308 On Malaria. 



I need not quote further foreign authorities. They who 

 doubt, may not, perhaps, take my word for the fact ; but while 

 I could point out, in this country of ours, the same occurrences 

 in abundance everywhere, from many waters of this nature, 

 I shall prefer trusting to the examination of others here- 

 after : since a conviction derived from such a source will be of 

 much more value than a behef founded on any evidence which 

 I could produce ; marked as that is, and easy as it would be, 

 to point out the very places, often familiar to the inhabitants 

 even of this capital. 



But that I may make these remarks of the more utility, let 

 me note one or two other particulars ; since, as far as reforma- 

 tion or avoidance of the cause is attainable, the value of these 

 remarks must depend on their specific nature. 



If any one will be at the trouble of examining the condition 

 of health and the characters of the disorders, and further, the 

 time of the year, and the particular kind of seasons in which 

 these prevail, as these relate to the inhabitants of such spots, 

 more particularly if he will compare the results with what 

 occurs among the same classes of people in dry situations, I 

 cannot doubt that he will find everywhere such proofs as I 

 might easily have brought before him, did I not dislike to name 

 the places. Such are the houses of the opulent in such dis- 

 tricts as those which border the Thames, the Ouse, or other 

 slow rivers ; houses where ornamental water has been intro- 

 duced, and more especially, where these are confined by 

 woods ; ancient castles surrounded by moats, and, among the 

 poorer classes, those placed by canals, mill-ponds, and in 

 other analogous places : to which I might add, what, however, 

 is rare in our own country, if common on the continent of 

 Europe, fortifications ; the diseases of which, when the ditch 

 is wet, are notorious everywhere. And to these I may sub- 

 join, what will excite more surprise from their apparent insig- 

 nificance, the ponds of gravel pits, which will be very often 

 found the causes of those fevers that occur in such situations. 



What will be observed in all such cases, is, that the inhabi- 

 tants, even where opulent, are subject to what is called vaguely, 

 ill health ; while, to use a common, if a vulgar phrase, they 

 are places where " the apothecary is never out of the house." 



