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SMALL ISLES

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 247 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SMALL ISLES , a See also:

parish of islands of the Inner See also:Hebrides, See also:Inverness-See also:shire, See also:Scotland. It consists of the islands of Canna, Sanday, See also:Rum, Eigg and Muck, lying, in the See also:order named, like a See also:crescent with a trend from N.W. to S.E., Canna being the most northerly and Muck the most southerly. They are separated from See also:Skye by Cuillin See also:Sound and from the mainland by the Sound of Ardnamurchan. The See also:surface is moorland, pasture and See also:mountain. They are See also:rich in See also:sea-See also:fowl, the most See also:common being the See also:eider See also:duck, See also:puffin, See also:Manx See also:shearwater, See also:black See also:guillemot, kittiwake and See also:herring See also:gull. The See also:fisheries include See also:cod, regard these accounts as referring not to smallpox, but to See also:plague. See also:ling and herring. The rainfall amounts to 56 in. for the See also:year, The most trustworthy statements as to the See also:early existence of the and the temperature is fairly high, the mean for the year being disease are found in an See also:account by the 9th-See also:century Arabian 47° 5' F. Steamers See also:call at Eigg at See also:regular intervals and less often physician Rhazes, by whom its symptoms were clearly described, at Rum and Canna. Canna (pop. 49), an See also:island of basaltic See also:rock, its See also:pathology explained by a humoral or See also:fermentation theory, is situated about to m. from the nearest point of Skye, and and directions given for its treatment. During the See also:period See also:measures 41 M. from E. to W. and ri m. from N. to S. Potatoes, of the See also:Crusades smallpox appears to have spread extensively See also:barley and a little oats are grown, and the pasture being See also:good through See also:Europe, and hospitals for its treatment were erected the See also:cattle are larger than most of the Hebridean breeds.

The in many countries. But at this period and for centuries after-See also:

harbour is screened from See also:south-See also:westerly See also:gales by the isle of wards the references to the subject include in all likelihood other Sanday. The antiquarian remains include a See also:weather-worn diseases, no precise distinction being made between the different sculptured See also:stone See also:cross and the ruins of a See also:chapel of St See also:Columba. forms of eruptive See also:fever. Smallpox was known in See also:England as early See also:Compass See also:Hill (450 ft.) on the E. is so named from the alleged as the 13th century, and had probably existed there before. disturbance of the compasses of vessels passing within its See also:sphere It appears to have been introduced into See also:America by the Spaniards of See also:influence. Sanday (pop. 44), another basaltic island, lies in the early 16th century, and there, as in Europe and throughout See also:close to the S.E. of Canna. It measures m. from E. to W. the known See also:world, epidemics were of frequent occurrence during and 3 M. from N. to S. Some M. S.E. of Canna is the succeeding centuries. island of Rum (pop. 149), which is situated 81 m. from the The only known See also:factor in the origin of smallpox is contagion—nearest point of Skye, and measures Sl m. N. to S. and 8 m. from this malady being probably the most contagious of all diseases.

E. to \V. Geologically, its See also:

northern See also:half is composed of Torri- Its outbreak in epidemic See also:form in a locality may frequently be donian See also:sandstone, with See also:basalt at points between the See also:West See also:coast traced to the introduction of a single See also:case from a distance. and the centre, of See also:gabbro in the south-See also:east, with a See also:belt of gneis- The most See also:direct means of communicating smallpox is inoculation. sose rocks on its east seaboard and of See also:quartz-See also:porphyry in the By far the most common cause of See also:conveyance of the disease, south-west. It is mountainous in the south. Among the higher however, is contact with the persons or the immediate surround-peaks are Askival (2659 ft.), Ashval (2552), Sgor-nan-Gillean ings of those already affected. The See also:atmosphere around a small-(2503) and Allival (2368). On the See also:north-west See also:shore is a cliff pox patient is charged with the products of the disease, which where bloodstones are quarried. The mountains are a haunt of likewise cling to clothing, See also:furniture &c. The disease is probably red See also:deer. The harbour of the See also:village of Kinloch, at the See also:head of communicable from its earliest manifestations onwards to its See also:Loch Scresort, is resorted to during gales from the N.W. and S. close, but it is generally held that the most infectious period Fully 4 M. S.E. and 72 M. from the nearest point of the mainland extends from the See also:appearance of the eruption till the drying up lies the island of Eigg, or See also:Egg (pop. 211), measuring from N. to of the pustules. Smallpox may also readily be communicated S.

5 M. and from E. to W. 31 m. It is in the See also:

main basaltic, but a by the bodies of those who have died from its effects. No See also:age See also:band of quartz-porphyry runs from the centre in a north-westerly is exempt from susceptibility to smallpox. Infants are occasion-direction to the coast, and there is some oolitic rock on the north ally See also:born with the eruption or its marks upon their bodies, proving shores. On the north-east coast is a See also:cave with a narrow mouth, that they had undergone the disease in utero. Dark-skinned opening into a hollow 255 ft. See also:long. In it See also:Macleod of Skye, races are said to suffer more readily and severely than whites. towards the end of the 16th century, ordered 200 Macdonalds, One attack of smallpox as a See also:rule confers See also:immunity from any re-inhabit ants of the isle—men, See also:women and See also:children—to be currence, but there are numerous exceptions to this rule. Over-suffocated, their bones being found long afterwards. The See also:people crowding and all insanitary surroundings favour the spread of are chiefly engaged in fisheries and cattle-rearing. Three m. smallpox where it has broken out; but the most influential See also:con-S.W. is the island of Muck (pop. 42), which is about 13 m. long dition of all is the amount of See also:protection afforded to a community by 21 M. broad and lies fully 5 m. from the nearest point of by previous attacks and by See also:vaccination (q.v.).

Such protection, Ardnamurchan. It is almost wholly basaltic, but has some although for a See also:

time most effectual, tends to become exhausted oolite at the head of the See also:bay on its north See also:side. unless renewed.

End of Article: SMALL ISLES

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