Retro/peSf of American Uieratur6,~Mijfcellanem'.. &t^ 



trine, viz., the domeftic origin ff tlie 

 difeafe. It refults therefore trom this 

 ftatement, that the great medical majority 

 of thi UniteiH Ststes perfeiftl)' agree in 

 opinion with ihv- great majority of Britifii 

 phyficians who have refided in tijc Weft- 

 Indies and written on the difeafes ihey 

 had obfervfd ; f r all the m)ft eminent of 

 the letter (with the exception of Dr. 

 Chifliolmj dtcid-rdly adopt the do5^rine of 

 the domeftic origin and non ccntagiouf- 

 nefs of the yellow-fever. 



To a perfan who reflefls maturely on 

 this fubjefl, it will not appear ftrange 

 that the public mi. d (lioiild be fo divided. 

 Xhe queHims which pre'tiit themfelves 

 are extiemeiy complicateii, and require 

 the conddcrati'in of a much greater num- 

 ber ot particulars than miids unaccuftom- 

 el to realbnlng and to menial dilentan- 

 glement can poflibly c mprehend'. No 

 point in tiie hiftory of difeafes has been 

 confideied as more myfteiious or difficult 

 to explain than contagi n. It is not won- 

 derful, then, that uninftiucted min.1s 

 fliiuid find fuch little fuccefs in folving 

 difficulties which hid baffled the exertions 

 of the moft erudite and vigorous. It is 

 not wonderiui that a ftiort explanation, 

 which m.iy be comprehended by every 

 body, flio'.ild be prete red to an intrcate 

 and laborious inveftigaiion. To afTign to 

 malignant epidemics a foreign origin, and 

 to bring the'n from diftaiit regions ilct isn 

 article of jjierchanciize, is to folve the 

 d:fficulty mo!i rafiiy nnd readily \ it i.s 

 cutting, i:;ftiad (,f uniying, the Gordian- 

 knot. The f'jperftition of imported con- 

 tagion, like witchcraft, is intelligible to 

 every capacity, fuperfcdts »i!l leifoning, 

 and arrives in a moment at the termination 

 of tlie incjuiry. 



Tills miift be confi.iered, however, as 

 a fcrious qiieftion in regard to commerce, 

 as well as ;o many of the pcliiical, fuci<il, 

 and liofpitable rel.nions of different coun- 

 tries. If tie popular creed of the imj^or- 

 tation and txporiation of nmlignant dif- 

 ea'ies fhonld prove to be uniriie (as there 

 is indeed the greateft reakm to belitvt), 

 then commerce is burthened and rellrifled 

 with ur caufe, and the moft inconvenient 

 «^eten ions iile iinpofetl without benefit. — 

 Many cities <;f the Unfed Stales fuffer 

 grievous ii.jurics from this f .urce. Phil- 

 adelphia, "nre aiVive and fls)urifliing as 

 any r.i-'ppit in the Union in her com- 

 mercial alptfts, !s now rapidly withering 

 away. The ice deltroys her conimtrce in 

 the winter, and a luperiritious cpiarantine 

 equally deltroys it in the fummcr ami au- 

 tumn. It is attonifliing that the acute- 



MuMTHLY Mac, No. 13?. 



nefs of mercantile inveftigations, prompt- 

 ed by the love of gain, ha* never tho- 

 roughly penetrated this delufion, and 

 that they (liould have profited h little by 

 the inllruflion of time and experience. — 

 If the principle contended for by thecoii- 

 tagionlfts had been true, from the enter- 

 prize and extent of modern commerce the 

 world mud long fince havefuffeied utter 

 depopulation. Wha' na;ioij would le 

 mad enough to per.iiit the intercouric cf 

 comrerce, if this comme C; cuuld make 

 them liable to ths introdu£\ion of difea'es 

 more deifruilive thin the natural fmal- 

 pox, and capable of invading ths fame 

 perfon repeatedly apd for an indefinite 

 numherof times? If the fmall-pox were 

 capable of attacking the fime petfons 

 repsate.ily, like the malignant difeafes 

 whofe importation is apprehended, what 

 community could expeft aiy other period 

 to its ravages than the dea'h of ihs lail 

 indivi:lual cf their whol; number ? And 

 though the finall-pox sffecls perfons but 

 once m their lives, what community has 

 ever fucceeded in the attempts to extermi- 

 nate it ? In fpiie of all ths rigour of the 

 beft-devlfed fyftemf of quarantine, the 

 fuh'le poiff n would find conveyance, and, 

 once introduce !, would for ever bid def- 

 ance to every attetript at ex'ermmation. ^ 

 The error here undertaken to be com- 

 bated, is a difgrace to the ninetecifi 

 century. Mtdicil ibfervaiicn and com- 

 mercial experience, when divefted of pre- 

 judice and fuperdition, and permitted to 

 be julf to then-ifelve;, are all oppofed to 

 it. Yet we fee governments chin!i:)g to 

 be enlightened and humane, ordaining 

 confifcation of property and the pains of 

 death, in order to fhut out an evd from 

 abroad, whiciicai only exiit by donieUic 

 produilion. 



MISCFtLANEOUS. 



♦' The Memoirs of t^ie American Aca- 

 demy of Arts and Sciences," vol. ii., 

 part ii., la'ely publiihed, afford a fatis- 

 fat^fory view uf the attention paid to the 

 cultivation of fcience in tiie ftate of Maf- 

 (achufetts, and of the fuccefs with which 

 tho:eendtavour8 have been attended. We 

 fi.i:i in ihi* part of the Cccond volume fe- 

 vtral refpeftablecpmmuiiications on altro- 

 nomical fubjefts ; fome improve i/cnts in 

 mechanical inltruments ; fome in.eiiious 

 papers concerning a variety of objeits in 

 natural hiftoiy ; and a confiderab'.e num- 

 ber of other thing;s in which the antiqua- 

 ry, the chemllt, and the phylician, would 

 feel inteieft. After the Americm Phdo- 

 fophical Societv of Philadelpnis, v/l ich' 

 wai the fitft afll>ciation for^ihil t'-phical 

 4 K. f urV'u fti 



