Curiosities of Medical Experience

by J. G. Millingen

“The condition of this place has been so sad, that I persuaded myself it did exceed all history and example. I may truly say that our place has become a Golgotha—the place of a skull; and had there not been a small remnant of us left, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrha; my ears never heard, my eyes never beheld such ghastly spectacles. Now, blessed be God, all our fears are over, for none have died of the infection since the 11th of October, and all the pesthouses have been long empty. I meant, God willing, to spend most of this week in seeing all woollen clothes fumed and purified, as well for the satisfaction as the safety of the country.

“Here has been such burning of goods, that the like I think was never known. I have scarcely left myself apparel to shelter my body from the cold, and have wasted more than needed, merely for example. As for my part, I cannot say that I had ever been in better health than during the time of this dreadful visitation, neither can I say that I have had any symptoms of the disease.”

During a considerable time the benevolent man and his wife had escaped the malady, but at last his excellent wife was smitten, and died in his arms at the age of 27—far from her children, who had been sent away at the commencement of the invasion.

In 1813, Malta was visited with this fatal malady; when the scenes of the plague that desolated the island in the sixteenth century were renewed, notwithstanding all the sanitary precautions adopted by various governments since that period.

Count Ciantar in his “Malta illustrata,” gives an interesting account of the introduction of the plague at four different periods in that island. The first was in 1592; when, in the month of May, four galleys belonging to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, entered the port to procure pilots for the service. By permission of the Grand Master, Cardinal Verclula, a pilot was obtained, and the vessels steered towards the Egyptian coast. In the vicinity of Alexandria, they captured a galley bound to Constantinople, having on board 150 Turks. On hearing that the plague was raging at Alexandria, they returned to Malta with their prize, which was discovered to be infected, and for the first time the plague was brought into the country.

The second plague broke out in 1623, and originated in the house of Paulus Emilius Ramadus, guardian of the port. But the whole of the infected persons having been immediately sent to the Lazaretto, the progress of the disease was checked, and it only carried off forty-five persons.

The third plague took place in 1633, and broke out at the Marina gate, where vessels from the Levant usually anchored. The proprietor of a house in that quarter, having had some communication with one of these ships, contracted the disease, and infected his sister, who resided in the country at Casal Zeitun, and shortly after the whole family was attacked, their speedy removal to the Lazaretto, however arrested the disease.

The fourth appearance of this malady in Malta, was far more destructive than it had been in the preceding years, even in 1675, and it continued its ravages for seven months. This circumstance has been attributed to a difference of opinion that prevailed among the members of the commissioners appointed to take the necessary steps for checking the progress of the disease. It appears that doubts were entertained as to the nature of the malady, hence the requisite precautions were not enforced; and instead of separating the diseased from the healthy part of the community, with the utmost rigour, prayers were put up, vows and offerings were made, and processions paraded the streets, nor it was not until the Grand Master had sent to France for medical aid, that the scourge was mitigated. On their arrival the first steps adopted by these physicians was to confine the inhabitants to their homes, and to remove the sick to the Lazaret. The ravages of the disease must have been very great, since out of a population of about 60,000, there died in Valetta 4000, in Burgo 1800, Senglen 2000, Burmola 1200, and in the villages upwards of 200.

The last plague was supposed to have been brought in by a vessel from Alexandria, that entered the port on the 28th of March, 1813. It appeared that two of the crew had been seized during the voyage with symptoms of plague, then prevailing in Alexandria, which place the vessel had left with a foul bill of health. On the same day another vessel, the Nancy arrived from the same port, having also on board two men labouring under the disease, and she was followed by a Spanish polacca, the Bella Maria, from the same quarter. It was on the 16th of April that the disease first appeared in the island, in the case of a shoemaker in the Strada St. Paolo. The increase of the disorder was gradual, and from Valetta it spread to Citta Vecchia Bircharcara.

My late friend, staff-surgeon Tully, thus describes the situation of the Island at this period: “The warm season was now rapidly advancing, the thermometer having risen several degrees at the latter end of May, and unfortunately, through the superstitious prejudices of the natives, considerable dependence was placed upon the anxiously-looked-for alteration in the state of the atmosphere, and every day was consequently expected to diminish the danger. This belief was too generally inculcated not to be productive of much mischief, as most persons felt assured that, if they could avoid danger until the summer heat set in, the evil would cease, and that the greatly-dreaded disease would then die a natural death. The consequence of this unfortunate belief was fatal—the freedom of intercourse produced by this blind confidence, led to a very general contamination, and men every where exposed to the baneful influence of the plague, became the active agents of the dissemination throughout the whole island.”