Chapter XXI: Introduction (3)

A popular fallacy has long existed upon this point, and it certainly
receives a sanction from the usages of antiquity. At Athens those who
died in debt had no right to human burial, until satisfaction was
made; their bodies belonged to their creditors, whence it is said that
_Cimon_ had no other method to redeem the body of his father
_Miltiades_, but by taking his debts and fetters upon
himself.—_Potter’s Antiq._

Footnote 166:

The peculiar gas to which this destructive quality is owing, is
generally _Sulphuretted Hydrogen_, sometimes existing in combination
with Ammonia (_Hydro-Sulphuret of Ammonia_). _M. Dupuytren_ has also
shewn that the _Plomb_ is sometimes occasioned by _Nitrogen gas_.
_Hallé_ in his work entitled “_Recherches sur le Mephitisme des Fosses
d’Aisances_” has proposed various methods for securing the _nightmen_
from the dreadful effects of this gas, as by _ventilation_ and
_fumigation_. _M. Dupuytren_, however, has satisfactorily proved that
Chlorine, by decomposing it, is its true antidote, by which
_Hydro-Choloric_ acid (_Muriatic_,) is produced, and _Sulphur_
deposited.

In some cases the Sulphuretted Hydrogen has accumulated to such an
extent, that explosions have occurred in privies on the introduction
of a light. We have heard that dreadful ones have happened in the
_Fosses d’Aisances_ in the Rue St. Antoine, and in those of Gross
Caillou, and Petit Bourbon; and very lately in that of the House of
Correction at Clermont-oise, in which many lives were lost. A similar
accident has happened in London; we copy the following paragraph from
the _Morning Advertiser of Friday Feb. 5, 1819_.—“_Singular
Explosion_,—A few evenings ago, at the Two Brewers Tavern,
Redcross-street, Southwark, a person took a candle into the privy, and
laid it upon the seat, the air confined underneath caught fire from
the candle, and immediately exploded, the seat was forced up, and the
person was burned considerably, but not dangerously.”

Footnote 167:

The writings of Portal, Gériel, Laborie, Parmentier, Alibert,
Dupuytren, Cadet de Vaux, and Hallé, contain ample illustrations of
this subject. The reader is also particularly directed to an Essay by
Dr. Gerand, entitled “_Essai sur la suppression des Fosses d’Aisances.
Paris, 1786_.” See also _Dictionnaire de Police_—Art. “_Latrine_.”

Footnote 168:

In the year 1809 a decree was passed in Paris, containing numerous
rules to be observed in the future construction of privies, and which
fixed upon the householder a very heavy expense. In 1819 the French
King issued a Royal Ordinance relative to this subject; it contains
thirty-four clauses or articles, thirty of which revive _in their full
strictness_, all the statutes by which housekeepers are compelled to
undertake most expensive and troublesome building, or repairs of
privies. To relieve them, however, from vexatious costs, the 31st
article was framed upon the recommendation of the Privy Council, and
which liberates those from the obligation, who shall substitute their
old privies by a new apparatus invented by _M. Cazeneuve_, entitled
_Messrs. Fauche-Borel’s Patent Moveable Inodorous Conveniences_, of
whose advantages almost all the learned Societies of Europe have
reported most favourably. We have noticed this decree in order to shew
our reader what a degree of importance the French Government attaches
to the subject. And upon this occasion it is impossible to withhold
the expression of those feelings of national pride and exultation
which the contemplation of this subject must afford us; we have in our
metropolis no less than 200,000 privies, of which 10,000 only are
water closets. In Paris the number does not exceed 70,000, and yet
with all the cumbrous enactments which that government has passed for
their regulation, how far inferior they are in cleanliness, and how
far greater are the effects of their effluvia, when compared with
similar establishments in our city. The truth is, that the most
elaborate system of medical police will never be so effective as the
spirit of cleanliness which is so characteristic of this great and
free people; and in this truth, so forcibly illustrated by the subject
under discussion, we are to seek for the real explanation of that fact
which has been so frequently commented upon by medical writers—THE
APPARENT INDIFFERENCE OF OUR GOVERNMENT TO THE SUBJECT OF PUBLIC
HEALTH.

Footnote 169:

See _Calis on Sewers_.

Footnote 170:

Dr. Ratcliffe being asked the difference between a contagious and
epidemic disease, attempted to explain it by the following
illustration: “_If you and I are exposed to the rain we shall both get
wet, but it does not follow that we shall wet one another._”

Footnote 171:

See _Rees’s_ Cyclopædia, article _Contagion_.

Footnote 172:

Dr. _Wilson Phillip_’s Treatise on Febrile Diseases, vol. i. p. 433.

Footnote 173:

Researches into the Laws and Phenomena of Pestilence. London, 1821.

Footnote 174:

See _Rees’s Cyclopædia, article Plague_. _Hancock on the Laws of
Pestilence, London, 1821._ _Mercurialis on the Plague of Venice, in
1576._ _Diemerbroeck on the Plague of Nimeguen, in 1636._ _Mertens on
the Plague of Moscow, in 1771._ _Chenot on that of Transylvania, in
1756._ _Riverii Praxis Medica, vol. 2. p. 98._ _Glocenius de Peste,
1611._ _Mead on the Plague of London, 1744._ _Russel on the Plague,
London, 1791._ This learned Physician practised at Aleppo during the
Plague of 1760-1-2, and his work contains a minute account of the
disease with respect to its origin, progress, and decline: it is
considered the best medical account of any individual Plague extant.
_A History of all the most remarkable Plagues upon record, by Noah
Webster, of New York._ _Considerations on the nature of Pestilence,
published as periodical papers, by the Freethinker, 1721._ _The City
Remembrancer, compiled from the best sources, chiefly from the Papers
of Gideon Harvey._ This is the best account of the Plague of London.
_Kephale’s Medela Pestilentiæ, 1665._ _Echar’s History of Plagues._
_Gaetan Sotira, Mem. sur la Peste, observée en Egypt._ _Pappon’s
Epoques memorables de la Peste_, 1801.

Footnote 175:

_Cullen_ defines _Pestis_ to be “Typhus maxime contagiosa, cum summa
debilitate—Incerto morbi die eruptio Bubonum vel Anthracum.” _Nosolog.
Method. Gen._ 30.

Footnote 176:

Op. citat.

Footnote 177:

See _Sir Arthur Brooke Faulkener’s Treasise on the Plague_. The
remarkable fact, mentioned by Dr. _Samoilowitz_, that all the
assistant Surgeons in the hospitals at Moscow took the Plague, while
the Physicians who only walked among the sick, but carefully avoided
contact, generally escaped, affords a strong proof of the greater
facility with which _actual contact_ communicates the infection. This
work of Dr. _Samoilowitz_ (_sur la Peste_) has more than a hundred
pages filled with proofs of its _contagious_ influence; Dr. Granville
also, in his examination before the Committee of the House of Commons,
gave some very interesting instances, in which the poison could only
have been conveyed by _touch_.

Footnote 178:

_Fomites_, or substances imbued with the contagion from the bodies of
the sick, are supposed to retain their infectious quality an
indefinite length of time, and even to communicate the disease more
readily than the persons of the infected.

Footnote 179:

_Results of an investigation respecting Epidemic and Pestilential
Diseases, including Researches in the Levant concerning the Plague. By
Charles Maclean, M.D. London, 1817._

Footnote 180:

It is noticed by writers long before Dr. Maclean: see “_Distinct
notions of the Plague, 1722. Dale Ingram on the Plagues that have
appeared since 1346; and Plague no Contagious Disease._” The following
is the story to which these authors allude.—It appears that Pope Paul
III, about the year 1747, commissioned his legate, Cardinal Montè, to
fabricate some pretext for removing the celebrated Council of Trent,
which was then sitting in debate on the abuses of the ecclesiastical
power, to some town within the Papal territory. An epidemic fever, it
was said, then prevailed at Trent: many of the bishops became alarmed,
and fled; some, if not all, on the Emperor’s side, raised their voices
against the plot; but Fracastorius, Physician of the Council, aided
the imposition with all the zeal of a devoted Catholic, and the
Council was accordingly translated to Bologna. From this time, Dr.
Maclean asserts, it became almost heretical to doubt of the contagious
nature of Plague; and the error, chiefly because it was sanctioned by
the sovereign Pontiff’s authority in the first instance, has been
propagated in christendom, as a point of medical orthodoxy, and
continued down to the present time.—_Maclean, loco citato,—Hancock on
Pestilence_, p. 11.

Footnote 181:

_The history of the Plague, as it has lately appeared in the islands
of Malta, Gozo, Corfu, Cephalonia, &c. detailing important Facts,
illustrative of the Specific contagion of that disease, with
particulars of the means adopted for its eradication_,—By J. D. TULLY,
Esq. Surgeon to the Forces, late Inspector of Quarantine, and
President of the Board of Health of the interior of the Ionian
Islands. 8vo. London, 1821.

Footnote 182:

_A Treatise on the Plague, designed to prove it Contagious, from facts
collected during the Author’s residence in Malta, when visited by that
malady in 1818, with Observations on its prevention, character, and
treatment_,—By Sir ARTHUR BROOKE FAULKNER, M.D. London, 1820. This
work may be considered as one of the richest classical productions on
the subject of the Plague; and we strongly recommend it to the
attention of the medical reader on account of the important facts,
powerful arguments, and correct judgment, which distinguish it.

See also _Narrative of Facts relative to the repeated appearance,
propagation, and extinction of Plague among the British Troops in
Egypt, in the years 1801, 1802, & 1803_,—By JOHN WEBB, _Director
General of the Ordnance Medical Department_; published in the Medical
Transactions of the College of Physicians, vol. vi.

Footnote 183:

In the year 1819, Sir _John Jackson_ moved for a Committee in
Parliament to inquire into the expediency of abrogating or modifying
the restrictions imposed by the Quarantine laws; in which motion he
was supported by the Right Honourable _F. Robinson_, President of the
Board of Trade. The principal objects of inquiry on the subjects in
question were, _first_, Is the Plague capable of being communicated
from person to person, either by immediate contact with those
diseased, or intermediately, by contact with infected goods? or
_secondly_, Is it an Epidemic depending only on a peculiar state of
the atmosphere? The number of medical men examined upon this occasion
was nineteen, only two of whom, Dr. _Maclean_ and Dr. _Mitchell_,
denied the contagious nature of the Plague.

Footnote 184:

_Observations on the Epidemical Diseases of Minorca. Edit. 3, p. 132._

Footnote 185:

_Observations on Marsh Remittents, p. 39, &c._

Footnote 186:

_Observations on the Diseases which prevail in long voyages to hot
countries. Vol. 1, p. 151._

Footnote 187:

_On Simple Fever. Edit. 2, p. 113, and 114._

Footnote 188:

_Essay on the Diseases incidental to Europeans in hot climates. Edit.
5, p. 27, and 221._

Footnote 189:

_Medicina Nautica, vol. 1, p. 456._

Footnote 190:

_Typhus cum flavedine Cutis_ of Cullen. _Typhus Icterodes_ of
Sauvages.

Footnote 191:

The chief authorities on the side of its contagious nature are _An
Essay on the Malignant Pestilential Fever introduced into the West
India Islands from Boulam_, by Dr. C. CHISHOLM. London 1795. _Medical
Sketches_, by SIR JAMES MACGREGOR. London 1804. _The Report of the
French Commissioners at Cadiz, in 1804_. And the Works of SIR JAMES
FELLOWS, Dr. CAILLOT, and Dr. AREJULA of Cadiz. Much valuable matter
is also contained in a _Treatise_ by Dr. PYM, Inspector of Hospitals.
London 1818. To which may be added _The Travels of_ DON ANTONIO ULLOA
and DON JORGE JUAN.

Footnote 192:

RUSH _on Yellow Fever_.

Footnote 193:

_An Essay on the Disease called Yellow Fever_, by EDWARD NATHANIEL
BANCROFT, M.D. &c. London 1811.

Footnote 194:

In the year 1817 Dr. _Bancroft_ published a _Sequel_ to his work, in
order to shew that the _Bulam Fever_ has no existence as a distinct or
contagious disease. This malady _Dr. Chisholm_ supposed to be a
peculiar, original, and foreign pestilence, and to have been imported
from Bulam, on the coast of Africa, by the ship _Hankey_, to the
island of Grenada; an opinion which received the support of Dr. _Pym_.

Footnote 195:

_Medical Logic Edit. 2. p. 219._

Footnote 196:

SPORADIC.—An epithet used in opposition to that of _Epidemic_, and is
given to such diseases as have some special or particular cause, and
are dispersed here and there, affecting only particular constitutions,
ages, &c. σποραδικος, from σπορας, _dispersed_, of σπείρω _I strew_.

Footnote 197:

The most remarkable of these Epidemics on record, are, that of 1647 in
Barbadoes; that of 1686 in Martinique; that in the Spanish Main, in
1729, and 1740; and the most general and destructive of all, which
broke out at Grenada in the month of March, in 1793, which spread
rapidly to the whole Carribean Archipelago, and from thence to North
America, and the shores of Europe. The most remarkable, and perhaps
the only instances on record of its existence in North America, are
that of Boston in 1693, on the arrival of a squadron of English ships
of war from the West Indies; that in Carolina, in the years 1732,
1739, 1745, and 1748, all which, by the account of the physicians who
describe it, could be traced to importations from the sugar colonies;
that of Philadelphia, in 1751 and 1762; and that above-mentioned in
1793. It now remains to give the history of it as it appeared in
Europe. It may be chronologically stated as follows: at Lisbon, in
1723; at Cadiz, in 1732, 1733, 1744, 1746, 1764, 1800; at Malaga, in
1741 and 1803; at Gibralter, in 1804. It has since appeared at
different times in these cities, as well as at Carthagena, Alicant,
and Leghorn. _Extracted from Sir Gilbert Blane’s work._

Footnote 198:

_Remarks on the Epidemic Yellow Fever which has appeared at intervals
in the South Coasts of Spain, since the year 1800_, by ROBERT JACKSON,
M.D. 8vo. London, 1821.

Footnote 199:

It is probable that the Fomites of Plague are never extinct in Turkey,
although various circumstances may render it _Sporadic_, or entirely
dormant.

Footnote 200:

_Loimologia._

Footnote 201:

_Op. citat: p. 501._

Footnote 202:

_Page 159._

Footnote 203:

The following account is taken from Quincy: “Dr. _Plott_ observes, the
reasons why Oxford is now much more healthful than formerly, to be the
enlargement of the city, whereby the inhabitants, who are not
proportionally increased, are not so closely crowded together; and the
care of the magistrates in keeping the streets clear from filth: for
formerly, he says, they used to kill all manner of cattle within the
walls, and suffer their dung and offals to lie in the streets.
Moreover, about those times, the Isis and Cherwell, through the
carelessness of the townsmen, being filled with mud, and the common
shores by such means stopped, did cause the ascent of malignant
vapours whenever there happened to be a flood. But since that, by the
care and at the charge of Richard _Fox_, Bishop of Winchester, in the
year 1517, those rivers were cleansed, and more trenches cut for the
water’s free passage; _the town has continued in a very healthful
condition, and in a particular manner so free from pestilential
diseases, that the sickness in 1665, which raged in most parts of the
kingdom, never visited any person there, although the terms were there
kept, and the Court and both houses of Parliament did there
reside_.”—_Plott’s Hist. of Oxfordshire, chap._ ii.

Footnote 204:

See _Dr. Heberden’s Observ. on the Increase and Decrease of different
Diseases, and particularly the Plague, p. 71_.

Footnote 205:

The earliest instance of jail infection, communicated in a Court of
Justice, appears to be that mentioned by Mr. Anthony _Wood_, as having
happened “at the Assize kept in the Castle at Cambridge, at the time
of Lent, 13th _Henry_ viii. ann. dom. 1521-2, when the Justices there,
and all the gentlemen, bailives, and all resorting thither, took such
an infection, that many of them died; and almost all that were present
fell desperately sick, and narrowly escaped with their lives.” Then
comes the memorable _black assize_ at Oxford, in July 1577, the best
account of which is that given in “_The History and Antiquities of the
University of Oxford, by Anthony Wood, M. A. of Merton College_”,
first published in English from the original MS. in the Bodleian
library, by John _Gutch_, A. M. printed at Oxford in 1796. Another
instance is mentioned by _Holinshed_, (vol. ii, p. 1547) as occurring
at Exeter, during the assizes there in March 1586. From this period no
remarkable case of jail infection is recorded for a period of 150
years, when at the Lent assizes, some prisoners who had been removed
from Ilchester gaol, to take their trials at Taunton, were said to
have infected a part of the court, and produced a contagious disease,
of which the Chief Baron _Pengally_, with some of his officers and
servants, and Sir James _Sheppard_, knight, and Serjeant at Law, died
afterwards at Blandford in Dorsetshire. Twelve years after, viz. in
April, 1742, according to Dr. _Huxham_ (_De aëre, &c. vol._ ii, _p._
82) a putrid fever appeared at Launceston, and occasioned great
mortality; this fever, he adds, was generated in the prisons; and
widely disseminated by means of the county assize. The next remarkable
occurrence of this kind happened at the sessions of the Old Bailey, in
the spring of 1750, which proved fatal to the Lord Mayor, and two of
the Judges, with several eminent and other persons; this circumstance
induced the Magistrates of London to resolve upon attempting to render
Newgate more healthy; and they accordingly consulted Dr. _Hales_ and
Sir John _Pringle_ about the method which they should follow. Dr.
_Hales_ recommended the use of his _Ventilator_, a machine contrived
to pump out the air of any place, and thus to occasion a perpetual
renovation of it. The machine was accordingly erected, and its
salutary effects soon became apparent, the deaths in Newgate having
been reduced from 7 or 8 a week to about 2 in a month. Eleven men were
employed in erecting this ventilator, of which no fewer than 7 were
seized with the disease; a very interesting account of these men, and
of the mode of treatment, were drawn up by Sir John _Pringle_, and
published in the _Philosophical Transactions for 1753, vol._ xlviii,
_p._ 42.

Footnote 206:

_Page 144._

Footnote 207:

_A History of the Epidemic Fever which prevailed in Bristol during the
years 1817-18-19_, by J. PRICHARD, M. D.

Footnote 208:

_Medical Report of the Fever Hospital and House of Recovery, Cork
street, Dublin, for the year ending the 5th of Jan. 1819._ By RICHARD
GRATTAN, M.D. &c.

Footnote 209:

_Medical Report of the Fever department in Stevens’ Hospital,
containing a brief Account of the late Epidemic in Dublin, from Sep.
to Aug. 1819._ By JOHN CRAMPTON, M.D. &c. Dublin, 1819.

Footnote 210:

QUARANTINE, or Quarantain, a French word signifying the space of forty
days; why forty days should have been fixed upon as the period of
probation upon these occasions is not very evident. _Beckmann_
observes that it arose from the doctrine of the ancient physicians, in
regard to the critical days of many diseases, of which the fortieth
seems to have been considered the last, and most extreme, and on which
many astrological conceits were formerly maintained. (See _G. Wedelii
Exercitatio de Quadragesima die_, in his _Centuria Exercitationum
Medico-Philologicarum_, Jenæ 1701.) This explanation however is not
quite satisfactory; forty days appear to have been a period fixed upon
for various kinds of probation, (probably from the duration of Lent);
we have thus _Quarantain_ of the King in France, which denotes a truce
of forty days appointed by Saint Louis, during which time it was
expressly forbidden to take any revenge of the relations or friends of
people who had fought, wounded, or affronted each other in words. So
again in the law of England, the word _Quarantine_ denotes a benefit
allowed to the widow of a man dying seized of land; by which she may
challenge to continue in his capital messuage, or chief mansion house
(so it be not a castle) for the _space of forty days_ after his
decease; during which time her dower shall be assigned. _Coke upon
Lit._ 34, 35.

An account of the various establishments for preventing the plague in
different countries, with a reference to the best writers, may be
found in _Schleswig Holstein schen Blattern fur Polizey und Cultur_.
1800, 2 _p._ 341.

Legislative enactments for arresting the progress, and preventing the
diffusion, of contagious diseases are mentioned in the earliest
history: it is, for instance, commanded in the books of the law of
Moses, that the priests shall be desired to visit houses infected with
the plague of leprosy, which, if necessary, are to be closed, and even
pulled down; or the walls are to be scraped and white-washed, and the
infected persons to be shut up. (_Leviticus, chap._ xiii, xiv.) The
laws of QUARANTINE, however, as directed against the propagation of
Pestilential Epidemics have a later origin. In the first centuries of
the Christian era, it does not appear to have been known that
infection could be communicated by cloathing, and other things used by
infected persons. After the plague in the fourteenth century, which
continued longer than any other on record, and extended over the
greater part of Europe, the survivors found that it was possible to
guard against, or to prevent infection, and Governments then began to
order establishments to be formed for that purpose. The most ancient
of these appear to be those in Lombardy and Milan in the years 1374,
1383, 1399; an account of which may be seen in MURATORI _Scriptores
rerum Italic: T._ xvi, _p._ 560, & xviii _p._ 82, and from thence
copied into CHENOT, p. 147. See also BOCCACIO _Decam._ The Venetians
are entitled to the merit of having improved the establishments formed
to prevent infection, and that their example was followed in other
countries is generally admitted. MURATORI (_Lib._ i, _cap._ ii, _p._
65) says that Quarantine was first ordered to be performed by the
Venetians in 1484; and HOWARD (_An Account of the principal
Lazarettos; London_, 1789, 4_to p._ 12) states that the College of
Health was instituted in 1448—see BECKMANN’S _History of Inventions_,
vol. ii, p. 153—and _Considerations on the Means of Preventing the
communication of Pestilential contagion_, by W. BROWNRIGG, London,
1771. On the Turkish frontiers the period of Quarantine was reduced to
_twenty_ days, under the Emperor Joseph II. See MARTINI LANGE
_Rudimenta Doctrinæ de Peste_.

Footnote 211:

For an interesting account of the rise and progress of this disease,
see Sir A. _Faulkner’s_ work already quoted.

Footnote 212:

Though no punishment is annexed by the Act to any offence against the
Order of the King in Council, yet the disobedience of such an order
founded on Act of Parliament, is an indictable offence, and punishable
as a misdemeanor at common law; _King_ against _Harris_, 4 T. R. 202,
which was the case of a pilot who quitted a ship subject to Quarantine
contrary to the established regulations.

Footnote 213:

This rule should be extended to vessels meeting at Sea.

Footnote 214:

The signal by day is a yellow flag of six breadths of bunting at the
maintopmast-head, and if the vessel have not a clean bill of health,
then the flag must have in it a black circular mark or ball, whose
diameter must be equal to two breadths.

Footnote 215:

See also 59 Geo. 3. c. 41. which relates to infection in Ireland.

Footnote 216:

_On Hereditary Disease_, (Note 1, p. 46.)

Footnote 217:

The visitation of Lunatic Asylums and Mad-houses by Special
Commissioners (_see_ 14 _Geo._ 3, _c._ 49—_Appendix_ 170) may be
considered as a branch of Medical Police, for which see the subjects
of Idiots and Lunatics in Part II.

Footnote 218:

The local causes to which we would particularly refer, are those
connected with humidity of atmosphere, which so generally occurs in
the vicinity of the sea. The author speaks from experience, when he
ventures to assert that the most efficient extracts soon lose their
powers under such circumstances.

Footnote 219:

A bill was recently introduced in the House of Commons on this
subject, but did not pass into a law.

Footnote 220:

The first bills containing the ages of the dead were those for the
town of Breslaw in Silesia, from which Dr. HALLEY deduced a table of
the probabilities of the duration of human life, at every age, see
_Philosophical Transactions_ (Abridgement vol. iii, p. 669.) Similar
bills were established at Northampton in 1735.

Footnote 221:

We ought to mention that in consequence of the apprehension respecting
the plague having subsided, the company soon began to discover that
the weekly bills declined in sale; in order therefore to keep alive
the public interest, and to preserve for themselves the income which
arose from it, they printed on the same sheet, in the year 1735, the
regulated prices of bread and salt.—!

Footnote 222:

This society was incorporated by Letters Patent of the 17th Henry iii,
in 1239, by the style of the “_Fraternity of Saint Nicholas_;” and
they were re-incorporated by charter of the 9th of James i. In 1625,
they obtained a decree from the Star chamber, allowing them to keep a
press in their hall, for the printing of the weekly and general bills
of mortality of the city and liberties of London: and for this purpose
the Archbishop of Canterbury appoints a printer. All which privileges
were subsequently confirmed by a charter granted by Charles ii.

Footnote 223:

_Strictures on the Uses and Defects of Parish Registers and Bills of
Mortality, with suggestions for improving and extending the System of
Parochial Registry._ London, 1818.

Footnote 224:

Many of the diseases are absolutely unintelligible under their present
designation; such, for instance, as _Headmoldshot_; _horse-shoe head_;
_over-grown head_; _rising of the lights_, _&c._ others are barbarous,
as _liver-grown_; _twisting of the guts_, _&c._ others again are far
too indefinitely expressed to be admitted as specific diseases, of
which _aged_; _bed-ridden_; _bile_; _colds_; may serve as examples.
“_Fevers of all kinds_” is a little too sweeping and indiscriminate.
“_Abortives and still-born_” united, form a large number in the
general annual bill, the absurdity of which is apparent. _Child-bed_
is a formidable article in the bill, and is liable to much
misinterpretation and error; all women dying within the month after
delivery are indiscriminately classed under _child-bed_, whether they
die in actual labour, or subsequently of acute fever, consumption, or
any other disorder. Infants dying before baptism are not returned by
the parish clerks in the bills of mortality. In the old bills they
were entered under the denomination of _Chrysoms_, but this title has
been long disused. See _Burrows’s_ _Strictures_, p. 53.

Footnote 225:

_Observations on the Increase and Decrease of different Diseases, and
particularly of the Plague._ London, 1801.—See also STOWE’S _London_,
book 5, p. 448.—MORRIS’S _Observations on the past Growth, and Present
State of the City of London_.—JAMESON _on the Changes of the Human
Body_, 8vo. London, 1812.

Footnote 226:

PHIL. TRANS. 1774, vol. lxiv. p. 67; vol. lxv. p. 85; and vol. lxviii.
p. 131.

Footnote 227:

PHIL. TRANS. 1782, vol. lxxii. p. 35.

Footnote 228:

PHIL. TRANS. for 1775; see also THOMSON’S _Hist. of the Royal Society,
article Political Arithmetic_, p. 530.

Footnote 229:

The term Medicine (_Ars Medendi_) is used generally as including
Surgery.

Footnote 230:

For the Law of Evidence in general see Trials per pais; Gilbert’s Law
of Evidence; Viner’s Abr. tit Evidence; Bacon’s Abr. tit Evidence;
Comygn’s Digest. tit Testmoigne: Buller’s NP; Espinasse NP; Peake on
Evidence; Phillips on Evidence; 2 Tidd’s Practice 845.

Footnote 231:

See _Severn v. Olive_ (_Appendix_, p. 201), in which it is also
determined that the expense of experiments to elucidate or determine
points in dispute cannot be allowed in costs. We regret the decision,
as it may in future cases stand in the way of important and highly
useful investigations.

Footnote 232:

See Cutt v. Pickering 1 Vent, Lord Say & Sele’s Case; Macclesfield,
41. or Annesley & Anglesea, 9 St. Tri. 383, 392.

Footnote 233:

Lord Barrington’s objection to disclose confidential conversation was
also over-ruled in the case cited above.

Footnote 234:

It has been decided in civil cases, that declarations even of a dying
man, made _post litem motam_ are not admissible as evidence; this
appears to be rather a fine drawn distinction, and if it were extended
to criminal matters would be productive of some mischief; for then if
a man died of his wounds, after the assailant had been committed or
indicted, declarations made under circumstances of equal solemnity and
religious force, would be evidence or not according to the hour of the
day at which they were uttered. The distinction is not taken in the
law of Scotland, as appears by the stress laid by Lord Mansfield, on
such declarations in his judgment in the Douglas cause. 2 Collec.
Jurid.

Footnote 235:

Baptist or quaker surgeons should therefore, in cases likely to come
before the criminal tribunals, take care to have persons associated
with them who may supply their places in Court; we do not urge them to
be sworn, as we should place less reliance on an oath taken in breach
of conscientious scruples, than on the affirmation which is rejected
in obedience to the forms of law.

As a quaker if living could not be heard as a witness in a criminal
case, query his declarations when dying, does the solemnity of the
occasion dispense with the form of an oath?

Footnote 236:

For the medical dangers and advantages of celibacy and marriage, the
reader, if fond of such speculations, may consult _Mahon, vol._ 3,
_p._ 43, 80.

Footnote 237:

Œtas plena, or full age, regularly is one and twenty, _Co. Litt_ 79.
103. 1 _Hale Pl. c._ 17. The Roman law makes it twenty-five,
_Institut. lib._ 1. _tit._ 23. _De Curatoribus. Dig. lib._ 4. _tit._
4. _De Minoribus. Taylor’s Civil Law_, 255, 256. In France it was
thirty for males. _Potier._ In Holland 25.

Footnote 238:

Sir John Sebright informs us, that if a flock of sheep, in which there
is any defect, are permitted to breed _in and in_, the defect will
gradually increase among them; and Colonel Humphries, by selecting for
breeding a marked variety, has succeeded in procuring a flock, all of
them with deformed bones: upon these curious facts Dr. Adams makes the
following remarks; “If the same causes operate in man, may we not
impute to them many endemic peculiarities found in certain sequestered
districts, which have hitherto been imputed to the water, and other
localities? and may we not trace a provision against such a
deterioration of the race, in that revealed law, by which any sexual
intercourse between near relations is forbidden, on pain of death?”

Footnote 239:

If either of the parties be under the age of twenty-one, they cannot
by their own consent alone contract marriage; they must have either an
express consent in case of licence, or an implied consent by the banns
not having been forbidden; but as banns may be and frequently are
improperly published in churches far distant from the actual residence
of the parties, their parents, or guardians, this precaution of the
legislature offers but a precarious safeguard against clandestine
marriages.

Footnote 240:

32 _Hen_ 8. _c._ 38. in part repealed by 2 & 3 _Ed._ 6. _c._ 23. but
query how far revived by 26 _Geo._ 2. _c._ 33. See also 1 & 2 _Ph. &
M. c._ 8. §. 20: and 1 _Eliz. c._ 1. §. 11.

Footnote 241:

From the age of seven to the age of twelve, as to the woman, and
fourteen as to the man, they cannot contract marriage _de præsenti_,
but only _de futuro_. _Swinb. s._ 7.

Footnote 242:

As to matrimonial contracts, the full age of consent in males is
fourteen years, and of females, twelve; till that age they are said to
be _impuberes_, and are not bound by matrimonial contracts; and with
this also our law agrees; 1 _Hale Pl._ 17. _Instit. Lib._ 1. _tit._
10. _de nuptiis_. _Dig. Lib._ 23. _lit._ 2. _de ritu nuptiarum Co.
Litt._ 104. The statute of Merton, 20. _Hen._ 3. _c._ 6 (_Co. Litt._
30). inflicts the loss of wardship and its benefits on such Lords as
shall marry their wards within the age of fourteen years, _et talis
ætatis quod matrimonio consentire non possit_. Yet a widow who had
been married at seven, and at nine years old survived her husband, was
held entitled to dower. _Co. Litt._ 33.

Footnote 243:

This case was cited in argument in _Manby v. Scott. Siderf. p._ 112.
but it was allowed that the older writers _Bracton_, _l._ 5. 421. and
_Fleta_, 434, 58, had held the contrary, and so does the law of the
present day. See _Co. Litt._ 30. 80: _Brouwer de jure Connubiorum_.

Footnote 244:

15 _Geo._ 2. _c._ 30. _Co. Litt._ 80. _n._

Footnote 245:

Statutes. 32 _Hen._ 8. _c._ 38: 2 & 3 _Ed._ 6. _c._ 21: 5 & 6 _Ed._ 6.
_c._ 12: 7 & 8 _Wil._ 3. _c._ 35: 10 _Ann. c._ 19. 26 _G._ 2. _c._ 33.

Footnote 246:

For further authorities see 4 _Bacon Abr._ 523. 15 _Viner Abr._ 252.
_Rolle’s Abr. tit. Bastard._ 356.

Footnote 247:

“_De contracti matrimonii valore, per Sobolis necessariam
judicatur._”—_Hebenstreit Anthropolog: Forens. p._ 618.

Footnote 248:

Old _Parr_, who lived to the age of 152, did penance at 105, for lying
with _Katharine Milton_, and getting her with child. He married his
second wife in his 122d year.

Footnote 249:

The Romans interdicted marriages of extreme inequality in respect of
age, upon public policy; their law likewise restrained it between men
above 60 and women turned 50, because at these ages procreation was
improbable.

The Athenian laws are said once to have decreed that Males should not
marry till they were past 35 years of age. ARISTOTLE (_Polit. lib._
vii. _c._ xvi.) thought 37 the proper age; PLATO fixes 30, in which
opinion HESIOD coincides. With respect to Females, the old Athenian
laws allowed them to marry at 26; ARISTOTLE at 18, and HESIOD at 15.
LYCURGUS approved a marriage between men of 37, and women of 17; the
principal object of which was, says ZENOPHON (_De Republ. Lacedæm._)
to insure that perfect maturity, and complete sexual vigour which he
considered so eminently essential for the propagation of the human
species. ARISTOTLE wished the husband to be always 20 years older than
his wife, in order that they might both arrive, at the same time, to
the period when fertility ceases; and we learn from CÆSAR & TACITUS
that the ancient Germans maintained a similar sentiment.

Footnote 250:

In a celebrated German case, an affianced officer, by the misfortune
of war, was rendered incapable of performing his contract; the
marriage however took place, _uxore sciente et consentiente_, to the
great scandal of the more bigoted ecclesiastic authorities who sought
to annul it.

Footnote 251:

_Capuron_ relates several instances of women of sixty and upwards who
have borne children. _Pliny_ says that _Cornelia_, of the family of
the _Scipios_, bore a child at sixty, who was called _Volusius
Saturninus_. _Marsa_, a physician of Venice, records a similar
instance; _De la Mothe_, another at sixty-one; and there is in the
third volume of the Memoirs of the Academy, an account of a litigation
on the presumption that a woman of sixty-eight could not bear a child.
We shall treat this subject very fully under the head of Physiological
Illustrations.

Footnote 252:

To those who are anxious to pursue the subtleties of this curious
question, the following references may be acceptable—MERCATUS De
_Morbis Hereditariis_, a treatise published in the beginning of the
17th century; STAHL’S _Theoria Medica Vera_, published at Halle, in
1737, p. 377. There are besides in the collection of Dissertations
published by Stahl in 1707, several passages which refer to the
subject of Hereditary Diseases, and an Inaugural Dissertation, “_De
Hereditaria Dispositione ad varios Affectus_,” by Burchart; HALLER’S
_Elementa_, vol. 7, article _Similitudo Parentum_; M. PORTAL, “_Sur la
nature et traitement de quelques maladies hereditaires ou de
famille_,” published in the Memoirs of the French National Institute,
and a translation of which may be found in the 21st volume of the
London Medical & Physical Journal; it is principally valuable on
account of the number of facts and references which it contains; M.
FORESTER, _De Morbis aut Noxis puerorum in vitiatis depravatis que
parentibus_. M. Portal mentions this work as one of great
merit—certain opinions of Mr. JOHN HUNTER, upon the subject are
contained in the report of Donellan’s trial, _See Appendix_.—The most
important work which has been produced in our own times, is that by
Dr. ADAMS; entitled “_A Treatise on the supposed Hereditary Properties
of Diseases, containing Remarks on the unfounded Terrors and
ill-judged Cautions consequent on such Opinions_.”

Footnote 253:

See the ancient doctrine of disparagement, _Co. Litt._ 80, 81.

Footnote 254:

We are acquainted with but one instance of Legislative interference,
relative to hereditary diseases, and that is to be found in the
earlier history of our sister kingdom. The following quotation will
explain its nature: “Morbo comitiali, amentia, mania, aut simili tabe,
quæ facile in prolem transfunditur, laborantes, intereos ingenti facta
indagine inventos, ne genus fæda contagione ab iis qui ex illis
prognati, forent læderetur, castraverunt; mulieres hujusmodi morborum
quavis tabe leprave infectas procul a virorum consortio ablegaverunt.
Quod si harum aliqua concepisse inveniebatur, simul cum fætu nondum
edito defodiebatur viva—Voraces, manducones supra quam erat humanum,
helluonesque, et perpetuæ ebrietati indulgentes aut addictos, netam
fæda monstrain patriæ dedecus supressent flumine mergentes, prius
quantum libuit et cibi et potus vorare ac ingurgitare eis præbentes,
miti supplicio exterminarunt.”

_Scotorum Historiæ a prima Gentis Origine, cum aliarum et rerum et
gentium illustratione non vulgari, Libri_ xix—HECTORE BOETHIO
DEIDONANO _auctore_—Parisiis 1574, lib. 1, p. 12.

The ancient Greeks appear to have entertained a similar opinion,
although they did not ground any legislative enactments upon it; thus
Plato commends Esculapius for refusing to patch up persons habitually
complaining, lest they should beget children as useless as themselves;
being persuaded that it was an injury both to the community and to the
infirm person himself, that he should continue in the world, even
though he were richer than Midas. _De Republ. Lib._ III. Upon the same
principle Herodicus is censured by Plato as the inventor of an art of
teaching the infirm to regulate their exercise and diet in such a
manner as to prolong their lives for many years.

Footnote 255:

_Police Medicale_, p. 91. the author goes on to state, that by an
ordinance of the king of Denmark, if the husband or wife have before
marriage any secret malady, as leprosy, epilepsy, or other contagious
disorder calculated to inspire horror, and does not inform the other
of it, the party uninformed may have a divorce p. 92.

Footnote 256:

It must not be on the mere confession of parties, 2 _Burn._ 461. but
see _Greenstreet_ and _Greenstreet Phillimore’s Rep._ Divorce by
reason of impotence, 4 _Bacon. Ab._ 534, and cases there, and note, p.
555.

Authorities,—_Panormus_; _Targereau, Paris_, 1611; _Sylva Nuptialis_;
_Ambrose Parè, sixth edit._; _Sanchez de Matrimonio_; _Journal des
Sçavans, July_, 1677; _Johannes Saresberiensis in Policratico sive de
nugis curialium_; _Rouliard’s Capitulaire_; _Antony Hotman’s
Treatise_. _Bayle_ says that the _Divorce propter impotentiam_ was
first allowed by _Justinian_ at the instance of his wife the empress
_Theodora_; her life and character (7 _Gibbon’s Roman Empire_, p. 64)
will best explain the motives of her interference; the Canonists added
_propter arctitudinem_, which the empress had naturally omitted.

Footnote 257:

There is some philosophy as well as considerable humour in the
arguments of _Louvet_ in his celebrated novel, for it is well known
that persons of a sedentary and studious habit are seldom excited and
easily diverted.

Footnote 258:

_Maleficium, Magorum Ars. Maleficus, Incantator. Maleficare,
Incantare._ 4 _Ducange Gloss._ 363.

Footnote 259:

On the same principle the College of Physicians of Paris would have
suppressed the works of _Ambrose Parè_, the celebrated surgeon to
three kings; whom, though a Protestant, _Charles_ the ninth saved in
his own chamber, from the massacre of St. Bartholomew. His work _de
Generatione_, was considered too minute in its details, and too
explicit in its language, for general inspection.

Footnote 260:

The defect must exist at the time of the marriage; if it ensue
subsequently, it is no ground of divorce.

Footnote 261:

See DERHAM’S _Physico-Theology_, vol. 1. p. 260.

Footnote 262:

See _Traité de Medicine Légale_, par F. E. FODERE. tom. I. p. 9.

Footnote 263:

In JOHNSON and STEVENS’S edition by ISAAC REID, we have a long note
upon this passage, in which a quotation is introduced from “_The
Treasury of Ancient and Modern Times_,” in order to give an account of
the Septenary divisions of PROCLUS. According to this Greek
philosopher, the life of man is divided into seven ages, over each of
which one of the seven planets was supposed to preside. “THE FIRST AGE
is called Infancy, containing the space of foure yeares. THE SECOND
AGE continueth ten yeares, untile he attaine to the yeares of
fourteene: this age is called Childhood.—THE THIRD AGE consisteth of
eight yeares, being named by our auncients Adolescie, or Youth-hood;
and it lasteth from fourteene, till two-and-twenty yeares be fully
compleate. THE FOURTH AGE paceth on, till a man have accomplished two
and fortie yeares, and is tearmed Young Manhood.—THE FIFTH AGE, named
Mature Manhood, hath fifteene yeares of continuance, and therefore
makes his progress so far as six and fifty yeares. Afterwards in
adding twelve to fifty-six, you shall make up sixty-eight yeares,
which reach to the end of the SIXTH AGE, and is called Old Age.—THE
SEAVENTH, and last of these seaven ages, is limited from Sixty-eight
yeares, so far as four score and eight, being called weak, declining,
and decrepite age. If any man chance to goe beyond this age (which is
more admired than noted in many) you shall evidently perceive that he
will returne to his first condition of Infancy againe.”

Footnote 264:

AS YOU LIKE IT, Act 2. Sc. 7.

Footnote 265:

In every _Septenary_, says Solon, man receives some sensible mutation;
thus in the _First_ is DEDENTITION, or falling of teeth;—in the
_Second_, PUBESCENCE;—in the _Third_, THE BEARD GROWETH;—in the
_Fourth_, STRENGTH PREVAILS;—in the _Fifth_, MATURITY OF ISSUE;—in the
_Sixth_, MODERATION OF APPETITE;—in the _Seventh_, PRUDENCE.

Footnote 266:

By the Civil Law _Twenty-five_.

Footnote 267:

TAYLOR’s _Civil Law_, 254.

Footnote 268:

Sir WILLIAM BROWN’s _Vulgar Errors_. Folio, 1686. p. 173.

Footnote 269:

It appears therefore that the _Milk_ Teeth are divided into _Eight_
INCISORES—(The fore or cutting teeth) _Four_ CUSPIDATI (Canine or Eye
Teeth) and _Eight_ MOLARES (or Grinders).

Footnote 270:

RICHERAND has clearly shewn that this change of voice depends upon the
larynx undergoing an increase in capacity; he observes that in the
male, at the time of puberty, the aperture of the glottis augments in
the proportion of 5 to 10, in the course of twelve months; that its
extent is in fact doubled both in length and breadth: that these
changes are less strongly marked in woman, whose glottis only enlarges
in the proportion of 5 to 7.—_Elements of Physiology, translated from
the French of A. Richerand, by Robert Kerrison, London, p. 438._

Footnote 271:

_Quæst: Med: Leg._—_Q._ 6.

Footnote 272:

ADAMS on _Hereditary Diseases_. HASLAM on _Madness_.

Footnote 273:

A question has arisen whether this discharge be a secretion from the
internal surface of the uterus, or pure blood; it is now generally
admitted that the former is the true theory of its origin, and it is
important for the medical jurist to know that _it does not coagulate_;
in the celebrated case of the murder of MARY ASHFORD, this fact
furnished a useful feature in the evidence; and in other cases that
might be cited, the medical witness has been thus enabled to discredit
the explanation given by a woman, for the appearance of blood. The
average quantity in this country is about four ounces, which is
generally about four days in flowing, but this of course is liable to
great variation. An opinion has prevailed from the most remote
antiquity, that there is something peculiarly malignant and unclean in
the nature of this discharge. Haller thinks that this belief was
brought from Asia into Europe, by the Arabian physicians; that such an
idea should have originated in hot countries is not extraordinary,
when we consider how rapidly blood runs into putrefaction under such
circumstances. In Africa the women are obliged at these periods to
separate themselves from society, and to abstain from the performance
of their domestic duties, and even to carry about them some mark, by
which others may learn to avoid them. The Jews observed the same
practice, and the laws of Moses condemned to death the persons who
were discovered to have had sexual intercourse during this period.
(_Levit. Ch._ 20. _v._ 18.)

Footnote 274:

The use of the bath hastens puberty, as we find in the example of the
Turkish women.—The custom of dancing is said to be attended with a
similar effect.

Footnote 275:

LINNÆI _Flora Lapponica_.

Footnote 276:

It has been a question much agitated by the ancients, why females
arrive at puberty before males. HIPPOCRATES gives the following as a
reason, _propter corporis imbecillitatem id evenit puellis, ut citius
quam mares pubescant_. (Lib. de Sept. part. in fin. et in lib. de nat.
puer.) ARISTOTLE also entertained a similar opinion. (_De Generat._
animal: cap. 6) and GALEN also adopted it (De Usu part Corp. human).

Footnote 277:

PLINY the Elder, has recorded several histories of children who
prematurely arrived at puberty. “It is well known that there be some
that naturally are never but a foot and a half high; others again
somewhat longer, and to this height they came in three years, which is
the full course of their age, and then they die”—PHILEMON HOLLAND,
_book_ vii. _chap._ 16.—An account is also given by CRATERUS, the
brother of king Antigonus, the subject of which history was an
_Infant_, a _Young Man_, and an _Old Man_, was married and begat
children, and all in the space of _Seven_ years! In January, 1747, Dr.
MEAD presented to the Royal Society the history of a child born at
Willingham near Cambridge, which is recorded in the 43d _Volume of
Transactions, for the year 1745_. This child was not only remarkable
on account of his bulk and height, but also for the _external marks of
Puberty_, which were first observed at the age of twelve months; no
evidence however is offered in this case of the perfect developement
of the genital organs, their external appearance is alone described,
without any regard to the state of their functions. In an account
published after his death, it appears that he was attacked by a
disease resembling _Phthisis Pulmonalis_, and was attended by the late
Dr. Heberden, then at Cambridge, of which he died, and after death,
says his historian, he had the appearance of a venerable old man.

Footnote 278:

TRANSACTIONS OF THE MEDICO-CHIRURG. SOCIETY, vol. 1.

The following are the particulars of the case of PHILIP HOWORTH, as
related by Mr. WHITE—He was born in Quebec Mews, Portman Square, on
Feb. 21, 1806; his parents are middle aged, and poor, but industrious
people; the father being a coachman in a gentleman’s service, and the
mother employed in nursing and rearing a family of ten children, of
which Philip is the ninth: the father is a healthy and muscular man,
the mother a middle sized woman, and rather delicate; the rest of the
children are of the ordinary stature and appearance. During the
mother’s pregnancy with Philip, (which continued the usual length of
time) nothing occurred worthy of remark. At the birth, the head of the
child was covered with a profusion of hair of considerable length; the
sutures of the cranium were closed, not leaving the slightest vestige
of a Fontanelle, and he was at this period considered, in point of
size and appearance, as a large and healthy child; during the first
year he was remarkably healthy, and could at about the 12th month run
alone; shortly after this period, a very visible alteration took
place, his countenance, which, until now, had been marked with health
and infant beauty, lost its round and infantile form, and became long,
pale, and extremely ugly, as if affected by the ravages of some bodily
malady. These appearances seem to have been the preludes of those
remarkable changes which quickly succeeded; at this period Nature made
a sudden bound to puberty; the penis and testes were observed to
increase in size, and a small number of black, curling hairs, were
discovered on the pubes: an evident alteration also took place in the
tone of the voice, his cries becoming much hoarser, and more
interrupted; the peculiar organic changes which have been described as
commencing on the completion of his first year continued to be rapidly
increased, and the full developement of the sexual organs was attended
with signs of returning health; the features assumed a more manly
expression, and the rapid and successive growth of the body became the
wonder of all who knew him. Mr. White then proceeds to state that part
of his history which fell under his own notice; the first appearance
of the boy, says he, is very striking, on account of the manly
character so strongly impressed upon his countenance; the chin is
_without beard_, but the black headed points of steatomatous matter so
remarkable in young men previous to the growth of beard, is very
apparent. The Axilla is without hair, but the secretion has the
peculiar characteristic odour of the Adult; the pubes and scrotum are
covered with black curling hair; the penis and testes are as large as
has been seen in some adults, the _corpus spongiosum urethræ_ having
outgrown the _corpora cavernosa_, the penis is curved during erection;
the testes are firm and perfect in their appearance, and the chord may
be felt very distinctly; the prepuce is easily drawn back over the
glans, and the secretion of the _glandulæ odoriferæ_ is apparent; the
usual brown appearance of the integuments of these parts is also to be
observed. “_Minime prætereundum est, quod hic puer virilis
manstupratione gaudet, et semen ita eliminatum perfectum et bene
eleboratum se habet._”

This extraordinary subject is now (1822) fifteen years of age, but no
farther change has occurred in his habit; he is therefore like other
young men of his age, and attends very industriously to the trade of a
shoemaker, to which he is apprenticed.

Footnote 279:

IBID: vol. 2.

Footnote 280:

Pubertatem autem veteres quidem non solum ex annis sed etiam ex habitu
corporis in masculis æstimari volebant. Nostra autem Majestas dignum
esse castitate nostrorum temporum existimans, bene putavit: quod in
feminis etiam antiquis impudicum esse visum est, id est, inspectionem
habitudinis corporis hoc etiam in masculos extendere. Et ideo nostra
sancta Constitutione promulgata, pubertatem in masculis post decimum
quartum annum completum illico initium accipere disposuimus
antiquitatis normam in feminis bene positam, in suo ordine
relinquentes ut post duodecim annos completos viri potentes esse
credantur. _Inst. lib._ 1. _Tit._ 22. It is singular that the modern
Greeks should have retained the delicacy which this law implies; they
are perhaps the only nation of Europe in which male chastity is
practically ranked among the essential virtues; the surgeons of the
Greek Light Infantry might testify to the reluctance with which even
the common soldiers submitted to the established inspections.

Footnote 281:

MAHON, _Medicine Legale_, tom. iii. p. 54.

Footnote 282:

PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS for 1805, vol. 95, p. 225. See MAHON, _Med.
Leg. tom._ ii. _p._ 54. Boerhaave relates the story of a Sow gelder in
Spain, who in a fit of passion removed the ovaries of his daughter,
and that she in consequence lost all her sexual characters and
propensities.

Footnote 283:

See Sir Henry _Halford’s_ Paper on the Climacteric Disease. Med.
Trans, vol. iv, p. 316.

Footnote 284:

“A proprement parler, nous vieillissons des l’instant que nous
commençons à cesser d’être jeunes; ou plutôt les memes causes qui
amènent notre dévelopement préparent notre destruction, dès l’instant
même de la naìssance.” _Foderé_ Trait de Medicine Legale, tom. 1, p.
26.

Footnote 285:

This is erroneously supposed to be paralytic, they evidently
originate, says Dr. Darwin, from the too quick exhaustion of the
lessened quantity of the spirit of animation, for they only exist when
the affected muscles are excited into action, as in lifting a glass to
the mouth, or in writing, or in keeping the body upright, and cease
again, when no voluntary exertion is attempted.

Footnote 286:

DARWIN’S Zoonomia. Class iii. 2. 1. 2.

Footnote 287:

See _Observations on a Course of Anatomy of MARCHETTI at Padua_ by Mr.
RAY. Phil. Trans. No. 307, p. 2283.

Footnote 288:

_Traite de Anatomie, Tom. iii. p. 29._

Footnote 289:

_Spermatol. p. 393._

Footnote 290:

_Histor. Anatom. Med. Tom. ii. p. 334._

Footnote 291:

_Cours d’Anat. Med. T. v. p. 429._

Footnote 292:

_De Situ Testic. alien._

Footnote 293:

HAXBY on retention of the testicles until the fourth year. Dunc. Ann.
1799.

Footnote 294:

_Lectures on the Structure and Physiology of the Genital Organs.
London, 1821._

Footnote 295:

_BOERHAAVE, in Prop. Institut. Med. T. v. p. 239._

Footnote 296:

_Treatise on the Venereal Disease._

Footnote 297:

_Morbid Anatomy, Edit. v, p. 371._

Footnote 298:

Lectures on the Genital organs.

Footnote 299:

_Page_ 47, _plate_ v.

Footnote 300:

SHAW’S _Travels, chap._ ii.

Footnote 301:

MALE’S _Juridical Medicine, p. 257._

Footnote 302:

_Univers. Journ. of Med. Scien. for October 1811._

Footnote 303: