In 1846 the Danish government sent an epidemiologist named Peter Panum (1820 - 1885) to the remote Faroe Islands to investigate an epidemic of measles. It had been 65 years since the last outbreak of measles on the islands. Out of 7,782 people living on the islands, about 6,000 became infected. Panum traced the contacts of victims in each town and wrote a report with his findings. Falk Library owns this unique typed translation of his original report. Due to the remote lifestyle of the islands, he was able to establish that the virus was spread from person to person, not by a miasma or some environmental cause. He proved that the incubation period is 14 days before a rash appeared. He also observed that the virus is most contagious in the 4 days before the rash, but not as infectious when the rash is subsiding. In this epidemic, at least 102 people died of measles or its complications. Panum’s data showed that it was most fatal for children under a year old, and also those 30 and older. People older than 65 seemed immune and Panum was surprised that their immunity would last that long from the previous outbreak. He also noted that a dozen villages escaped infection by enacting quarantines from villages with known infections. His report contributed to our contemporary understanding of measles and the epidemiology of infectious disease.