The common nature of epidemics, and their relation to climate and civilization, also remarks on contagion and quarantine : from writings and official reports / by Southwood Smith ; ed. by T. Baker.

  • Thomas Southwood Smith
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The common nature of epidemics, and their relation to climate and civilization, also remarks on contagion and quarantine : from writings and official reports / by Southwood Smith ; ed. by T. Baker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    tween liiniself and Yillalunga^ in their respective journals of the illness of Fenic^s children. Caffiero now says, ^I knew Salvo and Catalina Fenic,, and went on board ship with them; I do not recollect the day. We went on board a three-masted ship. I do not recollect to what nation it belonged. We remained on deck and did not go below. We remained on board about one hour. Fenic, the father_, took us on board; he rowed the boat himself; he ate and drank on board, and then brought a bundle of clothes on shore.' '^^ Until this time, neither he nor Yillalunga said any- thing about a bundle of clothes. ^' This boy^s second evidence thus proceeds :—'' I did not understand the language of the people on board the ship ; they appeared to speak like Jews or Moors. I did not go on board more than once. When we landed on the wharf, the Maltese/ i.e. Fenic, ' gave me some money, a ]jistoreen, and told me not to say anything to anybody about our having been on board.' ^' The effect which this was designed to produce is ob- vious, viz., that the ship visited was in quarantine, and Fenic, the Maltese, was conscious that he had committed an offence against the quarantine laws which rendered it necessary for his own safety that he should bribe this boy to secrecy. This story is full of incongruities; it is not probable that a man should select for his Sunday ex- cursion, to eat, drink, and make merry, a ship in quaran- tine ; it is more improbable still that Fenic should gratui- tously place himself in extreme peril, by taking with him (to be witnesses of his offence) children of the artless ages of 10, 11, and 13, on an expedition which, in his own judgment, as demonstrated by his own act, he is convinced exposes him to severe punishment. But with regard to the ship ^Dygden,^ I find that she had already received pratique, and had been admitted to free