Chapter 47

179.Results of an investigation respecting Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases, including Researches in the Levant concerning the Plague. By Charles Maclean, M.D. London, 1817.

180. It is noticed by writers long before Dr. Maclean: see “Distinct notions of the Plague, 1722. Dale Ingram on the Plagues that have appeared since 1346; and Plague no Contagious Disease.” The following is the story to which these authors allude.—It appears that Pope Paul III, about the year 1747, commissioned his legate, Cardinal Montè, to fabricate some pretext for removing the celebrated Council of Trent, which was then sitting in debate on the abuses of the ecclesiastical power, to some town within the Papal territory. An epidemic fever, it was said, then prevailed at Trent: many of the bishops became alarmed, and fled; some, if not all, on the Emperor’s side, raised their voices against the plot; but Fracastorius, Physician of the Council, aided the imposition with all the zeal of a devoted Catholic, and the Council was accordingly translated to Bologna. From this time, Dr. Maclean asserts, it became almost heretical to doubt of the contagious nature of Plague; and the error, chiefly because it was sanctioned by the sovereign Pontiff’s authority in the first instance, has been propagated in christendom, as a point of medical orthodoxy, and continued down to the present time.—Maclean, loco citato,—Hancock on Pestilence, p. 11.

181.The history of the Plague, as it has lately appeared in the islands of Malta, Gozo, Corfu, Cephalonia, &c. detailing important Facts, illustrative of the Specific contagion of that disease, with particulars of the means adopted for its eradication,—ByJ. D. Tully, Esq. Surgeon to the Forces, late Inspector of Quarantine, and President of the Board of Health of the interior of the Ionian Islands. 8vo. London, 1821.

182.A Treatise on the Plague, designed to prove it Contagious, from facts collected during the Author’s residence in Malta, when visited by that malady in 1818, with Observations on its prevention, character, and treatment,—By SirArthur Brooke Faulkner, M.D. London, 1820. This work may be considered as one of the richest classical productions on the subject of the Plague; and we strongly recommend it to the attention of the medical reader on account of the important facts, powerful arguments, and correct judgment, which distinguish it.See alsoNarrative of Facts relative to the repeated appearance, propagation, and extinction of Plague among the British Troops in Egypt, in the years 1801, 1802, & 1803,—ByJohn Webb,Director General of the Ordnance Medical Department; published in the Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, vol. vi.

See alsoNarrative of Facts relative to the repeated appearance, propagation, and extinction of Plague among the British Troops in Egypt, in the years 1801, 1802, & 1803,—ByJohn Webb,Director General of the Ordnance Medical Department; published in the Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, vol. vi.

183. In the year 1819, SirJohn Jacksonmoved for a Committee in Parliament to inquire into the expediency of abrogating or modifying the restrictions imposed by the Quarantine laws; in which motion he was supported by the Right HonourableF. Robinson, President of the Board of Trade. The principal objects of inquiry on the subjects in question were,first, Is the Plague capable of being communicated from person to person, either by immediate contact with those diseased, or intermediately, by contact with infected goods? orsecondly, Is it an Epidemic depending only on a peculiar state of the atmosphere? The number of medical men examined upon this occasion was nineteen, only two of whom, Dr.Macleanand Dr.Mitchell, denied the contagious nature of the Plague.

184.Observations on the Epidemical Diseases of Minorca. Edit. 3, p. 132.

185.Observations on Marsh Remittents, p. 39, &c.

186.Observations on the Diseases which prevail in long voyages to hot countries. Vol. 1, p. 151.

187.On Simple Fever. Edit. 2, p. 113, and 114.

188.Essay on the Diseases incidental to Europeans in hot climates. Edit. 5, p. 27, and 221.

189.Medicina Nautica, vol. 1, p. 456.

190.Typhus cum flavedine Cutisof Cullen.Typhus Icterodesof Sauvages.

191. The chief authorities on the side of its contagious nature areAn Essay on the Malignant Pestilential Fever introduced into the West India Islands from Boulam, by Dr.C. Chisholm. London 1795.Medical Sketches, bySir James Macgregor. London 1804.The Report of the French Commissioners at Cadiz, in 1804. And the Works ofSir James Fellows, Dr.Caillot, and Dr.Arejulaof Cadiz. Much valuable matter is also contained in aTreatiseby Dr.Pym, Inspector of Hospitals. London 1818. To which may be addedThe Travels ofDon Antonio UlloaandDon Jorge Juan.

192.Rushon Yellow Fever.

193.An Essay on the Disease called Yellow Fever, byEdward Nathaniel Bancroft, M.D. &c. London 1811.

194. In the year 1817 Dr.Bancroftpublished aSequelto his work, in order to shew that theBulam Feverhas no existence as a distinct or contagious disease. This maladyDr. Chisholmsupposed to be a peculiar, original, and foreign pestilence, and to have been imported from Bulam, on the coast of Africa, by the shipHankey, to the island of Grenada; an opinion which received the support of Dr.Pym.

195.Medical Logic Edit. 2. p. 219.

196.Sporadic.—An epithet used in opposition to that ofEpidemic, and is given to such diseases as have some special or particular cause, and are dispersed here and there, affecting only particular constitutions, ages, &c. σποραδικος, from σπορας,dispersed, of σπείρωI strew.

197. The most remarkable of these Epidemics on record, are, that of 1647 in Barbadoes; that of 1686 in Martinique; that in the Spanish Main, in 1729, and 1740; and the most general and destructive of all, which broke out at Grenada in the month of March, in 1793, which spread rapidly to the whole Carribean Archipelago, and from thence to North America, and the shores of Europe. The most remarkable, and perhaps the only instances on record of its existence in North America, are that of Boston in 1693, on the arrival of a squadron of English ships of war from the West Indies; that in Carolina, in the years 1732, 1739, 1745, and 1748, all which, by the account of the physicians who describe it, could be traced to importations from the sugar colonies; that of Philadelphia, in 1751 and 1762; and that above-mentioned in 1793. It now remains to give the history of it as it appeared in Europe. It may be chronologically stated as follows: at Lisbon, in 1723; at Cadiz, in 1732, 1733, 1744, 1746, 1764, 1800; at Malaga, in 1741 and 1803; at Gibralter, in 1804. It has since appeared at different times in these cities, as well as at Carthagena, Alicant, and Leghorn.Extracted from Sir Gilbert Blane’s work.

198.Remarks on the Epidemic Yellow Fever which has appeared at intervals in the South Coasts of Spain, since the year 1800, byRobert Jackson, M.D. 8vo. London, 1821.

199. It is probable that the Fomites of Plague are never extinct in Turkey, although various circumstances may render itSporadic, or entirely dormant.

200.Loimologia.

201.Op. citat: p. 501.

202.Page 159.

203. The following account is taken from Quincy: “Dr.Plottobserves, the reasons why Oxford is now much more healthful than formerly, to be the enlargement of the city, whereby the inhabitants, who are not proportionally increased, are not so closely crowded together; and the care of the magistrates in keeping the streets clear from filth: for formerly, he says, they used to kill all manner of cattle within the walls, and suffer their dung and offals to lie in the streets. Moreover, about those times, the Isis and Cherwell, through the carelessness of the townsmen, being filled with mud, and the common shores by such means stopped, did cause the ascent of malignant vapours whenever there happened to be a flood. But since that, by the care and at the charge of RichardFox, Bishop of Winchester, in the year 1517, those rivers were cleansed, and more trenches cut for the water’s free passage;the town has continued in a very healthful condition, and in a particular manner so free from pestilential diseases, that the sickness in 1665, which raged in most parts of the kingdom, never visited any person there, although the terms were there kept, and the Court and both houses of Parliament did there reside.”—Plott’s Hist. of Oxfordshire, chap.ii.

204. SeeDr. Heberden’s Observ. on the Increase and Decrease of different Diseases, and particularly the Plague, p. 71.

205. The earliest instance of jail infection, communicated in a Court of Justice, appears to be that mentioned by Mr. AnthonyWood, as having happened “at the Assize kept in the Castle at Cambridge, at the time of Lent, 13thHenryviii. ann. dom. 1521-2, when the Justices there, and all the gentlemen, bailives, and all resorting thither, took such an infection, that many of them died; and almost all that were present fell desperately sick, and narrowly escaped with their lives.” Then comes the memorableblack assizeat Oxford, in July 1577, the best account of which is that given in “The History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, by Anthony Wood, M. A. of Merton College”, first published in English from the original MS. in the Bodleian library, by JohnGutch, A. M. printed at Oxford in 1796. Another instance is mentioned byHolinshed, (vol. ii, p. 1547) as occurring at Exeter, during the assizes there in March 1586. From this period no remarkable case of jail infection is recorded for a period of 150 years, when at the Lent assizes, some prisoners who had been removed from Ilchester gaol, to take their trials at Taunton, were said to have infected a part of the court, and produced a contagious disease, of which the Chief BaronPengally, with some of his officers and servants, and Sir JamesSheppard, knight, and Serjeant at Law, died afterwards at Blandford in Dorsetshire. Twelve years after, viz. in April, 1742, according to Dr.Huxham(De aëre, &c. vol.ii,p.82) a putrid fever appeared at Launceston, and occasioned great mortality; this fever, he adds, was generated in the prisons; and widely disseminated by means of the county assize. The next remarkable occurrence of this kind happened at the sessions of the Old Bailey, in the spring of 1750, which proved fatal to the Lord Mayor, and two of the Judges, with several eminent and other persons; this circumstance induced the Magistrates of London to resolve upon attempting to render Newgate more healthy; and they accordingly consulted Dr.Halesand Sir JohnPringleabout the method which they should follow. Dr.Halesrecommended the use of hisVentilator, a machine contrived to pump out the air of any place, and thus to occasion a perpetual renovation of it. The machine was accordingly erected, and its salutary effects soon became apparent, the deaths in Newgate having been reduced from 7 or 8 a week to about 2 in a month. Eleven men were employed in erecting this ventilator, of which no fewer than 7 were seized with the disease; a very interesting account of these men, and of the mode of treatment, were drawn up by Sir JohnPringle, and published in thePhilosophical Transactions for 1753, vol.xlviii,p.42.

206.Page 144.

207.A History of the Epidemic Fever which prevailed in Bristol during the years 1817-18-19, byJ. Prichard, M. D.

208.Medical Report of the Fever Hospital and House of Recovery, Cork street, Dublin, for the year ending the 5th of Jan. 1819.ByRichard Grattan, M.D. &c.

209.Medical Report of the Fever department in Stevens’ Hospital, containing a brief Account of the late Epidemic in Dublin, from Sep. to Aug. 1819.ByJohn Crampton, M.D. &c. Dublin, 1819.

210.Quarantine, or Quarantain, a French word signifying the space of forty days; why forty days should have been fixed upon as the period of probation upon these occasions is not very evident.Beckmannobserves that it arose from the doctrine of the ancient physicians, in regard to the critical days of many diseases, of which the fortieth seems to have been considered the last, and most extreme, and on which many astrological conceits were formerly maintained. (SeeG. Wedelii Exercitatio de Quadragesima die, in hisCenturia Exercitationum Medico-Philologicarum, Jenæ 1701.) This explanation however is not quite satisfactory; forty days appear to have been a period fixed upon for various kinds of probation, (probably from the duration of Lent); we have thusQuarantainof the King in France, which denotes a truce of forty days appointed by Saint Louis, during which time it was expressly forbidden to take any revenge of the relations or friends of people who had fought, wounded, or affronted each other in words. So again in the law of England, the wordQuarantinedenotes a benefit allowed to the widow of a man dying seized of land; by which she may challenge to continue in his capital messuage, or chief mansion house (so it be not a castle) for thespace of forty daysafter his decease; during which time her dower shall be assigned.Coke upon Lit.34, 35.An account of the various establishments for preventing the plague in different countries, with a reference to the best writers, may be found inSchleswig Holstein schen Blattern fur Polizey und Cultur. 1800, 2p.341.Legislative enactments for arresting the progress, and preventing the diffusion, of contagious diseases are mentioned in the earliest history: it is, for instance, commanded in the books of the law of Moses, that the priests shall be desired to visit houses infected with the plague of leprosy, which, if necessary, are to be closed, and even pulled down; or the walls are to be scraped and white-washed, and the infected persons to be shut up. (Leviticus, chap.xiii, xiv.) The laws ofQuarantine, however, as directed against the propagation of Pestilential Epidemics have a later origin. In the first centuries of the Christian era, it does not appear to have been known that infection could be communicated by cloathing, and other things used by infected persons. After the plague in the fourteenth century, which continued longer than any other on record, and extended over the greater part of Europe, the survivors found that it was possible to guard against, or to prevent infection, and Governments then began to order establishments to be formed for that purpose. The most ancient of these appear to be those in Lombardy and Milan in the years 1374, 1383, 1399; an account of which may be seen inMuratoriScriptores rerum Italic: T.xvi,p.560, & xviiip.82, and from thence copied intoChenot, p. 147. See alsoBoccacioDecam.The Venetians are entitled to the merit of having improved the establishments formed to prevent infection, and that their example was followed in other countries is generally admitted.Muratori(Lib.i,cap.ii,p.65) says that Quarantine was first ordered to be performed by the Venetians in 1484; andHoward(An Account of the principal Lazarettos; London, 1789, 4to p.12) states that the College of Health was instituted in 1448—seeBeckmann’sHistory of Inventions, vol. ii, p. 153—andConsiderations on the Means of Preventing the communication of Pestilential contagion, byW. Brownrigg, London, 1771. On the Turkish frontiers the period of Quarantine was reduced totwentydays, under the Emperor Joseph II. SeeMartini LangeRudimenta Doctrinæ de Peste.

An account of the various establishments for preventing the plague in different countries, with a reference to the best writers, may be found inSchleswig Holstein schen Blattern fur Polizey und Cultur. 1800, 2p.341.

Legislative enactments for arresting the progress, and preventing the diffusion, of contagious diseases are mentioned in the earliest history: it is, for instance, commanded in the books of the law of Moses, that the priests shall be desired to visit houses infected with the plague of leprosy, which, if necessary, are to be closed, and even pulled down; or the walls are to be scraped and white-washed, and the infected persons to be shut up. (Leviticus, chap.xiii, xiv.) The laws ofQuarantine, however, as directed against the propagation of Pestilential Epidemics have a later origin. In the first centuries of the Christian era, it does not appear to have been known that infection could be communicated by cloathing, and other things used by infected persons. After the plague in the fourteenth century, which continued longer than any other on record, and extended over the greater part of Europe, the survivors found that it was possible to guard against, or to prevent infection, and Governments then began to order establishments to be formed for that purpose. The most ancient of these appear to be those in Lombardy and Milan in the years 1374, 1383, 1399; an account of which may be seen inMuratoriScriptores rerum Italic: T.xvi,p.560, & xviiip.82, and from thence copied intoChenot, p. 147. See alsoBoccacioDecam.The Venetians are entitled to the merit of having improved the establishments formed to prevent infection, and that their example was followed in other countries is generally admitted.Muratori(Lib.i,cap.ii,p.65) says that Quarantine was first ordered to be performed by the Venetians in 1484; andHoward(An Account of the principal Lazarettos; London, 1789, 4to p.12) states that the College of Health was instituted in 1448—seeBeckmann’sHistory of Inventions, vol. ii, p. 153—andConsiderations on the Means of Preventing the communication of Pestilential contagion, byW. Brownrigg, London, 1771. On the Turkish frontiers the period of Quarantine was reduced totwentydays, under the Emperor Joseph II. SeeMartini LangeRudimenta Doctrinæ de Peste.

211. For an interesting account of the rise and progress of this disease, see Sir A.Faulkner’swork already quoted.

212. Though no punishment is annexed by the Act to any offence against the Order of the King in Council, yet the disobedience of such an order founded on Act of Parliament, is an indictable offence, and punishable as a misdemeanor at common law;KingagainstHarris, 4 T. R. 202, which was the case of a pilot who quitted a ship subject to Quarantine contrary to the established regulations.

213. This rule should be extended to vessels meeting at Sea.

214. The signal by day is a yellow flag of six breadths of bunting at the maintopmast-head, and if the vessel have not a clean bill of health, then the flag must have in it a black circular mark or ball, whose diameter must be equal to two breadths.

215. See also 59 Geo. 3. c. 41. which relates to infection in Ireland.

216.On Hereditary Disease, (Note 1, p. 46.)

217. The visitation of Lunatic Asylums and Mad-houses by Special Commissioners (see14Geo.3,c.49—Appendix170) may be considered as a branch of Medical Police, for which see the subjects of Idiots and Lunatics in Part II.

218. The local causes to which we would particularly refer, are those connected with humidity of atmosphere, which so generally occurs in the vicinity of the sea. The author speaks from experience, when he ventures to assert that the most efficient extracts soon lose their powers under such circumstances.

219. A bill was recently introduced in the House of Commons on this subject, but did not pass into a law.

220. The first bills containing the ages of the dead were those for the town of Breslaw in Silesia, from which Dr.Halleydeduced a table of the probabilities of the duration of human life, at every age, seePhilosophical Transactions(Abridgement vol. iii, p. 669.) Similar bills were established at Northampton in 1735.

221. We ought to mention that in consequence of the apprehension respecting the plague having subsided, the company soon began to discover that the weekly bills declined in sale; in order therefore to keep alive the public interest, and to preserve for themselves the income which arose from it, they printed on the same sheet, in the year 1735, the regulated prices of bread and salt.—!

222. This society was incorporated by Letters Patent of the 17th Henry iii, in 1239, by the style of the “Fraternity of Saint Nicholas;” and they were re-incorporated by charter of the 9th of James i. In 1625, they obtained a decree from the Star chamber, allowing them to keep a press in their hall, for the printing of the weekly and general bills of mortality of the city and liberties of London: and for this purpose the Archbishop of Canterbury appoints a printer. All which privileges were subsequently confirmed by a charter granted by Charles ii.

223.Strictures on the Uses and Defects of Parish Registers and Bills of Mortality, with suggestions for improving and extending the System of Parochial Registry.London, 1818.

224. Many of the diseases are absolutely unintelligible under their present designation; such, for instance, asHeadmoldshot;horse-shoe head;over-grown head;rising of the lights,&c.others are barbarous, asliver-grown;twisting of the guts,&c.others again are far too indefinitely expressed to be admitted as specific diseases, of whichaged;bed-ridden;bile;colds; may serve as examples. “Fevers of all kinds” is a little too sweeping and indiscriminate. “Abortives and still-born” united, form a large number in the general annual bill, the absurdity of which is apparent.Child-bedis a formidable article in the bill, and is liable to much misinterpretation and error; all women dying within the month after delivery are indiscriminately classed underchild-bed, whether they die in actual labour, or subsequently of acute fever, consumption, or any other disorder. Infants dying before baptism are not returned by the parish clerks in the bills of mortality. In the old bills they were entered under the denomination ofChrysoms, but this title has been long disused. SeeBurrows’sStrictures, p. 53.

225.Observations on the Increase and Decrease of different Diseases, and particularly of the Plague.London, 1801.—See alsoStowe’sLondon, book 5, p. 448.—Morris’sObservations on the past Growth, and Present State of the City of London.—Jamesonon the Changes of the Human Body, 8vo. London, 1812.

226.Phil. Trans.1774, vol. lxiv. p. 67; vol. lxv. p. 85; and vol. lxviii. p. 131.

227.Phil. Trans.1782, vol. lxxii. p. 35.

228.Phil. Trans.for 1775; see alsoThomson’sHist. of the Royal Society, article Political Arithmetic, p. 530.

229. The term Medicine (Ars Medendi) is used generally as including Surgery.

230. For the Law of Evidence in general see Trials per pais; Gilbert’s Law of Evidence; Viner’s Abr. tit Evidence; Bacon’s Abr. tit Evidence; Comygn’s Digest. tit Testmoigne: Buller’s NP; Espinasse NP; Peake on Evidence; Phillips on Evidence; 2 Tidd’s Practice 845.

231. SeeSevern v. Olive(Appendix, p. 201), in which it is also determined that the expense of experiments to elucidate or determine points in dispute cannot be allowed in costs. We regret the decision, as it may in future cases stand in the way of important and highly useful investigations.

232. See Cutt v. Pickering 1 Vent, Lord Say & Sele’s Case; Macclesfield, 41. or Annesley & Anglesea, 9 St. Tri. 383, 392.

233. Lord Barrington’s objection to disclose confidential conversation was also over-ruled in the case cited above.

234. It has been decided in civil cases, that declarations even of a dying man, madepost litem motamare not admissible as evidence; this appears to be rather a fine drawn distinction, and if it were extended to criminal matters would be productive of some mischief; for then if a man died of his wounds, after the assailant had been committed or indicted, declarations made under circumstances of equal solemnity and religious force, would be evidence or not according to the hour of the day at which they were uttered. The distinction is not taken in the law of Scotland, as appears by the stress laid by Lord Mansfield, on such declarations in his judgment in the Douglas cause. 2 Collec. Jurid.

235. Baptist or quaker surgeons should therefore, in cases likely to come before the criminal tribunals, take care to have persons associated with them who may supply their places in Court; we do not urge them to be sworn, as we should place less reliance on an oath taken in breach of conscientious scruples, than on the affirmation which is rejected in obedience to the forms of law.As a quaker if living could not be heard as a witness in a criminal case, query his declarations when dying, does the solemnity of the occasion dispense with the form of an oath?

As a quaker if living could not be heard as a witness in a criminal case, query his declarations when dying, does the solemnity of the occasion dispense with the form of an oath?

236. For the medical dangers and advantages of celibacy and marriage, the reader, if fond of such speculations, may consultMahon, vol.3,p.43, 80.

237. Œtas plena, or full age, regularly is one and twenty,Co. Litt79. 103. 1Hale Pl. c.17. The Roman law makes it twenty-five,Institut. lib.1.tit.23.De Curatoribus. Dig. lib.4.tit.4.De Minoribus. Taylor’s Civil Law, 255, 256. In France it was thirty for males.Potier.In Holland 25.

238. Sir John Sebright informs us, that if a flock of sheep, in which there is any defect, are permitted to breedin and in, the defect will gradually increase among them; and Colonel Humphries, by selecting for breeding a marked variety, has succeeded in procuring a flock, all of them with deformed bones: upon these curious facts Dr. Adams makes the following remarks; “If the same causes operate in man, may we not impute to them many endemic peculiarities found in certain sequestered districts, which have hitherto been imputed to the water, and other localities? and may we not trace a provision against such a deterioration of the race, in that revealed law, by which any sexual intercourse between near relations is forbidden, on pain of death?”

239. If either of the parties be under the age of twenty-one, they cannot by their own consent alone contract marriage; they must have either an express consent in case of licence, or an implied consent by the banns not having been forbidden; but as banns may be and frequently are improperly published in churches far distant from the actual residence of the parties, their parents, or guardians, this precaution of the legislature offers but a precarious safeguard against clandestine marriages.

240. 32Hen8.c.38. in part repealed by 2 & 3Ed.6.c.23. but query how far revived by 26Geo.2.c.33. See also 1 & 2Ph. & M. c.8. §. 20: and 1Eliz. c.1. §. 11.

241. From the age of seven to the age of twelve, as to the woman, and fourteen as to the man, they cannot contract marriagede præsenti, but onlyde futuro.Swinb. s.7.

242. As to matrimonial contracts, the full age of consent in males is fourteen years, and of females, twelve; till that age they are said to beimpuberes, and are not bound by matrimonial contracts; and with this also our law agrees; 1Hale Pl.17.Instit. Lib.1.tit.10.de nuptiis.Dig. Lib.23.lit.2.de ritu nuptiarum Co. Litt.104. The statute of Merton, 20.Hen.3.c.6 (Co. Litt.30). inflicts the loss of wardship and its benefits on such Lords as shall marry their wards within the age of fourteen years,et talis ætatis quod matrimonio consentire non possit. Yet a widow who had been married at seven, and at nine years old survived her husband, was held entitled to dower.Co. Litt.33.

243. This case was cited in argument inManby v. Scott. Siderf. p.112. but it was allowed that the older writersBracton,l.5. 421. andFleta, 434, 58, had held the contrary, and so does the law of the present day. SeeCo. Litt.30. 80:Brouwer de jure Connubiorum.

244. 15Geo.2.c.30.Co. Litt.80.n.

245. Statutes. 32Hen.8.c.38: 2 & 3Ed.6.c.21: 5 & 6Ed.6.c.12: 7 & 8Wil.3.c.35: 10Ann. c.19. 26G.2.c.33.

246. For further authorities see 4Bacon Abr.523. 15Viner Abr.252.Rolle’s Abr. tit. Bastard.356.

247. “De contracti matrimonii valore, per Sobolis necessariam judicatur.”—Hebenstreit Anthropolog: Forens. p.618.

248. OldParr, who lived to the age of 152, did penance at 105, for lying withKatharine Milton, and getting her with child. He married his second wife in his 122d year.

249. The Romans interdicted marriages of extreme inequality in respect of age, upon public policy; their law likewise restrained it between men above 60 and women turned 50, because at these ages procreation was improbable.The Athenian laws are said once to have decreed that Males should not marry till they were past 35 years of age.Aristotle(Polit. lib.vii.c.xvi.) thought 37 the proper age;Platofixes 30, in which opinionHesiodcoincides. With respect to Females, the old Athenian laws allowed them to marry at 26;Aristotleat 18, andHesiodat 15.Lycurgusapproved a marriage between men of 37, and women of 17; the principal object of which was, saysZenophon(De Republ. Lacedæm.) to insure that perfect maturity, and complete sexual vigour which he considered so eminently essential for the propagation of the human species.Aristotlewished the husband to be always 20 years older than his wife, in order that they might both arrive, at the same time, to the period when fertility ceases; and we learn fromCæsar & Tacitusthat the ancient Germans maintained a similar sentiment.

The Athenian laws are said once to have decreed that Males should not marry till they were past 35 years of age.Aristotle(Polit. lib.vii.c.xvi.) thought 37 the proper age;Platofixes 30, in which opinionHesiodcoincides. With respect to Females, the old Athenian laws allowed them to marry at 26;Aristotleat 18, andHesiodat 15.Lycurgusapproved a marriage between men of 37, and women of 17; the principal object of which was, saysZenophon(De Republ. Lacedæm.) to insure that perfect maturity, and complete sexual vigour which he considered so eminently essential for the propagation of the human species.Aristotlewished the husband to be always 20 years older than his wife, in order that they might both arrive, at the same time, to the period when fertility ceases; and we learn fromCæsar & Tacitusthat the ancient Germans maintained a similar sentiment.

250. In a celebrated German case, an affianced officer, by the misfortune of war, was rendered incapable of performing his contract; the marriage however took place,uxore sciente et consentiente, to the great scandal of the more bigoted ecclesiastic authorities who sought to annul it.

251.Capuronrelates several instances of women of sixty and upwards who have borne children.Plinysays thatCornelia, of the family of theScipios, bore a child at sixty, who was calledVolusius Saturninus.Marsa, a physician of Venice, records a similar instance;De la Mothe, another at sixty-one; and there is in the third volume of the Memoirs of the Academy, an account of a litigation on the presumption that a woman of sixty-eight could not bear a child. We shall treat this subject very fully under the head of Physiological Illustrations.

252. To those who are anxious to pursue the subtleties of this curious question, the following references may be acceptable—MercatusDeMorbis Hereditariis, a treatise published in the beginning of the 17th century;Stahl’sTheoria Medica Vera, published at Halle, in 1737, p. 377. There are besides in the collection of Dissertations published by Stahl in 1707, several passages which refer to the subject of Hereditary Diseases, and an Inaugural Dissertation, “De Hereditaria Dispositione ad varios Affectus,” by Burchart;Haller’sElementa, vol. 7, articleSimilitudo Parentum;M. Portal, “Sur la nature et traitement de quelques maladies hereditaires ou de famille,” published in the Memoirs of the French National Institute, and a translation of which may be found in the 21st volume of the London Medical & Physical Journal; it is principally valuable on account of the number of facts and references which it contains;M. Forester,De Morbis aut Noxis puerorum in vitiatis depravatis que parentibus. M. Portal mentions this work as one of great merit—certain opinions of Mr.John Hunter, upon the subject are contained in the report of Donellan’s trial,See Appendix.—The most important work which has been produced in our own times, is that by Dr.Adams; entitled “A Treatise on the supposed Hereditary Properties of Diseases, containing Remarks on the unfounded Terrors and ill-judged Cautions consequent on such Opinions.”

253. See the ancient doctrine of disparagement,Co. Litt.80, 81.

254. We are acquainted with but one instance of Legislative interference, relative to hereditary diseases, and that is to be found in the earlier history of our sister kingdom. The following quotation will explain its nature: “Morbo comitiali, amentia, mania, aut simili tabe, quæ facile in prolem transfunditur, laborantes, intereos ingenti facta indagine inventos, ne genus fæda contagione ab iis qui ex illis prognati, forent læderetur, castraverunt; mulieres hujusmodi morborum quavis tabe leprave infectas procul a virorum consortio ablegaverunt. Quod si harum aliqua concepisse inveniebatur, simul cum fætu nondum edito defodiebatur viva—Voraces, manducones supra quam erat humanum, helluonesque, et perpetuæ ebrietati indulgentes aut addictos, netam fæda monstrain patriæ dedecus supressent flumine mergentes, prius quantum libuit et cibi et potus vorare ac ingurgitare eis præbentes, miti supplicio exterminarunt.”Scotorum Historiæ a prima Gentis Origine, cum aliarum et rerum et gentium illustratione non vulgari, Librixix—Hectore Boethio Deidonanoauctore—Parisiis 1574, lib. 1, p. 12.The ancient Greeks appear to have entertained a similar opinion, although they did not ground any legislative enactments upon it; thus Plato commends Esculapius for refusing to patch up persons habitually complaining, lest they should beget children as useless as themselves; being persuaded that it was an injury both to the community and to the infirm person himself, that he should continue in the world, even though he were richer than Midas.De Republ. Lib.III. Upon the same principle Herodicus is censured by Plato as the inventor of an art of teaching the infirm to regulate their exercise and diet in such a manner as to prolong their lives for many years.

Scotorum Historiæ a prima Gentis Origine, cum aliarum et rerum et gentium illustratione non vulgari, Librixix—Hectore Boethio Deidonanoauctore—Parisiis 1574, lib. 1, p. 12.

The ancient Greeks appear to have entertained a similar opinion, although they did not ground any legislative enactments upon it; thus Plato commends Esculapius for refusing to patch up persons habitually complaining, lest they should beget children as useless as themselves; being persuaded that it was an injury both to the community and to the infirm person himself, that he should continue in the world, even though he were richer than Midas.De Republ. Lib.III. Upon the same principle Herodicus is censured by Plato as the inventor of an art of teaching the infirm to regulate their exercise and diet in such a manner as to prolong their lives for many years.

255.Police Medicale, p. 91. the author goes on to state, that by an ordinance of the king of Denmark, if the husband or wife have before marriage any secret malady, as leprosy, epilepsy, or other contagious disorder calculated to inspire horror, and does not inform the other of it, the party uninformed may have a divorce p. 92.

256. It must not be on the mere confession of parties, 2Burn.461. but seeGreenstreetandGreenstreet Phillimore’s Rep.Divorce by reason of impotence, 4Bacon. Ab.534, and cases there, and note, p. 555.Authorities,—Panormus;Targereau, Paris, 1611;Sylva Nuptialis;Ambrose Parè, sixth edit.;Sanchez de Matrimonio;Journal des Sçavans, July, 1677;Johannes Saresberiensis in Policratico sive de nugis curialium;Rouliard’s Capitulaire;Antony Hotman’s Treatise.Baylesays that theDivorce propter impotentiamwas first allowed byJustinianat the instance of his wife the empressTheodora; her life and character (7Gibbon’s Roman Empire, p. 64) will best explain the motives of her interference; the Canonists addedpropter arctitudinem, which the empress had naturally omitted.

Authorities,—Panormus;Targereau, Paris, 1611;Sylva Nuptialis;Ambrose Parè, sixth edit.;Sanchez de Matrimonio;Journal des Sçavans, July, 1677;Johannes Saresberiensis in Policratico sive de nugis curialium;Rouliard’s Capitulaire;Antony Hotman’s Treatise.Baylesays that theDivorce propter impotentiamwas first allowed byJustinianat the instance of his wife the empressTheodora; her life and character (7Gibbon’s Roman Empire, p. 64) will best explain the motives of her interference; the Canonists addedpropter arctitudinem, which the empress had naturally omitted.

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