CHAP. II.
It has been the constant Observation of Physicians, as well ancient as modern, and confirm'd by numerous Instances, that a hot and moist Constitution of the Air, joyn'd with southerly Winds, was generally a Fore-runner of malignant and Pestilential Fevers. Thus Hippocrates observes, that the Constitution of the Air preceeding that malignant Fever describ'd in the 3d Book of his Epidemics, 'was calm, moist, and southerly, and succeeded a hot, and dry Season; the Winter, calm, cloudy, rainy, warm, southerly; some Showers, and Northerly Winds about the Equinox; the Spring, calm and southerly, with great Rains; the Summer very hot, with little Wind, and much Rain about the Dog-days [a]. Some Authors led by the Title of this Book of his Epidemics, viz. Κατάστασις Λοιμώδης or the Pestilential Constitution, have imagin'd the Diseases here spoken of, to be the same with that terrible Plague describ'd by Thucydides, which taking its Rise in Æthiopia, and passing thence thro' Lybia and Ægypt, miserably harass'd all Persia, Phœnicia, Judea, Greece, and Cœle Syria, and was one of the most dreadful Calamities of this kind that ever appeared in the World. But whosoever will give himself the Trouble to compare the Symptoms of the Fevers here described by Hippocrates, with those related by that accurate Historian [], who both had it himself, and visited many others in it, will find that there is not the least Similitude between them. The one being highly infectious, and not the least Appearance of Contagion in the other: Galen also the best Interpreter of Hippocrates, in his Comment on this Book of his Epidemic's suspects, this Title to be spurious, tho' both he and others observe much the same Constitution of the Air to be the Fore-runner of these Diseases.
[ [a] Hippoc. Epidem. lib. 3. sect. 3. Galeni Com. in hunc Loc. Titi Lucret, lib. 6.
[ ] Thucydides lib. 2.
What Places most Subject.
Pestilential and Malignant Fevers, are likewise observ'd to be the most frequent in those Places where the Climate is hot and scorching, and especially when Rains fall in such Seasons of the Year. Thus in Ægypt and some other Parts of Africa, if Rains fall during the Months of July and August, the Plague usually breaks out the September following [c].
[ [c] Joan. Leon. Hist. Afric. lib. 1. cap. 10. Purchas Pilgrim. lib. 6. cap. 17. Athan. Kircheri Scrutin. Pestis, pag. 179.
This is still more remarkable in such Places, as not only are Situated in the forementioned Climate, but are likewise deprived of a constant Succession of pure and clear Air. An Instance of this we have in Grand Caire, which besides being subject to the common Disadvantages of the Country, (as are a Climate hot and scorching, a Situation low and flat, exposed chiefly to the warm Winds, their Water fetid and stagnating, being reserv'd in Vaults and Canals, which are Annually fill'd by the Overflowing of the River, the Air abounding with putrid Steams and Exhalations, arising from the Parts of Animals, Vegetables, and other Substances brought down and there deposited by the River), lies close under the Hill of the Castle, by which all Wind and Air is intercepted, which causes such a stifling Heat there, as ingenders many Diseases. [d]
[ [d] Therenot's Travels, Part. 1. pag. 128.
That these may justly be esteem'd the Causes of the greater Frequency of these Diseases in this Place, than others in the same Climate, appears from their being so rarely known in those Places, which tho' equally hot, enjoy an Air free from Vapours. [e] Thus in Numidia and some other Parts of Africa, the Plague is scarce to be found once in a hundred Years, and hardly at all in the Land of Negroe. [f]
[ [e] Piso Hist. Ind. & Brasil.
[ [f] Purchas Pilgrim. lib. 6. cap. 13.
Several Causes of the Plague.
The other Observations of the Causes of these Fevers, may be reduced to such as arise from the Stinks of stagnating Waters in hot and close Weather, to some putrid Exhalations of the Earth, to the Parts of Animals and Vegetables putrifying in the open Air, or the taking of corrupt & unwholsome Nourishment.
Of the first kind was that at Selinis, occasioned by the stinking Exhalations of the stagnating Waters adjacent, which the discerning Empedocles removed by scouring its Ditches from their Filth, by a fresh Current of Water drawn from two Rivers in the neighbouring Country [g].
[ [g] Plutarchi Lib. περὶ πολυπραγμοσύνης.
To the second Class may be reduced that Pestilential Fever, which the same great Philosopher check'd at Agrigentum, by stopping the Mouths of some neighbouring Mountains, whose pernicious Fumes had infected the adjacent Country [h]; As also that mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus, which broke out in Seleucia, and over-ran a great Part of Greece, Italy, and Parthia, and took its Rise from the opening of an old Vault in the Temple of Apollo.
[ [h] Diog. Laert. in Vit. Emped.
To the Third belong, such as are occasioned by the Parts of Vegetables and Animals, especially those of Men, putrifying in the open Air. As was that mention'd by Livy, which over-ran a great Part of Italy, and owed its Rise to the dead Bodies of the Romans and Fidenates left unburied in the Field of Battle []. Analogous to this was that which from the same Cause appeared in Germany, Anno 1630; And likewise that mentioned by Ambrose Parree from the same Cause; as also that mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, occasioned by great Quantities of Locusts driven by Winds into the Sea, and thence cast up in Heaps on the Shore. To this likewise must be reduced those Malignant and Pestilential Fevers, which so frequently attend Camps and Seiges, especially in the hot Eastern Countries, whose numerous Armies frequently feel the dismal Effects of these stinking Fumes: As do likewise the vast Caravans of the Mahometans in their Annual Pilgrimages to Mecca.
[ ] Tit. Livii Hist. Roman.
To the last belong those Pestilential Fevers, which take their Rise from a preceeding Famine, as was that in Judea in the time of Herod [k], in which the Product of the Ground being consumed by the great Heat, and long Drought of the preceeding Summer, the poorest sort of People were obliged, thro' the Scarcity of Provisions, to make use of such Food as afforded unwholesome and putrifying Juices.
[ [k] Joseph. Antiq. Judæor. lib. 15. cap. 12.
