Observations on the oriental plague, and on quarantines, as a means of arresting its progress, addressed to the British Association of Science ... 1838 / [Sir John Bowring].

  • Bowring, John, 1792-1872
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the oriental plague, and on quarantines, as a means of arresting its progress, addressed to the British Association of Science ... 1838 / [Sir John Bowring]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    dical men ; they have beyond all other races a strong convic¬ tion of the healing powers of art; they apply means to ends like the rest of mankind ; their notions of destiny do not protect them from the cares, the anxious cares for the morrow, which will in spite of all philosophy invade all mortal bosoms; and if they believed in the contagi¬ ousness of plague, they would fly from it as they fly from any other impending calamity. The belief in predestination is indeed a Mahomedan dogma, but it is inoperative in the daily business of life. But any evidence which comes from the East should be cautiously sifted—and to the East the evidence in favour of the contagiousness of plague may be originally traced. The credulous character of the Orientals is well known. To say nothing of the gross religious superstitions of the Levantines, the belief in Peris, Vampires, Djins and Ghosts, is almost universal. I amused myself with collecting such supersti¬ tious stories as fell in my way, and for any one fact which was adduced in proof of the contagiousness of plague, I found ten which proved the existence of Peris, that they had been known to visit certain districts, that they had intermarried with mortals, had provided them with food, had transported them through the air, and given abundant evidence of their presence and their power. As to Vampires there are numerous villages in which the authorities have interfered to hunt and inter the suspected Vampire, and there is a recognised class of Vampire destroyers (Vampirdji) to be found in the Levant. Djins or Genii, both beneficent and malificent, are univer¬ sally supposed to visit mankind, and it would be difficult to find an Oriental who doubted the frequent appearance of ghosts. Professional magicians are every where met with, and by their arts have sometimes mistified even European travellers, while, among the natives, nobody dreams of dis¬ puting their power. A belief exists among the Levant population in the con¬ tagiousness of diseases which in Europe are no longer sup¬ posed to possess that character. Gholera is universally