as possible from what the poet witnessed when it was the scene of his banishment. One more description, and we have done with these details; it is of a plague hospital, and is to be found in page 23 of Dr. BURRELL'S very valuable " Report on the Plague of Malta in 1813." Sir BROOK FAULKNER writes:

"The result of about half an hour's visit to the Maltese pest hospital, on the 2d of June, may convey some faint idea of the sufferings and privations to which those laboring under this horrible disease were subjected. These miserable creatures lay within a short distance of each other, five or six on the floor in the same room; twenty-eight of them were attended by two convicts. They had no change of linen, and were therefore obliged to lie either without shirts, or in their foul every-day clothes."

We shall now pass on to the other two documents. The one entitled, "Papers respecting Quarantine in the Mediterranean," &c., is very instructive in its contents, as descriptive of the regulations enacted for the several quarantine establishments, and is very deserving of being consulted and studied by those who may be desirous of full information on the subject. In following its details, they would find almost in every page confirmation of the remarks we have made as to the want of accord and of efficiency of the quarantine system in the East. We shall give a very few extracts; and, first, as showing the evil of keeping a crew on board ship when disease has broken out, and the benefit of landing them an evil and a good that cannot be too strongly insisted upon. Quarantine was first established in the Principalities bordering on the Danube, in 1829 or 1830. The Vice-Consul at Galatz states, that "during the whole time the quarantine existed there, about twenty-four or twenty-five years, no case of plague occurred in the lazaretto. But it is on record that the plague was on board of a vessel, somewhere about 1834, and that all the crew died, or all excepting one man." member, when in the Ionian Islands, hearing of a similar instance at Zante, and of a like mortality-the crew of a Turkish vessel, with the same disease, being kept on board, and this under British rule. And in the ECLAIR steamer, that ill-fated ship, we have an example of the same kind, only in a less degree. On her arrival from the coast of Africa, instead of being allowed to land her sick at Portsmouth, where an offer was made to receive them into the well-aired wards of Haslar Hospital, she was ordered to Stangate Creek, there to perform a lengthened quarantine with some fresh volunteers on board, one of whom, the pilot, contracted the fever and died, as well as many of the remaining crew. MILROY thus describes the event; we quote from the arrival of the

steamer:

We re

Dr.

"Already upwards of one-half of the crew had perished since the commencement of the sickness in July, and every day added fresh victims to the list. It is needless to say that the utmost alarm and depression existed among all on board. The surviving medical officer urged the immediate landing of the crew, as the only means of arresting the terrible ravages of death; and Sir J. RICHARDSON, the physician of Haslar Hospital, expressed his readiness to receive them into the wards of that noble institution; an advice that was cordially seconded by Sir W. BURNETT. Had this step been taken, much distress would have been

spared, a heavy expense avoided, and, what is of far greater consequence, several valuable lives might have been saved. But, unhappily, the fears of our quarantine authorities prevailed over their judgment."

Other instances might be given, and from the documents under consideration, of a like excessive mortality in ships from disease, if, as when on a long voyage, they were kept at sea from necessity, or, on entering the port, the crews were prevented from landing by the local authorities. Examples of the opposite kind, of which also there are many in these pages, are equally instructive, and on that account, as well as for the pleasure of making them better known, we shall notice one or two of them; and for this purpose we must open the third document-“The Abstracts of Returns of Information on the Laws of Quarantine.”

"Towards the end of 1852, H. M. S. DAUNTLESS, with thirty-three cases of yellow fever on board, was admitted at once (on her arrival at Barbadoes) to pratique, the sick landed and removed to the military hospital of St. ANNE'S, where they rapidly recovered. They were mingled with the other inmates in the wards of the hospital; no instance of the disease being communicated to the latter or to the attendants occurred, and the garrison remained healthy. The disease had been very fatal in the DAUNTLESS before her arrival." (P. 70.)

In a dispatch from Consul KERTRIGHT, dated Carthagena, February, 1853, he states: "The cases of yellow fever at this port have been exclusively confined to persons landed from the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's ships, and have no way affected the health of the town." He

adds:

"On a late occasion, at the urgent request of Captain WILSON, ten men and two officers of the DEE were landed here, suffering severely from yellow fever; as the quarantine regulations formerly in force at this port had been rescinded, owing to the reports of the Board of Health of Great Britain, there was no obstacle to their being landed and placed in the general hospital, and I have the satisfaction to report that, with the exception of two already in the last stage of black vomit, I sent the whole, including the two officers, on board the ship convalescent, and without the disease in any way affecting the general health of the town."

It is further stated, "In the opinion of the medical men in attendance on board the DEE, and concurred in by the captain and the men themselves, that had they not been landed at Carthagena, it is probable that few, if any, of the ship's company would have been saved." (P. 31.) The next example we shall give is one of extremes, of extreme inhumanity and humanity. The details are so interesting that we shall not abridge them:

"In the summer of 1855, when the yellow fever raged with the greatest violence in most of the ports south of Baltimore, the ports to the north and east of Baltimore, without exception, established a most rigid quarantine upon arrivals from the south. At Norfolk and Portsmouth, (in Virginia,) situated on opposite sides of the Elizabeth River, 180 miles distant from this city, the fever raged most malignantly. The inhabitants first sought refuge by flight to the neighboring towns and vil lages; but this was soon prevented by the people there, who turned out with arms, and drove them back to their own pest-smitten city. All communication by rail and boat was cut off, and one mode alone remained, viz.,

by the daily line of steamers from Baltimore to Norfolk, and no impediment was offered by the authorities and people of this city to the arrival of the fugitives. Daily did the steamers convey provisions, medicines, clothing, coffins, &c., and daily did they return laden with fugitives. On arrival opposite the Marine Hospital, the steamers stopped until they were boarded by the health officer, who removed any case of fever that might exist on board, and then allowed her to proceed and land her passengers, &c. Several hundreds of these took up their quarters at once in the hotels of the city. Some sickened with fever shortly after landing. The number of deaths thus occurring was about fifty. Not a single instance was known to have arisen from contagion, all being distinctly traced to those persons alone who had come to this city from the infected districts. The utmost vigilance was employed all the while by the health authorities to thoroughly cleanse and purify the city, particularly all ship-yards, wharves, drains, cellars," &c. (P. 28.).

The next point we shall advert to is a very important one-that of the question of the power of goods to convey the matter of contagion or infection. From the examination of the several reports of the consuls contained in the abstracts, it would appear that, with one exception, there is a general agreement amongst them that articles of merchandise are incapable of becoming media of the kind, and founded on the fact that those whose duty it is to air the goods needing depuration according to the regulations, have never contracted disease, neither plague, yellow fever nor cholera. The late Sir FREDERICK PONSONBY, when governor of Malta, stated, as the result of his inquiries, that there was no instance on record in any lazaretto of a person contracting plague from handling cotton imported from places where the plague was prevailing. And the testimony of Sir W. Prм, (he, too, now no more,) after careful research at the different lazarettos in the Mediterranean, is to the same effect. The exception alluded to is that of the acting consul, CALVERT, at Alexandria, who says,

Lorsque pendant des epidémies de peste nous avons eu au lazaret des merchandises susceptibles, il y a eu des porte-faix qui, eu maniant et en exposent ces merchandises à l'air, ainsi que cela est prescrit par les règlements, ont contracté la maladie, et en sont morts. D'ou l'on est en droit de conclure que la peste se communiquer par les effets ou merchandises susceptibles.'

This gentleman, in drawing the conclusion, appears to have forgotten a former remark which he made relative to the infraction of quarantine:

"On ne pourrait éviter des infractions même en augmentant le personnel. Ce fait est suffisamment prouvé par la contrabande qui s'opère journellement sur tous les points de l'Europe où il existe des lignes formées de nombreux gardiens de la douane, et dont le service est fait incontestablement avec des éléments bien supérieurs aux nôtres."

The following is a striking confirmation of the well-known fact: When a certain contraband trade, in the time of WILLIAM III., was carried on between France and England on the southeastern coast, all the inhabitants being in the plot, MACAULAY informs us: "It was a common saying among them, that if a gallows were set up every quarter of a mile along the coast, the trade would still go on briskly."-Hist. of England, vol. v. p. 52.

Another remarkable fact that we learn from these documents, is the many places in the Levant, in the very centre, as it were, of the plagueregion, which have not for a long time, and some never in the memory of man, been visited by the disease; and these places under Ottoman rule, and consequently peculiarly exposed to the introduction of a contagious disease, places such as Rhodes, Cyprus, Mytilene, Scio:

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"Quoiqu'il y ait beaucoup de navires avec des merchandises et des passagers qui ont subi leur quarantaine à Scio avec patente brute de cholera, et que beaucoup de ces passagers soient morts de cette maladie pendant les vingt-cinque dernièrs années, aucun des employés du lazaret, ni des habitants de la ville, n'a été atteint de cholera ou d'autre mal contagieux."

The vice-consul at Mytilene reports:

"Providence has saved this town, and the other inhabited parts of the island, from the various scourges which have decimated many parts of Europe during the present century." Adding: "Should, however, Mytilene unfortunately be visited by what can really be considered an infectious disease, the havoc, owing to the accumulation of putrid filth in the streets and open spaces, would be awful."

Of Cyprus it is stated:

"Les habitants de l'ile n'ont jamais été atteint des maladies pour lesquelles un régime de quarantaine est imposé."

Another important fact afforded by the same documents is, that quarantine, even when rigidly enforced, though there has been for a long period of years an absence of plague, yet has not kept out other diseases of the contagious nature of which there is no question, such as smallpox and other exanthemata. In Malta, for instance, we are assured on good authority, that in the short space of seven years, 1829-1835, in spite of quarantine regulations for their exclusion, that island was twice invaded by small-pox, one epidemic proving fatal to 1,500 persons out of a population of 114,000; and also by measles, scarlatina and hoopingcough. And there are other instances recorded of the like kind, which we need not specify, as none of them are more remarkable than this of Malta, where the quarantine system has been so regularly enforced, and under more favorable circumstances, as to efficiency, than almost anywhere else.

Were we not apprehensive of overloading our pages with facts, we might be tempted to give some of the very many recorded in these documents in confirmation of what we have pointed out as remarkable; and in the instances of yellow fever and of cholera, as well as of plague, showing very strongly, as regards the former, that whilst quarantine measures cannot, that is, have not, kept it out, yet when cases of it have been landed, the disease has not spread.

Besides the information collected in these abstracts bearing immediately on the question of quarantine, the value of which it would be difficult to over-estimate, there are to be found in them many observations well deserving the attention of government, and of the English people generally, respecting our mercantile marine, showing not only the evils of over-crowding in the production of disease, and more especially in the spread of contagious and infectious diseases, but also of the neglect of

ordinary sanitary measures in the impairment of the health and efficiency of the crews. Dr. SMITH, writing from St. Domingo, states:

"British vessels frequenting Port-au-Prince are, with rare exceptions, very filthy and hygienically bad in respect to their internal sanitary arrangements. The forecastles, where the men are lodged, are generally unwholesome, while the bedding, &c., are dirty and unaired."

Another extract we must give on account of its importance:

"The utmost importance is attached by Professor Bo (of Genoa) to the necessity of improving the sanitary condition of mercantile ships. generally, and also of their crews, most of the sickness of such vessels, on arrival, being traceable, in his opinion, to the faulty arrangements on board. On the important subject of the accommodation for the men, he alludes to the great superiority, in point of wholesomeness and comfort of the deck-houses, in most Dutch and American ships, over the ordinary berths in or under the forecastle. They are more easily kept dry, and are, of course, much better ventilated. Nor can the space be encroached on by the cargo, or be tainted with the foul smells either from it or from the hold. The men are more promptly at their posts when suddenly called on deck; and the change of temperature between their sleeping-places and the outer air, a point of no small moment for the preservation of health, is much less considerable. It is a great advantage, also, to have the galley close at hand; their food is better dressed, and their berths are kept warmer and drier in cold and stormy weather. The galley in deck-house ships is invariably very superior to the galley in ordinary merchantmen. There is, too often, says Dr. Bo, a marked contrast between the clean and smart look of the outside of many merchant vessels, with the gay and handsome cabins of the officers and passengers, and the dingy slovenliness and discomfort of the quarters of the crew and the foul pollution of the hold. Dr. Bo alludes, also, to the defective clothing of merchant sailors as a frequent cause of sickness and bad health among them. The state of the provisions and of the water supply on board is another subject of great moment for their welfare. He is of opinion that scorbutic and other cachectic diseases are often due to the impurity of the water, which in many cases he has found to be quite unfit for use." (P. 18.)

The writer of the article in the Medico-Chirurgical Review, after making these extracts, says:

"There is also, in these abstracts, much that is instructive relative to the condition of sea-ports, in various parts of the world, very deserving of attention and reflection, and especially of those intent on the discovery of the causes of disease, and too often entering on that most difficult subject with a confidence founded only on a very limited experience, and the stronger because so limited.

"We cannot quit these documents without expressing our gratitude to the Committee of the National Association, and more especially to the Honorary Secretary of the Sub-committee, to whom we believe we mainly owe them. They do infinite credit to the zeal and ability of Dr. MILROY, and sure we are that nothing but a high sense of duty and the importance of the subject could have moved him to undertake such a task, and could have stimulated him to persevere in the labor.

"No candid person reading these documents but must feel convinced