a r t s ranks follow thefe praftices from the earlielt time, and after having-
AtiD mfled through the emhraces o f hundreds,, are married to- the firft SCIENCES * °
people of the ifle. I t is therefore np wonder, that in a hot climate,
in a libidinous nation, inclined to the lepsofy and its various
branches, a difeafe fhould pullulate, which, may become contagious
only by cohabitation. W e had opportunities o f obferving the
mod miserable objects in the lad dage o f this horrid evil. At.
Huaheine eipecially, we law in 1774, a youth with a cadaverous
look and complexion, covered with ulcers,, eipecially under the
arms, en the groin, and about the genitals, and wherever a-
congeries « f glands is found in the human body. His eyes were
almod extindl, his whole frame greatly reduced and emaciated,,
he dragged after him his languid excruciated limbs,, the Jad-
vidtim o f brutal appetite and libidinous defire. *
Beildes
* That the venereal difeafe is by no means to be considered' as an evil' imported' into
Europe from America, has been fufficiently proved by Mr. Sanchez, a very -able and learned,
phyfician, ( who has been for fome time in Rufiia. ) in two little- Treatifes intitled:
Differ tati on fur 1’ origine de la m a la d ie Venerienne, Paris, *75^5 E x am e n Hift-orique fur
Tapparition de la m a la d ie Vetiefiennp en Europe,, Lijbonne, (Paris) 1 774» It appears from his
inquiries that the venereal difeafe appeared fo early as in March, 14:93, in Italy, and in
Auvergne in France ; at the very time when Chriftophcr Columbus returned to Spain from
America; for he landed at Seville, on the 15th of March, 1493, and in the middle pf
April in the fame year he arrived at court, which then refided at Barcelona. From a book
©f Peter Pint or, a Spanilh phyfician it appears, that the venereal difeafe raged at Rome,
in
Befides the above-mentioned difeafes, Towha, then commander a r t s
AND
o f the fleet, and one o f the chiefs o f Atahooroo, had lymptams SCJENCes
which every body took for the gout; he was ©f a firong conftitu—
tion, a corpulent habit of body, and owed this difeafe no doubt t o
intemperance, which is common among!! the great and wealthy o f
all nations, I ob&rved likewife that the natives had. frequently a
fty in the eye, and fome fymptoms that ufually attend1 the droplyj,
and there may he fome more, difeafes known among them, which;
CUV'
imMarch,, 1493 ; and it fs likewife to be colle&ed from other writers, that about that time
this evil fpread all over Italy in the form of an epidemical diftemper, Pacificus Maxima v
a,poet,, whofe book was printed, at Florence, 1489.,. deferibes lib. iii. ad priapum, the
venereal difeafe in.fuch a manner, that r.o- doubt can be entertained of its being known at-
that period of. time. In the church of. St. Maria del Popelo,. at Romo,-is a- fepulcral
monument.,, .ercclqdto the memory ,of Mario- Alberti., qui annum agens xxx. pefie inguinaria.
interiit Anno. 1485, about eight years before Chrillopher Columbus returned from his firft:-
voyage.. (See Viaggiana, or detsuited Remarks on the Building?, Pictures, Statues, Injcriptions,-
&c. &C. of antient and modern Rome, London^ 1776.) The Jews who were expelled from Spain,
ferpught-the difeafe into Africa, according to Leo African us- Defer i^tio Africa;, lib. i. p. 86.-
edit- Elzevir. Lu*d. Bat. 16:3.2. 16^ and it was there for that reafon called malum Hifpanitim,
the Sp&nilh evil. But Mariana, x-xxiv. cap. 1, ad annum. 1492. fays- expreftly, that
the. order for the expulfioivofi the Jews from Spain,' was given in March, 149-2 ,- .and only
four months were allowed them, fo that they were probably gone in Juno 1.49.2, before
Chriftophcr Columbus failed for the difeovery of-America. Nor are there teftimonies wanting
that in times ftill more'remote., Xymptoms-of -the venereal difeafe were well known : AlfonCws
I. Ring of Naples, died 1458, of the gonorrhoea, or as T-riftano Canacciolo de Farietate-
fortunes,. exprefles i t : mar ho itifuper inunundo £sf perlinati, invcluntario fcilicet irfenjihilique, fper-
mtissfuxu. kadiflns King of Naples, likewife died 1.414,. of. an infei&on.iu his genitals^
cohrma