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