1825.] 
both these cases, the noxious vapour 
of the prisons produced no_ specific 
malady; but, when combined with the 
atmosphere in an ordinary degree of 
purity, two diseases were engendered, 
but not the plague: an Egyptian atmo- 
sphere would probably have produced 
that disease. The prisons furmshed the 
elements, but the atmosphere kindled 
the spark, and gave the disease its cha- 
racter and type. Diseases are not for- 
tuitous, but arise from causes which are 
as specific in their nature, as the germ 
of vegetables. ‘I'he elements which en- 
gender the plague must unite; by them 
the disease is formed, and by no other 
element can it be produced. Stagnant 
and polluted air we find has not given 
it birth; nor have independent or wan- 
dering nations felt its power In any 
atmosphere: hence the atmosphere 
alone will not produce it—the plague 
is the offspring of misery. When the 
sovereigns of Egypt shall again become 
the fathers of the people, the hut will 
give place to the cottage; and horse- 
beans and oil, the present food, will be 
substituted by the more generous pro- 
ductions of nature. Agriculture will 
then purify the atmosphere, and do- 
mestic comfort the dwelling; and the 
plague, which used to be unknown, 
will have its name only in the records 
of the humiliation of the country. 
_ In England, this disease was, for a 
long period, as common as it is now in 
Turkey. Whether it was known prior 
to the fourteenth century, is uncertain ; 
but, about that time, a destructive 
plague visited this country, which pro- 
bably continued, excepting for short in- 
tervals, to the year 1670, when it en- 
tirely, and I believe for ever, left this 
island. In the century prior to the year 
1665, there were five distinct plague 
seasons; and at an earlier period, up 
to the thirteenth century, there were 
others. But the frequency and force of 
the disease, is but ascertained by the 
bills of mortality, which were com- 
menced in 1603. From this period to 
1670, there were only three years in 
which the plague did not exist—not 
always with the same degree of intens- 
ity, but, in every year, it occasioned 
in London the death of several hun- 
dreds. Its ravages were confined to 
one season of the year—at other seasons 
it was extinct. 
Here a question arises, nas the plague 
been imported as often as it has been 
renewed? Certainly not—or it must 
Non-Contagion of Plague. 
515 
haye been imported-since the year 16707 
for, no -citcumstance of, precaution, or 
vigilance_more excluded the, plague, in 
the latter, than in the earlier part of the 
17th century. If the disease hadever been 
imported, the country was. still equally, 
open ; but, at the very, time when com- 
meree was carried on with infected 
countries, the plague ceased, and. :has 
not revived in a single instance of 159 
years. This long pause shows the dis- 
ease to be foreign to our country injits 
best days ; had it been otherwise, of so 
many generations of men, some would 
have suffered from its power:—but in 
this, as in every other country, the, ex- 
istence of the plague marks the state of 
the nation. : 
During the long period of its exis- 
tence among us, the energies of the 
people were bound down—all were in- 
dolent or depressed. The mansions of 
the great were poorly ventilated, and 
the cottages of the poor were filthy; 
the marshes were undrained ; the. soil 
uncultivated, or imperfectly so; vege- 
table matter, unconsumed, rotted on 
the ground; the streets were narrow 
and obstructed ; those individuals who 
could afford to live well, lived grossly, 
while the means of subsistence of the 
poor were scanty and precarious. Under 
these circumstances, the plague yearly 
appeared among us; but, on the first 
effort of the people to reverse them, it 
ceased; aray of light dawned upon and 
roused their energies; they desired a 
good government, and obtained. their 
desire. In 1688, the people rallied 
round a constitution at once their bul- 
wark and glory. Under a government 
friendly to industry, the plague has 
never appeared. ' 
But it may be urged, that the Quaran- 
tine Laws are the source of our safety. 
This is impossible; they were not en- 
acted until the year 1723, fifty years 
after the plague had ceased. It is again 
urged by the advocates of contagion, 
that, from the subtlety of its nature, 
and the fixedness of its character, it 
may lie dormant many years, and break 
out unexpectedly, and without recent 
intercourse with an. infected country. 
If this were true, the Quarantine Laws 
would be nugatory, But a dormant 
contagion can only exist in the mind of 
a theorist ; nature does not sport with 
man, nor place him under circumstances 
of danger, which foresight and judgment 
cannot control or avert ; evil is not 
first apparent, then concealed; besides, 
3U 2 this 
