I 800. 
that every medical attendant on one poor- 
houfe in London has been attacked with 
infectious fever for many years paft.— 
‘Does not this require immediate correc- 
tion? 
I would fuggeft that the poor-houfes 
and the infirmaries of all.parifhes fhould 
be immediately removed to the fuburbs, 
fo as give all the advantage to the poor of 
purity of the air, and to diminifh the 
fpreading of infection through the metro- 
polis. The populous parifh of Mary le- 
bonne has attended to thefe neceflary and 
obvious regulations ; but there are-neigh- 
bouring pariflies, abounding with the 
loweft claffes of mankind, who live in all 
kinds of filth, and aze thence particularly 
liable to the production of difeafe, where 
none of thefe objefts are regarded, and 
where for this reafon infectious fevers 
prove more than commonly fatal. The 
wards of all infirmaries of this defcrip- 
tion ought to be large, airy, and clean, 
and fhould be white-wafhed with lime at 
leaft once in a year. No more than 
one-patient fhould ever lie in one bed, and 
the beds fhould not ftand nearer than three 
feet from each other. Obvious as thefe 
things are, nothing can be more neglected. 
The wards are generally fimall, with low 
ceilings, and ill-ventilated, fo that the air 
is conitantly vitiated, and the vapour of 
infection is not likely to be diffipated. 
They are fometimes not white-wafhed for 
years together, and the floors and ftair- 
cafes are too often dirty, and the walls 
filthy. 
Two, and fometimes’three, people, la- 
bouring under different difeafes, are placed 
‘in the fame bed ; and, not unfrequently, a 
dying perfon is clofe by another in a dan- 
gerous ftate:—this muft ferve to aggra- 
vate difeafe, and haften death in many 
cales. Befides this evil, the beds are 
crowded fo near to each other, that the 
medical attendants frequently cannot ap- 
proach the fick who require their affilt- 
ance. 
Another regulation in all parochial in- 
firmaries fhould be a regular vifitation of 
them, at leaft three times in a week, by 
the parifh-officers. This would produce 
a good effect in two ways. It would in- 
fure cleanlinefs and attention, to the avoid- 
ing of infection, both on account of the 
fick and the vifitors : yet it is not unufual 
for the wards fo be fo dangerous, that the 
officers dare not vifit them. 
I have haftily drawn up thefe reflections 
becaule the urgency of the affair calls im- 
perioufly for correétion, and I requett 
MunTHLy Mac. No, 57. 
On Parochial Infirmaries—Preferving Apples. 2.33 
your infertion of them in an early num- 
ber. I am, Sir, 
Bedford-fquare, Your well-wifher. 
Feb. 9; 1800. PHILOPTOCHUS. 
Ea 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE failure of the method employed 
by your correfpondent Simplex, for 
the prefervation of apples in froft, ought 
not to deter others from making the fame 
experiment, fince it appears he has not 
followed the plan recommended in all its 
parts.—-The caufe of his apples being in- 
jured may probably arife from their betng 
in immediate contact with the floor: the 
fimple precaution of guarding from this, 
by the interpofition of a fimilar fubftance 
with the covering, would, I believe, effec- 
tually preferve the fruit from injury by 
froft, however, fevere. 
At the table of a lady, with whom I 
have the honour to be intimately acquaint~ 
ed, I have feen- apples m the fulleft flate 
of perfe&tion throughout the winter ; and 
for the information of your readers, Ihave’ 
her authority for laying before them the 
method fhe has purfued, without one in- 
ftance of failure. 
A coarfe linen cloth is fpread upon the 
floor in an upper room, on this ove layer 
of apples is placed; this is covered by 
a cloth of fimilar texture with the former, 
another layer of apples is f{pread, and 
acain covered: in this manner, with al- 
ternate {trata of apples and linen, the pile 
may be extended to any height; over all 
a cloth is thrown of fufficient dimenfions 
to cover the whole heap, and to communi- 
cate with the floor on every fide, Of all 
the apples that were thus laid up, one enly 
fuffered by the feverity of the weather 
this winter, that ove had accidentally been 
in part expofed to the froft, by not being 
ewholly covered by the linen. ( 
The apples were not wrapped in paper 
fingly, according tothe American practice, 
nor any other precaution ufed, than that of 
having a complete covering to each layer, 
to prevent its coming in contact with the 
fuper-incumbent layer, and of the lait co- 
vering communicating on” every fide with 
the floor. Your’s, &c. 
Feb, 20) 18009. Tes: Za, 
—a a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ON THE STATISTICAL AND COMMER= 
CIAL IMPORTANCE OF SURINAM. 
N the north-eaft part of South America, 
on the coaft of Guyana, a country 
‘Hh extending 




