[129] Pasquier, Livr. IV. Ch. 28, pp. 375, 376. The
following is the passage. “En l’an 1411, y eut une autre sorte de
maladie, dont une infinité de personnes furent touchez, par laquelle
on perdoit le boire, le manger et le dormir, et toutefois et quantes
que le malade mangeoit, il auoit une forte fievre; ce qu’il mangeoit
luy sembloit amer ou puant, tousiours trembloit, et auec ce estoit si
las et rompu de ses membres, que l’on ne l’osoit toucher en quelque
part que ce fust: Aussi estoit ce mal accompagné d’une forte toux,
qui tourmentoit son homme iour et nuit, laquelle maladie dura trois
semaines entieres, sans qu’une personne en mourust. Bien est vray
que par la vehemence de la toux plusieurs hommes se rompirent par
les genitoires, et plusieurs femmes accoucherent avant le terme. Et
quand venoit au guerir, ils iettoient grande effusion de sang par la
bouche, le nez et le fondement, sans qu’aucun médecin peust iuger
dont procedoit ce mal, sinon d’une generale contagion de l’air, dont
la cause leur estoit cachée. Cette maladie fut appellée le Tac: et
tel autrefois a souhaité par risée ou imprecation le mal du Tac à son
compagnon, qui ne sçavoit pas que c’estoit.—L’an 1427, vers la S. Remy
(1. Oct.) cheut un autre air corrompu qui engendra une très mauvaise
maladie, que l’on appelloit Ladendo (dit un auteur de ce temps là) e
n’y auoit homme ou femme, qui presque ne s’en sentist durant le temps
qu’elle dura. Elle commençoit aux reins, comme si on eust eu une forte
gravelle, en après venoient les frissons, et estoit en bien huict
ou dix iours qu’on ne pouvoit bonnement boire, ne manger, ne dormir.
Après ce venoit une toux si mauvaise, que quand on estoit au Sermon, on
ne pouvoit entendre ce que le Sermonateur disoit par la grande noise
des tousseurs. Item elle eust une très forte durée jusques après la
Toussaincts (1. Nov.) bien quinze iours ou plus. Et n’eussiez gueres
veu homme ou femme qui n’eust la bouche ou le nez tout esseué de grosse
rongne, et s’entre-mocquoit le peuple l’un de l’autre, disant: As tu
point eu Ladendo?”
[131] Valleriola, Loc. med. Comm. Append. p. 45. Schenck a
Grafenberg, Lib. VI. p. 552. Compare Short, T. I. p. 221.
[132] Reusner, p. 72. Some of the synonymes here adduced
will shew the medical views of the period respecting these diseases:
Catarrhus febrilis. Febris catarrhosa. Ardores suffocantes. Febris
suffocativa. Catarrhus epidemicus. Tussis popularis. Cephalæa
catarrhosa. Cephalalgia contagiosa. Gravedo anhelosa, Fernel. Der
böhmische Ziep (the Bohemian pip). Der Schafhusten (the sheep-cough).
Die Schafkrankheit (the sheep disease). Die Lungensucht (phthisis). Das
Hühnerweh (the poultry cough, or chicken contracted to chin-cough),
and many others. In the influenza of 1580, violent perspiration was
occasionally observed, so that some physicians thought that the English
sweating sickness was about to return, just as in the Gröninger
intermittent (1826), and in the cholera of 1831, without any knowledge
on the subject, they talked of the Black Death.—Schneider, L. IV. c.
6. p. 203.
[133] That the physicians of the sixteenth century were
familiar with this observation, is proved by the following quotation
from Houlier. “Nulla fere corporis humani ægritudo est, quæ non
defluxione humoris alicuius e capite aut excitari aut incrementum
accipere possit.” Morb. int. L. I. fol. 68. b.
[138] Tyengius, in Forest: Lib. VI. Obs. II. Schol. p.
152.
[139] Forest availed himself of the unprinted and probably
lost works of this distinguished physician, of whom, but for him, we
should have known nothing.
[140] The moderns, who prefer powerful remedies, employ for
this purpose, without any better effect, the lunar caustic.
[141] Wurstisen, p. 707. In this seventeenth year there
arose an unknown epidemic. The patients’ tongues and gullets were
white, as if coated with mould; they could neither eat nor drink,
but suffered from headache together with a pestilential fever which
rendered them delirious. By this disease 2000 persons perished in Basle
within the space of eight months. Besides other means, it was found
very efficacious to cleanse the mouth and gullet every two hours, even
to the extent of making the surface bleed, and then to soften them with
honey of roses.
[142] Bretonneau’s Diphtheritis. Compare Naumann’s
treatise on the subject in the author’s Wissenschaftlichen Annalen der
ges. Heilkunde, Vol. XXV. II. 3. p. 271.
[154] According to Mezeray, the pestilence was at its height
at the end of July. This is in accordance with Jovius, who fixes the
termination of the great mortality, with rather too much precision
perhaps, on the 7th of August.
[155] With reference to this seemingly inflammatory state of
excitement, it is, perhaps, worthy of notice, that the commander in
chief himself is stated to have been twice bled. Jovius, loc. cit. p.
125.
[170] The Spanish name for the lues venerea, which it obtained
in consequence of the prevailing eruptions. It corresponds with the
French “la vérole,” and with the German “französische Pocken.” We must
not, therefore, think that it means “buboes.” Sandoval, Part II. pp.
12. 14. Compare Astruc, T. I. p. 4.
[171] In the Madrid edition of the same work, 1675. fol. L.
XVII. p. 232. b.
[172] “Auster namque ventus per eos dies perflare et
mortiferum crassioris nebulæ vaporem ex palustri ortum uligine, per
castra dissipare et circumferre ita cœperat, ut aliis ex causis
conceptæ febres in contagiosum morbum verterentur.” Jovius, L. XXVI.
p. 127.
[173] In Torgau where, in 1813 and 1814, 30,000 Frenchmen
found their graves, there prevailed two diseases, typhus and diarrhœa,
altogether distinct from one another. See Richter.
[176] Trousser, in an obsolete sense, signifies to cause
speedy death.
[177] Mezeray, T. II. p. 965, where the best notices of it
are to be found.
[178] His account applies to the town of Puy in the Auvergne,
where he seems himself to have seen the disease. Livr. XXII. c. 5. p.
823.
[179] Forest. L. VI. obs. 7. p. 156. Sander writes from
numerous observations which he made in and about Cambray.
[180] Sauvages, T. I. p. 487, hence calls the Trousse-galant
“Cephalitis verminosa,” although neither inflammation of the brain nor
worms existed in all cases, and takes his description from Sander, as
again Ozanam has taken it from Sauvages, T. III. p. 27.
[185]Sir William Compton, and William Carew, besides many
other distinguished persons who are not named.
[186] Grafton, p. 412, the principal passage. Compare
Holinshed, p. 735. Baker, p. 293. Hall, p. 750. Herbert of
Cherbury, p. 215.
[187] During Henry the Eighth’s reign (1509 to 1547),
72,000 malefactors were, according to Harrison, executed for theft and
robbery, making nearly 2000 for each year. Hume, T. IV. p. 275.
[199] It must not be thought that the author, because he has
brought forward these notices, has any pre-formed opinions whatever
respecting the import of these heavenly bodies. The historian cannot
pass over contemporaneous occurrences, whatever may be the conclusion
which the limited extent of our knowledge enables us to draw from them.
[200] Pingré, T. I. p. 485. Spangenberg, M. Chr. fol. 410.
a.
[201] Pingré, p. 486. Angelus, p. 318. Crusius, Vol. II.
p. 223.
[202] Pingré, p. 487. Campo, p. 154. Angelus, p. 320,
and numerous other accounts. It performs its revolution in 76 years,
and was observed in 1456, 1531, 1607, 1682, and 1759.
[203] Pingré, p. 491. Spangenberg, M. Chr. fol. 433. b.
[204] Pingré, p. 496. Angelus, p. 322. Spangenberg, M.
Chr. fol. 435. a.
[205] Erfurt Chronicle. Spangenberg, who has availed himself
frequently of this chronicle, makes use of the same words, M. Chr. fol.
431. b.
[206] They called the sour wine of this year den
Wiedertäufer-Wein; the Anabaptist wine. Schwelin, p. 144.
[207] Crusius, Vol. II. p. 323. St. Vitus’s day is on the
15th of June. On the river Neckar, at Heidelberg, they took out a child
which had floated down the stream in its cradle unharmed for a distance
of six (German) miles. Franck, fol. 252. b.
[210] Schwelin, p. 144. Newenar, fol. 69. a. “fecit tamen
huius anni, ac fortasse etiam præcedentium intemperies, fluminum
exundationes, frigora cum humiditate perpetuo coniuncta, ut jam in
Germania Britannicus quidam aër suscitatus videri possit.” Similar
accounts are met with in almost all the chronicles.
[218] From Whitsuntide till towards St. James’s day, the 25th
of July. Klemzen, p. 254.
[219] Two masters of vessels, who had quitted the helm from a
sudden attack of this kind, were in danger of grounding upon the Mole.
Their situation was, however, noticed, and they were saved. Klemzen.
[221] Ibid. fol. 433. a. 435. b. Schwelin, pp. 149, 150.
[222] A Chronicler of the Marches even assures us that it
lasted until 1546. Annales Berol. Marchic: but the other contemporary
writers contradict this.
[224] Newenar indeed maintains that the Sweating Fever used
to break out in England every year, fol. 68. b., but such general and
unsupported assertions coming from foreigners (the Graf Hermann von
Newenar was provost of Cologne) are wholly unworthy of credence.
[226] From St. James’s day, the 25th of July, until the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the 15th of August.
Staphorst.
[227] It appears, for instance, somewhere in the second volume
of Leibnitz, Scriptores rerum Brunsvicensium, that 8000 people had
died of the Sweating Fever in Hamburgh. An unknown Chronicler in
Staphorst, Part II vol. I. p. 85, states 2000.
[228] “Moreover in the year 1529, about St. James’s day,
Almighty God sent a terrible disease upon the city of Hamburgh; it was
the Sweating Sickness, which showed itself in a different manner, and
began when Captain Hermann Evers came from England on St. James’s
day with many young companions, of whom, in the course of two days,
twelve died of this disease, which was unknown as well in Hamburgh as
in other countries, so that the oldest person did not recollect to have
seen a similar disease.” An unknown eye-witness, quoted in Staphorst,
Part II. Vol. I. p. 83. Another person expresses himself to the same
effect, p. 85. “The disease had its origin in England, for the people
were there attacked in the street when they came on shore, and those
who came in contact with them, many of whom were of the lower class,
took it.” Notices of uncertain date to be found in Adelung, at p. 77.
Steltzner, Part II. p. 219. In the abbrev. Hamb. Chron. p. 45, and
elsewhere.
[229] “As soon as the ship arrived in Hamburgh people began to
die throughout the city, and in the morning it was rumoured that four
persons had died of it.” From Reimar Koch’s MS. Chron. of Lübeck. For
the extract from it the author is indebted to the kindness of Professor
Ackermann of Lübeck.
[230] Klemzen, p. 254. It was thought that the waters of the
Baltic were poisoned.
[232] “In the year 1529, this violent disease passed in a
very short time all over Germany, and in Lübeck many of its most
distinguished citizens died on the vigil of St. Peter in Vinculis.”
Regkman, p. 135. Compare Kirchring, p. 143. Bonn, p. 144.
[238] Namely, on the Tuesday after the Beheading of John the
Baptist (29th Aug.), which fell on a Sunday, for S. Ægidius was on the
Wednesday. The dates are given throughout according to Pilgrim’s
Calendarium chronologicum.
[248] This appears from a letter of Euricius Cordus to the
Hessian private secretary, Joh. Rau von Nordeck, at the end of the 2d
edition of his Regimen.
[251] It was called there the Ingelsche Sweetsieckte, or the
Sweating Sickness.
[252] Forest. L. VI. Obs. VII. Schol. p. 157. Obs. VIII. c.
Schol. p. 158. Wagenaar, T. II. p. 508.
[253] Pontan. p. 762. Haraeus, T. I. p. 581. Antwerpsch
Chronykje, p. 31. Ditmar, p. 473.
[254] “Laquelle (sa suette) s’estendit par le pays
d’Oostlande, de Hollande, Zeelande, et autres des pays bas, on en
étoit endedens vingt et quatre heures mort ou guarry, elle ne dura in
Zeelande pour le plus que 15 jours, dont plusieurs en moururent.” Le
Petit, T. I. Livr. VII. p. 81.
[258] Frederick I. Histor. p. 181. The same words in
Huitfeld, T. II. p. 1315.
[259] Boesens Beskrivelse over Helsingöer. For this
statement the author has to thank Dr. Mansa, regimental physician at
Copenhagen.
[260] Dr. Baden, D. C. L., took much pains, at the request
of Gruner, in making researches, but has elicited nothing more than
Huitfeld has given. A copy of his Latin letter to Gruner on this
subject, has likewise reached the author through Dr. Mansa.
[261] Dalin, D. III. p. 221. Engelske Svetten. In
Tegel’s History of king Gustavus I. Part I. p. 267, general notices
only are to be found respecting the English Sweating Sickness in
Sweden, without any exact date (autumn of 1529) or description of the
disease, such as are met with without number in the German Chronicles.
Sven Hedin clearly estimates the mortality in the epidemic sweating
fever too highly, when he compares it, p. 27, with the depopulation
caused by the Black Death. He gives (p. 47) a striking passage on
the Sweating Sickness from Linneus’s pathological prælections. The
great naturalist has, however, allowed free scope to his imagination,
and, like all the physicians of modern times who have delivered their
sentiments on the English Sweating Sickness, knows far too little
of the facts to be able to form a right judgment on the subject.
(Supplement till Handboken för Praktiska Läkare-vetenskapen, rörande
epidemiska och smittosamma sjukdomar i allmänhet, och särdeles de
Pestilentialiska. 1 sta St. Stockholm, 1805. 8vo.)
[262] From Reimar Kock’s MS. Chronicle of Lübeck, and
Forest, loc. cit. Compare Gruner’s Itinerarium, which is prepared
throughout with laudable and even tedious diligence, but which met with
so little acknowledgment in the Brunonian age, that it has already
become a rare work.
[263] “According to which it was given out by some, that a
sweat must be kept up for twenty-four hours in succession, and in
the mean time, that no air should be admitted to the patient. This
treatment sent many to their graves.”—Erfurt Chronicle.
[264] Erfurt Chronicle, and in the same strain Spangenberg,
M. Chr. fol. 402. b. Pomarius, p. 617. and Schmidt, p. 305. Gemma
writes of the Netherlands, L. I. c. 8. p. 189, having received his
account from his father, who was himself the subject of the Sweating
Sickness: “Consuti (sewn up) et violenter operti clamitabant misere,
obtestabantur Deum atque hominum fidem, sese dimitterent, se suffocari
iniectis molibus, sese vitam in summis angustiis exhalare, sed
assistentes has querelas ex rabie proficisci, medicorum opinione
persuasi, urgebant continue usque ad 24 horas,” etc.
[266] ——“Animos omnium terrore perculit adeo ut multis metus
et imaginatio morbum conciliarit.” Erasm. Epist. L. XXVI. ep. 56. c.
1476. a. Spangenberg, loc. cit.
[267] “Many an one sweats for fear and thinks he has the
English sweat, and when he afterwards hath slept it off, acknowledges
that it was all nonsense.” Bayer v. Elbogen, cap. 8.
[268] The author could adduce some extraordinary instances of
this kind which have occurred in his own practice.