considered to have some connexion with pestilences. "A most grievous
+  pestilence broke out in Seleucia, which from thence to Parthia, Greece,
+  and Italy, spread itself through a great part of the world, from the
+  opening of an ancient vault in the temple of Apollo, and that it raged
+  with so much fury as to sweep away a third part of the inhabitants of
+  those countries it visited."&mdash;<i>Dr. Quincy, on the Causes of
+  Pestilential Disease.</i></p>
+
+  <p>"Upon an earthquake the earth sends forth noisome vapours which infect
+  the air; so it was observed to be at Hull in Yorkshire, by the Rev. Mr.
+  Banks, of that place, after a small earthquake there in 1703, it was a
+  most sickly time for a considerable while afterwards, and the greatest
+  mortality that had been known for fifteen years."&mdash;<i>Anonymous</i>,
+  1769.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt26" href="#NtA26">[26]</a> See Sharon Turner's Sacred
+  History, text and notes, vol. i. p. 161 &amp; 162.</p>
+
+  <p></p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <span class="unpoem"><a name="Nt27" href="#NtA27">[27]</a></span>
+      <p class="hg3">"Each seed includes a plant; that plant, again,</p>
+      <p>Has other seeds, which other plants contain,</p>
+      <p>Those other plants have all their seeds; and those</p>
+      <p>More plants, again, successively enclose.</p>
+      <p>Thus ev'ry single berry that we find,</p>
+      <p>Has really in itself whole forests of its kind.</p>
+      <p>Empire and wealth one acorn may dispense,</p>
+      <p>By fleets to sail a thousand ages hence;</p>
+      <p>Each myrtle-seed includes a thousand groves,</p>
+      <p>Where future bards may warble forth their loves."</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt28" href="#NtA28">[28]</a> "On June 5th, 1849, a man and
+  his son, a lad aged 14 years, left Noss to fish, and when five miles out
+  at sea, no vessel being in sight, they both simultaneously became aware
+  of a hot <i>offensive</i> stream of air passing over them. It was so
+  decided, that the crab pots were examined to discover if it were from
+  them, but it did not, and five minutes after the father's attention was
+  directed to the boy, who was vomiting and purging."&mdash;<i>Dr. Roe on
+  the Cholera at Plymouth, Med. Gaz. Aug. 24th, 1850.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt29" href="#NtA29">[29]</a> Linnæus remarked that Erigeron
+  Canadense was introduced into gardens near Paris from North America. The
+  seeds had been carried by the wind, and this plant was in the course of a
+  century spread over all France, Italy, Sicily and Belgium.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt30" href="#NtA30">[30]</a> Hecker.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt31" href="#NtA31">[31]</a> This is found most generally to
+  be the case where rivers flow through uncultivated tracts of country. The
+  Californian emigrants suffer much from diarrh&oelig;a and dysentery, if
+  they drink of the river and certain well waters of that gold
+  district.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt32" href="#NtA32">[32]</a> "Purification from leprosy. As
+  this fearful disease was contagious and hereditary to the third and
+  fourth generation, the separation of lepers from the camp and
+  congregation, and the destruction of infected houses and clothes, was of
+  the utmost importance to the preservation of public health.</p>
+
+  <p>"Leprosy was of three kinds: 1st, Leprosy in man. 2nd, Leprosy in
+  houses. 3rd, Leprosy in clothes.</p>
+
+  <p>"Contagious or malignant leprosy was of two kinds, viz.</p>
+
+  <p>"1st. The white leprosy, or bright berat, which was the most serious
+  and obstinate form which leprosy assumes. It exhibited itself as a bright
+  white and spreading scale, on an elevated base; turning the hair white in
+  patches, which were continually spreading.</p>
+
+  <p>"2nd. The black leprosy, or dusky berat, which was less serious than
+  the foregoing. It did not change the colour of the hair, nor was there
+  any depression in the dusky spot; but the patches were perpetually
+  spreading, as in the white leprosy."&mdash;<i>Analysis and Summary of Old
+  Testament History.</i> <i>Oxford.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt33" href="#NtA33">[33]</a> The Mexican Aloe blows when nine
+  years old, and then dies. At least this is its usual course in the island
+  of Cuba.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt34" href="#NtA34">[34]</a> "Ground that has not been
+  disturbed for some hundred years, on being ploughed, has frequently
+  surprised the cultivator by the appearance of plants which he never
+  sowed, and often which were then unknown to the country. The principle
+  has been ascertained to be capable of existing in this latent state for
+  above 2000 years, unextinguished, and springing again into active
+  vegetation, as soon as planted in a congenial soil.</p>
+
+  <p>"In boring for water near Kingston on Thames, some earth was brought
+  up from a depth of 360 feet, and though carefully covered with a
+  hand-glass to prevent the possibility of other seeds being deposited on
+  it, was yet in a short time covered with vegetation.</p>
+
+  <p>"Turner says, from the depth, these seeds must have been of the
+  diluvian age."&mdash;<i>Jesse's Gleanings.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt35" href="#NtA35">[35]</a> Hamilton's History of Medicine,
+  vol. ii. p. 276, note.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt36" href="#NtA36">[36]</a> "What I wish you to remark is
+  this, that while almost all men are prone to take the disorder, large
+  portions of the world have remained for centuries entirely exempt from
+  it, until at length it was imported, and that then it infallibly diffused
+  and established itself in those parts."&mdash;<i>Dr. Watson on the
+  Principles and Practice of Physic.</i></p>
+
+  <p>Dr. R. Williams says, "The seeds of intermittent fever lay dormant for
+  months, it was not at all uncommon for cases of intermittent fever to be
+  brought into the hospital eight or ten months after the patients had
+  subjected themselves to the influence of paludal or marsh effluvia."</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt37" href="#NtA37">[37]</a> I have observed in the
+  hot-houses, that many of the exotic plants, which are in company with the
+  diseased vines, have been attacked, while others again have been entirely
+  free.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt38" href="#NtA38">[38]</a> By causes of the greatest
+  variety plants may become extinct for a time. It is not very easy to
+  trace them, but one fact may be mentioned in proof of the statement. Dr.
+  Prichard states that vast forests are destroyed either for the purpose of
+  tillage or accidentally by conflagrations. "The same trees do not
+  reappear in the same spots, but they have successors, which seem
+  regularly to take their place. Thus the pine forests of North America
+  when burnt, afford room to forests of oak trees."</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt39" href="#NtA39">[39]</a> Hecker says of Chalin de
+  Vinario, that "he asserted boldly and with truth, that <i>all epidemic
+  diseases might become contagious, and all fevers
+  epidemic</i>,&mdash;which attentive observers of all subsequent ages have
+  confirmed." P. 60.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt40" href="#NtA40">[40]</a> In 1539, the thirty-first year
+  of Henry the Eighth, was great death of burning agues and flixes; and
+  such a drought that welles and small rivers were dryed up, and many
+  cattle dyed for lacke of water; the salt water flowed above London
+  Bridge.&mdash;<i>Stowe.</i></p>
+
+  <p>In 1556, the fourth of Mary, and the third of Philip, about this time
+  began the burning fevers, quarterne agues, and other strange diseases,
+  whereof died many.&mdash;<i>Stowe.</i></p>
+
+  <p>The next winter, 1557, the quarterne agues continued in like manner,
+  or more vehemently than they had done the last
+  yere.&mdash;<i>Stowe.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt41" href="#NtA41">[41]</a> Every writer on the climate of
+  Egypt has remarked, that the Endemic Fever which is so frequent,
+  originating on the coast, particularly about Alexandria, becomes
+  occasionally so virulent, that it cannot be distinguished from the
+  <i>true Plague.</i>&mdash;<i>Robertson on the Atmosphere</i>, vol. 2. p.
+  384.</p>
+
+  <p>"Endemial Fevers of every situation become occasionally so aggravated,
+  that they cannot be distinguished from such as originate from contagion;
+  and in every unusual virulence of this Endemic Fever, it is probable that
+  it may be propagated afterwards by contagion as every epidemic."
+  <i>Ibid.</i> p. 388.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt42" href="#NtA42">[42]</a> Dr. Ure.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt43" href="#NtA43">[43]</a> "The metamorphosis of starch
+  into sugar depends simply, as is proved by analysis, on the addition of
+  the elements of water. All the carbon of the starch is found in the
+  sugar; none of its elements have been separated, and except the elements
+  of water, no foreign element has been added to it in this
+  transformation."&mdash;<i>Liebig</i>, <i>Organic Chemistry</i>, p.
+  71.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt44" href="#NtA44">[44]</a> As regards starch there appears
+  to be some peculiar faculty regarding it. It is converted into sugar
+  during the ripening of fruit, and it is just possible that being as it is
+  of a cellular nature, the property of vitality may attach to it until it
+  has, by being converted into sugar, fulfilled its destination.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt45" href="#NtA45">[45]</a> Though I do not consider that
+  the fermentation process is a fac-simile of diseased action, yet I think
+  its phenomena generally afford an apt illustration of the changes which
+  may be effected by living germs. Many able chemists still maintain the
+  entire dependence of fermentation upon the Torula: "M. Blondeau propounds
+  the view that <i>every kind</i> of fermentation is <i>caused</i> by the
+  development of fungi."</p>
+
+  <p>The varieties of opinions found in the literature of this subject,
+  forms a curious specimen of scientific enquiry, and is sufficient alone
+  to convince us of its vast importance and extensive relations.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt46" href="#NtA46">[46]</a> By Dr. Mantell.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt47" href="#NtA47">[47]</a> Mitchell on Fevers.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt48" href="#NtA48">[48]</a> We wonder, and ask ourselves:
+  "What does <span class="scac">SMALL</span> mean in
+  Nature?"&mdash;<i>Schleiden's Lectures on Botany.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt49" href="#NtA49">[49]</a> Speaking of the bunt in wheat:
+  "It appears certainly to be contagious, from numerous experiments, which
+  shew that the contagious principle lasts a long time. I have tried it
+  myself; some, however, doubt it, but it cannot be denied, that seed sown,
+  infected with bunt, produces plants similarly affected; every one who has
+  had the slightest experience must be convinced of it."&mdash;<i>Essay on
+  the Diseases of Plants.</i> <i>Count Ré.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt50" href="#NtA50">[50]</a> We have already spoken of the
+  effects of these poisons, and have stated that the amount of each poison
+  capable of destroying the body is pretty accurately known.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt51" href="#NtA51">[51]</a> The italics are my own.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt52" href="#NtA52">[52]</a> Gmelin says: "But the mode of
+  action in these transformations, sometimes admits of other explanations;
+  and when this is not the case, our conception of it is by no means
+  sufficiently clear to justify the positive assumption of this, so called
+  contact-action or catalytic force, which, after all, merely states the
+  fact without explaining it"&mdash;<i>Gmelin's Hand-book of Chemistry</i>,
+  vol. i. p. 115.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt53" href="#NtA53">[53]</a> The history and symptoms of some
+  epidemic diseases, such as cholera and influenza, are not inconsistent
+  with the hypothesis that they are caused by the sudden development of
+  animalcules from ova in the blood. But there is a total want of direct
+  observation in support of this hypothesis.&mdash;<i>Dr. Williams'
+  Principles of Medicine.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt54" href="#NtA54">[54]</a> Since writing the above, I have
+  referred for information on this subject, and find, that the Anguillula
+  aceti exhibits sexual distinctions; and that the ovaries of the females
+  are situated on each side of the alimentary canal.&mdash;<i>Cyclo. Anat.
+  and Phys. Art. Entozoa.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt55" href="#NtA55">[55]</a> Speaking of the examination of
+  the infusory animalcules&mdash;Mr. Kirby says: "But to us the wondrous
+  spectacle is seen, and known only in part; for those that still escape
+  all our methods of assisting sight, and remain members of the invisible
+  world, may probably <i>far exceed those that we
+  know</i>."&mdash;<i>Bridgewater Treatise</i>, vol. i. p. 158.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt56" href="#NtA56">[56]</a> Mr. Owen has added another
+  class, as the first, called Protelmintha, which comprises the cercariadæ
+  and vibrionidæ.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt57" href="#NtA57">[57]</a> "It is probable that in the
+  waters of our globe an infinity of animal and vegetable molecules are
+  suspended, that are too minute to form the food of even the lowest and
+  minute animals of the visible creation: and therefore an infinite host of
+  invisibles was necessary to remove them as
+  nuisances."&mdash;<i>Bridgewater Treatise</i>, vol. i. p. 159.</p>
+
+  <p>"When Creative Wisdom covered the earth with plants, and peopled it
+  with animals, He laid the foundations of the vegetable and animal
+  kingdoms with such as were most easily convertible into nutriment for the
+  tribes immediately above them. The first plants, and the first animals,
+  are scarcely more than animated molecules,* and appear analogues of each
+  other; and those above them in each kingdom represent jointed
+  fibrils."&dagger;&mdash;<i>Bridgewater Treatise</i>, vol. i. p. 162.</p>
+
+  <p>* Globulina and Monus.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&dagger;
+  Oscillatoria and Vibrio.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt58" href="#NtA58">[58]</a> "A treatise which should present
+  a systematic arrangement of all the diseases of plants, giving in detail
+  the exact history of each, and adding the means of preventing and curing
+  them, would certainly be of the greatest utility to agriculture."
+  &mdash;<i>Essay on the Diseases of Plants, Count Philippo Ré, translated
+  into Gardener's Chron.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt59" href="#NtA59">[59]</a> "Plenck published a treatise on
+  Vegetable Pathology, in which he divided diseases into eight classes: 1.
+  External injuries; 2. Flux of juices; 3. Debility; 4. Cachexies; 5.
+  Putrefactions; 6. Excrescences; 7. Monstrosities; and 8. Sterility. And
+  he concludes with an enumeration of the animals which injure
+  plants."&mdash;<i>Essay on the Diseases of Plants, Gardener's
+  Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt60" href="#NtA60">[60]</a> The Bunt. "This disease appears
+  at the moment of the germination of the plant. The affected individuals
+  are of a dark green, and the stem is discoloured. As the ears are issuing
+  from the sheaths, their stalks are of a dark green, but very slender.
+  When the ear has fully grown out, its dull, dirty colour, causes it to be
+  immediately distinguished from the healthy ones, and it soon turns
+  white."&mdash;<i>Essay on the Diseases of Plants.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt61" href="#NtA61">[61]</a> <i>Vidi</i> understood.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt62" href="#NtA62">[62]</a> "At the close of the year 1665,"
+  says Dr. Hodges, "even women, before deemed barren, were said to prove
+  prolific."</p>
+
+  <p>"After the cessation of the Black Plague, a greater fecundity in women
+  was every where remarkable&mdash;a grand phenomenon, which from its
+  occurrence after every destructive pestilence proves to conviction, if
+  any occurrence can do so, the prevalence of a higher power in the
+  direction of general organic life. Marriages were almost without
+  exception prolific; and double and treble births were more frequent than
+  at other times."&mdash;<i>Hecker</i>, p. 31.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt63" href="#NtA63">[63]</a> It is stated that on the decline
+  of the Plague, 1665, those who returned early to London, or new comers,
+  were certain to be attacked. In proof of this the 1st week of November,
+  the deaths increased 400, and "physicians reported that above 3000 fell
+  sick that week, mostly new comers."</p>
+
+  <p>See also Dr. Copland's Dict. Pract. Med. Epidemic and Endemic
+  Diseases.</p>
+
+  <p>"The hardy mountaineer is a surer victim of paludal fever, whether he
+  visits the low countries of the tropics, or the marshes of a more
+  temperate climate, than the feebler native of those
+  countries."&mdash;<i>Dr. R. Williams on Morbid Poisons.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt64" href="#NtA64">[64]</a> "Substances presented to the
+  gastro-intestinal surfaces, are mixed up with various secretions, mucus,
+  saliva, gastric juice, bile, pancreatic liquor, and special exudations
+  from the peculiar glands of each successive section, while aerial
+  poisons, unmixed and unfettered, are applied at once to a surface on
+  which, behind scarcely a shadow of a film, circulates the blood prepared,
+  by the habitual action of the respiratory function, to absorb almost
+  every vapour, and every odour, which may not be too irritating to pass
+  the gates of the <i>glottis</i>."&mdash;<i>Mitchell on Fevers.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt65" href="#NtA65">[65]</a> Hecker on the "Black Death."</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt66" href="#NtA66">[66]</a> The stomach in some cases is no
+  doubt the medium by which some diseases are contracted. It is well known,
+  that in many places the water induces diarrh&oelig;a, the permanent
+  residents, however, may not suffer, but all new comers are more or less
+  affected by drinking it.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt67" href="#NtA67">[67]</a> "Similar effects have been
+  experienced from the use of mouldy provisions."&mdash;<i>Dr. Lindley's
+  Vegetable Kingdom.</i></p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt68" href="#NtA68">[68]</a> "Untold numbers die of the
+  diseases produced by scanty and <i>unwholesome
+  food</i>."&mdash;<i>Southey.</i></p>
+
+  <p>A large, nay, a most extensive adulteration of flour with plaster of
+  Paris was detected not many years since. The flour was supplied by a
+  contractor for the manufacture of biscuits for the navy.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt69" href="#NtA69">[69]</a> See Southey's Doctor, vol. ii.
+  interchapter vi. p. 115, for an illustration of this subject.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt70" href="#NtA70">[70]</a> Both these patients died.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt71" href="#NtA71">[71]</a> "A good part of the clove trees
+  which grew so plentifully in the island of Ternate, being felled at the
+  solicitation of the Dutch, in order to heighten the price of that fruit,
+  such a change ensued in the air, <i>as shewed the salutary effect of the
+  effluvia of clove trees and their blossoms; the whole island, soon after
+  they were cut down, becoming exceeding sickly</i>."</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt72" href="#NtA72">[72]</a> The observation is originally
+  taken from the City Remembrancer, 133.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt73" href="#NtA73">[73]</a> See Hamilton's History of
+  Medicine, vol. i. p. 4.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt74" href="#NtA74">[74]</a> Feuchtersleben's Medical
+  Psychology, p. 176, 177.</p>
+
+  <p><a name="Nt75" href="#NtA75">[75]</a> Ibid. p. 321.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Epidemics Examined and Explained: or,
+Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease, by John Grove
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+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/34603.txt b/34603.txt
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/34603.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5147 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Epidemics Examined and Explained: or,
+Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease, by John Grove
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Epidemics Examined and Explained: or, Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease
+
+Author: John Grove
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2010 [EBook #34603]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPIDEMICS EXAMINED ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Keith Edkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
+are listed at the end of the text.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Page numbers enclosed by curly braces (example: {25}) have been
+incorporated to facilitate the use of the Table of Contents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+EPIDEMICS
+
+EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED:
+
+OR,
+
+LIVING GERMS
+
+PROVED BY ANALOGY TO BE
+
+A SOURCE OF DISEASE.
+
+BY
+
+JOHN GROVE, M.R.C.S.L.
+
+AUTHOR OF "SULPHUR AS A REMEDY IN EPIDEMIC CHOLERA."
+
+LONDON:
+
+JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.
+
+MDCCCL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    "The tendencies of the mind, the turn of thought of whole ages, have
+    frequently depended on prevailing diseases; for nothing exercises a
+    more potent influence over man, either in disposing him to calmness and
+    submission, or in kindling in him the wildest passions, than the
+    proximity of inevitable and universal danger."--_Hecker's Epidemics of
+    the Middle Ages._
+
+    "The grand field of investigation lies immediately before us; we are
+    trampling every hour upon things which to the ignorant seem nothing but
+    dirt, but to the curious are precious as gold."--_Sewell on the
+    Cultivation of the Intellect._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TO
+
+BENJAMIN GUY BABINGTON, F.R.S., M.D.,
+
+PHYSICIAN TO GUY'S HOSPITAL,
+
+AND
+
+PRESIDENT OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
+
+ETC. ETC.
+
+THESE PAGES ARE, BY HIS KIND PERMISSION,
+
+Respectfully Dedicated,
+
+BY HIS OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{v}
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The following pages have been written with a view to render some aid in
+establishing a sound and firm basis for future research, on that absorbing
+topic, the Causes and Nature of Epidemic Diseases.
+
+The amount of information already published on Fevers, on the Exanthemata,
+and on the Plague, is truly astonishing, and the more so when it is
+considered, that at present no rational account or explanation is given of
+the causes of these affections.
+
+It appears to me but reasonable to suppose that as every thing on this
+earth has been created on a wise and unerring principle, Epidemic and
+Infectious Diseases are only indicative of some serious errors in our
+social arrangements and habits. The dangers and misery brought upon us by
+disease, may, as shewn by Dr. Spurzheim and Mr. Combe, be warnings against
+the infringement of the natural laws.
+
+Indeed, what is more rational than to suppose that the Seeds of Disease are
+coeval with the fall of man. His first disobedience {vi} brought
+death:--that his subsequent errors should hasten its approaches is not to
+be marvelled at. The undetected murderer, though he may escape the
+punishment human justice would inflict upon him for his delinquency,
+suffers a penalty in the tortures of conscience, infinitely more horrifying
+than the most ignominious death. The law of nature is triumphant.
+
+No less certain, though after a different manner, are the consequences of
+minor forms of disobedience. It is so ordained, that certain diseases shall
+arise, under peculiar conditions, which may have been brought about by a
+train of causes, easily imagined, and difficult to be explained, but all
+having their origin in the vices and errors of man in his moral and social
+relations.
+
+If man neglects the cultivation of the ground; with rank vegetation, the
+germs of fever will invisibly grow and multiply; if he harbours that which
+is rotten and corrupt, he is himself consumed by those agents destined to
+remove the rottenness and corruption; it is a part of the law of nature
+that there should be active and energetic agents for this purpose. The
+seeds of disease, like the seeds of plants, may be shewn to have {vii}
+their indigenous localities; like them they may be spread and multiplied;
+like them they may lie dormant, and after awhile spring as it were into
+active existence; like them, when the soil and other conditions favour,
+they are ever ready to make their appearance. And this is the law, the
+germs of all disease exist, and have existed. Despise the dictates of
+nature, be careless of yourself and those around you, neglect to use the
+means which a noble intelligence has placed at your command, and above all,
+transgress the laws of God, then will disease pursue and attend you, as the
+conscience of the murderer pursues and attends him until he is finally cut
+off.
+
+His wants and necessities, his sufferings and privations, are the basis of
+the intellectual progress of man. The wonders of Omnipotence are revealed
+through the whirlwind, the storm, the pestilence, and the famine.
+
+The constructive and perceptive faculties of man have been developed by the
+necessity of protecting himself from injury by winds and rains; his
+intellectual faculties have been cultivated, by the sufferings of disease
+having led him to the study of {viii} organization and life, to discover
+the cause,--and to chemistry, and other sciences for the cure of his
+ailments.
+
+Famine and distress have aroused his emotions, and softened down his
+asperities, so that what appears at first to be the infliction of a Curse
+without Pity, is in reality a Judgment with Mercy.
+
+It occurred to me, that on the formation of the Epidemiological Society,
+the first question for consideration should be, What is the nature of those
+agents, which induce Epidemic Diseases? are they composed of animate or
+inanimate matter? In other words, do the manifestations of these diseases
+exhibit the operations of living or of chemical forces.
+
+Having, in my study, dwelt on the subject with an earnest desire to find
+the truth, I put the suggestion, with my ideas, before the public to reject
+or receive them. If they be rejected, I can but think a full discussion of
+the enquiry will lead to the most important results. If they be received
+with favour, I doubt not others, with more ability, will take up the strain
+and resolve the discords into harmony.
+
+  J. G.
+
+  _Wandsworth, September, 1850._
+
+{ix}
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+                                                                   PAGE
+  INTRODUCTION                                                        1
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+  IS IT PROBABLE THAT EPIDEMIC, ENDEMIC, AND INFECTIOUS
+  DISEASES, DEPEND UPON VITAL GERMS
+  FOR THEIR MANIFESTATIONS?                                          11
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+  THE NUMBER AND VALUE OF FACTS TO SUPPORT
+  THE PROPOSITION.
+
+  SECTION I.--On Reproduction                                        22
+
+  SECTION II.--Historical Notice of Epidemic Diseases                34
+
+  SECTION III.--The Dispersion of Plants and Diseases                64
+
+  SECTION IV.--The Relation between Epidemic and Endemic
+  Diseases                                                           96
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+  THE REASONABLENESS OF THE APPLICATION OF
+  THE FACTS TO THE INFERENCE.
+
+  SECTION I.--The Chemical Theory of Epidemics untenable            108
+
+  SECTION II.--The Animalcular Theory of Epidemics untenable        128
+
+  SECTION III.--Sketch of the Physiology and Pathology of
+  Plants and Animals                                                138
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+  RESULTS IN PROOF OF THE TENABLENESS OF THE
+  PROPOSITION.
+
+  SECTION I.--Observations on some of the Laws of Epidemic
+  Diseases                                                          155
+
+  SECTION II.--What is the nature of those Poisons which most
+  resemble the Morbid Poisons in their effects on the body?         166
+
+  SECTION III.--What results do we obtain from the effects of
+  remedial agents, in proof of the hypothesis?                      176
+
+  CONCLUSION                                                        189
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{1}
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+It is one thing for a man to convince himself, but a very different thing
+to be able to convince others.
+
+I am not now speaking of a conviction arising from the impression made by a
+few startling facts, nor of one forced on the mind by early prejudices, or
+by the dogmas of the schools, but of a conviction arising from careful
+enquiry.
+
+In the course of that enquiry, the collector of facts, sees their relations
+to the idea in his mind, in a multiplicity of ways, from their remaining,
+each, as one succeeds the other, an appreciable time on the sensorium, and
+undergoing a certain process of comparison and relation, with all other
+facts and ideas which have been previously stored up. As the materials for
+an edifice which have been shaped and prepared in accordance with the
+completion of the design, so do the facts and ideas which are accumulated
+{2} in the mind, become shaped and prepared for the elimination of a truth.
+The ultimate design of the architect can no more be conceived by the
+examination of the framework of a window, or the capital of a column, than
+the whole truth of a proposition by the examination of separate facts; the
+whole must be conceived and all the relations of all the parts thoroughly
+understood, before the architect can be comprehended or the harmony of his
+design appreciated.
+
+The process of thought in the minds of the architect, and in the framer of
+a proposition, is never exactly the same as in those who contemplate and
+examine their completed works. Much may be done, however, by both to aid
+others in comprehending them. The more accurately they keep in view the
+course their minds have taken, the more readily will their descriptions be
+understood.
+
+To simplify the elements of our knowledge is to give others a ready access
+to our thoughts.
+
+To arrange the course of our ideas in harmony with the elements of our
+knowledge should be the end of all writing, as it is the only means of
+multiplying knowledge. {3}
+
+It is not the mere accumulation of facts which constitutes science, any
+more than a collection of building materials constitutes a house, it is the
+arrangement and adaptation of the means to the end by which the house
+becomes built and science cultivated.
+
+These reflections have been suggested by the circumstance that for the last
+3000 years and upwards, Pestilences have at certain intervals done their
+work of destruction, and opened the springs of misery to untold millions,
+and yet I see not that we are much further advanced as to the knowledge of
+the cause of these inflictions than the Jews in the time of Moses. In the
+Levitical law, as I shall have occasion more particularly to shew
+hereafter, were directions specially given in reference to the plague of
+leprosy; what means should be adopted for the cure of the disease, and for
+preventing its extension, and moreover pointing very significantly to
+certain facts having connexion with the cause of the affection. Since that
+time historians generally, and medical writers in particular, have
+diligently recorded their observations and accumulated facts, on the
+various desolating plagues which {4} have afflicted mankind. Some of these
+men have grappled with the whole subject, and endeavoured to shew the
+presumed relation of the supposed causes in all their intricacies, but it
+is hardly necessary to say that all have signally failed in their attempts
+to furnish us with any practical information.
+
+Satisfied in my own mind that the whole subject is beyond the labour of one
+man, and impressed with the belief that the basis of the enquiry is in
+anything but a satisfactory state, I have applied myself entirely to the
+study of the groundwork only, as the primary proceeding for a solid
+superstructure.
+
+The days are past, when imaginary spirits, ethers, and astronomical
+phenomena, were believed to have any essential influence over our destinies
+in a physical point of view; we have therefore to deal with _matter_ in
+some form or other.
+
+The question, therefore, which I have proposed for enquiry, is, whether the
+matter which causes epidemic and endemic diseases, exhibits the properties
+of inorganic or organized matter.
+
+The properties and qualities of organized {5} bodies, as well as those of
+inorganic matter, need but be stated, and in some instances we may picture
+to ourselves the object, without having seen it, and not be very far from a
+true conception. But for this purpose a clear and definite idea must be
+previously formed, and have taken possession of the mind, of the great
+general divisions of objects in the material world.
+
+Having made these preliminary remarks, I have suggested a certain mode of
+procedure in making enquiries of this kind, not perhaps in strict
+accordance with logical systems, but on the principle of nature's
+operations in our own minds, which appears to me, when reduced to a
+systematic and simple form, to be sufficiently clear and strict for
+synthetical application, and so concise as to be usefully and practicably
+applied.
+
+In endeavouring to establish a theory for the explanation of extraordinary
+phenomena, there are certain rules which should guide us in the thorny and
+treacherous path of speculation. But these rules readily flow from the
+train of thought, and if we examine our own minds during their operations,
+we {6} shall find that the following is the course of our instinctive
+reflections. It is a course we adopt as the test of theories when formed,
+and is a guide in all cases for their construction.
+
+We first commence with an idea, which exists in our minds in the form of a
+proposition: then the following rules naturally suggest themselves:--
+
+1. The probability of the value of our proposition from inference.
+
+2. The number and value of facts to support the proposition.
+
+3. The reasonableness of the application of the facts to the inference.
+
+4. What amount of information in the form of results can be produced in
+proof of the tenableness of the proposition.[1]
+
+In illustration of the value of these rules the history of Dr. Jenner's
+discovery affords an appropriate example. To use the words of Dr. Gregory,
+"he appears very early in {7} life to have had his attention fixed by a
+popular notion among the peasantry of Gloucestershire, of the existence of
+an affection in the cow, supposed to afford security against the Small Pox;
+but he was not successful in convincing his professional brethren of the
+importance of the _idea_."
+
+The popular notion of the peasantry originated the idea in Jenner's mind,
+and it became fixed there as a proposition.
+
+1. He commenced his enquiry by observing that the hands of milkers on the
+dairy farms were subject to an eruption, and he _inferred_ that the notion
+of the peasantry bore the stamp of probability, which strengthened the idea
+in his mind and gave force to the proposition.
+
+2. His next step was to accumulate facts; he found on enquiry that the
+persons engaged on these farms in milking, possessed an immunity from Small
+Pox to an extent sufficient to strengthen the value of his proposition.
+
+3. The reasonableness of the application of the facts to the inference is
+clear from the coincidence that the eruption on the hands of the dairy
+people bore a striking {8} resemblance to the Small Pox, and as this
+disease does not usually occur twice in the same individual, the inference
+was most reasonable that this eruption protected the people from Small Pox.
+
+4. We have but to take the almost universal adoption of vaccination, and
+its acknowledged prophylactic powers against the propagation of Small Pox
+to shew the application of our fourth rule.[2]
+
+Between the conception of the idea and the accomplishment of Jenner's
+designs, vaccination seems to have undergone an incubation of nearly twenty
+years. During that period, with an energy and perseverance only to be
+obtained by confidence, did this great man brood over and elaborate his
+idea; and well might the 14th day of May, {9} 1796, be styled the birth day
+of vaccination, for on that day was a child first inoculated from the hands
+of a milker.
+
+In adopting the above method I have endeavoured to bear in mind M.
+Quetelet's observations on the requirements necessary for medical
+authorship; he says, "All reasonable men will, I think, agree on this
+point, that we must inform ourselves by observation, collect well-recorded
+facts, render them rigorously comparable, before seeking to discuss them
+with a view of declaring their relations, and methodically proceeding to
+the appreciation of causes."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{10}
+
+{11}
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+IS IT PROBABLE THAT EPIDEMIC, ENDEMIC, AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, DEPEND UPON
+VITAL GERMS FOR THEIR MANIFESTATIONS?
+
+It is, I believe, almost universally considered that Epidemic, Endemic, and
+Infectious diseases, originate from some imaginary poisons of a specific
+nature, each disease having its own peculiar poison. That this conception
+should have taken possession of the minds of men, is most natural from the
+symptoms which characterize these diseases, but when we come to enquire
+into the nature of these agents, or supposed poisons, we are at once struck
+with the idea that they exhibit one peculiarity which separates them in a
+marked manner, from those poisons with which we are familiar; for the
+poisons of Small Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Hooping Cough, Fever, &c.
+possess the power of multiplication, or spontaneous increase, a property
+which attaches only to the organic kingdom, and is never known in the
+inorganic kingdom. The source of most of the poisons is to be found among
+mineral or vegetable products. A mineral in combination with an acid or
+oxygen may become a poison, and {12} nitrogen in various combinations with
+oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, or with carbon alone, may become a poison;
+these combinations are, however, in most instances the products of
+vegetable life, others again are obtained from the animal kingdom, such as
+the poison of the serpent, &c. but in all of these instances, there is not
+one in which the power of self-multiplication is to be found.
+
+We are, therefore, constrained to admit that this feature, which
+distinguishes poisons, is one well worthy attentive consideration. The
+varieties of poisons may be classified into those which act topically as
+escharotic poisons, those which act chemically on the blood, and those
+whose effects are manifested in inducing a speedy annihilation of organic
+or vital action, as in the case of hydrocyanic acid, which is supposed
+specifically to affect the nervous centres from which originate the vital
+manifestations. It is rather remarkable that the vital poisons (as I will
+call them for distinction), seem to have their appropriate locality in the
+blood, they do not primarily affect one organ more than another, all the
+effects we witness resulting from them are to be traced progressively from
+the blood to other parts of the body. When a person is inoculated with
+small pox, a very minute portion (indeed it is impossible to say how minute
+it may be) is sufficient, when absorbed, to excite a certain train of
+symptoms, all due to absorption of the materies of the disease, and the
+process by which {13} that materies arrives at maturity, is that known in
+the vegetable world as the fructification; this process of fructification
+is a process of development and increase.
+
+I here may repeat that among all the poisons known, constituted as they are
+of various combinations of elementary matter, they are without exception
+destitute of the power of development or increase. Now, it is pretty
+accurately known what amount of these poisons is necessary to produce their
+effects on the living body; we can say how many drops are sufficient of
+hydrocyanic acid of Scheeles strength, to destroy a man instantaneously.
+Again, how many grains of arsenious acid are sufficient to induce such an
+inflammatory condition of the stomach and intestine as will end in death,
+and how many grains of morphia, will bring about a fatal coma,--but who
+shall say the amount of the vital poisons necessary to produce their
+results? It far exceeds the limit of conjecture, to what extent the
+dilution of miasmatic or contagious matter may be carried, and the poison
+yet be capable of committing in a short time the most frightful ravages.
+
+We may fairly then infer, that if a quantity of matter inappreciable in
+amount be sufficient to exhibit the characters of growth and increase, that
+it is endowed with the properties of vitality. That the poisons of scarlet
+fever, of measles, and of small-pox have this power of growth and increase,
+is as much a matter of universal belief as that "the sun {14} will rise and
+set to-morrow, and that all living beings will die."
+
+This power of individual increase, or reproduction, is the very summit of
+vital manifestation; indeed Coleridge, in his Theory of Life, (in which he
+says, "I define life as the _principle of individuation_, or the power
+which unites a given _all_ into a whole that is presupposed by all its
+parts,") places reproduction in the first rank, and expresses his
+hypothesis thus: "the constituent forces of life in the human living body
+are, first, the power of length or reproduction; 2nd, the power of surface,
+or irritability; 3rd, the power of depth, or sensibility--life itself is
+neither of these separately, but the copula of all three."
+
+Extensive research is not required to shew that many thinking men believe
+in the existence of living organic beings, as the elements of contagious
+and epidemic diseases; the idea indeed seems to flow spontaneously in that
+direction. Whenever thought, and enduring contemplation, have been
+concentrated on the subject, the result appears to have been the same, a
+firm conviction in each individual mind that a vital force must be in
+operation; or as Schlegel would define it, "a living reproductive power,
+capable of and designed to develope and propagate itself."--"Its Maker
+originally fixed and assigned to it the end towards which all its efforts
+were ultimately to be directed."
+
+Referring further to beings having the property of reproduction and
+propagation, he says, (using {15} the word nature here evidently as the
+vital principle for want of a better term,) "Nature indeed is not free like
+man, but still is not a piece of dead clockwork. _There is life in
+it._"--"Thus we know that even plants sleep, and that they too as much as
+animals, though after a different sort, have a true impregnation and
+propagation."
+
+When Schlegel wrote this, how little could he have imagined the intricacy
+of this proceeding among the lower forms of vegetation. It has been shewn
+by Suminski, and verified by many others, that the mode of impregnation,
+and the period at which it occurs in the ferns, do not at all correspond to
+the general notion on this subject. He has discovered in the early
+development of the frond of ferns certain cells, which he denominates
+antheridia, or sperm cells; these contain in their cavity a number of
+subordinate cells, each containing a spermatazoon. At a certain period of
+the progress of the frond, the parent cells become ruptured and liberate
+the spermatoza, these move about in a mucilaginous fluid, which bedews the
+inferior surface of the frond, and become the means of impregnating the
+germ cells, or pistillidia, with which they readily come in contact. Thus
+the process of impregnation in these plants occurs during the germination,
+or what corresponds to the period of germination in the seeds of exogenous
+and endogenous plants.
+
+I have referred to the discovery of Suminski in {16} this place to recal to
+the mind the great and incomprehensible wonders of creation, for who could
+conceive it possible or feasible that even for the impregnation of an
+inferior vegetable, animal life should form an indispensable and essential
+appurtenant of the process. Truly may we say with Coleridge, of plants and
+insects, "so reciprocally inter-dependent and necessary are they to each
+other, that we can almost as little think of vegetation without insects, as
+of insects without vegetation."
+
+I will make but two more quotations on the supposed vital character of the
+germs of disease. "That the air and atmosphere of our globe is in the
+highest degree full of life, I may, I think, take here for granted, and
+generally admitted. It is, however, of a mixed kind and quality, combining
+the refreshing breath of spring with the parching simooms of the desert,
+and where the healthy odours fluctuate in chaotic struggle with the most
+deadly vapours. What else in general _is the wide-spread and spreading
+pestilence_, but a living propagation of foulness, corruption, and death?
+Are not many poisons, _especially animal poisons, in a true sense, living
+forces_?"--Schlegel.[3]
+
+It were useless to multiply quotations to shew {17} that the opinions here
+entertained are matters of general belief among thinking men.[4] I will at
+once then conclude with an observation of Dr. C. J. B. Williams: he puts
+the question, "Does the matter of contagion consist of vegetable seeds? Are
+infectious diseases the results of the operations and invasions of living
+parasites, disturbing in sundry ways the structures and functions of the
+body, each after its own kind, until the vital powers either fail or
+succeed in expelling the invading tribes from the system?"
+
+And this expression, the seeds, is an universal expression, it is a
+"Household Word" in connexion with disease. That it has obtained this
+position in the popular vocabulary is alone a proof of the applicability of
+the term to the thing intended to be {18} signified. Popular notions, as we
+have seen in the case of Jenner's discovery, are not to be unheeded. An
+instance occurs to me, it was a popular belief, that in acne punctata, the
+matter of a sebaceous follicle, was itself, when pressed out, a worm, the
+dark portion which results from the accumulation of dust upon the matter at
+the mouth of the follicle was supposed to be the head of the maggot, as it
+was called; subsequent observation, however, has proved that though this
+matter is not a worm, it contains an animal within its substance, the
+Acarus folliculorum.
+
+The popular notions found among savage tribes as to the efficacy of certain
+remedies in the cure of disease have been the means of furnishing us with
+some of our most valuable medicines, indeed it is almost impossible to say
+whether originally man did not derive his remedies from the herbs and trees
+by an instinctive faculty impelling him, as it does the animals when in a
+state of liberty and with freedom of range, to seek certain plants as they
+avoid others.
+
+It is well known that animals when indisposed will find out some spot as if
+almost led to it by a visionary guide where the "healing plant" is to be
+discovered. I am told that sheep have this faculty, and that they will,
+when affected with the rot, feed upon some plant when they can discover it,
+which eradicates the disease.
+
+Almost every one is familiar with the fact that cats and dogs will crop
+herbage and eat it; I have {19} seen them frequently leave the house and
+proceed to the grass in the most business-like manner, partake of some
+quantity, and quietly return.
+
+A close observer of diseased animals might obtain some useful information
+by noticing the plants cropped by them while in that condition. The
+observations should be made in a variety of districts in consequence of the
+uncertain distribution of some even of the most commonly scattered plants;
+in one year they may be abundant, but in another they may be almost
+entirely absent from the same spot.[5]
+
+Were it only on the fact of reproduction, I would be contented to take my
+stand that the force of life is the indwelling power of pestilential
+matter. Reproduction is a law of nature, and the law of nature is the law
+of God. And where do we find He prevaricates with us? The more we study His
+laws the more harmony and perfection we find; what is seeming confusion in
+the ignorance of to-day, is order in the knowledge of to-morrow. If any one
+ignorant of the law which regulates the diffusion of gases were {20} told
+that a heavier gas would ascend contrary to its specific gravity through
+the septum in a vessel containing a lighter gas above the heavier, he would
+naturally doubt your assertion, and say, "that is contrary to the law of
+gravity;" but explain to him the principle by which this comes about, and
+the objects of the law; the order and beauty of the design become manifest.
+But this is no equivocation, it is evidence there, that subordinate laws
+exist and nothing more. It has never been found that men have gathered
+"grapes of thorns and figs of thistles," nor has it ever been discovered
+that inanimate matter multiplies itself. The seed of disease "is within
+itself," multiplying and propagating itself; whether it formed a part of
+creation at the beginning or not, is rather a question to be solved by
+divines than physicians. When we know, however, the latency of seeds and
+even of entire plants, and that they may be dried and remain so for years
+yet being brought again into conditions adapted to their active existence,
+they, as it were, revive from their sleep, and renew again their
+reproductive properties: can we wonder if, in the great scheme of nature,
+existences new to mankind should make their appearance? When the New
+Zealander saw the surface of his ground producing to him unknown plants,
+and the skins of his children generating peculiar eruptions, and each
+propagating its kind, would he look, think you, to the wood or the stones,
+the air or the water,--for the solution of the {21} mystery? No, he would
+naturally say these people brought the _seeds_ with them. From the property
+of reproduction possessed by these forms of matter, we infer the value of
+the proposition.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{22}
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE NUMBER AND VALUE OF FACTS TO SUPPORT THE PROPOSITION.
+
+--------
+
+SECTION I.
+
+ON REPRODUCTION.
+
+It is inferred that the proposition, "_the matter which operates in the
+production of Epidemic, Endemic, and Infectious Diseases, possesses the
+property of vitality_," we proceed now to the enumeration of those facts
+which further elucidate this subject.
+
+The facts must necessarily be such as illustrate the identity of properties
+in the imaginary germs, that are known to exist in demonstrable germs: we
+take therefore the law of reproduction to be to life, what the law of
+attraction is to gravitation.[6]
+
+{23}
+
+But further; do those matters which engender disease furnish to our minds
+the properties inseparable from life in the abstract? Though the faculty of
+reproduction is essentially an evidence that the thing which reproduces its
+kind must be a living body, yet it is only a property or power of living
+beings and is not itself life, it therefore is necessary to establish the
+fact that the _materies morbi_ not only has the power of reproduction, but
+also those properties which in the abstract will prove as far as
+demonstration can go, that it has the essential properties common to all
+living bodies.
+
+I must again quote from Coleridge, he says: "By life I every where mean the
+true idea of life, or that most general form under which life manifests
+itself to us, which includes all its other forms. This I have stated to be
+the _tendency to individuation_ and the degrees or intensities of life, to
+consist in the progressive realization of this tendency. The {24} power
+which is acknowledged to exist wherever the realization is found, must
+subsist wherever the tendency is manifested. The power which comes forth
+and stirs abroad in the bird, must be latent in the egg."
+
+The tendency to individuation cannot be more strongly marked than in the
+simple experiment of vaccination: we insert a small particle of the
+so-called vaccine lymph under the skin, and by this means we multiply to an
+enormous extent, the power which, in the first instance, we had in the form
+of minute corpuscles in a dry and apparently inert state; nevertheless,
+though in this condition there must have existed the tendency to
+individuation or multiplication of individual existence, and the germs are
+here to their active existence, as seen in the development of the vaccine
+vesicle, what the egg is to the bird,[7] as described above; we may,
+therefore, say that the power which exhibits itself in the production of a
+vaccine vesicle, must have been latent in the dried matter. It is the
+opinion of Muller that the entire vital principle of the egg {25} resides
+in the germinal disk alone, and since _the external influences which act on
+the germs_ of the most different organic beings are the same, we must
+regard the simple germinal disk, consisting of granular amorphous matter,
+as the potential whole of the future animal, endowed with the essential and
+specific force or principle of the future being, and capable of increasing
+the very small amount of this specific force and matter, which it already
+possesses, by the assimilation of new matter.
+
+After speaking of inanimate objects, Dr. Carpenter says; "and what compared
+with the permanence of these is the duration of any structure subject to
+the conditions of _vitality_? _To be born_, to grow, to arrive at maturity,
+to decline, to die, to decay, is the sum of the history of every being that
+lives; from man, in the pomp of royalty, or the pride of philosophy, to the
+gay and thoughtless insect that glitters for a few hours in the sunbeam and
+is seen no more; from the stately oak, the monarch of the forest through
+successive centuries, to the humble fungus which shoots forth and withers
+in a day."
+
+To be born, signifies the faculty of reproduction existing or having
+existed in an antecedent being to that one born, and also that itself
+possesses equally a like power. To be born, is the first expression which
+must be used in speaking of the faculties or properties of living beings as
+independent existences, the annual formation of buds, trees, and shrubs, is
+a multiplication of the species; the coral {26} and various budding polypes
+increase by this process, indeed what is the seed of a plant, or the egg of
+a bird, or the ovum of mammalia, but cast off buds; in all, the new being
+was originally a portion of its parent, and if we examine the ovary of the
+vegetable, the bird, or the mammal, can we find any expression more fitting
+to designate the process than that of budding. To be born then, is the
+evidence of an act of one living being, and the commencement of a series of
+vital phenomena in another, but all these are subsequent to reproduction,
+and constitute another chain of vital acts, all tending to a similar
+result, the multiplication of the species.[8]
+
+Now, whether we apply the philosophical language of Coleridge, or the
+language of observation of Muller, in confirmation of the doctrine here
+inculcated, we arrive at the same point.
+
+Do we not witness in the newly formed vaccine vesicle, an increase of the
+specific force and principle? We certainly have acquired by the process of
+vaccination a manifold multiplication of power, and is there not also
+assimilation of new matter in {27} which this power resides? And does not
+every particle of this new matter contain within itself the same force and
+principle, as existed in that which generated it?
+
+"We revert again to potentiated length in the power of magnetism
+(reproduction); to surface in the power of electricity, and to the
+synthesis of both or potentiated depth in constructive, that is chemical
+affinity."[9]
+
+Some may be at a loss to conceive, at first, how irritability may be
+considered a property of all vegetable matter; that it does exist in some
+vegetables is certain, but that it does exist in all living beings is
+equally certain;[10] the term, however, which would appear more appropriate
+when that irritability does not exhibit itself in an appreciable form, is
+_impressibility_. Irritability, as commonly understood, is seen in its
+highest condition in muscular tissue; but "the irritable power and an
+analogon of voluntary motion first dawn on us in the vegetable world in the
+stamina and anthers at the period of {28} impregnation."--"The insect world
+is the exponent of irritability, as the vegetable is of reproduction."
+
+The property of irritability attains its acme in man, the most highly
+organized of all beings; and its gradations pass downwards through the
+whole scale of animate creation; not so reproduction, for this faculty
+observes the very opposite direction, for in plants a single impregnation
+is sufficient for the evolution of myriads of detached lives.
+
+Reproduction is a fact, it is an essential property of life, and is a
+reality to us from observation; but irritability is not so tangible and
+demonstrable a property. We nevertheless may assume its universality, from
+the circumstance that we lose sight of it by imperceptible degrees; the
+irritability of the sensitive plant is as much irritability as that of the
+highly organized muscle; but because the faculty evades our perception, "in
+tapering by degrees, becoming beautifully less," we have no reason for
+pronouncing its total extinction at any one point of the vegetable
+kingdom,[11] any more than we should have {29} in saying that we see the
+end of the earth, when describing the extent of our vision as we stand on
+the sea shore. The extreme limit of our vision is the tangent of the circle
+in reference to our visual organs; but how many tangential points there may
+be beyond, it is impossible to say without knowing the dimensions of the
+circle.
+
+I think we are now in a condition to assume, as far as abstraction will
+conduct us without proceeding to an extreme length, that the _materies
+morbi_, or, as I will now call them for the sake of clearer distinction,
+_semina morbi_, possess those properties which in the abstract are common
+to all living beings.
+
+Another argument strikes me as capable of adding further strength to the
+proposition. We need but be told that a small piece of iron was placed in a
+certain position with regard to another piece of iron, and that the smaller
+piece moved through a given space and became attached to the larger, to
+infer that magnetic force was in operation. Supposing this magnet then to
+be folded in paper, and that it {30} be promiscuously placed near a
+compass, the deflection of the needle would indicate that some object in
+the vicinity was the cause of the deflection; we may farther try what
+positions the needle takes by varying the position of the packet, and thus
+point out which is the north and which the south pole of the screw of
+paper. If we may consider attraction then to be to gravitation what
+reproduction is to life, we do not err in saying in the one instance that
+there is a living being, and in the other there is a magnet.
+
+The nebular theory, from which some astronomers made the foundation of many
+speculations, came with so much interest to our minds that the fascination
+could not be resisted. It was most delightful to revel in the imagination
+that we possessed a key to the mode of formation of the starry hosts, and
+when speculation had taken its extreme limits in the "Vestiges of the
+Natural History of Creation," and the nebulae had served as the ground work
+of a gigantic scheme, Lord Ross's monster telescope swept the heavens of
+its cobwebs. We can imagine this great promoter of science saying to us,
+Gentlemen, the clouds which have obscured you, are composed of myriads of
+stars, and comprise systems as vast and as luminous as our own, had you but
+power of vision to discern them. A new light thus appeared to philosophers,
+and though no great practical results may flow from the discovery, it is
+instructive from the fact that the imperfectly aided or unaided vision,
+should not limit legitimate {31} inference. The nebulae before Lord Ross's
+discovery were to the astronomer what the materies of epidemic and
+infectious disease are to medical men. In the absence however of a giant
+microscope to reveal such great truths, we may yet dimly shadow them by the
+light of our reason. It was predicted in 1849 that minute vegetable germs,
+in all probability all of the same type, were the agents producing epidemic
+and infectious disease. In 1850, Mr. Oke Spooner says,[12] "On examining
+the matter of Small {32} Pox and Cow Pox in every stage, he finds its
+essential character to consist of a number of minute cells not exceeding
+the 10,000th part of an inch in diameter: being about one-fourth smaller
+than the globules of the blood, containing within their circumference many
+still more minute nuclei, and presenting beyond their circumference
+bud-like cells of the same size and character as those contained within the
+circle."
+
+Should these observations made by Mr. Spooner turn out to be correct, they
+will but fulfil my anticipations. Then again shall we see the same
+application of imperfect vision to the limitation or temporary obstruction
+of solid and determinate knowledge.
+
+We may reasonably expect that these bodies, discovered by Mr. Spooner,
+should be the elementary matters of disease. Their existence was predicted
+from the probability that living matter must be the agent; moreover, that
+this matter when discovered {33} would be cellular, most probably
+resembling the yeast plant as described by Mr. Spooner.
+
+It was predicted that a planet would be discovered in a certain position in
+the heavens, because the perturbations of a comet indicated an attracting
+body in the path of the eccentric wanderer; the prediction and the
+fulfilment were almost simultaneous.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{34}
+
+SECTION II.
+
+HISTORICAL NOTICE OF EPIDEMIC DISEASES.
+
+The earliest notices we have of Pestilences are contained in Holy Writ. The
+plagues which smote the Egyptians in the time of Moses are not unworthy
+some comment here. Of those ten plagues, four out of the number were due to
+the miraculous appearance of myriads of the lower animal tribes, in three
+instances of insects,[13] viz. lice, flies, and locusts; in the fourth,
+when Aaron stretched forth his hand with his rod over the streams, over the
+rivers, and the ponds, frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. In
+these instances living beings are made the instruments in God's hand for
+the punishment of the wicked. These plagues include the second, third,
+fourth, and eighth. The first plague is mentioned as a conversion of the
+waters into blood. Now if we may take this expression as being literal,
+there is no reason to suppose that this blood differed in any respect from
+ordinary sanguineous liquid; we therefore may assume, as the blood is every
+where in Scripture spoken of as the _life_, that this fluid was endowed
+with vital properties.
+
+{35}
+
+The fifth plague is described as a murrain among beasts; and the sixth, as
+exhibiting itself as "a boil breaking forth with blains, upon man and upon
+beast."[14] Now these affections bear a resemblance to the diseases known
+to us at the present day through authentic records. The Black Death of the
+14th century affords in its history but too awful a picture of the horrors
+of such pestilences. In the tenth plague, the smiting of the first-born, we
+are not told by what means it was brought about; but we have something even
+here to lead us to conjecture. In the second visitation of the Black Death,
+there were destroyed a great many children whom it had formerly spared, and
+but few women. The seventh plague of hail is within our conception; as is
+also that of darkness, the ninth plague.
+
+It is not a little remarkable that of the ten plagues, seven of them
+depended upon agents intelligible to our comprehension; we can conceive of
+{36} the invasion of a country by myriads of loathsome insects and
+reptiles, and can imagine the wrath of an offended Deity directing the
+force of a supernatural storm of hail upon a disobedient people; and we can
+conjecture, though faintly, the consternation of human nature on being
+subjected to a total darkness of three days' duration, when we consider
+_that_ darkness has been described, as "a darkness that might be felt."
+
+From this abstract we discover that the three plagues whose causes we
+cannot understand, or rather upon which no light has been thrown by
+Scripture, bear analogies to those which we recognise, in the writings of
+modern authors, as fearful pestilences.
+
+It is now our province to reflect on the causes supposed to be in operation
+in the three instances, which become naturally separated from the rest.
+
+We are told that a murrain appeared among the cattle, without any
+preliminary step. When the blains broke out upon man and beast, Moses had
+been previously directed by the Almighty to take handfuls of the ashes of
+the furnace, and sprinkle them towards the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
+"_And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt_, and shall be a
+boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast, throughout all the
+land of Egypt."
+
+Another coincidence, in connexion with subsequent pestilences, arrests the
+attention, on the subject of the mysterious appearance on these occasions
+of {37} matter resembling dust being prevalent about the houses, and on the
+clothes of the people. Clouds also, and showers of dust-like particles,
+were not of infrequent occurrence. Indeed, in the summer of 1849, during
+the progress of the Cholera, several phenomena of a similar nature were
+observed and authenticated; I myself can bear testimony to one instance of
+the kind. It was observed by many persons in my neighbourhood after the
+passage of an ominous and lurid cloud, that as they walked their clothes
+became covered with a singular dust-like matter of very peculiar
+appearance. That this phenomenon was not destitute of significance may be
+gathered from the fact, that on the night of that day several severe cases
+of Cholera occurred, though our village had been comparatively free for ten
+days.
+
+Hecker, in writing on the Black Death says, the German accounts expressly
+speak of a "thick stinking mist which advanced from the east,[15] and {38}
+spread itself over Italy; there could be no deception in so palpable a
+phenomenon." It is not unworthy of mention, that in the East successive
+invasions of locusts "which had never perhaps darkened the sun in thicker
+swarms," preceded the great outbreak of this disease, for they left famine
+in their train.
+
+From 1500 to 1503 in Germany and France, during the prevalence of the
+sweating sickness, spots of different colours made their appearance,
+"principally red, but also white, yellow, grey, and black, often in a very
+short time, on the roofs of houses, on clothes, on the veils and
+neckerchiefs of women, &c." Blood rain is also mentioned as having occurred
+at this time, which consisted of the aggregation of minute particles of red
+matter.
+
+In the seven plagues, miraculous operations of the Deity consisted in the
+unusual manifestation of phenomena, but which in their effects are
+recognizable as of clear and definite import. The miracles here are,--in
+the _mode_ of producing the swarms of frogs, locusts, &c. but they are
+manifest and unmistakeable _causes_ of plague and famine; in the other
+three, on the contrary, we witness only the effects, the causes are hidden
+from us; we may, therefore, as in current events, legitimately investigate
+the subject, and what better course can be adopted than that which
+classifies the traditionary past with all subsequent history. Presuming
+such a method of research to be admitted, I have assumed that as {39} the
+_causes_ of the seven plagues have been distinctly given, the others,
+though only mentioned in their effects, were due to causes of a nature in
+some way to be compared with their concomitants, that is to say, if a
+special intervention of the Deity brought about a miraculous appearance of
+frogs, lice, &c. there is but little reason to doubt that some other agent
+was miraculously multiplied and concentrated to induce the murrain,
+engender the blain, and smite the first-born: as if to lead us into this
+enquiry, on the visitation of the blain in man and beast, the Bible History
+tells us that Moses threw ashes of the furnace, which became a dust
+throughout all the land of Egypt; we cannot imagine that this simply as
+ashes could have caused the blain, we may conclude that by some special
+miracle, either the ashes were converted into a specific form of matter
+capable of inducing the effects recorded, or that an independent septic
+matter was generated for the purpose. If the latter, the act of throwing
+the ashes of the furnace into the air may have been intended to signify
+that the extremely minute division of the particles when thus cast into
+space, typified the inscrutable and hidden nature of the matter endowed
+with such marvellous properties.[16]
+
+{40}
+
+Further on in the book of Leviticus are passages which I cannot forbear
+transcribing, for they point out to us most indubitably a line of enquiry
+in reference to diseases of a contagious nature.
+
+"The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen
+garment, or a linen garment, whether it be in the warp or woof, of linen or
+of woollen, whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin, and if the
+plague be greenish or reddish in the garment ... it is a plague of leprosy,
+and shall be shewed unto the Priest, and the Priest shall look upon the
+plague and shut up it that hath the plague seven days; and he shall look on
+the plague on the seventh day; if the plague be spread in the garment,
+either in the warp, &c. ... the plague is a fretting leprosy, it is
+unclean. He shall therefore burn that garment ... wherein the plague is,
+for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. And if the
+Priest shall look, and behold, the plague be not spread in the garment ...
+then the Priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague
+is, and he shall shut it up seven days more: and the Priest shall look on
+the plague, after that it is washed: and behold if the plague have _not_
+changed his colour, and the plague be not spread, it is unclean; thou {41}
+shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward; whether it be bare within or
+without. And if the Priest look and behold the plague be somewhat dark
+after the washing of it, then he shall rend it out of the garment ... and
+if it appear still in the garment either in the warp or the woof ... it is
+a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire.
+And the garment ... which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from
+them, then it shall be washed the second time and shall be clean."--Chap.
+xiii. 47-58.
+
+Again in Deuteronomy. The curse for disobedience: "The Lord shall make the
+pestilence cleave to thee until he have consumed thee from off the
+land.--The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and
+with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the drought,
+and with blasting, and with _mildew_, and they shall pursue thee until thou
+perish.--The Lord shall make the rain of thy land _powder_ and _dust_: from
+heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed."
+
+It may be said, and I doubt not will be said, all this is unnecessarily
+dragging the sacred volume into an enquiry totally foreign to its general
+tenor; on the contrary, however, I maintain by that Book we are to learn
+the ways of God to man, and further, that no study can impress mankind with
+so awful, so terrific an idea of his responsible position, as that which
+leads him into the investigation of the causes {42} by which the Almighty,
+doubtless in His wisdom, has thought fit at various epochs of this world's
+history, to place man face to face with pestilence, famine and sudden
+death.
+
+There is no man would less willingly than myself introduce profanely the
+revelations of Scripture. The observations here made are not, therefore,
+intended for light or heedless controversy; if they have a significance of
+any import, let them be alluded to in the same spirit with which they have
+been quoted; if they convey nothing for approval to the reader, let silence
+rest upon them. To those who would fain disregard my request, let me recall
+to their minds the veneration which from childhood I trust we have always
+felt on hearing or seeing those two words--Holy Bible.
+
+It is yet to be determined, whether the greenish or reddish appearance of
+the garment spoken of, as being contaminated with the plague of the leprosy
+had any specific relation to the disease itself. The priest orders that the
+garment shall be shut up seven days, and on the seventh day, if the plague
+be increased, by which, of course, is meant if the greenish or reddish
+colour have increased, and from which we may gather that a power of
+spontaneous increase was possessed by the matter, such a result indicated a
+fretting leprosy, and the garment was to be burnt. Again, though there may
+have been no increase, but a persistence of the coloured matter after
+shutting up and washing the garment, it is to {43} be burnt, for it is fret
+inward, signifying, that the germs of the affection are still there, and
+may soon increase. Other rules follow in reference to the plague of
+leprosy, and the mode of deciding whether an article be unclean or clean is
+definitely laid down, but our purpose is served in mentioning the above, to
+shew that in the time of Moses the spontaneous increase of certain minute
+multiplying germs was supposed to have a close connexion with disease. It
+is equally clear, that the priests were aware by the order given them, that
+if the ordinary modes of purifying articles of clothing failed in their
+effect, the safest and surest method of destroying infectious matter was to
+resort to the practice of consuming by fire all materials capable of
+propagating an infectious malady.
+
+The facts above noticed, accurately correspond to what we now know as
+applicable to the matter of infectious and contagious maladies. It is a
+rule, I believe universally adopted throughout the Poor-houses of this
+country, to put the clothes of all persons about to become residents in
+these establishments, into ovens, where they are submitted to a temperature
+incompatible with the existence of either animal or vegetable life. By this
+means all living matters are destroyed, but the fabrics and inorganic
+matters retain their properties intact. This simple proceeding, I am
+credibly informed, is an effectual preventive of contamination by articles
+of clothing, a desideratum of no small importance, when it is {44}
+remembered that the diseases among the poor owe much of their inveteracy to
+the accumulation of effete organic matters about their persons and clothes.
+
+A few more observations are called for on the quotation from Deuteronomy,
+in which allusion is made to living matter being an agent in the production
+of disease. In the curse upon the children of Israel for disobedience, we
+read that they are to be smitten with mildew. No further information,
+however, is vouchsafed to us, nevertheless, we can conceive the wretched
+condition of those on whom the curse might fall. Again, we find in a
+continuation of this curse that the Almighty uses means such as He adopted
+in the sixth plague of the Egyptians. The ashes of the furnace became a
+small dust in all the land of Egypt, breaking forth with blains upon man
+and beast. In the curse of the Israelites the words are: "The Lord shall
+make the rain of thy land _powder and dust_: from Heaven shall it come down
+upon thee until thou be destroyed."
+
+It might be conjectured that the absence of rain would be sufficient to
+account for the extinction of the people on whom the curse was pronounced,
+by the famine and drought necessarily attendant upon the loss of moisture.
+But this does not appear to be the meaning of the passage, for the powder
+and dust are mentioned as the agents of destruction; besides, in the
+continuation of the curse, the locust is to destroy the grain, the worm the
+grapes, and {45} the olive is to shed his fruit; we may thus take for
+granted that drought and famine are not to be caused by the showering of
+powder and dust, it must consequently be supposed that the effects of the
+dust in the instance of the Egyptians are to be compared and classified
+with those of the dust which smote the Israelites.
+
+As far then as Sacred History conducts us in the enquiry, concerning the
+causes of pestilences, we gain encouragement in the belief that living
+germs are the active agents, for in the case of the leprosy, we have
+evidence of reproduction in connexion with infection, which, if our line of
+argument be tenable, amounts to demonstration; then, in the other instances
+of the plagues, by boils and blains, they distinctly bear comparison with
+the accounts given by profane writers, of the visitations of pestilences on
+the earth, subsequently to those mentioned in Scripture history.
+
+This leads now to the consideration of recorded facts observed and noted
+during the various Epidemics in the early and subsequent periods of Man's
+History, as given by those on whom reliance may be fairly placed.
+
+Setting aside the uncertain information contained in the writings of the
+Chinese,[17] a people whose {46} progress in the science and practice of
+Medicine has nothing to commend it (even as it is at the present day) to
+the notice either of the physician or the historian, unless it be to the
+latter as a mark of peculiarity both in a social and political point of
+view,--passing also over the Egyptians, the Arabians, and the Greeks,--and
+even Hippocrates himself, we are driven to the Romans for any authentic or
+precise notice of Epidemic Affections. It has been attributed to
+Hippocrates that he predicted the appearance of the Plague at Athens, {47}
+and that when it was introduced into Greece he dispelled it, "by purifying
+the air with fires into which were thrown sweet-scented herbs and flowers
+along with other perfumes."[18] But little advantage can be derived from
+enquiries concerning the first appearance of any disease, for the
+probability of discovering the primary cause is certainly a {48} hopeless
+case, if attempted by means of the writings of ancient authors, when it is
+recollected that with all the science and learning of the ancient
+Egyptians, the use of optical instruments was not comprised among the
+paraphernalia of their arts. The knowledge that was limited to the powers
+of natural vision, where the foundation of knowledge is based upon facts
+obtained through the aid of that penetrator of nature's secrets, the
+microscope, offers no advantages to the student of the present day.
+
+To say that a disease commenced in the East and travelled westward, and at
+length found a habitation and a name in every part of the globe, is no more
+than to say that disease is coeval with the fall of man. The cause is as
+much hidden in the region of its birth, as in that where it sojourns for a
+time. The cause of the sweating sickness was as much a mystery in England
+as in all the other nations of Europe, which were visited by its
+devastating power. And these observations apply with as much force to one
+disease as another; for even our indigenous ague, originating in some
+places so limited that the shadow of a passing cloud may mark the boundary
+of its dwelling place, as inscrutably evades our vigilance, with all the
+appliances that art can bring to our assistance, in endeavouring to evoke
+its extraordinary properties under the cognizance of our senses.
+
+If we weigh the air which carries the poison, or analyze it by the most
+delicate chemical tests, or {49} take the weight of the atmosphere which is
+charged with it, or if we take the blood which carries the germs of the
+disease to the tissues of the body, and submit them after the work of
+destruction is accomplished, to the most rigid inspection, we can but
+exclaim,
+
+ "These are Thy marvellous works!"
+
+and confess our total inability to fathom the unbounded.
+
+If then no practical advantage can accrue from investigating the writings
+of the ancients on these subjects, beyond comparing their historical
+statements with those of more recent date, our purpose will be served by
+occasionally embodying any remarkable observations of the former with those
+of the latter.
+
+In proceeding with this course it were better to confine our minds chiefly
+to two diseases which appear from history to have been known from the
+earliest periods, these are the Plague and the Small Pox, mentioning other
+diseases only _en route_.
+
+Passing then, to the sixth century of the Christian era for the first
+distinct and connected account of the Plague, it appears from a host of
+testimony, that the history of this disease, as given by Procopius, well
+merits our attention. Drs. Friend and Hamilton, in their Histories of
+Medicine, and Gibbon, in his History of Rome, are equally warm in their
+praise of Procopius: the latter says, he "emulated the skill and diligence
+of Thucydides in the {50} description of the Plague at Athens." The account
+given by Procopius of this disease, does not differ materially from that
+given by subsequent eye-witnesses of similar pestilences. Its point of
+origin is clearly marked, and its mode of dispersion in all directions
+distinctly traced from "the neighbourhood of Pelusium, between the
+Serbonian bog and the eastern channel of the Nile." It commenced in the
+year 542. It raged in Constantinople in the following year, and it was in
+this city that our historian gathered the materials which are handed down
+to us. When, however, we anxiously look for any explanation as to the cause
+of the malady, we are told that it must have been a direct visitation from
+Heaven, in consequence of the eccentric characters exhibited in its
+wide-spreading influence, in not yielding to the scrutiny nor bending to
+the laws known to prevail, and to regulate the course of other diseases:
+neither country nor clime, age nor sex, the strong and healthy, nor the
+weakly and previously diseased, could be said to be free from its
+indiscriminate destruction.
+
+But some phenomena preceding the outbreak of the pestilence are observed as
+coincidences by all authors. Gibbon thus writes: "I shall conclude this
+chapter with the comets, the earthquakes, and the plague which astonished
+or afflicted the age of Justinian." From the accounts given by this author,
+earthquakes for some years had been threatening and destroying many
+portions of the globe, {51} that in the ruins of cities and in the chasms
+of the earth, great was the sacrifice of human life. Constantinople, which
+suffered so severely from the plague is said to have been shaken for forty
+days. These great disturbances of the globe have been always looked upon as
+indicating other and important influences of a secret or hidden nature;
+these impressions on the minds of the people are traceable throughout the
+histories of all epidemics, and have been sufficiently distinct among the
+people of our own time, preceding and during the period of infliction.
+
+From this short notice of the Plague of 543, I pass to the ninth century,
+when Rhazes, the Arabian physician, endeavoured to enlighten the world on
+the subject of Small Pox.[19] In quoting his opinions, I am not to be
+understood as subscribing to them, but merely endeavouring to point out
+some peculiar and interesting observations.
+
+First, then, Rhazes attributes the disease to a condition of the blood,
+which he thus describes, to shew how it happens that in infancy and
+childhood the disease is most prevalent, and that old age is {52} least
+liable to the affection.[20] "The blood of infants and children may be
+compared to _must_, in which the coction leading to perfect ripeness has
+not yet begun, nor the movement towards fermentation taken place; the blood
+of young men may be compared to must which has already fermented and made a
+hissing noise, and has thrown out abundant vapours and its superfluous
+parts, like wine which is now still and quiet, and arrived at its full
+strength, and as to the blood of old men, it may be compared to wine which
+has now lost its strength, and is beginning to grow vapid and sour."
+
+"Now the Small Pox arises when the blood putrifies and ferments, so that
+the superfluous vapours are thrown out of it, and it is changed from the
+blood of infants which is like must, into the blood of young men which is
+like wine perfectly ripened: and the Small Pox itself may be compared to
+the fermentation and the hissing noise which take place at that time."
+
+But the cause of the disease is simply alluded to by this author, as
+depending upon "occult dispositions in the air," and as he speaks here of
+Measles with the Small Pox he goes on to say--"which necessarily cause
+these diseases and predispose bodies to them." This notion of Rhazes that
+there is some peculiar condition of the blood which favours a process
+resembling fermentation is not without interest. The circumstance that
+individuals are not {53} usually liable to a second attack of the disease,
+no doubt directed the attention of this physician to compare the process of
+fermentation with disease of such a nature, seeing that when the whole of
+the saccharine matter was converted into spirit, the hissing noise, as he
+calls it, or the disengagement of carbonic acid gas would cease, and the
+capacity for fermentation be entirely gone. So that the occult conditions
+of the air, their power of inducing a disease, and multiplying the matter
+capable of engendering a similar affection, stood in the mind of Rhazes as
+analogous if not identical phenomena.
+
+We pass now without further comment to the epidemics of the Middle Ages;
+and here the work of the philosophical Hecker leaves us little else to
+desire in the way of information, as far as it is obtainable from published
+records. From the manner in which he has grouped the facts which presented
+themselves to his mind in the course of a most laborious research, he has
+saved the student of this subject much toil in acquiring matter for
+reflection; he has here but to read and digest.
+
+I know not how to select from this invaluable work the most striking
+passages, to strengthen and support my hypothesis, for not a page is
+destitute of facts corroborative of the doctrine that vital germs are the
+material agents of pestilential disorders. The opening paragraph to the
+Black Death is a most cogent illustration of the assertion; it is, as it
+were, the theme of the work. "That {54} Omnipotence, which has called the
+world with all _its living creatures into one animated being_, especially
+reveals himself in the desolation of great pestilences. The powers of
+creation come into violent collision; the sultry dryness of the atmosphere;
+the subterranean thunders; the mist of overflowing waters are the
+harbingers of destruction. Nature is not satisfied with the ordinary
+alternations of life and death, and the destroying angel waves over man and
+beast his flaming sword."
+
+I must here apologise for large transcripts from Hecker's work, for neither
+could I command the amount of knowledge there displayed, nor use such
+appropriate language as the learned translator has employed.
+
+It is not doubted that the Black Death was an Oriental plague, only of more
+than usual severity, and wider spread influence of the infectious nature of
+this disease, and the active properties of the matter producing it. Hecker
+says, "articles of this kind--bedding and clothes--removed from the access
+of air, not only retain the matter of contagion for an indefinite period,
+_but also increase its activity, and engender it like a living being_,
+frightful ill consequences followed for many years after the first fury of
+the pestilence was past."[21]
+
+{55}
+
+As extraordinary atmospheric and telluric phenomena preceded the Plague in
+the time of Justinian, so do we find similar instances recorded as the
+precursor of a similar visitation 700 years later. I am concerned more with
+those circumstances which refer more especially to my subject, _viz._ the
+development of organic matter, and the peculiar odours of the atmosphere,
+the latter being evidence of some foreign and unusual production in our
+respiratory media. "On the island of Cyprus, before the earthquake, a
+pestiferous wind spread so poisonous an odour, that many being overpowered
+by it, fell down suddenly and expired in dreadful agonies. A thick stinking
+mist advanced from the east, and spread itself over Italy."
+
+{56}
+
+It is probable that the atmosphere contained foreign and sensibly
+perceptible admixtures to a great extent, which, at least in the lower
+regions, could not be decomposed or rendered ineffective by separation. In
+1348 an unexampled earthquake shook Greece, Italy, and the neighbouring
+countries. During this earthquake the wine in the casks became turbid, a
+proof that changes causing a decomposition of the atmosphere had taken
+place. "The insect tribe was wonderfully called into life, as if animated
+beings were destined to complete the destruction which astral and telluric
+powers had began."
+
+"The corruption of the atmosphere came from the east, but the disease
+itself came not upon the wings of the wind, but was only excited and
+increased by the atmosphere where it had previously existed."
+
+"The most powerful of all the springs of the disease was contagion; for in
+the most distant countries, which had scarcely yet heard the echo of the
+first concussion, the people fell a sacrifice to organic poison, the
+untimely offspring of vital energies thrown into violent commotion."
+
+"After the cessation of the Black Plague, a greater fecundity in women was
+every where remarkable, a grand phenomena, which from its occurrence after
+every destructive pestilence, proves to conviction the prevalence of a
+higher power in the direction of general organic life." {57}
+
+In the article Contagion, of the Essay, Sweating Sickness: "Most fevers
+which are produced by general causes, propagate themselves for a time
+spontaneously." "The exhalations of the affected become the germs of a
+similar decomposition in those bodies which receive them, and produce in
+these a like attack upon the internal organs, _and thus a merely morbid
+phenomenon of life, shows that it possesses the fundamental property of all
+life, that of propagating itself in an appropriate soil. On this point
+there is no doubt, the phenomena which prove it have been observed from
+time immemorial, in an endless variety of circumstances, but always with a
+uniform manifestation of a fundamental law._"
+
+Mead, in his Essay on the Plague, makes many observations of great interest
+and worthy a physician of eminence; and where, in recent times, shall we
+look for any more definite information concerning the causes of
+pestilences? It is not a little singular that at the time this book was
+published, it was read with such avidity that it went through seven
+editions in one year.[22] From this circumstance we may gather that the
+public generally took a lively and proper interest in a subject that was
+not only of domestic, but national importance. Whether this interest was
+stimulated by the fact that the work was written expressly by order of the
+{58} government, it is now impossible to say, at any rate much credit is
+due to the Lords of the Regency for having placed so important a duty upon
+one so thoroughly and in every way so duly qualified for the task as Dr.
+Mead. It had been well if some of the advice given at that time, as means
+of protection against the Plague, had been applied and put in force during
+the late visitation of epidemic Cholera, for, however the minds of some may
+be convinced of the non-contagiousness of Cholera, there are many who hold
+a different opinion, and all will acknowledge, that if not strictly a
+contagious affection, it is clearly proved to be capable of being carried
+from place to place, or to use Dr. Copland's words, it is "a portable
+disease." But this is not the place to discuss the subject of contagion,
+allusion will be made to it hereafter. To return, Mead's expressions are
+singularly illustrative of the vital power possessed by the germs of
+disease; he says, "There are instances of the distemper's being stopt by
+the winter cold, and yet the seeds of it not destroyed, but only kept
+unactive, _till the warmth of the following spring has given them new life
+and force_. His confession as to the hidden cause of the disease, is worthy
+transcribing: "We are acquainted too little with the laws, by which the
+small parts of matter act upon each other, to be able precisely to
+determine the qualities requisite to change animal juices into such
+acrimonious humours, or to explain {59} how all the distinguishing symptoms
+attending the disease are produced."[23]
+
+On the spread of the Plague is the following:--"The plague is a _real
+poison_, which being bred in the southern parts of the world, maintains
+itself there by circulating from infected persons to goods, that when the
+constitution of the air happens to favour infection, it rages with great
+violence." Contagious matter is lodged in goods of a loose and soft
+texture, which being packed up, and carried into other countries, let out,
+when opened, the imprisoned seeds of contagion, and produce the disease
+whenever the air is disposed to give them force, "otherwise they may be
+dispersed without any considerable ill effects." Gibbon thus speaks of the
+above quoted work: "I have read with pleasure Mead's short but elegant
+Treatise concerning Pestilential Disorders;" many also might read it at the
+present day with infinite advantage. Mead most satisfactorily combats the
+opinions of the French physicians who maintained the non-contagiousness of
+the Plague. Experience proves beyond doubt, that certain conditions of
+atmosphere, of {60} which we are ignorant, favour the growth and increase
+of pestilences as they do of all vegetation.
+
+Dr. Bancroft was of opinion that specific contagions are each and severally
+creatures of Divine Wisdom, as distinctly and designedly exerted for their
+production, as it was to create the several species of animals and
+vegetables around us.
+
+The indigenous fever of Ireland, which has several times shewn itself in an
+epidemic form, appears to have been as fatal, as the Plague in the South of
+Europe. Its devastations have generally been associated or preceded by
+famine and general distress. Dr. Harty, writing in 1820, says that thrice
+within the last eighty years has the same fever appeared in its epidemic
+character. In the year 1741 Ireland lost 80,000 of her inhabitants from
+this cause. It is a maculated typhus, and considered to be a special
+product of the Emerald Isle. It has been shewn that fever began to exceed
+its ordinary rate in those places first where famine and want of employment
+were most severely felt,[24] and that in such places and under such
+circumstances, it was most prevalent and fatal. The physicians generally
+believed it to have been spontaneously produced and not to have been
+imported. In the last Famine Fever of Ireland, Liverpool and several other
+places suffered severely from the {61} importation of their Channel
+neighbours with the disease in some instances, and the infection in others
+about their persons. Hitherto these have to all appearance been the limits
+of the affection; we know not, however, how soon the time may come when the
+invisible bonds which have thus chained the disease to certain localities
+may be severed, and spreading itself like other pestilences in an
+aggravated form, attack this country as a last and crowning act of
+retributive justice. At present it has but cost us money and regrets, but
+if the history of pestilences is to be heeded, there are many tokens which
+seem to indicate that a few slight concurrent circumstances only are
+wanting, to bring the full force of this disease upon us; then will there
+be a sacrifice of life. Edinburgh and other towns of Scotland have had some
+visitations already, ourselves but slightly, but let our labouring
+population suffer to any large extent for want of work, and we shall
+inevitably be the sufferers from that fever which in consequence of general
+destitution is now always more or less prevalent in Ireland.
+
+The Sweating Sickness prevailed in England alone at first, but at length
+sought foreign victims. The Cholera is an exotic disease, as well as the
+Plague, but they occasionally have visited our shores, and their seeds
+remain among us. The Small Pox is now even not known in some parts of the
+world, but when once it is established, who can predict the period of its
+first appearance in an {62} epidemic form. The history of the disease
+informs us that in all the countries where it has been introduced, sooner
+or later an epidemic has seized the inhabitants.
+
+A disease previously unknown in India appeared at Rangoon in the year 1824,
+which obtained the name of Scarlatina Rheumatica. Four years afterwards it
+attacked the Southern States of North America, and though the disease was
+so impartial as scarcely to spare a single individual of any town to which
+it extended its influence, it was not accompanied with that mortality which
+has usually been the characteristic of wide spread epidemics.
+
+There is one peculiar feature of all epidemics which may be here mentioned
+as indicative of some definite, though at present unaccountable cause,
+operating in the sudden suppression of the disease after a certain period
+of duration. This distinctive character may almost be considered as a law
+in reference to these affections; if we take three distinct diseases, the
+Plague, the Irish Fever and the Cholera, we find the rule apply to all. Of
+the latter disease we have so recently been witnesses, that I need not
+quote authorities on this point concerning it. In Dr. Patrick Russell's
+work on the Plague at Aleppo I find the following remarkable passage. After
+alluding to the great increase of pestilential effluvia that there must be
+towards the close of an epidemic, compared with the amount at the onset of
+the disease, and expressing his {63} astonishment that so many escape
+infection, he says: "The fact, however unaccountable, is unquestionably
+certain; the distemper seems to be extinguished by some cause or causes
+equally unknown, as those which concurred to render it more or less
+epidemical in its advance and at its height." He then mentions that in
+Europe the sudden cessation may be partly attributable to the measures
+adopted for preventing its extension; but "at Aleppo, where the disease is
+left to run its natural course, and few or no means of purification are
+employed, it pursues nearly the same progress in different years; it
+declines and revives in certain seasons, and at length, without the
+interference of human aid, ceases entirely."
+
+The expressions of Dr. Harty on this subject, in connexion with the Irish
+Fever, would apply as well to all other epidemics: "It is a fact, that
+though every diversity of management was resorted to for effecting the
+suppression of the disease, yet, nevertheless, there was an almost
+simultaneous and apparently spontaneous decline of the epidemic in the
+various and most remote parts of Ireland. It is not an easy matter to offer
+a satisfactory explanation of this circumstance, _some general cause must_
+no doubt have influenced the subsidence of the disease, yet that cause
+could not be atmospheric, inasmuch as the decline, though it might be said
+to be simultaneous, was not sufficiently so to admit of that explanation."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{64}
+
+SECTION III.
+
+THE DISPERSION OF PLANTS AND DISEASES.
+
+The dispersion of Diseases and the dispersion of Plants, exhibit analogies
+which might be little expected, on a superficial view of the enquiry.
+
+We are led to believe, that the earth as a whole, was not covered with
+vegetation in a day, the geological history of this planet is one of
+development, and though at first sight this expression of opinion may
+appear to savour of doubt in the Mosaic record, a more extended
+acquaintance with the subject, favours rather and confirms Scripture
+history.
+
+As the peopling of the earth has been a gradual process with the animal
+creation, so has it been also with the vegetable kingdom. We see at the
+present day, that plants by various means of transit from place to place,
+multiply themselves on new soils and in new climes, the same with animals.
+By other means we observe, or can trace, the extinction from various
+localities and countries, of members of both the animal and vegetable
+kingdom.
+
+We learn that originally this planet had a temperature much higher than at
+present, and that the variation of temperature between the equator and the
+poles, which we now witness, did not obtain in the earlier condition of the
+globe. We are given to understand, and not without considerable proof, {65}
+if not demonstration, that the earth was a vast bog, in which rank
+vegetation grew, and in which the ichthyosauri and plesiosauri, must have
+floundered about as unwieldy and loathsome bodies. We can readily conceive
+a condition of atmosphere at this time to have been loaded with pestiferous
+vapours of an organized nature; it is entirely in accordance with all we
+know, that it should have been so. Allied forms of plants to those now in
+existence, are found in the form of fossils, by which comparisons are made,
+but how the transition into the present Flora took place, or at what
+period, it is impossible to say. That these plants should have been
+entirely destroyed during the revolutions of the earth by earthquakes, and
+their consequences; the collection of waters into the vacuities formed, and
+their draining off from other places by elevations of the land, is not to
+be dwelt on without astonishment; then again the ultimate changes of
+temperature on the surface of the earth, may have been another element in
+the history of their extinction. But if we may be allowed to imagine that
+there were organic germs floating in the vapours of the atmosphere, these
+would hardly be subject to the same influences as those which depended
+solely on their fixation to the soil for subsistence. The atmosphere, their
+native element, being influenced by the commotions from below, would be
+agitated; vortiginous currents would be established, hurricanes would sweep
+over the stagnant pool and reeking morass, {66} and the higher regions of
+the air might have thus given protection to these subtle germs, while
+almost a total extinction of the elegant ferns, the stately palm, and the
+towering cane was in course of procedure. Then when the strife of the earth
+and elements had subsided, these would descend with the gentle breezes, and
+again find in various spots a local habitation--
+
+ "Where blue mists, through the unmoving atmosphere,
+  Scatter the seeds of pestilence _and feed unnatural vegetation_."
+
+In the new era, when the earth took its present physiognomy, who shall say
+whether much of the pestiferous matter may not have been enclosed and
+condensed in the bowels of the earth, and when it is remembered, that
+earthquakes and convulsions of nature,[25] have invariably preceded the
+outbreak of {67} any great pestilences, that stinking mists, coming from
+some unknown regions, and unusual vegetations have made their appearance in
+concert at these times, what I ask is more natural than to imagine, that
+they have been let loose during the general convulsion? It may be asked,
+what is to be said about that revolution of the earth, when the great
+Deluge spread over the whole face of the globe? It can only be replied,
+that this is a part of the scheme of cosmogony into which we are not called
+upon to enter. There are yet strenuous supporters of the partial as well as
+total submersion of this planet, but whether it be true that the vast
+torrents which appear to have swept the surface uniformly in a southern
+direction, were of a date coeval with the deluge, and constituted an
+essential portion of the phenomena, of which one was, that "the fountains
+of the great deep were broken up," or whether they were anterior to this
+catastrophe, will not at all interfere with the conjecture of a very early
+formation and propagation of the germs of pestilential diseases, for the
+commotions of a deluge were less likely to interfere with the vapours of
+the atmosphere, than extensive volcanic and electric disturbances.
+Moreover, it is rather in favour of this theory, that the {68} regions
+where the temperature and exhalations most nearly resemble those of the
+former condition of the earth, are those in which pestilential disorders
+most frequently arise, and where their virulence has always been most
+strongly marked.
+
+After the various commotions which left the globe, with its present
+physiognomy of mountains, plains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and oceans; a new
+Flora and Fauna appeared to adorn and animate the scene of man's existence.
+Plants and animals were created apparently in adaptation to the numerous
+climes, which the seasons in the various latitudes or the elevations of the
+soil, were prepared to render fruitful and useful each in its own sphere.
+Besides this, the plants of the same latitude, in some instances, differ
+materially from each other; in this case it seems that the soil has much to
+do with this peculiarity, for it is certain that the soil and the
+contiguous atmosphere, have a close and intimate relation; the drought of
+the desert depends upon the sand, as humid atmosphere is connected with the
+morass. To illustrate the tendency which vegetation shews in appropriating
+one locality more than another, I may quote the following: "Some of the
+volcanic masses of the Aeolian or Lipari Islands, that have existed beyond
+the reach of history, are still without a blade of verdure; while others in
+various parts, of little more than two hundred years date, bear spontaneous
+vegetation, and the same is seen on two lavas of Etna near each other, for
+the one {69} of 1536 is still black and arid, while that of 1636, is
+covered with oaks, fruit trees, and vines."
+
+In comparing the diffusion of plants, and the diffusion of diseases, the
+different modes by which this generally has been effected may be considered
+under heads, that the comparison may be more readily traced.
+
+_First_, seeds are diffused by the atmosphere, either by the prevalence of
+certain currents, which are produced by known laws, in which case, no
+difficulty occurs in the explanations; or in a more imperceptible manner,
+as by those more uncertain atmospheric currents of a partial nature, which,
+though they seem to have laws governing them, are not yet understood.
+
+_Second_, seeds are transported by water across oceans, &c. when they can
+be floated on any material by which they are preserved, as by wrecks and
+masses of wood, which have been washed down the rivers.
+
+_Third_, they are conveyed by man to all parts of the globe.
+
+_Fourth_, a period of latency is observed to apply to them, that is, they
+require certain essential conditions before germination occurs; so that
+even in some localities, a plant may not have been known to exist in a
+particular neighbourhood, but by a train of circumstances, it may make its
+appearance, and again be a centre of development.
+
+1st. I shall not here wander into the speculation, {70} whether plants had
+originally one birth-place, as a centre from which they spread by various
+agencies, as supposed by Linnaeus, nor into any enquiry beyond those facts,
+which may fairly come within our own comprehension, and within our own
+means of demonstration.
+
+Many seeds are provided with means adapting them for floating in the
+atmosphere, these are by pappi, or winglets and hairs, but it cannot be
+doubted that the agency of atmospheric currents, is productive of
+considerable effects in the dispersion of lighter seeds, such as those of
+mosses, fungi, and lichens--lichens have been discovered in Brittany, which
+are peculiar to Jamaica, and Monsieur De Candolle concludes, that their
+seeds had been carried thence by the south-westerly winds, which prevail
+during a great part of the year on this portion of the French coast.
+
+But Humboldt's testimony on the subject of winds is most satisfactory, for
+he says, "Small singing birds, and even butterflies, are found at sea, at
+great distances from the coast (as I have several times had opportunities
+of observing in the Pacific), being carried there by the force of the wind,
+when storms come off the land." It is generally believed, from abundance of
+proofs, that the trade winds, and other continuous currents, are means by
+which plants are conveyed from one country to another.[26]
+
+{71}
+
+As to the partial currents, Humboldt further says, "The heated crust of the
+earth occasions an ascending vertical current of air by which light bodies
+are borne upwards. M. Boussingault, and Don Mariano De Rivero, in ascending
+the summit of the Silla, one of the gneiss mountains of Caraccas, saw in
+the middle of the day, about noon, whitish shining bodies rise from the
+valley to the summit of the mountain, 5755 feet high, and then sink down
+towards the neighbouring sea coast. These movements continued
+uninterruptedly for the space of an hour. The whitish shining bodies proved
+to be small agglomerations of straws, or blades of grass, which were
+recognized by Professor Kunth, for a species of vilfa, a genus, which
+together with agrostis, is very abundant in the provinces of Caraccas and
+Cumana."
+
+On the plague of locusts we read, that "the Lord brought an east wind upon
+the land, all that day and all that night, and when it was morning the east
+wind brought the locusts."
+
+On the Black Death we read, "There were many locusts which had been blown
+into the sea by a hurricane, and a dense and awful fog was seen in the
+heavens, rising in the east, and descending upon Italy."
+
+Of the Plague of 542, Gibbon says, "The winds might diffuse that subtle
+venom, but unless the atmosphere be previously disposed for its reception,
+the plague would soon expire in the cold or {72} temperate regions of the
+north. The disease alternately languished and revived, but it was not till
+a calamitous period of fifty-two years, that mankind recovered their
+health, or the air resumed its pure and salubrious quality."
+
+In the history of the Sweating Sickness, of which there were five distinct
+visitations, we find ample allusions to the atmosphere, and the mode in
+which the disease was conveyed by this medium.
+
+I quote again from Hecker: "It seemed that _the banks of the Severn_ were
+the _focus of the malady_, and that from hence, a true impestation of the
+atmosphere, was diffused in every direction. Whithersoever the winds wafted
+the stinking mists, the inhabitants became infested with the sweating
+sickness. _These poisonous clouds of mists were observed moving from place
+to place_, with the disease in their train, affecting one town after
+another, and morning and evening spreading their nauseating insufferable
+stench. At greater distances, these clouds being dispersed by the wind,
+became gradually attenuated yet their dispersion set no bounds to the
+pestilence, and it was as if they had imparted to the lower strata of the
+atmosphere, _a kind of ferment which went on engendering itself even
+without the presence of the thick misty vapour_, and being received into
+men's lungs, produced the frightful disease everywhere."[27]
+
+{73}
+
+Mr. K. B. Martin, harbour-master of Ramsgate, in a communication to Lord
+Carlisle on the Cholera of last autumn, says, "At midnight of the 31st
+August (1849), the Samson (steam-tug) proceeded to the Goodwin Sands, where
+the crew were employed under the Trinity agent, assisting in work carried
+on there by that corporation. While there, at 3 A.M. 1st September, _a hot
+humid haze, with a bog-like smell_, passed over them; and the greater
+number of the men there employed instantly felt a nausea. They were in two
+parties. One man at work on the sand was obliged to be carried to the boat;
+and before they reached the steam vessel at anchor, the cramps and spasm
+had supervened upon the vomitings; but here they found two of the party on
+board similarly affected. Here then is a very marked case without any known
+predisposing local cause. Doubtless it was atmospheric, and in the hot
+blast of pestilence which passed over them."
+
+Many more instances might be quoted, to shew that the germs of disease, as
+well as of plants, are borne on the wings of the wind from place to place
+{74} in one country, and from one country to another, the distance being no
+obstacle, however great that may be.[28] "Dust and sands," says Sharon
+Turner, "heavier than many seeds, are borne by the winds and clouds for
+several hundred miles across the atmosphere, falling on the earth and seas
+as they pass along." "The clouds not only bring us occasionally meteoric
+stones, hail, and _epidemics_, but also vegetable seeds."[29]
+
+2nd. The transportation of seeds of plants by water requires very little
+notice; every one is familiar with the mode in which coral islands, which
+gradually rise out of the sea, become covered with vegetation. "If new
+lands are formed, the organic forces are ever ready to cover the naked rock
+with life.--Lichens form the first covering of the barren {75} rocks, where
+afterwards lofty forest trees wave their airy summits. The successive
+growth of mosses, grasses, herbaceous plants and shrubs or bushes, occupies
+the intervening period of long but undetermined duration."
+
+The following may be cited as an instance of the transportation of disease
+by water. "Cyprus lost almost all its inhabitants, and ships without crews
+were often seen in the Mediterranean, or afterwards in the North Sea,
+driving about, _and spreading the plague wherever they went on shore_."[30]
+
+It requires no argument to enforce the conviction that cottons, woollens,
+furs, skins, &c. will retain the matter of infection for almost an
+indefinite period; instances of the kind have been already given; it is
+therefore easy to understand that portions of wrecks and ship's goods would
+be a frequent though unsuspected source of infection. Dr. Halley mentions a
+case, in which a bale of cotton was put on shore at Bermuda by stealth; it
+lay above a month without prejudice, where it was hid, but when opened and
+distributed among the inhabitants, it produced such a contagion that the
+living scarce sufficed to bury the dead. Dr. Walker found seeds dropt
+accidentally into the sea in the West Indies cast ashore on the Hebrides.
+He says, "the sea and rivers waft more seed than sails." The waters of many
+rivers induce diarrhoea and dysentery.[31] Well water also in many {76}
+places has a similar effect, especially if any surface drainage happens to
+find its way into the well.
+
+3rd. The part performed by man himself in the communication of disease to
+his fellow creatures, is perhaps the most fruitful source of the extensive
+spread of epidemic and contagious diseases.
+
+In the time of Moses, restrictions were laid on those who had the plague of
+the leprosy to avoid contagion; the dictum for one so affected was, "he
+shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."[32] All the
+ancient authors believed in the {77} infectious nature of pestilential
+fevers, and some other diseases; but, according. to Mr. Adams, they held
+that no specific virus was the cause, and merely a contamination of the
+surrounding air by effluvia from the sick. Thucydides, Hippocrates,
+Procopius, Galen, Plutarch, all recognized the property of communicability
+from one individual to another of the plague; and Hecker, on the epidemics
+of the middle ages, abounds with instances in support of contagion. As
+regards small-pox and measles, Rhazes observes particularly the connection
+that exists between the condition of the air and the severity or mildness
+of these diseases, remarking that small-pox seldom happens to old men,
+except in pestilential, putrid, and malignant constitutions of the air in
+which this disease is usually prevalent.
+
+The history of the introduction of Scarlet Fever, Hooping Cough, Lues, and
+other diseases into the various countries of the globe, is sufficiently
+convincing that men carry about with them the seeds of disease; that while
+these attach themselves to the persons and clothing of those who introduce
+them into new climes, and flourish independently of cultivation, yet the
+exotics which they foster with so much care, often disappoint their most
+sanguine expectations; and these "languishing in our {78} hothouses can
+give but a very faint idea of the majestic vegetation of the tropical
+zone." Art in this procedure fails to accomplish here, what nature but too
+sadly, under some circumstances, effects most readily. The germs of some
+diseases though of an exotic character, under congenial influences of
+various kinds, appear to flourish with native vigour: is it not so, also,
+with some forms of vegetation? The aloe, a native of Mexico, which lives,
+but does not thrive well, or reproduce under ordinary circumstances in this
+country, will occasionally send forth a most luxuriant blossom;[33] so rare
+is this, that some say it occurs every 50 or 100 years, but no law seems to
+be established on this point, any more than the statement that we may
+expect pestilential diseases at certain intervals. But that there are
+intervals of _uncertain_ duration when the aloe will blossom, when the
+grapes will ripen, and a general productiveness of exotics will occur, is
+as certain as that seasons will occur when contagion will be rife, and a
+most unusual multiplication of disease prevail. This is not an imaginary or
+speculative notion,--all observers of seasons and diseases within the last
+twenty years, may fully verify the statement.
+
+In 1846, a large vine, the black Hambro-grape, {79} ripened its fruit out
+of doors, and was as fine as any green-house production; but during nine
+years that the vine has been under my inspection, this was the only time I
+have witnessed such a result.
+
+We are apt to attribute an abundant or scarce fruit season to temperature
+alone, but this is an error--for we have before remarked, that though
+certain lands may be in the same degree of latitude, the plants which
+thrive well on one land, will not do so on the other: in fine, that where
+reason and analogy would lead one to expect a particular form of
+vegetation, a totally different Flora is presented to the view. These facts
+are indeed suggestive of new and important deductions. Is it yet explained
+why the town of Birmingham should be free from Cholera? There is a large
+manufacturing population, a great number of poor, the usual overcrowding of
+individuals in small chambers, a considerable amount of destitution and
+depravity; irregular habits of living, and unwholesome diet, and doubtless
+many parts of the town, which on investigation would have yielded all the
+elements usually considered necessary for the localization of the disease:
+but no--here was some repelling cause, some opposing agent to the
+generation and propagation of the pestilential seeds. There are no known
+laws by which inorganic matter could be supposed to observe such a
+selection, or such an antagonism. Electricity, magnetism, ozone, gases,
+exhibit no such elective properties that here they will destroy, and {80}
+there they will spare; that they can almost depopulate small villages, and
+scarcely find a victim in Birmingham and Bath. But if we suppose a living,
+and multiplying matter as the cause of disease, many local causes may
+conspire to arrest the development of the germs, or perhaps, even utterly
+destroy them.
+
+4th. As to the time of latency, facts crowd upon us indefinitely, as
+elements of comparison between vegetation generally, and disease in its
+early stages and history. The seeds of plants are extraordinarily tenacious
+of life. What a mysterious arrangement of the ultimate particles of matter
+must there be, by which the vital force remains apparently inactive for
+many years, and yet when the conditions arise favourable to its
+manifestation, as it were by an extraordinary fiat, life appears.
+
+Previous to the year 1715, no broom grew in the King's Park, at Stirling;
+but in that year a camp was formed there, and the surface of the ground
+consequently was broken in many places. Wherever it was broken, broom
+sprang up. The plant was subsequently destroyed; but in 1745 a similar
+growth appeared after the ground had been again broken for a like purpose.
+Some time afterwards the park was ploughed up, and the broom became
+generally spread over it. "In several places in the neighbourhood of
+Edinburgh," says Professor Graham, "the breaking of the surface produces an
+abundant crop of Fumaria parviflora, {81} although the same plant had never
+before been observed in the neighbourhood. It is impossible to say the
+lapse of time since these were buried, before they were again excited to
+the performance of all their vital functions." Dr. Graham also gives
+another proof of the vital force existing in seeds. "To the westward of
+Stirling there is a large peat bog, a great part of which has been flooded
+away by raising water from the River Teith, and discharging it into the
+Forth,--the under soil of clay being then cultivated. The clergyman of the
+parish standing by while the workmen were forming a ditch in this clay,
+which had been covered with fourteen feet of peat earth, saw some seeds in
+the clay which was thrown out of the ditch; he took some of them up and
+sowed them: they germinated and produced a crop of Chrysanthemum septum.
+What a period of years must have elapsed while the seeds were getting their
+covering of clay, and while this clay became buried under fourteen feet of
+peat earth!"[34]
+
+{82}
+
+What limit can there be to the dispersion of seeds when their vital
+properties may remain so long unimpaired? The seeds of which we have been
+speaking were, no doubt many of them, washed away with the waters of the
+Teith, and carried by the stream into the Forth; and who shall then mark
+their destination; for we have seen that by such means the most distant
+lands are supplied with vegetation; for whence come the plants which cover
+the Coral Islands, unless by the air and the water, and that both
+contribute, has been incontestably proved. Dr. Lindley states that melon
+seeds have been known to grow when forty-one years old; maize thirty years,
+rye forty years, the sensitive plant sixty years, kidney-beans a hundred
+years. But seeds in general have an indefinite period, apparently, at which
+they can retain their power of germination; for many of the seeds which had
+been kept in the herbarium of Tournefort for more than a century, were
+found to have preserved their fertility.
+
+It has now to be shewn that the germs of disease also retain their vital
+powers in a state of dormancy during a lengthened period.
+
+{83}
+
+Mead has very judiciously observed, "to breed a distemper, and to give
+force to it when bred, are two different things." He further remarks, that
+the seeds of the Plague may confine themselves to a house or two during a
+hard frosty winter, and be preserved, and again put forth their malignant
+quality as soon as the warmth of the spring gives them force. It is
+certainly very remarkable that the Plague of London, which commenced at the
+latter end of the year 1664, should "lie asleep," as Mead says, from
+Christmas to the middle of February, and then break out in the same parish.
+
+It has been also known that an infected bed laid by for seven years had
+done infinite mischief on being again brought into use. Indeed, it is quite
+uncertain for how long a period woollen, fur, linen, cotton, and other
+articles may retain infectious matter in a dormant state. It has been
+supposed by some that in closely packed bed and body clothes a
+multiplication of the germs may and does take place, nor do I see any
+reason why this should not be the case, for these articles contain within
+their structure the effluvia of the animal body, and they may possibly
+there find sufficient nutriment for their development. Nees von Esenbeck
+believed that some of the minute Cryptogamia were re-produced in the air,
+we are not therefore exceeding philosophical conjecture when we imagine a
+basis and substratum, though an unusual one, for the germs of vegetation.
+Exclusion from air and light, {84} however, as would be the case in
+packed-up clothes, would _a priori_ give a better colour to the conjecture,
+as these are the usual conditions necessary for the growth of seeds.
+
+Small Pox and Cow Pox matter, which are now proved to be the same virus,
+the former modified by having been through a process of growth and
+maturation in the cow, are both remarkable for exhibiting their active
+properties after having lain dormant for a considerable time. And each,
+though so closely allied, retaining its specific properties.
+
+This peculiarity in the history of Small Pox virus suggests a comparison
+with some phenomena of vegetation, _viz._ that of grafting or budding. The
+lower Cryptogamia in their fructifications resemble rather multiplication
+by buds than by seeds. M. Moyen's idea is that every spore or little
+globule, independently of its neighbouring one, lives, absorbs,
+assimilates, grows, and re-produces on its own account; this is certainly
+the characteristic of the Torula and the Uredo, and doubtless is so of many
+other of the Cryptogamia, the Protococcus nivalis is another instance.
+Other modes of cultivation produce also great varieties of results of an
+unexpected kind.
+
+Would any one, says Dr. Walker, imagine that cabbage, cauliflower, savoy,
+kale, brocoli, and turnip-rooted cabbage, were the same species? yet
+nothing is more certain than that they are only varieties produced by the
+cultivation of the Brassica oleracea, {85} a plant which grows wild on the
+sea-shores of Europe.
+
+These varieties in vegetables have now become permanent, and though it is
+supposed that each is liable to return to its original condition, I am not
+yet certain that such is the tendency. A deterioration is not unlikely to
+ensue in the course of time, because the propagation by seeds must
+necessarily very much approach the system of intermarriage, on which Mr.
+Walker has so ably written and clearly shewn that as a result we may
+invariably expect a deterioration of the species. Dr. Darwin has also
+poetically described what his experience taught him.
+
+ "So grafted trees with shadowy summits rise,
+  Spread their fair blossoms and perfume the skies,
+  _Till canker taints the vegetable blood_,
+  Mines round the bark and feeds upon the wood;
+  So years successive from perennial roots,
+  The wire or bulb with lessened vigour shoots,
+  Till curled leaves or barren flowers betray
+  A waning lineage verging to decay;
+  Or till amended by connubial powers,
+  Rise seedling progenies from sexual flowers."
+
+The minute nature of the germs of disease preclude all possibility of their
+being submitted, as far as we know at present, to the inspection of the
+physiologist, but we may infer many facts from results. In the same way,
+though with humbler {86} ideas, as Cuvier could build up an animal from a
+single bone, can we by a combination of facts infer the existence of living
+beings and conjecture their forms. "The re-production or generation of
+living organized bodies is the great criterion or characteristic which
+distinguishes animation from mechanism." We find the virus of Small Pox,
+according to Mr. Ceely's experiments, developing itself as a constitutional
+disease upon the cow, and becoming modified into a form known as the Cow
+Pox; this resembles the process of cultivation by which a species is
+converted into a variety, this variety remains for a certain time
+persistent; the time is not yet known, but it is known that by degrees, as
+stated above, a deterioration occurs, and fertility becomes impaired, "a
+waning lineage verging to decay," and this has been observed as a feature
+in the result of vaccination. I believe Dr. Gregory was one of the first to
+notice this fact, and deemed it necessary to obtain fresh lymph from the
+cow; this has been done, and it is not improbable, if the analogy we have
+drawn be correct, that the slowly spreading scepticism regarding
+vaccination may be arrested in its progress. If we can explain the
+deterioration of cow pox virus on this principle we have a hold at once
+upon the public, and can assure them that the efficacy of the proceeding is
+as certain as in the time of Jenner. The people, I contend, have a right to
+demand of us the reason why vaccination is not so efficacious as formerly,
+and I {87} affirm as unhesitatingly that we are bound to give the subject
+our most earnest attention.[35]
+
+Now concerning the re-production of Cow Pox matter, and assuming it to
+resemble that of the lower Cryptogamia, we can easily understand how
+degeneration in a course of years should ensue, for we find that though the
+Small Pox is a constitutional disease, that produced by vaccine lymph is a
+local affection, so that it bears the relation that grafting does to
+vegetation, and it is not improbable that such a modification takes place
+in the germs by passing through or becoming generated in the blood of the
+cow, that they entirely lose their original and characteristic form of
+reproduction: the seeds of the disease were originally capable of
+vegetating, if I may be allowed to use the term, by diffusion through the
+atmosphere; they now, however, have lost that property, and require to be
+grafted to exhibit any manifestation of vitality.
+
+How often will the seeds of a cultivated fruit grow? If you bud it upon
+another plant, you obtain a being exactly like the parent, but this, as we
+have seen, deteriorates in a course of years, we have also seen that the
+virus deteriorates; but not to stretch this point to an unseemly length, I
+cannot avoid expressing my conviction, that these are elements of
+comparison, possessing an interest and a practical utility of no small
+value.
+
+{88}
+
+I have before said, that the reproduction in the Cryptogamia, rather
+resembles budding than seeding. If we observe the Torula, or take the
+process of all formation, generally it will be found to accord more exactly
+with the budding than the seeding process, and this peculiarity is not
+confined to vegetation, it is also a marked feature in the reproduction of
+infusoria, sponges, polypes, &c.
+
+    "New buds surround the microscopic plant."
+
+The reproduction of plants and animals appears to be of two kinds, solitary
+and sexual; the former occurs in the formation of the buds of trees, and
+the bulbs of tulips.
+
+The microscopic productions of spontaneous vitality propagate by solitary
+generation only.
+
+We have but reached the threshold of this vast and interesting subject, the
+experiments which suggest themselves to the mind while reflecting upon it,
+would alone occupy a whole life of leisure, and I can but feel how forcibly
+Mr. Sewell's words apply to us: "The grand field of investigation lies
+immediately before us, we are trampling every hour upon things which to the
+ignorant seem nothing but dirt, but to the curious are precious as gold."
+
+It is difficult, perhaps, to bring many instances, in which the germs of
+disease have lain dormant for a lengthened period, because many may take
+exception to them, from the fact, that sporadic cases of {89} most epidemic
+and infectious diseases, are rarely absent from any country in which those
+diseases have become indigenous, and these cases may be said to be the foci
+whence originates the epidemic constitution of the air; this, however,
+would not invalidate the supposition, because one of two inferences must be
+drawn, either that the germs of disease always exist in a dormant state,
+requiring circumstances and conditions only for their development, or that
+the germs are imported from some distant locality, where the disease has
+occurred, and finding a nidus there, grow and multiply.[36] Whichever
+notion we take, however, matters very little to the fact of the dormancy of
+the germs, for in both, a certain period elapses between their transmission
+and their propagation. It may fairly be presumed, that sometimes one method
+may apply {90} and sometimes the other, perhaps both during general
+epidemic conditions of the atmosphere.
+
+The Oidium vitis attacked the vines partially last year, and I believe
+generally spared other forms of vegetation; but this year in my vicinity,
+cucumbers, melons, and vegetable marrows, are all suffering more or less
+under the disease.[37] How shall we say, whether are the seeds of last year
+the cause of the general diffusion at the present time, or were there a
+sufficient number of old and dormant seeds, universally diffused, and only
+waiting opportunities for multiplying themselves? We are here on the horns
+of a dilemma; and spontaneous generation, from which one naturally shrinks,
+can alone extricate us, if we do not admit diffusion and dormancy. I think
+I may, without undue assumption, affirm that a period of latency of
+indefinite duration, applies as cogently to the germs of disease as to
+those of plants.
+
+There is yet one other point in connection with this subject, and that is
+the apparent extinction of some diseases, at any rate their non-appearance
+in certain localities, which had been at one time congenial to them, and in
+which they flourished. We have seen, in illustrating the dormancy of seeds,
+that the broom must have been a common plant at {91} some considerable
+period back, in the King's Park at Stirling, or on that site.
+
+Then again, the appearance of Fumaria parviflora in the vicinity of
+Edinburgh, in several places where the ground is broken, is sufficiently
+convincing that this plant must once have been a common form of vegetation
+there; and as it had never before been observed in the neighbourhood, there
+must have been a combination of peculiar circumstances capable of rendering
+germination impossible, otherwise a continued multiplication, as in other
+forms of vegetation, would have followed of necessity.
+
+But besides these instances, how many are passing under our own eyes of the
+disappearance of plants under the influence of cultivation, and the
+generation of the noxious fumes arising from different and innumerable
+manufactories. In the vicinity of large cities and manufacturing towns, how
+rarely do we see healthy vegetation; shrubs and animals drag on a sickly
+and almost unprolific existence, and their term of natural life is much
+shortened.
+
+And if we compare diseases with this peculiar feature of vegetation, how
+very close do we find the analogies. The Sweating Sickness which appeared
+in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and at certain intervals
+multiplied and extended itself at first only in this country, but
+ultimately more or less over the continent of Europe, has {92} never since
+the year 1551 shewn any symptom of productiveness, indeed for all we know
+the disease may be extinct; on the other hand, it is impossible to say
+whether or not circumstances may arise, under which it may commence again,
+to put forth its energies and again desolate the land.[38]
+
+Since 1665, the Bubo-plague has not found a congenial soil in this country,
+or if the seeds be here, which is more than probable, the necessary
+conditions to excite them to activity do not exist.
+
+It cannot be imagined that with all the merchandize which comes into this
+country from the Mediterranean, but that an abundance of the germs of the
+disease are annually brought into our ports, and disseminated throughout
+the land. The law by which we have seen that they possess a power of
+vitality and reproduction, holds now as it did in former times;--the
+properties of matter never alter, but the conditions under which they exist
+may be so modified, as to influence their properties, and the usual course
+of their operations. It is therefore to {93} an alteration or modification
+of conditions that we are to look for the exemption, during the last two
+centuries, from an invasion of the Plague. To say what those conditions may
+be in their totality is difficult, perhaps impossible. We may generalize on
+the subject, and imagine the reason discovered, but all those causes which
+were said to have conspired to favour the spread and contamination with
+Plague, were as distinctly specified and attributed, as the cause of our
+late infliction with Epidemic Cholera. Why then did we have the Cholera and
+not the Plague? To what particular element was it--in the mode of living,
+of destitution, of filth and want of drainage--can it be ascribed that we
+suffer under one disease, and not under the other?
+
+We have made some few observations and comparisons on the mode of
+dispersion of plants and diseases,--but there is yet one more point which
+invites notice. Not only do seasons vary in their effects on vegetation in
+a remarkable and unexplained manner, but there are many localities to which
+some special form of vegetation attaches, and which appear to have a power
+of exclusion of other forms; and as yet I have not been able to trace the
+connexion, nor can I discover it in the writings of botanists and
+travellers, who would be most likely to have sought an explanation of so
+interesting and curious a fact. Dr. Prichard has on this subject some very
+apposite illustrations. "Still further southward, the austral temperated
+zone completely {94} changes the physiognomy of vegetation, and the Isle of
+Norfolk has, in common with New Holland, the Auracania found also in the
+harbour of Balade, and with New Zealand, the Phormium tenax. It is however
+remarkable, that this vast island, composed of two lands, separated by a
+channel, though so near New Holland, and lying under the same latitude,
+differs from it so completely, that they display no resemblance in their
+vegetation. Yet New Zealand, so rich in genera peculiar to its soil, and
+little known, has some Indian plants: such as Pepper, the Olea, and a
+reniform Fern, which is said to exist in the Isle of Maurice."
+
+I must quote one more passage from Dr. Prichard's excellent work. "We have
+one instance of an island at no great distance from a continent, having a
+peculiar vegetation. Mr. R. Brown has remarked, that there is not even a
+single indigenous species characterising the vegetation of St. Helena, that
+has been found either on the banks of the Congo, or on any other part of
+the Western coast of Africa. Does the diversity of marine and atmospheric
+currents more completely separate this island from the continent, than its
+situation would imply; or are the nature of soil and other local
+circumstances, the cause of so marked a diversity? The last supposition
+seems the most probable; because not only the species of plants, but
+likewise the genera in St. Helena, are different from those of the African
+coast." {95}
+
+We are not without instances of diseases, observing this peculiarity which
+attaches to plants; but their specific characters have hardly been
+sufficiently considered in reference to climate and situation, together
+with diet and local influences, to afford us accurate data for comparison.
+It has, however, been remarked, in every country where Epidemics have
+prevailed, that some districts or tracts of country, though supposed to
+possess all the qualities favourable to the development of the diseases,
+have nevertheless been entirely or nearly free from them. The following
+passage on the course of the Cholera gives an example of this peculiarity.
+"Whenever the malady deviated, so to speak, from its normal direction, and
+passed towards the west, it seemed incapable of propagating itself; and
+_died away spontaneously, even in places which appeared to be well fitted
+for its reception_.--The rich fertile and densely peopled countries to the
+right of the Dneiper, enjoyed an equal freedom from attack, which can only
+be explained by the fact that they were situated _beyond the line of the
+disease_." With this I close the subject of the diffusion of plants and
+diseases, though it would require a volume of itself, to record all that
+has been noticed. I have endeavoured to select such instances as shall mark
+distinctly the features which point to comparison without overloading the
+enquiry.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{96}
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+THE RELATION BETWEEN EPIDEMIC AND ENDEMIC DISEASES.
+
+Epidemic diseases, which multiply their germs in any climate, and under
+apparently the most varying conditions of temperature and hygrometric and
+electrical states of atmosphere, offer many points of contrast with Endemic
+affections, and many of relationship. The latter are traceable to a certain
+extent, to geological and geographical positions of the localities where
+they are observed to prevail, in combination with atmospheric vicissitudes
+and peculiarities, as well as to extent of cultivation of the soil: it has
+been remarked that the sickly island (as it is called) of St. Lucia has
+certain salubrious parts, but these are where sulphur abounds; this
+geological peculiarity has been deemed sufficient to account for the
+absence of endemic affections in these parts, and with much force of
+reason; for in the neighbourhoods where sulphur or sulphurous acid, a
+compound of sulphur, is an element prevalent in the soil or atmosphere,
+vegetation and the ague disappear together.
+
+Now ague, and other endemic fevers, doubtless originate from some allied,
+if not identical cause; for the localities in which they appear have so
+many {97} features in common, that we are constrained to acknowledge that
+endemic fevers have some relations and analogies, though not yet
+unravelled.
+
+Geographical situation, together with certain vegetation, particularly of
+grounds which grow rice, is one remarkable for the production of endemic
+affections. But the soil which generates or gives force to the
+contaminating matter, is not alone the part where human beings feel its
+influence most severely. A low marshy ground, prolific of malaria, may be
+comparatively free; while some neighbouring elevated land, to which
+prevailing currents of air waft the volatile elements of disease, may be
+desolated by their virulent and concentrated action. "Malaria may be
+conveyed a considerable distance from its source, _and be condensed_ in the
+exhaled vapour, when attracted by hills or acclivities in the vicinity, and
+when there are no high trees or woods to confine it, or to intercept it in
+its passage."
+
+The inhabitants of the city of Abydos were at one time subject to disease,
+arising from malaria, generated in some neighbouring marshes; by draining
+these marshes, which suspended the growth of rank vegetation, the city
+became healthy.
+
+Rome is in like manner even now subject to fevers, having a similar origin.
+Sir James Clark says, "Among the more prevalent diseases of Rome, malaria
+fevers are the most remarkable, and claim our first notice." He considers
+the fevers to be of exactly the same nature as those of Lincolnshire {98}
+and Essex in this country, of Holland, and certain districts over the
+greater part of the globe. To the climate, the season, or the concentration
+of the cause of these fevers, he attributes their varieties. It is the same
+disease, he says, whether from the swamps of Walcheren, or the pestilential
+shores of Africa.
+
+From July to October the inhabitants of Rome are most subject to these
+affections.
+
+Sir James Clark further says: "It may be stated as a general rule, that
+houses in confined shaded situations, with damp courts or gardens, or
+standing water close to them, are unhealthy in every climate and season;
+but especially in a country subject to intermittent fevers, and during
+summer and autumn. The exemption of the central parts of a large town from
+these fevers, is explained by the dryness of the atmosphere, and by the
+comparative equality of temperature which prevails there."
+
+In this respect there is a marked difference between an epidemic and an
+endemic affection; for when an epidemic disease attacks a city or town we
+do not discover that the central parts are more exempt than others; indeed,
+it is rather the contrary; for the most crowded parts of towns and cities
+are those, if not exactly in the centre, which would be comprised in a
+space nearer to the centre than the circumference; and it has been in those
+parts generally where the epidemic influences seem to have exercised the
+most potent sway. One would more naturally suppose, that a city surrounded
+by {99} paludal miasm, and not itself being capable of generating the
+poison, should be more affected at the circumference, from the simple fact
+that the paludal germs, which rise in the air, are suspended in the fogs
+and dews of the atmosphere. These, unless widely dispersed by the winds,
+would remain within a comparatively confined space; and those situations
+nearest to them would be most subject to their influence. Besides, it has
+been shewn, that a small wood or hill, or even a wall, has been sufficient
+to cut off or obstruct the paludal miasm.
+
+Without enumerating all the known endemic diseases, two or three may be
+alluded to for our present purpose; viz. that of shewing that endemic and
+epidemic diseases have a similar origin.[39]
+
+It is well known that under certain favouring conditions an endemic may
+become a malignant and pestilential disease; that Yellow Fever, which is
+always endemic in the west, Cholera in the east, and the Plague in the
+south of Europe and north of Africa, every few years takes on an epidemic
+form, and desolates considerable tracts of country.[39]
+
+The Pestilence which raged in the summer and autumn of 1804 in Spain,
+commenced at Malaga, and remained for a considerable time confined to its
+{100} boundaries, in consequence of the measures of precaution that were
+used, in preventing all communication between the inhabitants of the
+infected city and those living in the surrounding country. It was only in
+consequence of persons escaping through the cordon, and passing into the
+interior of the country, that the disease spread, and extended its ravages
+to distant places.
+
+It appears to be quite clear, that this disease may properly be considered
+in the first instance of endemic origin; but the tendencies, atmospheric
+and otherwise, were such as to favour its multiplication in other districts
+than that in which it first came into active existence. From this we may
+infer, that the seeds of the disease were dormant, and only became roused
+into vital activity by fortuitous circumstances. Dr. Rush states, that the
+endemic disorders of Pennsylvania were converted, by clearing the soil, to
+bilious and malignant remittents, and to destructive epidemics. Dr. Copland
+says, it has been observed, especially in warm climates, and in hot seasons
+in temperate countries, that when the air has been long undisturbed by high
+winds and thunder-storms, and at the same time hot and moist, endemic
+diseases have assumed a very severe and even epidemic character.
+
+Dr. Robertson also confirms this view. "Endemic diseases, in cases of
+neglect and preposterous management, are found to become more malignant
+even in the most temperate climates; and to {101} generate a matter in
+their course, capable of producing a particular disease in any
+circumstances. _Indeed the origin of every_ contagious fever unattended
+with eruptions, with the exception of Plague, must commence in this way."
+Why Dr. Robertson should except eruptive Fevers and Plague I cannot
+understand, for they must have had a commencement; and their many points of
+similarity indicate, if not an identical, an analogous source to other
+endemic fevers.
+
+It will doubtless be generally acknowledged that endemic and epidemic
+diseases depend upon some unknown agents, having their source in malarious
+districts, and being capable of assuming either a contagious or
+non-contagious character, according to circumstances.
+
+If, therefore, we find that under any conditions an endemic affection
+becomes capable of being propagated by contagion, the same law will hold
+with regard to it as to the Plague; that the power of reproduction in this
+matter is evidence of life, according to the doctrine laid down in the
+earlier part of this work. But whether or not infection be admitted, a
+matter generated in a malarious district, if confined in its effects to
+that district alone, would not necessarily imply an inorganic nature of the
+poison; for it is difficult to understand how inorganic poison, prevailing
+generally over a certain tract of country, could select particular
+individuals for its victims. If chloroform, chlorine, carbonic acid,
+sulphuretted hydrogen, or even spores of poisonous fungi, (as {102}
+supposed by Mitchell, which, as he regards their effects, would act in a
+similar manner to inorganic compounds) were the agents, all persons would
+suffer more or less, and the majority be similarly affected. We do not find
+that uniformity of symptoms, which attend upon the exhibition of poisons in
+the ordinary acceptation of the term, poisoning. This subject shall be more
+particularly considered, when treating of the influence of organic germs on
+animals and plants.
+
+The history of the Eclair steamer is particularly interesting, as shewing
+the extraordinary tenacity with which the germs of disease attach
+themselves to vessels, which we may call floating houses.
+
+The crew of the Eclair contracted Yellow Fever on the coast of Africa, and
+a number of them died. The remainder, sick and well, landed at Bona Vista,
+one of the Cape de Verde Islands, and the vessel underwent a process of
+washing, whitewashing, and fumigating. Nevertheless, on the return of the
+ship's company, the disease broke out again with equal intensity, and the
+vessel was ordered home. Sixty-five out of 146 officers and men, who
+composed the crew, died of the disease before reaching Portsmouth, and
+twenty-three were sick at the time of arrival.
+
+Eight days after the Eclair left Bona Vista, a Portuguese soldier who had
+mixed with her crew died in the fort which had been occupied by them. Other
+soldiers then fell sick, and the fort was abandoned. The fever still
+spread.
+
+From the 20th September, when the first soldier {103} was attacked, to the
+first week in December, the fever continued to rage, and at that period it
+had found its way into almost all the country villages. The fever was
+believed to be the genuine black vomit fever; it proved contagious almost
+without exception to the nurses of the sick.
+
+This is an abstract of Mr. Rendell's letter to Lord Aberdeen, Mr. Rendell
+being British Consul at Bona Vista.
+
+Now at the time the fever broke out in the island the weather was
+extraordinarily hot, and much rain had fallen, and the town itself was
+badly drained and in a filthy state; can it be imagined then that the seeds
+of a disease liable to assume a pestilential character should lie dormant
+or be annihilated under circumstances the most favourable for their
+development, especially when we know that endemic diseases may assume a
+malignant character?
+
+This is just one of many cases which confirm our opinion in this respect,
+that plants and diseases are not long in making their appearance where the
+soil and atmosphere are congenial.
+
+The tenacity with which the disease attached itself to the Eclair is
+sufficiently explained in the absence of due ventilation; in fact, that in
+the first instance there was no ventilation at all in the hold of the ship.
+This also the more readily affords a clue to the disaster through all its
+stages, first in the contraction of the disease as an endemical affection
+in the vessel; secondly, in the multiplication of the {104} germs in the
+damp ill-ventilated hold, in a warm climate; and thirdly, the persistence
+and entire localization of the disease to the vessel when it arrived in the
+climate of the British shores; while, fourth and lastly, in the unusually
+hot and damp island of Bona Vista, the seeds of the disease were sown, and,
+as we might expect, multiplied indefinitely.
+
+The consecutive attacks of the crew of the Eclair shew that here a noxious
+gas or a vaporized inorganic poison could not have been the cause of the
+disease, for as I have before said, in this case the attacks should have
+been simultaneous; we find, on the contrary, that as the depressing effects
+of the melancholy condition of the crew was almost hourly undermining the
+health of the stoutest of them they as surely became the victims. The
+Kroomen, or natives on board the ship had not suffered, shewing that they
+were inured to the miasm, or were destitute of that condition of blood
+which would be favourable to a propagation of the materies of the disease.
+
+The Eclair we learn had left Bona Vista eight days when the first victim
+breathed his last; this would give perhaps three or four days for the
+incubation of the disease in the patient, or supposing he had not
+contracted the germs of the disease before the crew of the Eclair left the
+fort, some local favouring conditions were the means of keeping the germs
+in a fertilizing state, for it is clear from this spot the infection spread
+as from a centre or focus. {105} Such instances as these might be
+multiplied to extend the length of the enquiry, but, I think, to little
+advantage. The chief facts to be gathered are that an endemic affection
+became epidemic and pestilential, contrary to its usual mode, for the
+Portuguese official physician, on being consulted by the Governor of the
+Island as to the safety of landing the contaminated crew, said, "No danger
+at all; I have often brought sick men on shore coming in vessels from the
+African coast, and I never knew any ill effects to arise." Putting the most
+reasonable construction on this emphatic and straightforward language, we
+may presume that ordinary, remittent, and yellow fever had been commonly
+imported into the island, for it is not to be supposed but that both forms
+of disease must have existed among those sick men who had "_often been
+landed_," under the sanction of the Portuguese physician.
+
+To take another instance; intermittent fever or ague, is a disease known
+among almost all nations of the world, but it usually occurs in the endemic
+form only. It is universally supposed to depend entirely upon marsh
+effluvia, and we are accustomed to consider it as attaching only to low
+lying countries;[40] but this is not always the case, for disease in {106}
+this respect, like vegetation, may be found in various latitudes, to
+accommodate itself at varying altitudes, to the temperature and climatic
+relations, so as to appear indigenous. But though our prejudices are in
+favour of a simple miasmatic source of ague, as its sole cause, there are
+some who believe in its infectious nature. M. Sigaud, in his work on the
+Climate and Diseases of Brazil, speaks of Epidemics of _grave intermittent
+Fever_, and Dr. Copland says, that the epidemic prevalence of ague is a
+better established fact than its infection, and has been admitted by most
+writers.[41] We have, therefore, but to go one step further to arrive at
+infection, after having found that an endemic disease under peculiar
+circumstances, though but rarely, becomes {107} epidemic. The number of
+persons attacked by ague in a malarious district, in proportion to the
+population, is not so great as might be expected, considering that they are
+always subject by night and day, more or less, to respire the air
+containing the germs of intermittent fever; we might, therefore, deny the
+paludal source of the affection, as reasonably as deny infection, if we
+found that occasionally, persons, though subject to all the usual
+influences, yet escaped all injurious consequences.
+
+There are grades and varieties of infectious diseases, from the most
+inveterate to the most mild and doubtful; but that all, without exception,
+which can in any way be traced to a specific generating and organic cause,
+may assume an exalted infectious character, and that the most inveterate,
+on the contrary, may more resemble the mild and doubtfully infectious
+forms, is a conviction that must be forced on all who pursue this enquiry
+with unbiassed interest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{108}
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE REASONABLENESS OF THE APPLICATION OF THE FACTS TO THE INFERENCE.
+
+--------
+
+SECTION I.
+
+THE CHEMICAL THEORY OF EPIDEMICS UNTENABLE.
+
+It has been inferred that the germs of disease possess the property of
+vitality, and a number of facts have been adduced to support the
+proposition that vitality is the indwelling force by which the matter
+generating epidemic and endemic disease exercises its influence over man
+and animals. The reasonableness of the application of these facts to the
+end in view has now to be considered. Chemistry cannot account for
+epidemics.
+
+Our first subject of reflection points to the chemical discoveries of the
+last few years, and particularly to those of the great German chemist
+Liebig. We find in the first paragraph of his Organic Chemistry applied to
+Physiology and Pathology, the following words: "In the animal ovum, as well
+as in the seed of the plant, we recognize a certain remarkable force, _the
+source of growth_ or increase in the mass, _and of reproduction_ or of
+supply of the matter consumed; a force in a state of rest. By the action of
+external influences, by impregnation, by the presence of air and moisture,
+the condition {109} of static equilibrium is disturbed. This force is
+called the _vital force_, _vis vitae_, or vitality."
+
+The doctrine of Liebig, that the vital force manifests itself in two
+conditions, or rather, that it is known to be in two different states, that
+of static equilibrium as in the seed, and in a dynamic state, as in that of
+growth and reproduction, is perfectly applicable to the germs of disease;
+the static equilibrium is referrible to the matter of vaccine lymph when
+dried and preserved for use, and the dynamic forces of the matter are known
+to be in operation during its reproduction and growth in the system of the
+vaccinated child.
+
+Then as to reproduction of matter by any chemical process, our author can
+furnish us with no examples, for even in his explanation of the causes of
+disease he is quite silent on this point, merely acknowledging that
+diseased products must be either rendered "harmless, destroyed, or expelled
+from the body." He further says, that "in all diseases where the formation
+of contagious matter and of exanthemata is accompanied by fever, two
+diseased conditions simultaneously exist, and two processes are
+simultaneously completed," and that it is by means of the blood as a
+carrier of oxygen that neutralization or equilibrium is established. Liebig
+thus admits that an agent exists in the blood, capable of deteriorating it
+at the expense of the oxygen, which he maintains is contained in the red
+globules; he further acknowledges that two processes of diseased {110}
+action are going on at the same time, and though he does not explain them,
+I imagine him to mean that new contagious matter is generated and
+eliminated from the blood, and that at the same time, there is that
+condition of body which he would call simply a diseased state, and
+characterizes it thus: "Disease occurs when the sum of vital force which
+tends to neutralize all causes of disturbance, (in other words, when the
+resistance offered by the vital force) is weaker than the acting cause of
+the disturbance."
+
+If I rightly apprehend his notions, they perfectly harmonize with my ideas,
+to a certain extent, on the subject. They accord, at any rate, most
+completely with the theory attempted to be established, and fully confirm
+the reasonableness of the application of the facts recorded to the
+inference drawn from other sources. The difference only rests on the
+question whether vitalized or non-vitalized matter is the _fons et origo
+mali_.
+
+How is the production of new matter, resembling that originally causing the
+disease, to be explained by any known hypothesis, except on the assumption
+of living organized matter? Though Liebig and Mulder both deny the fact,
+that the Torula cerevisiae is the sole agent in the process of
+fermentation: they both equally fail in shewing upon what it does depend,
+and their difficulty rests entirely on their incapacity to explain the
+uniform reproductive properties of the matter engaged in this, as well as
+in all other allied operations. Liebig's statement {111} however on this
+matter requires notice--he says, "that _putrifying_ blood, white of egg,
+flesh and cheese, produce the same effects in a solution of sugar, as yeast
+or ferment. The explanation is simply this; that ferment or yeast is
+nothing but vegetable fibrine, albumen or caseine, in a state of
+decomposition."
+
+This state of decomposition, however, involves a much more complex
+proceeding, than simply a reduction of matter into its elementary forms of
+gases, earths, and minerals; for we nowhere find decomposition of this kind
+going on without the development of some organized bodies, either animal or
+vegetable: and since we have seen that the spores of the cryptogami are
+always in existence in the atmosphere, and making their appearance under
+favouring conditions, and especially when we find that fermentation is
+invariably accompanied, and I may safely say, preceded by the deposition in
+the fluid of the sporules of the Torula, we can hardly believe that they
+are any other than the sole agents of the process. I have now a
+considerable quantity of the Torula obtained from the urine of a diabetic
+patient, in which they appeared, as it were, spontaneously. After the urine
+had been allowed access to the air for a certain time, and the whole of the
+saccharine matter was converted into new compounds, reproduction of the
+Torula ceased;--and those which remained when the process was completed,
+still continue as organic cells, deposited {112} in the bottle in an inert
+state, but ready, on the addition of fresh sugar, as has been proved, to
+resume an active existence. These germs, it is now well known, may be dried
+into powder, so as to be blown away like dust without any, or but little,
+detriment to their vital energies; and there is now no doubt that they
+exist in this condition in the air, as do the spores of mucor, aspergillus,
+oidium, agaricus, and all other fungi.
+
+Mulder, however, does allow some properties to the yeast vesicle; he says,
+"a variety of strange ideas have been entertained respecting the nature of
+yeast; recent experiments have convinced me that it undoubtedly is a
+cellular plant consisting of isolated cells. They resemble the composition
+of cellulose in some respects, but differ from it in many." "These
+vesicles, consisting of a substance resembling that of cells, do not
+contribute in the least to the fermentation, but are exosmotically
+penetrated during fermentation by the protein compound." These chemists
+seem to have an instinctive horror of allowing any active properties to the
+yeast vesicle, that is as far as the conversion of sugar into carbonic acid
+and alcohol is concerned in the act of fermentation. Dr. Carpenter, as if
+desiring to conciliate the chemical and physiological disputants, considers
+that the truth is to be found in the mean of the two extremes,--that is,
+that the process of fermentation is neither entirely dependent on chemical
+laws, nor on those laws which preside {113} over the growth of reproductive
+matter, but is a process in which both perform certain offices, each
+depending on the other to produce the combined result; he thus approaches
+more nearly to the theory of Mulder, than that of Liebig.
+
+But to revert to Mulder, he speaks of the Torula cells being "exosmotically
+penetrated during the process of fermentation by the protein compound." Now
+the Torula is acknowledged to be one of the Fungals, and the chemical
+constituents of the Fungi approach very nearly that of animal tissues. They
+contain a peculiar principle, residing in and obtainable from them, termed
+Fungin, which is as highly azotised as animal fibre. The protein compound
+alluded to, Mulder says, is not gluten, because insoluble in boiling
+alcohol, and not albumen, because it is very readily dissolved in acetic
+acid, and he regards it as a superoxide of protein. This superoxide of
+protein can only have been produced by a vital action in the cells of the
+Torula, and as the fungi consume oxygen, and give out carbonic acid, we
+clearly have all the elementary conditions for their growth in almost all
+decomposing animal and vegetable matters. It is the nature of the fungi to
+live on organized matter, but always when it has a tendency to decay; it is
+for this reason they have been called "Scavengers." Again, we can
+understand why some animalized or nitrogenous matter should be necessary
+for fermentation, otherwise fungi could not grow, nitrogen being an
+essential constituent of {114} their structure, and further fermentation
+does not commence without the presence of oxygen, and like as in animals,
+this gas supports their existence. The conversion of sugar into alcohol is
+represented by the following formula:--
+
+                             RESULT.
+              Sugar.  Alcohol.  Carbonic Acid.
+  Hydrogen      3        3
+  Oxygen        3        1            2
+  Carbon        3        2            1
+
+If therefore the process were merely of a chemical nature, where is the
+necessity for atmospheric oxygen to accomplish the end? it is quite certain
+that fermentation cannot go on without its presence. Let us compare the
+action of ferment or yeast in a dried state to the action of albumen, which
+Liebig says is sufficient when decomposing to set up fermentation. "The
+white of eggs when added to saccharine liquors requires a period of three
+weeks, with a temperature of 96deg F. before it will excite
+fermentation."[42] But any saccharine liquor on exposure to the air, though
+entirely destitute of albumen or gluten, will ferment, and the Torula may
+be found in it. I have found the Torula in a great variety of syrups which
+have spontaneously undergone fermentation. I have also discovered that the
+development of the cells is delayed or accelerated by the nature of the
+ingredient used in flavouring {115} the syrups, with other peculiarities
+which need not here be mentioned.
+
+But the conversion of starch into sugar by means of gluten requires some
+notice, as by some persons it is associated in their minds with the organic
+process of fermentation.[43] Mulder ascribes the latter in the first
+instance to the action of heat, evidently believing that the
+pseudo-catalytic operation of gluten upon starch is the type of all such
+actions, and regarding them all as simply chemical, but we here distinguish
+a wide difference; in the latter instance the gluten is decomposed, and
+rendered unfit for a repetition of the chemical phenomenon, and if it is
+desired to renew the action fresh gluten must be obtained, and a certain
+temperature kept up, otherwise the experiment fails. How different is
+fermentation: in the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere the yeast
+vesicle will multiply, no incremental or unnatural addition of heat is
+requisite, and it is one of the commonest and most natural instances of
+vegeto-chemistry: the grape cannot shed its juice, nor the sugar cane its
+sap without admitting these germs, which, under certain {116} conditions
+multiply themselves and convert the saccharine elements into new compounds.
+The method by which the conversion of starch into sugar is accomplished is
+thus described by Dr. Ure. He says that if starch one part be boiled with
+twelve parts of water and left to itself, water merely being stirred in it
+as it evaporates, at the end of a month or two in summer weather it is
+changed into sugar and gum, bearing certain proportions to the amount of
+starch used. But "if we boil two parts of potato starch into a paste, with
+twenty parts of water, mix this paste with one part of the gluten of wheat
+flour, and set the mixture for eight hours in a temperature of from 122deg
+to 167deg F. the mixture soon loses its pasty character, and becomes by
+degrees limpid, transparent, and sweet, passing at the same time first into
+gum and then into sugar."--"The residue has lost the faculty of acting upon
+fresh portions of starch."
+
+Four points of contrast present themselves for notice as elements of
+comparison with true fermentation. 1st. The starch solution has to be
+boiled, so that heat, by which it is to be supposed that the starch globule
+is ruptured, seems to be an essential portion of the chemical change, and
+even this may in fact alone be sufficient in such a case to produce some
+elementary change in the starch, and may prepare it for the subsequent
+catalytic action of some related organic, though not vital material.[44]
+{117} 2nd. Not only a summer heat is necessary, but a period of one or two
+months time must elapse before the starch with the water simply becomes
+converted into sugar, and if artificial heat is to be used to hasten the
+operation, a temperature from 122deg to 167deg F. must be resorted to in
+order to obtain the desired result. 3rd. When even this is accomplished
+there is no reproduction of the fermenting matter, and artificial and
+chemical means must again be applied to repeat the experiment. 4th. The
+conversion of starch into sugar can be accomplished without the presence of
+gluten at all, by the aid only of temperature and time. It seems to me,
+therefore, to be entirely unnecessary to occupy more space in the
+elaboration of a proof of the doctrine that the germs of the Torula are the
+sole agents in the conversion of saccharine fluids into alcohol and
+carbonic acid. By another chemical process starch can be converted into
+sugar, but I am not aware that hitherto any method has been discovered by
+which sugar can be converted into alcohol except by the process of
+fermentation proper.
+
+I have been thus particular in commenting on this subject, as it bears, in
+an especial manner, on the question under consideration.
+
+{118}
+
+The physiologist cannot afford to lose this process from the category of
+chemico-vital, or biochemical manifestations.[45] The philosophy of the age
+has a tendency to make every thing chemical; it is true that the Divinity
+is as much seen in the laws which govern the elementary particles of
+matter, as in those laws which preside over the transmutation and
+sustentation of those elementary and inorganic particles, when compounded
+in the tissues which are engaged in the formation of living beings. The
+laws by which acids and alkalies neutralize each other, and the affinities
+single, double and elective, which the particles of matter exhibit,
+together with the influences of light, heat, and electricity upon almost
+every condition of matter, are as truly wonderful as the creative power.
+Man may, in many instances, imitate the processes of nature, he can render
+iron magnetic, and form alkaloids, but the {119} laws which govern the
+particles of matter are still the secret of the whole proceedings. We do
+but interpret the language of nature in discovery, the book is ever open
+before us, and every atom of the world is a word and a theme, capable of
+occupying the short span of sublunary existence allotted to man. We have
+read of "sermons in stones," but a book has been written on a "pebble."[46]
+
+To return, as we every where in nature find a gradual transition in the
+forms, arrangements and properties of matter, so we may expect to find a
+link between the inorganic and vital chemistry of nature. The fungi, by
+which we contend this transition appears to be accomplished, are also a
+link in chemical composition, between the animal and vegetable kingdom, and
+not only in that, but in their subsisting upon matter which has been
+organized, they are deoxidizers and reducers, as the vegetable kingdom in
+its highest function is a compounder. To their functions and offices in the
+great scheme of creation, we may fairly apply ourselves with a sure and
+certain result of the most interesting discovery. Is it no hint that
+wherever decaying organic matter is found, there do we find fungi? is it no
+hint that they are found in all parts of the world? that even in snow the
+germs of fungi will grow and multiply to such an extent, according to Capt.
+Ross, that the protococcus was seen {120} by him, clothing the sides of the
+mountains at Baffin's Bay, rising, according to his report, to the height
+of several _hundred feet_, and extending to the distance of _eight miles_?
+
+Even stones contain in their interior, or interspaces of their structure,
+the germs of fungi. A species of Tufa is found in the vicinity of Naples of
+a porous texture, which, when moistened and shaded, produces vast
+mushrooms, four or five inches high, and eight or ten inches broad.[47]
+This author further says: "In the Maremma, where the volcanic tufa is the
+basis of the soil the surface is intermixed with the animal remains of
+departed empires, and the ordure of cattle, is covered with grasses of old
+pasturages, and is wet with heavy dews. Everything, therefore, conspires
+there to a fungiferous end."
+
+They are found growing in and upon both vegetables and animals. Nees von
+Esenbeck imagined, that minute forms multiplied themselves in the
+atmosphere; and really, when we consider the amount of effluvia composed of
+the atoms cast off from the bodies of living or decaying organic matters,
+which are incessantly passing into the atmosphere, the conjecture is not an
+unreasonable one. The minuteness of those, which we know are always found
+growing on decomposing bodies, does not preclude the possibility, nay,
+further favours {121} the probability, that others infinitely more
+minute,[48] may be destined to remove the more subtle and vaporous
+particles which escape into the air.
+
+We can, therefore, I think, conclude, that the lower tribes of vegetation,
+may consistently be regarded as capable of existing in almost any
+condition, and almost under any circumstances, they may be made to grow in
+plants by inoculation, as shewn by De Candolle, and Dr. Hassall. If the
+stem of wheat also is inoculated with vibriones, they will make their
+appearance in the grain.[49] If the seed contain them and have not lost its
+germinating properties, these worms will be found again in the grain. If
+the grain containing them be dried for years, and moistened again with
+water, these animalcules, according to Bauer and Steinbach, will present
+all the phenomena of life. This experiment I have witnessed, and can
+confirm the statement. These animalcules in the diseased grain, have under
+the microscope the appearance of an immense {122} number of eels crowded
+together in a small space, and presenting a movement more, perhaps,
+vermicular than any other, and it is continued for a considerable time. Now
+if these animalcules, or their ova, can be proved to pass with the sap to
+the seed, there can be no difficulty in comprehending how germs,
+considerably more minute and of a vegetable nature, should be found subject
+to the same peculiar mode of obtaining an entrance into animals and
+vegetables for sustenance. "It is usually imagined," says Dr. Carpenter,
+"that the germs liberated by one plant are taken up by the roots of others,
+and being carried along the current of the sap, are deposited and
+developed, where vegetation is most active."
+
+The chemical theory of disease would be better sustained by a comparison of
+"the artificial formation of alkaloids," and the phenomena of
+transformation of blood into the tissues of animals, and their degeneration
+into effete matters, and of sap into the tissues of plants and their
+degenerations.
+
+Professor Kopp of Strasburg, says, "In a chemical point of view, the
+alkaloids are remarkable for their composition, for their special
+properties, both physical and chemical, and for the interesting reactions
+to which many of them give rise, when exposed to the influence of different
+reagents. Considered medically, the organic bases are distinguished by
+their energetic properties. They {123} constitute at the same time, the
+most violent and sudden poisons, and the most valuable and heroic
+remedies."
+
+Upon this very intricate and interesting part of chemical philosophy, it is
+rather dangerous to enter without a thorough and practical knowledge of the
+subject. This, however, falls to the lot of few men. We, who are engaged in
+the study of disease, and of the best methods of cure, are obliged to take
+the investigations of the analytical chemist, and examine them for
+ourselves in the intervals of leisure allowed us during the active exercise
+of our calling. Though with less advantages for the study of these
+transcendental relations of organic and inorganic matter, we are not,
+nevertheless, precluded from forming our opinions on their practical
+bearings to the phenomena and treatment of disease.
+
+That there is a matter of a poisonous nature concerned in the production of
+endemic and epidemic affections, cannot be doubted by any one; I believe
+indeed, that the chemical theorists admit this, at all events Liebig does,
+for he says, "The morbid poison changes in the blood are fermentative, just
+such as occur in beer making." If we start, then, with the consideration
+that poisons, in a chemical point of view, are the objects of our research;
+the obvious course to take is to enquire what is the source of poisons
+generally, and what their effects on the animal economy? The mineral
+poisons are entirely excluded from the enquiry by their {124} inaptitude
+for diffusion, and their uniform effects upon all persons, differing only
+in degree in their operation. The same objections apply to gaseous poisons,
+except that to them the property of diffusion would be admitted.[50] We
+come then to the alkaloids, which constitute, as Kopp says, the most
+violent and sudden poisons. For the production of alkaloids by artificial
+means, organic products of some kind are required. Artificial heat,
+powerful chemical agents or length of time, are, as far as information at
+present extends, the indispensable requirements to induce these peculiar
+changes in matter. The only instance I can find, in which elementary
+matters can by artificial means be combined, so as to resemble the products
+of nature, is that of the conversion of carbon and nitrogen into cyanogen.
+But the process by which this is accomplished, leads rather to doubt
+whether it be really and simply by a combination of _elementary_ carbon and
+nitrogen. I extract the following from the Annual Report of the Progress of
+Chemistry, for 1848. "H. Delbruck has performed some experiments on the
+important subject of the formation of cyanogen. He confirms the statements
+of Desfosses and Fownes, inasmuch as a _weak but distinct_ formation of
+cyanogen was observed on igniting {125} _sugar-charcoal_[51] with carbonate
+of potassa in an atmosphere of nitrogen." The use of sugar-charcoal, may be
+perhaps an explanation of the weak formation of cyanogen, for in these
+numerous and successive chemical changes of matter, it is impossible to say
+how many sources of error may arise. The constant contradictions of each
+other, and the opposite statements made by chemists, of equal eminence,
+leave us in a wilderness of doubt, from which we are not likely to be
+freed, until definite laws shall be discovered to act as a guide in the
+comprehension of the higher branches of Chemical Philosophy.
+
+But supposing that the generation of alkaloids could take place in the
+body, or some analogous poisonous matter, we have yet to imagine a whole
+host of peculiar and essential conditions to effect this change, besides an
+atmospheric agent or agents to set in motion those compositions and
+decompositions, capable of bringing out these new products from the
+elements of blood. We are aware that in the blood, carbon and nitrogen are
+sufficiently abundant as well as saline compounds, to generate cyanides,
+and, with hydrogen also there in plenty, hydrocyanates, and thus from them
+many other poisonous products, but how is all this to be effected? And even
+if effected, it is yet a question if such compounds can in any way simulate
+the attacks of epidemic disease. We have {126} already shewn that the
+amount of most poisons necessary to destroy an individual, can be pretty
+clearly estimated, and their _modus operandi_ is tolerably well understood.
+Again, the most essential part, in which all chemical theory fails, is an
+explanation of the reproduction of contagious matter.
+
+The catalytic process, by which decompositions are said to be effected, and
+in which Liebig includes the various fermentations, is one of those
+chemical relations of matter to matter, considered by some as the probable
+cause of infection. Mr. Simon, in a late lecture, has said, "I consider the
+phenomena of infective diseases, to be essentially chemical, and I look to
+chemistry to enlighten the darkness of their pathology. Qualitative
+modifications, affecting the molecules of matter as to their modes of
+action and reaction, are such as form the subject of chemical science; and
+those humoral changes which arise as the result of infection clearly fall
+within the terms of its definitions." Further on he adds: "The phenomena of
+infected diseases appears then, in many respects, to be sui generis.
+Certainly they are chemical. _Probably_ they belong to that _class_ of
+chemical actions called _catalytic_."[52]
+
+{127}
+
+It is not improbable that something resembling a catalytic action may take
+place in the blood in those diseases of endemic and epidemic origin, but
+that it can be by a chemical process alone is contrary to all experience of
+catalytic operations, for except in the instance of fermentation proper,
+there is no multiplication of the fermentative matter. The action of the
+matter of contagion seems to stand on the confines between electro-chemical
+and bio-chemical manifestations, and so long as no chemical explanation can
+be given for the multiplication of the matter of infection, the most
+rational course to adopt is to assume that life under some unknown form is,
+as we every where find it, the sole reproductive agent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{128}
+
+SECTION II.
+
+THE ANIMALCULAR THEORY OF EPIDEMICS UNTENABLE.
+
+The animalcular theory of disease, after remaining almost unnoticed for
+nearly two centuries, has been again revived under the auspices of Dr.
+Holland in this country, and Henle of Berlin. And though not entirely
+buried in obscurity, this theory had completely failed to modify the
+practice of physicians in the treatment of those diseases which were
+supposed to owe their existence to these invisible atoms of created being.
+The resuscitated notions and all their amplifications, to which the advance
+of science has contributed so much, are threatened with a like fate, an
+absence of all practical results.
+
+Though I would not attempt to deny the possibility, nay, even the
+probability, that insect life may yet be discovered as the cause of some
+diseases,[53] still {129} there are many and cogent reasons against both,
+and which are at variance with facts and observations. Where insect life
+has been found associated with disease, it more especially appears as a
+consequence than as a cause.
+
+Disease, in its most enlarged sense, is a conversion of one form of matter
+into another; it is a transformation of healthy blood and tissue into new
+and abnormal products. Where insects in all their variety of forms are
+discovered, their voracious propensities are their chief characteristics,
+they are the consumers of matter after its partial disintegration, if
+animal matter be their food, unless they be carnivorous and predacious, or
+if herbivorous they usually feed upon the tender shoots of plants. Thus far
+we are certain of the manner in which insects destroy living matter; it is
+a process the unassisted eye may every where witness, and which experience
+has amply attested. To take, however, the animalcular world as it presents
+itself to us under the microscope, and as the intermediate step between the
+manifest and the hidden for a fairer and more direct method of reaching the
+truth, what do we observe to be the ruling law of infusory instinct? They
+live to feed; the term polygastrica sufficiently implies their natural
+tendency to consume. The simplest form of animalcular life, seen in the
+genera of monads, still preserves the animal character by possessing a
+stomach or stomachs in which the food is received, to be digested for the
+nourishment of the {130} system; and even some of these minute objects
+which vary in size from one _two-thousandth_, to one _three-thousandth_ of
+a line in diameter, are said to be carnivorous and predacious. Upon this
+fact alone, I would place the improbability of insects being the cause of
+epidemic disease. Each insect doubtless has its own peculiar food, and
+whether it be a vegetable or animal feeder, it consumes the matter already
+organized for conversion into its own tissue, and the only change which
+could be affected by them in the blood, would necessarily be that of
+appropriation of some one of the constituents as an element of food; when
+that food is digested, (taking digestion generally as an identical
+process,) the excrementitious matter is composed of secretions and
+disorganized matter, mixed together as an _effete_ product, and destined
+then for reorganization by the vegetable kingdom. Now all animals, whether
+they be large or small, live on organized matter,--they convert that matter
+into an inorganic form, and I cannot help imagining that if epidemic
+diseases and fevers depended upon animalcular growth and development in the
+blood or tissues of the body, the excretions or secretions from them would
+have yielded some information to the searching enquiries of the chemist,
+supposing that these excretions and secretions were capable of reaching to
+a sufficient amount in quantity, to bring about those fatal effects of
+poisoning, we witness in Cholera and other epidemic affections. Insects, I
+{131} believe are poisonous only by their secretions, and though they are
+known to multiply with exceeding rapidity, I can hardly imagine that by
+their development, however rapid, they could produce such a change in the
+human body, as to bring about the speedy dissolution, and generally
+gangrenous appearance, that has invariably been observed in those suddenly
+dying under the influence of epidemic poisons. The vibriones, whose
+destructive effects on wheat are so well known, are a genus of animalcules,
+which at first would seem to favour the animalcular theory in a remarkable
+manner; for on examining them, they do not appear to possess any other
+structure than a gelatinous absorbing mass, in this respect resembling a
+vegetable.
+
+But Ehrenberg's scrutiny corrected the error of De Blanville, and shewed,
+that they were far from being agastria, or stomachless animals. The Rev.
+William Kirby says, "Ehrenberg has studied the vibriones in almost every
+climate, and has discovered, by keeping them in coloured waters, that they
+are not the simple animals that Lamarck and others supposed, and that
+almost all have a mouth and digestive organs, and that numbers of them have
+many stomachs." All the discoveries indeed which have been made on the
+minuter forms of animal life, have tended to confirm the doctrine that the
+stomach is the exponent organ of an animal; that is, in all animals there
+exists, in a variety of modified conditions, a receptacle for food. Some of
+the {132} animalcules, however, are still supposed to exist by absorption,
+as the vinegar eel, _vibrio anguilla_,[54] but when we find that the law
+is, generally speaking, that the receptacles of food become multiplied in
+number in these minute beings, and the vibriones which were supposed to be
+stomachless, have been proved to emulate their associates in the number of
+these organs; it would be more reasonable to conclude that our imperfect
+vision is the barrier to their detection, rather than to suppose that they
+do not exist. Besides, when we are told on undoubted authority that some of
+the animals of this class, have as many as _forty or fifty_ stomachs; the
+least we can do, is to allow that all of them possess, at least one
+digestive organ, though we may not be able to detect it.[55]
+
+So far then for the consideration of animalcular structure: let us now more
+particularly enquire into their destructive habits, and their functions,
+inasmuch {133} as they may be supposed capable of engendering epidemic
+diseases and fever. The truly carnivorous animalcules, or those truly
+herbivorous in their instincts, we may presume to be beyond the limits of
+our enquiry. We have rather to do with those which take an intermediate
+position, namely, those which feed upon matter undergoing decomposition, or
+upon fluids containing organic matters in solution, or suspension. If we
+take Entozoa generally, they may be considered as most conveniently to be
+placed in this intermediate class; and here we find still the digestive
+apparatus, and more than this,--for upon the modifications of the organs
+appropriated to digestion is their classification founded. "Rudolphi
+divided the Entozoa into Sterelmintha, or those in which the nutrient tubes
+without anal outlet are simply excavated in the general parenchyma, and
+into the Coelelmintha, in which an intestinal canal with proper parietes
+floats in a distinct abdominal cavity, and has a separate outlet for the
+excrements."[56]
+
+How do these animals obtain their sustenance, and what changes can they
+produce upon the vital fluid of the body? Analogy is here our only guide.
+If the trichina spiralis is examined, it is found to be enclosed in a cyst
+containing fluid; and this is, {134} doubtless, the source of its
+nutriment, and contains in solution the elements for its nutrition; but in
+this instance there is no selection, and there can be no locomotion to an
+extent sufficient to imply searching for food, as the animalcule in its
+natural state, when taken from the human muscle, is found coiled upon
+itself, making about two and a half turns. The fluid of the cyst is thus in
+all likelihood prepared by endosmosis, for the immediate and appropriate
+nutrition of the parasite. The cyst is thus the part which performs the
+diseased process, the containing animalcule is merely the consumer of what
+is prepared for it by the cyst. And this would seem to be the rule with all
+parasites, of the encysted kind.
+
+We have alluded to the vibriones which are found in the fluids of living
+bodies, and the trichina which is found in the solid muscle; we have now to
+refer to those which infest the cavities. It was, I believe, Ehrenberg, who
+shewed that the tartar which accumulates on the teeth is composed of the
+debris of minute animalcules; in fact, that it consists of calcareous
+matter, having once formed a portion of the structure of their bodies, the
+ubiquity of these creatures is therefore as much and clearly established as
+the lower forms of vegetation. The intestinal worms, of which perhaps the
+Taenia is the most curious and important to be noticed, are from the
+locality in which they are found, chiefly injurious by the irritation they
+set up, and by appropriating {135} to themselves the nutrient juices
+elaborated in the process of animal digestion, thus depriving the
+individuals they infest of that which was destined for their own
+nourishment. In this, as in all associated instances, the character by
+which these parasitic animals are marked is their consuming propensity.
+There is, however, one more observation to make upon parasitic growths; but
+the question is yet unsettled in what kingdom of nature is the
+acephalocyst, or hydatid, to be placed. Mr. Owen says, "As the best
+observers agree in stating, that the acephalocyst is impassive under the
+application of stimuli of any kind, and manifests no contractile power,
+either partial or general, save such as results from elasticity, in short,
+neither feels nor moves, it cannot, as the animal kingdom is at present
+characterized, be referred to that division of organic nature."
+
+We thus arrive at the simple cell, and the multiplication of living beings
+by cell buds; it is the point at which the confines of the animal kingdom
+are reached, and at which we are driven to speculation. The hydatid lives
+like a plant, by imbibition; and procreates, like a plant, by budding,
+either endogenously or exogenously, as regards the original or parent
+cell.[57]
+
+{136}
+
+This condition of being, suggested the notion of Protozoa, or first
+animals, in the same way that the purely cellular plants, that is, each
+individual, consisting of a single cell, gave the idea of Protophyta, or
+first plants. Mr. Kirby thus expresses himself on this subject: "The first
+plants, and the first animals, are scarcely more than animated molecules,
+and appear analogues of each other; and those above them in each kingdom
+represent jointed fibrils."
+
+Admitting, then, that animals as well as plants exist in the form of simple
+cells, and that their multiplication proceeds apparently upon the same
+principle in each, it is nevertheless abundantly manifest, that the
+cellular form of perfect individuals is infinitely more numerous in the
+vegetable than in the animal kingdom.
+
+{137}
+
+From the mosses downwards to the fungi, the whole structure of the plants
+consists of an aggregation of cells, more or less in number and complicate
+arrangement, until, through a variety of gradations, we reach the single
+cell as a perfect individual.
+
+It is rather remarkable, that the lower forms of vegetables and animals
+seem to derive their nutriment from matter of a similar kind; and though
+the office of plants is as a rule, to convert inorganic into organized
+matter, it appears that some of the fungi may live as animals do on organic
+matter when in a state of solution. This, however, is uncertain; for we do
+not know what are the first signs of decomposition in organized bodies, and
+for aught we can tell, it may be perpetually going on; so far as the
+disengagement of carbon from the system is concerned, this is certain; but
+whether the nitrogenous compounds also are subject to a resolution into
+their elements in the living body, is another question, and not so easy of
+solution. The partially decomposed elements of animal structures are,
+however, particularly adapted for the nutrition of the lower forms of
+vegetation; it is, indeed, from the decaying organic matters that the fungi
+derive, it may be said, their entire food.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{138}
+
+SECTION III.
+
+SKETCH OF THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS.
+
+Animals and plants depend for their existence upon a nutritive fluid, which
+permeates their structure; it is the element from which all their
+secretions are formed, and their organs are nourished.
+
+The food of animals is composed of previously organized matters, and is
+conveyed into a reservoir called a stomach, where it undergoes a process of
+solution, previously to entering the circulation. At this period, the
+animal and the plant again present points of resemblance, the lymphatics or
+absorbent vessels take up the products of digestion, and convey them to the
+blood-vessels, where mingling with the current of the blood, they are
+conveyed to the lungs, there to undergo a process of oxygenation before
+they become fitted for the renovation of the tissues of the body. Such is
+the nature of the food of man, that it contains all the elements necessary
+and adapted for transformation into bone, muscle, brain, and parenchyma, as
+well as the other tissues of the body; besides other elementary matters,
+which, though they form a very insignificant portion of {139} animal
+textures, from their constant presence in the vital fluid, evidently
+perform some important offices in the general economy of life; they are
+partly, perhaps, occupied in forming constituents of secretions.
+
+Plants do not require a stomach,--the humus or soil to which they are fixed
+is the laboratory, where the nutritive matter is prepared in a state fit
+for absorption by the spongioles of their roots, and these correspond to
+the lymphatics of animals; after being taken up by the spongioles, this new
+fluid mingles with the sap, and passes to the leaves or breathing apparatus
+of plants, where carbonic acid gas combines with the crude vital liquid,
+and converts it into a condition fit for all the offices to be performed by
+the plant: viz. the growth of tissues, and the elaboration of secretions.
+
+The tissues, however, of plants, though more simple in their nature,
+present a much more varied character than those of animals, when the
+different species are compared.
+
+The bones of animals which give them their form, are invariably constituted
+of phosphate and carbonate of lime, deposited in a matrix of gluten;
+muscle, nerve, brain, tendons, and ligaments, have nearly, if not
+completely, an identical composition throughout the whole range of the
+animal kingdom: their secretions, however, vary much more considerably, as
+also do the secretions of vegetables. But vegetable tissue may contain, as
+in the stems of {140} grasses, a considerable amount of silex, and some
+notable quantity of sulphur, and so essential to their existence is the
+former element, that they cannot live without its presence in the soil, and
+also with it an alkali, to render it soluble. A large amount of soda, is an
+invariable attendant upon the structure of marine plants, as potash is of
+those growing on the land.
+
+Thus, whether we regard the health of animals, or vegetables, we discover,
+that besides the matters which are absolutely indispensable for the
+nutriment of the tissues which undergo rapid transformation, those of a
+more permanent and durable nature require in an almost insensible degree, a
+restitution of elements; and though not apparently absolutely necessary to
+preserve vitality in the being, yet have so marked an influence over it, as
+to indicate an extensive bearing of each individual part, on the whole
+associated entity.
+
+The elementary tissues of both kingdoms have been traced, in whatever form
+they may be found, to a cellular origin. The minutest vegetable germ, is a
+cell containing a granular matter within it, and even man himself, in his
+embryonic state, may be represented as an insignificant point in the realms
+of space; and might be placed side by side with the smallest particle of
+living matter, without suffering by the comparison.
+
+The laws by which the development of these elementary cells is regulated,
+so that each advances {141} to its limit, and fulfils its destination, is
+one of those inscrutable and overwhelming mysteries of nature, which leads
+the admirer of creation on and on into the abyss of the future, and fills
+his soul with aspirations for that time, when the veil of ignorance shall
+be withdrawn. But this is not my subject.
+
+The organization of the two animated kingdoms, is then regulated by
+definite laws, and all matter, whether acting upon them as agents of
+nutrition or destruction, are equally under their dominion; to investigate
+and to endeavour to fathom some of these laws, is the aim I have in view.
+
+The sap is to the plant, what the blood is to the animal,--the elements of
+nutrition and secretion are contained in it, and whatever interferes with
+its normal constitution by subtracting from, or adding to it, deteriorates
+its qualities, and retards or accelerates the functions of the individual.
+Excess or deficiency of the natural elements may also be a source of
+disturbance; if carbonic acid be too abundantly liberated in the soil, as
+Dr. Lindley expresses it, "plants become gorged;" and if, on the other
+hand, the elimination be too slow, they become starved. It has been also
+shewn, that plants though they give out oxygen from their leaves, do not
+throw it off as animals do carbonic acid from their lungs; but that this
+arises as a result of digestion, and the fixation of carbon in the system,
+and that they really respire oxygen as {142} animals do, and give off
+carbonic acid, both by day and night.
+
+That light is the stimulant of the digestive functions, and that,
+therefore, during the day, the amount of oxygen thrown off, far exceeds the
+amount of carbonic acid liberated during the same period.
+
+The great and important distinction between animals and plants is, that the
+former possess a nervous system, by which they are subject to a very
+extended series of psychological relations; it is in these chiefly, if not
+entirely, that we are to look for the distinctive and well-marked
+differences of diseased action. In animals there are special media of
+communication between the sources of dynamic power, and the parts upon
+which the force is exercised: and again, a return communication exists,
+which conveys impressions to the source of power, and to use a simple
+comparison, a system of telegraphing is in incessant and watchful
+operation. This force is influenced and modified in its action, when
+exercised in the regulation of nutrition, growth, and reproduction of
+tissues, by the passions and emotions of the mind. All the secretions and
+functions of the body are more or less susceptible of being accelerated,
+retarded or modified by the psychical relations of mind and matter. Though
+we are apt to imagine that in man alone, these phenomena obtain much
+importance--there can be but little doubt, that wherever a {143} nervous
+system exists, whether in the form of aggregated or diffused ganglia, the
+interdependence of force and organization, each upon the other, bears a
+certain and definite physiological comparison; the more aggregated the
+ganglia, the more close, intimate, and extensive the psychical connexions,
+and the gradations pass downwards, until they appear to be lost on the
+confines of the vegetable kingdom.
+
+The diseases of plants and animals deserve a more careful comparison than,
+I think, has hitherto been bestowed upon them.[58] If the study of
+physiology, or an enquiry into the laws which regulate the functions of
+living beings in a state of health, has been materially aided by the
+intimate knowledge of vegetable physiology, which, from the simple
+structure of plants, so favours the experiments of the student, there is
+every reason to suppose that vegetable pathology may also lead us to an
+equally important and useful result.
+
+It is quite certain, that if a healthy seed, or leaf-bud, be placed in such
+a situation, that, according to the laws known, it will in all likelihood
+germinate, if all the elements for its sustenance exist in the soil, and
+the temperature and hygrometric {144} condition of the atmosphere are
+adapted to it, a healthy plant will be the result. Light, heat, moisture,
+and soil are therefore to be considered as the agents required to exist in
+a certain balance, or proportion, in reference to the health or power of
+vitality of the plant. Within a certain amount of variation, health may
+persist in virtue of the power of selection, which appertains to the
+spongioles of the root in absorbing nutriment; and also as regards light,
+from the tendency which most plants have to accommodate themselves to any
+deficiency of this element, by presenting their leafy expansion in that
+direction where the most of its influence may be obtained. But beyond a
+certain limit an unhealthy condition sets in. If the soil contain not the
+inorganic elements, which are absolutely indispensable for the tissues of
+the plant, or even if they be there and not in a state to be absorbed, a
+dwindling and degeneration ensue; if light be deficient in quantity,
+pallor, feebleness, and elongation of tissue follow, with more fluidity and
+general softness of texture. These conditions of plants have their
+analogues in the ill-fed and ill-nourished children in some of our
+manufacturing districts; they are stunted and diseased. Transport a healthy
+country lad, with the bloom of health on his cheek, from his native hills
+and valleys, or woods and fields, to the stool behind a desk for eight
+hours a day, in a narrow street in any city, where the rays of the sun
+rarely penetrate, it will not be long before {145} the skin of the animal
+and the cuticle of the plant may be submitted for comparison, when both
+will testify to the importance of the solar rays, as an indispensable agent
+in supporting the normal processes of organic life. So far common
+observation is competent to a solution of the facts; but beyond this we
+come to the enquiry, what resemblances are there in the early conditions of
+plants and animals. Each originates from nucleated cells, endowed by the
+All-seeing Power with a blind impulse of progressive development; the most
+simple cell of a vegetable multiplies itself by a generation of new cells
+within it, when the parent dies, and liberates the offspring. Here
+progression is simply multiplication; it is, as it were, progression in
+length only. The original cell, however, of animals, which is styled the
+germinal vesicle, extends or becomes developed into dissimilar parts; and
+whatever may be the variety, all alike proceed from the original germ cell,
+and the _tout ensemble_ of parts constitutes the one and indivisible whole;
+in this instance there is addition besides multiplication, tissues and
+organs are added in all variety, until the maximum of organic development
+is attained in the wonderful being, man.
+
+Yet how many points of resemblance are there between the vegetable cell and
+the fully developed human being, in a physiological and pathological point
+of view. There must be nourishment to sustain both; both require a certain
+amount of light {146} and heat for their growth and increase, and are
+dependent upon various unknown causes for active and healthy existence; and
+when a certain time has expired, all alike return to a condition, in which
+the particles composing them are subject only to the dominion of the laws
+which preside over inorganic matter.
+
+But during the existence of plants and animals, we discover other features
+of comparison; plants, as well as animals, are liable to disease; they are
+subject to functional and organic affections. The former, among plants, are
+usually traceable to atmospheric vicissitudes or irregularities, changes of
+situation, &c.; and in man to irregularities of diet, and mental and bodily
+excesses, as well as to atmospheric vicissitudes.[59]
+
+The organic diseases of plants and animals depend upon a repetition, or
+continuance, of functional derangement. As a consequence of this, the
+nutrition and reproduction of tissues lose their normal and definite
+character, wherefrom an indefinite and abnormal result is obtained. There
+is a limit to abnormal productions, and they are apparently {147} subject
+to laws, though not yet understood. In animals, they may be either
+excessive development of natural tissue in natural localities, as obesity
+and fatty tumours; they may be natural products in unnatural situations, as
+fatty degenerations of muscular tissue; or altogether new and unnatural
+products, as tubercle and cancer.
+
+In plants, from their greater simplicity of structure, organic affections
+are perhaps entirely limited to the two first forms of animal organic
+disease; viz. to undue development of tissue in natural situations, and to
+the formation of natural tissue in parts of a plant where they are not
+usually found in a state of nature. The variety of excrescences seen on the
+stems, branches, and twigs of plants, may be given as instances of the
+former; and the conversion of stamina into petals, as in double flowers, as
+an instance of the latter.
+
+We derive our sustenance from vegetables, and they from us; they produce
+for us the soothing opiate and the deadly strychnia; we for them the
+animating ammonia, and the distortions and sterility of excessive culture;
+we engender in them, by the latter, debility, disease, and death; and in
+our turn we become their prey. All this indeed is but a cycle of events,
+that requires no learned mind to fathom, and to comprehend; it is a matter
+of every day occurrence, and, though perhaps not entirely unheeded, is not
+dwelt upon in the fulness of its bearings and importance. {148}
+
+Let us now consider the diseases of plants, as a study progressive to those
+of man; and as their physiology has so extensively served us, we may
+possibly also find in their pathology much material for instruction; not
+that it will be attempted to shew that the same diseases affect both
+kingdoms, but that diseases, though dissimilar in effects, may have similar
+sources.
+
+Unfortunately, there are not many men in this country, who need go further
+than their own gardens to find abundance of disease among their fruit trees
+and vegetables. The vine, the apple and the potato, common to most gardens,
+will furnish specimens.
+
+It is an error of a serious kind to suppose, that the parasites which
+infest plants are not essentially the cause, or, perhaps, more properly
+speaking, the elements of disease. I confine myself here to disease of
+parasitic origin, as that is the subject of which I am chiefly treating.
+
+That parasitic growths are the elements of disease in some instances, is
+now beyond dispute. The experiments of Mr. Hassall, detailed in Part II. of
+the Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London, are most
+conclusive; and they are of that simple nature, that any one may convince
+himself of their accuracy, by a repetition of them from the directions
+there laid down.
+
+He says, the decay is communicable at will "to any fruits of the apple and
+peach kind, no matter {149} how strong their vital energies may be, by the
+simple act of inoculation of the sound fruit with a portion of decayed
+matter, containing filaments of the fungi. We may use with success the
+sporules of such fungi; but in this case the decomposition does not set in
+so quickly; in the one case, the smaller filaments of the fungi have
+advanced several stages in their growth; while in the other, the sporules
+have yet to pass through the several stages of their development."
+
+Mr. Hassan, however, seems to speak doubtfully as to the mode in which the
+disease becomes naturally introduced;[60] how the spores enter the fruit,
+"is not very clear--though probably, it is by insinuating themselves
+between the cells of which the cuticle is composed, or perhaps by means of
+the stomata, where they are present. I may here state that the experiments
+were made on fruit, while living, and attached to the tree."
+
+But why should there be a doubt as to the parts by which the sporules of
+minute fungi enter the plant, when it is clear, that not only can they
+enter {150} by the spongioles, but by the stomata of the leaves, and mingle
+with the sap. It is true, that they make their appearance and grow upon the
+leaves and the fruit; but these are the situations most adapted for their
+fructification. I have seen the spores of the fungi which attack the
+cucumber and vegetable-marrow, in the cells of the hairs, and even their
+filamentous prolongations; these appropriate the fluids conveyed to the
+cells of the hair, rupture them, and at length fructify.
+
+On referring to Dr. Lindley's Medical and Economic Botany, I find that many
+fungi are the active elements of disease, and in a manner which renders it
+highly improbable that they are so in any other way, than by obtaining an
+entrance to the sap of the plants. Of the microscopic fungus which destroys
+wheat, the Uredo caries of De Candolle, we find the habitat to be within
+the ovary of the corn, and that 4,000,000 may be contained in a grain of
+wheat,--now this and another fungus, the Lanosa nivalis, are said to
+destroy whole crops of corn: we cannot imagine that such an extensive
+affection, can have any other source than by means of the spores through
+the sap, seeing that bruising of the surface, or rupture of the cuticle of
+the apple, a comparatively soft fruit is necessary to produce the disease
+artificially in them; besides, a grain of corn containing vibriones, when
+grown and having fruited, the new fruit also contains them--now here, as
+this is I believe almost invariably the {151} case, either they or their
+ova must be carried with the sap to the new germs.
+
+It is rather a remarkable fact, that these entophytes appropriate the
+nutriment destined for the plant in which they grow, they are consequently
+the means in many instances of its entire destruction, though only
+partially so in others.
+
+There are many Fungi which have this tendency. The Puccinia gramienis,
+"preys upon the juices of plants, and prevents the grain from swelling."
+The Aecidium urticae, common on nettles, deprives the plant on which it
+grows, of the organizable matter, intended for its own nutrition. The
+Erysiphe communis, overruns and destroys peas. The Botrytis infestans,
+"attacks the leaves and stems of potatoes." The Oidium abortifaciens,
+attacks the ovaries of grasses--and the Oidium Tuckeri, "a formidable
+parasite, destroys the functions of the skin, of the parts it attacks." The
+latter has been most injurious to the vines, during the last two years. I
+have known instances in which the vines have been cut down, and every means
+taken to rid the houses of the disease; but this year, it has made its
+appearance, with all its former virulence, in the new shoots.
+
+This, however, is sufficient to shew that plants are liable to disease,
+depending upon parasitic growths, which affect their vital powers, and
+deprive them of their natural nutritive fluids.
+
+But somewhat similar diseases belong also to {152} warm climates; in a
+letter from Cuba, dated Dec. 1843,--Mr. Bastian writes, "_a plague_ has
+appeared among the orange trees--a mildew attacking the leaves and the
+blossoms, which finally dry up. It most frequently kills the trees. None of
+the orange family are exempt; lemons, limes, and their varieties, with the
+shaddock and forbidden fruit, have all suffered." This disease has
+continued without intermission, till the present year,--when the same
+gentleman writes, Feb. 20th, 1850: "The evil exists, although in a
+diminished degree, so much so, as to have allowed the trees to produce me
+30,000 oranges again. In old times, the same plantations produced me
+100,000."
+
+The West India sugar-canes are also liable to a disease, which the Rev. Mr.
+Griffiths, in his Natural History of the Island of Barbadoes, speaks of, in
+the following manner: "This, among diseases peculiar to canes, as among
+those which happen to men, too justly claims the horrible precedence." This
+disease is called the Yellow Blast. It is difficult to distinguish the
+Blast in its infancy, from the effect of dry weather.
+
+There are often seen on such sickly canes, many small protuberant knobs, of
+a soft downy substance. It is likewise observable, that such blades will be
+full of brownish decaying spots. The disease is very destructive to the
+canes. It is observed, that the Blast usually appears successively in the
+same fields, and often in the very same spot of land. {153}
+
+This Blast is often found far from "infected places," and the infection
+always spreads faster to the leeward, or with the wind.
+
+"_It is remarkable if canes_ have been once infected with the Blast,
+although they afterwards to all appearance, seem to recover; yet the juice
+of such canes will neither afford so much sugar, nor so good of its kind,
+as if obtained from canes which were never infected."
+
+I may here allude to the circumstance, that in the island of Cuba, the
+destructive mildew is commonly called, _la pesta_.
+
+It were needless to multiply instances of other endemic and epidemic
+diseases of vegetables; they are well known by practical observers to be
+very numerous, and I believe, in most instances, depending upon fungoid
+growths. The destruction of vegetables by insects, is of a very different
+nature to that produced by the fungi; it would be as unreasonable to
+consider the consumption of corn and herbage by locusts, as a disease of
+vegetation, as the massacre and devouring of human beings by cannibals, a
+disease of the human body.
+
+It is true that insects are exceedingly destructive to plants, but as far
+as I am able to obtain information, they appear to be so chiefly by their
+voracious propensities; they consume the structure of the plant in its
+entity, and do not primarily interfere with its vitality. The instance of
+the vibriones, before-mentioned, seems at first to be an exception {154} to
+the rule, but this is rather apparent, than real; and it may be made to
+apply more as a confirmation, than an obstacle to the vegetable theory: for
+if we may fairly compare the diseases of animals with those of plants, the
+existence of entozoa in the latter, would be considered an essential point
+to be substantiated.
+
+Having now considered the question as to the infeasibility of supposing
+that chemical fermentation is the basis upon which a theory of diseases can
+be sustained, and having shewn that life is inseparable from infection, and
+miasmatic generation;--having explained the phenomena of the dispersion of
+diseases by comparison with the dispersion of plants, and finally, having
+demonstrated that the physiology and pathology of plants bear so close a
+relation to each other, and that their epidemic affections depend upon
+minute organic germs, I submit to the judgment of my readers, whether there
+is not much reasonableness in the application of the facts to the
+inference--that living germs are the cause of epidemic disease in man and
+animals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{155}
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+RESULTS IN PROOF OF THE TENABLENESS OF THE PROPOSITION.
+
+--------
+
+SECTION I.
+
+OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE LAWS OF EPIDEMIC DISEASES.
+
+The results obtained by comparing certain facts connected with Epidemic
+Affections of animals, with analogous affections in plants, afford, from
+the few instances I shall here notice, a very strong presumption, that
+analogous causes operate in the production of these affections. I have
+already quoted from Hecker, to shew that previously to, and during the
+Epidemics of the Middle Ages, the minuter forms of animal and vegetable
+life appeared to be called into existence, much more abundantly than usual;
+that famines prevailed in consequence of failure of cereal crops, no doubt
+depending then, as now, upon the various forms of fungiferous growth. I
+cannot refrain quoting here, a passage or two from our old friend Virgil;
+for he confirms not only the fact of peculiar showers in {156} connexion
+with diseases, but he also refers to the rust of corn, thus:
+
+  150. "Mox et frumentis labor additus; ut mala culmos
+  Esset rubigo ...
+  ... Intereunt segetes."
+
+  _Georg. 1._
+
+Then:
+
+  311. "Quid tempestates autumni et sidera dicam?
+
+    .    .    .    .    .    .
+
+  322. "Saepe etiam[61] immensum coelo venit agmen aquarum
+  Et foedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris
+  Collectae ex alto nubes."
+
+  _Georg. 1._
+
+The occurrence of black showers in this country has been observed during
+the present year, and I understand that in the fenny countries of the East,
+the corn has suffered much from the Uredo. I am not mentioning the
+circumstances as cause and effect, but merely to call attention to the
+fact, that unusual phenomena of this kind have been generally associated
+with disease of the animal and vegetable tribes.
+
+The same causes also predispose plants as well as animals, to epidemic
+attacks of disease. The repeated observations in the public journals on the
+subject of ventilation, drainage, and over-crowding, render all notice from
+me needless, to shew that these, though they do not produce the diseases
+{157} treated of, yet that under the influence of bad air, bad drainage,
+and over-crowding, epidemics are fostered and spread.
+
+Lastly, says the Count Philippo R['e], "I would remark that if _bad
+cultivation, and especially bad drainage, does not produce bunt or smut, it
+is certain that those fields, the worst treated in these respects, suffer
+the most from these diseases_."
+
+It has been remarked by many observers, that a greater fecundity has
+attended upon Pestilences, and this has been proved by comparison, that the
+births in proportion have far exceeded the ordinary limit.[62] In
+juxtaposition with this observation, I will place the following, not as a
+proof, but as a remark made quite independently of the subject of which I
+am treating. "From the first the diseased ears are larger than the healthy
+ones, and are sooner matured. What appears singular, but which I have not,
+perhaps, sufficiently verified, is _that the seeds are more abundant than
+in a sound ear_."
+
+{158}
+
+Now these are facts which require amplification, and if these two alone
+should be shewn upon an extensive field of observation, to apply not only
+to corn, but to other members of the vegetable kingdom, as I doubt not will
+be the case, though I am not fully prepared to prove it, it would be
+difficult to dissociate the fertility of the two living kingdoms from the
+operations of one and the same, or an analogous law.
+
+The epidemic diseases of plants are both infectious and contagious, at
+times they are observed to be endemic only, and then depending particularly
+upon some local causes. This is a law of diseases which applies equally to
+those of men and animals. In connexion with this law is another, which, as
+far as I am aware, has not hitherto been noticed in connexion with plants.
+The potato disease, which excited so much interest and created so much
+anxiety for the poorer classes of society, led the Government of this
+country to employ the most learned men to investigate the subject, in the
+hope of propounding some reasons which should explain the cause of the
+calamity, and thereby deduce a method of eradicating the evil, or, in other
+words, discover a cure for the disease. Many were the opinions as to the
+cause of the distemper, which it were useless here to recount, but a method
+was suggested, to which most people, I believe, looked forward with great
+anticipations, and this was to obtain native seed, and to sow it on virgin
+soil. Was the end accomplished? No. {159} For though the seed was sown, and
+the plants grew, the disease still appeared among the newly imported
+individuals, to as great an extent, as among the native or domesticated
+plants.
+
+As a parallel to this, it may be stated, that, as regards either endemic or
+epidemic disease, those persons newly arrived, either in a district or
+country where these prevail, are even more liable to them than the
+residents.[63] Again, I have learned, that where the potato disease has
+been so bad as to render the crop almost valueless, the best plan to be
+adopted is, to allow the plants to remain in the earth, and thus leave such
+as retain their germinating powers to come up spontaneously the following
+year. I certainly saw one large field treated in this way, yield a crop
+almost without disease.
+
+{160}
+
+The seasoning, in this instance, seems to bear a comparison with the
+seasoning of animals and man, under a variety of diseases, which for a time
+renders them insusceptible of another attack. It therefore does not appear
+so improbable, that these affections may be regarded, as Unger, the German
+botanist supposed, the Exanthemata, or Eruptive Fevers of vegetables.
+
+Another feature seems to associate the Epidemics of plants and animals, in
+a manner suggestive of analogous causes operating in both instances.
+
+The lungs of animals and the leaves of vegetables, are their respiratory
+organs, by means of which, the blood in the one case and the sap in the
+other, derive gas from the air, and impart gas to it, each taking what is
+thrown off by the other.
+
+Now the epidemics among vegetables, have a remarkable tendency to exhibit
+their effects primarily on the leaves, and particularly on those parts
+which are appropriated to the function of respiration. It is from the
+stomates that many of the fungi commence to germinate, and their
+fructification may be seen sprouting from the opening composed of a chink,
+surrounded by a peculiar arrangement of cells, which constitute the
+breathing apparatus of their victim.
+
+In the earlier epidemics, of which we read, one of the most remarkable
+circumstances, was the extraordinary influence the poisonous matter
+appeared to {161} exercise over the lungs,[64] and they again, were the
+means of propagating the disease, and spreading the contagious particles
+through the atmosphere, for we read: "Thus did the plague rage in Avignon
+for six or eight weeks, and the pestilential breath of the sick, who
+expectorated blood, caused a terrible contagion far and near, for even the
+vicinity of those who had fallen ill of plague was certain death; so that
+parents abandoned their infected children, and all the ties of kindred were
+dissolved."[65] "The like was seen in Egypt. Here also inflammation of the
+lungs was predominant." "Here too the _breath_ of the sick spread a deadly
+contagion."
+
+It is more than probable that all infectious matter obtains an entrance to
+the system through the lungs. Inspiring the air containing the pestilential
+semina is, indeed, the only plausible explanation of infection; for though
+the skin is indubitably an absorbing {162} surface, and capable of taking
+up and conveying to the blood any noxious matter applied to it, yet it is
+far more probable that the lungs would effect this process with greater
+rapidity. Then the stomach, the only other absorbing surface to which
+extraneous matter can be applied, is not likely to be the part where the
+elements of disease would obtain an entrance to the system, for many facts
+prove, that infectious matter may be swallowed without any injurious
+consequences, unless in a very concentrated state. Instances are not easily
+found of diseased matter having been swallowed, except where diseased
+vegetables have formed under some combination of circumstances, a portion
+of diet.[66]
+
+Many facts are on record which prove the powerful effect of diseased grain
+when made into bread, and taken for any length time as a principal article
+of food. The history of Ergot of Rye is too fresh in the memory of most
+people to require more than an allusion here. The stomach had no power over
+the secale, its poisonous properties were retained, after having been
+submitted to the digestive process, as was evidenced by the abortions and
+gangrenes it occasioned.
+
+But diseased wheat is also capable of inducing {163} gangrene, and it is
+more than probable, that many diseases might be traced to the use of
+infected grain of various kinds. An interesting account of a family who
+lived at Wattisham, near Stowmarket, in Suffolk, and all of whom suffered
+more or less from living on bread made of smutty wheat, may be found in the
+Philosophical Transactions. The mother of this family and five of the
+children, consisting of three girls and two boys, all suffered from
+gangrene of the extremities; the father lost the nails from his hands, and
+had ulceration of two of his fingers.[67] Dr. Woollaston wrote thus in a
+letter on this case: "The corn with which they made their bread was
+certainly very bad: it was wheat that had been cut in a rainy season, and
+had lain on the ground till many of the grains were black and totally
+decayed, but many other poor families in the same village made use of the
+same corn without receiving any injury from it. One man lost the use of his
+arm for some time, and still imagines himself that he was afflicted with
+the same disorder as Downing's family." It is not unlikely this was the
+case, for numbness and loss of power was one of the well marked characters
+of the disease.
+
+What other afflictions may be due to diseased vegetation and adulterated
+articles of food, and what loss of life may accrue from cheap and
+adulterated {164} drugs and chemicals is hardly yet dreamt of.[68] The
+systematic practice of adulteration of almost every article of diet which
+comes to table has become a serious question for the legislature to
+consider. Take only the article of milk, upon which the young children of
+large towns and cities, make their chief meals, with the addition of bread.
+How much milk comes into London from the country, how much is obtained from
+stall and grain-fed cows in the metropolis, and how much is said to be
+consumed, would be an interesting calculation. It is pretty well known that
+a mixture is sold by which a retailer of milk may increase his supply by
+one-third or one-half. It was discovered in Paris that the brains of
+animals, when prepared in a particular manner, formed, when mixed with a
+certain proportion of milk and water, a very fine and deceptive cream; in
+that city this system was carried on to a considerable extent. I could not
+help alluding to these facts while speaking of diseased grain, for who
+shall say to what extent a miller in a large way of business, may be able
+to "work in," as it is called, a considerable amount of smutty corn in the
+manufacture of flour? Now, as diseased grain is known {165} to induce
+abortion, it is impossible to tell how small a portion may in some cases
+produce the effect; we may therefore say with Thomas of Malmesbury, "There
+is no action of man in this life which is not the beginning of so long a
+chain of consequences, as that no human providence is high enough to give
+us a prospect to the end."[69]
+
+To return,--associated with these observations are other facts of
+considerable weight. Before and during pestilences, abortions are more
+frequent than in ordinary times; infectious and contagious diseases induce
+abortion; besides this, and independently of disease, conditions of the
+atmosphere have been known to exist when abortion has been an epidemic
+affection; of this Dr. Copland says, "to certain states of the atmosphere
+only can be attributed those frequent abortions sometimes observed which
+have even assumed an epidemic form, and of which Hippocrates, Fischer,
+Tessier, Desormeaux, and others have made mention." With this reference I
+will close the subject of comparison between the affections of the
+breathing apparatus in animals and plants, merely alluding to the
+probability that under some conditions of atmosphere, independently of
+heat, &c. vegetables without any other assignable cause will become
+abortive.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{166}
+
+SECTION II.
+
+WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THOSE POISONS WHICH MOST RESEMBLE THE MORBID POISONS
+IN THEIR EFFECTS ON THE BODY?
+
+In the early part of this book, I considered the nature of poisons
+generally, and had occasion to remark upon the characters which separated
+poisons into two distinct classes. 1st, Those which have the power of self
+multiplication; and 2nd, Those destitute of this property.
+
+Of the first we have seen that the poisons of epidemic diseases multiply
+both in and out of the body.
+
+The poisons of infectious diseases, not usually epidemic, do the same.
+Those of endemic affections, such as ague and some fevers, usually become
+multiplied out of the body only, but under some circumstances, and peculiar
+atmospheric conditions, they may be also multiplied within the body. The
+amount of these poisons necessary to produce their specific effects, may be
+inappreciable. Of the second class, there are two kinds, those derived from
+the organic kingdom and those derived from the inorganic kingdom. Of these,
+the amount necessary to produce their specific effects is appreciable and
+pretty well known.
+
+But among those poisons, consisting of organic {167} products, there is one
+which seems to hold an intermediate place. This is derived from one of the
+Fungals, and as it takes this remarkable position as a link of connexion
+between the two classes of poisons, I may be excused quoting a passage of
+some length upon this agent, from Dr. Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom. "One of
+the most poisonous of our fungi, is the Amanita muscaria, so called from
+its power of killing flies, when steeped in milk. Even this is eaten in
+Kamchatka, with no other than intoxicating effects, according to the
+following account by Langsdorf, as translated by Greville. This variety of
+Amanita muscaria, is used by the inhabitants of the north-eastern parts of
+Asia in the same manner as wine, brandy, arrack, opium, &c. is by other
+nations."--"The most singular effect of the amanita is the influence it
+possesses over the urine. It is said, that from time immemorial, the
+inhabitants have known that the fungus imparts an intoxicating quality to
+that secretion, which _continues for a considerable time after taking it_.
+For instance, a man moderately intoxicated to-day, will by the next morning
+have slept himself sober, but (as is the custom) by taking a teacup of his
+urine, he will be _more powerfully intoxicated_ than he was the preceding
+day. It is, therefore, not uncommon for confirmed drunkards to preserve
+their urine, as a precious liquor against a scarcity of the fungus. The
+intoxicating property of the urine _is capable of_ {168} _being
+propagated_; for every one who partakes of it has his urine similarly
+affected. Thus with a very few amanitae, a party of drunkards may keep up
+their debauch for a week."
+
+This property of the amanita, at once places it in a separate category from
+all other organic poisons, it has yet to be shewn upon what this
+intoxicating fungus depends for its activity. Whether some secretion is
+formed in the tissue of the plant, or whether some new arrangement of the
+particles of matter or modification of the sporules, is brought about by
+entering the system, it is impossible to say. Langsdorf states that the
+small deep-coloured specimens of amanita, and thickly covered with warts,
+are said to be more powerful than those of a larger size and paler colour.
+As the effect is not produced until from one to two hours after swallowing
+the bolus, and as a pleasant intoxication may be obtained by this agent for
+a whole day, and from one dose only, there is a defined line between this
+and the ordinary narcotics and stimulants in common use. That the digestive
+powers of the stomach have no influence over the intoxicating properties of
+the plant, is manifested in the fact, that the active principle passes into
+the urine, not only not deteriorated but apparently increased, for, as we
+have seen, a teacup of the urine from a man, intoxicated by taking the
+amanita into his stomach, will cause him to be more powerfully intoxicated
+than by the {169} original dose. We have, therefore, but two conjectures
+left for consideration, either the original intoxicating principle is
+excreted from the system in a condensed form, in which case its
+indestructibility by digestion, makes it approach the ordinary organic
+poisons, or there must be an increase of the toxic agent, in which case we
+must suppose a reproductive process having taken place in the system.
+"There is," says Dr. Mitchell, "in the wild regions of our western country,
+a disease called the _milk sickness_, the _trembles_, the _tires_, the
+_slows_, the _stiff-joints_, the _puking fever_, _&c._" The animals
+affected with this disease, "stray irregularly, apparently without motive;"
+they lose their power of attention, and finally tremble, stagger, and die.
+"When other animals--men, dogs, cats, poultry, crows, buzzards, and hogs,
+drink the milk or eat the flesh of a diseased cow, they suffer in a
+somewhat similar manner." This disease is attributed by Dr. Mitchell to the
+animals having grazed on pasture contaminated with mildew, and the
+resemblance to the effects of the amanita, together with the persistence of
+the specific principle within the fluids and tissues of the body, render it
+more than probable that to some fungoid growth, is due the peculiar toxic
+effects here noticed. Further: "The animals made sick by the beef of the
+first one, have been in their turn the cause of a like affection in others;
+so that three or four have thus fallen victims successively." De Graaf
+states, that butter {170} made from the milk of diseased cows, though
+heated until it caught fire, did not lose its deleterious properties. The
+urine of diseased animals, collected and reduced by evaporation, produced
+the characteristic symptoms. All these facts point to some peculiarity in
+the properties of matter not yet investigated or at least not explained. If
+we may assume that reproduction is here an element of the persistence and
+apparent multiplication of active matter, I know only of one instance to
+compare with it. A gentleman about to deliver a lecture on the properties
+of arsenic, and its history generally, made two solutions of a given
+quantity of arsenious acid, in the following manner. He took a certain
+amount of distilled water, and the same of filtered Thames water, and made
+his solutions of arsenic by separate boilings, he then as soon as possible
+placed the liquids in identical bottles, carefully prepared for their
+reception. In the one which contained the arsenic boiled in river water,
+the hygrocrocis is now growing, while that boiled in distilled water
+remains perfectly limpid and free from any vegetable production. There can
+scarcely be a doubt, that the filtration of river water was not
+sufficiently purifying to remove the minute spores of some lower forms of
+vegetation, which not only live in arsenic but have resisted the
+temperature employed in boiling an arsenical solution to saturation.
+
+As to the first class, or truly reproductive and {171} morbid poisons, the
+most heterogenous ideas have from all time existed. I have introduced the
+notice of the above poisons, viz. the Amanita, and that which engenders the
+milk sickness, to compare the results of the morbid poisons on the human
+body with them, and also to associate them with the effects of diseased
+grain. From the Amanita and that other fungoid matter which is said to
+produce the milk sickness, there appears to be a purely toxic action on the
+system, but in the instance of diseased grain, a blood disease, ending in
+gangrene, or a specific and peculiar action of the generative organs is the
+consequence, and where the latter occurs, the poison usually expends itself
+on these parts, either by inducing abortion, or augmenting the catamenial
+secretion.
+
+Now, the morbid poisons, if studied only in their results, shew that there
+is a combination of these two actions. There is usually, in the first
+place, a toxic or poisonous action, and secondly, a deteriorating or
+decomposing action on the blood, by which there is a tendency to low or
+asthenic inflammation and gangrene. It matters not what form of fever we
+take as an illustration, whether intermittent, pestilential, or
+exanthematous, either will serve the purpose of shewing how completely the
+effects of vegetable organic poisons resemble those which for the sake of
+distinction (I suppose) have been denominated Morbid Poisons.
+
+Take an attack from the paludal poison. It is {172} usually ushered in with
+head-ache, weariness, pains in the limbs, and thirst, with other symptoms;
+all these are indicative of a poisonous agent in the blood: then come the
+full phenomena of the disease at a longer or shorter interval, and tending
+ultimately to destroy some organ of the body. The mind suffers during the
+course of the attack, and delirium occasionally happens. In severe cases of
+this disease, which were more frequent formerly than now, coma, delirium,
+and frenzy were observed at the commencement of the attack, and a tendency
+to rapid disorganization of one or several of the viscera.
+
+If we take the effects of poison of Erysipelas, of Scarlet Fever, or
+Plague, in each we find at the onset more or less general derangement of
+the system, usually with cerebral disturbance and disordered action of all
+the dynamic forces of the body, which clearly indicate the action of a
+poison; then, unless some favourable symptoms arise, the blood exhibits a
+steady advance towards disorganization, and sphacelation of one or more
+tissues or parts of the body ensues. In Erysipelas the force of the
+diseased action is expended on the skin, and subcutaneous cellular tissue;
+in Scarlet Fever the fauces ulcerate, and slough and the parotids
+suppurate; in the Plague there is a general tendency to putrefaction, and
+the formation of glandular abscesses with sphacelas. Without going any
+further into this matter, for my present intention is merely to draw {173}
+notice to certain facts, let me now ask, whether or not, do the poisons of
+the Ergot, the Uredo, and the Amanita, exhibit more analogy in their action
+on the nervous system, the blood and the tissues, than any other poisonous
+agents with which we are acquainted? If the whole range of the lower fungi
+could be examined in reference to their operation on the blood, as
+decomposers of organic compounds,--if experiments could be made, by which
+the properties of fungoid matter could be detected, I would venture to say
+the whole of the phenomena of these diseases could be readily comprehended
+and their intricacies unravelled.
+
+We know that the fungi are poisonous, that at times and seasons, and under
+variations of climate, they vary in their effects, and perhaps lose
+altogether these properties. We know that the fungi produce gangrene of the
+tissues, and disorganization of the blood; we know that their spores
+pervade the atmosphere, and are ready, under favouring conditions, to
+increase and multiply; we know that they are ubiquitous, and that those
+conditions most favourable to their development, are exactly such as are
+proved to foster and engender disease, and above all, they have been proved
+to be the elements of some diseases in man, in animals, and in plants. Can
+as much be said of any other known agents, animate or inanimate, comprised
+in our category?
+
+It has been said, we do not see after death,--the {174} interlacing
+mycilium, or the sprouting pileus; therefore the fungi are not the agents
+of disease--it has been said that carbonic acid and alcohol are not found
+as products of diseased action--consequently disease is not a fermentative
+process. "In all cases," says Liebig, "where the strictest investigation
+has failed to demonstrate the presence of organic beings in the contagion
+of a miasm, or contagious disease, the hypothesis that such beings have
+cooperated, or do cooperate in the morbid process, must be rejected as
+totally void of foundation and support." Much as I admire the genius of
+this great man, it is difficult to refrain from remarking, that I doubt if
+any of his great discoveries would have been made, if, in the first
+instance, hypotheses had not formed the basis of all his researches. It has
+been said, "that casual conjunctions in chemistry, gave us most of our
+valuable discoveries:" and it is from casual conjunctions that hypotheses
+are usually formed, the working out proves either their fallacy or their
+truth, but to say that an hypothesis has no foundation, until demonstrated
+to be true, is rather knocking down argument. And who, let me ask, has been
+more prolific of hypotheses than our continental neighbour? Yet he,
+according to his mode of reasoning, would sweep away all such words from
+the vocabularies of philosophers. What foundation has the chemical
+hypothesis of disease, when it fails to explain the most important element
+{175} of contagious and infectious diseases: viz. the reproductive property
+of their germs?
+
+It is perhaps necessary to say something in explanation of the sudden
+deaths arising from morbid poisons. They may occur from two causes. One
+being the result of a concentrated amount of poison germs being inhaled
+into the lungs, and acting as an ordinary toxic agent; and the other, which
+I put only hypothetically, the consequence of the rapid evolution of gas in
+the vessels arising from a sudden decomposition of blood, as it passes
+through the lungs. The only authority I have for this supposition, is the
+fact that the blood after death, from pestilential affections, is found to
+be far advanced towards decomposition; that in Paris last year, two
+patients were bled while suffering from Cholera, and with the small
+quantity of blood which flowed, bubbles of air also escaped:[70] and
+besides this, it was demonstrated by Mr. Herapath, that ammonia was given
+off from Cholera patients, both by the lungs and skin. These facts, though
+they are not conclusive, nevertheless render it probable that such an
+explanation is not entirely out of reason--especially too, when we know how
+fatal are the effects of uncombined air, when it enters the vessels near to
+the heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+{176}
+
+SECTION III.
+
+WHAT RESULTS DO WE OBTAIN FROM THE EFFECTS OF REMEDIAL AGENTS, IN PROOF OF
+THE HYPOTHESIS?
+
+I have here used the word hypothesis, because, having so far advanced in
+the enquiry, I trust sufficient has been said to render the term
+applicable.
+
+Under the term remedial agents, I shall include all those causes, whether
+natural or artificial, which tend to neutralize or destroy the germs of
+infection, or miasmatic poison, whether this be effected out of or within
+the body.
+
+First, then, let us consider the results of drainage and cultivation in
+removing the causes of endemic disease. One well authenticated case is as
+good as a thousand. I will take one, which, from its source, will be
+received as unexceptionable; and from its association with a very learned
+and amusing book, will be accepted as an agreeable reminder of the many
+pleasant hours spent in the perusal of the poet Southey's "Doctor."
+
+"Doncaster is built upon a peninsula, or ridge of land, about a mile
+across, having a gentle slope from east to west, and bounded on the west by
+the river; this ridge is composed of three strata; to wit, of the alluvial
+soil deposited by the river in former {177} ages, and of limestone on the
+north and west; and of sandstone to the south and east. To the south of
+this neck of land, lies a tract called Potteric Carr, which is much below
+the level of the river, and was a morass, or range of fens when our Doctor
+first took up his abode in Doncaster. This tract extends about four miles
+in length, and nearly three in breadth, and the security which it afforded
+against an attack on that side, while the river protected the peninsula by
+its semicircular bend on the other, was evidently one reason why the Romans
+fixed upon the site of Doncaster for a station. In Brockett's Glossary of
+North Country words, Carr is interpreted to mean 'flat marshy land,' 'a
+pool or lake;' but the etymology of the word is yet to be discovered.
+
+"These fens were drained and enclosed pursuant to an Act of Parliament,
+which was obtained for that purpose in the year 1766. Three principal
+drains were then cut, fourteen feet wide, and about four miles long, into
+which the water was conducted from every part of the Carr southward, to the
+little river Torne, at Rossington Bridge, whence it flows into the Trent.
+Before these drainings, the ground was liable to frequent inundations; and
+about the centre there was a decoy for wild ducks; there is still a deep
+water there of considerable extent, in which very large pike and eels are
+found. The soil, which was so boggy at first that horses were lost in
+attempting to drink at the drains, has been brought {178} into good
+cultivation, (as all such ground may be) to the great improvement of the
+district; for till this improvement was effected, _intermittent fevers and
+sore throats were prevalent there, and they have ceased from the time the
+land was drained_. The most unhealthy season now, is the spring, when cold
+winds, from the north and north-east, usually prevail during some six
+weeks; at other times Doncaster is considered to be a healthy place. It has
+been observed that when endemic(?) diseases arrive there, they uniformly
+come from the south; and that the state of the weather may be foretold from
+a knowledge of what it has been at a given time in London, making an
+allowance of about three days, for the chance of winds. Here, as in all
+places which lie upon a great and frequented road, the transmission of
+disease has been greatly facilitated by the increase of travelling."
+
+I feel certain of being excused for transcribing this long passage from
+Southey. It would have been impossible to convey its whole meaning without
+giving it entire. The continuation of the chapter is no less instructive
+and applicable to our subject, though more particularly so to an extension
+of the enquiry. The sore throats and intermittents, from which Doncaster
+has been freed, by the drainage of Potteric Carr, informs us at once that
+decomposing matter is the material by which the poison of fever is vivified
+and sustained, the wet and boggy state of the soil is just the condition,
+when no drainage exists, to bring into activity the germs of {179} disease,
+which otherwise would lie latent. So satisfied and acquainted are we with
+the elements necessary for the production of fever, that we might as
+certainly bring about an endemic intermittent by forming an artificial bog,
+as we could be sure of growing mushrooms by making a bed in the manner laid
+down by gardeners for this purpose. Dr. Lindley also says, "the _Polyporus
+fomentarius_ has been artificially produced in Germany, but merely by
+placing wood in a favourable situation, and keeping it well moistened. Five
+or six crops were obtained in the year."
+
+Let warmth, moisture, darkness, and decaying matter be given, and inanimate
+disintegrated particles will soon be converted into definite forms and
+combinations instinct with life. It is by the unseen forms of living
+beings, that the atmosphere is preserved from becoming charged with deadly
+gases; they take the first rank in the great scheme of animated beings, the
+plant first, and then the animal. "Let the earth bring forth grass." "Let
+there be lights in the firmament." "Let the waters bring forth the moving
+creature, and fowl that may fly," and "Let the earth bring forth the
+cattle, the creeping thing, and the beast." This is the order of creation,
+of living things, and the earth was prepared by vegetation for the animal
+world. The work of conversion is accomplished by vegetation; and this is
+consumed for the construction of higher organizations.
+
+The laws which govern and control the universe, {180} are as definite and
+as wonderful among invisible atoms, as those which regulate the enormous
+masses floating in space; and the time will come when the advancing
+intellect of man will measure and weigh the morbid poisons, as he measures
+and weighs the stars. Why should the laws of Epidemics be less understood,
+than the laws which govern the course of comets? The aspirations of man
+have led him to penetrate the heavens, which charm and inspire him; he
+studies rather the more violent disturbing elements of nature, the
+thunder-cloud and the fire of heaven, than the silent pestilence which
+steals over the earth. I cannot conceive it possible that the Intellects,
+which are occupied in procuring means for the Majesty of this empire to
+issue her mandates with the velocity of a spirit to the nethermost parts of
+the earth, should be incapable of solving so deeply interesting a mystery
+as the causes and nature of pestilential diseases. It would seem that man
+prefers to issue a mandate of destruction many thousand miles distant, than
+to disarm the pestilence at his door. It is barely a century since Galvani
+observed the twitchings in the muscles of a frog's leg, and the battery,
+still named after him, has already become an agent of instantaneous
+communication between places many miles distant. But how many centuries
+have passed away, each one succeeding the other, with its millions of
+victims to epidemics? And where are the remedies for the evils? Drainage
+and cleanliness, with all their advantages, were better understood and more
+fully carried out by the ancient {181} Romans than by ourselves; there are
+monuments, though crumbling to decay, to tell us of the vast enterprise of
+these people and of the value they set upon a healthy and vigorous
+constitution, and how well they understood the means of warding of disease.
+
+Cultivation and drainage are now fully understood to be the basis by which
+a healthy condition of air is to be obtained, next to that, cleanliness and
+ventilation; if either be neglected a sickly, mouldy, and unwholesome
+contamination of atmosphere ensues; the odour of a bog is proverbially
+mouldy, and so is that of an ill-ventilated house or cellar; dryness, or
+the fresh pleasant scent of clean water, are the antagonists of these; the
+aromatic odours of vegetation are opponents of putrefaction, and
+consequently of the development of the lower forms of life. All
+empyreumatic matters prevent mouldiness and decomposition; and odours
+arrest and prevent the growth of mouldiness. The oil of birch, with which
+the Russia leather is impregnated, and which gives it so pleasant an odour,
+effectually prevents mouldiness, and consequently decay.
+
+Lindley says, "It is a most remarkable circumstance, and one which
+_deserves particular enquiry_, that the growth of the _minute fungi_, which
+constitute what is called mouldiness, is _effectually prevented_ by any
+kind of perfume."[71] Cedar has {182} been used, from time immemorial, for
+a like purpose; and I doubt not the recommendation of Virgil, before
+quoted, in reference to the burning of cedar, was founded on some practical
+utility of this kind, though its _modus operandi_ was unknown to him.
+Allied to these is a curious circumstance, and worthy attention. I copy the
+following from an old work on Pestilences. "It is remarkable that when the
+Plague raged in London, Bucklersbury, which stood in the very heart of the
+city, was free from that distemper; the reason given for it is, that it was
+chiefly inhabited by druggists and apothecaries, the scent of whose drugs
+kept away the infection, which were so unnatural to the pestilential
+insects, that they were killed or driven away by the strong smell of some
+sorts of them." "The smell of _rue_, and the smoke of tobacco, were
+prescribed as remedies against the infection; but especially tar and pitch
+barrels, which it was imagined preserved Limehouse, and some of the
+dock-yards from infection."[72]
+
+Pitch and tar dealers are everywhere spoken of as being remarkably exempt
+from infectious diseases.
+
+Cold infusion of tar was used in our colonies as a prophylactic against the
+Small Pox. Bishop {183} Berkeley was induced to try it when this disease
+raged in his neighbourhood. The trial fully answered expectation--for all
+those who took tar-water, either escaped the disease, or had it very
+slightly.
+
+Tan yards and places in the immediate vicinity, are said to be free from
+pestilences. The tanners of Bermondsey are said to have escaped the Plague
+of London, and one person only died in Gutter Lane, where was a tan yard.
+The tanners of Rome are also stated to have been free from Plague. Dr.
+McLean refers to the exemption of tanners at Cairo. _Tannin is prejudicial
+to most vegetables_,--but Dr. Lindley says it is not always so to fungi. "A
+species of Rhizomorpha is often developed in tan pits." I should imagine
+that neither plants nor insects would be found very abundantly, where
+tannin prevails; yet we find that the gall-nut is formed for the protection
+of an insect from injury by weather, and as a temporary means of
+sustenance.
+
+The custom of fumigating with odoriferous substances, does not therefore
+appear upon this view of the matter to be destitute of importance; indeed,
+the universal practice stamps it at once, as an efficacious remedy for the
+purposes of disinfection. The introduction of chlorine fumigation, seems to
+have superseded, in a great measure, the use of fragrant herbs and woods;
+and it is questionable whether the substitution be altogether desirable or
+{184} advantageous. Many scents may be agreeably and usefully employed,
+with much less chance of annoyance to the patient, and considerably less
+injury to articles of furniture, &c.
+
+The fumigations of sulphurous acid and chlorine are, perhaps, more adapted
+as disinfectants in uninhabited apartments;--their power to destroy
+vegetation, is well known. They have been used, chiefly, with the idea of
+neutralizing gaseous exhalations, particularly chlorine, as it tends to
+combine with hydrogen, to form hydrochloric acid, and then to unite with
+ammoniacal matters, forming hydrochlorate of ammonia. This, supposing
+noxious or pestilential effluvia consisted of the ammoniacal exudations
+variously combined, was an exceedingly efficacious method of rendering them
+inert; but as we feel convinced that no ammoniacal compound could possibly
+be the cause of infection, we must look to the influence these gases
+possess over other forms of matter, and as they are so destructive, even in
+minute quantities, to vegetable existence, it is possible that their
+beneficial effects may be due to this property. The immediate neighbourhood
+of gas works is prejudicial to vegetation, I imagine, from the amount of
+sulphurous vapours, and to this has been attributed the exemption of
+persons employed in these works. Many other instances might be cited of a
+similar nature.
+
+I have now to speak of medicinal agents, and here comes a considerable
+difficulty. {185}
+
+If we might believe all that has been written on the sure and certain
+remedies for the "ills that man is heir to," we should be led to
+acknowledge that both nature and art were prodigal in antidotes and
+specifics. The all-bountiful hand of nature, I do not doubt, has at the
+same time scattered the seeds of good and of evil. The fertilizing showers
+fall to irrigate the soil, and produce food and nourishment to man; here
+and there is the reeking morass "feeding unnatural vegetation," and if man
+takes up his abode in its vicinity, the rains which made it unhealthy, have
+also made it highly fertile; by labour and cultivation he may convert the
+mephitic bog into a waving corn-field, and the seeds of life and sustenance
+be made to supplant the seeds of death and corruption.
+
+It is generally believed, that where there are particular and specific
+diseases, there also may be found appropriate and specific remedies; the
+discoveries of chemistry, it is not improbable, may in some respects have
+retarded the progress of natural medicine. In the early ages of the world,
+the "healing plant" must have formed the staple of medical commerce, for
+though Tubal Cain[73] has been considered as the first surgical instrument
+maker, because he was the first artificer in brass and iron, we have not
+discovered that chemical compounds entered into the composition of physic,
+till very {186} many years after his time. To the alchemists we owe the
+science of chemistry, and much of the physic of the present day may be
+traced to them. The multiplicity of ingredients which at one time entered
+into the composition of one dose of physic could only be spoken of under
+the title of "legion." Who shall specify the active and curative ingredient
+(if there be one), when from five to a hundred may have been exhibited at
+the same time? It has been the pride of our physicians, that the
+pharmacopoeia has been simplified; it has not reached its most simple form
+yet. That many simple plants have specific and wonderful power over
+disease, is an indubitable fact, but I firmly believe that the laudable,
+though mistaken efforts of physicians to improve their effect by various
+combinations, have been the means of throwing many valuable medicines into
+oblivion; I must also add, that cheap physic and adulterations have had no
+small share too in the banishment of much valuable physic from ordinary
+practice. It has been believed, and I think with much reason, that a
+thorough search into the qualities of plants, would shew that "they are
+capable of affording not only great relief, but also effectual and specific
+remedies." "That they are not already found, is rather an argument that we
+have not been sufficiently inquisitive, than that there are no such plants
+endued with these virtues."
+
+Of the result obtained by medical treatment, in cases of epidemic or
+infectious disease, it is most {187} difficult to speak, but as my province
+here is only to shew that living germs are the morbific agents, I have but
+to refer to such remedies as have been most extolled in controlling these
+affections. The disinfectants have already been mentioned in a cursory
+manner. An enumeration only of simple medicines used during the late
+Epidemic, shall conclude this work, as the treatment in former times could
+not by any possibility furnish satisfactory information. Aromatics and
+fragrant stimulants have in all times taken the foremost rank with acids,
+such as vinegar, lime and lemon juice. Mr. Guthrie's adoption of lemon
+juice in preference to bark, which he said made him worse while suffering
+from an attack of fever, during the Peninsular campaign, and his speedy
+recovery from the disease, though not from its effects, shews, when many
+others can bear equal testimony to its value, that such a remedy though
+simple is not to be despised.
+
+But to the late Epidemic. Dr. Stevens' saline treatment, appears, on the
+whole, to have been the most successful. Common salt was used both
+medically and dietetically, and formed the greatest bulk of the medicine
+employed. Chlorate of potash and carbonate of soda were added to the
+medicine.
+
+The nitro-hydrochloric acid was used with success at St. Thomas's Hospital.
+
+Dr. Copland used chlorate of potash, bicarb. soda, hydrochloric, ether, and
+camphor water.
+
+Dr. Ayre's calomel treatment had as many, if {188} not more, opponents than
+advocates. Phosphorus had several advocates.
+
+Creasote and camphor were lauded by some. The beneficial operation of all
+these remedies might be explained on the theory here supposed, that living
+germs are the cause of Epidemic disease, but the specific action of any one
+remedy has not yet had sufficient attention or trial to enable me to make
+any deductions of a satisfactory or conclusive nature.
+
+In the uncertainty which generally prevailed as to the best method of
+treating Cholera patients, I was induced (for reasons stated in a pamphlet
+published last year) to try the efficacy of sulphur, which had been
+extolled as a specific. In its effects I was not disappointed; but as the
+results are already before the public, I need not do more than refer to it
+among other remedies.
+
+I did not contemplate even alluding to this subject, as it would extend far
+beyond my intended limits. This portion of the enquiry would be more
+properly carried out by keeping records of cases, treated in accordance
+with the view attempted to be established, and I have not the slightest
+hesitation in saying, that the most ample success would ultimately attend a
+well directed practice, based upon the principles inculcated in these
+pages.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{189}
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+In making the foregoing sketch, I have attempted to put together some ideas
+on a subject, which has for the last few years been a theme for meditation
+in leisure hours, viz. What are the causes of Epidemic, Endemic, and
+Infectious Diseases? The occurrence of Epidemic Cholera last year in this
+country, awakened a spirit of enquiry. Where there is unrest, whatever may
+be the cause, there also is disquiet and discontent. When the oracles of
+the age were consulted in the emergency, the discordant answers perplexed
+and confused the anxious searcher after truth. In the spring of last year,
+when the enemy was approaching, unseen and unheard, and the thousands of
+unconscious victims, who are now lying in their graves, were faithfully
+trusting and fully relying on the heads of our profession, and the
+resources of our art, what was the state of our defences, and what the
+nature or character of our resistance? One considerable body of men would
+discharge from a little tube of glass, a host of almost invisible globular
+atoms of sugar, said to be as potent and inscrutably operative as the
+unseen enemy. These infinitesimal practitioners assured the people that
+they "_had powerful means of subduing the disease_," {190} but even they
+differed among themselves, though they carried out to the fullest extent
+the doctrine of their leader, _similia similibus_, which we may suppose to
+refer in this case to the minuteness of the opposing armamenta. Without,
+however, agreeing with this school, I may quote a passage from Dr. Curie,
+which is, alas! too true: "We have shewn, as they must (allopathists), and
+many of them do acknowledge, that they have no fixed basis, no natural law
+upon which their treatment rests."
+
+Who can deny the force of this observation? Sheltered by a principle, it
+matters not how fallacious, a man is placed as behind a barrier. If with
+any reason it could be shewn that the infinitesimal doses, could by no
+possibility effect a cure in Cholera; if it could be demonstrated by any
+line of argument, that a poison, a living poison, circulates with the
+blood, or lodges in the tissues, the homaeopathist must fall; his
+"electricity and mineral magnetism," and "_powerful concentration of life
+power towards the digestive canal_," will stand for what they are worth.
+That minute doses of medicine can exert an active influence over the body
+is not to be denied, but these must consist of powerful drugs, as arnica,
+aconite, and nux vomica, with others, and it is more than probable, that of
+such medicines, an inconceivably small amount may produce a specific effect
+upon some portion of the organic nervous system.
+
+How is it that a dose of nitre or digitalis, "can {191} convert
+cheerfulness into low spirits," or a grain of red sulphuret of antimony,
+"excite warmth and lively spirits?"[74]
+
+Why should indigo dyers become melancholy, and scarlet dyers choleric?[75]
+We do not know. But there is one thing we most certainly do know, that a
+poison may be disarmed by an antidote, and the amount of the latter must be
+in proportion to that of the former, and as epidemic and contagious
+diseases do most unquestionably depend upon poisons of a specific nature,
+and of great amount and activity, an infinitesimal remedy, however it may
+claim to direct and control the organic forces, under slight and ordinary
+disturbances, can be no more effectual in destroying the poison of fever,
+or small pox, than in neutralizing arsenic or prussic acid.
+
+The uncertainty which generally prevails as to the treatment of Epidemic
+diseases, Fevers, &c. induced me to put together the notions which are
+contained in these pages, in the hope of leading to some definite ideas of
+the causes of these affections, and consequently to a more uniform and
+scientific mode of treating them.
+
+I have endeavoured to shew that reproduction is a phenomenon inseparable
+from morbific matter, and that in all probability the vegetable kingdom is
+the source of the germs.
+
+{192}
+
+The train of argument adopted is such as appeared to me most natural for
+such an enquiry, and it rests now only with those who are capable of
+deciding whether such a course, though (I am sensibly aware) not without
+many faults in conception and execution, is calculated to advance the
+science of medicine and the interests of mankind.
+
+The real tree of knowledge, possesses in the spongioles of its roots, an
+elective property, by which truth alone can enter; nourished and sustained
+by this, it sends a fragrant incense and breathing odour on high, and
+dispels the mists of ignorance and superstition. In natural causes and
+reasonable deductions we must seek for instruction and solid information,
+for in over-straining either nature or art, deformity and error must
+inevitably be the result.
+
+THE END.
+
+NORMAN AND SKEEN, PRINTERS, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTES
+
+[1] "It matters little how vague and false hypotheses may appear at first:
+experiment will gradually reduce and correct them, and all that is
+required, is industry to elaborate the proof, and impartiality to secure it
+from distortion."--_Sewell_ "On the Cultivation of the Intellect."
+
+[2] It is stated by Mr. Crosse, of Norwich, that vaccination was adopted in
+Denmark, and made compulsory in 1800. After the year 1808 Small Pox no
+longer existed there, and was a thing totally unknown; whereas during the
+twelve years preceding the introduction of the preventive disease, 5,500
+persons died of the Small Pox in Copenhagen alone.--_Dr. Watson's
+Lectures._
+
+Dr. Blick, an intelligent Danish physician, corroborated the above
+statement to Dr. Watson himself in the year 1838.
+
+[3] Philosophy of Life, Lecture 6, translated by the Rev. A. J. W.
+Morrison, M.A.
+
+[4] The following I quote from Dr. Fuller on Small Pox and Measles:--
+
+"To this purpose some (and particularly Kircherus) are of opinion that
+animalcules have been the causes of malignant and pestilential fevers in
+epidemic times, which differ in essence and symptoms, according to the
+nature and venoms of those creatures.
+
+"Thus the atmosphere and air is filled both from above and beneath with
+innumerable millions of millions of species or corpuscles, aporrhoeas,
+steams, vapours, fumes, dust, little insects, &c. all which make it such a
+wonderful chaotic compost of things that contains the _seeds_ of good and
+evil to man as surpasseth the understanding (as I suppose) of even the
+highest order of archangels."
+
+[5] I learn from an undoubted authority that the cow when "slack of health"
+eats with avidity the "field parsley;" the sheep under similar
+circumstances seeks the ivy, and the goat the plantain.
+
+From an equally good source I have the following: that rabbits and hares,
+when they are what is commonly called _pot-gutted_, seek the green broom,
+though at a distance of _twenty miles_.
+
+[6] "My settled opinion is, that in regard every effect is necessarily such
+as its cause; it must needs be that every sort of venomous fevers is
+produced by its proper and peculiar species of virus.
+
+"And that the manner and symptoms of every such fever is not so much from
+the particular constitution of the sick; as from the different nature and
+genius of their specific venom which caused them.
+
+"And I conceive that venomous febrile matters differ not in degree of
+intenseness only, but in essence and _toto genere_ also; and that venomous
+fevers are for the most part contagious."--_Thomas Fuller, M. D. 1730._
+"Another important class of organic poisons are those which when introduced
+in almost inappreciable quantities into the system, seem to increase in
+quantity; and which when communicated in the same inappreciable quantity
+from the individual poisoned to one who is healthy, excite the same series
+of febrile phenomena and local inflammation, and the same increase in the
+quantity of the poisonous agent."--_Med. Chir. Review._
+
+"This unseen influence working in the body, presents very striking
+analogies to the modes of operation of different poisons."--_Dr. Ormerod on
+Continued Fever._
+
+[7] I am aware that the vesicle does not here strictly bear the relation to
+the original germ, supposing one active particle alone to be sufficient for
+its production, that the egg does to the bird, for in the former case
+multitudes of active particles may have been generated from one. I have,
+therefore, merely used this expression to signify an aggregation of vital
+forces, such as may be imagined to exist in the bird.
+
+[8] "At an early period the form of the ovisacs is usually elliptical, and
+their size extremely minute,--their long diameter measuring in the ox no
+more than 1/562 of an inch, so that a cubic inch would contain nearly two
+hundred millions of them. They are _at this time_ quite distinct from the
+_stroma_ of the ovarium; this forms a cavity in which they are loosely
+embedded."
+
+[9] Coleridge, p. 56.
+
+[10] "All vegetables," says Sharon Turner, "from that pettiness which
+escapes our natural sight, to that magnitude which we feel to be gigantic,
+have these properties in common with all animals--organization; an interior
+power of progressive growth, a principle of life, with many phenomena that
+resemble irritability, excitability, and susceptibility, and a
+self-reproductive and multiplying faculty."--_Sharon Turner's Sacred
+History._
+
+[11] "Plants highly sensitive to light are those of the leguminous, or Pea
+kind. They always close up in the evening and clasp their two upper
+surfaces together, presenting only their backs to the air. Plants of
+pinnated leaves, as the Tansy, are more sensible than these to the effects
+of light. They fold up when light is too strong, as in Robinia; it produces
+the same effect as want of light. Its leaves close up, apparently, because
+they are receiving too much. So they do if a hot iron be brought near them.
+They contract as if to avoid the heat. Sensitive plants, and those of the
+Oxalis Lent. are so sensitive that the least motion, even a breath of air,
+will make them close."--_Sir J. Smith._
+
+"The vitality of plants seems to depend upon the existence of an
+irritability, which although far inferior to that of animals, is
+nevertheless of an analogous character."--_Lindley's Introduction to
+Botany._
+
+[12] Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal. July 10th, 1850. No. xiv. p.
+367. "Practical Observations on the Vaccination Question." By E. Oke
+Spooner, M. R. C. S., Blandford.
+
+"If we examine the Cow Pox and the Small Pox microscopically, as I have
+done very carefully in every stage, we find that the essential character
+consists of a number of minute cells, not exceeding the 10,000th part of an
+inch in diameter, being about one-fourth smaller than the globules of the
+blood, containing _within their circumference many still more minute
+nuclei, and presenting_ beyond their circumference bud-like cells of the
+same size and character as those contained within the circle. They exactly
+resemble in everything except the size, the globules of the yeast plant,
+the Torula Cerevesiae. Now if we examine more circumstantially the
+analogies of what I would call the Torula Variolae with the Torula
+Cerevesiae, we observe the following corresponding facts.
+
+"What do we accomplish by inoculation as it is called? Simply this. We take
+on the top of a lancet, or an ivory point, a few of these minute cells or
+germs, and we put them _in their appropriate nidus_, the subcuticular
+tissue, where, after a few days if they find their appropriate nutrient
+elements, they grow and multiply."
+
+Simon, Chemistry of Man, vol. i. p. 127. "Macgregor ascertained that the
+air expired by persons ill of confluent Small Pox, contained as much as
+_eight_ per cent of carbonic acid, and in proportion as health was restored
+the percentage was diminished to its natural standard." Carbonic acid is
+also produced during the process of fermentation and germination.
+
+[13] See History of the Jews, p. 71.
+
+[14] It is said by Whewell, that the murrain is supposed to have fallen
+only on the animals which were in the open pasture.--_History of the Jews._
+
+"J. S. Michael Leger, published at Vienna, in 1775, a treatise concerning
+the mildew as the principal cause of the epidemic disease among cattle. The
+mildew is that which _burns_ and _dries_ the grass and leaves. It is
+observed early in the morning, particularly after _thunder-storms_. Its
+poisonous quality, which does not last above twenty-four hours, never
+operates but when it is swallowed immediately after its
+falling."--_Mitchell on Fevers._
+
+[15] "The prevalence of the south-east wind was observed to be particularly
+favourable to the increase of both cholera and influenza: and I cannot but
+think that this had some connexion with the general tendency exhibited by
+the former to spread from east to west. Has the morbific property of this
+wind aught to do with the haziness of the air when it prevails--a haziness
+seen in the country remote from smoke, and quite distinct from fog? What is
+this haze? In the west of England a hazy day in spring is called a
+_blight_."--_Dr. Williams' Principles of Medicine._
+
+[16] We are to understand also that some peculiar operation took place of a
+nature difficult to comprehend, which seems also to typify reproduction,
+for the handfuls of ashes which Moses threw into the air _became a dust in
+all the land of Egypt_, thus signifying an enormous reproduction of atomic
+matter.
+
+[17] The Chinese affect to trace the origin of Small Pox back to a period
+of at least 3000 years, or 20 years beyond the era of the Trojan war, 1212,
+A. C.
+
+The Chinese pretend to discriminate no less than 40 different species of
+Small Pox.
+
+"They also pretend to discover whether a person has died by violence or
+from natural causes, not only after the body has been some time interred
+and decomposition of the softer parts has commenced, but even after the
+total disappearance of the soft parts, and when the dry skeleton alone is
+left."--For the process, see _Hamilton's History of Medicine_, vol. i. p.
+31.
+
+To give some notion of the state of Medical Science among the Chinese, I
+may quote the following: "The theory of the circulation of the blood, Du
+Halde affirms, was known by the Chinese about 400 years after the deluge;
+be this assertion veracious or not, no correct knowledge up to the present
+day, do the nation possess of the circulating system of the human
+frame."--_China and the Chinese, Henry Charles Sirr, M. A._
+
+According to their anatomy, the trachea extends from the larynx through the
+lungs to the heart, whilst the oesophagus goes over them to the stomach.
+
+[18] "And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the
+congregation: and behold the plague was begun among the people; and he put
+on incense and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the
+dead and the living, and the plague was stayed."--_Numbers._
+
+The practice of burning scented herbs has been observed in all times during
+an invasion of the plague, as a means of protection. Also wearing perfumes
+and aromatic preparations has been recommended. Whether they have any
+counteracting influence, it is impossible to say.
+
+Virgil in the third Georgic speaks of a murrain among cattle. He says, if
+any wore a vestment made of wool from an infected sheep, fiery blains and
+filthy sweat overspread his body, and ere long a pestilential fire preyed
+upon his infected limbs.
+
+In his directions for preserving the health of flocks he says--
+
+ "Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum."
+
+The motive for burning the fragrant cedar is not mentioned; we cannot doubt
+but it was a good one, and having some great practical utility, from the
+following line--
+
+ "Galbaneoque agitare graves nidore chelydros."
+
+[19] The earliest mention of this complaint upon which reliance can be
+placed, is an ancient Arabic MS. preserved in the public library at Leyden.
+"This year, in fine, the Small Pox and Measles made their first appearance
+in Arabia." The year alluded to being that of the birth of Mahomet, or the
+year 572 of the Christian aera.--_Hamilton's History of Medicine_, vol. i.
+p. 215.
+
+[20] Dr. W. A. Greenhill's translation.
+
+[21] The Black Assize at Oxford, 1572, is an instance in which a
+pestilential vapour suddenly appeared in the court, "whereby the judge,
+several noblemen, and more than 300 others, died within three days."
+
+"Of an unaccountable vapour suddenly coming, I have this relation from
+Richard Humphrey, my neighbour, and a man of veracity, that on Wednesday,
+April 27, 1727, as he and one Walter, were travelling a-foot from
+Canterbury; when they came to Rainham, they were assaulted with such a
+strong loathsome stink, as he thought was like the stench from a corrupted
+human corpse. They were so offended at it, as thinking it was from carrion
+in that town, that they would not stay there to rest and refresh
+themselves, but travelled on for about two hours, mostly in the stench, but
+sometimes out of it, till they came to the hill that leads down to Chatham:
+and there they went clear out of it and smelt it no more."--_Dr. Fuller_.
+
+It appears that these persons did not fall sick of any disease, but the
+fact of itself is remarkable enough.
+
+[22] Hamilton's History of Medicine.
+
+[23] It has been said, that "an induction once carefully drawn, is as
+perfect from a single instance as it is from ten thousand, and that it is
+only an uncultivated mind which requires a load and accumulation of
+knowledge to assist his thoughts."--_Sewell_ "on the Cultivation of the
+Intellect."
+
+[24] See Dr. Alison's Pamphlet on the Fever in Edinburgh.
+
+[25] Earthquakes have in all times been considered to have some connexion
+with pestilences. "A most grievous pestilence broke out in Seleucia, which
+from thence to Parthia, Greece, and Italy, spread itself through a great
+part of the world, from the opening of an ancient vault in the temple of
+Apollo, and that it raged with so much fury as to sweep away a third part
+of the inhabitants of those countries it visited."--_Dr. Quincy, on the
+Causes of Pestilential Disease._
+
+"Upon an earthquake the earth sends forth noisome vapours which infect the
+air; so it was observed to be at Hull in Yorkshire, by the Rev. Mr. Banks,
+of that place, after a small earthquake there in 1703, it was a most sickly
+time for a considerable while afterwards, and the greatest mortality that
+had been known for fifteen years."--_Anonymous_, 1769.
+
+[26] See Sharon Turner's Sacred History, text and notes, vol. i. p. 161 &
+162.
+
+[27]
+
+ "Each seed includes a plant; that plant, again,
+  Has other seeds, which other plants contain,
+  Those other plants have all their seeds; and those
+  More plants, again, successively enclose.
+  Thus ev'ry single berry that we find,
+  Has really in itself whole forests of its kind.
+  Empire and wealth one acorn may dispense,
+  By fleets to sail a thousand ages hence;
+  Each myrtle-seed includes a thousand groves,
+  Where future bards may warble forth their loves."
+
+[28] "On June 5th, 1849, a man and his son, a lad aged 14 years, left Noss
+to fish, and when five miles out at sea, no vessel being in sight, they
+both simultaneously became aware of a hot _offensive_ stream of air passing
+over them. It was so decided, that the crab pots were examined to discover
+if it were from them, but it did not, and five minutes after the father's
+attention was directed to the boy, who was vomiting and purging."--_Dr. Roe
+on the Cholera at Plymouth, Med. Gaz. Aug. 24th, 1850._
+
+[29] Linnaeus remarked that Erigeron Canadense was introduced into gardens
+near Paris from North America. The seeds had been carried by the wind, and
+this plant was in the course of a century spread over all France, Italy,
+Sicily and Belgium.
+
+[30] Hecker.
+
+[31] This is found most generally to be the case where rivers flow through
+uncultivated tracts of country. The Californian emigrants suffer much from
+diarrhoea and dysentery, if they drink of the river and certain well waters
+of that gold district.
+
+[32] "Purification from leprosy. As this fearful disease was contagious and
+hereditary to the third and fourth generation, the separation of lepers
+from the camp and congregation, and the destruction of infected houses and
+clothes, was of the utmost importance to the preservation of public health.
+
+"Leprosy was of three kinds: 1st, Leprosy in man. 2nd, Leprosy in houses.
+3rd, Leprosy in clothes.
+
+"Contagious or malignant leprosy was of two kinds, viz.
+
+"1st. The white leprosy, or bright berat, which was the most serious and
+obstinate form which leprosy assumes. It exhibited itself as a bright white
+and spreading scale, on an elevated base; turning the hair white in
+patches, which were continually spreading.
+
+"2nd. The black leprosy, or dusky berat, which was less serious than the
+foregoing. It did not change the colour of the hair, nor was there any
+depression in the dusky spot; but the patches were perpetually spreading,
+as in the white leprosy."--_Analysis and Summary of Old Testament History._
+_Oxford._
+
+[33] The Mexican Aloe blows when nine years old, and then dies. At least
+this is its usual course in the island of Cuba.
+
+[34] "Ground that has not been disturbed for some hundred years, on being
+ploughed, has frequently surprised the cultivator by the appearance of
+plants which he never sowed, and often which were then unknown to the
+country. The principle has been ascertained to be capable of existing in
+this latent state for above 2000 years, unextinguished, and springing again
+into active vegetation, as soon as planted in a congenial soil.
+
+"In boring for water near Kingston on Thames, some earth was brought up
+from a depth of 360 feet, and though carefully covered with a hand-glass to
+prevent the possibility of other seeds being deposited on it, was yet in a
+short time covered with vegetation.
+
+"Turner says, from the depth, these seeds must have been of the diluvian
+age."--_Jesse's Gleanings._
+
+[35] Hamilton's History of Medicine, vol. ii. p. 276, note.
+
+[36] "What I wish you to remark is this, that while almost all men are
+prone to take the disorder, large portions of the world have remained for
+centuries entirely exempt from it, until at length it was imported, and
+that then it infallibly diffused and established itself in those
+parts."--_Dr. Watson on the Principles and Practice of Physic._
+
+Dr. R. Williams says, "The seeds of intermittent fever lay dormant for
+months, it was not at all uncommon for cases of intermittent fever to be
+brought into the hospital eight or ten months after the patients had
+subjected themselves to the influence of paludal or marsh effluvia."
+
+[37] I have observed in the hot-houses, that many of the exotic plants,
+which are in company with the diseased vines, have been attacked, while
+others again have been entirely free.
+
+[38] By causes of the greatest variety plants may become extinct for a
+time. It is not very easy to trace them, but one fact may be mentioned in
+proof of the statement. Dr. Prichard states that vast forests are destroyed
+either for the purpose of tillage or accidentally by conflagrations. "The
+same trees do not reappear in the same spots, but they have successors,
+which seem regularly to take their place. Thus the pine forests of North
+America when burnt, afford room to forests of oak trees."
+
+[39] Hecker says of Chalin de Vinario, that "he asserted boldly and with
+truth, that _all epidemic diseases might become contagious, and all fevers
+epidemic_,--which attentive observers of all subsequent ages have
+confirmed." P. 60.
+
+[40] In 1539, the thirty-first year of Henry the Eighth, was great death of
+burning agues and flixes; and such a drought that welles and small rivers
+were dryed up, and many cattle dyed for lacke of water; the salt water
+flowed above London Bridge.--_Stowe._
+
+In 1556, the fourth of Mary, and the third of Philip, about this time began
+the burning fevers, quarterne agues, and other strange diseases, whereof
+died many.--_Stowe._
+
+The next winter, 1557, the quarterne agues continued in like manner, or
+more vehemently than they had done the last yere.--_Stowe._
+
+[41] Every writer on the climate of Egypt has remarked, that the Endemic
+Fever which is so frequent, originating on the coast, particularly about
+Alexandria, becomes occasionally so virulent, that it cannot be
+distinguished from the _true Plague._--_Robertson on the Atmosphere_, vol.
+2. p. 384.
+
+"Endemial Fevers of every situation become occasionally so aggravated, that
+they cannot be distinguished from such as originate from contagion; and in
+every unusual virulence of this Endemic Fever, it is probable that it may
+be propagated afterwards by contagion as every epidemic." _Ibid._ p. 388.
+
+[42] Dr. Ure.
+
+[43] "The metamorphosis of starch into sugar depends simply, as is proved
+by analysis, on the addition of the elements of water. All the carbon of
+the starch is found in the sugar; none of its elements have been separated,
+and except the elements of water, no foreign element has been added to it
+in this transformation."--_Liebig_, _Organic Chemistry_, p. 71.
+
+[44] As regards starch there appears to be some peculiar faculty regarding
+it. It is converted into sugar during the ripening of fruit, and it is just
+possible that being as it is of a cellular nature, the property of vitality
+may attach to it until it has, by being converted into sugar, fulfilled its
+destination.
+
+[45] Though I do not consider that the fermentation process is a fac-simile
+of diseased action, yet I think its phenomena generally afford an apt
+illustration of the changes which may be effected by living germs. Many
+able chemists still maintain the entire dependence of fermentation upon the
+Torula: "M. Blondeau propounds the view that _every kind_ of fermentation
+is _caused_ by the development of fungi."
+
+The varieties of opinions found in the literature of this subject, forms a
+curious specimen of scientific enquiry, and is sufficient alone to convince
+us of its vast importance and extensive relations.
+
+[46] By Dr. Mantell.
+
+[47] Mitchell on Fevers.
+
+[48] We wonder, and ask ourselves: "What does SMALL mean in
+Nature?"--_Schleiden's Lectures on Botany._
+
+[49] Speaking of the bunt in wheat: "It appears certainly to be contagious,
+from numerous experiments, which shew that the contagious principle lasts a
+long time. I have tried it myself; some, however, doubt it, but it cannot
+be denied, that seed sown, infected with bunt, produces plants similarly
+affected; every one who has had the slightest experience must be convinced
+of it."--_Essay on the Diseases of Plants._ _Count R['e]._
+
+[50] We have already spoken of the effects of these poisons, and have
+stated that the amount of each poison capable of destroying the body is
+pretty accurately known.
+
+[51] The italics are my own.
+
+[52] Gmelin says: "But the mode of action in these transformations,
+sometimes admits of other explanations; and when this is not the case, our
+conception of it is by no means sufficiently clear to justify the positive
+assumption of this, so called contact-action or catalytic force, which,
+after all, merely states the fact without explaining it"--_Gmelin's
+Hand-book of Chemistry_, vol. i. p. 115.
+
+[53] The history and symptoms of some epidemic diseases, such as cholera
+and influenza, are not inconsistent with the hypothesis that they are
+caused by the sudden development of animalcules from ova in the blood. But
+there is a total want of direct observation in support of this
+hypothesis.--_Dr. Williams' Principles of Medicine._
+
+[54] Since writing the above, I have referred for information on this
+subject, and find, that the Anguillula aceti exhibits sexual distinctions;
+and that the ovaries of the females are situated on each side of the
+alimentary canal.--_Cyclo. Anat. and Phys. Art. Entozoa._
+
+[55] Speaking of the examination of the infusory animalcules--Mr. Kirby
+says: "But to us the wondrous spectacle is seen, and known only in part;
+for those that still escape all our methods of assisting sight, and remain
+members of the invisible world, may probably _far exceed those that we
+know_."--_Bridgewater Treatise_, vol. i. p. 158.
+
+[56] Mr. Owen has added another class, as the first, called Protelmintha,
+which comprises the cercariadae and vibrionidae.
+
+[57] "It is probable that in the waters of our globe an infinity of animal
+and vegetable molecules are suspended, that are too minute to form the food
+of even the lowest and minute animals of the visible creation: and
+therefore an infinite host of invisibles was necessary to remove them as
+nuisances."--_Bridgewater Treatise_, vol. i. p. 159.
+
+"When Creative Wisdom covered the earth with plants, and peopled it with
+animals, He laid the foundations of the vegetable and animal kingdoms with
+such as were most easily convertible into nutriment for the tribes
+immediately above them. The first plants, and the first animals, are
+scarcely more than animated molecules,* and appear analogues of each other;
+and those above them in each kingdom represent jointed
+fibrils."+--_Bridgewater Treatise_, vol. i. p. 162.
+
+* Globulina and Monus. + Oscillatoria and Vibrio.
+
+[58] "A treatise which should present a systematic arrangement of all the
+diseases of plants, giving in detail the exact history of each, and adding
+the means of preventing and curing them, would certainly be of the greatest
+utility to agriculture." --_Essay on the Diseases of Plants, Count Philippo
+R['e], translated into Gardener's Chron._
+
+[59] "Plenck published a treatise on Vegetable Pathology, in which he
+divided diseases into eight classes: 1. External injuries; 2. Flux of
+juices; 3. Debility; 4. Cachexies; 5. Putrefactions; 6. Excrescences; 7.
+Monstrosities; and 8. Sterility. And he concludes with an enumeration of
+the animals which injure plants."--_Essay on the Diseases of Plants,
+Gardener's Chronicle._
+
+[60] The Bunt. "This disease appears at the moment of the germination of
+the plant. The affected individuals are of a dark green, and the stem is
+discoloured. As the ears are issuing from the sheaths, their stalks are of
+a dark green, but very slender. When the ear has fully grown out, its dull,
+dirty colour, causes it to be immediately distinguished from the healthy
+ones, and it soon turns white."--_Essay on the Diseases of Plants._
+
+[61] _Vidi_ understood.
+
+[62] "At the close of the year 1665," says Dr. Hodges, "even women, before
+deemed barren, were said to prove prolific."
+
+"After the cessation of the Black Plague, a greater fecundity in women was
+every where remarkable--a grand phenomenon, which from its occurrence after
+every destructive pestilence proves to conviction, if any occurrence can do
+so, the prevalence of a higher power in the direction of general organic
+life. Marriages were almost without exception prolific; and double and
+treble births were more frequent than at other times."--_Hecker_, p. 31.
+
+[63] It is stated that on the decline of the Plague, 1665, those who
+returned early to London, or new comers, were certain to be attacked. In
+proof of this the 1st week of November, the deaths increased 400, and
+"physicians reported that above 3000 fell sick that week, mostly new
+comers."
+
+See also Dr. Copland's Dict. Pract. Med. Epidemic and Endemic Diseases.
+
+"The hardy mountaineer is a surer victim of paludal fever, whether he
+visits the low countries of the tropics, or the marshes of a more temperate
+climate, than the feebler native of those countries."--_Dr. R. Williams on
+Morbid Poisons._
+
+[64] "Substances presented to the gastro-intestinal surfaces, are mixed up
+with various secretions, mucus, saliva, gastric juice, bile, pancreatic
+liquor, and special exudations from the peculiar glands of each successive
+section, while aerial poisons, unmixed and unfettered, are applied at once
+to a surface on which, behind scarcely a shadow of a film, circulates the
+blood prepared, by the habitual action of the respiratory function, to
+absorb almost every vapour, and every odour, which may not be too
+irritating to pass the gates of the _glottis_."--_Mitchell on Fevers._
+
+[65] Hecker on the "Black Death."
+
+[66] The stomach in some cases is no doubt the medium by which some
+diseases are contracted. It is well known, that in many places the water
+induces diarrhoea, the permanent residents, however, may not suffer, but
+all new comers are more or less affected by drinking it.
+
+[67] "Similar effects have been experienced from the use of mouldy
+provisions."--_Dr. Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom._
+
+[68] "Untold numbers die of the diseases produced by scanty and
+_unwholesome food_."--_Southey._
+
+A large, nay, a most extensive adulteration of flour with plaster of Paris
+was detected not many years since. The flour was supplied by a contractor
+for the manufacture of biscuits for the navy.
+
+[69] See Southey's Doctor, vol. ii. interchapter vi. p. 115, for an
+illustration of this subject.
+
+[70] Both these patients died.
+
+[71] "A good part of the clove trees which grew so plentifully in the
+island of Ternate, being felled at the solicitation of the Dutch, in order
+to heighten the price of that fruit, such a change ensued in the air, _as
+shewed the salutary effect of the effluvia of clove trees and their
+blossoms; the whole island, soon after they were cut down, becoming
+exceeding sickly_."
+
+[72] The observation is originally taken from the City Remembrancer, 133.
+
+[73] See Hamilton's History of Medicine, vol. i. p. 4.
+
+[74] Feuchtersleben's Medical Psychology, p. 176, 177.
+
+[75] Ibid. p. 321.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+CHANGES MADE AGAINST PRINTED ORIGINAL.
+
+Page 136. "the idea of Protophyta, or first plants": 'Prolophyta' in
+original.
+
+Page 140. "an extensive bearing of each individual part": 'indivdual' in
+original.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Epidemics Examined and Explained: or,
+Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease, by John Grove
+
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