172 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



account ; and for the superintendence of the police 

 over the sale of medicines, the practice of physic, 

 &c.; all of which will require the serious attention of 

 superior authority. The two chief measures which 

 have hitherto been adopted for the preservation 

 of the- public health, are the rigorous examination 

 of the certificates of health of ships arriving from 

 foreign countries, and the introduction of vaccin- 

 ation under the direction of a physician. With 

 respect to the latter point, children and adults are 

 vaccinated on certain days in the year, in a public 

 building ; but the due examination of the state 

 of the patient as suited to the operation, and of the 

 progress and consequences of the disorder, in the pa- 

 tient, is hitherto very imperfect, or wholly wanting. 

 For all such matters, it is much more necessary in 

 an infant, thinly peopled state, to employ the in- 

 fluence of the clergy, than it is in Europe ; until 

 vaccination therefore is strictly enforced by mea- 

 sures of police, in the same manner as baptism is 

 by the authority of the church, the country will 

 remain exposed to the sudden and almost resistless 

 ravages of the small-pox, and consequent depopu- 

 lation. 



Rio de Janeiro possesses at present, now that the 

 hospital dos Lazaros has been removed to a neigh- 

 bouring island, two large establishments for the 

 'sick, the Hospital of Mercy (^Hospital da Miseri- 

 cordia) and the Royal Military Hospital ; both situ- 

 ated in the old city, and not far from the sea. The 



