A Further Account of the Late Plague at Constantinople, in a Letter of Dr. Mackenzie from Thence, of the 23 of April 1752, to John Clephane, M. D. F. R. S.

LXXXVII. A further Account of the late Plague at Constantinople, in a Letter of Dr. Mackenzie from thence, of the 23 of April 1752, to John Clephane, M.D. F.R.S. Read June 18, 1752. As a corollary to my former account sent to Dr. Mead, please to know, that, on January 3, 1752, there was an accident of the plague, when the thermometer was at 53. Jan. 24, another accident, therm. 52. Jan. 26, an accident at Buiukdere, therm. 51. Feb. 8, accidents at Cassim, Pacha, and Phanar, therm. 52. Feb. 10, an accident in Galata, therm. 55; patient recover'd. Feb. 15, another accident in the same house, therm. 53. March 8, an accident in Galata, therm. 56; and not one accident since, tho' at present the thermometer is at 50, and has been at 44 the 16 instant; so that we have great hopes to get clear, if no infection is convey'd to us from any other quarter. To satisfy you, how I came to be so exact in dates, it is proper to inform you, that I have kept, ever since I have been in Turkey, a journal of the thermometer, barometer, winds, weather, diseases, and other events; which I mark down exactly twice every 24 hours. Prosper Alpinus observes, that the Etefian winds at Cairo remove the plague intirely; so that they fear nothing after these winds begin. And I can assure, bona fide, that all the plagues, which have been at Smyrna and Constantinople for the last twenty years, years, have been hottest and most violent during the season of the Etesian winds; still allowing, that, were it not for the Etesian winds, the plague would be more violent in the hot months. Witness the 24 of June 1735, there being no wind, the sickness ravaged more than any other day, while it lasted. I return you many thanks for shewing my remarks to the Royal Society. I am sensible they have no other merit imaginable, besides their being true, which may be a motive for some of the best taste to relish them. As I hear there is a bill to be brought into parliament to regulate quarantines, I will give my humble opinion of them, as they ought to be observed in Great-Britain and Ireland. 1. It seems to me useless to put a ship's company from the Levant in quarantine in Britain. For how is it possible, that men, who have been one or two months at sea, toss'd about with different winds and weathers, and arriving, after such a time, in good health in England, can have any infection in their bare bodies? Wherefore, as soon as they arrive, they should be stripp'd naked, and have clean linen and cloaths put on, and then sent immediately ashore. This would save to the owners of ships these sailors wages and victuals during the quarantine; and the sailors might go to sea again, without eating the bread of idleness for so many days. The case is different in Italy, and in the south of France; to which countries a ship with a fair wind may perform a voyage in eight days from the Levant; during which time a person may have the plague about him, him, without being confin'd to his bed; of which there are many instances. 2. There should be found very honest men to be overseers of the lazaretto, who will take the trouble of seeing all the goods unbaled, and every particular parcel exposed to the air: Otherwise, if the goods remain in the same place, and every shred not exposed to the air, they may be as well in the merchants magazines as in the lazaretto. 3. No person, during quarantine, should be allow'd to go near the lazaretto, excepting such as have the care of it; for fear strangers, going too near, may receive infection from the goods in the lazaretto, and, at their return, communicate it to others. 4. There should be one or more doctors to attend the lazaretto, and take care of the people, who look after it, in case any of them should be sick, that their sickness may immediately be known: And, should it prove contagious, the patient should be separated, and so the infection, as much as possible, hindred from spreading. 5. The ships should be very well clean'd and perfum'd in the hold, and between decks, where the goods lay during the voyage, for some days after they are unloaden. Otherwise persons going into the hold of the said ships, may be infected, and communicate the infection to others. This I communicate to you, as you have an opportunity of conversing with several members of parliament.