Non-Contagion of Plague. 
evidence against themselves. A skein 
of silk, or a pair of stockings, is carried 
through a country without affecting ‘a 
single individual; but, at length, being 
where the plague breaks«out, is charged 
with communicating the disease.’ Such 
is the substance ‘of the evidence ‘given 
by contagionistsevidence® which de- 
stroys its’ own: credibility. 9, With as 
much propriety *the-ague may be sup- 
posed toolurk am a Lincolnshire hay- 
stack, as that the plague may be con- 
cealed in aj bag of cotton—their exist- 
ence rests on equal authority. 
. By the anti-contagionists it is urged, 
that if the history of the plague has 
been fairly and fully given, if nothing of 
its nature and character has been con- 
cealed, this country has the laws of 
nature for its protection; these must 
yield their power, corruption must ori- 
ginate in purity, confusion in’ order, 
agriculture must cease, the habits of 
the people change, before the evils 
which misrule and indolence give birth 
to, can rest upon this country. 
But another question yet presents 
itself—Why is not Ireland visited by 
the plague ?—are not her circumstances 
those of Egypt? No. Her soil is 
cultivated—her bogs of peat-moss never 
putrify : the vapour they emit is as pure 
as the exhalation from the ocean, and 
doubtless, to some constitutions, as salu- 
brious. Fevers yearly pass through the 
land, ‘the: fruit of poverty, and, in a 
suitable atmosphere, the harbingers of 
plague; but that combination of cir- 
cumstances which generate this disease 
do not exist in Ireland. The Palace of 
Brighton removed to her shores would 
heal her wounds. 
In confirmation of what has been 
said of the nature of plague, and of our 
security from its attack, I refer to the 
state of health in this country since the 
termination of the malady. 
The ‘plague is' generally admitted to 
be the consequence of a high degree’ of 
impurity in the atmosphere; and in the 
dwelling, as this is approached, and the 
air to a greater or less extent is vitiated, 
so fevers and other diseases prevail. 
Dr. Mead says’ such disorders usually 
precede'the plague. (As the prevalence 
of disease, ina temperate climate) in- 
dicates the approach of the plague; so, 
on the contrary, the prevalence of health 
indicates the impossibility of its attack 
—it wants its element. This is the 
Pandora’s box which scatters diseases ; 
if the attendants dre not evident; the 
box is shut. 932 L2G IR RI 
651 
Every plague country is thinly peo- 
pled: not because of there being fewer 
births toa marriage, but’ because the 
prevalence of disease cuts off the popu- 
lation. 
The plague has left this country more 
than a century and a-half, and since 
that period the duration of life has gra- 
dually increased. Many years are added 
to our span. The evils of our own 
ereating have diminished, and will yet 
diminish. 
During the first eighty years of that 
period, registers were not kept with 
such accuracy as to admit of precision ; 
but in the latter seventy, great care has 
been taken, for commercial purposes ; 
and the result has been, by making a fair 
allowance for the first eighty years, that 
human existence has gained in duration 
at least one-third; and thus an increase 
of our population is accounted for, with- 
out supposing a greater number of births 
to a marriage, or a less mortality in 
childhood, although it is probable that 
the latter circumstance may have con- 
tributed to the increase: a people while 
increasing in longevity, are not exposed 
to the plague. ‘ 
This exemption we owe to the laws 
the Providence of God has ordained. 
When human happiness is promoted, 
human existence is preserved, and old 
age attained; but if the laws and insti- 
tutions of a country cranip the energies 
of the- people, the average duration of 
life becomes less, and the plague con- 
summates the train of evils. But I will 
not stop at this dark shade of the pic- 
ture:—onward in knowledge, and on- 
ward in enterprize, is the impulse the 
nation feels: an impulse, which may 
terminate in all the blessings God de- 
signed for man on earth. Among these 
will be the attainment of the full period 
of our existence. Threescore years and 
ten have long been ordained as the term 
of our activity and usefulness—after this 
succeed decrepitude’ and death. No 
animal produces young so near the na- 
tural termination of its life, as not to 
admit of ample time for rearing them, 
Children are born when their parents 
approach their fiftieth year, and require 
parental guidance more than twenty 
years. The body isindeed matured, so 
as to enable them to obtain the means 
of subsistence at an earlier period ;’ but 
the mind does not mature with the 
body—after the one is completed,’ the 
other requires guidance and authority. 
Thus, we arrive at seventy before our 
obligations to our offspring ‘cease 5 ana- 
402 logy 
