British Association for the Advancement of Science. 33 



years' observation, that this disease, if it did not originate in lo- 

 cahties close to cemeteries, was greatly aggravated by the prox- 

 imity of burial-grounds, especially when the towns and villages 

 stood on a lower level than the neighboring cemeteries. It was 

 known, that the Turks, from religious prejudices, made their 

 graves hollow, and placed a very shallow covering of earth over 

 the dead. The mephitic vapors arising from the putrescent bodies, 

 tainted and polluted the surrounding atmosphere : and that this 

 disease was connected with atmospheric influences, was a fact 

 known to the Turks themselves ; among whom it was commonly 

 said, that birds abandoned the localities where plague prevailed, 

 and fruits became more abundant. Mr. Urquhart declared, that 

 these observations were confirmed by his own experience : he 

 regretted that he had no statistical data to offer to the Section, 

 and hoped that, attention being now directed to the subject, it 

 would lead to the prosecution of a more regular inquiry. 



Mr. Wyse said, that his personal experience in Syria, Turkey, 

 and Egypt, enabled him to corroborate Mr. Urquhart's statements : 

 he had never passed the large cemetery, near the gate of Adri- 

 anople, without a distinct perception of noisome effluvia, which 

 in humid weather were peculiarly offensive. He trusted that the 

 attention of government would be directed to the subject, and a 

 series of questions addressed to the consular agents in the Levant. 

 — ^Dr. Bryce said, that he had long directed his attention to the 

 subject of plague, and made numerous observations during his resi- 

 dence at Constantinople ; but scarcely had he formed an hypothe- 

 sis, when it was contradicted by some new facts. Mr. Urquhart's 

 remarks had first given him a ray of light to guide investigation, 

 and from many circumstances which now occurred to his mind, 

 he was led to place considerable reliance on Mr. Urquhart's ac- 

 count. — Col. Briggs stated, that the plague was unknown in India, 

 which he attributed to the custom of burning the dead. It was 

 anciently unknown in Egypt, where the dead were embalmed ; 

 among the Parsis, who expose their dead in a walled cemetery, 

 to be devoured by the birds of the air, plague rarely or never 

 occurs. In the countries which now constituted Turkey, pesti- 

 lential diseases were very rare in the classical ages. 



Statistics of Crime in Liverpool. — " The report gave, as the re- 

 sult of rigid inquiry, a criminal population to this town of 4,200 

 females, and 4,520 males, 2,270 of the latter being professional 



Vol. XXXIV.— No. 1. 5 



