affright the People from making the Discovery, and we may be certain, that
many died of the Plague which were returned to the Magistracy under
another Denomination, which might easily be obtained from the Nurses and
Searchers, whether from their Ignorance, Respect, Love of Money, _&c._
And if they vary so much in their Computation of those that died; we shall
find them as widely different in the Time when 'tis said the Plague first
began.
The great Dr. _Mead_ on this important Subject, may establish by his Name
whatever he lays down, with the same Force and Authority as the Ancients
held of that _ipse dixit_ of Aristotle; but as that great Master of Nature
was not exempt from slipping into some Errors, _& humanum est errare_, it
can be no Shock to the Reputation of this Gentleman, if we shall find him
no less fallible than of some others of the Faculty who has treated on
this Subject; and to this part of the time when 'tis said the Plague first
began. Doctor _Mead_, by what Information he has not thought fit to tell
us, does affirm, That its Beginning was in _Autumn_ before the Year
1664/5; whereas Dr. _Hodges_ says, in the very first Page of his
_Liomologia_, that it was not till the Close of the Year 1664; at that
Season two or three Persons died suddenly in one Family at _Westminster_,
of which he gives a further Light from his visiting the first Patient in
the _Christmas_ Holidays, and fully confirmed by the Weekly Bills of
Mortality, whose first Account of those who died of the Plague were from
_December_ the 27th, 1664/5.
As those Gentlemen have forfeited their Infallibility by what I have
proved hitherto against them, we have further Reason to suspect, whether
or not the late Plague in 1665 was occasioned by that Bale of Cotton
imported from _Turkey_ to _Holland_, and thence to _England_, as Dr.
_Hodges_ makes irrefregable, and Dr. _Mead_'s Authority indisputable;
which is no less a Subject of Wonder and Admiration how many Years we have
escaped from the Plagues that have happened and are frequent in so many
Parts of _Turkey_; as at _Grand Cairo_, which is seldome or never free
from that Distemper, at _Alexandria_, _Rosetta_, _Constantinople_,
_Smyrna_, _Scanderoon_, and _Aleppo_, from which Places we have the most
considerable Import of any of our Neighbours, and of such Goods as are
most receptive of those infectious Seeds, such as Cotton, Raw Silk,
Mohair, _&c._ And though Coffee may seem less dangerous, from its Quality
of being more able to resist its pestilential Effluvia, yet from the many
Coverings the Bales are wrapped in, it is not hard to conceive the
contagious Power might be latent in some Part of the Packidge; which
Escape is the more surprising and to be wondred at from the great Encrease
of our Trade and Shipping which yearly arrive from those Countries; and
yet to be preserved from the like Misfortune near to this 60 Years.
_Gockelius_ informs us, [5]"That the Contagion in the same Year 1665 was
brought into _Germany_ by a Body of Soldiers returning from the Wars in
_Hungary_ against the _Turks_, spread the Infection about _Ulm_ and
_Ausburgh_, where he then lived, and besides the Plague, they brought
along with them the _Hungarian_ and other malignant Fevers, which diffused
themselves about the Neighbourhood, whereof many died.[6]
And with Submission to the wise Judgment and Opinion of these learned
_Triumviri_, who have cited no fuller Authority for this Assertion than a
bare Relation of it from _Hodges de Peste_; it may be no unreasonable
Conjecture to have its first Progress from _Hungary_, _Germany_, and to
_Holland_, from which last Place they all have agreed we certainly
received the Contagion; and that we have had the Plague convey'd to us by
the like Means may be found in the _Bibliotheca Anotomica_, being brought
to us by some Troops from _Hungary_ sent thither against the _Turks_ by
_Henry_ VI. King of _England_.
Dr. _Mead_, who thinks it necessary to premise somewhat in general
concerning the Propagation of the Plague, might, to the three Causes he
has laid down, of a bad Air, diseased Persons, and Goods transported from
Abroad, have added the Aliment or Diet, because affording Matter to the
Juices it does not less contribute to the Generation of Diseases: And it
may be observed, that in the Year before the pestilential Sickness, there
was a great Mortality amongst the Cattel from a very wet Autumn, and their
Carcasses being sold amongst the ordinary People at a very mean Price, a
great many putred Humours might proceed from thence; and this, in the
Opinion of many, was the Source of our late Calamities, when it was
observed this fatal Destroyer raged with greater Triumph over the common
People: And the feeding on unripened and unsound Fruits are frequently
charged with a Share in Mischiefs of this Kind. _Galen_[7] is very
positive in this Matter, and in one Place accuses[8] his great Master to
_Hippocrates_ with neglecting the Consequence of too mean a Diet: From
this 'tis generally observed, that a Dearth or Famine is the Harbinger to
a following Plague. And we have an Account from our Merchants trading to
_Surat_, _Bencoli_, and some other Parts of the _East-Indies_, that the
Natives are never free from that Distemper, which is imputed to their low
and pitiful Fare. The _Europeans_, especially the _English_, escaping by
their better Diet, by feeding on good Flesh, and drinking of strong
generous Wine, which secures them from the Power of that Malignancy.
Their Hypotheses as widely differ in the very Substance or Nature of the
Pestilence; and Dr. [9]_Hodges_, [10]_Mead_, and [11]_Quincey_, have
asserted, that it proceeds from a Corruption of the Volatile Salts, or the
Nitrous Spirit in the Air.
Dr. [12]_Bradley_, from the Number of poisonous Animals, Insects, or
Maggots which at that Time are swimming or driving in the circumambient
Air; and being sucked into our Bodies along with our Breath, are
sufficiently capable of causing those direful Depredations on Mankind
called the Plague. Both these Opinions are supported by the Authorities of
Learned Men.
And if _Hodges_, _&c._ have the Suffrages of the greatest of the ancient
Physicians, with those of _Wolfius_, _Agricola_, _Forestus_, _Fernelius_,
_Belini_, _Carolus de la Font_, _&c._ _Bradley_ may challenge to him the
famed _Kirchir_, _Malhigius_, _Leeuwenhooch_, _Morgagni_, _Redi_, and
_Mangetus_.
It is almost endless as well as altogether needless, to cite all the
Authorities for the different Opinions, that might be collected from the
most remote Antiquity down to the present Age.
And although it is yet to be contested, and might be held an occult
Quality with those learned Gentlemen, we shall find, each Doctor passes
his favourite Opinion upon the World with as much Infallibility as a
Demonstration in _Euclid_.
[13]And for that Opinion of the famous _Kirchir_, about animated Worms,
(says _Hodges_) 'I must confess I could never come at any such Discovery
with the Help of the best Glasses, nor ever found the same discovered by
any other; but perhaps in our cloudy Island we are not so sharp-sighted as
in the serene Air of _Italy_; and with Submission to so great a Name, it
seems to me very disconsonant to Reason, that such a pestilential
Seminium, which is both of a nitrous and poisonous Nature, should produce
a living Creature.' And he is well assured, that he is in the right, when
he says, '[14]Every one of those Particulars are as clear as the Light at
Noon-Day; and those Explications are so obvious to be met with in the
Writings of the Learned, that it would be lost Labour to insist upon any
such Thing here.'
[15]Dr. _Mead_ chimes in here very tuneably with _Hodges_, and is pleased
to say, 'That some Authors have imagined Infection to be performed by the
Means of Insects, the Eggs of which may be conveyed from Place to Place,
and make the Disease when it comes to be hatch'd. As this is a Supposition
grounded upon no Manner of Observation, so I think there is no need to
have Recourse to it.'
Dr. _Bradley_, who hatches this Distemper by the smaller Kind of Insects
floating in the Air, is greatly jealous of his favourite Egg, from which
that fatal Cockatrice breaks forth and disperses Death in every Quarter:
He may be seen to promote this Hypothesis in that Discourse of his new
Improvement of Planting, _&c._ and with no less Pursuit in his late
Pamphlet on the Plague at _Marseilles_; where in his Preface, _p._ 13, he
tells you, 'That to suppose this malignant Distemper is occasioned by
Vapours only arising from the Earth, is to lay aside our Reason, _&c._'
And it may be farther observed, That they are as remote from their Consent
to one another, as in the distant Place from whence they would trace its
Origin.
[16]Dr. _Mead_, from a bare Transcription of _Matthaeus Villanus_, does
affirm, That the Plague in the Year 1346, had its first Rise in _China_,
advancing through the _East-Indies_, _Syria_, _Turkey_, _&c._ and by
Shipping from the _Levant_, brought into _Europe_, which in the Year 1349.
seized _England_. This is directly against Dr. _Bradley_,[17] who suggests
the Plague is no where to be found in _India_, _China_, the South Parts of
_Africa_ and _America_, and has taken the Pains in filling up three Pages
in the Defence of this Assertion.
It would be well if their Opposition ended here; but when it affects us
more near, when their Difference becomes more wide in the very Means of
our Preservation, and what by one is laid down as a soveraign and real
Good, to be returned by another as the most fatal and destructive, is a
Weight of no small Consequence, nor a less melancholly Reflection, if it
should please God to inflict us with the same Calamities.
And as to those preservative Means which the Government have only a Power
to direct, the making of large Fires in the Streets, as has been practised
in the Times of Contagion, is a Point largely contested.
Dr. _Hodges_[18] seems inveterate against this Custom, and tells us, 'That
before three Days were expired after the Fires made in 1665, the most
fatal Night ensued, wherein more than 4000 expired; the Heavens both
mourn'd so many Funerals, and wept for the fatal Mistake, so as to
extinguish even the Fires with their Showers. May Posterity, (says he) be
warned by this Mistake, and not like Empericks, apply a Remedy where they
are ignorant of the Cause.'
And Dr. _Mead_[19] has an Eye to this Remark, when he tells us, 'The fatal
Success of the Trials in the last Plague is more than sufficient to
discourage any farther Attempts of this Nature.' Whereas on the contrary,
the making of Fires in the Streets were practised from the greatest
Antiquity, and supported by _Mayerne_, _Butler_, and _Harvey_ in the two
great Plagues before the Year 1665, and recommended by Dr. _Quincey_[20]
for the Dissipation of Pestilential Vapours, _&c._ And without all manner
of Dispute, Dr. _Bradley_[21] must be wholly on his Side, when he tells
us, 'That the Year 1665, was the last that we can say raged in _London_,
which might happen from the Destruction of the City by Fire the following
Year 1666, and besides the destroying of the Eggs or Seeds of those
poisonous Animals that were then in the stagnating Air, might likewise
purifie the Air in such a Manner as to make it unfit for the Nourishment
of others of the same kind, which were swimming or driving in the
circumambient Air.'
What has been said of Fires is likewise to be understood of firing of
Guns, which some have too rashly advised. Says Dr. _Mead_[22], 'The
proper Correction of the Air would be to make it fresh and cool.' And here
quotes from the Practice of the _Arabians_ out of _Rhazes de re Medica_,
&c. Dr. _Quincey_[23] 'That as the Air being still and as it were stagnate
at such Times, and as it favours the Collection of poisonous Effluvia, and
aggravates Infection, thinks it more effectual to let off small Parcels of
the common _Pulvis Fulminans_, which must afford a greater Shock to the
Air by its Explosion than by the largest Pieces of Ordnance.' In favour of
which last Assertion, the Experience both of Soldiers, will justifie the
firing of great Guns and Ordnance, which is frequently used in Camps, for
the Dissipation of the collected pestilential Atoms, which by Concussion
as well as its constituent Parts of Nitre and Sulphur, tend greatly to the
Purification of the grosser Atmosphere within the Compass of their
Activity; and by the Seamen in their Voyages in the Southern Parts of the
World, when sometimes the Air is so gross, and hangs so low upon them, as
to be almost suffocated. And in the late Plague at _Marseilles_ the
constant firing of great Guns at Morning and Evening, by the Appointment
of _Monsieur le Marquis de Langeron_ their Governour, was esteemed of
great Relief to the Inhabitants.
Nay, their Contest will not end in a Pipe of Tobacco, against which Dr.
_Hodges_[24] declares himself a profess'd Enemy: 'But whether (says he)
we regard the narcotick Quality of this _American_ Henbane; or the
poisonous Oil which exhales from it in Smoaking, or that prodigious
Discharge of Spittle which it occasions, and which Nature wants for many
other important Occasions, besides the Aptitude of the pestilential Poison
to be taken down along with it; he chose rather to supply its Place with
Sack.'
Dr. _Bradley_[25] redeems it from this low Character, and represents it as
a great Antidote in the last Plague _Anno_ 1665. 'The Distemper did not
reach those who smoak'd Tobacco every Day, but particularly it was judged
best to smoak in a Morning: He farther gives you an Account of a famous
Physician, who in the pestilential Time took every Morning a Cordial to
guard his Stomach, and after that a Pipe or two, before he went to visit
his Patients; at the same time he had an Issue in his Arm, by which, when
it begun to smart, he knew he had received some Infection (as he says) and
then had recourse to his Cordial and his Pipe.' By this Means only he
preserved himself, as several others did at that Time by the same Method.
I could heartily wish those worthy Gentlemen had struck in with greater
Harmony to the Satisfaction and Security of the People, whose Expectations
were greatly raised by the Hopes of their Assistance, by gaining a greater
Light into the Nature, Quality, Symptoms, and Affections of this
definitive Ill, to have promoted their Safety, by giving the necessary
Indications relating to the Cure, as well as the necessary Precautions in
order to guard us from that secret Attack which may approach us by very
minute and unheeded Causes; the which, from their different Notions and
positive Contradictions, lay too deep from the narrow Re-searches of those
Philosophizing and Learned Gentlemen, and for the Manner whereby it kills,
its Approaches are generally so secret, that Persons seiz'd with it seem
to be fallen into an Ambuscade or a Snare, of which there was no Manner of
Suspicion. And there are very few Discourses relating to the Pestilence
but what abound in many Instances of this kind: And the Learned _Boccace_,
in his Admirable Description of the Plague at _Florence_ (quoted by Dr.
_Mead_[26] _Anno_ 1348) relates what himself saw, 'That two Hogs finding
in the Streets some Rags which had been thrown off from a poor Man dead of
the Disease, after snuffling upon them, and tearing them with their Teeth,
fell into Convulsions, and died in less than an Hour.'
The Misfortune which happened in the Island of _Bermudas_ about 25 Years
since, which Account is from Dr. _Halley_; A Sack of Cotton put ashore by
Stealth, lay above a Month without any Prejudice to the People of the
House where it was hid; but when it came to be distributed among the
Inhabitants, it carried such a Contagion along with it, that the Living
scarce sufficed to bury the Dead.
And Dr. _Quincey_[27] has somewhere read a strange Story in _Baker_'s
Chronicle, 'of a great Rot amongst Sheep, which was not quite rooted out
until about Fourteen Years time, that was brought into _England_ by a
Sheep bought for its uncommon Largeness, in a Country then infected with
the same Distemper.'
_Fracastorius_[28], an eminent _Italian_ Physician, tells us, 'That in the
Year 1511, when the _Germans_ were in Possession of _Verona_, there arose
a deadly Disease amongst the Soldiers, from the wearing only of a Coat
purchased for a small Value; for it was observed, that every Owner of it
soon sickned and died; until at last the Cause of it was so manifestly
known from some Infection in the Coat, that it was ordered to be burned.'
Ten thousand Persons, he says, were computed to fall by this Plague before
it ceased.
And _Kephale_, in his _Medela Pestilentiae_, printed _Anno_ 1665, acquaints
us, That the following Plagues were produced from the following Causes.
That in the Year 1603, the contagious Seeds were brought to _England_
amongst Seamens Clothes in _White-Chappel_; and in that Year there died of
the Plague 30561.
That in the Year 1625, was bred and produced by rotten Mutton at
_Stepney_; of which died 35403 Persons.
That in the Year 1630, was brought to us by a Bale of Carpets from
_Turkey_, of which died 1317 Persons.
That in the Year 1636, was brought over to us by a Dog from _Amsterdam_;
of which died 10400 Persons.
That in the Year 1665, was brought from _Turkey_ in a Bale of Cotton to
_Holland_, thence to _England_; in this great Plague died no less than
100,000 People.
And at _Marseilles_, in this present Year 1720, the Plague has swept away
more than 70000 Persons, which was brought in Goods from _Sidon_, a fam'd
and ancient City and Sea-port in _Phoenicia_, and the same which
sometimes is mentioned in Holy Writ.
From the Neighbourhood of this last Contagion, the frightful Apprehensions
of the People are rais'd to the greatest Height; and when every one is
consulting his own Security, how to guard and preserve himself from that
dreadful Enemy, nothing can come more seasonably to their Relief, than to
lay before them a _Compendium_ of the best and approved Rules for their
Conduct; to which End I have carefully collected, from the successful
Practice of Dr. _Glisson_, Sir _Thomas Millington_, Dr. _Charlton_, and
other Learned Physicians in the last Plague, with what only may be of Use
from the abounding Prescripts of those who have lately published, and as
this Evil is supported throughout the general Practice, it appears to be
the Result of the Reasoning of some of the Learned Sons of _AEsculapius_,
to marshal into the Field as many Compositions as if only by their Number
they might be able to pull down the Tyranny of this fatal Destroyer.
It would be a Work insuperable, and altogether foreign to the Method I
have gone by, to extract all the Medicines which some Writers abound with
for this End; it is our Business here chiefly to take Notice of that
saving _Regimen_, that Rule of Self-governing, which proved more
successful in the Preservation of the People in the late Plague, than all
the abounding _Nostrums_ that have been crouded into the Practice, the
which has become a due Reproach to the Faculty.
_Turpe est Doctori, quem culpa redarguit ipsum._
And it is here worthy of our first Remark, That the last Plague, in the
Year 1665, as well from the late Accounts we have of that at _Marseilles_,
the poorer Sort of People were those that mostly suffered, which can only
be attributed to their mean and low Fare, whereas the most nutritive and
generous Diet should be promoted, and such as generate a warm and rich
Blood, Plenty of Spirits, and what easily perspires, which otherwise would
be apt to ferment and generate Corruption.
Your greatest Care is, to have your Meat sweet and good, neither too moist
nor flashy, having a certain Regard to such as may create an easy
Digestion, and observing that roasted Meats on those Occasions should be
preferred; as Beef, Mutton, Lamb, Venison, Turkey, Capon, Pullet,
Chicken, Pheasant, and Partridge: But Pidgeon, and most Sort of Wild and
Sea Fowl to be rejected: Salt Meats to be cautiously used; all hot, dry,
and spicey Seasonings to be avoided; most Pickles and rich Sauces to be
encouraged, with the often Use of Garlick, Onion, and Shallot; the cool,
acid, and acrid Herbs and Roots, as Lettuce, Spinnage, Cresses, Sorrel,
Endive, and Sellery; all windy Things, which are subject to Putrefaction,
to be refrained, as all kind of Pulse, Cabbage, Colliflower, Sprouts,
Melons, Cucumbers, _&c._ as also most Summer Fruits, excepting Mulberries,
Quinces, Pomegranates, Raspers, Cherries, Currants, and Strawberries,
which are of Service when moderately eat of.
All light and viscid Substances to be avoided, as Pork, most Sorts of
Fish, of the latter that may be eat, are Soles, Plaise, Flounder, Trout,
Gudgeon, Lobster, Cray-fish, and Shrimps, no Sort of Pond-Fish being good;
and for your Sauce, fresh melted Butter, or Oil mixed with Vinegar or
Verjuice, the Juice of Sorrel, Pomegranates, Barberries, of Lemon or
_Seville_ Orange, which two last are to be preferred, from their Power of
resisting all Manner of Putrefaction, as well to cool the violent Heat of
the Stomach, Liver, _&c._
For your Bread, to be light, and rather stale than new, not to drink much
of Malt Liquors, avoiding that which is greatly Hopped, or too much on the
ferment, Mead and Metheglin are of excellent Use, and good Wines taken
moderately are a strong Preservative, Sack especially being accounted the
most Soveraign and the greatest Alexipharmick: Excess is dangerous to the
most healthy Constitution, which may beget Inflammations of fatal
Consequence in pestilential Cases.
Let none go Home fasting, every one, as they can procure, to take
something as may resist Putrefaction; some may take Garlick with Bread and
Butter, a Clove two or three, or with Rue, Sage, Sorrel, dipt in Vinegar,
the Spirit of Oil of Turpentine frequently drank in small Doses is of
great Use; as also to lay in steep over-Night, of Sage well bruis'd two
Handfuls, of Wormwood one Handful, of Rue half a Handful, put to them in
an Earthen Vessel four Quarts of Mild Beer; which in the Morning to be
drank fasting.
The Custom that prevails now of drinking Coffee, Bohea-Tea, or Chocolate,
with Bread and Butter, is very good; at their going abroad 'tis proper to
carry Rue, Angelica, Masterwort, Myrtle, _Scordianum_ or Water-Germander,
Wormwood, Valerian or Setwal-Root, _Virginian_ Snake-Root, or Zedoary in
their Hands to smell to, or of Rue one Handful stampt in a Mortar, put
thereto Vinegar enough to moisten it, mix them well, then strain out the
Juice, wet a Piece of Sponge or a Toast of brown Bread therein, tie it in
a Bit of thin Cloth to smell to.
But there is nothing more grateful and efficacious than the volatile _Sal
Armoniac_, well impregnated with the essential Oils of aromatick
Ingredients, which may be procured dry, and kept in small Bottles, from a
careful Distillation of the common _Sal Volatile Oleosum_.
Sometimes more foetid Substances agree better with some Persons than the
more grateful Scents, of which the most useful Compositions may be made of
Rue, Featherfew, _Galbanum_, _Assafoetida_, and the like, with the Oil
of Wormwood, the Spirit or Oil drawn and dropt upon Cotton, so kept in a
close Ivory Box, though with Caution to be used, the often smelling to,
dilating the Pores of the Olfactory Organs, which may give greater Liberty
for the pestilential Air to go along with it. A Piece of Orris Root kept
in the Mouth in passing along the Streets, or of Garlick, Orange or Lemon
Peel, or Clove, are of very great Service. As also Lozenges of the
following Composition, which are always profitable to be used fasting; of
Citron Peel two Drams, Zedoary, Angelica, of each, prepar'd in Rose
Vinegar, half a Dram, Citron Seeds, Wood of Aloes, Orris, of each two
Scruples, Saffron, Cloves, Nutmeg, one Scruple, Myrrh, Ambergrease, of
each six Grains, Sugarcandy one Ounce; make into Lozenges with Gum
Traganth and Rose-water.