The quarantine laws, their abuses and inconsistencies : a letter addressed to the Rt. Hon. Sir John Cam Hobhouse, bart. M.P. ... / by Arthur T. Holroyd.

Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The quarantine laws, their abuses and inconsistencies : a letter addressed to the Rt. Hon. Sir John Cam Hobhouse, bart. M.P. ... / by Arthur T. Holroyd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    ment of sanatory regulations at Beyrout. The quarantine of seven days at the Pines was not enforced upon all equally, and only a little interest with the authorities was required for avoiding detention. A teskere or order from the Govern- ment, procured through the medium of a consulate, was considered equivalent to seven days’ purification; and I was informed that the mules and muleteers which brought a noble lord and suite into Beyrout, during the time of the plague, were allowed, after having communicated most com- pletely with the town, to pass the Cordon Sanitaire, the British Consul having obtained a teskere for them to pro- ceed without the penalty of undergoing quarantine. The plague had existed for some time at a village in Mount Lebanon, near Tripoli, previous to its appearance at Bey- rout. This village had not been placed in quarantine. Only one or two cases had appeared at Tripoli, and the malady had not extended to any other part of Mount Lebanon. No precautions had been taken to prevent infected persons from this village entering Beyrout; and the appearance of the plague at Beyrout was not attributed to communication with the infected village, but it was supposed to have been im- ported from Cyprus by some Greeks, as it shewed itself first amongst them in the Lazzaret. I mentioned that I arrived in Beyrout on the evening of the 9th of June. I avoided all communication with the town, and the day following, the 10th, I embarked on board II. B. M. Steamer Megaera. On the morning of the 11th we left for Alexandria, where we arrived on the 13th. The Megaera was placed in quarantine. On the 15th, I addressed the following note to M. Chasseaud, H. B. M. V. Consul, at Alexandria: — LETTER No. I. [cory.] Sir, As Mr. Andrews and 1 wish to disembark from H. B. M. Steamer Megaera, will yon oblige us by information on the following points :—