PLACKBURNE’S CURE OF SCARLET FEVERs 
of contagion may be interrupted by the 
interdiction of intercourse with the in- 
fected, it becomes an object of personal 
dnd public policy, that this easy mode 
effectually subduing a source of dis- 
ease, should be completely carried into 
effect.——‘The author, therefore, with 
much philanthropy, views the subject 
in the most enlarged scale, and considers 
this information as capable of being ap- 
plied most extensively to every conta- 
“gious disease. ‘Che more yaried and 
extensive application of the laws of qua- 
rantine, is all that is required to subdue 
with as:much effect the contagion of 
scarlatjna, as that of plague. 
‘« Be it well imprinted on every one’s 
mind,” says he, “ that all infectious diseases 
are’ pests, ouly inferiour in the rapidity, the 
degree, and the urgency of their conse- 
- quences, to that surnamed the plague, from 
its supposed pre-eminent fatality. Patience, 
firmness, and perseverance, as in all other 
instances of evidently promoting public ad- 
yantage, will gradually overcome prejudice, 
unreasonable fears, and selfish opposition*®. 
in proportion as plans of prevention become 
more known and more practised, the great 
ends of their adoption will be more easily at- 
tained, and their beneficial tendency more 
fully comprehended. ‘The contagion of ty- 
‘phus, small-pox; and scarlet-fever, being 
dine to be capable of complete interven: 
tion and local extinction, the transition from 
controlling these forms. of contagion to that 
of repressing others, as hooping cough, mea- 
sles, &c. will appear easy and practicable.” 
’ It may be said, however, that every 
species of infection must have had its 
origin, and that the same causes which 
originally gave it birth may reproduce 
it under similar circumstances. But 
even in this point of view it appears to 
the author, that immediate measures of J@t, th 
prevention will always be productive 
of great advantage, compared with the 
consequences which ensue, where no 
precautions areused. The, argumentin 
favour of universal prevention would, 
however, be irrefragable, if the principal 
791 
hitherto been considered as too obscure 
to admit of elucidation, the author em- 
ploys considerable ‘pains, and some in 
genuity, in attempting to discover the 
origin, and trace the rise of contagious 
diseases. Of his ideas on this part of his 
subject, we shall, therefore, proceed te 
give a general abstract, 
Certain exhalations, or marsh miasmar 
ta, as they are usually termed, have the pes 
culiar effect of inducing fever on human 
bodies, exposed in certain circumstances 
to their influence, and hence these exha- 
lations should, in the author’s opinion, 
more properly be called, paludal febri- 
lizing gases. The efflluvia from febrile 
animal bodies, and the exhalations from 
marshes, swamps, and mud, are consider- 
ed by him as gases of a peculiar compo- 
sition, of which hydrogen or the prin- 
ciple of humidity, forms an essential 
part. But the opinion entertained by 
him on this subject does not appear to 
be supported by adequate evidence. He 
admits that the precise composition of 
pyrexial gases, whether contagious, 
limose, or palludous, has not been disco- 
vered, but from a great number of facts, 
considers it evident, ‘* that an aqueous 
constituent is essential to the composi- 
tion of both.” 
«« In the citations,” be continues, ‘already 
extracted to prove the effect of marsh mias- 
mata, it has been amply demonstrated, that 
dampness, moisture, or humidity, is always 
an indispensable ingredient in the exhala- 
tions which induce fever. But another-very 
important truth is also now, I believe, for 
the first time, brought to light, that, hy de- 
priving tne pyrexial gases of their aqueous or 
hydrogenous principle, they are, for the time, 
annihilated. — That, upon this sole principle, 
we are enabled to account for the well-known 
at extreme addilions or. abstractions. 
of culoric or heat, arrest the progress, or 
destroy the existence of all epidemic.and cons 
éagious diséases.” i 
It seems difficult to determine whether 
the author applies his reasoning to hy- 
drogen in a separate or combined state. 
sources of contagion could be discover-" If in a combined state, in the form of 
ed, and be then capable of being obviated aqueous vapour, it can only be supposed 
or removed. With the hopes of throws to be the medicum in which the con- 
ing some light upon a subject which has tagion is carried ; if ina separate, the 
«« * « A business of this kind will go on but slowly, and sometimes seem to have a final 
Btop put to it, not only from its magn.tude, but from indolence, prejudice, interest, envy, 
and wrongheadedness. ‘This common fate of all great and new undertakings should never 
discourage the adviser from persevering ; for every useful truth, fairly laid before the world, 
however it may seem, at first, to be slighted, will gradually undermine the old érrours, and, 
in time, prevail over all opposition.’ 
« See the late Dr. Heberden’s letter, annexed to the second edition of the Enquiry how 
to prevent Small-pox.” 
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