74 Clinton's introductory discourse. 



Who does not recollect the terror and mortality which invariably 

 accompany that horrible pestilence denominated the yellow fever? 

 Under its iron reign we see persons fleeing from their homes in all 

 directions, the insignia of death in every street, and the grave continually 

 open to receive its miserable victims. 



In this awful hour, 



-" Mussabat tacito mediciaa timore. 



-" In silence dread, 



Appall'd and doubtful, mus'd the healing art." 



Lucretius. 



And yet what clouds and darkness rest over the origin, nature, and 

 cure of this pestilence. Whether it comes to us from abroad, or origi- 

 nates at home; whether it is contagious or not? are questions solemnly 

 debated by the profession, and treatises of much learning and inge- 

 nuity have been written on both sides.* It is stated by Humboldt 

 that a plague, called the matlazahuatl, prevails, about once in a century, 

 among the Indian race in Mexico; that in 1545 eight hundred thousand 

 died of it ; and in 1 576 two millions, and that it never attacks white 

 people. Can this be the disease which swept off whole nations of our 

 northern Indians before the European settlement of this country; and 

 if it be true that the yellow fever, as is alleged, seldom if ever attacks 

 the Mexican Indians, here is a very extraordinary field open for inves- 

 tigation. 



* See Note 00. 



