OF THE ox. 55 



In 1774, Holland, a cold and damp country, 

 was once more invaded by the scourge ; and 

 the Government offered in vain a reward of 

 80,000 florins to any one who should discover 

 the preventive or specific remedy for the 

 disease. 



The typhus which, at that epoch, had like- 

 wise broken out again in the south of France, 

 threatened to become an abiding peril to the 

 wealth of nations. Two French authors, Vicq 

 d'Azyr and Paulet, betook themselves ear- 

 nestly to the task of collecting every docu- 

 ment which up to that time had been pub- 

 lished on the successive visitations of the 

 malady, and of offering the means of pre- 

 venting it. Their intention was unques- 

 tionably laudable, but the time for obtaining 

 such a result had not yet arrived ; besides 

 which, these two writers, whatever may have 

 been their desert, were not equal to an 

 achievement of this character. They be- 

 longed, indeed, to that order of men who look 

 upon the cultivation of science solely as a step 

 to personal distinction. 



Vicq d'Azyr himself was but twenty-five 

 years old when he issued, in 1775, his work, 



