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8
the disease to the influence of the stars: a power from the celestial
bodies was supposed to operate on the minds and bodies of men.
It received the name of the "Influence," or in the Italian language
the "Influenza," a term now generally adopted in this country.
The malady, however, in scientific treatises is more correctly
described as Catarrhal Fever. The disease is reported to have
prevailed in 1729, 1732, 1737, 1742, 1758, 1762, 1767, 1775, and
1782, re-appearing in 1803, 1833, 1837, and 1847. In some of
the epidemic years the mortality was large; in others, the attack
was milder in type. It is generally estimated that in 2 per cent.
of the persons infected the illness has a fatal termination, but in
some visitations, when the disease assumes a pernicious type, the
mortality rises to 5, 7, or even 10 per cent. There have been
differences of opinion as to the manner in which the contagion is
spread. Some people assert that it is carried from place to place
by the movement of aerial currents, and that neither seas nor
mountains, the natural barriers of human intercourse, arrest its
course. In support of this contention are instanced reported cases
of the incidence of the disease among the crews of ships in transit,
and supposed to be removed from all communication with the
land. From this cause it is stated that a British squadron in the
year 1782 was completely disabled whilst on service off the French
coast. And more recent examples are recorded where the crews
of vessels have been attacked in mid seas. But the records of
these isolated cases do not furnish undeniable evidence of the
aerial source of the infection. On the contrary, in all investigated
cases it is considered as probable that the contagion was shipped
with the stores, or introduced through the ordinary channels of
human intercourse. The latest investigations demonstrate conclusively
that the disease, in its invasion from east to west, follows
the lines of trade and traffic. From its home in Central Asia the
disease, traversing the caravan routes, invades Russia and Turkey.
By rail it is conveyed to the busy centres of Eastern and then of
esternEurope. By shipitaccompanies the travellerto the northern