J 133 J 
XX. Extract of a Letier from Witttam Bruce, Esq. Resi- 
dent at Bushire, to Wittiam Erskine, Esq. of Bombay, 
dated Bushire, 26th March 1813, communicating the Dis- 
covery uf a Disease in Persia, contracted by such as milk the 
Cattle and Sheep, which is a Preventive of the Small-Pox*. 
My DEAR Sirn,— Wauen I was in Bombay | mentioned to you 
that the cow-pox was well known in Persia by the Eliaats, or 
wandering tribes. Since my return here I have made very par- 
ticular inquiries on this subject, amongst several different tribes 
who visit this place in the winter to sell the produce of their 
flocks, such as carpets, rugs, butter, cheese, &c. Their flocks 
during this time are spread over the low country to graze. Every 
Eliaat that I have spoken to on this head, of at least six or seven 
different tribes, has uniformly told me that the people who are 
employed to milk the cattle caught a disease, which after once 
having had, they were perfectly safe from the small-pox: That 
this disease was prevalent among the cows, and showed itself 
particularly on the teats; but that it was more prevalent among 
and more frequently caught from the sheep. Now this is a cireum- 
stance that has never, | believe, before been known ; and of the 
truth of it I have not the smallest doubt, as the persons of whom 
I inquired, could have no interest in telling me a falsehood; and 
it is not likely that every one whom I spoke to should agree in 
deceiving, for I have asked at least some forty or fifty persons. To 
be more sure on the subject, 1 made most particular inquiries of 
a very respectable farmer who lives about fourteen miles from this, 
by name Malilla (whom Mr. Babington knows very well), and 
who is under some obligations to me: this man confirmed every 
thing that the Eliaats had told me, and further said that the dis- 
ease was very common all over the country, and that his own 
sheep often had it. There may be one reason for the Eliaats 
saying that they caught the infection oftener from the sheep than 
the cow, which is, that most of the butter, ghee, cheese, Xc. is 
made from sheep’s milk, and that the black cattle yield very lit- 
tle, being more used for draught than any thing else. 
XXI. On the Alomic Philosophy. 3 By Mr. Josrrn Luckcock. 
Ax 1. matter has been supposed on this hypothesis to be com- 
posed of mathematical points, without length, breadth or thick- 
ness; and that different arrangements of the same identical 
* From the Transactionsof the Literary Society of Bombay, vol. i. Though 
this letter is dated in 1813, the yolume in which it appears is only a recent 
publication. 
I 3 points, 
