184 THE NATURALIST IN BERMUDA. 



during the night, but these vapours do not appear to affect 

 the health of the cottagers who Beside in the immediate 

 vicinity. The ponds near Paget Church may be cited as an 

 example in point. One glance at the map of Bermuda mU. 

 be sufficient to convince any reasonable person, that an island 

 little more than a mile in width, isolated in the vast Atlantic,' 

 and distant six hundred mUes from the nearest point of the 

 American coast, can have no atmosphere of its own — swept 

 continually by the winds of the ocean, malaria can no more 

 exist in the Bermudas than on board a ship at sea. If the 

 narrow and dirty streets of St. George, or the convict huli 

 there stationed, could generate disease, why was that locality 

 free from yellow fever during the twenty years preceding 

 the attack of 1843?* The causes of fever cannot, then, 

 with reason be said to exist in the sea air breathed by ^the 

 inhabitants of these Islands. 



Now let us consider the infectious or contagious nature 

 of this fever — these are terms which I consider to be syno- 

 nomous, and applicable to any disease which may be taken 

 by approach or contact with the sick — all quibbling on the 

 derivation of the word " contagion" notwithstanding. 



If the statement of certain members of the faculty be 

 correct, viz. — ^that yeUow fever is not infectious ; why, let 

 me enquire, are ships of war with this fever on board, not 

 allowed to send their sick to the Eoyal Naval Hospital at 

 Ireland Island, but either have to ride at anchor in the 

 offing with the yellow flag flying, or proceed to Ports Island, 

 in the sound, as a fever and quarantine station ; and why 

 is all communication prohibited with such ships and stations? 



* The same observation will apply to other parts of the Bermudas. 



