Sanitary organization in Malta in 1743 : part 2

Abstract

This article is a continuation from Volume one, page 59. During the 1743 plague precautions, boats were prohibited from approaching part of the Valletta wharf extending from Lascaris Tunnel to the Barriera. Ships from places south of Catania and Palermo were placed in quarantine for twenty-four days. On the 11th June a more vigorous surveillance was imposed along the shores of Malta, a sanitary cordon was stretched from north to south along the eastern seaboard. The Order of St. John took no risks with regard to Malta and it was only on the 23rd February, 1746, that the Grand Master considered that the threat of plague had vanished, that it was safe to call off the extraordinary quarantine restrictions. We are bewildered by the lack of purely medical provisions and by the absence of physicians among the Commissioners. Notwithstanding, we are impressed by the soundness of their principles of public health prophylaxis, the rationality of the methods employed and the welding into an integrated sanitary system of their naval, military and economic resources.