On the late Piague at Malta. 2-^7 



children, had married his eldest daughter to a person who took 

 the plague of the next door neighhour, as did likewise the second 

 daughter of the family. The two sickened about the same time, 

 and these also were fatal cases : but the remainder of the family, 

 who had had recourse to the oil frictions as soon as the nature 

 of the attacks was ascertained, esca])ed, without excepting the 

 wife of tlie voung man, who was then in the middle of her preg- 

 nancy, and who attended her husband during the few hours he 

 survived the attack. A Maltese with a large family took a sick 

 brother into his house, not suspecting that he laboured under 

 the plague, and paid him unhesitatingly every affectionate at- 

 tention. The instant this came to the knowledge of Mr. Iliff, 

 apothecary to the forces, to whom the Maltese in question had 

 formerly been a servant, the oil frictions were sent in and em- 

 ployed. The infected individual died, but the whole of the fa- 

 mily escaped. It is needless to cite anv other cases, although 

 many similar ones might be adduced. Tiie confidence of tlie 

 Government of Malta, in the efficacy of these frictions, was at 

 length so great, that a shed was erected at each of the barriers 

 of \'alletta, for the purpose of administering them to tbe guards 

 stationed there, and to the market people and others whose avo- 

 cations kept them abroad. 



Alexis, the Piedmontese, who travelled every where in search 

 of secrets, has published a variety of receipts for ])lague, into 

 the composition of several of which storax enters. The writer 

 was solicitous to make a trial of this substance, which unluckily 

 was not to be found at Malta, cither in the concrete state in 

 which it is called storax calamita, or in its liquid state*. It 

 was certaiidv, as the event proved, deserving such an essay, and 

 was susceptible of various modifications in its use. What has 

 been sanctioned by a long experience deserves credit, unless there 

 be incontrovertible evidence to prove that the notion originally 

 entertained of its effiacy was founded in error. A Turk, whose 

 knowledge of the subject was by no means limited, distributed 

 among his friends at Valletta lumps of a black substance resem- 

 bling shoemaker's wax, which he had brought with him from 

 Constantinople, and in the composition of which storax was the 

 principal ingredient. These were either to be carried on a stick 

 and smelt to from time to time, or kept in the hand and con- 

 stantly moulded, to the end, no doubt, that a portion of the sub- 

 statice might adhere to the fingers. They were sought after 

 with avidity. Now, it is to be observed that both the Seraglio 

 cakes, and a particular description of beads of a great price in 



* It ig with this lattter substance that the fire-eaters, as they term thein- 

 selyes, anoint tlie tongue and fauces to protect diem from the cflVct of ca- 

 loric. 



Q 4 Turkey, 



