118 Disinfecting Powers of Increased Temperatures. 
fest advantages of abridging the duration of quarantine,—perhaps 
of supplanting it altogether. I do not, however, consider steam as 
an essential vehicle of heat for disinfecting purposes. ‘Temperature, 
in whatever manner it may be raised, will doubtless be found ade- 
quate to the effect. It is probable that a current of air, heated with- 
ina safe point, on the plan invented by the late ingenious Mr. Strutt, 
of Derby, and now applied to so many useful purposes in manufac- 
tures and domestic economy, might accomplish the end at much ex- 
pense of time and money.* _ All that I attempt is to furnish the 
principle; its application I leave to experienced engineers in this and 
other countries. After the most attentive consideration, | can my- 
self discover no objection to the execution of the plan, that may not 
be surmounted by a reasonable share of zeal and perseverance; and 
without the exertion of those qualities, no important improvement 
was ever carried through all its stages,—from its first suggestion to 
its final and complete establishment. 
That the quarantine laws of every civilized country require to be 
carefully revised, and to be entirely re-modelled by mutual agree- 
ment between different nations, does not admit of a doubt. In their 
present state, they are both oppressive and inadequate. ‘They de- 
mand observances that are of no use, and overlook others that would 
be really efficacious. ‘They impose grievous and needless restraints 
on personal freedom ; they fetter commerce and navigation ; they 
abridge the demand for produce and manufactures; and, thus, by 
making scant the means of life over wide and populous districts, they 
nourish discontent, increase all the sufferings attendant on poverty, 
and give rise to inborn diseases, far more spreading, and scarcely 
less severe, than those against which they are intended to act as 
barriers. 
The basis, however, of a wise and beneficial system of quaran- 
tine laws,—of such a system as, while it affords all needful security 
against the introduction of contagious diseases, shall trespass no 
more than is absolutely unavoidable on the vital interests of trade 
and commerce,—can only be found in a collection of well ascer- 
tained facts respecting contagion. Of these it is not beyond the 
* See “the Philosophy of Domestic Economy,” by Charles Sylvester, which 
contains a full account of Mr. Strutt’s plans, as carried into effect at the Derby- 
shire General Infirmary, 1 vol. thin 4to. Published by Longman and Co., Lon- 
don, 1819. 
