397 



it is not contagious in it's nature, or that the 

 predisposing causes are not the same as in the 

 regions of the shore. When there is a consi- 

 derable diminution of the temperature, the epi- 

 demy usually ceases, even on the spot where 

 it first appeared. It again begins at the ap. 

 proach of the hot season, and sometimes long- 

 before ; though during several months there 

 has been no sick person in the harbour, and no 

 ship has entered it. 



The typhus of America appears to be confin- 

 ed to the shore, either because those persons 

 who bring* the disease disembark there, and 

 goods supposed to be impregnated with dele- 

 terious miasmata are there accumulated ; or 

 because on the seaside gaseous emanations of a 

 particular nature are formed. The aspect of 

 the places where typhus exerts it*s ravages seems 

 often to exclude all idea of a local or endemical 

 origin. It has been seen to prevail in the Ca- 

 naries, the Bermudas, and among the smaller 

 West India Islands, in dry places formerly 

 distinguished for the great salubrity of their 

 climate. Examples of the propagation of the 

 yellow fever in the inland parts of the torrid 

 zone appear very doubtful ; this malady may 

 have been confounded with remitting bilious 

 fevers. With respect to the temperate zone, 



* Bailly, de la Fitore jaunt. 1814, p. 421. 



