EAKLY QUARANTINE ARRANGEMENTS OF SALEM. 45 



1790, Salem had a population of seventj^-nine hundred and 

 twenty-one ; by that of 1800, a population of ninety- 

 four hundred and fifty-seven. In 1812, we had eight 

 hundred seamen afloat, and imperilled by the declaration 

 of war, in a population of less than thirteen thousand. 



Notwithstanding these new commercial relations our 

 Quarantine system modified itself but slowly and little was 

 done save under the pressure of sudden epidemic. Li- 

 censed tenements were still resorted to as late as 1792 for 

 the treatment of the small pox by inoculation, as appears 

 from votes which follow, and for several years after, there 

 was great uneasiness, manifested in legislative resolves, 

 executive proclamations and local regulations, on account 

 of the threatening approaches of yellow fever. General 

 inoculations were common, down to the introduction of 

 vaccination in 1796. These prevailed during the British 

 occupation of Boston and New York. Gen. Washington 

 was inoculated at New York June 27, 1776, and may 

 have submitted to something like the heroic treatment by 

 Glauber's salts, pill-cochite, emetics, Indian meal gruel 

 with molasses, and drum and fife exercise, which prevailed 

 at the general hospitals of that day. 



Town Meeting, Oct. 19, 1792. 



"Voted, that the Barracks at the New Fort (so called) 

 be licensed to be open for inoculation for the small pox, 

 together with the house now improved by M"" Perkins 

 on the Neck (so called) subject to such Kestrictions & 

 Regulations as may hereafter be agreed on. 



Carnes, cleared from Salem under secret orders, leading the way to the Island of 

 Sumatra, threading unknown seas without chart or pilot, the pioneer of a great 

 flotilla, and getting off with the lirst cargo of pepper in bulk ever brought to this 

 country. Joseph Peabody's ship "Franklin" from Boston, commanded by Capt. 

 James Devereux of Salem, was the first American vessel to open trade with Japan, 

 and the second to enter was the ship "Margaret" of Salem, Capt. Samuel Derby, 

 master, whicli left Salem harbor, Nov. 25,1800, and July 19, 1801, fired her salutes in 

 the port of Nagasaki. 



