426 Report from the Select Committee appointed to consider 



through the continent of Asia; but has never heard that the 

 plague was conveyed by those caravans, eastward, so as to esta- 

 blish itself, except among some of the few thinking Christians ; 

 the mass of the people never think of the disease at all. 



Damascus became affected with the plague in 1804; it was 

 carried thither by the army of some Peishwa, who had been on 

 the coast to assist in the reduction of Jean d'Acre. Bagdad is 

 often, and has been lately infected with the plague. Has heard 

 of the plague being communicated westward of Constantinople, 

 over land to Adrianople. Believes the plague which raged there 

 in 1812, was nearly as fatal as it proved at Constantinople. Has 

 also continually heard of the plague being communicated from 

 vessels from Smyrna, to many parts of the Levant. 



Being asked to explain the difference between infection and 

 contagion ? — answers, " Contagion is a mere mode of action 

 resulting from the habit of certain diseases to affect individuals ; 

 it is not a principle, such as the electric fluid and such kindj as 

 many persons give an idea of in their writings, flying about the 

 air. Contagion expresses this: during such a disease as the 

 plague, there are certain animal emanations which partake of 

 the morbid state of the body from which they issue ; when these 

 are applied by direct contact, or by any mediate contact, namely, 

 objects on which these emanations rested, to an healthy body, it 

 will contract the disease. Infection is this : infection is a pecu- 

 liar state of the atmosphere, which has been rendered Unfit for 

 the healthy exercise of life, by the crowding together of a num- 

 ber of persons ill of the same fever, in a given place, and during 

 a given time ; thus an epidemic may become infectious." There 

 are examples, and those very authentic, proving that this matter 

 of the plague can, if applied to an healthy body, cause the dis- 

 ease to break out even at a very long period after ; should say 

 several months. There is one instance in point, among the most 

 recent, and it rests on the highest authority. During the plague 

 at Corfu in 1815, one of the villages which had been infected 

 several months, had for some time, I believe for 43 days, exhi- 

 bited no sign of the plague, owing to the measures of segregation 

 adopted bv Sir Thomas Maitland; the village was reported to be 

 released, and fumigation preparatory to its receiving Pratique, 

 ordered ; the officer who had the surveillance of the village du- 

 ring the three or four months had resided in the church, from 

 there being no house that was not thought infectted, in which 

 church the people and the priest had been crowded just before 

 the laws of segregation were ordered by Sir Thomas Maitland ; 

 some of these died subsequently, for the church was ordered to 

 be shut the instant the plague began. It was therefore necessary 



to 



