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QUARANTINE.

The causes of the plague, he says, are difficult to deter-mine by physical arguments,—there is scarcely any thing intheories which practice does not contradict: indeed, thatwhich appears true at Constantinople , or other places, oftenproves untrue at Grand Cairo. There is, upon the whole,so much apparent contradiction in this phenomena, that, hesays, onr thoughts are often at a stand, and philosophy may-find much room for useful reflections.

Long experience has shown, he continues, that the infec-tion may be readily prevented, even in the midst of sur-rounding danger, by such a quarantine as he has directed.The various observations he made seem to contradict manyof the hitherto formed theories, which he enumerates inthree heads, without, he says, being answerable for theirinfallibility. 1st. It has been asserted in the writingsof the ancients and moderns, that Egypt was the country where the disorder originated. It has also been fre-quently asserted, that the yearly overflowing of the Nile ,leaves such a quantity of water and mud in the ponds andlowest part of the fields, which afterwards become putrid,and consequently infects the air to such a degree, as to pro-duce the plague. This, he says, pre-supposes the susceptibi-lity of infection in the air. If we allow this, he continues,how could its influence be prevented by merely avoiding allcommunication with infected people; when, at the sametime, these very same persons must breathe the air? The airis never shut out; on the contrary, it is enjoyed as much aspossible, oftentimes even to sleeping in it on the tops of thehouses, from the month of February till near the end ofJune; in which months the plague rages most, if broughtthither. It may be considered if the air was infected, themany thousands who are continually sick and dying in itwould not mend it, but rather increase the infection. But,he adds, the Nile has no such qualities as are imputed to i!:on the contrary, he proves, in another place allotted tothat question, that its waters never putrefy.

2d. It has been asserted, that it is owing to the supposedfilthiness of the Turks. This, he says, must pre-supposea corrupted air occasioned by it; which what he hasadvanced seems equally to contradict. Besides, he conti-nues, it is a great injustice to the Turks to call them afilthy and dirty people. They are quite the reverse; and thebetter sort of them are remarkable for cleanliness; nay, thisis conspicuous among all classes, because their religionenjoins frequent ablutions : and, on the whole, they are quitedifferent to what have been supposed by Europeans, lie