I shall now give a brief account of the fate of my fellow sufferers at Bussorah. This unfortunate party consisted of capt. Sheriff, of the Eagle cruiser; Mr. Brown, a Bengal merchant, carrying goods from India to Aleppo; Mr. Palmer, a gentleman returning with his fortune from Bengal to Europe; Mr. Robson, surgeon to the factory; Mr. Abraham, the vice-consul; Dr. Ross, who had practised many years at Constantinople, some time in Bengal, and was then taking the opportunity of accompanying me across the desert; Mr. Smith, a merchant from India; and an Italian Carmelite, the vicar of Bussorah, who came from Bombay. It is unnecessary to say that the seca dab is a common symptom in the Turkish fever, or, in other words, a strong desire of self-destruction. We had a fatal instance of it in our party. Mr. Brown, the second day of his fever, being left alone, got to his pistols, and, throwing in four or five balls, discharged them into his breast, and was found dead a few minutes afterwards. I believe every one of us at times would have done the same, had we been possessed of the means of accomplishing it. Mr. Robson died the third day of his fever, in great agonies, but perfectly sensible. His was a continued high fever, without any remission. Mr. Palmer died the 4th day, under the same symptoms as the preceding. The Carmelite, the second morning after he was taken ill, had opened a vein in his arm, and bled to death, most probably intentionally. Captain Sheriff was seized with the fever on his return from Bussorah to Bushire. He died the third day, in a manner which is even painful to relate. He was a man of singular strength of constitution, and suffered unusual agonies before he died. His cries were heard all over the factory; he foamed at the mouth, gnashed with his teeth, and tore his arms with his teeth. Those who heard him compared his cries to the bellowing of a mad bull. He was no sooner dead but his body was covered with purple spots, and so offensive that the people could hardly carry it out to be buried. Mr. Sheriff’s was what they call the worst kind of plague.
Mr. ————, formerly mentioned as having escaped the plague at Bussorah by shutting himself up in a mud house, was seized on his voyage to Bussorah with a kind of insanity, imagining that people were conspiring against his life, and that he was capable of overhearing, at a great distance, even a whisper spoken to his disadvantage. He, however, escaped the infection, and returned to England in health.
No VII.
Set of Queries furnished by Doctors Aikin and Jebb; and by Mr. Howard put to several foreign Physicians, during his tour; with their Opinions concerning the Plague.
1. Is the infection of the plague frequently received by the French?
Answer, by Raymond, physician at Marseilles: Sometimes it is.——Demollins, surgeon do: In the lazaretto some have touched infected bodies and things with impunity. Attributed to the temperament of the body.——Giovanelli, physician to the Leghorn lazaretto: The plague cannot be communicated but by very near approach, or touch: air cannot be the vehicle.——They, physician to the Malta lazaretto: It may happen that one person may inhabit the same chamber, or even touch an infected person, with impunity; of which I have known instances; but all who approach the atmosphere of an infected body may receive the infection by respiration. Contagion is almost always received before touching or approaching the infected person.——Morandi, physician at Venice: Contact is one of the most powerful and dangerous means of communicating the infection; but for the developement of its effects a predisposition in the receiving body is necessary.——Verdoni, physician at Trieste: It is most frequently communicated by the touch. It has been given by a flower held and smelt at, first by two persons who remained free; and then by a third, who sickened and died in 24 hours.——Jew physician at Smyrna: The infection is in reality communicated by the touch alone; for all who keep from contact of infected persons or things remain free. To the effect of contact, however, a certain disposition of the air is necessary; for we often see infected persons arrive from other countries, yet the disease does not spread. But what this disposition is can scarcely be conceived. Commonly in this climate, the disease appears at the end of spring, and continues to the middle of summer; with this particularity, that, in cloudy weather, and during the sirocco winds, the attacks are more frequent. Also in the same diathesis of the air some receive the infection, while others exposed to the same dangers escape it. From observation it appears, that cachectic persons, and those of constitutions abounding in acid, do not readily take it. The contagious miasmata may be dormant in the body for some time without doing the least harm, till set in motion by sudden fear, or the excessive heat of a bath.——Fra. Luigi di Pavia, prior of the hospital of San Antonio at Smyrna: The plague is communicated by contact, according to all the observations I have been able to make for eighteen years.
2. Does the plague ever rise spontaneously?
Raymond: Incontestible experience shows that it only proceeds from contact.——Demollins: From all ages the plague has been brought to Marseilles by merchandise or persons beyond sea.——Giovanelli: As the disease always appears with the same symptoms, it is not probably spontaneous, but the consequence of a particular contagion.——They: Some contagious fevers come of themselves; others proceed from the communication of contagion. The plague is thought to have originated in Egypt, and spread itself from thence.——Morandi: Contagious fevers do not arise of themselves, but are always the product of a peculiar poison—Verdoni: I know no fever that can properly be called contagious, and doubt if even the plague can be considered as such. My reasons are drawn from the very different manner in which the plague appears in different years, and the different degree in which it spreads. I therefore conclude that contagious fevers come of themselves.——Jew physician: According to the most ancient authorities, the plague has always been brought to Smyrna by contagion, and was never produced here.——Fra. Luigi: Ancient and common observation in this city prove that the plague is derived solely from contagion.
3. To what distance is the air infected? How far does actual contact, wearing infected clothes, or touching other things, produce the disease?
Raymond: The infected are safely conversed with across a barrier, which separates them only a few paces.——Demollins: The air round the patient is infected more or less according to the degree of poison which exhales. Here in the lazaretto they are spoken with across two barriers, a few paces from each other, without fear of contagion. Hence it would appear that the plague is communicated only by the touch, or still more by wearing infected clothes.——Giovanelli: If one speaks of an infected person shut up in an unventilated chamber, it may be said that the whole chamber is dangerous; but if one speaks of a patient exposed to the open air, it has been proved that the infection does not extend beyond five geometrical paces from the body. Beyond this distance one is in safety. The actual touch of an infected person or thing is proved to be very dangerous by fatal experience; but to what degree, is not ascertained.——They: The infection extends only some paces; and the miasms, at the distance of about ten paces, are so corrected by the air as to lose all their activity. It may be communicated by touching infected things, especially of a porous nature, as cloth, wool, skins, &c.——Verdoni: From the moment of infection to the time when nature has entirely dissipated the contagious principle, which usually happens in forty days, there is always a capacity of communicating the infection. The degree of infection is in proportion to the volume of air surrounding the patient; the air being what absorbs, dissipates and communicates the contagious principle. Infected substances communicate the disease for many years, in proportion to the ventilation they have undergone, or of which they are susceptible.——Jew physician: The degree of infection in the air about the sick depends upon the greater or less malignity of the disease, and other circumstances. The air about poor patients is more infectious than about the rich. These things being established, I am of opinion that, in the greatest contagion, we may securely see a patient at the distance of two ells, if the chamber windows be not all shut.——Fra. Luigi: The infection is greater or less in proportion to the virulence of the contagion; but I have made no observation as to the distance. The disease is communicated by contact of all infected things, and by close inspiration of the breath of the sick.