A.D. 1720, Marseilles was visited by a dreadful plague, which raged with great fury. In order to mitigate the disease, the king’s ministers commissioned Don Josef Fornés, a native of Hostal-Rich, to proceed to the university of Montpelier, in order to consult with the physicians of that university as to the best means of prevention and cure. All social affection became extinct, the consequences being as dreadful as those of the disease itself. Husbands and wives, parents and children, and the dearest friends and connexions, hastened to escape from each other, and an exclusive selfishness took possession of every heart. The symptoms of this terrible scourge were variable: shiverings were often followed by a quick pulse, which soon gave way under pressure. The warmth of the skin was generally natural, whilst a burning heat was felt within, and an almost inextinguishable thirst. The tongue became white, the speech faltering, eyes glaring, face red or congested, and sometimes livid; pains at the heart were frequent; nausea and bilious vomitings, with looseness of the bowels and hemorrhage, were always fatal symptoms. The most characteristic sign of the malady was buboes in the groin or arm-pit, but these were not always attendant, especially when the disease proved rapidly fatal, as was the case in many instances. Toulon, Aix, and Arles also suffered greatly from this pestilence: the deaths were estimated at one-third of the whole population! In a district of Provence where the population amounted to 247,899 persons, 87,659 perished. Miliary fever was exceedingly prevalent and fatal in the canton de Bray, in Lower Seine.
A.D. 1722, Port Royal, Jamaica, was destroyed by an inundation. Deadly yellow pestilence succeeded, the year following. Hoffman, Schenckius, and other authors give an account of an epizootic which prevailed this year in several parts of Spain. About the same time, an epidemic pestilence, much more malignant than that which had occurred in 1706, broke out in Granada, accompanied with exanthematous eruptions. The city of Placentia was also visited by pestilential fever, the best remedy for which Dr. Morena found to be stimulants, such as wine, &c. Inoculation for small-pox was introduced into England this year by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. The Princesses Amelia and Caroline were among the first thus treated. A sore throat, attended with dizziness and pain in the limbs, prevailed in London and was fatal to numbers; measles were rife in America.
Plague did much mischief at Vienna, Hungary, and in the East: it continued for two years. Dysentery raged in Upper Saxony, and ergotism in Silesia.
A.D. 1723, yellow pestilence prevailed in many parts of Spain, especially in the cities on the coast. Lisbon also suffered from pestilence, the predominant symptom of which was black vomit. Miliary fever prevailed at Frankfort on the Maine. Don Vincente Boibid, a celebrated physician of Madrid, published a work entitled ‘Breve Reflexion ό crisis medica sobre el Dolor Colico, con animo de remediar tan continuos y largos tormentos como suele excitar quando molesta por medio de un anticolico especifico, que le vence en media hora: y á veces en una.’ This physician attributed the pestilence prevalent in Spain to the use of fruit and snow-water. The year following, epidemic catarrh prevailed chiefly amongst children in the principality of the Asturias. Palermo was nearly destroyed by an earthquake; 6000 persons perished. From this period unto 1727, malignant fevers prevailed all over Europe and America. Louis, king of Spain, died this year from small-pox, as did also the Duchess of Bedford. In the latter year, inoculation was practised on criminals.
A.D. 1726, a series of anomalous diseases was prevalent in Granada, and caused great mortality. Leprosy began to spread in the city of Lebrija, in Andalusia; it lasted until 1764. About this period a severe earthquake shook Palermo in September, and upwards of 6000 persons were buried in the ruins.
A.D. 1727, epidemic mania prevailed in Spain. Dr. Casal makes mention of its having carried off many members of the Council of Pilona. Carthage was visited by pestilence, similar to that which prevailed in the year 1637.
A.D. 1728, influenza was epidemic in Spain: it was named by Pedro de Rotundis, ‘un catarro sufocativo.’ Yellow fever was very fatal to the inhabitants of Charleston, United States: it was termed ‘a bilious plague,’ from its severity. A similar disease carried off great numbers of the population of Carthagena and Portobello, in South America: the most fatal symptom was black vomit. This disease made great havoc among the crews of the vessels under Don Domingo Justiniani, and of the galleons under Lopez Pintado. Epidemic pestilence was rife in Poland, Austria, and Siberia. The island of Bourbon, as described by Don Ulloa, was afflicted with plague, as was also Tripoli, Damascus, and Aleppo. Scarlet fever raged in Edinburgh, and chincough in England. About this period, miliary fever, or sweating pestilence, prevailed, with great mortality, at Chambery, Annecy, St. Jean de Maurienne (Savoy), at Carmagnola, Vercelli, Ivrea, and Biella. The seven following years, 1729–1735, pestilence raged in Vienna, Pignerol, Fossano, Nizza, Rivoli, Asti, Larti, Acqui, Basle, Silesia, Thrasburg (Lower Rhine), Trino, Frésneuse (Lower Seine), Vimeux (Seine-et-Oise), Orleans (Loiret), Plouviers (Loiret), Meaux, Villeneuve, St. George (Seine et Maine), Bohemia, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia.
A.D. 1730, the Thames rose to an uncommon height, and inundated Westminster. An earthquake nearly destroyed the whole of Chili. Epidemic pestilence commenced at Cadiz; the disorder was called ‘el vomito negro,’ and it was supposed to have been imported from South America; at least so states Dr. Don Francisco Fernandez Navarette: it extended in all directions to various parts of the Continent, and persisted unto 1738, in which year a frightful dysentery invaded the coast of Malaga and Seville, and, in fact, all the seaboard of Andalusia. During the prevalence of this pestilence, animals were first affected, especially those that were domesticated; birds which fed on grain also suffered severely, such as poultry, pigeons, &c. Numerous insects, called by the Spaniards ‘largostus,’ were generated previously to the breaking out of this epidemic disease.
A.D. 1731, a shock of an earthquake was felt, on the 29th of July, in China; and on the 20th of the March previous, Naples was so shaken, that many houses were thrown down, and upwards of 2000 persons were destroyed.
A.D. 1732, 1500 persons died, in London, of pestilential fever, in one week, during the month of April; yellow fever was destructive to the inhabitants of many of the States of America. The year following, influenza overspread Spain and many other parts of Europe. The island of Mallorca suffered greatly. This epidemic gave rise to many excellent dissertations, which were published in the city of Palma.