SOME
OBSERVATIONS
CONCERNING THE PLAGUE: Occasioned by, and with some Reference to the late Ingenious Discourse of the
Learned Dr.
MEAD, CONCERNING
Pestilential Contagion,
And the METHODS to
prevent it.
By a WELL-WISHER to the PUBLICK.
DUBLIN:
Printed by and for GEORGE GRIERSON, at the Two Bibles, in
Essex-Street.
1721.
A Short Introduction TO THE Following OBSERVATIONS.
T HE
Compiler
of the ensuing brief
Collections,
having met with several Particulars in the most approved
Authors
that have wrote upon the Subject of the
Plague,
which he conceiv'd might afford some agreeable Entertainment to the
Curious,
and tend to the further Illustration of some Parts of that excellent
Discourse
whereunto they have a
Reference,
and also be of some general Advantage in case divine
Providence
should for our
Sins
visit us with that sore
Distemper,
does here offer them to the View of the
Publick,
hoping that the many
Defects
will be excused and forgiven, which will be easily discerned in so
Inaccurate
a
Composure,
put together in great Straits of Time, by
One,
who pretends to little more than barely to perform the Office of an
Index,
in pointing at some Things which occurred to him in turning over
Books
that he thought worthy of some Notice; and that his honest Intentions will be taken in good part by all Candid Ingenuous
Readers;
and that such as have greater
Abilities
and
Opportunities
will be excited to apply their Thoughts and Studies more closely to a
Subject
which seems to challenge their
Attention
in a more than ordinary Manner at this Time, and will oblige the
World
with the Discoveries that they shall make in this Part of
Nature,
wherein the
Lives
of
Men
are so much concerned.
SOME OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE PLAGUE,
&c.
A S to the
Original
of this direful Scourge of Mankind call'd the
Plague,
I find the most learned
Physicians
are much divided in their
Opinions
concerning it, and those who have searched very far into the Secrets of
Nature
do yet ingenuously acknowledge themselves to be very much at a loss about it. The great Dr.
Sydenham
freely and fully confesses his
own
and his
Brethren's
Ignorance in this Matter, and that not without a
Smart
Reflection upon such as pretend to know more than their Neighbours, in this and other Particulars of the same abstruse Nature. In
Chap.
2 d.
Page
71. of his Works, he thus expresses himself.
At verò quae, qualisque sit, illa aeris Dispositio à quâ morbificus hic apparatus promanat, nos, pariter ac complura alia circa quae vecors ac arrogans Philosophantium turbanugatur, planè ignoramus.
Words so
severe
and so
discouraging
to any
Enquiries
of this Kind, that I shall chuse to leave them as I find them.
I must here indeed freely own that I am much pleased with the
Piety
and
Ingenuity
of the learned and diligent
Diemerbroeck,
who after a large Recital and Examination of the several
Hypotheses
that had been advanced before his Time concerning the Origine of the
Plague,
and after weighing the Arguments and Reasons brought by their respective Patrons for the Support of them, declares himself wholly dissatisfied with them all, in the eight Chapter of his first Book and the Annotations thereon; and after all, he has Recourse to the
of the great
Hippocrates,
(the
Father
and
Prince
of
Physicians,
) and endeavours to make it appear that something supernatural or preternatural is to be understood thereby, and that
That
ancient
Sage
(tho' guided only by the Light of natural Reason) intended to signifie by that Term, somewhat sent down from angry
Heaven,
as a just Punishment for the Wickedness of Men.
But it may not be improper to add something under this
Head
from that great
Christian Philosopher,
and (while he lived) illustrious
Ornament
of the
Royal Society,
Mr.
Boyle,
never to be mentioned without a Preface of Honour. This
Curious
and
Critical,
but
Sober
and
Modest
Enquirer into the Powers of
Nature,
and Operations of
Second Causes,
in his Occasional Disquisition concerning the
Original
of the
Plague,
wisely chuses the middle Way, between those who recur wholly to supernatural
Causes,
and those who impute all to natural
Ones,
in their Accounts hereof: He observes, in his
Experimental Discourse
concerning the
Insalubrity
and
Salubrity
of the
Air, Page
50. &c. That the
Sacred Writings
expresly teach that some
Plagues
have been in an extraordinary Manner inflicted by
God,
particularly
That
which in
David's
Time swept away in three Days
Seventy Thousand
Men. But
He
seems to think that it is carrying the Matter too far to infer from hence, or to affirm positively that
All
are so.
I have sometimes suspected
(says he, Page 52.)
that in the Controversie concerning the Origine of the Plague whether it be Natural or Supernatural, neither of the contending Parties is altogether in the Right, since 'tis very possible that some Pestilences may not break forth without an extraordinary Interposition of Almighty God, provoked by the Sins of Men; and yet other Plagues may be produced by a tragical Concourse of merely natural Causes.
But we are not to think that by this last Expression
He
meant to exclude the Superior Agency or Superintendency of the
First
in any
Case;
for no
Man
can express a more becoming and awful Sense of, or an higher Reverence for the
Cause
of
Causes,
than
this
great
Genius
does in all his Writings; and I could heartily wish that
He
were more generally imitated herein by the
Virtuosi
of the present
Age,
and that a more explicit Reference to
Divine Providence
were to be found in all their Researches into
Nature:
And I cannot but hope that it would very much contribute hereunto, if our Modern
Wits
would seriously read and consider that excellent
Treatise
called the
Christian Virtuoso,
written by this
Noble Author.
But to return from this (I hope not unuseful)
Digression:
As to Mr.
Boyle's
Opinion concerning the Rise of
Ordinary Plagues,
it is in short
This: He
inclines to think that the
Malignant Disposition
of the
Air
whereby the
Plague
is propagated, if not first produced, is imputable to some Kind of
Subterraneal Expirations,
and particularly to
Arsenical Fumes;
but as to this
He
is far from being Positive, or Dogmatical: What
He
offers to render this Conjecture probable, they that please may see, in his
Discourse
of the
Air,
as to its Unhealthfulness or Healthfulness, already mentioned. Thus far as to the
Origine
of the
Plague.
What the Learned Dr.
Mead
advances, about the Beginning of
Page
4. of his Discourse, in these Words;
[Nor do I think that in this Island particularly, there is any one Instance of a Pestilential Disease among us of great Consequence, which we did not receive from other Iufected Places:]
is perfectly agrecable to the Opinion of the celebrated
Sydenham,
who observes, that to the evil Disposition of the
Air,
which proceeds (according to
Him
) from a latent unknown
Cause,
there must be joyned the Reception of some
or
Infection
flowing from some
Plaguy
Body, and received either
immediately
by a near Approximation to it, or else
mediately
by the Means of some
Fomes
transmitted thencefrom into something apt to receive and retain the same, and transferred therewith to distant Places; until by the great Number of infected Bodies, the
Air
receives such a
Taint,
[or rather is so charged and loaded with
Poisonous Particles
] as suffices to propagate the
Contagion
to some Distance, without any other Spark to kindle the spreading Fire. The Substance of this may be seen in
Page
72. of his Works.
In
Page
7. the
Doctor
briefly mentions that most terrible
Plague
which carried
Death
over the greatest Part of the then known
World,
about the Middle of the fourteenth
Century,
the History of which being very remarkable (especially if all the Circumstances related by
Authors
of considerable Note be true) I shall present the Reader with a somewhat larger
Narrative
of it, as very proper to affect us with a pious Awe and Fear of the Wrath and Vengeance of a righteous
God,
and also to give us a melancholy and humbling Representation of the horrid
Degeneracy
of humane Nature, and the desperate Obstinacy of irreclaimably
Wicked Men.
Mr.
Boyle
in
Page
69. of the forementioned Discourse has given a brief Account of this prodigious
Pestilence,
from that excellent French Historian
Mousieur de Mezeray,
who (as he tells us) relates in the Life of
Philip de Valois,
that the
Plague
which happened in
France
in the Year 1346, was so Contagious and Destructive, that scarce a Village or even a House escaped uninfected by it:
He
adds, that this
Pestilence
began two Years before in the Kingdom of
Cathay,
by a Vapour that was most horribly stinking, which brake out of the Earth like a Kind of
Subterraneal Fire;
and devoured above 200 Leagues of that Country, even to the very Trees and Stones, and infected the
Air
in a wonderful Manner: From
Cathay
(says he) it passed into
Asia
and
Greece,
thence into
Africa,
afterwards into
Europe,
which it ransack'd throughout. Thus far Mr.
Boyle
from
Mezeray,
in whose Account the Date of the Year seems to have been mistaken, or 1346 misprinted for 1348, or 1349. For by Dr.
Mead
's and the following Account, it began in
Cathay,
(the Northern Part of
China
) in 1346.
Besides what I have quoted from Mr.
Boyle,
I shall entertain the Reader with a more Circumstantial Relation of this most fearful Calamity which I met in
Kircher's Chronology
of the most remarkable
Plagues
that are recorded in
History,
annexed to his
Scrutinium Physico-Medicum contagiosae Luis, quae Pestis dicitur.
The
Substance
of what he writes is this; That in the
Poutificate
of
Clement
the sixth,
Charles
the fourth being
Emperor,
there raged a most cruel
Pestilence,
the worst that ever was, scarcely the third Part of Mortals being left alive. It so prevailed every where, that
God
seemed as if he would destroy all Mankind by a general Ruine, as of old in the universal
Deluge. Villanius
tells us that it had its first Rise in the
Ʋ pper Asia,
and particularly in the Kingdom of
Cathay,
in the Year 1346, from a most filthy Smell supposed to proceed from a certain
Fiery Body,
which either fell from
Heaven,
or broke out of the
Earth,
and extended its horrible and terrifying
Bulk
to so vast a Compass, that it consumed every thing that stood in its Way, Animals, Houses, Trees, &c. for the Space of fifteen Days Journey: And some most filthy little
Beasts
furnished with Feet and Tails, [by this Description they seem to have been a Sort of
Neuts
or
Lizards
] as also
Worms,
and a small Sort of
Snakes
in a numberless Multitude, fell at the same Time from the Air upon the Earth, the Stench and Putrefaction whereof infected the whole
Region.
A
Pestilence
hence arising invaded the adjacent Places, and then spread it self to the remoter Cities and Provinces, so that it depopulated all
Asia.
Afterwards it penetrated into
Egypt, Greece,
and
Italy.
Thence it passed over into
France, Spain
and
England,
and at length into
Germany, Poland
and all the
Northern Parts,
with the Destruction of innumerable Persons. In the City of
Florence
only,
Villanius
says there perished 60000, but St.
Anthony
makes them 100000; and although such a dreadful
Contagion
was sent among Men by the avenging Hand of
God
for their enormous Wickedness, yet after so great a Calamity those that succeeded and came greedily into the Possession of such rich Inheritances as the deceased had left, grew worse and more wicked than ever. Many Prodigies preceded this
Plague
in
Asia,
such as horrible Clefts, or swallowing Gulfs in the Earth exhaling a poisonous Wind or Vapour, and other Things of the like Sort. Thus far
Kircher.
Page 247.
N. B.
If that Part of the Story be Fact concerning the Worms, Snakes,
&c.
which are said to have fallen from the Air, it seems to me much more probable that they were hatch'd from Eggs that had been formerly laid on the Earth, or Leaves of Plants, by Animals and Insects of that Kind; the Disposition of the Air, which was filled with the Steams of that horrible
Meteor
before mentioned, perhaps greatly contributing to their Generation or quickning in such vast Numbers.
This most fearful
Plague
is also taken Notice of by many other
Chronologers. Alstedius
relates that at
Lubeck
it carried off 90000. And that of the Bare-footed
Monks
in several Parts it destroyed so great a Number that in the whole their Dead amounted to 1244434; and the same Particular is mentioned by
Hogelius
in his
Horologium Historicum,
Page 632. who tells us also, that at
Erford
there died such Multitudes that the burying Places in the City being all fill'd with Carcases, 12000 were laid in eleven Caves under the
Mountain
called the
Red Mountain.
Page 650.
Many other destructive
Pestilences
before and after this are mentioned by Historians, and several of the later Ones particularly described by Learned Physicians, as That at
Delft
in 1557 by
Forestus,
That at
Vicenza
by
Massaria
in 1576, That at
Nimeguen
in 1636 by
Diemerbroeck,
and the last very terrible One at
London
in 1665 by
Hodges,
which they that please may consult.
In
Page
11. towards the End, the
Learned Author
just mentions the Opinion of some who have thought that the
Pestilential Contagion
or
Infection
is propagated by the Means of
Insects,
whose
Eggs
may easily be conveyed from Place to Place, and produce the Disease when they come to be hatched: But he observes withal that this is a
Supposition
grounded upon no manner of
Observation,
and that there is no Need to have Recourse to it. As to this
Hypothesis
of poysonous
Insects
giving Rise to the
Plague,
it has been lately insisted on by Mr.
Bradley,
who in his
new
(and indeed very ingenious and useful)
Improvements of Planting and Gardening
Reprinted here, has published a Letter from Mr.
Robert Ball
containing several curicus Observations which seem to him to render it highly probable; and in a small Tract lately published by Mr.
Bradley,
the Title of which is,
The Plague at Marseilles considered,
he has pursued the same
Conjecture,
and transcribed the
Substance
of what is to be found in the
Book
and
Letter
already mentioned upon the Head of
Insects.
This Notion seems to be much a-kin to that which was advanced by
Athanasius Kircher
(that famous
Enquirer
into Nature, sufficiently known to the learned World by his Voluminous Labours) in the former
Century,
and he seems to have taken the Hint from the noted
Cardan,
for in
Page
52. of his
Scrutinium Pestis,
he tells us, that
Cardan
relates that in his Time (who flourished about the Middle of the six-teenth
Age
) there was a most cruel
Pestilence
at
Milan,
arising (as he conjectures) from an infinite Number of little Worms: Of these
Vermiculi Kircher
discourses very largely in his Treatise of the
Plague,
bothbefore and after thenowmention'd Quotation from
Cardan;
and particularly in
Page
141. he speaks of the
Plague
as something which he hadshewn to be
Animated,
because of those
Animalcula
which hetakes to be often, if not always, the
Seminary
thereof, concerning which he thus expresses himself;
Sunt autem hi Vermiculi Pestis propagatores, tam exigui, tam tenues et subtiles, ut omnem sensûs captum cludant;
&c. The
Substance
of what he says is this; That these little
Worms
which he supposes to be the
Spreaders,
if not wholly the
Breeders
of the
Plague,
are so exceeding
Small
that they are to the Sense and Sight imperceptible and undiscernable, unless it be by the Help of the most exquisite
Microscopes,
and for their Smalness may be called
Atoms,
but they encrease so prodigiously that their Numbers are beyond Compute. These
Vermiculi,
as they are generated
(Ex putredine)
out of Corruption, so they are easily thrust forth by all the Pores of the Body in which they are, together with the sweaty
Vapours,
and are carried along with the slightest Motion of the Air in vast Swarms, like the Motes that may be seen plying to and fro in the Sun Beams, when they shine into a Room that is somewhat obscure thro' a Hole. These
Insects
(he supposes) do tenaciously adhere to any Thing they meet with, and insinuate themselves into the smallest Pores of Bodies; and to render all this more probable, he says, that he has oft found the
Blood
taken from Persons labouring under
Putrid Fevers
so full of
Worms,
within an Hour or two after the Emission, as even astonished him, from whence he perswades himself that
Man
may (not only after his Death, but even) while alive be plentifully stored with such Vile
Animalcules,
tho' the Sense cannot discern them, and that, on this, as well as other Accounts,
Job
speaks as he does.
Chap.
17.14
[I have said to Corruption thou art my Father: to the Worm thou art my Mother and my Sister.]
He goes on to shew that this
Verminose Brood,
which (according to his Opinion) is cast forth in very great Quantity both from the
Living
Bodies of such as are infected with the
Plague,
and from the Carcases of the
Dead
when they begin to putrifie, being received into the innermost Parts of Linen and Woolen Cloaths, and the like, are there cherished, and therewith conveyed to distant Places, and that this is the first and principal
Seminary
of the whole
Contagion;
as he endeavours to shew more at large: But such as desire further Information as to this Particular, must have Recourse to the Book it self, for it would require much more Time and Room, than can be allowed at present but to make an Abridgement of his copious Discourse about it in several Parts of the said Treatise. This
Hypothesis
must be acknowledged very plausible and ingenious, if it be built upon a solid Foundation, and if such
Vermiculi
as these have a real Existence
in Rerum Naturâ,
and be not the Creatures of astrong Imagination only. That there are
Worms
very often found in Humane Bodies is indeed sufficiently evident, and what none are ignorant of; and that
Worms
have been sometimes vomited up by Persons sick of the
Plague
is attested by Authors of good Credit:
Diemerbroeck
mentions one Instance of this Kind,
Hist.
52. Page 306. where he relates this Particular concerning a
Patient
of his, that he cast up by Vomit above 60 small
Worms
as red as Blood, soon after which he died; but he adds that he never saw the like in any other Person. We are also told that Multitudes of such
Worms
were found in some dead Bodies that were opened at
Marseilles,
which lived and moved very briskly when put into
Wine
or
Brandy,
but were soon killed with
Oyl
and Juice of
Lemons;
yet after all,
Kircher's Vermiculi
and Mr.
Ball's
and Mr.
Bradley's Insects
do not seem to be of the same Species with these
Worms,
for the former are represented as so many animated
Atoms,
scarcely discoverable by the Help of the best Glasses, whereas the latter were sufficiently obvious both to the Sight and Touch. For my part I shall not go about to determine any Thing in this Matter, but shall leave it to the nicer Examination of the most Learned
Philosophers
and
Physicians,
who are capable of penetrating much farther into the Mysteries of
Nature
than I can pretend to be. Only I cannot forbear adding that I do very much doubt while these
Insects
(which by the way cannot be the same with Mr.
Bradley's Blighting Insects,
for then we should have a
Plague
every Time we have a
Blight,
which in and about this Place is almost as oft as we have a Spring, as the
Gardeners
know to their Sorrow, by the so frequent Destruction of their Fruit: I say I do much doubt, while these
Insects
) remain in such an invisible State, the
Hypothesis
that is founded upon them will also remain precarious, and as little demonstrable as others that have been formerly proposed. To which I shall subjoin this one Remark more; That the Generation of
Worms
or any other
Animals, ex putredine,
which
Kircher
seems to take for granted, is now almost universally exploded, and no such Thing as
Spontaneous
or
aequivocal
Generation allowed to the meanest
Insect:
but 'tis agreed among the Learned, that the smallest Creatures do (as well as the greatest) proceed
ex Semine,
and have
Parents
of their own Kind by whom they are propagated; and this indeed is what Mr.
Bradley
no where denies, and I do not say but that his
Hypothesis
may be consistent with the
univocal
as well as
aequivocal
Generation of such
Animalcula.
Yet give me Leave to observe once more, that the gradual Progress which the
Pestilence
usually makes, does not seem very well to agree with the exceeding Lightness of these volatile
Insects,
and upon considering this Circumstance one would be enclined to imagine, that whatever is the
Fomes
of the
Contagion,
it must be something more
ponderous,
tho' no less
poisonous
than these
venemous Insects
are supposed to be; and I cannot well conceive how it would be possible by all the Care or Precaution in the World, to prevent the spreading of the Distemper from one End of a Countrey to the other, in a very short Space of Time, if it be carried about by these
Nimble, Light-heel'd, Living Atoms,
who would make nothing of flying over
Lines
and
Rivers,
or fastning upon the Men themselves that stand to guard the
Passes,
and in short, must go which Way soever they are carried by every
Puff
of Wind or
Stream
of Air. But I shall not insist further at present upon this or any other Difficulties that occur to my Thoughts with Reference to this
Hypothesis.
I shall leave these little
Creatures
to shift for themselves as well as they can, but if they be such
Plaguy
ones as they are represented, I desire to have no experimental Acquaintance with them, tho' I own that the Notion and Speculation of them may be agreeable enough to an inquisitive
Genius;
and the Objections which lye cross in my Mind against this
Hypothesis
of
Plague-producing Insects,
may possibly be answered to Satisfaction by the Patrons of it, how insoluble soever they may at present appear to me.
What the Learned
Doctor
suggests in Page 22, 23,
&c.
against the old but unhappy Custom of
shutting
up Infected
Houses,
is so
Humane
and
Charitable,
and supported with such
Solid Reasons,
that I cannot but hope it will be so far attended to by our wise
Legislators
in all future
Regulations
they shall see fit to make, that such a cruel and hurtful Method may be effectually prevented, and that if at any time it should please
God
to visit us with that sore
Distemper,
the
Terror
and
Danger
of it shall not be augmented by Treating the miserable
Sufferers
with such
unreasonable
rigour as manifestly tends to sink and overwhelm their Spirits (which ought to be kept up as much as possible, as in other
Diseases,
so more
Especially
in this) and to dispose them for nothing (humanely Speaking) but to
Despair
and
Die.
And I cannot doubt but that such timely Provision will be made by the
Publick,
of convenient
Lazarettoes
for the Reception of the
Sick
upon the first breaking sorth of the
Dire Disease
in any large
City
or
Town,
as may (through the Blessing of
Heaven
) prove an happy Means of stopping the
Progress
thereof in its beginning.
As to the
Alternative
which the
Doctor
proposes in the close of his
excellent Performance
concerning
infected Goods,
that if they be not
burned
they may be
buried
deep in the
Ground;
I cannot but think the
Latter
of these Methods, (or the sinking them in the Sea or in some deep Water, where it can be conveniently done, to prevent digging up) to be much the more
eligible,
and the safest as well as least offensive manner of destroying them; for I have a vehement suspicion that by the
burning
of Infected
Cloaths
and the like, the
Venomous Effluvia
or
poisonous particles
adhering to them may be carried along with the
Smoak,
and the fatal
or
Fomes
being
Volatilized
by the
Fire
may fill all the Circumambient
Air,
and instead of restraining may greatly propagate the
Contagion.
This I very well remember, that in some parts of
England
it is a generally received
Opinion
that the
burning
of
Cloaths
taken from a Person that dies of a very
Malignant Small Pox,
greatly tends to spread the
Distemper;
and wicked
Nurses,
who desire to make work for themselves, are said to practise this very Method to accomplish their
barbarous
Designs; and when I lived in the
County
of
Suffolk,
I was informed that when that
Disease
was in the Town of
Ipswich
(about 25 or 30 Years ago) a certain barbarous
Nurse
did early in a Morning, (that she might not be known) at the head of one of the principal Streets, put fire to an heap of
Old Rags
and
Bed Cloaths
that had belonged to some poor People who Died of that
Distemper,
and the
Smoak
driving along the Street, several that passed by betimes complained of a very offensive smell, and the next News was that almost all that had not formerly gone thro' that
Disease
in that whole
Street,
were seized with it in a very few days. And if this Method of
Burning
be so pernicious in the Case of the
Small Pox,
I doubt there is too much Ground of fear (according to the common way of arguing
à Minori ad Majus
) that it may prove still more fatal in the Case of the
Plague;
But this I humbly submit to the Consideration of the Learned in Philosophy and Physick.
As for proper
Prophylacticks
or
Preservatives
from the
Plague,
the
Doctor
has not offered much upon this Head, and seems to despair of the discovery of any Specifick of vertue sufficient to fortifie nature against the assaults of such a
Malignant Disease.
After the mention of some general and very useful rules to be observed by way of prevention, and just hinting at a few particulars, especially the use of
Wine Vinegar
in small quantities, [which, with his
Conserva me Domine,
is said to have been the
Antidote
of the famous
Sylvius
]
He
does in the 35. Page, recommend leaving the infected place as the
Surest Preservative,
which is the same with the Counsel that
Ramazzini
gives in his late Dissertation concerning the
Plague
at
Vienna,
about seven Years ago; Page 469. of his Works; where he thus expresses himself.
Ʋ t quod sentio proferam, illud unicum perplacet, quod vulgò de tribus compositum appellatur,
i. e,
de celeri fugâ à loco infecto, de profectione ad longinquas regiones, ac tardâ reversione; quo remedii genere sapientiores quoque Medici uti consuevere.
The Sum of which is, That, to speak his
Mind
freely, he thinks the Method of prevention prescribed by the old
Adage, Mox, longè, tardè, cede, recede, redi,
to be the
Best,
i. e. to get away soon, to go away far, and to return back slowly; which he says is a remedy that the wisest
Physicians
themselves are wont to make use of upon this Occasion: But how proper advice soever this may be to those who are in such Circumstances as render them capable of following it, yet there are, alas, great numbers to whom this will seem an
hard saying,
as being by them impracticable. The lower sort of People, poor
Mechanicks
and
Tradesmen
that have nothing to live upon, but the Profit of their Mean Employments, must be forced to
Stick
by the
Stuff;
they have no
Country Seats
to repair to, and few of them have any such Friend as will be free to receive them into their houses in the adjacent Villages. If therefore any thing could be found out that would, if not always, (which indeed is not to be expected) yet pretty often prove a
Defensative
against this dreadful
Enemy,
it would certainly be a great and most acceptable Service to Mankind to acquaint the world therewith. But as to this, I (being no
Physician
my self) have little to offer but what has occasionally occurred to me in perusing some of the best
Medical
Books, written by
Authors
of the greatest Name and Note, who have themselves been eminent
Practitioners,
and particularly have had courage enough to Visit the Sick in places where the
Plague
has raged with the greatest Violence. Among these,
Diemerbroeck
and
Hodges
are the Chief in the Class of Modern Writers; the
Former
being
Physician
at
Nimeguen
during the severe
Pestilence
that made such fearful havock there in the Year 1636; and the
Latter
at
London
in 1665, when near an hundred thousand Persons were cut off by this
Flagellum Dei.
As to
Diemerbroeck,
that great Judge Mr.
Boyle
says, that he prefers his Book of the
Plague
to any that he had ever read of that
Disease,
Page 81. of his Treatise of the Air, already mentioned; and indeed
He
seems to have communicated his Observations to the World with a great deal of ingenuous plainness and fidelity. It would take up too much room to transcribe the half of those Receits, which he proposes from himself and others by way of prevention, in his Treatise of this Distemper; I shall therefore only give my Reader the Substance of what he sets down in the 12 Ch. of his 2d. Book, the Title of which is
De meo ipsius Vivendi modo,
where he faithfully relates what Course he himself took for his own Preservation, while he attended the Sick during that sad time in which the
Plague
raged at
Nimeguen.
The Sum of what he says I have endeavoured to contract as follows: He tells us, that he avoided as much as he could all vehement Perturbations of Mind: That he lived intrepidly, or without Fear: That it was the same Thing to him whether he visited the Sick of the
Plague
or of any other Distemper, and that he as readily served the Poor
gratis,
as the Rich for a
Reward;
He adds, that if at any time he found himself somewhat shocked, (which in that doleful Season, wherein there was scarce an House in the whole City that escaped the
Contagion,
must needs happen now and then) in such a Case he refreshed his Spirits with three or four Draughts of
Wine;
That being frequently disturbed in the
Night,
and much tired in the
Day
with walking up and down from
Patient
to
Patient,
he was forced to Sleep an Hour after Dinner, when he could best spare the time, though he disswaded others, who were under no such necessity, from sleeping in the Day: That as to Diet, he used
Meats
of the most easy Digestion, avoiding
Swine's Flesh, Herrings,
and the like, which he had found hurtful to him: That his
Drink
was ordinary
Ale
and Small
White Wine,
of which he sometimes drank to Chearfulness, but never to Excess; That he kept his Body open, but not too loose, only so as to have
One
or
Two
Stools in a Day: That
Once
or
Twice
in a week at Bed-time he swallowed
One
or
Two
of his Anti-pestilential Pills described in
Chap.
9. [the Composition of which shall be subjoined to this Account] That beginning to visit the Sick between
Four
and
Five
in the Morning, he could then take Nothing, his Stomach perfectly loathing both Meat, Drink, and Medicine, so that he was constrained (though against his own Judgment) to go forth fasting, and could do no more than (after committing himself to
God
by pious Prayers) to chew some Grains of the lesser
Cardamom;
That about
Six
a Clock in the Morning he took a little
Treacle,
or
Diascordium,
or eat a little
Candied Orange Pill,
and very frequently three or four Bits of
Candied Elecampane:
About
Eight
he breakfasted upon a Peice of
Bread
with
Butter
and
Greencheese
made of Sheeps Milk, drinking a Glass of Ale, and now and then (but not daily) he took a Draught of
Wormwood Wine
about
Nine:
At
Ten
he smoaked a Pipe of
Tabacco,
and after Dinner
Two
or
Three,
and the like after Supper, and sometimes
Two
or
Three
more between Meals, and if at any Time he found himself affected with the
Ill Smell
of the Sick, he presently had Recourse to the same
Remedy,
which he says (he found by his own Experience) as well as always thought to be the most effectual
Preservative,
so that the
Tobacco be of the best Sort.
He adds, that upon the ceasing of the
Plague
he left off
Smoaking,
not willing to accustom himself to it, lest he should turn its laudable Use into a detestable Abuse.
The
Composition
of the
Anti-pestilential
Pills is as follows.
Take the Roots of Butter-bur, Carline Thistle, Dittany, Angelica, Elecampane, of each an½Ounce; and Half; of Gentian one Dram and Half; of the best Rhubarb, one Ounce and Half; of Zedoary one Dram: Of the whitest Agarick, Half an Ounce; Take also the Herbs Scordium, the lesser Centory, Rue, of each Half an Ounce; Carduus Benedictus, six Drams; and of the Flowers of Staechas one Dram and an half; as also the Seeds of Citron and Oranges, of each one Dram; of all these make a gross Powder, which steep for two or three Days in two Pounds and an half or three Pounds of White Wine, then boil it for about a Quarter of an Hour, and strain it very strongly in a Press, and afterwards strain itagain through thin Paper: In the strained Liquor dissolve three Ounces and an half of the best Aloes, and three Drams and an half of clear Myrrh in Drops: Let the Moisture evaporate in a China Dish 'till a Mass of Pills can be made of the Remainder.
These Pills (says the Author) we have found to be of great Use in Time of the
Plague.
Thus far from the accurate
Diemerbroeck;
who has also given us no less than 120
Histories
of so many particular Persons afflicted with the
Plague,
in whose Cases may be seen all the various
Symptoms
of that sore Distemper, with the Remedies proper to each of them, which are well worth the Perusal of such as understand the Language wherein they are writ.
Proceed we now to the Learned Dr.
Hodges,
who by the Appointment of the
Government
continued in
London
during that most dreadful
Pestilence,
which raged there in the Year 1665, of which he afterwards published an
Historical Narration
with the
Title
of
, or an
Account of the Plague:
in which he treats concerning the
Rise
and
Progress,
the
Causes, Signs,
and
Cure
of the
Contagion,
and also relates his own Manner of living in that Time of Danger. What I shall observe from him shall be only the few particular Directions which he gives concerning such Things as he judges proper to be done by Way of
Precaution;
omitting the general Ones relating to the timely providing
Lazaretto's,
keeping
Houses
and
Streets clean,
and the like, which Dr.
Mead
has perfectly well recommended. As to particular
Preservatives
from the
Plague,
Dr.
Hodges
gives us several
Receits,
of which I shall only set down
Two
that are of easy Preparation, and perhaps of equal Virtue with the more pompous Forms. The first is what he calls an
Electuary for the Ʋ se of the Poor,
the Composition of which is in
Page
229, of his Book,
viz. Take Conserve of Wood-sorrel and Goats Rue, of each half a Pound; of Marigolds, one Pound; London-treacle, three Ounces; Bole Armoniack vitriolated, four Ounces; with Syrup of Lemons as much as is sufficient; make an Electuary; two or three Drams of which may be taken Morning and Evening.
The other is an
Haustus
said to be of great Virtue.
Viz. Take Water of red Roses camphorated two Ounces, the best Vinegar one Ounce, in which dissolve two Scruples of the best Bole Armoniack; add three Drams of simple Syrup of Scabious, mix them for a Draught.
I do the rather mention this because the Use of
Vinegar
seems to be much approved by the Learned Dr.
Mead. Diemerbroeck
also highly commends
Vinegar,
and says that he had seen many poor People better preserved by taking a
Spoonful
thereof every Morning, than some Others were by the most costly
Remedies.
Page 170.
Among other
Antidotes
against the
Pestilential Contagion,
Dr.
Hodges
does particularly commend
Canary
of the best Sort, of which he frequently drank while he attended the Sick, and found it of singular Use to himself and others. His Time of drinking it was at
Dinner,
and a little before
Bed-time;
but as to the
Smoaking
of
Tobacco,
which
Diemerbroeck
so much extols,
He
speaks very doubtfully of it, and seems to have had an Aversion to it, and to suspect that the
Pestiferous Vapours
may be sucked in with the
Smoak;
and in fine he prefers his good
Spanish Wine
very much before it, and this so far as appears was the
Antidote
he chiefly trusted to among the
Internal
Ones. But then as to
External
Defensatives against this deadly Enemy (rejecting the many
Amulets
vulgarly prescribed, the most of which he thinks to be useless, and some noxious,) there is one which he greatly commends as the most powerful and effectual of all others in this Case, and that is the having of large
Issues;
for Instance, one in the
Left Arm,
and the other in the
Right Leg,
capacious enough to contain five or six Pease. The more to enforce this Advice, he does solemnly affirm,
Page
240. that as oft as he went into Places that were more than ordinarily
Infected,
he found that Part of his
Arm
in which the
Issue
was, exceedingly pained, and that
thin, undigested, Bloody Matter
would flow from it, with a very smart Pungency, and that upon this Warning given him, he presently had Recourse to proper
Alexipharmicks.
It seems plain from hence even to Sense and ocular Demonstration, that the
Virus,
the
Venom,
and
Poison
of the
Contagion
did work off in a great Measure by Means of this Sort of
Evacuation.
I shall only add under this
Head,
that
Diemerbroeck
does also much commend this Remedy, and observes that many who had
Issues
escaped the
Plague at Nimeguen,
and of those that had it, a considerable Number recovered speedily upon taking a
Sweating Medicine,
and he mentions several other eminent
Physicians
that had found the happy Effect of such
Issues
in the Course of their
Practice.
Page 150.
&c. He
observes also that many of those that had
Sores
about them escaped the
Plague,
and he tells us that
Galen
of old made the Same
Observation.
I shall now in the Close of this
Collection
just mention
One
or
Two Preservatives
recorded by the Excellent
Mr. Boyle,
towards the latter end of his discourse of the
Air
beforementioned. The former of these is in Page 86. which was communicated to him by one whom he calls an ancient and very experienced
Physician,
to whose care a great
Pest-house
was committed. This
Person
own'd to Mr.
Boyle,
that besides ardent
Prayers
to
God,
and a very regular diet, his constant
Antidote
was only to take every Morning fasting a little
Sea-Salt
dissolved in a few Spoonfuls of
Fair Water:
Mr.
Boyle
adds that he thinks it desirable that Notice be taken of all Remedies that have been found by good
Trials
available against the
Plague;
for since
Pestilences
are various in their Kinds, 'tis very possible that their appropriated Remedies may be so too; and that Medicine may prove successful in one, which has proved ineffectual in another. The
Noble Author
adds to this, That the said Consideration forbad him to pass by the following Particular,
Viz.
That a very Learned
Physician
having recommended to him the Herb called
Galega,
or
Goats-rue,
at that time little noted in
England,
as a most effectual
Antidote
against the
Plague,
he caused it to be cultivated in a Garden, and when the
Pestilence
raged most, having some of it by him made up with a little
Sugar
in the form of a
fine green Conserve,
he sent it to
Two
infected Persons, who, by the divine blessing on it, both of them recovered. He also takes notice of the great vertue of this
Herb
against the
Bitings
of
Venomous Creatures:
It may be eaten in its entire Substance as a Salad, or the
Conserve
or
Syrup
may be taken, or the
Juice
newly express'd, which he thinks better than the
Syrup
or
Conserve.
Thus I have finished what I had to offer to the
Publick
concerning the
Plague,
and the most proper
Antidotes
against it which I have met with in my little reading. I shall only add, That after all, our principal-Trust and Confidence must be in the
Goodness
and
Mercy
of
Almighty God,
through the Merits of our
Lord
and
Saviour Jesus Christ;
and it greatly concerns all
Persons
to search and try their ways, and turn unto the
Lord
with their whole hearts. Let the
Means
and
Instruments
or
Second Causes
of this terrible Calamity be what they will; whether it owes its
Origin
to
Subterraneal Steams
and the
Expirations
of Noxious
Minerals,
(as Mr.
Boyle
conjectures) or, to a pestiferous
Aura,
proceeding from a peculiar, and (in a Sort) corruptive alteration of the
Nitro-aereal
Spirit, (as Dr.
Hodges
thinks) or, to prodigious
Swarms
of invisible
Venomous Insects,
(as
Kircher
and Mr.
Bradley
imagine) Or
Lastly,
to an unhealthy Constitution of the Season, and Disorder in the
Air
Occasioned by excessive
Heat
and
Moisture,
(as
Galen
taught of old) which evil Constitution is heightned and rendred more Malignant by the Stinks of
Stagnating Waters,
by
Putrid Exhalations
from the
Earth
and from dead
Carcases
lying unburied, which fill the
Air
with
Contagious Particles,
and so being
Suck'd
in with the
Breath
taint in their passage the
Salival
Juices, which being Swallowed down into the
Stomach
fix the
Malignity
there, as the Learned Dr.
Mead
observes, Pag 7. and 11. of his Discourse: I say whether this
Dreadful Disease
owes its
Origine
to any one, or (which is more probable) to a
Concurrence,
and
Complication
of
Secondary Causes,
Yet still it becomes us to look higher, and to reverence
Divine Providence
as the first and principal
Cause.
The great
God
has said,
Amos
3.6.
[Shall there be Evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it?] Sword
and
Famine
and
Pestilence
are what
He
expresly calls,
His sore Judgments.
(
Ezek.
14.21.) The
Earth,
the
Water,
the
Fire,
the
Air,
all the
Elements,
and all their
Actions
are at his
Beck,
and under his steady
Government,
and 'tis not improbable that he does employ
Angels,
as the
Ministers
of his
Justice,
to inslict deserved
Punishments,
and particularly this of
Pestilence
upon a guilty People: Possibly he may by their
invisible
Hands scatter through the
Air
those fatal
Miasmata,
those Malignant
Venomous Atoms,
and
Poisonous Effluvia,
the
Seeds
of
Contagious
Distempers, that carry
Death and Destruction
all around; to which Thought some
Divines
have been led by some passages in
Holy Writ
that seem in their opinion to look this way. Be this as it will, 'tis certain that the
Almighty
is the principal
Agent,
who orders and over-rules all
Inferiour ones,
and therefore whatever or whoever be the
Instruments,
'tis with him that we have chiefly to do, 'tis from him that we have more to
Fear
or
Hope
than from all the
World
besides, and therefore it must needs be both our Duty and our Interest to fly to his
Mercy-Seat,
to
Humble
our selves before him, and to make our earnest
Supplication
to him, either to
Preserve
us from such
Publick
desolating Calamities, or to
prepare
us for them. And a general
Humiliation, Repentance,
and
Reformation
is one of the most hopeful Means of
Preservation
from this terrible
Distemper,
whereby the
Wrath
of an
offended God
is revealed from
Heaven
against the
Ʋ nrighteousness
and
Ʋ ngodliness
of a guilty World. Yea, if
God
should see fit to send it among us, such
Repentance
and
Amendment,
joined with a true
Faith
in the
Mediator,
would best prepare us for it, give us the greatest Courage and Comfort under it, and the most happy Issue out of it, and even
Death
it self would be to us no other than a Passage to a better
Life.
For the
Direction
of the curious
Reader
that desires to consult the
Authors
themselves which I have used in this
Collection,
I here subjoin a
Catalogue
of them with the
Editions
made use of by me.
Alexandri Massariae Vicentini Practica Medica venetiis. 1622.
Fol.
Editio quarta.
Petri Foresti Alcmariani Opera omnia. Rothomagi. 1653.
Fol.
Athanasii Kircheri Scrutinium Physico-Medicum Contagiosae Luis, quae Pestis dicitur. Romae. 1658.
Quarto.
Isbrandi de Diemerbroeck Tractatus de Peste Noviomagensi. Amstelaedami. 1665.
Quarto.
Bernardini Ramazzini Opera. Londini. 1717.
Quarto.
Alstedii Thesaurus Chronologiae. Herbornae Nassoviorum. 1637.
Editio Tertia.
Octavo.
, sive Pestis apud Populum Londinensem grassantis Narratio historica. Authore Nathanaele Hodges. Londini. 1672.
Octavo.
An Experimental Discourse of some unheeded Causes of the Insalubrity and Salubrity of the the Air. By the the Honourable R. Boyle. London. 1685.
Octavo.
Zachariae Hogelii Horologium Historicum. Lipsiae. 1704.
Editio secunda.
Octavo.
Thomae Sydenham Opera. Lond. 1705.
Editio tertia.
Octavo.
Such as desire to see more of the Nature and Cure of the
Plague
may consult
Burnet's Thesaurus Medicinae Practicae à Daniele Puerario Auctus in duobus Tomis. Genevae.
1678.
Octavo.
In which he has collected the principal Remedies made Use of against this Distemper by the most eminent Physicians of the two last Ages, such as
Forestus, Fabritius Hildanus, Rodericus à Fonseca, Felix Platerus, Joannes Crato, Gregorius Horstius, Raymundus Mindererus, Helmontius, Mercurialis, Kircher, Diemerbroeck, Hodges,
and others. Or they may have Recourse to
Etmullerus,
and the Collections of the Voluminous
Manget,
in his
Bibliotheca Medico-Practica
in four large
Folio's.
His Collections relating to the
Plague
may be found in the
Fourth
Volume, printed at Geneva, 1698. who to the Authors already mentioned has added some later ones, as
Barbette, Sylvius, Willis,
&c.
Add to the Preservatives, that
Garden Rue
eaten with Bread and Butter, or made up into a
Conserve
is much commended against the
Plague,
and if this were added to the
Conserve
prescribed in
Page
23. I should think it would be to the Advantage thereof. The very Smell of this
Herb,
tho' ungrateful, is said to be an
Antidote.
Candied
Elecampane Roots
are also much praised by
Diemerbroeck.
To what is observed in the
Fourth
Page from Dr.
Mead
and
Sydenham
concerning the
Plague's
not springing up of its self in this Part of the World, I shall beg Leave to add as a Close to this
Paper;
That altho' it may be true that this
Distemper
never breaks out in these
Countries
unless the
Seminary
of it be brought to them from some infected Place, yet the Disposition of the
Air
may sometimes be such as to render it more apt than ordinary to receive into it the
Poisonous Fomes,
and to propagate the same, which is what these Learned
Gentlemen
do expresly acknowledge. The Use which I would make of this
Reflection
is, that the
warm Constitution
of the
Air
which has prevailed for the greatest Part of the present
Winter,
and is generally thought to be too favourable to the
Seeds
of this
Disease
(whatever they are) should put us upon
Doubling our Diligence,
in the Use of all proper Means to guard against the Admission of any Thing from Abroad, that may give the least Suspicion of its harbouring such a
Fatal Mischief:
for should any Thing of this Kind be conveyed to us, it may have the like unhappy Effects with a
Little Spark,
falling into a great Deal of
Dry Tinder,
that may quickly diffuse it self, and break forth into a
Flame
not easy to be extinguished.
In Magnis voluisse sat est.
FINIS.
N. B.
In DUBLIN there is Published a Second Edition, of Dr. MEAD's Discourse Concerning
Pestilential Contagion.