Report from the select committee appointed to consider the validity of the doctrine of contagion in the plague.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee on Contagion in Plague.
- Date:
- 1819
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report from the select committee appointed to consider the validity of the doctrine of contagion in the plague. 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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![Do you not suppose, that if the infection of ))]a!4ue had been imported in any hales Dr. of goods from the Mediterranean; \vhich were opened for the purpose of being ven- ^Vilham Gladsto tilated at lazarettos, that if the plague had existed therein, and was contagious, those (19 Mardi.) expurgators would beconne themselves infected with the plague?—Certainly, ^- ^ ■ Would the circumstance of plague not having been seen for so many years in Great Britain, or in lazarettos, give sufficient confidence for concluding that the plague cannot exist in a British atmosphere ?—I should think it would not give sufficient con- tidence; it would create great alarm if known to exist. You still suppose it might exist?—I think that is a doubtful point. Is not plague in plague countries periodical in its beginning and end?—Yes. What is the state of atmosphere that you conceive compatible and not compatible with the existence of plague?—I look upon it that in cold dry weather, the plague does not so frequently exist. In hot vveather, after floods, when the rivers, such as the Nile, have overflowed, and left marshes and ponds, tl^e action of the sun in summer on such marshes and moist ground always produces disease, and frequently in the Levant plague. What sort of temperature do you consider necessary to the existence of plague ?— In the cases of plague 1 saw at Constantinople, the thermometer stood about the freezing point, from 26 to 30 ; it was in the winter. Was the plague prevalent at that state of temperature?—No it was not, but there were always some cases there. There were cases even during that state of the year?—There are always some cases at Constantinople. Was you at Constantinople, or any other part of the Levant, at any period of tlic year when the plague was raging violently ?—No. Do you happen to know what the state of the atmosphere is, in which it is pro- posed to act most violently?—I believe a high temperature, from 66 to 76, and upwards. Is there any reason, when there is a hot moist air in this country, and the tem- perature rises to that point, that the plague should not exist in this country as well as any other?—I do not think the summer heat ever rises so high in England, as iu those latitudes. As it appears that it existed at Constantinople when the temperature was nearly at the freezing point, is there any reason why it should not exist in the same tem- perature in any other country?—In most other countries, and particularly in EtJgland, the houses are better ventilated, more cleanly and well drained. Then do you mean to state, that the probability of its existing in England, depends on ventilation, and the cleanliness of the people of the country ?—Not entirely, but in a great measure. Do you consider the plague in its character, as infectious or contagious?—I con- sider it equally infectious through the medium of the atmosphere of a sick chamber, as from simple contact, having experienced it so far as having felt the arm of a patient under plague. As you appear^ to consider the plague as connected with the state of the atmos- phere, when the atmosphere is in that state that it admits of the existence of plague, do you then consider it an infectious disorder; I mean when the air is in that state as to produce a liability to infection by the touch ?—I think it is impossible to come in contact with a plague patient, without inhaling the atmosphere of his chamber; and that we are more susceptible of infection by the membranes of respiration, tiian those of the fingers. Do you confine it to the sick chamber, or to the general atmosphere?—The sur- rounding atmosphere of the chamber; the atmosphere of a sick chamber is more infectious than any other. From any experience that you have had of the plague, have you seen instances of its being communicated any other way than by the touch ?—Not in any way; I have never seen an instance of its being communicated. You have stated, that you were present when there were cases of plague ?—When there were plague patients at Constantinople, I made interest to view them, with the Arabian physicians. State the circumstances of your visit?—I saw him approach the patient, and feci the pulse, without the least fear; and upon the second view, but with some appre- hension of contagipn, I was induced to do the same. In what stage of the disease?—-One patient had been ill a week, and was recovering; 449- * G - ■ the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24749527_0027.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
