424 Report from the Select Committee appointed to consider 



heard of a plague case having arrived at or been seen in any la- 

 zaretto in Great Britain. 



Being asked, What is the state of atmosphere which he con- 

 ceives compatible and not compatiblewith the existence of plague? 

 — answers, " I look upon it that in cold dry weather the plague 

 does not so frequently exist. In hot weather, after floods, when 

 the rivers, such as the Nile, have overflowed, and left marshes 

 and ponds, the action of the sun in summer on such marshes and 

 moist ground always produces disease, and frequently in the Le- 

 vant plague. In the cases of plague which I saw at Constanti- 

 nople, the thermometer stood about the freezing point, from 26 

 to 30 ; it was in the winter." The state of the atmosphere in 

 which it is supposed to act most violently, is a high temperature 

 from 66 to 76 and upwards. Thinks a lazaretto properly fitted 

 up with ventilating apparatus, so as to cause a current of air to 

 be constantly percolating through the cargoes, must soon destroy 

 the vitality of any contagion that might be conveyed to England. 

 Is of opinion, that the airing process might be as efficiently per- 

 formed, as it now is, in a much shorter period, by a different fit- 

 ment, attending to the state of the ballast and hold, which in 

 every ship is important, but in lazarettos most particularly so. 

 Believes it possible that the plague might be imported into Eng- 

 land. Sees no reason why it should not spread, except that the 

 English people are more cleanly, better ventilated in their apart- 

 ments; and the common shores and drains carry off all filth, which 

 IS a great cause of the spreading of the plague in other countries. 

 Does not suppose the atmosphere of England applicable to the 

 receiving or generation of plague, for the last one hundred years. 

 This country and every part of the world inhabited, has been 

 more cultivated, underwood near citiesthas been cleared away, 

 and swamps drained, which has contributed much to rendering 

 the disease milder. Knows that the plague is frequent in Aleppo, 

 and that the caravans proceed regularly with goods in bales from 

 Aleppo eastward through the continent of Asia ; but never heard 

 of the plague being communicated by these caravans to the eastern 

 country. Sees no reason why it should not have been so com- 

 municated as well as by goods or persons on board ship west- 

 ward, except that the goods are not so closely packed in cara- 

 vans as in Levant ships. In ships, the cargoes are screwed down ; 

 they often raise the beams of a ship in forcing the goods down ; 

 and consequently they are more liable, from their close stowage, 

 to retain infection, if infection is embarked. 



Dr. Augustus Bozzi Granville. — Has seen the plague in va- 

 rious parts of Turkey, Greece, Asia, Syria, Egypt, &c. and in 

 Constantinople, where he resided two years, and has no doubt 



that 



