KNOWLEDGE HAS DIMINISHED DISEASE. 269 



and scarcely feels the ravages of an epidemic which 

 has inflicted a blow on some less fortunate cities, 

 the effects of which will be long remembered. 



Small-pox is another scourge which annually 

 carried off its thousands, and from which modern 

 science bids fair to protect us ; although half a cen- 

 tury ago, any one who might have ventured to ex- 

 press such an expectation would have been ridiculed 

 for his credulity. Even before Jenner's immortal 

 discovery of vaccination, the improvement of medi- 

 cal science consequent on a better knowledge of the 

 structure and functions of the human body had 

 greatly mitigated the fatality of small-pox. For- 

 merly the patients were shut up, loaded with bed- 

 clothes, in heated rooms, from which every particle 

 of fresh air was excluded, and stimulants were ad- 

 ministered, as if on purpose to hasten the fate of the 

 sick. But sounder views of the wants of the animal 

 economy at last prevailed ; and, by the admission of 

 fresh air, the removal of every thing heating or 

 stimulating, and the administration of cooling drinks 

 and other appropriate remedies, thousands were 

 preserved whose lives would have been lost under 

 the mistaken guidance of the older physicians. 



As late as the middle of the last century, ague was 

 so prevalent in many parts of Britain, where it is now 

 never seen, that our ancestors looked upon an attack 

 of it as a kind of necessary evil, from which they 

 could neve.* hope to be delivered. In this instance 

 also, farther experience has shown that Providence 

 was not in fault. By draining the land, removing 

 dunghills, building better houses in better situations, 

 and obtaining better food and warmer clothing, it 

 appears that generations now succeed each other, 

 living on the very same soil, without a single case, 

 of ague ever occurring, where, a century ago, every 

 man, woman, and child was almost sure to suffer 

 from it at one time or other of their lives ; thus 

 again showing how much man may do for the pres- 



