But as soon as matter, by any means, becomes of a bad character, acrid, fretting, unkind, and prone to putrefaction, then it sends forth gases, and perhaps, compound agents, produced by their combination, which mingle with the atmosphere, impart to it most virulent properties, and thus produce havoc among the various patients, as great, as well marked, and as dreadful as those sometimes observed among the attendants of fever patients, from the supposed operation of what has been considered atmospheric contagion. Wounds are much connected with the state of the general health. Where that, by any means, is affected in a serious manner, the wound takes on an unhealthy aspect, and the matter, which before was bland, becomes acrid and irritating. If the body is affected with a putrid taint, then the matter takes on the same, and from the emanations spoken of, disease spreads around the ward. That dreadful disease, called hospital gangrene, was some years ago a common affection in military hospitals, from effluvia, and inattention to ventilation; and it was common to observe healthy wounds taking on a sphacelating character, from such causes. Sir John Pringle says, “I have seen instances of it (hospital fever), beginning in a ward, where there was no other cause, but one of the men having a mortified leg.”[4] Footnote 4: Sir John Pringle on Diseases of the Army, p. 288. There are other circumstances of a hurtful character, operating in general upon the young gentlemen who fill the offices of clerks, and upon the nurses, in these establishments, which we doubt not co-operate with the other circumstances mentioned, in producing the extraordinary amount of disease sometimes observed among them. But of these which will readily suggest themselves to all, it is unnecessary to say much in this place. It is in the fever wards principally that contagious atmosphere is apprehended. The young gentlemen officiating as clerks are generally arrived at the most important part of their course of study. They are in preparation for their examination before the colleges, and are often in consequence in a very feeble state of health—which, if not always marked with actual sickness, is often sufficiently indicated by worn out and emaciated systems, and by complexions of a very sallow or sickly colour. They are thus predisposed to fever. The nurses waiting upon fever patients are subject to more fatigue and more interruptions to their rest, on account of the great attention which those under their care require, than the same class of persons are exposed to, who belong to the surgical wards. CHAPTER III. THE ARGUMENT DRAWN IN FAVOUR OF THE PROPAGATION OF DISEASE BY ATMOSPHERIC CONTAGION, FROM DISEASE APPEARING IN PREVIOUSLY HEALTHY HOUSES AND LOCALITIES TO WHICH PERSONS SICK, OR LATELY SO, HAVE BEEN REMOVED.