Читать книгу Loimologia: Or, an Historical Account of the Plague in London in 1665 - John Quincy - Страница 4

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AS it is our Purpose here to enquire into the Origin of the late Plague, and find out both its manifest and hidden Causes; I cannot judge it necessary to go into the usual Length of Writers, in a particular Recital of all those remote Regards which they distinguish by Supernatural, Preternatural, and Natural; because by such Means this Treatise would be drawn out into an almost infinite needless Distinction.

THAT the Truth therefore may at once be brought into an open Light, and the Pestilence appear in its genuine Affections, I think it proper to premise this one Thing, because the whole depends upon it, viz. That the Pestilence is the most notorious of all popular Diseases, and depends upon some Cause equally common, and in every respect adequate to its extensive Effects; which being granted, it naturally follows, that all particular Causes which may accidentally intervene, (the Recital of which would be very tedious) are resolvable into this one.

AND for what concerns that Pestilence now under Enquiry, this we have as to its Origin, from the most irrefragable Authority, that it first came into this Island by Contagion, and was imported to us from Holland, in Packs of Merchandice; and if any one pleases to trace it further, he may be satisfied by common Fame, it came thither from Turkey in Bails of Cotton or Silk, which is a strange Preserver of the pestilential Steams. For that Part of the World is seldom free from such Infections, altho’ it is sometimes more severe than others, according to the Disposition of Seasons and Temperature of Air in those Regions: But if any would yet more intimately be acquainted with its Origin, it concerns him to know all the Changes the Air in these Climates is subject to, and its various Properties of Dryness, Moisture, Heat, Cold, &c.

BUT least I should be thought too prolix in the Enumeration of such Circumstances, and incur the Suspicion of Atheism, (a Charge too just upon the Faculty) by ascribing too much to second Causes, as the Schools please to call them, it may be convenient for me to declare, that the το θειον of a Pestilence is as much a Part of my Faith, as any others; the sacred Pages clearly and demonstratively prove, that the Almighty, by his Authority, and at his Pleasure, may draw the Sword, bend the Bow, or shoot the Arrows of Death; and a Retrospection into Times past, shews many convincing Proofs of this terrible Truth; and in this Contagion before us, the Footsteps of an over-ruling Power are very legible, especially so far as concerns his divine Permission: But the great God’s Purposes are Secrets too awful for Mortals to pry into, although we know that he punishes as a Parent, and chides for our Good, which makes it our Duty to kiss the Rod, and submit. But enough of this, least I should be thought to invade anothers Province; and it is sufficient to the Purpose of a Physician, to assign natural and obvious Causes; and where such are discoverable, it is unworthy of him and the divine Art he professes, as well as an Affront to good Sense, to have Recourse to any other.

BUT this being premised only to prevent Censure, our Way now lies open to a Discovery of the Nature of this Pestilence. Wherein, for Method Sake, I shall begin with a Description of a Pestilence in general; and which if it doth not exactly agree with the Accounts given by the Ancients, yet I doubt not but it will be found by every impartial Considerer, to be as full and satisfactory.

THE Pestilence is a Disease arising from an Aura that is poisonous, very subtle, deadly, and contagious, affecting many Persons at the same Time together in one Country, chiefly arising from a Corruption of the nitrous Spirit in the Air, attended with a Fever, and other very grievous Symptoms.

EVERY one of these Particulars are as clear as the Light at Noon-day; and these Explications are so obvious to be met with in the Writings of the Learned, that it would be lost Labour to insist upon any such Thing here; we shall therefore proceed to explain only what more immediately stands in need of it.

AND first of all it is said from an Aura, as distinguishing it from such Poison as is more gross and earthy; for this is not to be confined in any Inclosure, but is so rare, subtle, volatile, and fine, that it insinuates into, and resides in the very Interstices, or Pores of the aerial Particles; whereas that which is of a more fixed Nature, is confined within certain Limits, and is incapable of such Progress.

IT is said to be poisonous also, from its Similitude to the Nature of a Poison, and both being equally destructive to Life, and killing Persons much after the same Manner, so that they seem to differ in Degree only; for the deadly Quality of a Pestilence vastly exceeds either the arsenical Minerals, the most poisonous Animals or Insects, or the killing Vegetables; nay, the Pestilence seems to be a Composition of all the other Poisons together, as well as in its fatal Efficacies to excel them, for in this there is manifestly joined both the Height of Putrefaction and Malignity. And as in a great man the Virulence of this Taint hath been discoverable, so in one Youth for Instance it was so remarkable, that even in the Point of Death the whole Body changed green, which so alarmed the Mother, that she immediately hasted to my House, to know whether by Mistake there had not been some Poison given him; whereas he had taken nothing but mild and common Alexipharmicks; this green Hue therefore was a Demonstration of the poisonous Vitriolick Nature of the pestilential Taint.

IT is said to be very subtile both on Account of its Original and Production, before it hath escaped from its native Seat; and that wonderful Comminution which it cannot but undergo in its Progress through so many Climates, whereby it is, as it were, sublimed to the highest Degree of Volatility, beyond that of any Meteor, which is the Production of gross, corporeal, and heterogeneous Particles; nay, it is more active than Lightning, and in the Twinkling of an Eye carries to a Distance Putrefaction, Mortification, and Death.

AS for the Manner whereby it kills, its approaches are generally so secret, that Persons seized with it seem to be fallen into an Ambuscade, or a Snare, of which there was no Manner of Suspicion; they are therefore not to be credited or regarded, who affirm the Progress of a Pestilence to be sensible, even to the Smell and Sight, and report (though who will may believe them for me) the Infection to resemble the Fragrancy of Flowers in May, or any other sweet Savour; or, on the contrary, to strike the Nose like the Stench of a rotten Carcase; nay, some pretend to be so sharp-sighted, as to discern Clouds in the Atmosphere big with pestilential Poysons, and other such Conceits of a distempered Imagination, that are chiefly the Products of Fear, which construes every Thing for the worst: Although indeed I must confess, that sometimes this very subtile Aura may be so mixed or loaded with gross and sulphureous Particles, as to be perceptible to the Senses.

FURTHER, as to the fatal Influences of a Plague, if the before recited Account is not sufficient to shew it, it would not be a Task of any Difficulty to produce many Instances of its Tyranny and Destruction: Hence the Plague by the Hebrews was called לבד, or Perdition; as if it was ordained on Purpose to destroy Mankind: It is also called Lues, from λυω, to dissolve, a most certain Way of Destruction, and whose fatal Property in the Plague is most remarkable, whereby it does not so much prepare the Way, as immediately of its self destroy, and of whose certain Ruin, through whole Regions together, we have too many Testimonies upon Record, in the Writings both of Ancients and Moderns.

AGAIN, the Pestilence is said to be contagious; because some are come to that Height of Boldness, (being blind with too much Light) to propagate strange Conjectures to the contrary, as if the late Plague was begun and continued by a foreign Influence; but to remove this Controversie, it may be convenient to explain the Nature of a Contagion, and its supposed Conditions of Exertion; but before I enter upon this, it will be necessary to dispatch the other Members of this Definition.

IT is further added, that the Plague affects many Regions together at the same Time, in Order to distinguish it both from Endemick Diseases, that is, such as are appropriate to one Place only; and also from Sporadick Diseases, which although they rage amongst the Populace in this or that Country or Climate indifferently, according to the Influence of their procatarctick Causes, they are yet to be deemed particular, as well as they are pernicious: But enough of these Matters.

AT length then it becomes necessary to change the Consideration, and enquire how it comes that the Plague hath its chief Origin from a Change or Corruption of the nitrous Spirits in the Air: This is the great Difficulty! This is our Task! It is therefore to be hoped that the Novelty of the Opinion will not occasion any one to receive it at first Sight amiss, until by due Examination he hath brought it to Trial; but in Order to erect this upon a sure Foundation, it is proper to premise some Considerations.

AND first of all, the central nitrous Spirit does every where transpire and exhale towards the Surface, to recruit the Consumptions of Nature, and for other Purposes hereafter to be mentioned. From this saline Origin straining through the Bowels of the Earth, it is by every one understood Vegetation is carried on; and that the Light and vital Warmth of the Sun is impregnated by it through the whole Region of Air; and the mutual Intercourses or Operations upon one another between the Sun’s Rays, and these saline Exhalations, by a Kind of Magnetism between them, is too obvious in a Multitude of Instances to want any Comment.

I know in nothing indeed where there is a greater Intercourse and Sympathy; and a considerable Illustration of which may be made by the following Experiment. If any one in the Spring-time, when the Sun is approaching nearer to us, digs up a Piece of Earth, and after Infusion and Filtration, evaporates the Liquor, he will find at the Bottom of the Vessel a Sixth Part of Salt more than at any other Time of the Year, from the same Quantity of Earth managed after the same Manner; the nitrous Salt for many Reasons not arising in so great a Quantity for the Exigencies of Nature, at any other Times; whence I conceive it manifestly to prove, that there is such an Efflux of this Salt as before suggested, and a Kind of Sublimation of it into the Air, and that this saline Spirit hath a Sort of Sympathy with the superior Heat. But that we may not use more Arguments than are necessary to prove the Energy of this Principle, every one who is doubtful herein may observe, that not only Plants are produced and nourished by its subtle and luxuriant Insinuation into their Fibres, but that also from the same aerial Spirit the Life of Animals, and even the humane Species is preserved. And I cannot see any Difficulty in the Opinion, that the best Temperature of the Blood and animal Juices, the Renewal of wasted Spirits, the Restauration of Strength, and the good and healthful Constitution of the Viscera, Members, and whole Body, is maintained by the Assistance of this nitro-aerial Spirit. Nor does any Thing appear more congruous to Reason, than that from the same Cause does the Racy Spirit of the Blood arise, as it is not derivable from any other; nor is it my single Opinion, that from the same Principle it derives its Colour; but as there are no Arguments even objected to this Doctrine, it is needless to imploy more Time in its Vindication.

BUT further, it may happen that this nitro-aerial Spirit may various Ways be changed in its Properties; that is, either with Regard to its proliffick Influences, (if it may be so expressed) or, which much oftner happens, in its accidental and adventitious Impurities.

SOMETIMES this universal Principle languishes and degenerates, and in its own productive Womb is tainted with somewhat pernicious to Vitality, and that natural balsamick Constitution of Blood that supports it; and as often as this is the Case, the whole Orders of living Beings may look upon it as War declared against them: But where any Alteration is made upon it by particular and fortuitous Causes, it is generally from too much Humidity diluting it, as in immoderate and unseasonable Rains, whence moist, crude, and unwholsome Vapours exhale; for every one knows how much Humidity is a Promoter of Putrefaction; whence Swarms of Insects, which is a certain Forerunner of a Pestilence: It also sometimes happens, that this vital Spirit, which so much delights in Dryness, is almost quite extinguished by a rainy Season; in which Exigency, what Miseries may not Mankind expect, when a small Change is of so fatal Consequence? This is abundantly confirmed by the Experience of Marshy Countries, where the Diseases recurring every Year are very fatal, by means of the putrid and damp Exhalations.

FURTHERMORE, this nitrous Principle may be sometimes changed in its own Repository by too intense a Heat from within, as well as without; for by so precipitate a Sublimation its Spirit may be deadned; that is, being robbed of its balsamick Quality, (which is no Absurdity to suppose) and kindled into too rapid a Motion, it may receive a kind of Empyreuma; and from which Adustion there may arise several Sorts of Distemperature; as Blasts upon Trees, and Diseases amongst Cattle; and at last end in a Pestilence amongst Mankind.

FOR further Illustration hereof it may be observed, that the nitrous Spirit which circulates through the subterraneous Caverns may, instead of Obtaining a further Purification, take along with it corrupt and poysonous Vapours from arsenical or other Minerals; and loaded therewith, break out into the open Air: And this we have confirmed from common Observation in the Western Climes of Africa, that lye under the Equator, wherein the very Showers seem to be endued with a Stiptick or Caustick Power, so as to taint the Cloaths and Skin of the Travellers, and burn, as it were, upon them pestilential Characters. From which Disposition it cannot be a Wonder to any, that the Plague should reign after Earthquakes; because a poysonous Spirit at such Times break out into the Air; as also that Nitre thus loaded with an impure Mixture, and sometimes too that which is deadly, should of it self, like the Occursion of an Acid, force out its Way wherever there is Room, and leave behind in its Passage many Marks of Malignity; so that subterraneous Animals, such as Moles, Mice, Serpents, Conies, Foxes, &c. as conscious of approaching Mischief, leave their Burrows, and lie open in the Air; which is also a certain Sign of a Pestilence at Hand: Hence also a sudden Death of Fish; and a Departure of the Birds of the Air, to secure their Safety in that which is more wholesome.

AFTER these Observations, it remains to shew how the nitrous Spirit frequently receives a Change like to that which may be termed Corruption, although it is vulgarly accounted incorruptible in it self, and is serviceable in Preserving other Things from Putrefaction.

TO the Solution of this uncommon Difficulty, it is to be taken Notice that Corruption here is not in that Sense strictly as when it is the Produce of Humidity, but somewhat more congruous to the peculiar Nature of a nitrous Spirit; which although it cannot, like some other Bodies, putrifie, yet if it can be changed from its Nature and Figure, so as not to be reducible into them again, it does not seem improperly said that such a Change is equivalent to Corruption, its Vitality or Essence being destroyed, and a new Texture being obtained. And this I shall further endeavour to illustrate by a double Argument.

FIRST, It is not at all to be doubted, but that what Art, which is the Imatator of Nature, can do, may be done by the Efficiency of a more powerful Agent; and the most expert Chymists do shew a certain Corruption of Salt; nor would it be any great Labour to discover here the Method how it is done, were it not a Crime to expose the Secrets of Nature on trifling Occasions. But if my Authority is not sufficient to support an Assertion of this Weight, I trust no one will reject the Conviction that arises from Effects, and therefore I shall restrain the Proof hereof to as short a Compass as possible. As then it is established by the concurrent Authority of Antiquity, that as Fire, as it is an Element capable of Degeneration, and seemingly of Corruption, may increase a pestilential Malignity by Means of its great Subtilty, its prodigious Increase, and swift Propagation; Qualities too which a Pestilence very much partakes of. That which they conceited of Fire, seems to me to be applicable in a much more philosophical Sense to that Spirit we are speaking of, and which so nearly resembles it. I am indeed a Stranger to any Thing in the Universe that makes so swift a Progress as a Pestilence, and therefore the infectious Miasmata are in the sacred Scriptures styled Arrows that fly in the Dark; and howsoever certain are their Strokes, and tho’ by Means of their Fineness they penetrate into the very Marrow, they yet shun by their Subtilty our Conceptions.

AS to the spreading of a Contagion from one to another, and so on to Thousands, there is nothing can be possibly more swift in the Progress of Fire; and it exceeds even Antimony in the Retention of its Properties, though that loses them not in a thousand Infusions: But the instantaneous Progress of this Enemy to Mankind is best illustrated by the Rapidity of Light, which is not greater. But more of this we pass by till we come professedly to speak of a Contagion.

SECONDLY, the particular Nature of the pestilential Miasmata, may be known from their peculiar Influence upon the saline Particles in a humane Body; for nothing acts with more Efficacy and Energy upon a saline Body, than another partaking of the same Quality; and nothing is more plain than that this nitrous Spirit is of more Efficacy than the Alkahest it self, as by it the fibrous Parts of the Blood are immediately corroded and dissolved; and therefore after dangerous Hemorrhages, very little Coagulation can be obtained in the extravasated Blood, unless by its being exposed to the Cold: but as often as that does happen, do not we immediately find a Fixation of the Fluids, and a certain Congelation of the Juices, which greatly retards their rapid Motions, and sometimes brings even a total Stagnation: It’s furthermore of considerable Importance to our present Argument, that Spasms, the constant Attendants of a Plague, have their Origin from an acrid vellicating Salt in the nervous Fluid.

TO these it may likewise be added, that a Pestilence has a great Similitude to a scorbutick Habit, having its Origin from a saline Constitution of Blood; and the great Likeness there is in many Circumstances of their Generation and Propagation, insomuch that after a Pestilence is with others ceased, it will yet continue to infect scorbutick Constitutions; as hereafter will further appear: From the same Cause likewise does a pestilential Contagion reign most in Maritime Countries, and near the Sea-Coasts; because such a saline Disposition does there most abound; and the Truth of this, the Maritime Parts of our own Country do by sad Experience too much testifie.

LASTLY, If Arguments taken to this Purpose from the Method of Cure were valid, from thence it may be gathered, that a saline Spirit hath a great share in giving Rise to a Pestilence; for in our curative Regards for this Distemper, a skilful and upright Physician bends his whole Care at first to prevent its Attack, which he does by the Use of oleaginous Substances, by that Means expecting to cover over the Stomach as it were with a Plaster, to guard it against sharp and corrosive Effluvia; the same Intention is also pursued by Medicines, in endeavouring to defend against the poysonous Taint, or throw it out when received by Alexipharmicks and Diaphoreticks: For every one who is but tolerably conversant in such Practice, very well knows that the saline Particles are thrown off this Way much more effectually than by any other; and a further Demonstration of this Matter is also, that the Sweat of infected Persons, as in the late Sickness, gives extream pungent Pains by its Acrimony in its Exit; and that the more brackish such Sweat comes out, the more serviceable it proves; whereas when it happened to be soft and insipid, it was a sure Forerunner of worse Symptoms, and even of Death.

FURTHERMORE, as to curative Intentions, all Diligence was used to preserve and restore the internal Ferments from a Contagion; and this was chiefly done by saline Preparations of various Kinds, which gave greater Energy to the natural Spirits, so as to alter and renew them by Means of that Similitude of Texture and Constitution naturally between them.

AGAIN, what was excreted did greatly establish this our Hypothesis; what was thrown up by hard Vomiting discovered nothing more than a rancid Brackishness, that vellicated the Stomach into Convulsions by its acrimonious and corrosive Qualities; and the frothy and fermentative Nature of what was ejected by Stool, fully showed its saline Mixture: But we shall come more fully to talk of this hereafter: To conclude therefore this Controversie; although the Hypothesis here laid down may at first Appearance seem new, yet it does not so far differ from the Sentiments of the Ancients upon the same Subject, as confirm and explain what they have said: It comes down to us for the Opinion of some of them, that a Putrefaction of Choler in an humane Body gives Rise to a Pestilence; and of others, that Fire may be so corrupted, as to occasion the same; what therefore the former conceived of Choler, and the latter of Fire, we judge more justly ascribed here to a vitiated saline Spirit. But least we should too long dwell upon this Argument, if it was needful to recite all the Causes enumerated by Authors of this Malady, it would be difficult to find any one which does not coincide with this our Hypothesis; so that whosoever pleases to be at this Pains, must either assent with us, or reject them; and he that does not like our Opinion, would do well to shew a better.

IN the above-described Pestilence, as indeed in many others, Persons frequently died, without any preceeding Symptoms of Horror, Thirst, or concomitant Fever: For the Confirmation of which, I shall give an Instance or two out of a great many; A Woman, who was the only one left alive of the Family, and yet to her Thinking perfectly well, perceived upon her Breast the pestilential Spots, which she looking upon to be the fatal Tokens, in a very short Space died, without feeling any other Disorder, or any other Forerunner of Death.

A Youth also of a good Constitution, after he had found himself on a sudden marked with the Tokens of the Contagion, believed at first they were not the genuine Marks, because he found himself so well, and yet he was dead in less than four Hours after, as his Physician had before prognosticated.

BUT how suddenly soever the Sickness killed some People, whether by suddenly seizing the Brain, Heart, Lungs, or any other principal Part, with a deadly Infection, or poisoning the vital Spirits at once, so that no Appearance could be discerned, even of a lurking Fever, yet for the most Part, some Fever did shew it self.

AND it cannot be thought strange, that most who took the Contagion should have a Fever, to those who consider the Nature of a nitrous Spirit, especially when degenerated, and that from the most slight Cause it will take Fire, and excite Heat; and the Fever accompanying this present Sickness was of the worst Kind, both on Account of its State and Periods, sometimes imitating a Quotidian, and at others a Tertian; sometimes seeming to retreat, and at others attacking again with redoubled Fury: There was never a total Cessation, but sometimes a Remission for an Hour or two, although every Exacerbation was worse than the former; but this I pass by here, having Occasion hereafter to enlarge further thereupon.

AT length therefore, to discharge my Promise in giving a short Account of a Contagion, as of a Disease that is communicable that Way only, and killing most it seizes, it is to be taken Notice, that the Infection of the pestilential Poison is not only transferrable from one Subject to another, either by mediate or immediate Contact, and exciting the same Symptoms; but all the Conditions likewise of its Exertion, are as conspicuous as the Noon-day Sun; wherefore those Arguments to prove the pestilential Corruption not to arise from Contagion, are trifling and not worth Notice, as altogether disconsonant to Reason and Experience; as after I have enumerated the Conditions of a contagious Exertion, I doubt not but to make this Matter clear to every one.

FOUR Things chiefly are necessary to a Contagion:

FIRST, That there is an Efflux of the contagious Seminium.

SECONDLY, That there is a convenient Medium for the contagious Particles to move through, and be conveyed by.

THIRDLY, A Fitness in the Subject to receive and cherish the contagious Effluvia. And,

FOURTHLY, A due Stay of this Seminium; of all which distinctly.

THE Quantity of Necessaries daily taken in for Refreshment does evidently demonstrate, that insensible Perspiration is much larger than all other Evacuations together: But where a Pestilence invades, a yet much greater Wast is made that Way than in a Time of Health, by the intestine Colluctation and Struggle of opposite Principles in the animal Fluids; this is confirmed by the Observation of Sanctorius, who tells us, that Persons taken with a pestilential Contagion, immediately become much lighter, the Effluvia of their Bodies breaking through on all Sides with Rapidity; for such is the Energy of the pestilential Taint, that it immediately subtilizes more thick Substances, and gives them such a Sharpness, as to cut their Way like so many Needles, or Wedges, and very often carry along with them those natural Spirits which should be a Preservative to the whole Frame: Hence sometimes follow Swoonings and Faintings that are fatal, and Indications of that Wast of Spirits that hath been made by the pestilential Poison.

HENCE moreover it appears, of what a diffused Nature this Contagion may be of, by the great Plenty that transpires from an infected Person; and which Steam alone, as it is sufficient to communicate the Infection, so it is also capable of vast Dilatation and Diffusion; not much unlike the Snuff of a Candle, which not only emits a great deal of Smoak, but carries a considerable Stench along with it into very distant Parts.

SECONDLY, A fit Medium is very conducive to the Propagation of the Plague; for according to the Disposition of that, in being more or less open or confined, is the Infection sooner or slower communicated: Nor is there any Doubt, but that the Air is this fit Medium, and whose Pores, altho’ very minute, are readily filled with it; and therein the noxious Effluvia lodge securely, unless expelled by any external Force.