EFFECTS OF MALARIA. A glance at the inhabitants of malarious countries or districts must convince even the most superficial observer, that the range of disorders produced by the poison of malaria, is very extensive. The jaundiced complexion, the tumid abdomen, the stunted growth, the stupid countenance-the shortened life, attest that habitual exposure to malaria saps the energy of every bodily and mental function, and drags its victims to an early grave. A moment's reflexion must shew us that FEVER and AGUE, two of the most prominent features of the malarious influence, are as a drop of water in the ocean, when compared with the other less obtrusive, but more dangerous maladies that silently but effectually disorganize the vital structures of the human fabric, under the operation of this deleterious and invisible poison. Yet the English the portions of Rome which have lately become most infested with this invisible poison, gives us the following results of his enquiries. "According to these reports, it appears to enter at the Porta del Popolo, or from the north-eastward; while it may be suspected here, that as far as this occurrence is new, as it is asserted to be, the immediate cause must be sought in the extirpation of the mass of wood just mentioned, which formerly sheltered this quarter of the city from that wind which crossed the pestiferous plain. "From this point it is said now to reach to a certain distance along the Corso, the banks of the Tiber, and the west side of the Pincian hill; continuing its course along the base of that elevation, by the church of the Trinita del Monte, and thus round the foot of the Quirinal and Viminal hills, to the church of Santa Maria maggiore. In its further progress it reaches the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, diverging towards the Campo Vaccino, and proceeding onwards to the eastward of the Colosseum. It is also further said to have begun to enter, but at a later date, by the quarter of the Porta Maggiore and that of San Giovanni; occupying at present, to a severe degree, the district of St. John Lateran, and holding its course over the Coelian hill towards the church of St. Gregory, where it spreads to the eastward of the Palatine, towards the ancient seat of the great Velabrum and the river. "To omit minuter and further details, I may also add, that by reports more recent than those from which the preceding sketch was drawn, its progress is by no means finished; and that every year adds something to the extent of its course and influence, and not a little to the alarm of the inhabitants; since, should it proceed for many more years in the same accelerating ratio, Rome, the eternal city, may perhaps at length be abandoned, and the modern Babylon, as it has been named, become, like Babylon the great, a desert of ruins." traveller or sojourner in Italy knows little, if any thing, respecting these slow and masked underminings of his health, and thinks, if he escapes the malaria fever of July and August, he has nothing more to dread, but every thing to enjoy, throughout the year. Fatal mistake! The foundation of chronic maladies, that render life miserable for years, is every Summer laid in hundreds of our countrymen, who wander about beneath the azure skies of Italy. They bring home with them a poison circulating in their veins, which ultimately tells on the constitution, and assumes all the forms of Proteus, harrassing its victim with a thousand anomalous and indescribable feelings of wretchedness, inexplicable alike to himself and his physician. It is the attribute, the character, of all malarious disorders to be slow in their development, when the poison is inhaled in a dilute state, or only for a short time. Many of our soldiers did not feel the effects of the Walcheren malaria till months, or even years, after that fatal expedition. So our countrymen in India often go on for years in tolerable health, after exposure to a malaria, before the noxious agent shews itself in the disturbance of certain functions of the body. The same thing is seen even in England, though on a smaller scale. Those who inhabit marshy or damp situations become, sooner or later, affected with some of the Proteiform maladies engendered by malaria, though they are seldom understood, unless they happen to take on a regular aguish character. Two causes have a marked influence in deranging the biliary and digestive organs-solar heat and terrestrial exhalations. Either is equal to the production of the effect; but, when combined, the agency is most potent. Thus, in India and other tropical climates, when a high range of temperature combines with marsh miasmata, liver and bowel-complaints are sure to result. And, under the most favorable circumstances, although hepatitis or dysentery may be evaded, the organs of digestion are sure to suffer in the end; and the melancholy catalogue of dyspeptic, bilious, and nervous complaints is the portion of the tropical sojourner. Now Italy, in Summer and early Autumn, is nearly as hot as the East or West Indies, and is the very throne of malaria. She has also the additional disadvantages of the sirocco and tramontane winds-or, in other words, vicissitudes of temperature, great and sudden, beyond any thing which we witness even under the Equator. What are the consequences? Malarious fevers ;-or, if these are escaped, the foundation of chronic malarious disorders is laid, an ample provision for future misery and suffering! These are not speculations, but facts. Compare the range of human existence, as founded on the decrement of human life in Italy and England. In Rome, a 25th part of the population pays the debt of Nature annually. In Naples, a 28th part dies. In London, only one in 40, and in England generally only one in 60, falls beneath the scythe of time or the ravages of disease.* Thus, then, in the ancient mistress of the earth and the modern mistress of the seas, the inhabitants of the latter have a superiority of life, and consequently of health, over the former, in the proportion of 40 to 25! Even Naples, the vaunted Naples, is, in salubrity, as 28 to 40, compared with the British metropolis! The range of human existence, or, in the technical language of the insurance companies, the "value of life," is nearly double in England what it is in Naples. In adducing these facts, I do not mean to deny that, in particular disorders, or in certain states of the human constitution, a specific period of the year in Italy may not conduce to the restoration of health, or at all events to the prolongation of life. But this I firmly believe, that every year's residence in Italy not only curtails the duration of life in the proportion above mentioned, but sows the seeds of such an additional crop of bodily (perhaps mental) infirmities, as will embitter the remaining years of existence, in fully as great a ratio as they diminish them. As this subject is, perhaps, much more important to the health and happiness of a large class of Britons, in the present state of Europe, than a disquisition on paintings or statues, I shall risk a few more observations. From some acquaintance with the effects of malaria, or vegeto-animal effluvia, on the human constitution, both at home and abroad, I venture to affirm that this invisible poison is a very fertile source of obscure but harrassing disorders. I have already said that one of its characteristics is the slowness or insidiousness of its effects. Another and still more characteristic feature of malarious disorders is their alternations of activity and repose-in other words, the periodicity of their accessions and remissions. They love to prolong the life of their victim, in order that he may die a series of deaths-like the eastern tyrants, who protract the immolation of the criminal by dropping water from a height on his naked head. The class or tribe of malarious maladies comprehends numerous families. At the head of one of them stands the foul TERTIAN fiend, distinguished by the peculiarity of his warfare on the human race-a regular series of attacks and retreats. The sufferer is thus harrassed, but held up by alternate days of sickness and health, till the TERTIAN FIEND delivers him over to two of his merciless offspring, LIVER and DROPSY, who finish the tragedy of life. These are the victims of malaria which meet the eye in all parts of the Campagna, Maremma, Pontines, and many other insalubrious localities of fair Italy. At the head of another tribe of miasmal afflictions, stands one of the most terrible enemies of human nature. Unlike the TERTIAN FIEND, he gives no * See Hawkins' Statistics, 1829. warning of his approach, no clue to the probable periods of his attack. The invisible and poison-pointed dagger is plunged, without notice, into those parts of our organization where sensibility is most acute, and, consequently, where pain is most agonizing! The stroke is repeated without remorse, and without the merciful humanity of quickly destroying its victim, who is reserved for years of torture and long protracted despair! Need I say that this destroying angel is TIC DOULOUREUX. It is a product of malaria; but fortunately, in this its highest grade, it is not a very common malady. The inferior branches of this family, however, are exceedingly numerous, even in our own country, comprehending all the forms of chronic rheumatism, sciatica, face-ache, clavus hystericus, and the whole of the neuralgiæ, or wandering and periodical pains, dolorous sensations, &c. for which names have not yet been invented. The offspring of malaria and certain morbific agencies conjoined, as intemperance, moral afflictions, and other ills of life, would require volumes for their elucidation.* As malarious exhalations act strongly and injuriously on the digestive organs and the nervous system, the range of their influence is wide beyond all calculation. One general character, however, appertains to all the disorders connected with a malarious origin-PERIODICITY, or remissions and exasperations. Whenever this phenomenon (periodicity) shews itself, malaria should be suspected; and those countries or localities which are infested by this destructive agent should be avoided. The misfortune is, that both in England and Italy, the poison is often introduced into the constitution, in doses so minute, that no immediate effect is produced, especially while the excitement of novelty, and the exhilaration of travelling last. When these are over, the penalty of residence in malarious countries will, sooner or later, be paid; though, even then, by sufferings, which are rarely traced or attributed to their real origin. Their nature being mistaken, the treatment is ineffectual; and health is sacrificed! But, as I shall have occasion to touch on this subject again, when speaking of the medicinal effects of an Italian climate, I shall bring this section to a close. * Dr. Macculloch has dedicated three volumes to malaria and the disorders produced by it, in which the reader will find fever, apoplexy, lethargy, coma, paralysis, epilepsy, hysteria, asthma, palpitation, mania, hypochondriasis, dyspepsia, nervous disorders, atrophy, hepatitis, rheumatism, dysentery, pellagra, goitre, tic douloureux, and the whole tribe of neuralgic complaints. The author may have carried his doctrines to extremes on some points: but daily experience is corroborating the views which Dr. M. has taken of malaria and its consequences. APPROACH TO ROME. At length the ETERNAL CITY bursts on our view from an eminence in its vicinity, and is soon again snatched from our sight by the usual " covered way," between dead stone walls! We cross the yellow Tiber, and the Milvian Bridge-all mute, but each immersed in his own contemplations. We enter the sacred city, and find ourselves between two handsome hemicycles, where we gaze on the jetting fountains, the marble statues of Rome, NepTUNE, and the four SEASONS; but, above all, on the towering Egyptian obelisk in the centre, hewn out of the granite rock in the days of the Pharoahs, and now surrounded by couching lions, spouting forth crystal streams issuing from the springs of distant mountains. The PIAZZA DEL POPOLO furnishes abundant provender for soul and body. Three churches and three hotels! Those who are grateful for their safe journey through the Campagna may repair to the former, and sacrifice on the altar of STA. MARIA DEL POPOLO. Those who prefer refection to prayer, will find every thing they can wish or want at the "ISLES BRITANNIQUES." ROME. There is a sedative principle in the air of the Campagna, which, with the stillness of the atmosphere and the silence of the streets of Rome, tends to tranquillize—perhaps benumb the feelings, and lulls to repose. This, I think, is evident in the countenances, the gait, the actions of the Roman inhabitants. It is felt, I apprehend, by a majority of sojourners in that far-famed city. No spot on the earth's surface is better calculated for dreaming away the lagging hours of life than Rome. Whether we meditate on the mouldering ruins of her former greatness, or the puerile frivolities of her present decay— whether we pore over the history of the dead, or mix with the motley crowd of the living, the energies of mind and body are weighed down by an inexplicable languor and listlessness quite peculiar to the former mistress of the world. No wonder that the Romans bowed their necks in abject apathy to every tyrant, when the foreign enemy was no longer at their gates-when the conquest of their neighbours was completed-when Britain was a colony, and Europe, Asia, and Africa, were state prisons. It is morally-or, rather, it is physically impossible that the inhabitants of a hot, and especially of a malarious climate, can retain dominion over those of the north. Hyperborean energy will as certainly trample over southern sloth, as the invigorating seabreeze of the morning triumphs over the enervating land-wind of the night.* * Gibbon tells us that, “in all levies, (of troops) a just preference was given to the climates of the north over those of the south.”—Vol. I. p. 15. |