QUARANTINE. 



QUAHANT1NK. 



good* are ""I****" in the lazaretto, and are there exposed to the air, in 

 order to uiidrrgu a process of supposed depuration. 



Th grounds of the received distinction between susceptible and 

 nun-susceptible article* miut, we conceive, be altogether fanciful, since 

 we cannot diaeoTer any evidence that the plague ha* ever been coiiunu 

 nicated by merchandise. Whenever the plague hu been introduced 

 into the lazarettoea of the Mediterranean it has always been introduced 

 by paMengen or their clothe*. (Segur Dupeyron, pp. 45-48.) It may 

 be added, that the persons employed in the process of depurating mis- 

 ceptible goods liaTe never been known to catch the plague, which could 

 aoareely have failed to be sometimes the cose if the poiaon of the 

 plague could be transmitted through guods. (See answer 28 <( the 

 Maltese protomedioo, in Maclean, vol. ii. p. 31.) It seems to be like- 

 wise suppoaed that some substances are not only non-susceptible, but 

 can even nullify the poison of the plague in susceptible articles. " At 

 Trieste (says H. de Segur Dupeyron) the juice of dried grapes is con- 

 sidered as a purifier ; and consequently currants in susceptible wrappers 

 are allowed to pan without the wrappers being subjected to any quaran- 

 tine " d 



There appears, however, to be conclusive evidence that the clothes 

 and bedding of plague patient* have transmitted the plague. 

 il>n]*-yron, pp. 32-71.) We believe the danger of its transmission 

 in this manner to be equal to the danger of ita transmism< >n l.y 



We are not aware of any well-authenticated example of the trans- 

 mission of plague by means of letters. Nevertheless as paper U con* 

 sidered susceptible, letters coming from and passing through the plague 

 countries are opened and fumigated at the lazarettoes, a process which 

 is often productive of mistakes, delays, and other inconveniences. 



Every ship U furnished by the consul or other sanitary authority at 

 the last port where it touched with an instrument, styled a bill <>f 

 health, declaring the state of health in that country. If the ship 

 brings a clean bill of health, the passengers and goods are not subject 

 to any quarantine. If she brings a foul bill, they are subject to 

 quarantines of different durations, according as the plague is known or 

 only suspected to have existed in the country at the ship's departure. 

 On account of the prevalence of plague in the countries upon the 

 Levant, they are considered as permanently in a state of suspicion, and 

 no ship sailing from any of them is considered to bring a clean bill 

 The periods of quarantine vary from two or three to forty days ; the 

 usual periods are from ten to twenty days. 



K< ir a description of the buildings in which passengers usually IH.T- 

 iorui<their quarantine, and in which goods are depurated, see LAZA- 

 RETTO. The most spacious and best appointed lazarettoes in the 

 Mediterranean are those at Malta and Marseille. To the statements 

 contained in the article just referred to, we add the following curious 

 description of a quarantine station on a land frontier, quoted from a 

 manuscript journal in Murray's ' Handbook for Southern Germany,' 

 r : " Outside Orsova, by the waterside, and near the ferry over 

 the Danube, stands the Parlatorium, a wooden shed in which the 

 market (skela) U held three times a week. On account of the quaran- 

 tine regulations, the inhabitants of Servia aud Wallachia are prevented 

 coming in contact with the subjects of Austria, and dare not cross the 

 frontier without an escort. The Austrian quarantine is five 

 those who come out of Wallachia, and ten for those from Servia, 

 increased to forty days in time of plague. The Wallachians, again, 

 have a quarantine of five days against the Servians ; so that none of 

 the three parties can intermix for the purpose of buying or selling, nor 

 can they touch each other's goods. On this account, the building 

 where the market is held U divided by three partitions, breast high, 

 behind which the dealers of the three nations are congregated. In an 

 open space in the centre is a table, by the side of which the Austrian 

 quarantine officers take their stand, aided and supported by a guard of 



: > with fire-arms and fixed bayonets to enforce order.' 

 dicucc. Whenever a bargain is made, the money to be paid is handed 

 to one of the attendants, who receives it in a long ladle, transfers it to 

 a basin of vinegar, and, after washing it, passes it on to the opi ,-,t,- 

 side. The goods to be purchased are placed within sight, and are 

 immersed in a tub of water, or fumigated, when they happen lo d.anp. 

 owners. It is an amusing sight to see the process of bargaining thus 

 carried on by three parties at the distance of several yards from each 

 attended by the vociferation and gesticulation inseparable frm 

 mich businoa*. When the bartering is transacted, tin Wall.iehians arc 

 escorted back to their own territory, as they had pr--. i-n-Iy been in 

 coming to the spot, by a guard of soldiers, and the .Servians recross the 

 river in their boat*." 



The institution of quarantine originated at V. ni. ,-, in which city the 

 expcil Tiie precautions against the introduction of the plague 



was suggested by iU extensive <;..r , . .t!, th, 



A separate hospital for jicntoiui att.nked by the plague was esta- 

 blished in an island no i 1 !<>:! ; and tin: system of isolating 

 passengers ami depurating goods appears to have been intiiHlin-i.il there 

 . system thus established in Venice gradually spread 

 to the other Christian countries in the Mediterranean, and has been 

 adopted, to a greater or less extent, over all the civilised world. 



Attempt* have been made to modify the quarantine 1 

 success. 



The raw in why it is necessary for a nation to adapt ita quai 



regulations to the received opinions upon the subject, is < 

 :he following extract from a paper rwp< 

 in the Mediterranean, which was printed in th<- Malta ' < 

 Gsxette" of the 19th December, 1838 : "The quarauthx 

 of the English colonies in the Mediterranean cannot be chat. 

 simple will of the English government without pr.'di . 

 venience* far greater than those arising ft i. If 



the Engli-h government should change the quarantine regulati 

 Malta and its other colonies in the Mediterranean without previously 

 obtaining the approbation of the sanitary- 

 ing countries, the pratique granted in those < dd not be 

 received elsewhere ; and all vessels coming from any of those c. 

 would be subjected to a quarantine of obsei 

 fifteen days). The latter liability would attach to ships of <! 

 navy as well as to merchant vessels; so that no ship f \\.,i 

 from Malta could communicate with any part of France, It./ 

 Austria, without being previously subjected to a quarantii 

 vation. Malta, in i>articular, would suffer most severely by 

 unable to give an effectual prati.mc to ships performing quarnntine in 

 the harbour of Valletta, and by subjecting all ships clearing out of 

 that harbour to a quarantine of observation. Not onh 

 transit trade be almost completely destroyed, but it would lose its 

 importance as a quarantine station. Its importance as a qiun. 

 station is now daily growing, on account of the establish: 

 French steamers to the Levant, and the use of the overlain) .i< 



India, It would, however, cease to be a quaram 

 pratique was not received by the Board of Health at Maiveil! 

 by the other sanitary authorities of the Mediterranean. In old,.,. 

 therefore, that the quarantine regulations of the Kngliuh f 

 in the Mediterranean might be safely altered, it would lie mv. 

 that the alterations should be made in concert with the governments 

 of the neighbouring European countries." 



The small states of Italy have been suspected (and, we fear, with 

 justice) of abusing quarantine regulations for the purpose of prc\ 

 commercial intercourse, and also for the sake of the profit to be 

 by fanning out the quarantine dues. 



The heads of the English law respecting quarantine are contained in 

 the 6 Oeo. IV. c. 78. This Act also confers upon the king in c 

 extensive powers for making quarantine regulations. A full < 

 abstract of the regulations established by this statute, and of the 

 in council made under it, may be Been in M'Culloch'a ' ( "in: 

 Dictionary,' article ' Quarantine.' 



In 1850, upon the invitation of the French Republican Government, 

 it was agreed among the different states which had coast possessions in, 

 or close to, the Mediterranean, that an international conference on the 

 subject of quarantine should be held in Paris. Delegates attended this 

 meeting from France, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Sardinia, Ti 

 the Papal States, Naples, Turkey, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. M. 

 David, of France, was appointed president, aud the congress sat 

 the 23rd of July, 1851, to the 19th of January, 1852. Although the 

 resolutions come to by this body are important, they have onl\ 

 very partially acted on up to this moment by the nations represented. 

 At one of the earliest sittings of the congress it was decided tha 

 two kinds or degrees of quarantine be henceforth recognised ; H. 

 " quarantine of observation," aud " quarantine of rigor or strictness," 

 and that the third, or intermediate kind, "suspected quarantine " 

 should be discontinued. Quarantine of observation involves only the 

 enforced detention and isolation of a vessel with al! persons and things 

 on board for a specified time, due attention to ventilation and 

 ness being required to be observed. In strict quarantine, be* 

 longer detention, and a more rig d pee 



cautionary measures, including the disembarkation of per 

 cargo in a lazaretto, aud their presumed di,-i . fumigation, 



&c. , are imposed. 



At. the same congress, it was resolved that the three diseases 

 plague, yellow-fever, and malignant cholera, should be held in an 



1 manner us demanding the use of quarantine me.i 

 protection of a country against their introduction IP in 



The resolution with regard to chol 'hont. much 



'ion. L)r. Milroy, in hi.- paper on I he .-ubject of the convention, 

 reprinted in the transactions of the 1 National AsBociati 

 tion of Social Science ' for 1859, says, "The convention based up" 

 embodying the results of their deliberations, has hitherto 1 

 by only a few of the represented ]> 



Sardinia in the first instance, and at a later period by Portugal, Tuscany, 

 i key. This country, among others, has most i think, 



declined to follow the example ; for there is certainly much in the 

 proposed restrictions upon freedom of intercourse, on account of the 

 apprehended risk of imported disease, that appears to mo to be un- 

 necessary, an objectionable. And it is a fact not undeserving 

 of notice, that in more than one of the countries which took part in 

 the conference, the quarantine system p i seems to be 

 now actually more vexatious and oppressive than it was before." 



The National Association for the Promotion of Social Scien. 

 pointed a quarantine committee in 1858, who issued a series of o 

 for transmission to governors of colonies aud British consi; 

 countries, on the subject of quarantn > I Implies to these queries have 

 been received from above two hundred dii niels, and abstracts 



