soiled white
hat on the ground beside him, on which was fastened a pilgrim's cockle
shell, and there was suspended round his neck a long antique blue
enamelled phial, like those found in the Greek tombs, and it was attached
to a rosary of coarse beads. He took up his hat, and appeared to be
retiring to another part of the building, when I apologised for the
interruption we had given to his studies, begged him to resume them, and
assured him that our stay in the building would be only momentary, for I
saw that there was a cloud over the sun, the brightness of which was the
cause of our retiring. I spoke in Italian; he replied in English,
observing that he supposed the fear of contracting the malaria fever had
induced us to seek the shelter of the shade: but it is too early in the
season to have much reasonable fear of this insidious enemy; yet, he
added, this bottle which you may have observed here at my breast, I carry
about with me, as a supposed preventive of the effects of malaria, and as
far as my experience, a very limited one, however, has gone, it is
effectual. I ventured to ask him what the bottle might contain, as such
a benefit ought to be made known to the world. He replied, "It is a
mixture which slowly produces the substance called by chemists chlorine,
which is well known to be generally destructive to contagious matters;
and a friend of mine who has lived for many years in Italy, and who has
made a number of experiments with it, by exposing himself to the danger
of fever in the worst seasons and in the worst places, believes that it
is a secure preventive. I am not convinced of this; but it can do no
harm; and in waiting for more evidence of its utility, I employ it
without putting the least confidence in its power; nor do I expose myself
to the same danger as my friend has done for the sake of an experiment."
I said, "I believe several scientific persons--Brocchi amongst
others--have doubted the existence of any specific matter in the
atmosphere producing intermittent fevers in marshy countries and hot
climates; and have been more disposed to attribute the disease to
physical causes, dependent upon the great differences of temperature
between day and night and to the refrigerating effects of the dense fogs
common in such situations in the evening and morning; and, on this
hypothesis, they have recommended warm woollen clothing and fires at
night as the best preventives against these destructive diseas