372 PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 



the other Leeward Islands, and from thence was carried to 

 Philadelphia, Hispaniola, and Jamaica. 



The first account I received of this fever was from Dr 

 James Ci.ark, a physician of eminence in Dominica; his 

 letter to me is dated July 23, 1793, and runs as follows: — 

 " I have been harassed night and day, for a month past, by 

 attendance on people ill of the yellow fever. Since its appear- 

 ance in this island, it has already carried off more than a 

 hundred sailors, new comers, and emigrants. In its progress 

 it has been, and still is, as quick and fatal as the plague ; it 

 often finishes its course in forty-eight hours ; but if the sick 

 get past the fifth day, they generally recover."' 1 



All the letters I have had from my medical friends agree 

 that this fever is highly contagious, and that new comers are 

 most subject to receive it; particularly such as are young, or 

 are addicted to drinking spiritous liquors. Next to these are 

 the nurses and attendants on the sick, who breathe the air in 

 their chambers, or handle their bodies or bedclothes. But 

 such as avoid infected houses, or keep at a distance from 

 people convalescent, are no way subject to the yellow fever. 

 It appears, also, that people of colour, and Negroes, are in a 

 manner totally exempted from this disease, except such as 

 are employed as house-servants, and fare the same as white 

 people. 



The Creole white inhabitants, and others who have long 

 resided in the islands, are, it seems, seldom attacked with this 

 disorder, unless under the circumstances above mentioned. 

 But why the yellow fever should attack some, and not other?, 

 can only be accounted for in this way, — that, in order to re- 

 ceive or resist contagion, men's bodies and minds must be in 

 a particular state ; and that field Negroes should not be liable 

 to it is to me inexplicable. They, however, have their epide- 

 mics, from which white people are exempted. 



This disorder seems to exert its direful effects on the sto- 

 mach, intestines, and other viscera in general, but particular- 



