THE QUARANTINE CONTROVERSY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
SIR—I disagree with your correspondent "Audi Alteram Partem." I think there is still a side of the question to which his ear has not been opened—the side of common reason and common sense. Whether I may be skilful enough to con- vey to his mind a different opinion from the one he entertains, is another matter. But it seems strange to me that a man can remain awake sixteen hours in the day in England, in the middle of men, conversation, and books, exercise a little thinking power, and not come to the conclusion that quarantine is a delusion, a mockery, a snare, a piece of superstition or childishness, not at all Worthy of Bri- tain in the nineteenth century. For the sake of elucidation, suppose our ships could by any means reach a peopled territory which had not before been visited by Europeans, is there any doubt that smallpox would soon reach the newly-discovered shores ? No: esta- blish what quarantines you might, smallpox would find its way to the people, whom we suppose hitherto innocent of its ravages and of vaccination. Be- cause smallpox is a contagious disease. If plague were suitable for the climate of England, plague would have been here long long ago, I cannot say in spite of quarantine, for quarantine has not been the thing to keep it out. Could quarantine have kept out smallpox ? If the plague cannot come, what is the use of the vexations, the superstitious absurdity of quarantine? If it can come, what is the use of such an imperfect system, as ours is, of quarantine to keep it out? That plague does not come, simply demonstrates that it cannot come. Why does typhus constantly rage in Glasgow ? and why, in the absence of all quarantine regulations, and in the presence of the North-western rails, does it not proceed to Birmingham? Because typhus is a disease, like plague, which is in- fections under certain conditions, but which has its localities. Plague has its habitat—England is not its habitat; and you may as soon look for plague in England as a foolish botanist might here look for plants only to be found in a latitude nearer the Equator. I think that scarlatina and typhus flourish under certain conditions; I think that they are, in a degree, and under certain circumstances, infectious. I do not go so far as the Board of Health in making plague, typhus, and scarlatina, species of a genus. I think there is no reason, no analogy, for such a pretty nomencla- ture. But when typhus is as prevalent in Whitechapel, Marylebone, and Bir- mingham, as in Edinburgh and Glasgow, on account of the rails, we may impose quarantine regulations to keep the plague in Cairo on account of the steam-ships. Mr. Audi Partem holds out a threat that Continental states will impose addi- tional restrictions on English ships, if England abolishes her quarantine-laws. We must console ourselves with thinking that England has shown Continental states an example of liberty in more ways than one, and with hoping that they will attain to common sense by and by on this topic. That Mr. Partem may also attain this point, is the wish—with every proper personal regard at the same time
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