454 



MEDICINE ANI> MEDICAL STATISTICS. [Sect. XIV. 



the first mstaiice the result of personal contagion, had 

 acquired in the course of its progress the power of propa- 



r 



gating itself, and that in all probability it would through 

 a series of subjp^^ts retain that power for an indefinite 



Still, notwithstanding the most carefiil siftins" of 



time. 



every 



cu'cumsrance 



connected with the first cases, (it 



having been also ascertained that no disease of the same 

 character had existed for several months previously in or 

 near tLe locality, and that the men had not been on shore 

 or absent in boats,) may render it necessary to conclude 

 that it originated from some cause within the ship ; it will 

 yet remain to be determined whether that was of a local or 

 of a personal nature, or of some peculiar combination of 

 the two, either with or without adjunctive predisposition. 

 In a large majority of instances it most unquestionably 



w^ill be difficult, if not im.possible, to decide ; nevertheless, 

 a concise narrative of the events as they occur should be 

 committed to paper, in order that it may be made avail- 

 able, should it be squired for any investigation in con- 

 nexion with the reappearance of the fever at a future 

 period either in the same or in a different locality. 



When a fever has broken out in a ^'■essel at sea, from a 

 foul state of her holds, and. without her having anv subse- 

 quent communication with the shore, continues to make 

 progress, attacking man after man, how, it may be asked, 

 is it possible to ascertain whether, as is sometimes the 



ca^e, it ] 





cquired a contagious character or not ? The 

 space is small, and the whole of the men being equally 

 exposed to the original exciting cause, and, if such have 

 been generated, to the personal, are there any means of 

 distinguishing the effects of the one from those of the 



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