1 (if this “perspiration, I got rid of the fever and anxiety, and
2 entertained the hope ol' being restored to health, although the
3 pains in the groin still continued. The swelling of the glands
4 remained for three weeks, as I did not employ any local rent' dy.
5 After my complete recovery, I wrote to the: English physician
6 (on whose account I had visited the infected town of Palee)
7 the result of my experience, and read the letter to my com¬
8 panions, who manifested their astonishment, and blamed me
9 for having- exposed them to the infection of such a dangerous
10 epidemic: My answer \rus, that I only did my duty as a
11 physician, and that those who were not pleased with such
12 proceeding- ought not to travel in the society of a physician.
13 I cannot tell how it was that. I caught the plague, in spite
14 of all my precautions, unless it was that when I was entering
15 the town, there was a violent wind blowing, whirling the pestife¬
16 rous dust up into the air; and this might; have communicated
17 die virus to my body externally, and even internally—exter¬
18 nally. by absorption through the lachrymal glands of the
19 eyes, the pituitous membrane of (he nostrils, and the cavity of
20 the car; internally, by the respiration of the lungs. The
21 infection was not produced by immediate contact; had that
22 been the cause, I should certainly not have escaped it at
23 Constantinople, if the predisposition to it lies m every one.
24 At this time I must have had a predisposition for the contagion,
25 for some days before I had felt an itching.dn the body, and a
26 kind of plethora, owing to the irregular manner of living
27 which is consequent on the inconveniences and difficulties of
28 long journeys. It is certain that the plague does not require
29 a long time to develope itself, as it made its appearance a few
30 hours after my visiting the patients. In some cases an interval
31 of two or three days may occur before the symptoms arc visible.
32 The malaria of Palee, 1 believe, is generated by the exhalation
33 of the immense marsh, whither thousands of birds and reptiles
34 resort, and which serves at the same time aa a depository for all
35 the substances ejected from the town. The government could
36 easily prevent the obnoxious influence of this marsh, by con¬
37 verting it into fertile ground.