Quarantine : return to an order of the honourable the House of Commons, dated 5 August 1861, for : copy of the papers relating to quarantine, communicated to the Board of Trade on the 30th day of July / Edgar A. Bowring.
- Edgar Alfred Bowring
- Date:
- 1861
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Quarantine : return to an order of the honourable the House of Commons, dated 5 August 1861, for : copy of the papers relating to quarantine, communicated to the Board of Trade on the 30th day of July / Edgar A. Bowring. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![Appendix. researches in the Levant concerning the plague. From a very imperfect acquaintance • with the disease—for his only opportunities of ob,servation vk^ere during two or tkree weeks in the Greek Pest Hospital at Constantinople in 1815—Dr, Maclean had proclaimed that it was not contagious. More than 20 medical men were examined by the Committee, but of that number not above three or four had ever seen a single case of plague, and one only had witnessed it in the epidemic form, and that was at Malta in 1813. The opinions of all the medical men examined, states the Committee, with the exception of two (Dr. Maclean and Dr. Mitchell, who had never seen the disease), are in favour of the received doctrine that the plague is communicable by contact only, and dif- fers in this resj)ect from epidemic fever. * The Committee acquiesced in this opinion, and added, that they abstained from giving any opinion on the nature and application of the quarantine regulations as not falling within the scope of their inquiry, but they see no reason to question the validity of the principles on which such regulations appear to have been adopted. From the returns from the different quarantine stations in England—Rochestei', Ports- mouth, Falmouth, Milford, Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull—ordered by the Committee, it appears that, in none of them, had ever a single case of plague been heard of among all the arrivals. The usual detention in quarantine of pilots on board the convalescent ship at Stangate Creek was, at that time, for 15 days, 'No instance, however, of a pilot having been ill in consequence seems to have been known. From a communication in the Appendix of the Committee's Report from Sir James Gambler, Her Majesty's consul at the Hague, it appears that there was seldom or ever any quarantine imposed in the Netherlands upon arrivals from the Levant. Holland was the only country which had acted independently of others, and which had extricated itself from what was felt to be an unnecessary restriction; nor does it appear that she had suffered in any way from her contumacy. In 1824, the Select Committee, appointed by the House of Commons to consider the means of improving the foreign trade of the country, presented their Second Report, which was devoted to the subject of quarantine. The Right Honourable Charles Grant was the Chairman. Strong evidence was adduced, by several gentlemen engaged in or connected with the commerce of the Mediterranean, of the serious detriment to trade from the heavy expenses and unnecessary delays inflicted upon arrivals. An example or two will better show the working of the system than any general state- ments. In May 1823, the ship William Parker was dispatched from Egypt for London at the same time as the Danish ships Nicolino and Vigilentia, for Amsterdam ; all were laden with linseed, and all had foul bills of health. The quarantine charges at Amsterdam have not exceeded 51. for each ship and cargo, while for the William Parker we have paid 188 Z. 16s., being at the rate of 5^ per cent, on the whole cargo. In December 1820 the '• Asia, 763 tons, with linseed, arrived from Alexandria with a foul bill. The quarantine dues amoimted to 610Z., the freight to 1,475 1. In the same month, the Pilato, 495 tons, arrived from the same port with the same f cargo, but with a clean bill. The quarantine dues were 200Z., the freight amounted to 1,060 Z. During the prevalence of the yellow fever at Gibraltar in 1813, a vessel, 226 tons, was taken up by one of the merchants there who wished to escape the fever, and who brought a few goods, such as he could get on board himself. The quarantine duty that had to be paid before she was released from quarantine at Stangate Creek, where she had been detained for a length of time, amounted to 124 Z.; and her freight was only 75 Z. In none of the above cases had there been any sickness on board, either during the voyage or on arrival. So oppressive were the charges, imposed upon the arrival of goods by shipping from son e of the Mediterranean ports, that it was found cheaper to have silk and such like goods sent over by laud from Italy than to incur the delay and expense of carriage by sea. In those days, a traveller with his portmanteau, from Naples or Leghorn, might reach England in 10 or 12 days; but his heavy luggage, sent round by sea, would not reach him for a month or six weeks later. The medical witnesses examined by the Committee were all of opinion that the regu- tions of quarantine, as applicable to this country, are more than sufficient for its protection from the danger contemplated. By far the most important evidence was that of Sir William Pym, who spoke from extensive * The Privy Council had, the year before, taken the opinion of the Royal College of Physicians respecting the views put forth in Dr. Maclean's work. In the reply of the college, it is stated :—■ We are of ojjinion, although some epidemic diseases are not propagated by contagion, that it is by no means proved that the plague is not contagious, or that the regulations of plague police are useless or pernicious. We are persuaded on the contrary, from the consideration of the experience of all ages, and some of us from personal observation, that the disease is communicable from one individual to another The doctrine of contagion appears to us to be wholly unshaken by any argument which Dr. Maclean has adduced ; at the same time we think it probable that some of the ]iersonal restrictions enforced in the establishments for quarantine might be modified without risk to the public health, ^](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b23984843_0046.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
