Part 3

What could Dr. _Mead_ mean by so gross an Oversight, in an Article, too, so material for _preventing_ pestilential Contagion? This Disposition, to be affected peculiarly by the Plague, is not neglected by _Hippocrates_, _Galen_, or any good Author of succeeding Ages; tho’ they had the same Reason to profess their Ignorance, as Dr. _Mead_ has to conceal his at this Time; for he is sure to make no Confession of this kind, howsoever it may otherwise appear. I hope he will not call this _a great Digression_, as we find he did formerly, on a like Occasion. _Fernelius_ declares, that it is very hard and difficult to know, what it is that renders every Body obnoxious to the Plague. And _Platerus_ makes this ingenuous Confession, That as I would gladly learn what this _Disposition_ of an Object may be; so I very readily confess, that I know nothing of it, though I am not ignorant, that this Poison acts very differently, according to the various Dispositions of the Body. And, what Hurt had it done Dr. _Mead_’s Character to have owned, That no _Agent_ can do any Thing without a fit _Disposition_ in the _Patient_? But, how dares he undertake to give Rules for preventing a Pestilence, and proceed in corrupting the Means of Knowledge that are common among other Physicians, and absolutely neglect this Disposition? It is for this Reason, that we hear them speaking another Language than Doctor _Mead_ does, even while they talk of what he calls his propagating Causes. Hear the excellent, and learned _Fracastorius_[8]. _Contagion_, says he, takes its Rise, often from the Air; it often passes from one Person to another; it is often receiv’d by a _Fomes_; and it sometimes has its first Origine and Beginning in _our selves_. Hence it is we find Dr. _Hodges_, in the common Language of Physicians, asserting, that [9]_four Things are necessary to a Contagion_. First, _That there is an Efflux of the contagious_ Seminium, _or_ Seed. 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_. So that it is much to be feared, that Dr. _Mead_ will suffer grievously in explaining his darling _Phenomena_, to which we are next to return; and no less in teaching us, _in the following Part of his Discourse_, how to prevent the silent Approaches of the Pestilence, and to suppress its Poison, if it should appear among us: All which he graciously promises to perform, and that in a newer and perfecter Method than was ever done before.

[Footnote 8: Lib. 3. _de Morb. Contag._ cap. 7.]

[Footnote 9: Page 52.]

I have followed Dr. _Mead_ with great Patience, into his _real_ and _propagating_ Causes of the Plague; because they are the _Principles_ and _Ground-work_ upon which he is to build the Explication of his Appearances, and the Method of _preventing_ and _curing_ the Plague; and if that should prove defective, the whole Work will fall into Ruins of it self, without doing it the least Violence: And thereby I shall neither tire my Reader, nor trouble my self, and only touch upon those Things very slightly, where he has either departed from the Truth, or contradicted himself. For, after the Foundation of any Position is over-turned, there is nothing more to be done, but merely to repeat what is already proved, and that as often as the Position is offered and assigned. And therefore it must not be expected that any one will spend, and waste his Time, in the pursuit of every Trifle, with the like exactness and fullness: That may be, perhaps, the Business of an Orator, but never of a Philosopher. I have been purposely thus prolix, that I may be shorter in putting an End to the remainder; nor have I leisure to animadvert on all the Blunders of this Author.

I have already shewn the Impotency of Dr. _Mead_ in managing an Argument; and, at the same Time, I have over-turned and exploded some common Opinions, that were by him weakly defended; and that, because it is of great Use and Importance that Mankind be rightly apprized of them. How easily are any Man’s Fears dispell’d? What real Security does he acquire, when his _Reason_ is convinced, that the _Plague_ of _Pestilence_ is not begot by any _Contagion_, properly speaking? That this Plague is not propagated from the Body of a _Sick_ Person into the Body of the _Sound_: That it makes no _Nest_, is not _cherished_, nor _nursed_ in _soft_ or _porous_ Bodies, that its Seeds may be _propagated_ and _conveyed_ into far _distant_ Countries. And therefore, as we are to follow Dr. _Mead_ in the remaining Part of his _Short Discourse_, we must go back to consider some _Phenomena_, he thought fit to premise to his Inquiries about _Contagion_, but what, I hope every Reader will think, are most properly considered in this Place, if he will pardon the considering them at all.

The first Thing we are presented with, is a heavy Charge against the Winds, for not doing their Duty; but that _Æolus_ himself is an _Aider_ and _Abettor_ of Plagues, by not sending his Winds Abroad, and thereby stagnating the Air; for we are taught in this curious Discourse, [10]_That the Use of Winds is to purify the Air by their Motion_. But this Charge is altogether false, and ill grounded, because, Wind in _England_ is put to many Uses; it not only blows cold, but it blows hot; it fans our Ladies, and our Corn too; it dries Linnen, and sails our Ships, _&c._ Besides, this Charge is absolutely false, for the Physician that has left an Account of the Winds Behaviour in 1665[11], tells us, That it was very dutiful, and, that the whole Summer was refreshed with moderate Breezes, sufficient to prevent the Air’s _Stagnation_ and _Corruption_, and to carry off the _pestilential Steams_: The Heat was likewise too mild to encourage such _Corruption_ and _Fermentation_ as helps to taint the animal Fluids. And therefore howsoever fond Dr. _Mead_ is of Stagnation, through any failure of the Winds, it is certain that they were then very blameless, let the Doctor find his Stagnation where he can. Moreover, the Physicians were not of Opinion, at that Time[12], that the _Air_ was _infected_, and therefore Doctor _Hodges_ tells us, That they were against making Fires, for the Reason of this Purity of Air; and, that Fires are only proper when it is _impure_ and _corrupted_. After this Account of Things, who will question Dr. _Mead_’s great _Acuteness_ and _Accuracy_ in making Observations; or, whether am not I more to be blamed for observing those Trifles of the Doctor? Yet I cannot avoid making one short Observation more, which may proceed from the small Regard the Doctor has to Memory; for at two Pages off he assures us, _That our Air is not disposed to receive such_ (contagious) _Impressions_; then what need we mind the Stagnation of the Air? Is there a Man in _England_, that will not forgive him this Contradiction, if he will make the last part of it good?

[Footnote 10: Page 4.]

[Footnote 11: Page 18.]

[Footnote 12: Page 19.]

But we are immediately to have more Comfort of this Kind; for he assures us, That _Plagues seem to be of the Growth of the _Southern_ and _Eastern_ Parts of the World_; and I am sorry that they only seem to be so; because what follows may _seem_ only to be true, _That there is not in this Island particularly, any one Instance of a pestilential Disease among us, of great Consequence, that we have not received from other infected Places_. Here is another Draw-back upon us again: A _pestilential Disease_ of any Consequence! Is any Plague in a Country without Consequence? Surely many Widows and Orphans find it otherwise. But the Doctor will make amends for Families brought to Ruin and Poverty, by the loss of Parents and Husbands; by ridding us of a vulgar Error, of the Plague visiting us once in Thirty or Forty Years. So that if a Plague brings a mighty Calamity along with it, we may comfort our selves, that it comes but seldom.

This was the very Purpose for which he gave us, with great Assurance, the Origine of Plagues; because he would charitably rescue us from an _Opinion propagated by Authors of great Name, that we are visited with the Plague once in thirty or forty Years; which is a mere Fancy, without any Foundation either in Reason or Experience_. I cannot assign any Reason for the Plague thus visiting us; but Experience is not of the side of the terrible, but common Opinion, as _Hodges_[13] assures us, and the Bills of Mortality confirm; for there we find it has visited us oftner, with all its _Tokens_, _Buboes_, and _Carbuncles_, and more than once since that Time, if Dr. _Mead_’s _pestilential Diseases_, of smaller Consequence, are admitted.

[Footnote 13: Page 3. _Transl._]

Now if the Plague of Pestilence has thus frequently shewn it self, in its most terrible manner, and very often not so terribly, how can People prevent taking _Fright_ at the _King_ of _Terrors_? Or, with what Face can Dr. _Mead_ call terrible Death, _vain Fears_? Can a reasonable People, relying on History, and their own Experience of Things, be delivered from their Fears, by a bold Assertion, that can proceed from no other Cause, than great Ignorance, or the worst Opinion of the Reason and Experience of Mankind, that they are subject to so gross an Imposition, as to take _Comfort_ in the most _lamentable_ Danger, _exposed_ to Death, and _forsaken_ by their dearest Friends; and all upon an Assertion, that is neither grounded on _Knowledge_, nor _Integrity_? It may be a _pia Fraus, a well meant Cheat_, but it cannot be of any manner of Use.

The truest Comfort arises from an Opinion, That an Adviser knows what he says; and says, what in his Conscience he believes to be true. How much greater is the Comfort we take, from a Perswasion that the Plague seldom, or never, passes from one Body into another, as was lately proved? As also, that Observations rather inform us of the Seeds of a Pestilence, seldom, or never, being brought over to us in foreign Goods; and besides these two Perswasions, founded on Reason and Experience, we have the Authority of the best Physicians in all Ages, that the Plague, nor any other Disease, is speedily generated. By the first of those Accounts, we have fewer Chances for being sick; and we are sure, by the second, that we have Time to prevent it, or to take the Distemper early, before it is settled into a Habit, or confirmed in a Disease. Such Reasoning, such Observation, is proceeding on good and firm Ground; the other, altogether depends on the Knowledge and Honesty of the Insurer, which can never be depended on, if we have any doubt about his Sincerity, or Understanding.

What Doctor _Mead_ has already said, is contrary to the Experience of Mankind, and is purely supported on his bare Assertion; and therefore, I am afraid no great Comfort can be reasonably taken from it.

His next Assertion, about the Sweating Sickness, labours under all the Defects imaginable. He will not allow it to be of _British_ Original; nay, that _it is a Plague abated in its Violence by the mild Temperament of our Climate_. He, afterwards, brings it from _France_, and clears the _French_ of its being bred among them; for they, says he, brought it from the Siege of _Rhodes_. Can any Man equal this Doctor in Assertion? Or in quoting History absurdly? For it carries the Name of _Sudor Anglicus_, and our Country charged for having produced it. All foreign Physicians declare it peculiar to _England_; and, that a parcel of it went into _Holland_; but neither _French_, nor _Italian_ Physician, heard any Thing of it, in their own Country, nor among the _Greek_ Islands; and the _Dutch_ fix the Scene of the Sweating Sickness in _England_. So the Sweating Sickness was four Times in _England_, and no where else; yet it is the Fag-end of the Plague brought from _Rhodes_, and thither God knows how, or from whence: But all this supported by much foreign Reading.

He _calls this Distemper a Plague with lessen’d Force, _because_ the Symptoms of it were of that Kind, tho’ in a less Degree, as great Faintness and Inquietudes, inward Burning, Pains in the Head, a Delirium_, &c. I am glad we have Dr. _Mead_’s Description of a Plague, it being the first Time he has ventur’d to mention it; and, to do him Justice, he has touched upon it very gently: But, if this is the Plague, we are not seldom, but often visited with it. So there ends our Comfort.

Is this truly a Plague, _feeble and week_ thro’ travelling? And did infinite Persons die suddenly of it? And that in Twenty four Hours. Pray, what can we think happen’d to the Nations that felt the sharp end of it, and those that came under its Fury, long before it reach’d us? Surely more than infinite Persons of them must have perished, and in infinitely shorter Time than Twenty four Hours, so that great Tracts of Country must have been dispeopled in one Day. Can any Man think an _Æra_ as remarkable as the _Deluge_, could pass in History without Observation? Or, that all Historians should overlook so great a Wonder, the very Soul of an Historian, and all to fix a Calumny on our _English_ Air, and to call a _monstrous_ Disease a _British_ Fever? It must be owned, that the Doctor is the greatest Traveller that ever was; for he has entertained us with the most _admirable_ and _surprizing_ Relation of the _Feats_ and _Travels_ of a Plague that ever was told.

This sufficiently shews the great _Candor_ of our Author, and his great _Judgment_ in comparing Diseases, as has been already noted by another Hand; for if a Plague kills infinite Persons in Twenty four Hours, I cannot see how properly it can be called _Feeble_; nay, if a true Judgment is made of it, the Plague in _France_ is not to be compared to it for its Strength; and, God knows, the _French_ find its Power too great, and God grant that we may never try its Feebleness. Our Author’s _Judgment_ is no less conspicuous, in comparing what he calls the _Dunkirk Fever_, with the _Sweating Sickness_, for that was neither an _Ephemera_ of one, nor of more Days; neither did it terminate in Twenty four Hours. How then are those two Diseases alike, that have nothing of the same _Features_ or Resemblance, no more than the Time of their Duration was the same. Besides, this was not the Fag-end of any Plague, but a Fever we find to be very common in all the Marshy Places in the Low Countries; and what the _Dutch_ call a Fever from the POLDERS, and that happens in the end of a hot Summer, or in the beginning of the Autumn.

But if I may guess by the _Cant_ Name we find this Fever bears, of the _Dunkirk Fever_, I may believe the Doctor means that _Schelick_ Fever that happened in 1715; but I will not answer for the Time: This Fever was then called the _Galloping_ Fever, because too many Physicians knew not a more proper Name for it, and it was a new Disease to them. This Fever indeed lasted 3 or 4 Days, and often went off with a gentle Sweat, but killed no body, whatever Method they took for curing it, or that they did not any thing for its Cure. Now, with Submission to the great Dr. _Mead_, I cannot find the Relation and Likeness this _Galloping Fever_ has to the _Sweating Sickness_, Native of _England_, in the very beginning, and the end of the Reign of _Henry_ VII.

One Observation I would make from the foregoing Accounts, and that is very comfortable to _Patients_ and their _Physicians_; that, _hereafter_, neither of these will think themselves ill used, for Dr. _Mead_’s saying, that a Physician (especially if he hates or fears him more than the Plague) has mistaken his Disease, and has prescrib’d improperly on that, or any other Account: and that because we find him little acquainted with the Descriptions of Diseases, and not over-faithful in relating them. Let this _Corollary_, _Scholium_, or which of this Language he affects, never _depart_ from the Memory of a judicious; reasonable Patient, or his or her Physician.

I ought not to remark further in this first Part, if he did not expect I should not omit what he says of the _Fury_ of the Plague in 1665. This Scene is prepared by calling in a Disposition to Contagion that is in every, the very best of, Air; and hereby we felt this Calamity of a Plague in this Year. He says, _It continued in this City about ten Months; and swept away by Computation 97306 Persons_. He will have it allowed, that the Disease came by _Cotton_; and he charges the Duration of it on the Government, by their ordering to shut up the Houses. But this is the Unhappiness of this Physician, that he makes every Relation either incredible, or frivolous, when he would point out its Greatness, and make us feel it. I cannot tell where he pick’d up this Account; but he makes it less terrible than it was truly, by misrepresenting the Fact. Dr. _Hodges_ tells us, that some computed the Loss by the Plague to have been One Hundred Thousand; and herein he is followed by Doctor _Rosary_, alias _Anodyne-Necklace_: but no body can tell Dr. _M_’s Voucher.

But if we consult the Bill of Mortality of that Year, we find only fifty Thousand one Hundred and 22; and if we add 1/4 Mr. _Graunt_ proves to be suppressed in the Account, there will be sixty six Thousand six Hundred and 96 died of the Plague in 1665. But if we consider that it began about the _27th_ of _December, 1664_. and ended the _26th_ of _September, 1665_. we find it did not last above nine Months. Consider likewise, that from the _27th_ of _December_ to the _6th_ of _June_ inclusively there only died 92. and therefore the Mortality is to be reckoned from the _13th_ of _June, 1665_. to the _26th_ of _September_ in that Year. Now if we take the Mortality to have been equal (as it was not) from the _13th_ of _June_ to the _26th_ of _September_, the Mortality did not last above 16 Weeks: So that the Mortality was really greater than if there had died equally 100000 in ten Months; for in this Case there only died 2500 each Week: but by the true Account there died 4162. a far greater Mortality, and far more terrible, than what is brought on the former Supposition, about the time the Plague lasted, and the Havock that it made in that time.

It is not only the Numbers that fall by the Plague that strike Terror into Men, but the Suddenness and Manner of Dying heighten our Fears, and make every thing more terrible; for Physicians have been Strangers to the Disease, nor have their Remedies been able to give any Check to its Fury. The People die with Medicines and without them, and those that have seemed to be useful in one Case, have seldom failed to prove hurtful in another. No body is found strong enough to resist it, neither they who had the best Constitution, nor they who have been treated in the best Method. But what is most grievous, on those Occasions, is the great Despair that seizes the Infected, who are so far from submitting to the most proper Endeavours that may be made for their Cure, that they abandon, and give themselves up as helpless, and out of the Power of any Relief: while the Disease gets Ground, acquires new Strength, and lays desolate the most populous Cities.

I shall end my Remarks on the first Part of the _short Discourse_, in the Words of the late Bishop of _Rochester_[14], who describes this terrible Article very pathetically.

_Here, lies a Mother and her Child; The Infant suck’d as yet, and smil’d; But strait by its own Food was kill’d: There Parents hugg’d their Children last; Here, prating Lovers last embrac’d; But yet not parting neither: They both expir’d, and went away together. The Friend does hear his Friend’s last Cries; Parts his Grief for him, and then dies; Lives not enough to close his Eyes. The Father, at his Death, Speaks his Son Heir, with an infectious Breath: In the same Hour the Son does take His Father’s Will, and his own make. The Servant needs not here be slain, To serve his Master in the other World again; They languishing together lie; Their Souls away together flie: The Husband gasps; his Wife lies by: It must be her turn next to die: The Husband and the Wife Too truly now are one, and live one Life: That Couple, who the Gods did entertain, Had made their Prayers here in vain: No Fates in Death could them divide; They must, without their Privilege, together both have dy’d._

[Footnote 14: _Plague of_ Athens, Stan. 19 & 20.]

PART II. Explained.

It is with the greatest Pleasure we enter upon the Method of _preventing_, tho’ not of _curing_ this _insidious_ Enemy of Mankind, which very justly has filled the World with Fear and Horror. For this Reason, and that Matters may proceed not only in greater Order, but also with greater Truth, Dr. _Mead_ has gone through much _Philosophy_ and _Theory_ in _Medicine_, with great _Labour_ and _Fatigue_; even to _fainting_ away, _despairing_ often in doing any thing to his own Satisfaction, knowing by much Experience, that the World is not so hard to please.

And therefore, he begins this second Part, by telling us, how great a _Satisfaction_ it is, _to know that the Plague is no Native of our Country_. I hope he is satisfy’d with this Conceit, but I am afraid few People find any new Assurance, and Courage, springing up in them, upon this Assertion; or that they can have a better Heart to face the Plague more boldly, if it should be our Misfortune to have a Visit from it at this time.

But in what Page does this Demonstration lie? He has only told us, hitherto, that the _pure_ Air is only _infected_ with _pestilential Steams_, that rise out of Bogs; or out of Men that have died of the Plague; or else that these Steams were packed up in Goods, and with them carried from one Country into another: and tho’ this be bravely told, without any Reason assigned for it; yet we know not where they first have their Origine, and of what Country they are Natives. We have seen an Original English Plague, that came from no Place in the World, and took up its Abode altogether here; and whether all the rest, that have afflicted our Island, are Natives or Foreigners, is nothing so clear, as to build any great Satisfaction upon. And therefore, I do think, with the Doctor, that all Means should be found out to _keep our selves clear from it_; tho’ we can find no great _Encouragement_ from what he yet has told us.

This Caution, as he tells us, consists of two Parts: _The preventing its being brought into our Island_; and, _The putting a stop to its spreading among us_. But, as the Doctor has a very ill Memory, and seldom performs what he promises, give me leave to put him in mind of a Promise, in his Preface; that _his Method will be different from that taken in former times among us, and from what they commonly do abroad_: Tho’ we have no Encouragement to think, that _it will prove agreeable to Reason_.