MARSEILLES,
Its Prognosticks and Method of Cure.
o give some Satisfaction to the just Expectations of very many Persons, as well of this Realm as of foreign Countries, who fearing the dismal Effects of the Contagion, have done us the Honour to request of us some Account of the Nature of the Distemper that has depopulated Marseilles, and of the Success of such Remedies as we have employed against it; we have thought fit to draw up the following Relation, containing in short what is most essential in this Affair, and which may be sufficient to intelligent Persons of the Faculty, to direct their Conduct, and help them in framing a Judgment in the like Case, till we have better Means and a more convenient Leisure to present to the Publick more exact Particulars of all that we have observed on this Subject.
All the Diseased that we have seen or attended, in this terrible Distemper, commonly called the Plague, may be reduced to five principal Classes; which will take in generally all the Cases that we have observed, except a few particular ones, which cannot be brought under any general Rule.
First Class.
The First Class, observed especially in the first Period, and in the greatest Fury of the Distemper, contains such as were afflicted with the Symptoms that we shall here set down, constantly followed by a speedy Death.
These Symptoms were for the most part irregular Shiverings, the Pulse low, soft, slow, quick, unequal, concentrated; a Heaviness in the Head so considerable, that the sick Person could scarce support it, appearing to be seized with a Stupidity and Confusion, like that of a drunken Person; the Sight fixed, dull, wandering, expressing Fearfulness and Despair; the Voice slow, interrupted, complaining; the Tongue almost always white, towards the end dry, reddish, black, rough; the Face pale, Lead-coloured, languishing, cadaverous; a frequent Sickness at the Stomach; mortal Inquietudes; a general sinking and Faintness; Distraction of the Mind; dosing, an Inclination to vomit, Vomiting, &c.
The Persons thus seized, perished commonly in the Space of some Hours, of a Night, of a Day, or of two or three at farthest, as by Faintness or Extinction; sometimes, but more rarely, in convulsive Motions, and a Sort of Trembling; no Eruption, Tumour or Spot appearing without.
It is easy to judge by these Accidents, that the Sick of this kind were not in a Condition to bear Bleeding; and even such, on whom it was tried, died a little while after.