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39
on one side of a street, and not touch the
other; or it will localise itself in one ward
only of a prison or lunatic asylum, or workhouse.
There is no doubt a sufficient reason
for this, but at present its capriciousness passes
our comprehension.
8. That when it attacks a place, it always
commences with a few straggling cases; it
then rapidly increases in violence, and gradually
abates. The circumstances which give
intensity to its action are entirely local,
as the altitude of the place, the density of
the population, and its sanitary condition.
The altitude of a place appears to have the
largest influence; and next to this the
density of the population. In the epidemic
in 1849, this was well exemplified by the
duration of the disease; for in 41 registration
sub-districts, each with a population of
less than 10,000, the average time of the epidemic
was but 81 days; in 44 sub-districts
with from 10,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, the
the mean duration of it was 108 days; and
in 35 sub-districts with from 20,000 to
30,000 persons it was 117 days. But it has
its caprices in this respect, for in the three
epidemics of 1849, 1854, and 1866, the time
of its reaching its greatest intensity in