AS for the First of these, the common Experience, of meaner People being mostly carried off, admonishes all to live upon as nutritive and generous a Diet as can be procured; and such Things as not only yeild due Nourishment, but Plenty of Spirits, and what easily perspires. For there are many Things of good Nourishment, that are not easily perspired; such as all light and viscid Substances, as Pork, Fish, and the like, which therefore are very apt to go into Fermentation, and generate Corruption; in short, whatever even the common People have Notions of, as apt to bring Surfeits, ought to be avoided, and such Means of Subsistance complied with, as generate a warm, rich Blood; and in Proportion to the Ways of Living at other Times, should every one, except those who accustom themselves to Riot and Excess, indulge himself at a higher Rate.
ROASTED Meats are by all preferred to boiled, and if Pickles and high Sauces are ever to be encouraged, it is on these Occasions; and Garlick, Shallot, Onions, &c. are extreamly serviceable, and preferable to the hot, dry, spicy Seasonings, because their pungent Volatility seems naturally covered
with a Softness, or balsamick Quality, more agreeable to the Nature of animal Spirits. To which Purpose it is very remarkable, that in the Histories of many Pestilences, Notice is frequently taken of the Exemption of Jews, and People who deal much in such Fare, from Infection. And it is customary with some experienced Sailors, to lay in great Stores of such Things against their Arrival at infected, and unwholsome Countries.
THERE is also a very strict Regard to be had to the Firmness and Strength of the Solids, which is greatly assisted by moderate Exercises, but carefully avoiding too much, and every Thing that occasions too great an Expence of Spirits at a Time, and particularly by over-Warmth. But to this Purpose I cannot conceive any Thing more serviceable than frequent Immersion in cold Water, so that the Times of staying in are as short as possible, the Good received hereby being chiefly in the first Shudder and Constriction; and it is particularly to be remembred, tho’ the preceding Author hath omitted it, that Watermen, and others, whose Occasions imployed them much upon the River, and in the Cold, suffered least in the late Sickness. The Use of Vinegar, and other Acids, are also of Service for the like Intention.
YET besides the Helps for this End from common Diet, and Way of Living, Assistances may also be had from Medicinal Preservatives, such as those commonly termed Antidotes, consisting of spicy volatile Particles, which afford a natural Pabulum to the animal Spirits, and by carrying into the whole Habit a fine subtle Oil, the better secure them against those Contagions Spicula which are in Readiness to mix with them; and for this Purpose, we are furnished with a most elegant and useful Medicine, since many Authors of Note have wrote on this Subject, which is the Sal Volatile Oleosum, if it be well loaded with the essential Oils of Spicy Ingredients; although indeed with some Constitutions more fetid Compositions are very suitable; but they all agree in carrying into the Habit somewhat that both recruits, and guards the Spirits against any foreign Mixture, or from unnatural Separations of their saline and humid Parts. And to the same End, in robust Constitutions, who have been accustomed to fare hard, the Spirit or Oil of Turpentine frequently drank in small Doses might be a great Means to preserve the poorer Sort from Infection.
BECAUSE former Writers on these Occasions have given Formulæ of things of this kind, much more prolix and inelegant than the present Practice is accustomed to, it may not perhaps be unacceptable to give two or three Examples more conformable to the latter. But because I judge such general Prescriptions rather of Prejudice than Service, when they come hastily and inadvertently to be required by the common People, I cannot but think it much better to leave such to be ordered and regulated according to particular Persons Constitutions and Exigencies.
AS to those preservative Means which a Government only have the Power to provide, they must likewise be left to those who have that Power, but, with due Submission to such, it is conceived that removing infected Persons is a much easier and safer Care, than shutting them up in great Towns: And it was certainly the greatest Error committed in the late Plague here, as our Author above grievously complains, to confine the sick and well together.
IT seems a Point yet in Dispute, whether great Fires at such a Time are of Service or hurtful, which to me is somewhat wonderful, because whosoever considers the Necessity
for Air in Respiration, and by what Quality it becomes of such real Service to the Preservation of Life, cannot think such Fires proper, because they destroy that very Property in the Air, which is demonstrable by innumerable Experiments. As to the Dissipation indeed of pestilential Vapours, or their Destruction in any Manner, they undoubtedly may do Service, but then that ought to be done at vast Distances only from where People inhabit. And what Fires common Occasions require at such Times, are rather to be made with such Substances as abound with, and yield a nitrous Salt, because that seems to be the chief Support of the vital Property in the Air, and such are our common Coals; for every one knows how much more all Wood-Fires are suffocating, and give a Languor, and Flatness to the Spirits.
PRESERVATIVE Fumigations are largely talked of by all, on these Occasions, and they with good Reason deserve to be practised, because while the Poison is on Float in the Air, it may undoubtedly be entangled so as to lose its Power of acting as such; but then for this Purpose such Things ought to be used as exhale very subtile Sulphurs, as the spicy Drugs and Gums. And on this