60 Dr. Ainslie on Small-Pox and Inoculation in Eastern Countries. 



racter, entitled Madhava Nidhana, consisting of 1,375 verses, the small- 

 pox is fully described. To the confluent form the Tamuls have given the 

 appellation of Panisheri ammai, and both this and the simple affection 

 assume nearly the same appearances in India that they do in colder coun- 

 tries • with this difference, that in the hot climate, owing, it may be pre- 

 sumed, to the stimulus of heat, tlie distemper is evidently a little accelerated 

 in all its stages. It is a singular fact that the small-pox most fre- 

 quently shews itself in the East in the cold season ; that is, on the Coro- 

 mandel coast, from the end of November to the middle of February ; and 

 I have also observed that, in general, at that period, it is more apt to be 

 severe than in the warm and dry weather. For this last peculiarity it might 

 be difficult to assign a cause, unless we are allowed to suppose that 

 those who have the disease suffer more from being, in the cold months, 

 closely pent up in their small huts (which, owing to their clay floors, liiud 

 walls, and straw roofs, must be extremely damp*), instead of being allowed 

 to lie in open verandas, as they had been in the iiot season, where they 

 enjoyed at least a free circulation of air, and were at the same time screened 

 from tlie mid-day heat. 



By Dr. Hillary'st account of the small-pox in Barbadoes, however, it would 

 seem to have appeared there generally in the months of March, April, and 

 May, which constitute in that island the warm and dry season of the year. It 

 is strange that Moseley, who wrote professedly on the disorders of hot climates, 

 should not mention the malady ; nor does Dr. Hunter, in iiis " Diseases of 

 Jamaica," take the least notice of it ; though I perceive that it has found a 

 place in a little work entitled " Letters and Essays on some of the West- 

 India Complaints," by Mr. Quier.t in which he informs us that the small- 

 pox began to shew itself a little before Christmas in I7G7 ; at first mildly, 

 but as the season advanced it grew frequently fatal, and as summer came 

 on it was often of the worst kind. In Minorca, which though not a tropi- 

 cal, is a hot country, Cleghorn§ tells us that the disease was epidemic in 

 1742 and 174'6. When it first appeared in 17't2, the inhabitants were 

 astonished, as they had not seen the disorder for the last seventeen years, 



• To the great dampness of Cork, owing to its situation and other causes, Dr. Walker 

 ascribes the severity of the small-pox in that city. See his work on the Small-pox. 

 \ See his Diseases of Barbadoes, p. 17. J See Work, pp. 4 and 5. 



§ See Cleghorn's Diseases of Minorca. 



