220 HOSACK ON THE LAWS OF CONTAGION. 



the same disease has been thence conveyed to other parts of the same 

 city, or town, or into the country, it either was propagated or extin- 

 guished, according to the local circumstances of the place to which it 

 was so conveyed. 



Dr. Lining, in his description of the yellow fever which was intro- 

 duced into the city of Charleston in 1732, 1739, 1745, and in 1748, ob- 

 serves, that, although the infection was spread with great celerity 

 through the town, yet, if any from the country received it in town, and 

 sickened on their return home, the infection spread no further, not 

 even so much as to one in the same house. He remarks, that the 

 disease was generally more fatal to those who lay in small chambers not 

 conveniently situated for the admission of fresh air.* The yellow fever 

 with which the city of New-York was visited in 1791, and which was 

 introduced by a vessel from the West Indies, and rendered memorable 

 by the death of one of our most respected citizens, General Malcolm, 

 who was the first victim to the epidemic of that season, is thus recorded 

 by Dr. Jonas Addoms, in his excellent dissertation on that disease : 



"About the middle of August, 1791, a contagious fever appeared 

 in the city of New-York, which first discovered itself near Peck-slip, 

 a part of the city thickly inhabited, its houses generally small, and badly 

 ventilated; many of the inhabitants were in indigent circumstances, 

 which is a frequent cause of the want of cleanliness. Here it raged a 

 considerable time ; it then began to spread, as some attendants on the 

 sick became infected who lived in other neighbourhoods. By this means 

 it was carried to other families, and most generally could be traced to 

 this source. It likewise proved more particularly fatal near the place 

 where it first appeared, than in any other part. Thus at length it 



Edin. Phys. and Lit. Essay, vol. 2. p. 408. 427. 



