(EAL. 
Of the Publi ¢ Health. 
The preceding sapiubh 3 v00t relate oni to individual health; 
but there are many rations 0 
tive to what may be ck the puble “i reaped or to the remo- 
val of thofe caufes of difeafe, which originate from the cir- 
cumftances of the focial itate, efpecially where men are con- 
$s many o e moft 
ditions of the we 
tr operate svalie si w feem, ‘through the 
medium of the circum@ances Bn the focial {late pro- 
duces. - 
The two molt te exciting caufes of thofe ee 
1. The e 
already po Bane nae 
febrile difeafe, termed contagious or infest effluvia, and 
which may be condenfed, and adhere. to various bin iipors 
fuck as clothing, furniture, &c.; nd 2. Thofe wh 
from moift fwam y ground, or from artificial prac of 
animal and vegetable matters, in a rid or decompofing 
ftate. To the amr at thefe, pote putrid, and fated 
fevers, as they have been called, commonly owe their origi 
aud the plague, tee! fevers &c. " probably their exteniive 
. propagation ; and from 
dyfenteries, ail peraps a plague and the yellow fever, 
e been generally derivec 
operation of thefe “envied may be molt obvio ully 
traced in camps. writers on army-difeafes, from fr 
John Pringle downwards, have fhewn, that when a camp is 
ews in a {wampy fituation, or when it has remained for 
of time on ground not originally, fwampy, but 
coatenal fo by the accumulating filth of an army, fuch as 
the urine and. excrements,. the remains of the victuals, the 
water ufed in cookery and in wafhing, &c. which is neceflarily 
imprepnated _ with ane: ~ meri matter, a certain 
t come 
pepie throughout ues 3 eff coat ally in the autumnal 
when the g has been heated by the fummer 
fun, and. the > tap increafed by the rains of autumn. 
a difeafes, which occur in_ fuch fituations, are remittent 
ittent fevers, malignant or typhous east and 
fufferi 
Now, that the weg ee 
lata 
a Ba 
For orang a Aaa? ig. snmerere a 2 Si an are 
hundred feet rfectly 
ight, only afew above it, is found 
thy ; the dssining of a {mall marth, or even the temoval 
w hundred yards only from the foul ground, 
ame s,. <2 cu 
ory ‘campy fo wail 
“tena =e delitate of ‘he mans of « E 
fituation, aad, therefor be inkelted with, the fa 
portance relay. ; 
origina, .ne&ion 
ond, imtermittents, remittents, nati 
difeafes as are achive aa camps, unlefs peculiar care be 
taken in adopti e precautions jult.alluded to, Hence, 
an all the old _ pa Euro the ftveets were un- 
rage annually. 
maladies was at the fame time greatly Pe by the in- 
ternal domeftic economy of the houfes; which, from the 
clofenefs of the fituations in which ms, were injudicioully 
placed, and from inattention to ventilation and to cleanli- 
nefs, afforded the avourable nidus for the gemaion 
of infeétion, Diosag the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th ce 
turies, the principal towns of Europe were in the i 
jut defcribed ; and the hiftory of oe ages is as full of the 
phydical miferies of the people, as of their political troubles. 
ue and putrid malignant adhe which differed, per- 
iled, and their head- 
pearance amon: peop con- 
of peftilence with fuch caufes is ftill more yt sal 
pe have become 
ve been cultivated, thefe malignant and peftilential dif- 
ates have gradually difappeared. e of the cities of 
Europe, indeed, which from natur tural or political eign have 
Le 
i 
Bed 
if 
4 
as well as of former ig wong In se wh the vi 
quently occurs; and nie rSth century it has ap- . 
peared at Mofcow, as ungary and fs 
&e. See Heberden’s hin mies on ncreafe 
Decreafe of different Difeafes, &e. 1 a 
As thefe general obfervations may .no deemed fufli- 
e caufes aE principally in- 
is opportunity of 
of ip ps geageedine 
ciently conclufive, as to 
fluence the public health, we take 
illuftrating their operation in ae hiftory 
improvement of. tk ealth o the inhabitan 
ratio os the 
which has gone on in a cor progrels 
of improvement in the condition of the city, and in the 
donteftic economy of t people. 
ya a the Health of London. 
s abundant evidence of the filthinefs oe 
faétion and. e 
evaporation. occ: 
and rains, were the conftant fource of difeafes, not only be- 
fore, but even fabfequent to se 1666. Inthe 
agth and following ceaturies ftreets were filled with 
common lay-ftalls of all manner 2 "ie poe ge, which — 
the ordered to remov ow 
