86 Voyage of the Novara. 



seem to confirm the view of Professor Pettenkofer,* relative to 

 the importation of the disease by ships, and its propagation by 

 human excrements, a theory advanced by this learned German 

 physician in his famous work, with as much soundness as 

 sagacity. 



The first individuals attacked were four soldiers of the 1st 

 battalion of infantry, and the first who fell a victim to the epi- 

 demic was a boatman, who had landed some of the soldiers 

 from the steamer. He was attacked on the 7th of July, at 

 1 P.M., and nine hours afterwards was a corpse. A few weeks 

 later the scourge had spread over the whole island, raging 

 with fatal severity, in consequence of the poverty, distress, and 

 helplessness of the inhabitants. We cannot forbear mentioning 

 a phenomenon observed at the time of the first appearance 

 of the pestilence by Major Dom Pedro de Azevedo, one 

 of the most distinguished men in Funchal. According to the 

 observations regularly made by him, during two years, with 

 reference to the quantity of ozonef contained in the atmosphere, 

 he found that, as long as the pestilence was raging, it scarcely 

 amounted to 2, whilst, under normal circumstances, the quantity, 

 according to the ozonometer of Schonbein, is said to reach 6 to 7. 



* Dr. Pettenkofer's Investigations and Observations on the Spread of Cholera. 

 Munich. 1855. 



t Ozone, or oxygen in an allotropic condition, is found in more perceptible quan- 

 tity in pure localities than in tliose ^vhere gi-eat quantities of puti-escent substances 

 are accumulated, as tlie ozone disappears by oxidation. Observations on the quan- 

 tity of ozone contained in tlie air during an epidemic are, therefore, of great in- 

 terest, because they may throw a light on the inllucnces of the atmosphere in the 

 propagation of certain diseases. 



