485 



know the customary heat of a hot-house — 

 believe it to be sixty-three degrees : — but 

 the sun in America is often, for several days 

 in summer, at one hundred and eleven de- 

 grees, and at in winter. 



It is from such extremes that the climate 

 of America is so unhealthy : and it appears 

 to me that the yellow fever is occasion- 

 ed by the exhalation of noxious vapours 

 from stagnant waters, which, impregnat- 

 ing the air, are inhaled into the hu- 

 man frame, and remain there until the 

 stomach is almost putrid. The disorder 

 IS contagious ; it is even communicable 

 by the breath of a diseased person to 

 a healthy individual. The yellow spots 

 observed on the patient, which arc signs 

 of death, arise from the blood being af- 

 fected ; and a general corruption is soon 

 the natural consequence of the infec- 

 tion. The person attacked by the fever 

 first begins to be in a sleepy state, then de- 

 lirious, frequently sneezes, and forces a 

 bloody matter out at the nose and mouth, 



^ 



