But if, instead of being exposed to the solitary malaria of a pond, a man,
travelling through the Pontine Marshes, permits his animal energies to
flag, and surrenders himself to the drowsiness which generally attacks him,
then blast upon blast strikes upon the cutaneous system, and passes through
it to the musculo-arterial, and so completely overpowers the latter that it
cannot re-act, and the man dies at once, instead of only catching an ague.
There are three factors of the operation of an epidemic or atmospheric
disease. The first and principal one is the predisposed state of the body;
secondly, the specific _virus_ in the atmosphere; and, thirdly, the
accidental circumstances of weather, locality, food, occupation, &c.
Against the second of these we are powerless: its nature, causes, and
sympathies are too subtle for our senses to find data to go upon. Against
the first, medicine may act profitably. Against the third, a wise and
sagacious medical police ought to be adopted; but, above all, let every man
act like a Christian, in all charity, and love, and brotherly kindness, and
sincere reliance on God's merciful providence.
Quarantine cannot keep out an atmospheric disease; but it can, and does
always, increase the predisposing causes of its reception.
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