Medicine, 291 



mcnt of that loathsome disease the Leprosy, from 

 the civiHzcd world, which has been in a great 

 measure effected in the course of the last age. 



The frequent and mortal prevalence of the pes- 

 tilential disease called Yellozo Fever, in the cities, 

 and in some parts of the country, in the United 

 States, for the last ten years, forms a memorable 

 event in the medical history of this country, during 

 the century which is the subject of this retrospect. 

 The malignity and ravages of this epidemic im- 

 pressed the public mind with the deepest appre- 

 hensions, and undoubtedly gave a new impulse and 

 vigour to medical investigation. The origin of 

 this disease has been warmly contested in the 

 United States, in the West-Indies, and in Europe. 

 While many maintain that it is produced by the 

 exhalations of putrefaction, whether such putre- 

 faction be found in the filth of cities, of marshy 

 grounds, or of vessels on the water; others, on the 

 contrary, assert, that it is always produced by 

 contagion emitted from the sick labourins: under 

 the disease, and successively propagated from one 

 person to another. The latter opinion seems to be 

 fast losing ground among the better informed part 

 of the medical profession, and of the public; while 

 the evidence in support of the former is accumu- 

 lated, and rendered more luminous and irresistible, 

 by the occurrences of every epidemic season. 

 Much light has been thrown on the origin, course, 

 precursors, and concomitant circumstances of this, 

 and of other pestilential diseases, by Mr. Noah 

 Webster, in his History of Epidemics, an inge- 

 nious and learned work, in v/hich a rich and cu- 

 rious amount of information on this subject is 

 brought together and exhibited in a very impres- 

 sive manner. Though the author is no physician, 

 lie has made a most valuable present to the medi- 

 cal world, and has entered and pursued wit1i much 



