SANTIAGO. 209 



groat speed ; and in a little while the 'black erysipelas,' M it was called, had attacked mul- 

 titudes. Sixty-seven Indies of rank, among tin- highest of society, were victim* to the b-rrilik* 

 .semirge. The first symptoms of the infd -tinn were experienced immediately after th^ir 

 (t, and in a few days they were carried to the grave, tln-ir tender offspring gen- 

 erally following. Among the latter the dis.-.is, ii : -,t manifested itself at the wound mad*- l<v 

 separating the uniliilieiil cord; and in females, also at the punctures usually made in the earg. 

 One of the phenomena that called my attention at the time, and in which I was incidentally 

 oeeupied, was the following. It is known that we are happily exempt from hydrophobia or 

 rabia, as a common disease ; and though it is sometimes spontaneously exhibited among dogs, 

 during the excessive heats of the dog-days, or after hard and continued frosts in winter, it is rare 

 among other animals; nor is the disease accompanied by the same frightful symptoms, or 

 attended by the same results, as in Europe. According to the vulgar idea, a dog which becomes 

 rabid, or turns mad, in Chile, bites indiscriminately animals and persons; but neither the 

 wounds nor the bitten exhibit anything extraordinary, and they are perfectly cured in a little 

 while. At the epoch of the earthquake, however, a Frenchman was bitten in the finger by a pig 

 he was killing. Twenty-four hours afterward, symptoms of erysipelas appeared on the wound ; 

 three days later it gangrened, and the patient exhibited more furious symptoms of rabia than 

 had ever been witnessed in my practice. As other professors saw the case the only one that I 

 have known in the country in thirty-one years of experience I cannot believe myself deceived. 

 The unfortunate man died on the seventh day. Neither the quantities of water with which the 

 city was washed, nor the most extensive sanitary measures suggested, proved sufficient to modify 

 the epidemic (which was not transmitted by contact), until it ceased of itself with the trembling 

 of the earth." 



There is yet another prolific source of disease, to which neither refers. With all ages and all 

 classes there is a passion for confectionery, sweetmeats, and ices. These, together with the 

 large quantities of grease consumed in nearly every dish prepared for the table, and mate 

 drunk almost scalding hot, produce disorders of the stomach resulting in fevers, indigestion 

 (cholera morbus), destruction of the teeth, and headaches ad libitum. So prevalent are tooth- 

 aches and headaches, that one rarely walks a square without meeting some one with a handker- 

 chief about the jaws, or bits of plaster on the temples. The latter are considered infallible 

 cures for headaches ; and even infants in arms are often seen with little round patches on the 

 sides of their heads, the mother inferring from its cries, when she is thus suffering, that it 

 is similarly afflicted. These emplastitos are only a little sugar and soap, on a bit of cotton 

 cloth; but faith in their virtue is co-extensive with the nation. 



Before proceeding to speak of the mortality among all classes resulting from the various 

 diseases alluded to, let us return for a moment to one or two other public institutions. San 

 Francisco de Borja, a hospital for women, is established in an old convent, on the south side 

 of the Canada, used by the novitiates of the Jesuits before the expulsion of the .order. It has 

 eight wards, capable of accommodating 500 patients ; but it is not as well arranged, nor is it 

 even as well ventilated, as San Juan de Dios. The dispensary, conveniences for preparing beds, 

 cooking, washing, &c., are very much in the same style; and the funds for its support, amount- 

 ing to about $160, 000, are invested in a similar manner. When I visited it in July, 1852, there 

 were many small pox cases, between which and the other wards the barriers were crim- 

 inally slight: good luck, rather than good management, prevented its communication through- 

 out the establishment. Monthly returns have been made for a series of years, all the informa- 

 tion contained in which is embraced in the following tables : 



27 



