Dissertations on Malaria, Contagion, and Cholera

Dissertations on Malaria, Contagion, and Cholera

William Aiton (M.D.)

1832

At the time in which Gerty and her mother are separated from Mr. Phillips by the malaria epidemic, the rampant disease was thought to be spread by ‘bad air’. The author of this dissertation, published in 1832, was one of the first to notice that the disease was most prevalent in cities with stagnant water and overseas trade, like that of Rio de Janeiro. Throughout his dissertation he concludes that the disease grows and spreads in stagnant water, whereas today we know that the disease spreads through mosquitoes. However, his reasoning was not far off, for we also know that mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water; so, in fact, the disease was inadvertently spreading in the shallow pools and stagnant water with every birth of new mosquito larvae. This is relevant to the novel because of Gerty and her mother’s forced separation from Mr. Phillips, her father. When the disease swept the city in which Mr. Phillips inhabited, at the time away from his family, he barely held onto his life, only to come crawling back to his nearly deserted town and empty home.

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Aiton, William, M.D. Dissertations on Malaria, Contagion, and Chloera; Explaining the Principles Which Regulate Endemic, Epidemic, & Contagious Diseases, With a View to Their Prevention: Intended as a Guide to Magistrates, Clergymen, and Heads of Families. London, 1832. Google Books.

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