An Authentick Account of the Measures and Precautions Used at Venice / By the Magistrate of the Office of Health, for the Preservation of Publick Health

by Anonymous

There are the most solid Reasons for this Proceeding; since, that as the Office of Health is to be secure, that every Thing liable to Expurgation passes through those Tryals which Reason and Experience, for so long a Space of Time have established; so this Point is not to be confounded.

The Evil manifests itself more easily in Persons than Things; so that they might be subjected to less rigorous Rules than the Goods: Yet as there is no Person, but what brings with him some Things that are for his own Use; or is at least mixed with those that do; so the Suspicions becoming equal on this Head, the Purification required must be equal too.

These different Terms are therefore to be diligently considered: That in which the Unloading of the Ships ends; and that in which is compleated the Transportation of the Goods to the Lazaretto. Since it is not sufficient that they are gone through, if it is not manifested that they are so.

For this Reason, as soon as the Passengers are brought ashore, the Guardian appointed for the Charge of them, causes to be opened all their Chests, strong Boxes, Envelops, and whatever they have with them; of all which he takes a Note, which is called making the Roll. He then orders all to be exposed to the Air, if Wearing Apparel, and not Merchandize.

This being done, he gives an Account of it to the Prior, who is always present; and the first registers in a Book, as well the Persons come into Quarantine, as their Things; as also the Names of the Guardians appointed to have them in Charge. He then writes to the Magistrate, specifying the Day of their Debarkation, the very Moment in which they began to open the Chests and expose the Things to the Air; and he transmits the Roll or List aforesaid, in which is contained every Thing that requires Expurgation. If any Merchandizes are discovered in them, the Quarantine of the Passengers cannot commence, till those Merchandizes have been transported to another Place; there to go through all the Precautions and Tryals proper for them: And if no Merchandize has been found, their Quarantine commences from the Time of the Search as aforesaid. The same Person sends also another List of all the Merchandize received separately for Expurgation, nothing excepted; which denotes the Arrival of such Goods; their Quality; the Place they come from; the Vessel they were landed out of; the Fante who conducted them; the Time when the Unloading was begun and ended; and precisely that of the Merchandize being opened; and from thence is calculated the Term for Quarantine. In this Roll he is also obliged expresly to add, that he has had them lightly singed, or sprinkled, and entirely cleansed; and that he has afterwards diligently made the proper Examination about all the Peatas, which served for the Transportation of the Goods; that no Doubt may remain, that any Thing may have been left: And he is obliged to make it appear, whether the Peatas arrived towards Night at the Lazarettos (at which Time it is rigorously forbid, as is before said, to open any one of the Gates of them;) and if the Guardian and Bastazi have exerted the proper Vigilance about them, as they are obliged by the Laws to do.

Besides, the Roll that the Guardian himself sends, (who remains aboard the Ship after the Unloading is compleated) consists of many Articles; one is, to discover, if the Captain has deposed, at his Examination, and given, in his Manifest, every Thing contained in the Ship. Another is, to have certain Knowledge, that every Thing, that was contained in it, has passed to the Place of Purification; which appears by its being compared with that of the Prior.

It besides serves for a Security to the Persons concerned, for the rendring them a just Account, as the Merchandizes pass through so many Hands. A Fourth, and the most material of all, is the Certainty obtained from it, that, in the Ship itself, nothing has remained that should undergo Purification: To this End, the said Guardian certifies in that Roll, and attests (any Failure in which Point he would answer with his Life) that at such a Time the Unloading was begun, and at such a Time ended: That he has omitted no Search or Caution, and that nothing remained: And that he has exposed to the Air every Thing either belonging to the Mariners or to the Ship.

If upon these Authorities the Quarantine has commenced, and there appears afterwards any Thing on Board subject to Purification, that had been hid, this also is sent to the Lazaretto, with such other Merchandizes that for that End are condemned by the Rules to recommence their Quarantine; when they have not had the Indulgence of performing it separately, but collectively; and this, both because it is required by the Office, and also for a Punishment for such Roguery having been carried on; which does not stop there, but renders subject to Chastisement, whoever was the Concealer.