208 
that it, occasionally, appears there with 
symptoms every way similar to those of 
the plague, from which it cannot be dis- 
tinguished : and there is every reason to 
believe; that in this-way it broke out in 
Corfu, in 1815. The remittent fever is 
never, on its first appearance, even in 
its most malignant form,:a contagious 
disease ; however, it may happen that a 
matter may be generated, capable of 
producing a peculiar contagious dis- 
ease, in hospitals crowded with siek 
of the remittent fever. This circum- 
stance was on the eve of teking place 
in ‘an hospital: under my charge at Ar- 
gostoli, in the summer of 1816; and 
which was prevented, by moving all the 
sick to a more lofty and spacious builds 
ing, on the opposite side of the bay. 
“But, as I only intend to limit these 
observations to what physicians call the 
remote causes of this disease, and there- 
upon: to offer some suggestions; with a 
view to prevent its recurrence, I there- 
fore consider it in its simple and pri- 
mary form only. iS ahi 
I have had frequent opportunities, for 
several years, of treating remittent fever: 
but it has never fallen to my observa- 
tion, that any servant, or other person 
employed in the duties of the hospital, 
has been attacked in consequence of a 
communication with the sick ; which, 
certainly, would have been ‘the case, 
had the disease been contagious. The 
only exceptions to this remark occurred 
at Argostoli, in which I lost two order- 
lies and ‘the nurse of the hospital; but 
their disease seemed rather to have been 
occasioned by the great fatigue, and 
continual fespiration of the contami- 
nated air of an excessively crowded 
hospital, at a temperature above 100°, 
than the effect of a ‘specific conta- 
gion: the nurse had been debilitated by 
two previous attacks of remittent fever, 
and was in the last month of her preg- 
nancy. It may be remarked, also, that 
the healthy state of the inbabitants of 
St. Rocque and Algesiras, and other 
places in the straits of Gibraltar, even 
when remittent fever prevails there in 
its worst character, is a proof that the 
cause of that disease is local, and owing 
entirely to the situation of the latter 
place. Moreover, there is no instance 
where the remittent fever has been 
communicated from the garrison of 
Gibraltar to the shipping, or vice versé. 
The miasma producing remittent fever 
may always be traced to the sources 
above-mentioned, or those of a similar 
description ; and i¢ seems only to shew 
Remarks on Essay.on Gradation. 
(Oct. 1, 
its effects on living bodies near to’ its 
origin :.but we have no fact, that’ this 
vapour has manifested its effects at a 
distance from its*source, or: that it has 
been conveyed to other places through 
the medium of bale goods, cloths, or 
other matters: ‘In this respect, marsh 
miasma differs widely from contagious 
‘disease, which may be ‘carried off in 
matters impregnated with it, and retain 
its virulence after a lapse of years, and 
in every variety of climate, as in plague, 
typhus, &c. saerasent 
(To be continued.) 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
Sir: » 
he ageaes ea rt G the very proper 
determination you have repeatedly’ 
expressed, that your utilitarian miscel- 
lany should not be made the vehicle 
-either of theological or anti-theological 
controversy, will you permit me to ex- 
press some surprise that your pen was 
not occasionally drawn through some 
of the passages of unnecessary: canfy 
interspersed in the otherwise amusing, 
though frequently fanciful and sophis- 
tical, disquisition “ On the Gradation 
of Universal Being.’ I allude particue 
larly to the second part of that,disqnisi- 
tion, which appeared in your preceding 
Number (p. 110), which to me, at least, 
appears to have required a little weed- 
ing; so much so, indeed, that I cannot 
but suspect that your Editorship, like 
Homer (the simile, I trust, will atone 
for the liberty of the suggestion !), can 
sometimes nod a little: for yout waking * 
faculties could not, I think, but have 
perceived the propriety of the axiom, 
that, in the- discussion of » subjects of 
natural history or philosophy, our 
election should at once be made, and 
steadily adhered to, either of taking 
our data from the dogmas of admitted 
authority, or of resting exclusively on 
the inductions of reason, as’ deducible 
from the « dbservation of ‘ascertainable 
facts. If the question is to be argued 
theologically, the former method is-un- 
doubtedly to -be preferred ; and facts, 
of course, are no further to be admitted, 
than as they can be shewn to be imap- 
parent accordance’ with that primary 
authority which, as orthodox theologi- 
ans, weare not at liberty to controvert. 
But the process of analytical philo- 
sophy admits of no such. restrictions, 
and consequently of no’such appeal. It 
has no data, but facts; no inferences 
but the pure inductions’ of reason. In 
either case, the sound and rational logi- 
cian 
