Dissertations on Malaria, Contagion and Cholera: Explaining the Principles Which Regulate Endemic, Epidemic, and Contagious Diseases, with a View to their Prevention

When this book was first published in 1832, England was caught in a cholera pandemic that had already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives across Europe. It was commonly held that 'bad air' spread the disease, but theories and remedies varied: one doctor advised the Nottinghamshire public to carry silk cushions filled with myrrh and camphor to strengthen resistance to contagion, while in New York officials suspected that raw vegetables and cold water were the root of the problem. In this ...