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.
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