NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 175 



The reports of consumption, in other parts of Great Britain, correspond, in a great 

 degree, with the accounts of its prevalence in London, and, therefore, render this ascrip- 

 tion of its causes and origin unsatisfactory. 



Dr. Lettsom, however, in a letter to Dr. Hosack, on the diseases of London, (Amer. 

 Med. and Phil. Reg. vol. 2.) says, " Whilst the phthisis puhnonalis is rapidly increasing 

 in America, and in the European continent, it is diminishing here. The croup is less 

 fatal, in consequence of the immediate and free use of the lancet, and of leeches, with 

 purgatives, than heretofore ; nor is angina scarlatina either so frequent or so fatal. The 

 typhus is almost extinct, and the cholera morbus is unfrequent ; and, as far as my expe- 

 rience extends, the syphilis is milder, or easier cured ; and, lately, such has been the 

 prolongation of health and life as to lessen the premiums of insurance considerably." 



Out of 19,954 deaths, in London, in 1808, 5,220 are ascribed to the consumption. 

 The christenings, in that year, were 19,906, nearly equal to the burials. 



In 1H09, the healthiest year which London ever enjoyed, there were 16,680 deaths, 

 4,570 of which were produced by the consumption ; the number of christenings was 

 19,612, making the excess of births above the deaths nearly 3,000. (See the London 

 Annual Medical Review and Register, for 1808 and 1809.) 



Dr. James E. Smith says, that " In Italy, consumptions are found to be very conta- 

 gious, though less evidently so in England.'' It is intimated, if my memory serves me, 

 in that excellent work, the Emporium, that the general use of cotton shirts, &c. may 

 have a pernicious influence in producing this disease. Its increased fatality in Europe, as 

 well as in America, is, probably, owing to a complication of causes ; and, indeed, the 

 periodical prevalence and disappearance of certain diseases, must be classed among those 

 arcana which providence has concealed from man. 



Salubrious as the climate of Madeira is generally reckoned, we find, that even there 

 pulmonary diseases cut off a great number of the inhabitants. Of the various districts 

 of North America, New- York has been considered, by many, as being especially favoured 

 with regard to the mildness of its seasons ; and the changes of its weather were referred 

 chiefly to the difference in the prevailing winds. Among a series of interesting remarks 

 on the climate and diseases of New-York, made by Lieutenant-governor Colden, about 

 seventy years ago, and inserted in the American Medical and Philosophical Register, 

 vol. 1. this medical philosopher observes, " The air of the country being almost 

 always clear, and its spring strong, we have few consumptions, or diseases of the lungs." 

 " People inclined to be consumptive in England, are often perfectly cured by our 

 fine air ; but if there be ulcers formed they die. The climate grows every day better, 

 as the country is cleared of the woods ; and more healthy, as all the people that have lived 



