them, and enjoyed the produce of their orced labour, these many years;-as we have had the trouble of killing some of them, for offending us ;-as it has been attended with some difficulty to preserve them from all useful information ;-and as it has cost both property and health to debase and demoralize them ;-I therefore beg leave, as a member of the honourable society, whose cause I have attempted to advocate, humbly to propose :That-[Here a loud noise was heard at a distance, but what it was, no one could certainly say; it, however, seemed to be the general opinion, that the animals had broken loose, and were tumultuously approaching the assembly. Such seemed to be the opinion of the speaker, who, without submitting his motion to the meeting, left it, in a state of the utmost trepidation and terror.

MR. EDITOR, SIR,-The age in which we live is remarkable for boldness of hypothesis and for the spirit of innovation. New doctrines and untried projects are continually starting up, to surprise the ignorant and impose upon the unwary. But it may be doubted whether, in this rage for novelty, and the pride of being wiser than our fathers, we have either much improved in virtue or usefulness. That there are boundaries to human knowledge, no man has yet been hardy enough to deny; and that there are some principles of science so determinately fixed as to be incapable of subversion, may be safely maintained, in opposition to those sophists who fancy or feign that the world is as yet in its infancy, and that the time is coming when diseases may be subject to the will of man, and death itself be avoided by philosophical resolution. In the mean time, those who take the wisdom of ages for their guide, will be cautious how they sacrifice positive benefit for the chimerical advantages held out by the brilliancy of theory.

I was led to this train of reflection by reading the recent discussion in parliament, of the question, whether the plague be contagious or not? The general opinion seems to have been on the negative side; for which I am

at a loss to assign any other reason, than the very ungracious one, that the cupidity of commercial speculation must have blinded the understandings of our legislators.

The notion certainly is not altogether new, for M. Chicoynenu, a French physician, started the same opinion, when the plague at Marseilles alarmed all Europe, about a hundred years ago. But this doctrine was ill supported at the time when it was advanced; and the unanswerable treatise of our learned Mead on the plague, published soon afterwards by authority, completely overthrew this article of medical scepticism. It is, however, again revived, and, as a mere point of controversy, the subject might have been agitated without any harm to the public. But when we find the doctrine gravely brought into the senate, as the foundation of a legislative enactment for the abolition of the quarantine laws, it is enough to rouse the feelings of every man in the kingdom against such daring temerity. As the importance of the trade with Egypt is supposed to have had considerable influence in this decision, I request an insertion in your valuable Magazine, of some observations made on the plague in that country, by Mr. John Antes, who was for a long period resident there, as a missionary from the Society of Unitas Fratrum, or Moravians, and who afterwards settled at Falneck, in Yorkshire.

"The plague is the most terrible of all the disorders the human species is subject to. At the same time, it is a disorder from which any one may be perfectly safe, who performs a strict quarantine, even though he may be in the midst of a city where it rages with the utmost fury. The practice of the Europeans in Turkey will prove this to be a fact, and it will also be confirmed by the following observations which I made at Grand Cairo in the years 1771 and 1781, when this calamity raged violently, as well in that city, as in other parts of the country, particularly in Lower Egypt.

"As soon as it is known that symptoms of the plague are in the town, or in its neighbourhood, caution must be taken not to mix too much in a crowd, especially of the lower class of people. It is much easier known at Cairo than in most parts of Turkey, as it is most commonly brought from

Smyrna, Constantinople, or other places, first to Alexandria or Damietta, and thence by degrees to that city. When the contagion begins to spread, all close connexion with other people must be entirely avoided; and to do this more effectually, the houses ought to be locked up, and no one permitted to enter. The usual way of doing this is to make a partition of boards withinside the house-door. In this partition a small opening is made, to receive provisions. This little door is kept constantly locked, to prevent careless servants from taking any thing in secretly. On the inside a tub of water is placed, into which the servant, who is without, puts all such victuals as will bear wetting, and the same are taken with a hook. But bread, rice, coffee, or such dry articles, do not convey the infection, and may therefore be taken in with safety from a board. Such things may also be drawn up through a window by a rope formed of the filaments of the datetree, and a basket made of its leaves. But any thing of woollen, cotton, linen, silk, or the like, must by no means be taken in during the time of quarantine. The house-door is commonly so contrived, that the latch may be opened by a rope from above, in order to let in the servant to bring provisions; and there is usually a place behind every house-door, for him to sleep or sit, that he may be at hand. Letters are usually taken in by a pair of tongs, and either smoked, or drawn through vinegar. But the Europeans frequently convey their letters, or what else they may have to send to each other, in a wooden box sealed, about which there must be no packthread or the like. There is no instance of any European or others having caught the infection, who performed a strict quarantine; but many persons, who have had the imprudence to take but a single ounce of silk, or a handkerchief, have lost their lives by it.

"A man at Alexandria, having locked himself up to perform quarantine, being unable to shave himself, sent for a barber; and in order not to touch him, for fear of catching the disorder, put his head only through a small hole, that the operation might be performed. However, he paid dearly for his folly, and died a very few days after. There is else no dan

ger in talking with people infected, at a very small distance; as is often the case when such persons apply to European physicians. I have even been walking in the street, where people dropped down dead, before I locked myself up in the house, and I only took good care not to touch any body.

"To determine the cause of the plague is a very difficult task. There is scarcely any thing real in the theories which have been hitherto formed, even by people of whom one might naturally expect something satisfactory. Even that which may appear to be true at Constantinople, or other places, often proves the reverse at Grand Cairo. There is, upon the whole, so much seeming contradiction in this phenomenon, that our thoughts are often at a stand, and a keenly thinking philosopher may find a large field for reflection.

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Long experience has shewn that the infection may be very easily prevented, even in the midst of the surrounding danger, by a strict quarantine. The various observations which I have made in consequence, seem to contradict many of the theories formed hitherto, and I will now mention them, without being answerable for their infallibility.

"First. Many reasons have been given to prove that Egypt was properly the country where this distemper originated. It has frequently been asserted, that the yearly overflowing of the Nile leaves a quantity of water and mud in the ponds and lowest parts of the fields, which afterwards becomes putrid, and consequently infects the air to such a degree as to produce the plague. This plainly presupposes an infection of the air. If we could allow this, how could its influence be prevented merely by avoiding all communication with infected people, when, at the same time, these very persons must live in the same air. Nor do they attempt to rectify it, and they cannot shut it out; on the contrary, they chuse to enjoy it as much as possible, and oftentimes even sleep in the open air, on the top of their houses, as it is commonly very dry from February till pear the end of June, which are the months when the plague rages most. One should also imagine, that if the air was really infected, the many thousands

It

"In 1781, it was brought first to Alexandria, thence to Rosetta, and so to Cairo, by some Jews, who, having bought a chest of old clothes at Smyrna, where it raged furiously, brought it into Egypt to be sold. As soon as the chest was opened, at three different custom houses, the infection immediately took place, and spread, so as to become general in a short time. That the infection will remain in such articles for years together, and be conveyed to any part, is a wellknown fact.* In this way the plague once remained inactive in Cairo a whole year. The fact was this: a Damascene merchant had two black women slaves who died of the plague; and he, very imprudently, had their clothes locked up in a chest, without first airing them. About the same time in the following year, he bought two new black slaves, and dressed them in these clothes, by which they immediately caught the infection, and afterwards spread it through the whole country.

"From these observations, I think Egypt cannot, with any truth, be called the mother of the plague; and I am sure that, by a strict quarantine, in the maritime towns, it might as certainly be banished out of that country, as out of any in Europe.

"The symptoms of the plague are exceedingly various, as also are its effects. The infection seems to be most active when it first breaks out in the country, and very few of those who are afflicted by it in the beginning escape. Some of them may continue ten or twelve days before they die; others are frequently carried off in a few hours. Again, others, apparently well, will drop down dead in an instant; and the signs of the plague can only be depended upon after death. These are, buboes in the arm-pits, or the soft part of the belly, with a few dark purple spots or çarbuncles on the legs, &c. When the buboes break, and discharge much matter, the patients may

And yet the world has been told by some medical theorists, and even by some senators in the British Parliament, that the pestilence never has been conveyed in this manner!EDITOR.

"The plague often rages with fury in one quarter of the town, and all at once ceases, and then begins again with equal violence in a quite opposite part, where little or nothing of it had been before. Sometimes a house is entirely cleared of its inhabitants, and in another house it perhaps takes one or two out of twelve, fifteen, or more, and those sometimes die in the arms of others, who, with all the rest, escape unhurt. There are instances of two persons sleeping in the same bed, one of whom shall be carried off by it, and the other remain unaffected; notwithstanding which, it is extremely dangerous to touch any thing belonging to them.

They say, and

"In Egypt they are always pretty sure when the plague will cease, for it seldom remains after the 24th of June, which has given occasion to the following superstitious notions, not among the Turks only, but among the Coptic Christians. firmly believe, that angels are sent by God to strike those people who are intended as a sacrifice. All who receive the stroke must inevitably die; but those who receive the infection through fear only, escape or recover. When they feel themselves infected, they say, Anna matrub vel cuppa! which signifies, 'I am struck (or smitten) by the plague.' As the 17th of June, aecording to the Cophts, is the festival of the archangel Michael, on which day he lets a drop of water, of such a fermenting quality, fall into the river, as occasions its overflowings: they say, that, at the same time, he, as the chief of the angels, orders all those occupied in striking the people, to retire. They add, that if any of them should still lurk about in the dark, after that day, they must absolutely fly before St. John, on the 24th of June.

"The natural cause of the plague ceasing at that time, in Egypt, is the great heat: Fahrenheit's thermometer then standing generally at 90 or 92