42 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
quart of strong beer and put in one large glass of brandy, and as
soon as the fit comes on, drink it up".
It was about this time that an entry was made in the Stansted
Mountfitchet Overseers' Accounts where, under March 25th, 1749,
we read, "and stuff for the eago (ague)—0. 1. 0".
I think it is clear that by the end of the 18th century, the
term 'ague' was definitely being used for what we now know as
'malaria'. In the third edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica
(1797), 'ague' is defined as 'a general name for all periodic fevers
which, according to the different times of the returns of the
feverish paroxysms, are denominated tertian, quartan and
quotidian'. 'Ague-cake' was defined as 'the popular name for a
hard tumour on the left side of the belly, lower than the false
ribs, said to be the effect of intermitting fevers'. This hard
'tumour' is, in fact, the spleen, which swells considerably in
malarial patients; the swelling is a most important symptom and
assists in the diagnosis of malaria.
From the Diary of Joseph Farrington, R.A., referred to by
Rickwood in The Essex Review (1942), we learn that Defoe's
strictures on the climate of Essex still held good in 1806, the
artist recording a visit in January from Edward Wakefield, the
philanthropist and statistician, whose son, Edward, afterwards an
authority on agriculture, started life as a farmer near Romford.
Wakefield spoke of the bad effects of residing in the lower parts
of Essex, near the sea. He said his son, Edward, his wife, and
several children had been brought away ill of the Ague and fever,
the disorder which prevails there. He said the inhabitants of that
county, even those born there, almost universally looked sickly,
and higher wages were given there than in other parts of the
county to induce servants to reside.
Nuttall, Cobbett and Strangeways-Pigg included in their
studies, published in 1919, a survey of the distribution of ague in
England in the 19th century, and their references to Essex in-
cluded the following:
Rochford: Ague formerly extremely common
and severe, but gradually de-
creased. 1817-1864. Dr. Grabham.
Very common among the children
about 1849. Schoolmaster.
Mucking, Bulpham and
Corringham: Corbet (surgeon) reported in 1864
that ague was still not uncommon
though no longer very severe.
Maldon: Tomlinson (surgeon) wrote that
the greatest prevalence of late
years was in October, 1859, and
that there was not one hundredth
of the ague in 1864 that existed
twenty years earlier.