“The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning,” &c. (Deut. chap, xxviii.)--“And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Exod. chap, ix.)--“But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods” (violent dysentery), “even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.” (1 Sam. chap, v.)--“I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague,” &c. (Levit. chap. xxvi.)--“I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.” (Jeremiah, chap. xxi.)--The sun and the moon standing still in their habitations, the mountains trembling, the waters overflowing, causing famine and pestilence. (Habakkuk, chap. iii.)--“Behold, I will send a blast upon him.” (2 Kings xix.)--“The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust.” (Deut. xxviii.)--“Thy heaven shall be brass, and the earth iron.” (Ibid.)--“And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain, there shall be the plague,” &c. (Zechariah, chap. xiv.) In conclusion: fully impressed with the necessity that for the purpose of insuring anything like rational conclusions as to the nature and origin, or causes, of epidemic pestilences, we should not only enter upon their investigation divested of all prejudice in favour of _exclusive_ doctrines, but at the same time be actuated by an impartial desire for COMPREHENSIVNESS, as being the only, the true way to surmount the innumerable difficulties attendant on the investigation of universal distempers, and premising with the opinion that at the onset we should be cognizant of the _absolutely_ necessary distinction between the predisposing and the exciting causes of disease, the due consideration of which guides to preventive or sanitary measures, _I take leave_ to reiterate my opinion,--an opinion founded on a careful review of the foregoing history of epidemics,--that all epidemic pestilences or diseases are to be accounted for on the principle of natural causes, viz., THAT ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE, CONSISTING OF VARIATIONS OF TEMPERATURE, HYGROMETRIC INFLUENCE, ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE, ELECTRICAL TENSION &C., ARE THE EXCITING CAUSES; WHILE, ON THE OTHER HAND, WANT OF LIGHT, IMPURE AIR, ESPECIALLY FROM DEFECTIVE VENTILATION, IN WHICH ARE INCLUDED MALARIA AND ALL OTHER NOXIOUS VAPOURS, FROM WHATEVER SOURCE ARISING; SCANTY DIET, AND HABITS INDUCED BY THE IRREGULAR, ARTIFICIAL LIFE OF MANY, ARE THE PREDISPOSING CAUSES, WHICH BY ENERVATING AND OTHERWISE SPOILING THE SYSTEM, RENDER IT MORE SUSCEPTIBLE OF EXTERNAL ATMOSPHERIC IMPRESSIONS IN THE PRODUCTION OF EPIDEMIC PESTILENCE OR DISEASE.