An inquiry into the propagation of contagious poisons, by the atmosphere

by Somerville Scott Alison

It has been remarked by Citois, that the colic of Devonshire and Poutou attacks more particularly those families who are suffering under that calamity.

Disease frequently makes its first appearance when friends and relatives assemble to pay the last marks of respect at the funeral of the departed. I am acquainted with several instances in which, shivering, tremors, and sense of great debility, have suddenly supervened in men in perfect health upon the “lifting” of the corpse, and upon the “lowering” into the grave, moments in which the hearts of many would seem to threaten to melt away, and in which they have proved to be the primary symptoms of fever; the other more violent and more dangerous characteristics being duly developed. A man, named Stevenson, died at Tranent last winter; the friends were assembled in the house to attend the funeral; his brother arrived from a distance, just as the body was about to be lifted, went into the apartment, apprehended he smelt infection, and instantly felt very ill. After having gone to the churchyard, and returned home, he was immediately attacked with sickness, which assumed the form of fever, and he died in the course of a few days.

The following statement, made by Dr Paris, illustrates well, how depression of mind, by affecting the system, promotes the action of poison:—

“A patient had been taking mercurial medicine, and using frictions for a considerable period, without any apparent effect; under these circumstances, he was abruptly told that he would fall a victim to his disease; the unhappy man experienced an unusual shock at this opinion, and in a few hours became violently salivated (that is, became affected with the peculiar action of mercury on the mouth).”

CLIMATE.

Besides the various causes of pestilence to which reference has been made, there are many others connected with peculiarities of climate, irrigation, soil, and habitudes of nations, of which the limits of this work will not permit an extended account. Of the peculiarities of climate, the most important are the greater or less intensity of the sun’s rays. It is found that much solar heat disposes to excessive action of the liver, and hence it is that fever in tropical regions is biliary; characterized by derangement of the biliary organs, of which the liver is the principal; that fever in the West Indies is yellow, a colour which proceeds from the dissemination of the bile throughout the body. Few persons who have remained long within the tropics are free of disease of the liver, and this is well known to be a common, nay, almost a universal complaint among soldiers who have returned to this country after many years’ service in those regions.

Another active agent in the production of disease in these climates is the great fall of dew which takes place between the setting and rising of the sun, and the extreme degree of cold which attends it. The dew begins to fall as soon as the sun gets below the horizon, and increases till about an hour or two before dawn; the cold at that time is extreme, more particularly felt on account of the great heat which is experienced during the day. The cold is the immediate cause of the falling of the dew, which is only the water that was dissipated in vapour by the action of the sun’s rays. The dew favours the action of the cold; and persons who are exposed to it, are in consequence frequently attacked with disease.

Persons unaccustomed to the heat, and ignorant or regardless of the consequences of exposure to the night air, often suffer much, and become affected with the peculiar distempers of the climate, in this manner: they lie down on the ground scantily covered, while the sun is still above the horizon, and make no provision for the cold and damp of night which is sure to overtake them.

Persons go to bed also with too few clothes, being then warm and oppressed with heat; in the night the dew falls, the cold arrives, and they are often awakened with severe rigors or shiverings; and thus fever, dysentery, and the like disorders are induced.

The winds in all latitudes are often instrumental in the production of disease. Some have been already referred to in connexion with the conveyance of vitiated air. Some are hurtful from their excessive heat, as, for instance, those blowing directly off the burning deserts of Arabia and of Africa. The Sirocco is not only extremely hot, but is copiously loaded with aqueous vapour. It visits Italy, blowing there several days at a time, and acts almost as a vapour bath upon the inhabitants. The Sirocco blows off the deserts of Africa, passing over the Mediterranean sea, there imbibing a large quantity of water, converted into vapour, and rushes upon the fair shores and degenerate population of Italy. Its immediate effect is to relax the system, and to open up all the pores on the surface of the body. These effects are very hurtful to health, and become particularly so, when they are long continued, as sometimes happens. But more dreadful are the results of exposure of persons so situated, to the sudden action of an intensely cold blast, such as the Tramontane, which, driving from the northern side of the Alps and Pyrenees, passing over their snow-capt summits, and sharing their bitterness and frost, rushes, without warning, upon the inhabitants.