286 



EPIDEMICS. 



large number of men in the fleet suffering from 

 syphilis, it was desirable he should use his in- 

 fluence with the Government at Malta to estab- 

 lish a system of periodical examination of the 

 prostitutes of that city. A large number of 

 prostitutes were found diseased, and being sent 

 to the hospital, were cured. The examinations 

 were rigorously continued by the police au- 

 thorities, and the beneficial influence of the 

 system had been most marked. The average 

 daily number of primary syphilitic cases in the 

 hospital had formerly been from 40 to 50, to 

 say nothing of the numbers on the sick lists of 

 the ships with the same disease, or of the large 

 amount of secondary cases always under treat- 

 ment afloat, as well as in the hospital. But 

 during the last three months there had not 

 been a single case of venereal disease that was 

 contracted in the island received into the Naval 

 Hospital. 



A memorial with a scheme for making the sick- 

 ness and mortality amongst the pauper popula- 

 tion of Great Britain available for the purposes 

 of statistical and general inquiry, drawn up by 

 Dr. Milroy, had been forwarded by Dr. Babing- 

 ton to the President of the Poor-law Board. 



Late accounts stated that the epizootic dis- 

 ease, known as "Steppe murrain' 1 ' 1 or " pestis 

 ~boum" had been making great ravages in the 

 western provinces of Russia. Pleuro-pneumonia 

 had also prevailed in the early part of the year 

 amongst the cattle in the colony of Victoria, 

 Australia, and measures had been taken against 

 its introduction into the adjacent colony of New 

 South Wales. An epizooty amongst the hogs 

 of Providence, Rhode Island, had also proved 

 very fatal. 



2. Indian Remedy for Small-pox. Early in 

 the last winter, a small coasting vessel landed a 

 portion of her crew at an extreme seaboard vil- 

 lage, a few miles from Halifax. The persons 

 landed were sick of small-pox, and the disease 

 soon spread, first among the cottagers with 

 whom the fishermen mixed, and subsequently 

 amongst those from the capital who resorted to 

 the village for the purposes of trade. Through 

 the early weeks of spring, rumor constantly as- 

 serted that vast numbers of the seafaring popu- 

 lation were attacked with the complaint ; but 

 it was not until early in March that the large 

 civil hospital of Halifax, by the number of its 

 weekly admissions for variola, began to corrob- 

 orate rumor, and to authenticate the justice of 

 the public anxiety. The disease in process of 

 time extended to the troops in the garrison, but 

 the proportion of attacks to those amongst the 

 civil population was singularly small. While 

 certain portions of the inhabitants of Halifax 

 were suffering from the epidemic, alarming ac- 

 counts reached that place relative to the terrible 

 ravages of the scourge amongst the Indians 

 and colored people generally. Variola is the 

 special plague amongst the Indians, and when 

 they are invaded by this pestilence it sweeps 

 them off by scores. Like the fire of the prairies, 

 it passes over their encamping grounds, destroy- 



ing all of human kind in its path. On this occa- 

 sion, the most painful details were given of 

 whole families being carried off by this loath- 

 some disease. After some time, however, it 

 was said that the pestilence had been stayed. 

 One of the Indian race, it was asserted, had 

 come into the disease-stricken camp, possessed 

 of a preparation which had the extraordinary 

 power of curing the kind of cases that hud hith- 

 erto proved so fatal. This remedy was believed 

 by the Indians to be so efticacious, that, if given 

 to them when attacked with small-pox, they 

 looked forward with confidence to a speedy 

 and effectual cure. An old weird Indian 

 woman was the fortunate possessor of the rem- 

 edy in question. She had always been known 

 as the doctress of her tribe, and had enjoyed 

 celebrity for many years in consequence of her 

 reputed knowledge of medicine and wonderful 

 acquaintance with the herbs and roots of the 

 woods. So well established was her fame 

 among the Indians, that, when sick, they re- 

 sorted to her rather than to the white doctors, 

 whom they considered to be " no good." Cap- 

 tain Hardy, of the Royal Artillery, an able and 

 intelligent officer, who has been for years 

 amongst the Indians, says that " the old squaw's 

 remedy has long been known amongst them as 

 an infallible cure for small-pox," and that " the 

 Indians believed it to be successful in every 

 case." 



From the information gathered from the In- 

 dians, the following observations have been care- 

 fully sifted : 



1. In the case of an individual suspected to 

 be under the influence of small-pox, but with 

 no distinct eruption upon him, a large wine- 

 glassful of an infusion of the root of the plant 

 " Sarracenia purpurea" * or pitcher plant, (sev- 

 eral specimens of which, including the root, 

 were exhibited on the table,) is to be taken. 

 The effect of this dose is to bring out the erup- 

 tion. After a second and third dose, given at 

 intervals of from four to six hours, the pustules 

 subside, apparently losing their vitality. The pa- 

 tient feels better at the end of each dose, and, in 

 the graphic expression of the Micmac, " knows 

 there is great change within him at once." 



2. In a subject already covered with the 

 eruption of small-pox in the early stage, a dose 

 or two will dissipate the pustules and subdue 

 the febrile symptoms ; the urine, from being 

 scanty and high colored, becomes pale and 

 abundant ; whilst from the first dose the feel- 

 ings of the patient assure him that " the medi- 

 cine is killing the disease." Under the influ- 

 ence of the remedy, in three or four days the 

 prominent features of the constitutional dis- 



* This is the plant commonly known as the side-saddle 

 flower, and huntsman's cup. It prows in the swsmpsand 

 peatbogs over all the Northern States, and to tin- South 

 near the Alletrhany Mountains.' It is distinguished by its 

 curious hood-shaped hollow leaves, lined with hristl 



, 



pointed downward, and usually half filled with water :ind 

 drowned insects. The flower is globose and purple, upon 

 the top of a straight flower-stalk a foot high. There is no 

 resemblance whatever to a side-saddle, but the giant is well 



named a pitcher, or cup. 



