342 
eorn by the ancients; and that there are 
fome, though very weak grounds, for 
believing that fuch an animal may ftill 
fomewhere exift. With the terior parts 
ef Africa, where it is fuppofed to -refide, 
we are utterly unacquainted ; and it is 
-confequently impoffible to fay, what that 
country may contain in its immen{e bo- 
fom*. It is, however, to be hoped, from 
the increafing fpirit of enterprife and 
thirft for knowledge, which charaéterife 
the prefent age, that thefe pathlefs re- 
gions may, at fome future period, be 
explored; and that the truth or falfity of 
the exiftence of this animal will then be 
fully determined. A TRAVELLER. 
London, O&. 2, 1797- 
a a eR Cee nestatnen 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
<ptanS ER ‘ 
i your Magazine for laft December, 
I particularly noticed a ftatement re- 
lative to the fucceis which has attended 
the practice of Inoculation in London, 
From the report of the hofpital for ino- 
culation, it appears, that of 1300 perfons 
on whom that experiment has been made, 
only gvo have died in the courfe of the 
former year. This extraordinary in- 
fiance ot fuccefs muft convince even the 
moit {ceptical among your readers of the 
beneficial confequences, which cannot 
fail to refult from the general adoption of 
2plan, by which fo many thoulands of 
our fellow creatures may be faved from an 
untimely grave. But as the practice of 
imoculation, in Germany (however be- 
neficial, has not been attended with a 
fuccefs which bears any proportion to the 
above ftatement, 1 am induced to tran{- 
mit the following fuccinét account of an 
inftitution lately. eftablifhed in the prin- 
cipality of Halberftadt, for the. total 
prevention and + eradication of this dif- 
temper, Iam, &e.- 
Hamburch, 
Fax. 18, 1798. 
PHILANTHROPOS. 
The number of perfons who annually 
fall victims to the ravages of the fmall 

* In old books of travels and old maps, 
many wonderful things occur refpecting the 
interior parts of Africa; fuch, for example, 
as nations who employed lions in war: people 
with teeth like thofe of tygers, and others 
with long white, or yellow hair; amazons 
end dwarfs ; people with monftrous lips, who 
have no language, or cannot fpeak; andmen 
who feed upon locufts.and elephants. 
+ A very interefting and learned treatife 
on the ** Extirpation of the Small. Pex,” has 
been lately publithed by the celebrated Dr. 
SAEDERI, of Naples, 
German Eftablifoment for Inoculation: | 
pox, in Germany, is computed, on! an 
average, at 70,000. Since the year 
1721, general attempts have been made 
to check the fatal progres of this diforder, 
by introducing the practice of inecu- 
lation: but our bills of mortality fur- 
nifh but too evident -a proof, that the 
fucce‘s has hitherto by no means anfwered 
the expectation. Several enlightened 
phvficians have, therefore; fuggeited the 
propriety and neceflity of employing the 
fame means of precaution in arrefting 
the deitru€tive march of this cruel dif 
eafe, as are gdopted in the cafe of the 
plague. For this purpofe, they advife 
the intetference of the police of the coun- 
try, by caufing hofpitals to be eregted, to 
which, all perions infeed with the dif- 
order fhould be compelled to’ repair f. 
In the month of Auguft 1796, the Col- 
lege of Phyficians, in the’ Preffian ftates, 
made a report to the king, ftrongly re- 
commending the adoption of fuch a regu- 
Jation, the neceflity of which was: ftill 
more forcibly evinced by the bills of mor- 
tality for the principality of Halberftadt, 
which exhibited a mournful lift of 782 
perfons, who had fallen vi€tims to this 
diforder within the year. It was refolved 
accordingly, to make a practical expe- 
riment of the project, by eftablithing a 
Small Pox Hofpital, in the city of Halber- - 
ftadt, the capital of the principality. 
This benevolent inftitution, it is but 
juftice to remark, is in great meafure 
owing to the active zeal and public fpirit 
of the Reétor of Halberftadt. 
In the ereétion of this hofpital, the 
views of the founders extend farther than 
to the mere cure of the feveral patients. 
Their aim is to afcertain the poffibility 
of totally eradicating this diftemper ; 
which, however vifionary and chimerical 
the attempt may appear, to thofe whe 
regard the fmall-pox as an inevitable 
malady, is fupported by ftrong argu- 
ments of probability, and, indeed, has in- 
part been realifed by the fuecefs attendant | 
on a fimilar inftitution in the province of 
{ Similar regulations have been, adopted 
in various parts of England, particularly in 
Oxfordthire. Whether this regulation ob- 
tains, at prefent, I am not competent to 
determine, but fome years fince no patients 
labouring under the {mall pox were fuffered 
to remain in their houfes, and communicate 
the diforder to fociety at large. They were 
taken immediately to an hofpital eftablithed 
for this puxpofe; and their neareft relatives 
Were not permitted to vifit them, till all 
danger of communicating the contagion was 
paft. See further, Dr. \HayGarTnx’s ex- 
cellent ‘* Treatife on the Prevention of tbe oa udt- 
Small Pex. 
