Considerations on the means of preventing the communication of pestilential contagion, and of eradicating it in infected places / [William Brownrigg].

  • William Brownrigg
Date:
1771
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Considerations on the means of preventing the communication of pestilential contagion, and of eradicating it in infected places / [William Brownrigg]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    42/52 page 34
    feldom fubmit willingly, to re/lraints impofed on them merely for the good of the public; but more frequently efteem confinement, either in their own houfes or in hofpitals [28], a grievous addition to their fufieri ngs; and by a concealment of the difeafe, or by flight when infected, and other irregularities,, have often been found to fpread the contagion wider than they would have done, had they been left at full liberty. But the feclufion of the found, as here propofed, is not attended with any of thefe incon¬ veniences. Every individual, out of a principle of felf-prefervation, the ftrongefl: of all ties, will think it better to truft for his fecurity to means that are in his own power, than to thofe extorted from others who may not be particularly interefled in his welfare. Befides, the regulation here propofed commands oh- fervance under the double fandtion of the rewards and punifhments which it naturally brings along with it. On the one hand, by fecurity againft the moll: imminent danger, in conforming thereto and under [28] In fome of the preceding centuries, when the plague was common in our metropolis, as it now is iri feveral of the great cities of theTurkifh empire, pefthoufes, or hofpitals for that difeafe were there in common ufe. But the forcible car¬ rying of the fick into thefe, does not appear to have been attend¬ ed with greater advantage to the public, than the forcible fnutting them up in their own houfes. And when, in the year 1720, the King was impowered to ere£t lazarettos, huts, or fheds, for the indifcriminate reception of perfons, of all ranks and con¬ ditions, feized with this difeafe, the inhabitants of the capi¬ tal expreffed fuch uneafinefs thereat, efpecially when they under¬ flood that it had been propofed to eredt thefe lazarettos or hofpitals no nearer than three miles to any great city, that the Legiflature, on more mature deliberation, revoked thefe powers in the next iefilon of parliament.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3