It has been the constant Observation of Physicians, as well ancient as
modern, and confirm'd by numerous Instances, that a hot and moist
Constitution of the Air, joyn'd with southerly Winds, was generally a
Fore-runner of malignant and Pestilential Fevers. Thus _Hippocrates_
observes, that the Constitution of the Air preceeding that malignant
Fever describ'd in the 3d Book of his Epidemics, 'was calm, moist, and
southerly, and succeeded a hot, and dry Season; the Winter, calm,
cloudy, rainy, warm, southerly; some Showers, and Northerly Winds about
the Equinox; the Spring, calm and southerly, with great Rains; the
Summer very hot, with little Wind, and much Rain about the Dog-days[a].
Some Authors led by the Title of this Book of his Epidemics, _viz._
[Greek: Katastasis Loimôdês], or the Pestilential Constitution, have
imagin'd the Diseases here spoken of, to be the same with that terrible
Plague describ'd by _Thucydides_, which taking its Rise in _Æthiopia_,
and passing thence thro' _Lybia_ and _Ægypt_, miserably harass'd all
_Persia_, _Phoenicia_, _Judea_, _Greece_, and _Coele Syria_, and was one
of the most dreadful Calamities of this kind that ever appeared in the
World. But whosoever will give himself the Trouble to compare the
Symptoms of the Fevers here described by _Hippocrates_, with those
related by that accurate Historian[b], who both had it himself, and
visited many others in it, will find that there is not the least
Similitude between them. The one being highly infectious, and not the
least Appearance of Contagion in the other: _Galen_ also the best
Interpreter of _Hippocrates_, in his Comment on this Book of his
Epidemic's suspects, this Title to be spurious, tho' both he and others
observe much the same Constitution of the Air to be the Fore-runner of
these Diseases.
[a] _Hippoc._ Epidem. lib. 3. sect. 3. _Galeni_ Com. in hunc
Loc. _Titi Lucret_, lib. 6.
[b] _Thucydides_ lib. 2.
[Sidenote: _What Places most
Subject._]
Pestilential and Malignant Fevers, are likewise observ'd to be the most
frequent in those Places where the Climate is hot and scorching, and
especially when Rains fall in such Seasons of the Year. Thus in _Ægypt_
and some other Parts of _Africa_, if Rains fall during the Months of
_July_ and _August_, the Plague usually breaks out the _September_
following[c].
[c] _Joan. Leon._ Hist. _Afric._ lib. 1. cap. 10. _Purchas_
Pilgrim. lib. 6. cap. 17. _Athan._ _Kircheri Scrutin.
Pestis_, pag. 179.
This is still more remarkable in such Places, as not only are Situated
in the forementioned Climate, but are likewise deprived of a constant
Succession of pure and clear Air. An Instance of this we have in _Grand
Caire_, which besides being subject to the common Disadvantages of the
Country, (as are a Climate hot and scorching, a Situation low and flat,
exposed chiefly to the warm Winds, their Water fetid and stagnating,
being reserv'd in Vaults and Canals, which are Annually fill'd by the
Overflowing of the River, the Air abounding with putrid Steams and
Exhalations, arising from the Parts of Animals, Vegetables, and other
Substances brought down and there deposited by the River), lies close
under the Hill of the Castle, by which all Wind and Air is intercepted,
which causes such a stifling Heat there, as ingenders many Diseases.[d]
[d] _Therenot_'s Travels, Part. 1. pag. 128.
That these may justly be esteem'd the Causes of the greater Frequency of
these Diseases in this Place, than others in the same Climate, appears
from their being so rarely known in those Places, which tho' equally
hot, enjoy an Air free from Vapours.[e] Thus in _Numidia_ and some other
Parts of _Africa_, the Plague is scarce to be found once in a hundred
Years, and hardly at all in the Land of _Negroe_.[f]
[e] _Piso_ Hist. _Ind._ & _Brasil_.
[f] _Purchas_ Pilgrim. lib. 6. cap. 13.
[Sidenote: _Several Causes of the
Plague._]
The other Observations of the Causes of these Fevers, may be reduced to
such as arise from the Stinks of stagnating Waters in hot and close
Weather, to some putrid Exhalations of the Earth, to the Parts of
Animals and Vegetables putrifying in the open Air, or the taking of
corrupt & unwholsome Nourishment.
Of the first kind was that at _Selinis_, occasioned by the stinking
Exhalations of the stagnating Waters adjacent, which the discerning
_Empedocles_ removed by scouring its Ditches from their Filth, by a
fresh Current of Water drawn from two Rivers in the neighbouring
Country[g].
[g] _Plutarchi_ Lib. [Greek: peri polypragmosynês].
To the second Class may be reduced that Pestilential Fever, which the
same great Philosopher check'd at _Agrigentum_, by stopping the Mouths
of some neighbouring Mountains, whose pernicious Fumes had infected the
adjacent Country[h]; As also that mentioned by _Ammianus_
_Marcellinus_, which broke out in _Seleucia_, and over-ran a great Part
of _Greece_, _Italy_, and _Parthia_, and took its Rise from the opening
of an old Vault in the Temple of _Apollo_.
[h] _Diog. Laert._ in Vit. Emped.
To the Third belong, such as are occasioned by the Parts of Vegetables
and Animals, especially those of Men, putrifying in the open Air. As was
that mention'd by _Livy_, which over-ran a great Part of _Italy_, and
owed its Rise to the dead Bodies of the _Romans_ and _Fidenates_ left
unburied in the Field of Battle[i]. Analogous to this was that which
from the same Cause appeared in _Germany_, _Anno 1630_; And likewise
that mentioned by _Ambrose Parree_ from the same Cause; as also that
mentioned by _Diodorus Siculus_, occasioned by great Quantities of
Locusts driven by Winds into the Sea, and thence cast up in Heaps on the
Shore. To this likewise must be reduced those Malignant and Pestilential
Fevers, which so frequently attend Camps and Seiges, especially in the
hot Eastern Countries, whose numerous Armies frequently feel the dismal
Effects of these stinking Fumes: As do likewise the vast Caravans of the
_Mahometans_ in their Annual Pilgrimages to _Mecca_.
[i] _Tit. Livii_ Hist. _Roman._
To the last belong those Pestilential Fevers, which take their Rise from
a preceeding Famine, as was that in _Judea_ in the time of _Herod_[k],
in which the Product of the Ground being consumed by the great Heat, and
long Drought of the preceeding Summer, the poorest sort of People were
obliged, thro' the Scarcity of Provisions, to make use of such Food as
afforded unwholesome and putrifying Juices.
[k] _Joseph_. Antiq. _Judæor_. lib. 15. cap. 12.
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