Part 3
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.
THE Air is moreover the more convenient Recepticle and Conveyance of this pestilential Poyson, on account of that nitrous Spirit with which it abounds; hence it more easily receives the poisonous _Aura_, and faithfully preserves it as in a proper Conservatory, and on this Account the pernicious Qualities, (unless first destroyed by some uncommon Power) sooner reach any Subject to act upon, and float about in Readiness for Destruction: Sometimes also the pestilential _Miasmata_ may be broke and destroyed by the Occursion of others, without any Perception of either having been in this _Medium_.
HENCE it comes strongly to be conjectured, how the pestilential _Seminium_ comes to be hid so secretly in the Porosities of the Air, so as to be conveyed from one Country to another, and to travel unperceived into very distant Regions. Further, as this _Medium_ is more still, it is so much the more capable to receive the pestilential Infection; whereupon Places that are close, confined, and dark, as Prisons, and Houses in Vallies, are much more liable to Contagion, than Situations upon Eminencies, where the Air is frequently agitated by Winds; for the malignant _Effluvia_ cannot so well fix in an Air so tumultuously hurried about; and they are likewise rendred less hurtful by a continual Mixture of fresh Air with them.
_THIRDLY_, A suitable Disposition of the Subject is very necessary for the Reception of the pestilential Taint; and this Disposition respects either some Fitness in the Pores of the Body, or a long Accumulation of distempered Humours. The more open the Pores are, and the wider, by so much the more easily will the Infection penetrate into the Body; and the more constringed they are, the better Security is there against it, insomuch that hardly by any other Means can it enter.
A Turgescency of bad Humours greatly facilitates the Plague’s Admission into any Person, whether such a morbid Constitution arises from the Suppression of usual Evacuations, or from an erroneous Use of the Non-naturals; and most of all, a Load of bad Humours from an Excess or a Surfeit, leaves so great a Similitude to the pestilential Poison, as greatly to encourage its Admission. But besides these Dispositions of the Subject, it is much to the Purpose to suggest this following Observation, that the Plague is sometimes so much hereditary, and influenced by a seminal Taint, that in a common Contagion it shall much exert it self in some in the same Manner upon Children, as their Parents, as in the _Small-Pox_, and other Affections of like Nature.
_FOURTHLY_, It is necessary that there should be a continual Lodgment of the pestilential Poison; for if the noxious Steams were blown away as soon as received, there would be but little Mischief done; but those which meet with any glutinous Matter, and a certain _Lentor_ from the Viscidity of the Humours, with which they lie entangled, until they are carried through the larger Vessels with the Blood, begin to fuse and taint all the animal Juices; and thus the pestiferous _Miasmata_ having got Possession, are able to subvert the whole Machine, and bring all into Confusion, without requiring any long Stay to execute their pernicious Effects; for as soon as they once find a viscid and tenacious Substance, they eagerly join with it, and are but with great Difficulty to be extricated. Yet notwithstanding it is generally thus, I have sometimes found Instances of a longer Stay of the pestilential Poison before its Exertion, where the Symptoms of Infection have not appeared until a fit Time of Maturity for Eruption into Action, and for the Confirmation of which several Instances might be produced were it controverted; I have known many go into the Country after Intercourses with the infected, and keep well for a Month or two, when the Enemy that has lay hid so long, rushed out of its Fastnesses, and by its Fury sufficiently compensated its foregoing Delays; and this Eruption sooner might very probably have been hindred, partly by the Viscosity of the Humours entangling the pestilential _Miasmata_, and partly from an over-powerful balsamick Quality, natural to a good Blood, and to a Plenty and Vigour of animal Spirit; but as I would not be tedious upon Things so very obvious, this shall suffice concerning a Contagion.
BESIDES the Causes already recited, there may be others also worth Consideration, _viz._ the eating corrupted, or rotten Flesh; and it is not at all foreign to our Purpose here to take Notice, that on the Year before the late pestilential Sickness, there was a great Mortality amongst the Cattel, from a very wet Autumn, whereby their Carcases were sold amongst the ordinary People at a very mean Price; and a great deal of putrid Humours in all likelihood produced from thence: And this, in the Opinion of many, was the Source of our last Calamities; and many knowing Persons ascribe the Pestilence to this Origin, as the morbid Disposition which such a Feeding must needs subject the People, could not but facilitate both the Infection and Progress of that fatal Destroyer.
TO this I do not deny, but that the common People, who fed upon such a Diet even to Gluttony, might treasure up Matter enough for so deadly an Impression, and with which the Plague might naturally enough go into a Co-operation; but such Provision, although very much corrupt, and liable thereby to excite Symptoms like to those in a Pestilence; yet they were not in Plenty enough to supply the whole Market, and therefore a Cause so private and particular, could not be supposed to extend to so universal an Effect.
HENCE it is further manifest, that a corrupt Diet can do no more in giving a pestilential Impression, than a good one can in removing it; and therefore, not to dwell too long upon this Matter, it is my Opinion that such a Way of Living may raise the Humours to a Degree of Putrefaction, as brings Fevers very malignant, and causes epidemical Diseases, but not a true Pestilence.