564 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



Institution was greatly enlarged ; that of Orphans separated from it ; 

 the Lazaretto was put into good order, its abuses rectified; and the 

 accounts of all the three were ordered to be published. 



Had these accounts been drawn up with the judgment which their 

 importance merits, and published upon one uniform plan, they would 

 have furnished a basis for some useful deductions in Political (Economy. 

 Making the best use of them we can, it appears that the Misericordia 

 was established so long since as 1582, that its permanent funds are not 

 adequate, at present, to its support ; that the three principal sources of 

 supply — the Imposts, Rents, and Charity, bear to each other the 

 proportions of 11, 21, and 29; that the whole annual income is about 

 60,000,000 of Reis, and that it is expended in furnishing relief to some- 

 what more than 2000 invalids, allowing to each 30,500 Reis, or about 

 £7 10s. of Sterling Money. From the same documents it appears, that 

 the existence of Disease in Rio de Janeiro, for the different quarters of 

 the year, ending the first day of October, January, April, and July, 

 may be represented by the numbers 18, 21, 22i, and 23 ; whence it 

 would seem, that the hottest part of the year, or the three months from 

 December to April, is the most unhealthy. Yet the same documents 

 show, that this is precisely the period, when the malignity of disease is 

 the lowest ; for in the first of the quarters, as stated above, out of the 

 number of patients ill, there dies one in six ; in the second, one in five ; 

 in the third, only one in seven ; and in the fourth again, one in six. It 

 must be recollected, however, that during the hottest season, i. e. in Decem- 

 ber, January, and February, the progress of disease is also the most rapid, 

 and death frequently succeeds so speedily, after the first symptoms of 

 illness, as probably to prevent many from reaching the Hospital, and 

 swelling its lists both of patients and mortality. 



The Funds of the Foundling Hospital, which was established in 

 1738, are derived, at present, from Rents, Charity, and Debts to be 

 recovered, in the proportion of 29, 48, and 27. It has received upon 

 its books 8509 Children, of which 98 have died, five have been delivered 

 to their parents ; and, in 1818, there remained in the house 134. In the 



