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

by Somerville Scott Alison

By the belief in the doctrine of Atmospheric Contagion, the attendant not only becomes, in general, exposed to one of the most common and efficient causes of disease, viz. fear, but his offices are performed more as a duty than as a gratification, which it is to a well disposed mind, where no extraordinary danger is encountered, and he is thus forced to make a sacrifice of his feelings, and the valued assurance of security to a rigid sense of duty; but however much such conduct may agree with morals, it is detrimental to health.

It is hurtful also to the patient, from its influencing so far those, who, by relationship, by previous terms of friendship, and by duty, are bound, by every moral obligation, to assist him, now helpless, sick, and perhaps expiring,—as to forget their most sacred duties as to make them disregard his forlorn situation, and indeed to induce them to fly from and desert him; thus sacrificing every good principle and wholesome consideration, (as they erroneously think) to make their own lives the more secure.

Such contingencies are of frequent occurrence; and the result is, that many unhappy persons are left to perish, their thirst unslaked, their latest requests unheard, and their last moments unwitnessed. Parents have been known to forsake their children, and the offspring their parents, whom, at all hazards, they were bound to serve,—by every holy affection, to assist the more diligently, the more they were pressed with adversity.

But alas! the affections, the instincts of Nature, the dictates of gratitude, have been thrown aside, and every thing fair and holy in the human soul has been foully stained, in the almost universal wreck, attendant on the course of pestilence.

The history of the cholera visitation affords many examples of perishing persons deserted and left to the mercy of a cruel scourge; and we are familiar with many instances which have come under our own charge, where it has been found impossible to procure the attendance of relations, or even the mercenary aid of hirelings, although extraordinary remuneration has been offered.

Last winter, the father and mother of a family were seized with fever, and their sole attendants were their infant children. There were several relatives of the family not far off, but none, not even one, could be persuaded to lend assistance. Their neighbours refused to hold any communication; and, notwithstanding repeated and continued attempts by the Author to induce those who make it their business to wait upon the sick, the family had to struggle on, without the least attention being paid, saving by the almost useless children, to their wants, to cleanliness, and to the administration of the remedies.

It was truly a deplorable scene, such as made the Author reprobate that cowardly desertion, and regret the operation of a doctrine so baneful, and moreover so groundless. Yet we know not whether to blame most the people or the doctrine. Did those see the scenes, the distress and cruelty inflicted through the operation of infectious air, who believe in it, and preach its avoidance; surely, did they possess one spark of humanity, it could not fail to manifest itself, by causing them to institute, or at least to listen to, an inquiry touching its evidence.

The medical attendants are not free from the hurtful operation of this doctrine. If believers in infectious air, they are under a feeling of apprehension which, perhaps with some, may not be strongly felt, on account of the frequency of impunity from exposure; but with many it is strongly felt, and influences their attendance on the sick, their communication with them, and their own comfort and feeling of security.

Many instances are known—they are of very frequent occurrence—where the physician, from apprehension, has failed to pay so many visits as were necessary, or to remain with his patient sufficiently long to ascertain his situation, and watch well the progress of the case. Cases are known where patients have been looked at by their advisers, stationed at the door, where it was impossible to ascertain the expression of the countenance, the condition of the tongue, the state of the skin, not to say any thing of that of the pulse.

We are acquainted with instances in which medical men have so acted under the apprehension of taking infection, and where, too, they have not felt they were doing any thing reprehensible, as was sufficiently evident from the fact, that they themselves were the informants.