CAIRO, AND ALEXANDRIA. 80.9 



swept off by the epidemic, and 97,902 during the 

 same year from all diseases, when the whole popu- 

 lation did not exceed 165,000. (Medical Alma- 

 nac, p. 178.) 



Thus we perceive that during the frightful 

 reign of ignorance and superstition, when pesti- 

 lence and famine were regarded as judgments 

 inflicted on mankind for their sins, the mortality 

 was far greater in the temperate climate of Eng- 

 land, as in many other parts of Europe, than in 

 the sickly portions of tropical Africa, India, and 

 South America. For in no part of the world has 

 it equalled that of London in 1665, where, as we 

 have just seen, nearly two-thirds of the inhabi- 

 tants perished. And during the prevalence of the 

 black death, the sweating sickness, and most of 

 the above plagues, the number of deaths varied 

 from thirteen to thirty per cent, of the whole 

 population. But thanks to the progress of know- 

 ledge, and the various improvements to which it 

 has led, such fatal epidemics have almost entirely 

 disappeared throughout the temperate latitudes 

 of the civilized world. 



It is stated by M. Lafere, that in 1835, the mor- 

 tality from plague was ten per cent, of the whole 

 population in Cairo, and thirty-three per cent, in 

 Alexandria. But there is reason to believe, that 

 when those cities shall be kept as clean, well 

 watered and ventilated, as London is at present, 

 or as Memphis and Thebes were during the epoch 

 of the Pharaohs, the plague will cease there also, 



