LOIMOLOGIA:

OR, AN
Historical Account
OF THE
Plague in London in 1665:

THE
PREFACE.

IT may be needless to acquaint the Reader why the following Sheets are published at this Time, we being all but too justly apprised of the Danger there may be, of wanting those Helps, which are here intended to be supplied, as far as such Means as these can do it.

THE Treatise of Dr. Hodges contains the best Account of the late Visitation by a Plague here in England, of any hitherto extant; and though some Readers may indeed observe, that the Enthusiastick Strain of the preceeding Times very much hurts his Style and Perspicuity; such an Influence had the Spirit of Delusion even over Matters of Science: However, the most affected Peculiarities and Luxuriancies of that kind are here avoided.

WHAT is hereunto added, hath been partly extracted from Papers wrote some Years ago, and partly put together since our present Apprehensions from Abroad. The Enumeration of so many Causes of a Pestilence, or like Changes, as have no Relation to the present Case, may to some perhaps seem superfluous; but my Design hereby, was only the better to inculcate a right Understanding of a Contagion, which is the last Consequence, and highest Degree of Aggravation they are capable of rising to; and gradually to lead Persons, not well accustomed to such Matters, from the more obvious, to the more secret Means of bringing such terrible Changes into our Constitutions.

WHAT relates to such precautionary Means for our Security against the present Infection now Abroad, as concern the Magistrate, I have presumed to say but very little to; because I understand such Instructions are now waited for from a very great and able Physician: But, with Submission to the wisest, I cannot but repeat it here again, that no humane Means seems more absolutely necessary, than to remove the Infected immediately upon their Seizure, out of all great Towns, and provide for their due Support in all Things, in open Country Places; for the Distemper becomes not infectious till some Time after Seizure.

AS for what every Person may do for his private Safety, I have given several additional Hints, either fuller or plainer than Dr. Hodges hath done. And because his Antidotes and precautionary Medicines are now obsolete, and not by much so elegant or easie to be procured, as the present Practice and Shops do supply, I have added some Formulæ, to be complied with, or altered, as different Exigencies, and better Judges may think fit.

IF the Reader should be curious enough to note any Incorrectnesses of Style, or Typographical Errors, he is desired to excuse them, from the great Hurry which these Sheets passed through the Press in, although there hath been as much Care taken to prevent either, as so much Hast with which they were called for would admit of.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

SECTION I.

Of the Rise and Progress of the late
Plague.

THE Plague which we are now to give an Account of, discovered the Beginnings of its future Cruelties, about the Close of the Year 1664; for at that Season two or three Persons died suddenly in one Family at Westminster, attended with like Symptoms, that manifestly declared their Origin: Hereupon some timorous Neighbours, under Apprehensions of a Contagion, removed into the City of London, who unfortunately carried along with them the pestilential Taint; whereby that Disease, which was before in its Infancy, in a Family or two, suddenly got Strength, and spread Abroad its fatal Poisons; and meerly for Want of confining the Persons first seized with it, the whole City was in a little Time irrecoverably infected. Not unlike what happened the Year following, when a small Spark, from an unknown Cause, for Want of timely Care, increased to such a Flame, that neither the Tears of the People, nor the Profusion of their Thames, could extinguish; and which laid Wast the greatest Part of the City in three Days Time: And therefore as there happens to be no great Difference between these two grievous Calamities, this Mention of them together may not be improper; and the more especially, because by a like irresistable Fate from a Fever and a Conflagration, both the Inhabitants and their Houses were reduc’d to Ashes.

BUT as soon as it was rumoured amongst the common People, who are always enough astonished at any Thing new, that the Plague was in the City, it is impossible to relate what Accounts were spread of its Fatality, and well were it, had not the Presages been so ominous; every one predicted its future Devastations, and they terrified each other with Remembrances of a former Pestilence; for it was a received Notion amongst the common People, that the Plague visited England once in Twenty Years; as if after a certain Interval, by some inevitable Necessity, it must return again. But although this Conceit, how well soever justify’d by past Experiences, did not so much obtain with Persons of more Judgment, yet this may be affirmed, that it greatly contributed, amongst the Populace, both to propagate and inflame the Contagion, by the strong Impressions it made upon their Minds.

AND these frightful Apprehensions were not a little increased by the Predictions of Astrologers, from the Conjunctions of Stars, and the Appearances of Comets; for although but little Regard was given to such Things by Persons of Thought, yet Experience daily shewed, what Influence they had with the meaner Sort, whose Spirits being manifestly sunk by such Fears, rendered their Constitutions less able to resist the Contagion. Whosoever duly considers it, can never imagine that this Pestilence had its Origin from any Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, in Sagitarius on the Tenth of October, or from a Conjunction of Saturn and Mars in the same Sign on the Twelfth of November, which was the common Opinion; for all the Good that happens during the like Conjunctions is assignable to the same Causes.

THE like Judgment is to be made of Comets, how terrible soever they may be in their Aspects, and whether they are produced in the higher Regions from a Conglomeration of many Stars, and returning at certain Periods; or whether they are lower, and the Production of sulphureous Exhalations, kindled in our own Atmosphere; For there is nothing strange in the Accension of heterogeneous Particles into a Flame, upon their rapid Occursions and Collisions against each other, howsoever terrible the Tracks of such Light may be circumstanced. The People therefore were frightned without Reason at such Things, and the Mischief was much more in the Predictions of the Star-Gazers, than in the Stars themselves: Nothing could however conquer these sad Impressions, so powerful were they amongst the Populace, who anticipated their unhappy Fate with their Fears, and precipitated their own Destruction.

BUT to pass by Things of less Moment, it is to be taken Notice, that a very hard Frost set in on December, which continued three Months, and seemed greatly to deaden the Contagion, and very few died during that Season; although even then it was not extinguished, for in the Middle of Christmas Holy-days, I was called to a Young-Man in a Fever, who after two Days Course of alexiterial Medicines, had two Risings about the Bigness of a Nutmeg broke out, one on each Thigh; upon Examination of which, I soon discovered the Malignity, both from their black Hue, and the Circle round them, and pronounced it to be the Plague; in which Opinion I was afterwards confirmed by subsequent Symptoms, although by God’s Blessing the Patient recovered.

THIS Case I insert, both to shew that this Season did not wholly destroy the Distemper, although it greatly restrained it; but upon the Frost breaking, the Contagion got Ground, and gradually got out of its Confinements; like a Flame that for some Time seems smother’d, and suddenly breaks out with aggravated Fury.

AS soon as the Magistracy, to whom belonged the publick Care, saw how the Contagion daily increased, and had now extended it self to several Parishes, an Order was immediately issued out to shut up all the infected Houses, that neither Relations nor Acquaintance might unwarily receive it from them, and to keep the infected from carrying it about with them.

BUT whether this Method proved of Service or not, is to this Day doubtful, and much disputed; but it is my Business here however to adhere to Facts, and relate the Arguments on both Sides with all possible Impartiality.

IN Order whereunto, it is to be observ’d, that a Law was made for marking the Houses of infected Persons with a Red Cross, having with it this Subscription, LORD HAVE MERCY UPON US: And that a Guard should there continually attend, both to hand to the Sick the Necessaries of Food and Medicine, and to restrain them from coming Abroad until Forty Days after their Recovery. But although the Lord Mayor and all inferior Officers readily and effectually put these Orders in Execution, yet it was to no Purpose, for the Plague more and more increased; and the Consternation of those who were thus separated from all Society, unless with the infected, was inexpressible; and the dismal Apprehensions it laid them under, made them but an easier Prey to the devouring Enemy. And this Seclusion was on this Account much the more intolerable, that if a fresh Person was seized in the same House but a Day before another had finished the Quarentine, it was to be performed over again; which occasion’d such tedious Confinements of sick and well together, that sometimes caused the Loss of the whole.

BUT what greatly contributed to the Loss of People thus shut up, was the wicked Practices of Nurses (for they are not to be mention’d but in the most bitter Terms): These Wretches, out of Greediness to plunder the Dead, would strangle their Patients, and charge it to the Distemper in their Throats; others would secretly convey the pestilential Taint from Sores of the infected to those who were well; and nothing indeed deterred these abandoned Miscreants from prosecuting their avaritious Purposes by all the Methods their Wickedness could invent; who, although they were without Witnesses to accuse them, yet it is not doubted but divine Vengeance will overtake such wicked Barbarities with due Punishment: Nay, some were remarkably struck from Heaven in the Perpetration of their Crimes, and one particularly amongst many, as she was leaving the House of a Family, all dead, loaded with her Robberies, fell down dead under her Burden in the Streets: And the Case of a worthy Citizen was very remarkable, who being suspected dying by his Nurse, was before-hand stripped by her; but recovering again, he came a second Time into the World naked. And so many were the Artifices of these barbarous Wretches, that it is to be hoped, Posterity will take Warning how they trust them again in like Cases; and that their past Impunities will not be a Means of bringing on us again the like Judgment.

MOREOVER, this shutting up infected Houses, made the Neighbours fly from theirs, who otherwise might have been a Help to them on many Accounts; and I verily believe that many who were lost might have now been alive, had not the tragical Mark upon their Door drove proper Assistances from them.

AND this is confirmed by the Examples of other pestilential Contagions, which have been observed not to cease, until the Doors of the Sick were let open, and they had the Privilege of going Abroad; of the same Authority is the Custom of other Nations, who have due Regard to that Liberty that is necessary for the Comforts both of Body and Mind.

IT now remains that we take Notice of all that is of any Weight on the other Side; as therefore it is not at all deemed cruel to take off a mortify’d Limb to save the whole, by a Parity of Reason is the Conduct of a Community justifyable, who, out of a Regard to the Publick Good, put Hardships upon particular Persons; in a pestilential Contagion therefore, what can be of more immediate Service than securing those that are well from the Infection? And the more especially in a Disease that reaches not only the Body, but taints the very Breath; for in this Case the infected Breath poisons upon the healthful, and even at the Point of Death endeavours to diffuse that Venom to others that conquer’d them. From this delirious Pleasure arises those Tricks of transplanting the Corruption of a pestilential Tumour to another; not to say any Thing of that Woman, who with her Importunities drew her unhappy Husband into her Embraces, which ended his Life with hers.

AGAIN, to take away all Doubtings in this Case, I am not ignorant of what Moment it is, to shut up the Houses of all those who are infected, according to Custom; for by this means a Contagion may at first be stifled, which otherwise would go beyond any Remedy; and with equal Advantage might Gun-Powder be fired, if too much Time is not wasted in Deliberation, before these Things are put into Practice.

BUT if hereafter again a Plague should break out, (which God forbid) with Submission to Superiors, I should think it not improper to appoint proper Accommodations out of the City, for such as are yet untouched in infected Families; and who should continue there for a certain Time; the Sick in the mean time to be removed to convenient Apartments provided on Purpose for them: For by this Means, that Practice so abhorrent to Religion and Humanity, even in the Opinion of a Mahometan, of shutting up the sick and well together, would be avoided.

BUT to return: The Infection had long doubtfully reign’d, and continued through May and June, with more or less Severity; sometimes raging in one Part, and then in another, as in a running sort of Fight; as often as the Number of Funerals decreased, great Hopes were conceived of its Disappearance; then on a sudden again their Increase threw all into Dejection, as if the whole City was soon to be unpeopled; which Uncertainty gave Advantage to the Distemper; because Persons were more remiss in their Provisions against it, during such Fluctuation.

IT must not however be omitted, with what Precipitation the trembling Inhabitants left the City, and how they flocked in such Crowds out of Town, as if London had quite gone out of it self, like the Hurry of a sudden Conflagration, all Doors and Passages are thronged for Escape: Yet after the chief of the People were fled, and thereby the Nourishment of this cruel Enemy had been in a great Measure taken away, yet it raged still; and although it seemed once to slay as Parthians in their Flight, it soon returned with redoubled Fury, and kill’d not by slow Paces, but almost immediately upon Seizure; not unlike what is often seen in Battle, when after some Skirmishes of Wings, and separate Parties, the main Bodies come to engage; so did this Contagion at first only scatter about its Arrows, but at last covered the whole City with Death.

THUS therefore in the Space of one Week were eighty Persons cut off, and when Things came to Extremity, all Helps were called in; so it began now to be solely the Magistrates Business, how to put a Stop to this cruel Devastation, and save some Part of the City at last from the Grave; first then therefore were appointed a Monthly Fast for Publick Prayers, to deprecate the Anger of Heaven; nor proved it in vain, or were their Supplications altogether fruitless; for if we have any Regard to the Temperature of the Season, the whole Summer was refreshed with moderate Breezes, sufficient to prevent the Air’s Stagnation and Corruption, and to carry off the pestilential Steams; the Heat was likewise too mild to encourage such Corruption and Fermentation, as helps to taint the animal Fluids, and pervert them from their natural State.

THE Government however, to the Duty of Publick Prayers, neglected not to add what Assistances might be had from Medicine; to which Purpose his Majesty, with the divine Helps, called in also all that was humane; and by his Royal Authority commanded the College of Physicians of London, jointly to write somewhat in English that might be a general Directory in this calamitous Exigence: Nor was it satisfactory to that honoured Society to discharge their Regards for the Publick with that only, but some were chose out of their Number, and appointed particularly to attend the infected on all Occasions; two also out of the Court of Aldermen were required to see this hazardous Task executed; so that encouraged with all proper Means, this Province was chearfully undertaken, and all possible Caution was used fully to answer the Intention; but this Task was too much for four Persons, and wanted rather the Concurrence of the whole Faculty; we were however ashamed to give it up, and used our utmost Application therein; but all our Care and Pains were eluded, for the Disease, like the Hydra’s Heads, was no sooner extinguished in one Family, but it broke out in many more with Aggravations; so that in a little Time we found our Task too great, and despaired of putting an entire Stop to the Infection.

NOR was there at this Time wanting the Help of very great and worthy Persons, who voluntarily contributed their Assistances in this dangerous Work; amongst the Number of which, the learned Dr. Glisson, Regius Professor at Cambridge, Dr. Nath. Paget, Dr. Wharton, Dr. Berwick, Dr. Brookes, and many others who are yet alive, deserve very honourable Mention; but eight or nine fell in this Work, who were too much loaded with the Spoils of the Enemy; and amongst whom was Dr. Conyers, whose Goodness and Humanity claim an honourable Remembrance with all who survive him.

AFTER then all Endeavours to restrain the Contagion proved of no Effect, we applied our selves altogether to the Care of the diseased; and in the Prosecution of which, it may be affirmed without Boasting, no Hazards to our selves were avoided: But it is incredible to think how the Plague raged amongst the common People, insomuch that it came by some to be called the Poors Plague; yet although the more opulent had left the Town, and that it was almost left uninhabited, the Commonalty that were left felt little of Want; for their Necessities were relieved with a Profusion of good Things from the Wealthy, and their Poverty was supported with Plenty; a more manifest Cause therefore for such a Devastation amongst them I shall assign in another Place.

IN the Months of August and September, the Contagion chang’d its former slow and languid Pace, and having as it were got Master of all, made a most terrible Slaughter, so that three, four, or five Thousand died in a Week, and once eight Thousand; who can express the Calamities of such Times? The whole British Nation wept for the Miseries of her Metropolis. In some Houses Carcases lay waiting for Burial, and in others, Persons in their last Agonies; in one Room might be heard dying Groans, in another the Ravings of a Delirium, and not far off Relations and Friends bewailing both their Loss, and the dismal Prospect of their own sudden Departure: Death was the sure Midwife to all Children, and Infants passed immediately from the Womb to the Grave; who would not burst with Grief, to see the Stock for a future Generation hang upon the Breasts of a dead Mother? Or the Marriage-Bed changed the first Night into a Sepulchre, and the unhappy Pair meet with Death in their first Embraces? Some of the infected run about staggering like drunken Men, and fall and expire in the Streets; while others lie half-dead and comatous, but never to be waked but by the last Trumpet, some lie vomiting as if they had drunk Poison; and others fall dead in the Market, while they are buying Necessaries for the Support of Life. Not much unlike was it in the following Conflagration; where the Altars themselves became so many Victims, and the finest Churches in the whole World carried up to Heaven Supplications in Flames, while their Marble Pillars wet with Tears melted like Wax; nor were Monuments secure from the inexorable Flames, where many of their venerable Remains passed a second Martyrdom; the most august Palaces were soon laid Waste, and the Flames seemed to be in a fatal Engagement to destroy the great Ornament of Commerce; and the Burning of all the Commodities of the World together, seemed a proper Epitome of this Conflagration; neither confederate Crowns, nor the drawn Swords of Kings, could restrain its Phanatick and Rebellious Rage; large Halls, stately Houses, and the Sheds of the Poor, were together reduced to Ashes; the Sun blush’d to see himself set, and envied those Flames the Government of the Night, which had rivalled him so many Days; as the City, I say, was afterwards burnt without any Distinction, in like Manner did this Plague spare no Order, Age, or Sex; The Divine was taken in the very Exercise of his priestly Office, to be inrolled amongst the Saints Above; and some Physicians, as before intimated, could not find Assistance in their own Antidotes, but died in the Administration of them to others; and although the Soldiery retreated from the Field of Death, and encamped out of the City, the Contagion followed, and vanquish’d them; many in their old Age, others in their Prime, sunk under its Cruelties; of the Female Sex most died; and hardly any Children escaped; and it was not uncommon to see an Inheritance pass successively to three or four Heirs in as many Days; the Number of Sextons were not sufficient to bury the Dead; the Bells seemed hoarse with continual tolling, until at last they quite ceased; the burying Places would not hold the Dead, but they were thrown into large Pits dug in waste Grounds, in Heaps, thirty or forty together; and it often happened that those who attended the Funerals of their Friends one Evening, were carried the next to their own long Home:

Even the Relation of this Calamity melts me into Tears, and yet the worst was not certain, although the City was near drained by her Funerals; for the Disease as yet had no Relaxation.

ABOUT the Beginning of September, the Disease was at the Height; in the Course of which Month more than twelve Thousand died in a Week: But at length, that nothing might go untried to divert the Contagion, it was ordered by the Governours who were left to superintend those calamitous Affairs, (for the Court was then removed to Oxford) to burn Fires in the Streets for three Days together; yet while this was in Debate, the Physicians concerned were diffident of the Success, as the Air in it self was un-infected; and therefore rendred such a showy and expensive a Project superfluous, and of no Effect; and these Conjectures we supported by the Authority of Antiquity, and Hippocrates himself; notwithstanding which, the Fires were kindled in all the Streets. But alas! the Controversie was soon decided; for before the three Days were quite expired, the Heavens both mourned so many Funerals, and wept for the fatal Mistake, so as to extinguish even the Fires with their Showers. I shall not determine any other Person’s Conjecture in this Case, whether these Fires may more properly be deemed the ominous Forerunners of the ensuing Conflagration, or the ensuing Funerals; but whether it was from the suffocating Qualities of the Fuel, or the wet Constitution of Air that immediately followed, the most fatal Night ensued, wherein more than four Thousand expired. May Posterity by this Mistake be warned, and not, like Empyricks, apply a Remedy where they are ignorant of the Cause.

THE Reader is by the Way to be advertised, that this Year was luxuriant in most Fruits, especially Cherries and Grapes, which were at so low a Price, that the common People surfeited with them; for this might very much contribute to that Disposition of Body as made the pestilential Taint more easily take Place.

NOR ought we here to pass by the benificent Assistances of the Rich, and the Care of the Magistrates; for the Markets being open as usual, and a greater Plenty of all Provisions, was a great Help to support the Sick; so that there was the Reverse of a Famine, which hath been observed to be so fatal to pestilential Contagions; and in this the Goodness of Heaven is always to be remembred, in alleviating a common Misery by such a Profusion of good Things from the Stores of Nature.

BUT as it were to balance this immediate Help of Providence, nothing was otherwise wanting to aggravate the common Destruction; and to which nothing more contributed than the Practice of Chymists and Quacks, and of whose Audacity and Ignorance it is impossible to be altogether silent; they were indefatigable in spreading their Antidotes; and although equal Strangers to all Learning as well as Physick, they thrust into every Hand some Trash or other under the Disguise of a pompous Title. No Country sure ever abounded with such wicked Impostors; for all Events contradicted their Pretensions, and hardly a Person escaped that trusted to their Delusions: Their Medicines were more fatal than the Plague, and added to the Numbers of the Dead: But these Blowers of the pestilential Flames were caught in the common Ruin, and by their Death in some Measure excused the Neglect of the Magistracy, in suffering their Practice:

ABOUT this Time a Person of Distinction and great Humanity, going to France upon some Affairs of State, heard that some Frenchmen were Masters of an Antipestilential Remedy, and took Care to send some Doses of it over here: By Command of the Government we were ordered to try it with due Caution, which we did with Expectations of uncommon Success, but the Mountain brought forth Death; for the Medicine, which was a Mineral Preparation, threw the Patients into their last Sleep. May it never hereafter be injoined to try Experiments with unknown and foreign Medicines, upon the Lives even of the meanest Persons! For certainly nothing is more abhorrent to Reason, than to impose a universal Remedy, in Cases whose curative Intentions are different, and sometimes opposite; and the various Indications of a Pestilence require very different Methods of Remedy, as shall hereafter be further demonstrated.

TO this may be added, that many common Medicines were publickly Sold, which by their extraordinary Heat and Disposition to inflame the Blood, could never be fit for every Age, Sex, and Constitution indifferently, and therefore in many Cases must undoubtedly do Harm. On this Account not only the Sacred Art, but the Publick Health also suffered; yet we who were particularly employed in this Affair as Physicians, used all Sollicitations with the Magistracy to restrain such Practices, in Order to stop the Ruin they aggravated. Hence notwithstanding it was made a Question, whether in a Plague, where so many Physicians retire, (not so much for their own Preservation, as the Service of those whom they attend) it is not expedient for every one, according to his Abilities, to do his utmost in averting the common Ruin? In the same Manner as in a Fire all Hands are required, even of the Croud as well as Workmen, to extinguish it.

BUT in this Case my own Opinion is determined: In the Restauration of Health, a Person must proceed with more Caution and Deliberation than in the supposed Case of a Fire; for there are Difficulties occur in the Practice of Medicine which are insuperable but by the unlearned; and the fine Texture of a humane Body is not to be managed by as clumsie Hands as the Materials of a House; in the former, if a Person makes a Mistake, it is with great Difficulty repaired; and therefore upon a serious Consideration of the whole Affair, I cannot make any Doubt, but that it is much better even to want Physicians in such Calamities, than to have the Sick under the Care and Management of the unlearned; for such Persons, like those who fight blindfold, know not in what Parts to attack the Enemy, nor with what Weapons to do it; besides which, they also are in Hazard of obstructing these Efforts of Nature, which would many Times, without Help, if not thus hindred, get the better of the Distemper.

NOR in this Account are we to neglect, that the Contagion spread its Cruelties into the neighbouring Countries; for the Citizens, which crowded in Multitudes into the adjacent Towns, carried the Infection along with them, where it raged with equal Fury; so that the Plague, which at first crept from one Street to another, now reigned over whole Counties, leaving hardly any Place free from its Insults; and the Towns upon the Thames were more severely handled, not perhaps from a great Moisture in the Air from thence, but from the tainted Goods rather that were carried upon it: Moreover, some Cities and Towns, of the most advantageous Situation for a wholsome Air, did notwithstanding feel the common Ruine. Such was the Rise, and such the Progress, of this cruel Destroyer, which first began at London.

BUT the worst Part of the Year being now over, and the Height of the Disease, the Plague by leisurely Degrees declined, as it had gradually made its first Advances; and before the Number infected decreased, its Malignity began to relax, insomuch that few died, and those chiefly such as were ill managed; hereupon that Dread which had been upon the Minds of the People wore off; and the Sick chearfully used all the Means directed for their Recovery; and even the Nurses grew either more cautious, or more faithful; insomuch that after some Time a Dawn of Health appeared, as sudden, and as unexpected, as the Cessation of the following Conflagration; wherein after blowing up of Houses, and using all Means for its Extinction to little Purpose, the Flames stopped as it were of themselves, for Want of Fuel, or out of Shame for having devoured so much.

THE Pestilence did not however stop for Want of Subjects to act upon, (as then commonly rumoured) but from the Nature of the Distemper, its Decrease was like its Beginning, moderate; nor is it less to be wondred at, that as at the Rise of the Contagion all other Distempers went into that, so now at its Declension that degenerated into others, as Inflammations, Head-achs, Quinseys, Dysenteries, Small-Pox, Measles, Fevers, and Hecticks; wherein that also yet predominated, as hereafter will be further shewn.

ABOUT the Close of the Year, that is, on the Beginning of November, People grew more healthful, and such a different Face was put upon the Publick, that although the Funerals were yet frequent, yet many who had made most Hast in retiring, made the most to return, and came into the City without Fear; insomuch that in December they crowded back as thick as they fled: The Houses which before were full of the Dead, were now again inhabited by the Living; and the Shops which had been most Part of the Year shut up, were again opened, and the People again chearfully went about their wonted Affairs of Trade and Employ; and even what is almost beyond Belief, those Citizens, who before were afraid even of their Friends and Relations, would without Fear venture into the Houses and Rooms where infected Persons had but a little before breathed their Last: Nay, such Comforts did inspire the languishing People, and such Confidence, that many went into the Beds where Persons had died before they were even cold, or cleansed from the Stench of the Diseased; they had the Courage now to marry again, and betake to the Means of repairing the past Mortality; and even Women before deemed barren, were said to prove proliffick; so that although the Contagion had carried off, as some computed, about one hundred thousand, after a few Months their Loss was hardly discernable, and thus ended this fatal Year.

BUT the next Spring indeed appeared some Remains of the Contagion, which was easily conquered by the Physicians, and like the Termination of a common Intermittent, ended in a healthful Recovery: Whereupon the whole Malignity ceasing, the City returned to a perfect Health; not unlike what happened also after the last Conflagration, when a new City suddenly arose out of the Ashes of the old, much better able to stand the like Flames another Time.

SECTION II.

Of the Cause of a Pestilence, and a Contagion.

AS it is our Purpose here to enquire into the Origin of the late Plague, and find out both its manifest and hidden Causes; I cannot judge it necessary to go into the usual Length of Writers, in a particular Recital of all those remote Regards which they distinguish by Supernatural, Preternatural, and Natural; because by such Means this Treatise would be drawn out into an almost infinite needless Distinction.

THAT the Truth therefore may at once be brought into an open Light, and the Pestilence appear in its genuine Affections, I think it proper to premise this one Thing, because the whole depends upon it, viz. That the Pestilence is the most notorious of all popular Diseases, and depends upon some Cause equally common, and in every respect adequate to its extensive Effects; which being granted, it naturally follows, that all particular Causes which may accidentally intervene, (the Recital of which would be very tedious) are resolvable into this one.

AND for what concerns that Pestilence now under Enquiry, this we have as to its Origin, from the most irrefragable Authority, that it first came into this Island by Contagion, and was imported to us from Holland, in Packs of Merchandice; and if any one pleases to trace it further, he may be satisfied by common Fame, it came thither from Turkey in Bails of Cotton or Silk, which is a strange Preserver of the pestilential Steams. For that Part of the World is seldom free from such Infections, altho’ it is sometimes more severe than others, according to the Disposition of Seasons and Temperature of Air in those Regions: But if any would yet more intimately be acquainted with its Origin, it concerns him to know all the Changes the Air in these Climates is subject to, and its various Properties of Dryness, Moisture, Heat, Cold, &c.

BUT least I should be thought too prolix in the Enumeration of such Circumstances, and incur the Suspicion of Atheism, (a Charge too just upon the Faculty) by ascribing too much to second Causes, as the Schools please to call them, it may be convenient for me to declare, that the το θειον of a Pestilence is as much a Part of my Faith, as any others; the sacred Pages clearly and demonstratively prove, that the Almighty, by his Authority, and at his Pleasure, may draw the Sword, bend the Bow, or shoot the Arrows of Death; and a Retrospection into Times past, shews many convincing Proofs of this terrible Truth; and in this Contagion before us, the Footsteps of an over-ruling Power are very legible, especially so far as concerns his divine Permission: But the great God’s Purposes are Secrets too awful for Mortals to pry into, although we know that he punishes as a Parent, and chides for our Good, which makes it our Duty to kiss the Rod, and submit. But enough of this, least I should be thought to invade anothers Province; and it is sufficient to the Purpose of a Physician, to assign natural and obvious Causes; and where such are discoverable, it is unworthy of him and the divine Art he professes, as well as an Affront to good Sense, to have Recourse to any other.

BUT this being premised only to prevent Censure, our Way now lies open to a Discovery of the Nature of this Pestilence. Wherein, for Method Sake, I shall begin with a Description of a Pestilence in general; and which if it doth not exactly agree with the Accounts given by the Ancients, yet I doubt not but it will be found by every impartial Considerer, to be as full and satisfactory.

THE Pestilence is a Disease arising from an Aura that is poisonous, very subtle, deadly, and contagious, affecting many Persons at the same Time together in one Country, chiefly arising from a Corruption of the nitrous Spirit in the Air, attended with a Fever, and other very grievous Symptoms.

EVERY one of these Particulars are as clear as the Light at Noon-day; and these 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; we shall therefore proceed to explain only what more immediately stands in need of it.

AND first of all it is said from an Aura, as distinguishing it from such Poison as is more gross and earthy; for this is not to be confined in any Inclosure, but is so rare, subtle, volatile, and fine, that it insinuates into, and resides in the very Interstices, or Pores of the aerial Particles; whereas that which is of a more fixed Nature, is confined within certain Limits, and is incapable of such Progress.

IT is said to be poisonous also, from its Similitude to the Nature of a Poison, and both being equally destructive to Life, and killing Persons much after the same Manner, so that they seem to differ in Degree only; for the deadly Quality of a Pestilence vastly exceeds either the arsenical Minerals, the most poisonous Animals or Insects, or the killing Vegetables; nay, the Pestilence seems to be a Composition of all the other Poisons together, as well as in its fatal Efficacies to excel them, for in this there is manifestly joined both the Height of Putrefaction and Malignity. And as in a great man the Virulence of this Taint hath been discoverable, so in one Youth for Instance it was so remarkable, that even in the Point of Death the whole Body changed green, which so alarmed the Mother, that she immediately hasted to my House, to know whether by Mistake there had not been some Poison given him; whereas he had taken nothing but mild and common Alexipharmicks; this green Hue therefore was a Demonstration of the poisonous Vitriolick Nature of the pestilential Taint.

IT is said to be very subtile both on Account of its Original and Production, before it hath escaped from its native Seat; and that wonderful Comminution which it cannot but undergo in its Progress through so many Climates, whereby it is, as it were, sublimed to the highest Degree of Volatility, beyond that of any Meteor, which is the Production of gross, corporeal, and heterogeneous Particles; nay, it is more active than Lightning, and in the Twinkling of an Eye carries to a Distance Putrefaction, Mortification, and Death.

AS for the Manner whereby it kills, its approaches are generally so secret, that Persons seized with it seem to be fallen into an Ambuscade, or a Snare, of which there was no Manner of Suspicion; they are therefore not to be credited or regarded, who affirm the Progress of a Pestilence to be sensible, even to the Smell and Sight, and report (though who will may believe them for me) the Infection to resemble the Fragrancy of Flowers in May, or any other sweet Savour; or, on the contrary, to strike the Nose like the Stench of a rotten Carcase; nay, some pretend to be so sharp-sighted, as to discern Clouds in the Atmosphere big with pestilential Poysons, and other such Conceits of a distempered Imagination, that are chiefly the Products of Fear, which construes every Thing for the worst: Although indeed I must confess, that sometimes this very subtile Aura may be so mixed or loaded with gross and sulphureous Particles, as to be perceptible to the Senses.

FURTHER, as to the fatal Influences of a Plague, if the before recited Account is not sufficient to shew it, it would not be a Task of any Difficulty to produce many Instances of its Tyranny and Destruction: Hence the Plague by the Hebrews was called לבד, or Perdition; as if it was ordained on Purpose to destroy Mankind: It is also called Lues, from λυω, to dissolve, a most certain Way of Destruction, and whose fatal Property in the Plague is most remarkable, whereby it does not so much prepare the Way, as immediately of its self destroy, and of whose certain Ruin, through whole Regions together, we have too many Testimonies upon Record, in the Writings both of Ancients and Moderns.

AGAIN, the Pestilence is said to be contagious; because some are come to that Height of Boldness, (being blind with too much Light) to propagate strange Conjectures to the contrary, as if the late Plague was begun and continued by a foreign Influence; but to remove this Controversie, it may be convenient to explain the Nature of a Contagion, and its supposed Conditions of Exertion; but before I enter upon this, it will be necessary to dispatch the other Members of this Definition.

IT is further added, that the Plague affects many Regions together at the same Time, in Order to distinguish it both from Endemick Diseases, that is, such as are appropriate to one Place only; and also from Sporadick Diseases, which although they rage amongst the Populace in this or that Country or Climate indifferently, according to the Influence of their procatarctick Causes, they are yet to be deemed particular, as well as they are pernicious: But enough of these Matters.

AT length then it becomes necessary to change the Consideration, and enquire how it comes that the Plague hath its chief Origin from a Change or Corruption of the nitrous Spirits in the Air: This is the great Difficulty! This is our Task! It is therefore to be hoped that the Novelty of the Opinion will not occasion any one to receive it at first Sight amiss, until by due Examination he hath brought it to Trial; but in Order to erect this upon a sure Foundation, it is proper to premise some Considerations.

AND first of all, the central nitrous Spirit does every where transpire and exhale towards the Surface, to recruit the Consumptions of Nature, and for other Purposes hereafter to be mentioned. From this saline Origin straining through the Bowels of the Earth, it is by every one understood Vegetation is carried on; and that the Light and vital Warmth of the Sun is impregnated by it through the whole Region of Air; and the mutual Intercourses or Operations upon one another between the Sun’s Rays, and these saline Exhalations, by a Kind of Magnetism between them, is too obvious in a Multitude of Instances to want any Comment.

I know in nothing indeed where there is a greater Intercourse and Sympathy; and a considerable Illustration of which may be made by the following Experiment. If any one in the Spring-time, when the Sun is approaching nearer to us, digs up a Piece of Earth, and after Infusion and Filtration, evaporates the Liquor, he will find at the Bottom of the Vessel a Sixth Part of Salt more than at any other Time of the Year, from the same Quantity of Earth managed after the same Manner; the nitrous Salt for many Reasons not arising in so great a Quantity for the Exigencies of Nature, at any other Times; whence I conceive it manifestly to prove, that there is such an Efflux of this Salt as before suggested, and a Kind of Sublimation of it into the Air, and that this saline Spirit hath a Sort of Sympathy with the superior Heat. But that we may not use more Arguments than are necessary to prove the Energy of this Principle, every one who is doubtful herein may observe, that not only Plants are produced and nourished by its subtle and luxuriant Insinuation into their Fibres, but that also from the same aerial Spirit the Life of Animals, and even the humane Species is preserved. And I cannot see any Difficulty in the Opinion, that the best Temperature of the Blood and animal Juices, the Renewal of wasted Spirits, the Restauration of Strength, and the good and healthful Constitution of the Viscera, Members, and whole Body, is maintained by the Assistance of this nitro-aerial Spirit. Nor does any Thing appear more congruous to Reason, than that from the same Cause does the Racy Spirit of the Blood arise, as it is not derivable from any other; nor is it my single Opinion, that from the same Principle it derives its Colour; but as there are no Arguments even objected to this Doctrine, it is needless to imploy more Time in its Vindication.

BUT further, it may happen that this nitro-aerial Spirit may various Ways be changed in its Properties; that is, either with Regard to its proliffick Influences, (if it may be so expressed) or, which much oftner happens, in its accidental and adventitious Impurities.

SOMETIMES this universal Principle languishes and degenerates, and in its own productive Womb is tainted with somewhat pernicious to Vitality, and that natural balsamick Constitution of Blood that supports it; and as often as this is the Case, the whole Orders of living Beings may look upon it as War declared against them: But where any Alteration is made upon it by particular and fortuitous Causes, it is generally from too much Humidity diluting it, as in immoderate and unseasonable Rains, whence moist, crude, and unwholsome Vapours exhale; for every one knows how much Humidity is a Promoter of Putrefaction; whence Swarms of Insects, which is a certain Forerunner of a Pestilence: It also sometimes happens, that this vital Spirit, which so much delights in Dryness, is almost quite extinguished by a rainy Season; in which Exigency, what Miseries may not Mankind expect, when a small Change is of so fatal Consequence? This is abundantly confirmed by the Experience of Marshy Countries, where the Diseases recurring every Year are very fatal, by means of the putrid and damp Exhalations.

FURTHERMORE, this nitrous Principle may be sometimes changed in its own Repository by too intense a Heat from within, as well as without; for by so precipitate a Sublimation its Spirit may be deadned; that is, being robbed of its balsamick Quality, (which is no Absurdity to suppose) and kindled into too rapid a Motion, it may receive a kind of Empyreuma; and from which Adustion there may arise several Sorts of Distemperature; as Blasts upon Trees, and Diseases amongst Cattle; and at last end in a Pestilence amongst Mankind.

FOR further Illustration hereof it may be observed, that the nitrous Spirit which circulates through the subterraneous Caverns may, instead of Obtaining a further Purification, take along with it corrupt and poysonous Vapours from arsenical or other Minerals; and loaded therewith, break out into the open Air: And this we have confirmed from common Observation in the Western Climes of Africa, that lye under the Equator, wherein the very Showers seem to be endued with a Stiptick or Caustick Power, so as to taint the Cloaths and Skin of the Travellers, and burn, as it were, upon them pestilential Characters. From which Disposition it cannot be a Wonder to any, that the Plague should reign after Earthquakes; because a poysonous Spirit at such Times break out into the Air; as also that Nitre thus loaded with an impure Mixture, and sometimes too that which is deadly, should of it self, like the Occursion of an Acid, force out its Way wherever there is Room, and leave behind in its Passage many Marks of Malignity; so that subterraneous Animals, such as Moles, Mice, Serpents, Conies, Foxes, &c. as conscious of approaching Mischief, leave their Burrows, and lie open in the Air; which is also a certain Sign of a Pestilence at Hand: Hence also a sudden Death of Fish; and a Departure of the Birds of the Air, to secure their Safety in that which is more wholesome.

AFTER these Observations, it remains to shew how the nitrous Spirit frequently receives a Change like to that which may be termed Corruption, although it is vulgarly accounted incorruptible in it self, and is serviceable in Preserving other Things from Putrefaction.

TO the Solution of this uncommon Difficulty, it is to be taken Notice that Corruption here is not in that Sense strictly as when it is the Produce of Humidity, but somewhat more congruous to the peculiar Nature of a nitrous Spirit; which although it cannot, like some other Bodies, putrifie, yet if it can be changed from its Nature and Figure, so as not to be reducible into them again, it does not seem improperly said that such a Change is equivalent to Corruption, its Vitality or Essence being destroyed, and a new Texture being obtained. And this I shall further endeavour to illustrate by a double Argument.

FIRST, It is not at all to be doubted, but that what Art, which is the Imatator of Nature, can do, may be done by the Efficiency of a more powerful Agent; and the most expert Chymists do shew a certain Corruption of Salt; nor would it be any great Labour to discover here the Method how it is done, were it not a Crime to expose the Secrets of Nature on trifling Occasions. But if my Authority is not sufficient to support an Assertion of this Weight, I trust no one will reject the Conviction that arises from Effects, and therefore I shall restrain the Proof hereof to as short a Compass as possible. As then it is established by the concurrent Authority of Antiquity, that as Fire, as it is an Element capable of Degeneration, and seemingly of Corruption, may increase a pestilential Malignity by Means of its great Subtilty, its prodigious Increase, and swift Propagation; Qualities too which a Pestilence very much partakes of. That which they conceited of Fire, seems to me to be applicable in a much more philosophical Sense to that Spirit we are speaking of, and which so nearly resembles it. I am indeed a Stranger to any Thing in the Universe that makes so swift a Progress as a Pestilence, and therefore the infectious Miasmata are in the sacred Scriptures styled Arrows that fly in the Dark; and howsoever certain are their Strokes, and tho’ by Means of their Fineness they penetrate into the very Marrow, they yet shun by their Subtilty our Conceptions.

AS to the spreading of a Contagion from one to another, and so on to Thousands, there is nothing can be possibly more swift in the Progress of Fire; and it exceeds even Antimony in the Retention of its Properties, though that loses them not in a thousand Infusions: But the instantaneous Progress of this Enemy to Mankind is best illustrated by the Rapidity of Light, which is not greater. But more of this we pass by till we come professedly to speak of a Contagion.

SECONDLY, the particular Nature of the pestilential Miasmata, may be known from their peculiar Influence upon the saline Particles in a humane Body; for nothing acts with more Efficacy and Energy upon a saline Body, than another partaking of the same Quality; and nothing is more plain than that this nitrous Spirit is of more Efficacy than the Alkahest it self, as by it the fibrous Parts of the Blood are immediately corroded and dissolved; and therefore after dangerous Hemorrhages, very little Coagulation can be obtained in the extravasated Blood, unless by its being exposed to the Cold: but as often as that does happen, do not we immediately find a Fixation of the Fluids, and a certain Congelation of the Juices, which greatly retards their rapid Motions, and sometimes brings even a total Stagnation: It’s furthermore of considerable Importance to our present Argument, that Spasms, the constant Attendants of a Plague, have their Origin from an acrid vellicating Salt in the nervous Fluid.

TO these it may likewise be added, that a Pestilence has a great Similitude to a scorbutick Habit, having its Origin from a saline Constitution of Blood; and the great Likeness there is in many Circumstances of their Generation and Propagation, insomuch that after a Pestilence is with others ceased, it will yet continue to infect scorbutick Constitutions; as hereafter will further appear: From the same Cause likewise does a pestilential Contagion reign most in Maritime Countries, and near the Sea-Coasts; because such a saline Disposition does there most abound; and the Truth of this, the Maritime Parts of our own Country do by sad Experience too much testifie.

LASTLY, If Arguments taken to this Purpose from the Method of Cure were valid, from thence it may be gathered, that a saline Spirit hath a great share in giving Rise to a Pestilence; for in our curative Regards for this Distemper, a skilful and upright Physician bends his whole Care at first to prevent its Attack, which he does by the Use of oleaginous Substances, by that Means expecting to cover over the Stomach as it were with a Plaster, to guard it against sharp and corrosive Effluvia; the same Intention is also pursued by Medicines, in endeavouring to defend against the poysonous Taint, or throw it out when received by Alexipharmicks and Diaphoreticks: For every one who is but tolerably conversant in such Practice, very well knows that the saline Particles are thrown off this Way much more effectually than by any other; and a further Demonstration of this Matter is also, that the Sweat of infected Persons, as in the late Sickness, gives extream pungent Pains by its Acrimony in its Exit; and that the more brackish such Sweat comes out, the more serviceable it proves; whereas when it happened to be soft and insipid, it was a sure Forerunner of worse Symptoms, and even of Death.

FURTHERMORE, as to curative Intentions, all Diligence was used to preserve and restore the internal Ferments from a Contagion; and this was chiefly done by saline Preparations of various Kinds, which gave greater Energy to the natural Spirits, so as to alter and renew them by Means of that Similitude of Texture and Constitution naturally between them.

AGAIN, what was excreted did greatly establish this our Hypothesis; what was thrown up by hard Vomiting discovered nothing more than a rancid Brackishness, that vellicated the Stomach into Convulsions by its acrimonious and corrosive Qualities; and the frothy and fermentative Nature of what was ejected by Stool, fully showed its saline Mixture: But we shall come more fully to talk of this hereafter: To conclude therefore this Controversie; although the Hypothesis here laid down may at first Appearance seem new, yet it does not so far differ from the Sentiments of the Ancients upon the same Subject, as confirm and explain what they have said: It comes down to us for the Opinion of some of them, that a Putrefaction of Choler in an humane Body gives Rise to a Pestilence; and of others, that Fire may be so corrupted, as to occasion the same; what therefore the former conceived of Choler, and the latter of Fire, we judge more justly ascribed here to a vitiated saline Spirit. But least we should too long dwell upon this Argument, if it was needful to recite all the Causes enumerated by Authors of this Malady, it would be difficult to find any one which does not coincide with this our Hypothesis; so that whosoever pleases to be at this Pains, must either assent with us, or reject them; and he that does not like our Opinion, would do well to shew a better.

IN the above-described Pestilence, as indeed in many others, Persons frequently died, without any preceeding Symptoms of Horror, Thirst, or concomitant Fever: For the Confirmation of which, I shall give an Instance or two out of a great many; A Woman, who was the only one left alive of the Family, and yet to her Thinking perfectly well, perceived upon her Breast the pestilential Spots, which she looking upon to be the fatal Tokens, in a very short Space died, without feeling any other Disorder, or any other Forerunner of Death.

A Youth also of a good Constitution, after he had found himself on a sudden marked with the Tokens of the Contagion, believed at first they were not the genuine Marks, because he found himself so well, and yet he was dead in less than four Hours after, as his Physician had before prognosticated.

BUT how suddenly soever the Sickness killed some People, whether by suddenly seizing the Brain, Heart, Lungs, or any other principal Part, with a deadly Infection, or poisoning the vital Spirits at once, so that no Appearance could be discerned, even of a lurking Fever, yet for the most Part, some Fever did shew it self.

AND it cannot be thought strange, that most who took the Contagion should have a Fever, to those who consider the Nature of a nitrous Spirit, especially when degenerated, and that from the most slight Cause it will take Fire, and excite Heat; and the Fever accompanying this present Sickness was of the worst Kind, both on Account of its State and Periods, sometimes imitating a Quotidian, and at others a Tertian; sometimes seeming to retreat, and at others attacking again with redoubled Fury: There was never a total Cessation, but sometimes a Remission for an Hour or two, although every Exacerbation was worse than the former; but this I pass by here, having Occasion hereafter to enlarge further thereupon.

AT length therefore, to discharge my Promise in giving a short Account of a Contagion, as of a Disease that is communicable that Way only, and killing most it seizes, it is to be taken Notice, that the Infection of the pestilential Poison is not only transferrable from one Subject to another, either by mediate or immediate Contact, and exciting the same Symptoms; but all the Conditions likewise of its Exertion, are as conspicuous as the Noon-day Sun; wherefore those Arguments to prove the pestilential Corruption not to arise from Contagion, are trifling and not worth Notice, as altogether disconsonant to Reason and Experience; as after I have enumerated the Conditions of a contagious Exertion, I doubt not but to make this Matter clear to every one.

FOUR Things chiefly are necessary to a Contagion:

FIRST, That there is an Efflux of the contagious Seminium.

SECONDLY, That there is a convenient Medium for the contagious Particles to move through, and be conveyed by.

THIRDLY, A Fitness in the Subject to receive and cherish the contagious Effluvia. And,

FOURTHLY, A due Stay of this Seminium; of all which distinctly.

THE Quantity of Necessaries daily taken in for Refreshment does evidently demonstrate, that insensible Perspiration is much larger than all other Evacuations together: But where a Pestilence invades, a yet much greater Wast is made that Way than in a Time of Health, by the intestine Colluctation and Struggle of opposite Principles in the animal Fluids; this is confirmed by the Observation of Sanctorius, who tells us, that Persons taken with a pestilential Contagion, immediately become much lighter, the Effluvia of their Bodies breaking through on all Sides with Rapidity; for such is the Energy of the pestilential Taint, that it immediately subtilizes more thick Substances, and gives them such a Sharpness, as to cut their Way like so many Needles, or Wedges, and very often carry along with them those natural Spirits which should be a Preservative to the whole Frame: Hence sometimes follow Swoonings and Faintings that are fatal, and Indications of that Wast of Spirits that hath been made by the pestilential Poison.

HENCE moreover it appears, of what a diffused Nature this Contagion may be of, by the great Plenty that transpires from an infected Person; and which Steam alone, as it is sufficient to communicate the Infection, so it is also capable of vast Dilatation and Diffusion; not much unlike the Snuff of a Candle, which not only emits a great deal of Smoak, but carries a considerable Stench along with it into very distant Parts.

SECONDLY, A fit Medium is very conducive to the Propagation of the Plague; for according to the Disposition of that, in being more or less open or confined, is the Infection sooner or slower communicated: Nor is there any Doubt, but that the Air is this fit Medium, and whose Pores, altho’ very minute, are readily filled with it; and therein the noxious Effluvia lodge securely, unless expelled by any external Force.

THE Air is moreover the more convenient Recepticle and Conveyance of this pestilential Poyson, on account of that nitrous Spirit with which it abounds; hence it more easily receives the poisonous Aura, and faithfully preserves it as in a proper Conservatory, and on this Account the pernicious Qualities, (unless first destroyed by some uncommon Power) sooner reach any Subject to act upon, and float about in Readiness for Destruction: Sometimes also the pestilential Miasmata may be broke and destroyed by the Occursion of others, without any Perception of either having been in this Medium.