The Philosopher's Mite to the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Date:
[1851?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Philosopher's Mite to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    £6 lence of Messala, and of that which thinned his own ranks after he was declared an enemy to the republic, and in both instances his readers may trace the mis¬ chief to a sudden overcrowding of population in con¬ fined space as the chief cause among other causes. Henry IV. of France seems to have had a similar strong conviction ; for, when all was prepared for the christening of the royal children at Paris, though the barricades were erected for the procession, and the company in part assembled, he countermanded his orders, and assigned another part of his kingdom for the ceremony. What Vattel has said of the natural law of nations equally applies to the law of epidemics. It is immutable, and nations can neither change nor escape from its influence. It depends not on human opinion ; and in its operation it is most harmonious, even where it appears to be most discordant. It is the duty of all good Governments to acquire the best possible knowledge of both, for the happiness and safety of nations. If a Board of Health limit its duties to cleansing and draining, it is but a mere commission of sewerage. Their duties ought to extend to survey of buildings, plans of streets, the accommodation afforded at theatres, and other places of public amuse¬ ments, the state of the markets, the prevailing quality of food, and the condition of crews and passengers on their arrival. In the present condition of our quarantine, no imported animal is allowed to pass through the gates of our docks without a certificate, except man. Passengers and crew have free egress and ingress; no officer of health takes cognisance of