Loimologia: Or, an Historical Account of the Plague in London in 1665 Part 11

HAVING thus come to a Conclusion, I think it not amiss to recite the Means which I used to preserve my self from the Infection, during the continual Course of my Business among the Sick.

AS soon as I rose in the Morning early, I took the Quant.i.ty of a Nutmeg of the _Antipestilential Electuary_; then after the Dispatch of private Concerns in my Family, I ventured into a large Room, where Crowds of Citizens used to be in waiting for me; and there I commonly spent two or three Hours, as in an Hospital, examining the several Conditions and Circ.u.mstances of all who came thither; some of which had Ulcers yet uncured, and others to be advised under the first Symptoms of Seizure; all which I endeavoured to dispatch, with all possible Care to their various Exigencies.

AS soon as this Crowd could be discharged, I judged it not proper to go abroad fasting, and therefore got my Breakfast: After which, till Dinner-time, I visited the Sick at their Houses; whereupon, entring their Houses, I immediately had burnt some proper Thing upon Coals, and also kept in my Mouth some Lozenges all the while I was examining them. But they are in a Mistake who report that Physicians used, on such Occasions, very hot Things, as _Myrrh_, _Zedoary_, _Angelica_, _Ginger_, &c. for many, deceived thereby, raised Inflammations upon their Tonsils, and greatly endangered their Lungs.

I further took Care not to go into the Rooms of the Sick when I sweated, or were short-breathed with Walking; and kept my Mind as composed as possible, being sufficiently warned by such, who had grievously suffered by Uneasiness in that Respect. After some Hours Visiting in this Manner, I returned Home. Before Dinner, I always drank a Gla.s.s of _Sack_, to warm the Stomach, refresh the Spirits, and dissipate any beginning Lodgment of the Infection. I chose Meats for my Table that yeilded an easie and generous Nourishment, roasted before boiled, and Pickles not only suitable to the Meats, but the Nature of the Distemper; (and indeed in this melancholy Time, the City greatly abounded with Variety of all good Things of that Nature) I seldom likewise rose from Dinner without drinking more Wine. After this, I had always many Persons came for Advice; and as soon as I could dispatch them, I again visited till Eight or Nine at Night, and then concluded the Evening at Home, by drinking to Cheerfulness of my old favourite Liquor, which encouraged Sleep, and an easie Breathing through the Pores all Night. But if in the Day-time I found the least Approaches of the Infection upon me, as by Giddiness, Loathing at Stomach, and Faintness, I immediately had Recourse to a Gla.s.s of this Wine, which easily drove these beginning Disorders away by Transpiration.

YET in the whole Course of the Infection, I found my self Ill but twice; but was soon again cleared of its Approaches by these Means, and the Help of such Antidotes as I kept always by me.

BUT to conclude, it may not be improper to take Notice, that the Citizens much accustomed themselves to certain Compositions for keeping off the Infection, by continual Smelling to them; the chief amongst which was the following.

? _Pulv. rad. angelicae, summit. rorism. & lavendulae c.u.m floribus ana +?

ij.+ caryophyll. +? iiij.+ labdaeni puriss. Styracis ana +? iij.+ omnibus praep. in commixtione adde ol. nucis mosch. per express. +? j. [ss.]+ ol.

ligni rhod. +? ij.+ camphorae +? [ss.]+ moschi +gr. viij.+ c.u.m cerae opt. p.

s. F. ma.s.sa._ Some likewise would smell to _Galbanum_, _Oil of Wormwood_, or _Rue_, as also the Oil or Spirit drawn from _Pitch_, and dropped upon Cotton, to be kept in a close Ivory Box. Yet I could not so much approve of these Things, as they were used; because they so much dilated the Pores of the olfactory Organs, as to give more Liberty for the pestilential _Miasmata_ to pa.s.s in along with them.

THE Purification of Houses was contrived to be done several Ways; but what I most approved of, was in placing a Chafing-dish in the Middle of a Room, or the Entries, or Windows, where proper Things were burnt, and exhaled all round. Quicklime was likewise thrown into the following Decoction.

? _Fol. Scordii, Angelicae ana +M iij.+ summit. lauri, rutae, lavendulae ana +M j. [ss.]+ flor. rosar. pallid. sambuci ana +p. ij.+ calami aromat. +? v.+ Caryophyll. Contus. +? iij.+ F. decoctio in duabus p. aq. font. & tertia aceti rosac. vel Sambuc. consimiliter ac lagenae, a mucore, & setu calcis extinctione mundantur, ita ut liquorem inditum amplius vitient, & corrumpant._ For as soon as the Lime is thrown in, it raises a very penetrating Steam, which seemed very likely to destroy the Efficacy of the pestilential _Miasmata_. For the same Purpose likewise were the following very judiciously contrived.

? _Salis petrae +lib. j.+ Sulphuris +? iij.+ benzoin. Styracis simul liquati. ana q. s. ut formentur s. a. Trochisc. deb. exiccandi._

_FINIS._

OF THE Different Causes OF PESTILENTIAL DISEASES, And how they become Contagious.

WITH REMARKS Upon the INFECTION now in _FRANCE_,

And the most probable Means to prevent its Spreading here.

By JOHN QUINCY, M. D.

_LONDON:_

Printed for _E. Bell_, at the _Cross Keys_ in _Cornhill_; and _J. Osborn_, at the _Oxford-Arms_ in _Lombard-street_, 1720.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

OF THE

Different Causes

OF

_Pestilential Diseases_, &c.

THERE is hardly any one Subject more largely treated of by Physical Writers, than that of _Pestilential Diseases_; and the Reason of it I take to be, the Frequency in all Ages and Countries, of Alarms from such dreadful Destroyers; and the uncommon Impressions they are apt to make upon the Minds of those, whose Profession naturally leads them to enquire into their Causes. But in this it has fared as with all the other Branches of that n.o.ble Science. The Conjectures and Opinions of Persons have at all Times been too much influenced by the Philosophy in Vogue, insomuch that it is almost an endless as well as an unprofitable Task, to examine into them all: And as such an Enquiry is not consistent with the intended Brevity of these Pages, I shall pa.s.s them by, only just taking Notice of the most considerable Opinions, under which, most that has been advanced to any Purpose may be reduced.

ALL Authors upon this Subject, may be reduced under these two Sorts: Such as ascribe them to the immediate Wrath of Heaven, and account them as Punishments inflicted by the immediate Exertion of a Supernatural Power; and such as a.s.sign for their Origin some natural Cause.

ALTHOUGH too great a Regard cannot be had to the Author of our Beings, yet Care should likewise be taken, not to ascribe every Calamity to the immediate Exertion of the Almighty Power; for it seems much more worthy of the Divine Being so to order it, that from the Course of second or natural Causes, Punishments shall pursue Offenders, than to imagine the frequent Exertion of his Power in a Way supernatural to inflict such Punishments.

But there is a great deal of Reason to suspect, that the Number of this Sect was very much increased by such, as either out of Ignorance in other Causes, or out of an affected Devotion, thought it their Interest to come into this Opinion, and pretend to do greater Cures by certain religious Performances, and their Intercession with Heaven, than was in the Power of Medicine, of which they knew but very little.

OF those that a.s.sign some natural Cause, there are several Opinions: Some ascribe them to astral Influences, to malign Conjunctions and Radiations of the Heavenly Bodies. We find, from the most remote Antiquity, not only _Pestilential Diseases_, but likewise a great many others, ascribed to the same Causes: But all the Reasonings about this Conjecture have been very obscure and perplexed until the present Age, when Sir _Isaac Newton_ first taught Men to think justly, and talk intelligibly about the Motions and Influences of those remote Bodies upon our _Atmosphere_: And upon his Theory Dr. _Mead_ has since further proceeded to determine their Efficacies upon humane Bodies. By which, as it does appear that they affect us no otherwise than as they occasion the several Variations of the Seasons, and different Const.i.tutions of the Air, the Reader must be left to the Consideration of such Causes.

ANOTHER Cause is charged upon Steams and Exhalations from putrefying Bodies. There are Abundance of Instances to support this Opinion, that manifestly discover very fatal Effects from such Causes. As Battels are generally fought in Summer-Time, when by the Heat of the Season Things are most disposed to Putrefaction, so it has often been observed, that the Plague has appeared after great Slaughters of Men in Fight, as appears by undoubted Testimony from _Julius Alexandrinus_[1], _Diodorus Siculus_, and a great many others, too tedious to mention. _Ambrose Parrey_[2] gives a Relation of a Plague, that laid waste almost a whole Country, which had its Rise from the Stench of a great many human Carcases that were thrown into one Pit, and left Rotting uncover'd. _Joannes Wolfius_[3], _Forestus_[4], the above-mentioned _Parrey_[5], and _Agricola_[6], all take Notice of Plagues arising from the Stench of putrifying Fish that were thrown dead upon the Sh.o.r.es.

OTHER Steams of the same Efficacy frequently arise from the Putrefactions of stagnant Waters, and other Bodies, which, in some particular Const.i.tutions of Air, are apt to corrupt and emit very offensive _Effluvia_. Dr. _Mead_[7] relates from _Diogenes Laertius_[8], that _Empedocles_ observed a pestilential Disease to afflict the _Salinuntij_, from the Putrefaction of a certain River; to remedy which, he contrived to have the Streams of two other neighbouring Rivers drained into it, which, by their Increase of the Current, with an additional Weight and Pressure of Water, brought the former to its usual Sweetness, and so put a Stop to the Plague.

TO this Purpose Dr. _Plot_[9] observes, the Reasons why _Oxford_ is now much more healthful than heretofore, to be the Enlargement of the City, whereby the Inhabitants, who are not proportionably increased, and not so close crowded together; and the Care of the Magistrates in keeping the Streets clear from Filth: For formerly (he says) they used to kill all Manner of Cattle within the Walls, and suffer their Dung and Offals to lie in the Streets. Moreover, about those Times the _Isis_ and _Cherwell_, thro' the Carelessness of the Townsmen, being filled with Mud, and the Common-Sh.o.r.es by such Means stopped, did cause the Ascent of Malignant Vapours whenever there happened to be a Flood. But since that, by the Care and at the Charge of _Richard Fox_, Bishop of _Winchester_, in the Year 1517, those Rivers were cleansed, and more Trenches cut for the Water's free Pa.s.sage, the Town has continued in a very healthful Condition; and in a particular Manner so free from Pestilential Diseases, that the Sickness in 1665, which raged in most Parts of the Kingdom, never visited any Person there, although the Terms were there kept, and the Court and both Houses of Parliament did there reside.

TO this Cause, 'tis very probable, is owing the Frequency of the Plague at _Grand Cairo_ in _Egypt_, and in the Island of _Sardinia_, as _Paeusanias_ and others relate: Although indeed _Prosper Alpinus_[10] charges a great deal of the Cause of that at _Cairo_, upon their continual Commerce with such Nations as are seldom without such infectious Diseases. And for this Reason it is, that we find all those Countries, which most abound with Swamps and Standing-Waters, to be most unhealthful, especially in the hottest Seasons; except, as in several Parts of _Italy_, such Lakes have any Communication with the Sea, or some large Rivers. To this purpose _Piso_[11] frequently observes those Places to be most subject to such Calamities, where there are constant Heat and settled Calms, as such a Temperament of Air most disposes Bodies to Putrefaction and Corruption, as in St. _Thomas Island_, and _Guinea_: And, on the contrary, that notwithstanding the Intenseness of Heat, if the Fluids are but agitated by Winds, Tides, and Currents, there is little Danger of such Diseases; and the less still, the more regular and constant the Seasons are upon other Accounts: By which Means it is, that between the _Tropicks_, and even under the _Equator_, it is very healthful.

UNDER this Head it may not be improper to observe, that too scanty and mean a Diet, and Feeding upon unripened and unsound Fruits, are frequently charged with a Share in Mischiefs of this kind. _Josephus_[12] and _Julius Caesar_[13], amongst Historians; _Forestus_,[14] and several other physical Writers, give Accounts of Plagues from the like Causes. _Galen_[15] is very positive in this Matter; and in one Place[16] accuses his great Master _Hippocrates_ with Neglecting too much the Consequence of a bad Diet, and ascribing some Mischiefs arising from thence to a bad Air. And upon this is grounded the common Opinion of a _Plague_'s following a _Famine_; in which Circ.u.mstances, the poorer sort, who feed meanest, generally suffer most, as it frequently happens in long Sieges, and Armies ill supplied with Provisions. Thus Travellers report, that _Surrat_ in the _East-Indies_ is seldom or never free from a Plague, which is ascribed to the mean Diet of the Natives, who are _Banians_, and feed on little else than Herbs, Water, Rice, and such like pitiful Fare; for it is observed, that the _Europeans_ who trade there, are in no Danger of being infected, because they feed well on Flesh, and drink Wine, which secures them against those malignant Diseases.

A Third Cause is ascribed to Mineral Eruptions and subterraneous Exhalations. _Pestilences_ from this Cause are more infrequent than from several others; because such Eruptions hardly ever happen but upon Earthquakes, or Breaking into the Bowels of the Earth by Mines, Pits, Wells, and the like; and then too, in Order to produce a _Pestilence_, it is necessary that whatsoever exhales and mixes with the ambient Air, must be of such a Nature, as to render it unrespirable; or to communicate by it such Particles to the Animal Juices as will pervert their natural Crasis, and disturb their due Secretions; which does not often happen, for there are frequent Shocks of the Earth from intestine Fermentations, which are not followed by any such Mischiefs, as they happen only from the Struggle of such Principles, as when they have got Vent, neither of themselves, or by any Thing emitted with them, are of that disagreeable Nature, as to give any Disturbance to the Animal OEconomy.

_CAROLUS de la Font_,[17] indeed, as well as several others, lays great Stress upon Causes of this kind, and charges _Pestilential Diseases_ chiefly to Mineral Exhalations of divers kinds; as _a.r.s.enical_, _Mercurial_, _Sulphurous_, &c. which he imagines the ambient Air often to be overcharged with, either from the Heat of the Sun, Earthquakes, or subterraneous Fires. To all this, Persons of different Opinion object, the Infrequency of Plagues in _Calabria_, _Naples_, and several Parts of _Sicily_, where there are manifestly very great subterraneous Fires, such as occasion violent Earthquakes, and many furious and plentiful Eruptions of metallick and mineral Fumes. A very distinct Relation of which, from his own Knowledge, may be met with from Dr. _Bernard Connor_,[18] who has been very curious in his Enquiries hereinto.

BUT however Authors differ upon this Head, several very odd Relations are to be met with in History of malignant and deadly Sicknesses from these Causes. That Story is very strange which is related by _Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus_,[19] and taken Notice of by _Cardan_ and _Riola.n.u.s_, that a most grievous Pestilence broke out in _Seleucia_, which, from thence to _Parthia_, _Greece_, and _Italy_, spread it self thro' a great part of the World, from the Opening an ancient Vault in the Temple of _Apollo_, and that it raged with so much Fury, as to sweep away a third part of the Inhabitants of those Countries it visited.

IT is needless to trouble the Reader with many Relations of the sudden and strange Effects of some Steams arising from Mines and Pits, which are generally termed by our Colliers _Damps_, because almost every Body has already been acquainted with such Accounts.

DR. _Plot_[20] tells us, That about Twenty Years since, two Persons were employed to dig a Well in the Parish of _North-Leigh_ in _Oxfords.h.i.+re_, but upon being taken ill, left off the Work: Whereupon it was undertaken by two others of _Woodstock_; who, before they could do any thing considerable in it, sunk down, and died irrecoverably in the Well: Which being perceived by a Miller hard by, and he coming to their a.s.sistance, fell down dead upon them. Another also venturing to do the same, with a Rope tied about him, fell from the Ladder just in the same Manner; and though presently drawn up by the People above, yet he was scarcely recover'd in an Hour or more. And since then, upon a Bucket's falling into a Well in another Part of the Town, a Woman perswaded a strong l.u.s.ty Man to go down a Ladder to fetch it, who, by that Time he had got half way down, fell from the Ladder into the Well; upon which, the Woman called another of her Neighbours to his a.s.sistance, who, much about the same Place, met with the same Fate, without giving the least Sign of Change; so fatal (says the Doctor) are the Damps of that Place. Dr. _Boot_[21] tells a Story that happened at _Dublin_ in _Ireland_, just of the same Nature.

And in the _Philosophical Transactions_[22], there are the like Relations of Damps in the Coal-Mines belonging to the Lord _Sinclair_ in _Scotland_.

THE most surprizing Effect of these subterraneous _Effluvia_ that I ever met with, is in a Relation of Dr. _Bernard Connor_, of certain Persons in _Paris_ digging deep in a Vault or Cellar, who were so suddenly transfixed by some subtile Vapour, that when a Servant-Maid came down to speak with them, she found them in Postures as if at Work; one with his Pick-Ax advanced, another with his Shovel full of Earth, half lifted up, and a Woman sitting by with her Arm upon her Knee, her Head leaning upon that Hand, with manifest Expectations in her Countenance of what they were in Search after.

THE same Author, from his own Knowledge, gives a very exact Account of a _Grotta_ in _Italy_, much talked of, and commonly called _la Grotta de cani_, by this Author, _Crypta_ ???????; But Dr. _Mead_ hath since, from his own Knowledge also, given a very particular and rational Account of this Place, and the Manner of its killing; to whom therefore the Reader may turn for further Satisfaction.

ANOTHER, and more general Cause than any hitherto mentioned of these Maladies, is some bad and unwholsome Const.i.tution of Air. Such Const.i.tutions may arise from several Causes, which although they affect us in different Manners, yet as they are equally fatal, we call them all _Malignant_ or _Pestilential_: In Order therefore to understand the better how we are differently affected by those different Const.i.tutions, it will be proper to consider them somewhat distinctly, under these general Heads, _viz._ _A dry hot Air_, _hot and moist_, _cold and moist_, _and cold and dry_; to which most Variations of Air may be reduced.

THAT from the several Const.i.tutions of Air, our Bodies are differently affected; and that most Diseases are in some Measure more or less influenced thereby, is quite out of Dispute. _Hippocrates_, in a great many Places declares himself of this Mind: His whole third section of _Aphorisms_ is a Proof of it; and in several Places[23] he discovers his Opinion, that _Pestilential Diseases_ have their Rise from hence. _Galen_, his best Interpreter, understood his t? ?e???, which some will have to be meant of somewhat Divine, or the immediate Hand of G.o.d, to be nothing else but a particular Const.i.tution of Air arising from natural Causes; and that he was of the same Mind himself, is very plain from his own Writings[24].

IT is almost endless, as well as altogether needless, to cite all the Authorities for this Opinion, that might be collected from the most remote Antiquity down to the present Age. We shall therefore proceed to consider the different Const.i.tutions of Air, according to the forementioned Distinction; premising only, that the Terms _Hot_, _Cold_, &c. are used in a twofold Sense, the one is _Absolute_, and the other _Relative_; by the former, _viz._ _Absolute Heat_, _Cold_, &c. is understood one simple Property of the Air only, as it is different not in Degree, but in Quality from others: By the latter, that is, _Relative Heat_, &c. is meant certain Degrees of those Properties: As the same Air may at the same Time be said properly to be both Hot and Cold, or Dry and Moist, as it is compared with another Air, either Hotter or Colder, Dryer, or Moister; for with Regard to a hotter Air, it will be termed cold, when at the same Time if it be compared to a colder Air, it would be accounted hot: And so of the rest.

To which Distinction, it is very necessary to have constant Regard to avoid Confusion.

THOSE Countries where the Air is hot and dry for the greatest Part, are related to be healthful, and free from _Pestilential Diseases_, except where there are great Swamps and stagnant Waters, or by any accidental Causes Bodies are exposed there to Putrefaction, the Steams of which render Persons Diseased. In such Countries, for the most Part of the Year, there is but very little Rain, and the Nights are comparatively colder than elsewhere, from the great Dews which then fall. As _Piso_[25] informs us, that the colder the Nights are in _Brasil_, and the more plentifully the Dews fall, the Inhabitants account it most agreeable to their Soil, and conducive to Vegetation; and Physicians reckon it much the most healthful for the Inhabitants.

THE Heat of the Air alone, where it is constant and uniform, does not appear to render Persons born in it, or long accustomed to it, any more unhealthful, than that which is more temperate. _Aristotle_[26] indeed says, a hot and dry _Southerly_ Wind will bring a _Pestilence_; but of such we have very few Instances, especially on this Part of the Globe.

There is in _Livy_[27] an Account of a _Plague_ at _Rome_, from a great Drought; and _Nicephorus_[28] relates such another: But these generally come from some other manifest Causes besides Heat, and in Places not accustomed to a dry Air.