The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-23 00:00:00

THE PLAGUE

The Paris Academy of Medicine has, during the last
five months, devoted all its sittings to the thorough dis-
cussion of the conclusions come to by the Commission
appointed by it to consider the question of the plague.
The following is the result of this long discussion :
" 1. In the present condition of the population, and
their civilisation, the countries where the plague is still
generated are, in the first rank Egypt, then Syria, and
the Tko Turkeys.
"It is, however, to be feared that the plague may
equally develop itself, without importation, in the Re-
gencies of Tripoli and Tunis, and in the empire of Mo-
rocco ; the same danger, seems to exist no longer in
Algeria.
" 2. The conditions which favour and determine the
development of the plague are, in so far as observation
permits us to verify—dwelling on alluvial or marshy
soils—a hot and moist atmosphere—low, ill-ventilated,
and close houses—the accumulation of a great quantity
of animal and vegetable matter in a state of putrefac-
tion—insufficient and unwholesome food—great physical
misery—an habitual state of moral suffering—the negli-
gence of the laws of public and private health.
" 3. The plague in its sporadic state does not seem
capable of transmitting' itself.
" The plague in its epidemic state, is transmissible,
either in the localities whsre the epidemy rages, or be-
yond those localities.
"It transmits itself by the aid of miasmas which
escape from the bodies of the sick ; these miasmas dif-
fused, in close and ill-ventilated places, may create
centres of pestilential infection.
" The transmissibility of the plague by the mere con-
tact with the sick, has not been proved by any strict
observation.

" Fresh observations are necessary to demonstrate
that the plague is or is not transmissible by the clothes
and effects of the sick.

" It results from careful researches made in the Euro-
pean lazarets, that the plague has not been transmitted
by merchandise for more than a century.
"4, Beyond the limits of the centres of epidemy, the
plague has not appeared in suspected persons more than
eight days after a complete isolation.

5. .gn enlightened and persevering application of the
laws of health, might, by destroying the causes of the
plague, prevent its developement in these places which
still generate it. _ _

" 6. Vessels from suspected places should be watched
on the departure, during the voyage, and on arrival, by
French sanitary physicians, appointed for this purpose.
" The employment of a good ss stem of ventilation of
vessels should be insisted on during the voyage.
" Clean bills of health to be delivered in ordinary
times, that is, when the- plague does not exist, or exists
only in the sporadic state ; foul bills, in times of pestilen-
tial epidemy, or imminence of epidemy.
" Our conclusions, 3 and 5, indicating, according to
facts hitherto observed, when there is any cause for im-
poeirg quarantines, and what shall be their duration, the
Academy leaves it to the authorities to determine by
what degress, and to what extent prudence permits the
results of observation to be reduced to practice.
" The quarantine will be reckoned from the day of de
parture for vessels having a sanatory physician on board
"For those not having a sanatory physictan on board
the quarantine will commence from the day of arrival.
" Whatever may be the nature of the Bill of health; if
there should occur one or more cases of plague, or only
of suspected sickness, on board, during the voyage, the
passengers and crew should be placed under the same
quarantine, as if they came from a place where the epi-
demic plague was actually raging.
" This quarantine will be made in the lazaret, and
never on board.

" The vessel will undergo a strict quarantine, the du-
ration and conditions of which will be regulated by the
superior authorities.
" The effects of passengers on board all vessels having
foul bills of health, will continue to be enveloped in lead
on departure, or still better, to be submitted to a suffi-
cient ventilation during the voyages, if practicable. The
plans at present in use for purifying goods are regarded
as useless.

" Finally, the lazareta should be arranged in such a
manner as to secure the isolation of the sick, and at the
same time provide perfect ventilation. The sick ought,
besides, to receive all the help and cares usually bestowed
on ordinary invalids.

ROBBERY BY A SRAM COACH-OFFICE, PORTER.--
Monday morning a fellow, having the appearance of a
coach-office porter, succeeded in defrauding the servant
of Mr. Vander, of Guildford. street, Russell-square, of
Bs. 6d., being the amount due for the conveyance of a
hamper that he said had arrived by the Eastern Coun-
ties Railway. The family were from home at the time;
and as the fellow threatened to take the hamper back,
from one 'end of which there protruded the tail of a phea-
sant and the feet of a hare, the servant paid him the
amount. Mr. Vander, on his return, proceeded to exa-
mine this unexpected Christmas present, which proved
to be oyster shells and sand covered with hay, the fea-
thers and feet being fastened inside to give the package
the appearance of containing game.
COMPARATIVE DEGREES OF HEAT AND COLD.—
The intensity of the frost in the resent winter fdrnishes
interesting matter for comparative seasonable specula-
tion. It is a subject of philosophical observation, that
intensely hot summers are commonly followed by winters
of intense cold, the one being in the ratio to the other.
The opinion seems to be borne out by a reference to the
summer of the present year, which, it will be recollected,
was one of great and long enduring heat ; and it is fur-
ther apparently so, as indicated by a reference to wea-
ther tables ranging through a long cycle of years. Facts
and results apparently so opposite'. are full of interest,
and open up a wide field for the reasoner. In northern
climates, where the winter is both long and severe, the
glass ranging below zero, and the season extending, in
%some instances, over eight months of the year, the sum-
mers, which contain the elements of spring and summer,
are generally very hot. The earth for the winter time is
ice locked—rivers and lakes are sheeted over, and even
springs and gushing fountains are frozen up. Thus it is
in North America, Russia, and the whole of the coun-
tries in the northern regions. The changes of tempera-
ture are instantaneous, and it not uncommonly happens,
behold
that the people inhabiting these countries witness, on
xt morning,
n lovely spring.
uyt
eeamenanallidrhe
eloryoof, on rising
goetrtrhri
assefiui
tngi: fulrfemgoarteitchtriscesbeolaimyfnnuepai
retiring to bed, the very depth of winter, with all its con-
comitantstt: 'hangie
o ieonrrtgyioo(wu,tfbsi
tie;hsn
7ite;raletiev:ditnhbtyee winters
summerrdeoveer:
of which was one of great heat, and the winter of that year
was one of great comparative severity ; so, also, the en-
suing year of 1812, memorable for the destruction of Na-
poleon's army in Russia, the winter shearing them off
like snow flakes drifting on the stormy wind.