{ 466 J 
{June 1, 
MEDICAL REPORT. ~: 
ait 
HATEVER be the eause, the fact 
is clear to every unprejudiced ob- 
server, that the Metropolis of Great Britain 
is the most healthy city in the world; and, 
were it not for the hypochondriae and the 
phthisical, the medical practitioner would 
for days, yea months in the year, be with- 
out employmeat. 
Although London, at this moment, is 
literally gorged with people, yet the health 
of the inhabitants has been remarkably good 
during the montlh—the season, also, being 
highly congenial both to animal and vege- 
table life. 
It cannot, however, be supposed for one 
moment by the rational, that disease and 
indisposition are not to be found ; but it is 
confidently affirmed, that both are unusu- 
ally rare. 
Cases of intermittent fever have been 
noticed by the reporter as the greatest 
novelty: the sulphate of quina, however, 
he has found always efficacious. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: 
BoOuLocne-sur-Mer has always been 
considered a healthy situation, containing, 
now, about 18,009 native inhabitants: it is 
divided into the higher and lower town. 
The former is built on an eminence, and 
surrounded by a high earthen rampart, 
outwardly faced with stone: the lower 
town is open, and slopes from the higher 
ground towards the margin of the Lianne 
and harbour. The soil upon which the 
town~ is built, containing a considerable 
proportion of sand, together with the situa- 
tion of the place, prevent the occurrence 
of stagnant water, that most fertile source 
of diseases in all climates. Boulogne, 
therefore, must be but rarely afflicted with 
any specific endemic disease ; and, for nearly 
six years that I have resided here, it has 
not been visited by any remarkable conta- 
gious malady. 
Several thousand English have taken up 
their residence here—the greatest propor- 
tion of whom, being in respectable circum- 
stances, enjoy every comfort and luxury the 
place affords: but it is, therefore, only in 
my professional employment among my 
countrymen, I am enabled to speak of the 
prevailing diseases of the place. 
I should have remarked, that the town 
is supplied with very good water; and that 
the surrounding country being entirely 
open, and with but few plantations, we, 
eonsequently, feel in a greater degree the 
vicissitudes of climate, than if the town 
. 
were more sheltered :—and, probably from 
those causes, we do not enjoy the same 
average degree of heat as is experienced in 
the lands opposite, on the English coast, 
where the harvest is always earlier than in 
the Boulonnais. 
Infiammatory affections of the chest are, 
therefore, very common during winter and 
spring. Nevertheless, pulmonary consump- 
tion is not often met with; and I have seen 
several instances where, as in my own case, 
people coming here with chronic inflamma- 
tion of the chest, have immediately expe- 
rienced relief, not only from the cough, but 
from all the agonizing feelings of dyspnea, 
attending that affection: and this has oc- 
curred in people who found these symptoms 
aggravated by residing on the English coast. 
Hepatitas, in young people, has frequently 
occurred in my practice during the last 
twelve months; but, in every instance, the 
eauses inducing this affection could be 
readily traced, and are such as occur in 
every country. For some months past, 
slight cases of cholera have been very 
common. Feyer is not a frequent disease 
‘in Boulogne; neither is rheumatism, al- 
though frequent, so severe as in England. 
And some of my friends who used to suffer 
severely from the gout in England, have 
had much slighter attacks, and others have 
entirely escaped it on coming here, although 
using the wines of France without any 
particular restraint. Apoplexy is very rare ; 
I have only met with it in the most intem- 
perate: and, in short, the practice of a 
physician here is much more varied, in the 
cases he has to treat, than what one could 
possibly suppose might be. I do not speak 
of the common contagious diseases of in- 
fancy—these occur in Boulogne, as in 
every other place, sometimes more severe- 
ly, and Sometimes in a very mild form. 
Vaccination is a common practice here ; 
and I have not seen a case of small-pox, 
either genuine or after vaccination, for 
many years. * 
I hope the above will be so far satisfac- 
tory as a Medical Report; but, if you de- 
sire any further and more particular infor- 
mation, I shall be happy to attend to your 
wishes.— Your’s, &c. 
A. ROBERTSON, M.D. 
Boulogne-sur-Mer, April 26, 1825. 
* These observations equally apply to the schools 
of this place; three of which, for ladies, are con- 
ducted by English gentlewomen of respectability and 
highly cultivated talents; and two, for young gentle- 
men, under the direction of graduates of Oxford. 
MONTHLY 
