The Plague at Marseilles Consider'd / With Remarks Upon the Plague in General, Shewing Its Cause and Nature of Infection, with Necessary Precautions to Prevent the Speading of That Direful Distemper

by Richard Bradley

I cannot help taking Notice likewise of the raging Distemper which was among the Cows about London, Anno 1714. It was so Violent and Infectious, that if one had it, all others that came within Scent of her, or even eat where she Grazed, were surely infected; it seized their Heads, and was attended with running at the Nose, and a very nauseous Breath, which killed them in three or four Days. The Herdsmen would not allow it to be the Murrain, nor could give any Account from whence it did proceed, or could find out any Remedy against it; they only tell us the unusual dry Summer, and the continued East-Winds, were the occasion of it. This Distemper had been for two or three Years before it came to us, in Lombardy, Holland, and Hambrough, to the Loss almost of all their Cattle. The States of Holland caused a Medicine to be published for the Good of those who had their Cattle thus Distemper’d; but having been try’d here, ’twould not Cure one in seven, but rather increased the Infection by keeping the distemper’d Cattle longer alive (by some Days) than they would have been without it. ’Tis remarkable, that no Oxen had this Distemper, but only Milch-Cows, which were more tender than the Males. The Herdsmen to keep their Cattle from the Infection, let them Blood in the Tail, and rubb’d their Noses and Chaps with Tar; and when any happened to die of it, they were burnt, and buried deep under Ground. It began at Islington, spreading it self over many Places in Middlesex and in Essex, but did not reach so far Westward from London as twenty Miles.

The most general Opinion concerning the Cause of this Distemper, was, that the Cattle were first infected by drinking some unwholesome standing Water, where ’tis probable some Poisonous Insects were lodged and bred; the Summer having been extreamly dry, attended almost constantly with Easterly Winds, the Grass almost burnt up, and the Herbs of the Gardens destroyed by Insects; but such as they were, (unfit for Table Use) were given to the Cattle. There was likewise so great want of Water, that many were forced to drive their Cows five or six Miles to it.

The Electuary publish’d upon this Occasion by the States of Holland, was compos’d of most, if not all the Drugs used in the most serviceable Medicines that were made use of against the Plague among Men; most of which Ingredients we know to be mortal to Insects, as strong scented Roots and Herbs; but above all, Aromatick Gums and Saps of Plants; as Rhue, Garlick, Pitch, Tar, Frankincense and Olibanum. These Ingredients are much used in France and Italy to prevent or destroy Infection, by burning them and smoaking such Bodies, Letters, or any other things as are brought from infected Places, after they have made Quarantain, and are not suffered to come on Shore ’till they have undergone this Operation.

It is not against Experience, that Insects can live and encrease in Animal Bodies: How often do we find Men, Women and Children troubled with Worms? What Varieties of those Insects are often voided by them? And how should that be, if they were not either suck’d into the Stomach with the Breath, or taken into it with some unwholesome Food? For they cannot breed in such Bodies from nothing, without either their Eggs or themselves are brought thither by some Accident: For if they were the natural Produce of Animal Bodies, they would then be alike common to all, which we know they are not.

I have been informed, that in the Year 1714, when this Mortality among the Cows was at its height, that towards the End of the Summer, some Farmers brought in fresh Cattel, and turning them into the same Fields, where many Cows had died before, they took the Infection and died likewise; but the following Spring those Fields were void of Infection, and the Cows that were put into them did very well, but what were then put into the Cow-Houses, where the sick Cows had been the Year before, were seiz’d with the Distemper, and died; which seems to inform us, that it was the Effect of Insects, which thro’ the Warmth of those Stalls were preserv’d from the Severity of the Winter’s Frost; but such as were left in the open Fields were destroy’d by the Cold. I have heard that a Woman about Camberwell cured Six in Seven of her Cows, by giving them once a Week an Infusion of Rhue and Ale-wort.

But it may be ask’d, why these infectious Distempers, subject to Men, Cattle and Plants, are not universal? And why the Plague should not be as well in India, China, the South Parts of Africa and America, as in these Parts of the World? (For I do not find it has ever been in those Places.) This Query gives me a farther Opportunity to suggest, that Insects are the Cause of it, and that they are brought with the Easterly Winds. In the first place, so far as I can learn, there is not naturally in America any one Kind of Creature or Insect that is found in any other Part of the World, and the Plants likewise are all different from those of other Countries; as it is the same in India, China, &c. whose Products are quite different from what we find elsewhere. Supposing then that these pestiferous Insects are only the Produce of Tartary, let us consider to what Parts of the World they may be carry’d from thence with the Easterly Winds; and whether India, China, the South of Africa and America, are not beyond their Reach, or can reasonably be affected by them.

Whoever considers the Disposition of the Land and Water in the Globe, may thus account for the Passage of these Insects, with an Easterly Wind from Tartary, to all the Parts of Europe, Asia-Minor, Palestine, Barbary, and other South Coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, whither, ’tis highly probable, they may come, without meeting any thing in their Way to obstruct their Course.

The best Maps do not lay down any Mountains of Note between Tartary and the places which have been subject to the Plague: The Alps run parallel with the Winds coming from Tartary, and therefore does not any Way hinder their Passage: The Mountains of Dalmatia are not high enough to prevent the Passage; or if they were, the Caspian Sea is sufficiently large to let them pass to the South Parts of Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and the North Coasts of Africa, even to their most Western Bounds.

Now it may be expected, perhaps, by some, that these Winds should yet continue their Progress as far as America; but as yet, so far as I can learn, these Land-Winds, when they have blown with the greatest Force, and have been of the longest Continuance, have not reach’d farther than about three hundred Leagues beyond the Western Coasts of Europe, which is a Trifle in Comparison of the vast Ocean between us and America: Besides, it is my Opinion, that the Winds which blow over so vast a Tract of Land, as these Tartarian Winds must do, that I suppose convey and support the pestiferous Insects, are of so different a Nature from the Winds coming from the Ocean, that ’tis likely those Creatures which would subsist in the one, would be destroy’d by the other: So that if I am right in this Conjecture, America cannot be subject to the Plague.

Mount-Atlas, which is a vast Ridge of Mountains, running from the Ocean almost as far as Egypt, and are back’d with the Desarts of Lybia, may very likely obstruct the Passage of these Insects to the South of Africa; and for that Reason, perhaps, secure that part of the World from Plagues. So likewise Mount-Caucasus, or Ararat, which is one of the highest Ridge of Mountains in the World, running from East to West, thro’ Persia and India, may secure the South Parts of those Countries from the Plague, by stopping the Passage of those infectious Creatures, if any Winds from Tartary should happen to blow them that Way: And as China lies to the East of Tartary, so it must be Westerly Winds which must infect that Country with the Plague, if it proceeds from what I imagine: But we do not yet find that Westerly Winds are frequent in those Parts; or if they are, we may be assur’d they cannot blow at the same time when the Insects are hatch’d and carried the contrary Way by the Wind from Tartary. We are inform’d, that upon the Coast of China, the Winds are so regular, that from October to March they continually blow from the North-East, and from that Month to October, the direct contrary Way.