AND the Conjecture that a Sickness amongst Cattle is transferable to the humane Species, hath not yet appeared on any good Foundation; but to remove this Difficulty, no one doubts but that a Plague amongst Cattle, from some common Cause, as a Corruption of the aerial Nitre, and which differs from a Plague amongst Men but in Degree, may also be transmitted to the humane Species; that is, a feebler Degree of Poison, and a milder Aura, may taint the Herbage, than that which is sufficient to destroy the firmer Constitution of Animals; besides which, from the Diversity in the Pores of Brutes, and their different Constitutions, and the Fortitude in the Spirit of a Man, I cannot be induced to believe that the Pestilence amongst Cattle from a private Cause, can ever obtain any Dominion over Mankind. These Stories therefore have no Weight with me, that a certain Leech, upon opening an Horse, that with a great many others had died of some common Distemper, in Order to know what it was, and finding certain pestilential Tokens upon his Inwards, both the Master and the Family soon died of the Infection; which
yet went no further than that Family, but expired with them.
DURING the late Plague likewise at London, a Citizen travelling into the Country, found his Horse of a sudden to tire and fall down, whereupon he opened his Mouth to find out if possible the Cause of so sudden a Change; when the good Man, upon Receipt of the Horse’s Breath upon him, immediately grew sick, and died in two Days Time.
BUT these and the like Instances certainly tend to prove no more than that there may be Constitutions and malignant Steams, which, by agitating the Mass of Humours, may excite putrid and irregular Orgasms, wherein the Juices and Animal Fluids, according to the Quantity and Prevalency of the Distemperature, and the Variety of the infused Taint, with the Diversity of Putrefaction, goes into Corruption; but the forementioned Transplantation of the Plague does not happen but where there is a suitable Predisposition of Humours to admit it, as its Cause is not general.
MOREOVER, although the Intemperature of the Year, sudden Change of Air, Suppression of usual Evacuation, Diminution of Perspiration, Drunkenness, Venery, and Passions of the Mind, especially Anger and Fear, are justly reckoned amongst the remote Causes of a Pestilence; yet they regard rather the Invasion of it, than its Origin; but of this we shall say more hereafter. As to the above-mentioned Passions, it is almost incredible how some, at the Height of the Infection, would from a very slight Cause kindle into the utmost Rage, and rave at one another like meer Scolds, until Death parted their Contentions.
NOR does Fear or Sorrow less prepare the Way for the Infection, by deadning the Fancy and Memory, by Suffocating the Spirits, Suppressing the natural Heat, breaking the Constitution, and Promoting Malignity: We have manifold Instances of this kind in Readiness; but if, as some do, we should be prolix in the Enumeration of Things that want not Proof, the Reader would be quite tired with needless Stories.
BUT now it may be convenient to add a few Remarks concerning the Translation of a Pestilence from an hot Country to a cold one; for according to the different Effects of Heat and Cold, the one attenuating and rarefying, the other condensing and constipating, the pestilential Venom is strangely altered, insomuch that in a Thing so obvious, there does not require much to be said: Every Thing of this kind prodigiously spreads in hot Climates, as being more subtile than even the Air it self; tho’ the same in the Northern Countries is more restrained, and confined in Fastnesses it cannot escape from; and from hence the Reason is very obvious why there is so much Difference between the Diseases of different Climates, which would be too tedious for us here to go into.
TO come nearer therefore to our Business; the same Affections that in an hot Country heat the Blood and other Juices, so as in a great Measure to put them into Fusion, when translated into the contrary Extream may give contrary Properties to the same Fluids, and è contra; and this might be demonstrated by innumerable
Experiments, were there any Doubt about it.
IT being then granted, that this Plague first was brought from Africa, or Asia, to Holland, and from thence into Britain, every one may easily conjecture, how much Alteration it must undergo in such a Travel, from a hot and dry Climate into a moist and cold one, not so much in its own Nature, as from the Vehicle of Air which conveyed it, and thereby producing different Degrees of Infection, and Series of Symptoms: But this Variation would be most discernable in the Complication of the pestilential Seminium, with the particular Diseases of each Country, and those which are as it were peculiar to them: This in our Case is very well worth Notice, for in Holland, where the Scurvy extreamly reigns, and therefore, for Reasons before given, most liable to a pestilential Infection, it obtained only as a more aggravated Scurvy, as shall hereafter be further remarked.