THE Spots were sometimes few, but most commonly very numerous; in some they were so thick, as to cover in a manner the whole Skin. I saw a little Girl that was all over full with them, but upon a large Sweat arising, they all disappeared, and she recovered; yet sometimes the Distemper was so delusory, that these Spots would arise, and disappear, and come out again, for several Times; that is, when Nature gave its utmost Efforts to expel the Poison, they might be seen upon the Surface; but when the Spirits languished,
or upon any external Cold, they would go in again.
I might here conveniently observe, that this Eruption was almost always symptomatical, and very rarely critical; the Colour of them was not always the same, sometimes they were red, or purple, at others yellow, and sometimes livid or black, according to the Nature and Energy of the morbifick Venom, and its Complication with other Contingencies; and hence we naturally pass to the essential Characteristicks of a Pestilence.
THE genuine pestilential Characters, by the common People amongst us called Tokens, as the Pledges or Fore-warnings of Death, are nothing else than minute and distinct Blasts, which have their Origin from within, and rise up with a little pyramidal Protuberance, having the pestilential Poison chiefly collected at their Bases, and, according to the accustomed Dispersion of such Agents, gradually tainting the neighbouring Parts, and reaching to the Surface, as the Configuration of Vessels and Pores are disposed to favour their Spreading.
MOREOVER these Blasts were derivable from external Causes, as from the Injuries of Air, where the pestilential Miasmata were pent up and condensed, and by that Means their Virulence increased to that Degree, that Life it self was immediately extinguished, upon coming within their Reach. Nay, some were so suddenly marked with these fatal Characters, that they did not before find themselves in any other Respect out of Order; which is a Circumstance so well known, that there is little need to confirm it by particular Instances, however, for the Reader’s Satisfaction, I shall recollect one or two Facts of this Kind.
I was called to a Girl the first Day of her Seizure, who breathed without any Difficulty, her Warmth was moderate and natural, her Inwards free from glowing and Pain, and her Pulse not unequal or irregular; but, on the contrary, all Things genuine and well, as if she had ailed nothing; and indeed I was rather inclined to think she counterfeited being sick, than really to be out of Order, until examining her Breast, I found the certain Characters
of Death imprinted in many Places; and in that following Night she died, before she her self, or any Person about her, could discern her otherwise out of Order.
Some time after I visited a Widow of Sixty Years of Age, whom I met with at Dinner, where she had eat heartily of Mutton, and filled besides her Stomach with Broth; after I had enquired into several Particulars relating to her Health, she affirmed her self to have never been better in her Life, but upon feeling her Pulse, I perceived it to intermit, and upon examining her Breast, I found an Abundance of Tokens, which proved too true a Prognostick, that even after so good a Dinner she would by the Evening be in another World.
AS to the Eruption of these fatal Characters, I judged them to be rather the Effects of the pestilential corrosive Salt, than of any Putrefaction of the Humours; for this Poison wanting room for Exhalation through the Pores of the Skin, collected in Quantities upon the Surface, and for want of Spirits to strive therewith, imprinted these Marks thereupon.
FURTHERMORE these external Parts not only grew dry from the Acrimony of this Venom, but were also very liable to Sphacelation by an Extinction of the vital Spirits; but enough of this, because it would be but adding Light to the Noon-day Sun, to endeavour to confirm it by more Testimonies.