A history of epidemic pestilences from the earliest ages, 1495 years before the birth of our Saviour to 1848 : with researches into their nature, causes, and prophylaxis / by Edward Bascome.

Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A history of epidemic pestilences from the earliest ages, 1495 years before the birth of our Saviour to 1848 : with researches into their nature, causes, and prophylaxis / by Edward Bascome. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    scarcely admits of a doubt*—at least, as far as predisposi- tion goes. In an old work, entitled ' Dr. Dover's Ancient Pliysician^s Legacy,' we have the following; Dover, it must be understood, was an extraordinary character, uniting in his own person the profession of physic and buccaneering. He says :— When I took by storm the t'^o cities of Guyaquil, under the line, in the South Seas, it 'happened that, not long before, the plague had raged amongst them. For our better security and the keeping of our people together, we lay in the churches, and likewise brought thither the plunder of the cities. We were very much annoyed by the smell of the dead bodies. These could hardly be said to be buried; for the Spaniards abroad use no coffins, but throw several dead bodies, one upon another, with only a draw-board over them; so that it was no wonder we caught the infec- tion. In a few days after we went on board, one of the surgeons came to acquaint me that several of my men were taken after a violent manner, with that languor of spirits that they were not able to move; in less than forty-eight hours, we had in our ships one hundred and eighty men in this miserable condition. Dr. Adam Clarke, in his' Commentary on St. Luke,' advises that No burying-places should be tolerated within cities or TOWNS, much less in or about churches and chapels. This custom is excessively injurious to the inhabitants, and especially to those who frequent public worship in such chapels and churches. God, decency, and health forbid this shocking abomination. * * * From long observa- tion I can attest that churches and chapels situated in graveyards, and those especially within whose walls the dead are interred, are perfectly unwholesome; and many, by attending such places, are shortening their passage to the house appointed for the living. What increases the iniquity * For further evidence consult, Diemerhroek, Agricola, Ammianus Marcellinus, Quincy, Wolfius, and though last, not least, the works of Mr. George Alfred Walker, that most indomitable advocate for the prevention of the most dis- gusting abuses of our dead, with the view of benefiting the stultified living.