cxxxviii THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



illustration of this is supplied by Sir Gilbert Blane ^ He 

 says: — * On the i6th of May, 1795, the Thetis and Hussar 

 frigates captured two French armed ships from Guadaloupe, 

 on the coast of America. One of these had the yellow fever 

 on board ; and out of fourteen men sent from the Hussar to 

 take care of her, nine died of this fever before she reached 

 Halifax, on the 28th of the same month, and the five others 

 were sent to the hospital sick of the same distemper.' So 

 far, there is nothing whatever unusual ; but what follows is a 

 good example of the kind of testimony which exists as to the 

 occasional contagiousness of the disease. ' Part of the 

 prisoners,' we are told, ' were removed on board the Hussar, 

 and, though care was taken to select those seemingly in 

 perfect health, the disease spread rapidly in that ship (formerly 

 healthy) ^, so that near one-third of the whole crew was more 

 or less affected by it.' Now, these facts which are recorded 

 concerning yellow fever, are very comparable with what 

 would have to be stated concerning dysentery. This also is 

 ' a disease liable to be engendered at any time by foul, damp 

 air, and the use of bad food and drink, and which, at first, 

 shows little, if any, power of communicability, but which, as 

 cases multiply, and w^hen the sick and the well are congre- 

 gated together, unquestionably acquires contagious pro- 

 perties ^.' The same power of arising de novo, and the same 

 absence of contagiousness, except under the influence of 

 favouring circumstances, seem to distinguish the direst of 

 our modern epidemics — cholera. As Dr. Gavin Milroy says : 

 'The whole history of the disease proves that contagion plays 

 a very small and subordinate part in its diffusion ; and no- 

 where has the attempt to exclude it by barring intercourse 



1 ' Diseases of Seamen,' p. 606. 



2 That is, free from yellow fever. 



3 Dr. Gavin Milroy, loc. cit., p. 176. 



