CHAPTER VI.

PHYSICIANS.

If we now turn to the medical talent which encountered the “Great Mortality,” the middle ages must stand excused, since even the moderns are of opinion that the art of medicine is not able to cope with the Oriental plague, and can afford deliverance from it only under particularly favorable circumstances.[155] We must bear in mind also, that human science and art, appear particularly weak in great pestilences, because they have to contend with the powers of nature, of which they have no knowledge; and which, if they had been, or could be comprehended in their collective effects, would remain uncontrollable by them, principally on account of the disordered condition of human society. Moreover, every new plague has its peculiarities, which are the less easily discovered on first view, because, during its ravages, fear and consternation humble the proud spirit.

[155] “Curationem omnem respuit pestis confirmata.”--_Chalin_, p. 33.

The physicians of the 14th century, during the Black Death, did what human intellect could do in the actual condition of the healing art; and their knowledge of the disease was by no means despicable. They, like the rest of mankind, have indulged in prejudices, and defended them, perhaps, with too much obstinacy: some of these, however, were founded in the mode of thinking of the age, and passed current in those days, as established truths: others continue to exist to the present hour.

Their successors in the 19th century, ought not therefore to vaunt too highly the pre-eminence of their knowledge, for they too will be subjected to the severe judgment of posterity--they too, will, with reason, be accused of human weakness and want of foresight.

The medical faculty of Paris, the most celebrated of the 14th century, were commissioned to deliver their opinion on the causes of the Black Plague, together with some appropriate regulations with regard to living, during its prevalence. This document is sufficiently remarkable to find a place here.

“We, the Members of the College of Physicians, of Paris, have, after mature consideration and consultation on the present mortality, collected the advice of our old masters in the art, and intend to make known the causes of this pestilence, more clearly than could be done according to the rules and principles of astrology and natural science; we, therefore, declare as follows:--

“It is known that in India, and the vicinity of the Great Sea, the constellations which combated the rays of the sun, and the warmth of the heavenly fire, exerted their power especially against that sea, and struggled violently with its waters. Hence, vapours often originate which envelope the sun, and convert his light into darkness. These vapours alternately rose and fell for twenty-eight days; but at last, sun and fire acted so powerfully upon the sea, that they attracted a great portion of it to themselves, and the waters of the ocean arose in the form of vapour; thereby the waters were in some parts, so corrupted, that the fish which they contained, died. These corrupted waters, however, the heat of the sun could not consume, neither could other wholesome water, hail or snow, and dew, originate therefrom. On the contrary, this vapour spread itself through the air in many places on the earth, and enveloped them in fog.

“Such was the case all over Arabia, in a part of India; in Crete; in the plains and valleys of Macedonia; in Hungary; Albania and Sicily. Should the same thing occur in Sardinia, not a man will be left alive; and the like will continue, so long as the sun remains in the sign of Leo, on all the islands and adjoining countries to which this corrupted sea-wind extends, or has already extended from India. If the inhabitants of those parts do not employ and adhere to the following, or similar means and precepts, we announce to them inevitable death--except the grace of Christ preserve their lives.

“We are of opinion, that the constellations, with the aid of Nature, strive, by virtue of their divine might, to protect and heal the human race; and to this end, in union with the rays of the sun, acting through the power of fire, endeavour to break through the mist. Accordingly, within the next ten days, and until the 17th of the ensuing month of July, this mist will be converted into a stinking deleterious rain, whereby the air will be much purified. Now, as soon as this rain announces itself, by thunder or hail, every one of you should protect himself from the air; and, as well before as after the rain, kindle a large fire of vine-wood, green laurel, or other green wood; wormwood and chamomile should also be burnt in great quantity in the market places, in other densely inhabited localities, and in the houses. Until the earth is again completely dry, and for three days afterwards, no one ought to go abroad in the fields. During this time the diet should be simple, and people should be cautious in avoiding exposure in the cool of the evening, at night, and in the morning. Poultry and water-fowl, young pork, old beef, and fat meat, in general, should not be eaten; but on the contrary, meat of a proper age, of a warm and dry nature, by no means, however, heating and exciting. Broth should be taken, seasoned with ground pepper, ginger and cloves, especially by those who are accustomed to live temperately, and are yet choice in their diet. Sleep in the day-time is detrimental; it should be taken at night until sun-rise, or somewhat longer. At breakfast, one should drink little; supper should be taken an hour before sun-set, when more may be drunk than in the morning. Clear light wine, mixed with a fifth or sixth part of water, should be used as a beverage. Dried or fresh fruits with wine are not injurious; but highly so without it. Beet-root and other vegetables, whether eaten pickled or fresh, are hurtful; on the contrary, spicy pot-herbs, as sage or rosemary, are wholesome. Cold, moist, watery food is, in general, prejudicial. Going out at night, and even until three o’clock in the morning, is dangerous, on account of the dew. Only small river fish should be used. Too much exercise is hurtful. The body should be kept warmer than usual, and thus protected from moisture and cold. Rain-water must not be employed in cooking, and every one should guard against exposure to wet weather. If it rain, a little fine treacle should be taken after dinner. Fat people should not sit in the sunshine. Good clear wine should be selected and drunk often, but in small quantities, by day. Olive oil, as an article of food, is fatal. Equally injurious are fasting or excessive abstemiousness, anxiety of mind, anger, and excessive drinking. Young people, in autumn especially, must abstain from all these things, if they do not wish to run a risk of dying of dysentery. In order to keep the body properly open, an enema, or some other simple means, should be employed, when necessary. Bathing is injurious. Men must preserve chastity as they value their lives. Every one should impress this on his recollection, but especially those who reside on the coast, or upon an island into which the noxious wind has penetrated.”[156]

[156] _Jacob._ _Francischini de Ambrosiis._ In the Appendix to the Istorie Pistolesi. _Muratori_, Tom. XI. p. 528.

On what occasion these strange precepts were delivered can no longer be ascertained, even if it were an object to know it. It must be acknowledged, however, that they do not redound to the credit either of the faculty of Paris, or of the 14th century in general. This famous faculty found themselves under the painful necessity of being wise at command, and of firing a point blank shot of erudition at an enemy who enveloped himself in a dark mist, of the nature of which they had no conception. In concealing their ignorance by authoritative assertions, they suffered themselves, therefore, to be misled; and while endeavouring to appear to the world with eclat, only betrayed to the intelligent their lamentable weakness. Now some might suppose, that in the condition of the sciences in the 14th century, no intelligent physicians existed; but this is altogether at variance with the laws of human advancement, and is contradicted by history. The real knowledge of an age, is only shown in the archives of its literature. Men of talent here alone deposit the results of their experience and reflection, without vanity or a selfish object:--here alone the genius of truth speaks audibly. There is no ground for believing that, in the 14th century, men of this kind were publicly questioned regarding their views; and it is, therefore, the more necessary that impartial history should take up their cause and do justice to their merits.

The first notice on this subject is due to a very celebrated teacher in Perugia, Gentilis of Foligno, who, on the 18th of June, 1348, fell a sacrifice to the plague, in the faithful discharge of his duty.[157] Attached to Arabian doctrines, and to the universally respected Galen, he, in common with all his contemporaries, believed in a putrid corruption of the blood in the lungs and in the heart, which was occasioned by the pestilential atmosphere, and was forthwith communicated to the whole body. He thought, therefore, that everything depended upon a sufficient purification of the air, by means of large blazing fires of odoriferous wood, in the vicinity of the healthy, as well as of the sick, and also upon an appropriate manner of living; so that the putridity might not overpower the diseased. In conformity with notions derived from the ancients, he depended upon bleeding and purging, at the commencement of the attack, for the purpose of purification; ordered the healthy to wash themselves frequently with vinegar or wine, to sprinkle their dwellings with vinegar, and to smell often to camphor, or other volatile substances. Hereupon he gave, after the Arabian fashion, detailed rules, with an abundance of different medicines, of whose healing powers wonderful things were believed. He laid little stress upon super-lunar influences, so far as respected the malady itself; on which account, he did not enter into the great controversies of the astrologers, but always kept in view, as an object of medical attention, the corruption of the blood in the lungs and heart. He believed in a progressive infection from country to country, according to the notions of the present day; and the contagious power of the disease, even in the vicinity of those affected by plague, was, in his opinion, beyond all doubt.[158] On this point, intelligent contemporaries were all agreed; and in truth, it required no great genius to be convinced of so palpable a fact. Besides, correct notions of contagion have descended from remote antiquity, and were maintained unchanged in the 14th century.[159] So far back as the age of Plato, a knowledge of the contagious power of malignant inflammations of the eye, of which also no physician of the middle ages entertained a doubt,[160] was general among the people;[161] yet, in modern times, surgeons have filled volumes with partial controversies on this subject. The whole language of antiquity has adapted itself to the notions of the people, respecting the contagion of pestilential diseases; and their terms were, beyond comparison, more expressive than those in use among the moderns.[162]

[157] _Gentilis de Fulgineo_, Consilia. De Peste cons. I. II. fol. 76. 77. Venet. 1514. fol.

[158] “Venenosa putredo circa partes cordis et pulmonis de quibus exeunte venenoso vapore, periculum est in vicinitatibus.” Cons. I. fol. 76, a.

[159] _Dr. Maclean’s_ notion that the doctrine of contagion was first promulgated in the year 1547, by Pope Paul III. &c., thus falls to the ground, together with all the arguments founded on it.--See _Maclean_ on Epid. and Pestilent. Diseases, 8vo. 1817, Pt. II. Book II. ch. 3. 4.--_Transl. note._

[160] Lippitudo contagione spectantium oculos afficit.--_Chalin de Vinario_, p. 149.

[161] See the Author’s Geschichte der Heilkunde, Vol. II. P. III.

[162] Compare _Marx_, Origines contagii. Caroliruh. et Bad. 1824. 8.

Arrangements for the protection of the healthy against contagious diseases, the necessity of which is shewn from these notions, were regarded by the ancients as useful; and by many, whose circumstances permitted it, were carried into effect in their houses. Even a total separation of the sick from the healthy, that indispensable means of protection against infection by contact, was proposed by physicians of the 2nd century after Christ, in order to check the spreading of leprosy. But it was decidedly opposed, because, as it was alleged, the healing art ought not to be guilty of such harshness.[163] This mildness of the ancients, in whose manner of thinking inhumanity was so often and so undisguisedly conspicuous, might excite surprise, if it were anything more than apparent. The true ground of the neglect of public protection against pestilential diseases, lay in the general notion and constitution of human society,--it lay in the disregard of human life, of which the great nations of antiquity have given proofs in every page of their history. Let it not be supposed that they wanted knowledge respecting the propagation of contagious diseases. On the contrary, they were as well informed on this subject as the moderns; but this was shewn where individual property, not where human life, on the grand scale, was to be protected. Hence the ancients made a general practice of arresting the progress of murrains among cattle, by a separation of the diseased from the healthy. Their herds alone enjoyed that protection which they held it impracticable to extend to human society, because they had no wish to do so.[164] That the governments in the 14th century, were not yet so far advanced, as to put into practice general regulations for checking the plague, needs no especial proof. Physicians could, therefore, only advise public purifications of the air by means of large fires, as had often been practised in ancient times; and they were obliged to leave it to individual families, either to seek safety in flight, or to shut themselves up in their dwellings,[165] a method which answers in common plagues, but which here afforded no complete security, because such was the fury of the disease when it was at its height, that the atmosphere of whole cities was penetrated by the infection.

[163] _Cael. Aurelian._ Chron. L. IV. c. l. p. 497. _Ed. Amman._ “Sed hi ægrotantem destituendum magis imperant, quam curandum, quod a se alienum humanitas approbat medicinæ.”

[164] _Geschichte der Heilkunde_, Vol. II. p. 248.

[165] _Chalin_ assures us expressly, that many nunneries, by closing their gates, remained free from the contagion. It is worthy of note, and quite in conformity with the prevailing notions, that the continuance in a thick, moist atmosphere, was generally esteemed more advantageous and conservative, on account of its being more impenetrable to the astral influence, inasmuch as the inferior cause kept off the superior.--_Chalin_, p. 48.

Of the astral influence which was considered to have originated the “Great Mortality,” physicians and learned men were as completely convinced as of the fact of its reality. A grand conjunction of the three superior planets, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, in the sign of Aquarius, which took place according to Guy de Chauliac, on the 24th of March, 1345, was generally received as its principal cause. In fixing the day, this physician, who was deeply versed in astrology, did not agree with others; whereupon there arose various disputations, of weight in that age, but of none in ours; people, however, agreed in this--that conjunctions of the planets infallibly prognosticated great events; great revolutions of kingdoms, new prophets, destructive plagues, and other occurrences which bring distress and horror on mankind. No medical author of the 14th and 15th century, omits an opportunity of representing them as among the general prognostics of great plagues; nor can we, for our parts, regard the astrology of the middle ages, as a mere offspring of superstition. It has not only, in common with all ideas which inspire and guide mankind, a high historical importance, entirely independent of its error or truth--for the influence of both is equally powerful--but there are also contained in it, as in alchymy, grand thoughts of antiquity, of which modern natural philosophy is so little ashamed that she claims them as her property. Foremost among these, is the idea of the general life which diffuses itself throughout the whole universe, expressed by the greatest Greek sages, and transmitted to the middle ages, through the new Platonic natural philosophy. To this impression of an universal organism, the assumption of a reciprocal influence of terrestrial bodies could not be foreign,[166] nor did this cease to correspond with a higher view of nature, until astrologers overstepped the limits of human knowledge with frivolous and mystical calculations.

[166] This was called _Affluxus_, or _Forma specifica_, and was compared to the effect of a magnet on iron, and of amber on chaff.--_Chalin de Vinario_, p. 23.

Guy de Chauliac, considers the influence of the conjunction, which was held to be all-potent, as the chief general cause of the Black Plague; the diseased state of bodies, the corruption of the fluids, debility, obstruction, and so forth, as the especial subordinate causes.[167] By these, according to his opinion, the quality of the air, and of the other elements, was so altered, that they set poisonous fluids in motion towards the inward parts of the body, in the same manner as the magnet attracts iron; whence there arose in the commencement fever and the spitting of blood; afterwards, however, a deposition in the form of glandular swellings and inflammatory boils. Herein the notion of an epidemic constitution was set forth, clearly and conformably, to the spirit of the age. Of contagion, Guy de Chauliac was completely convinced. He sought to protect himself against it by the usual means;[168] and it was probably he who advised Pope Clement VI. to shut himself up while the plague lasted. The preservation of this pope’s life, however, was most beneficial to the city of Avignon, for he loaded the poor with judicious acts of kindness,--took care to have proper attendants provided, and paid physicians himself to afford assistance wherever human aid could avail; an advantage which, perhaps, no other city enjoyed.[169] Nor was the treatment of plague patients in Avignon by any means objectionable; for, after the usual depletions by bleeding and aperients, where circumstances required them, they endeavoured to bring the buboes to suppuration; they made incisions into the inflammatory boils, or burned them with a red-hot iron, a practice which at all times proves salutary, and in the Black Plague saved many lives. In this city, the Jews, who lived in a state of the greatest filth, were most severely visited, as also the Spaniards, whom Chalin accuses of great intemperance.[170]

[167] Causa universalis agens--causa particularis patiens. To this correspond, in _Chalin_, the expressions Causa superior et inferior.

[168] Purging with alöetic pills; bleeding; purification of the air by means of large fires; the use of treacle; frequent smelling to volatile substances, of which certain “poma,” were prepared; the internal use of Armenian bole,--a plague-remedy derived from the Arabians, and, throughout the middle ages, much in vogue, and very improperly used; and the employment of acescent food, in order to resist putridity. _Guy de Chauliac_ appears to have recommended flight to many. Loc. citat. p. 115. Compare _Chalin_, L. II. who gives most excellent precepts on this subject.

[169] _Auger. de Biterris._ Loc. cit.

[170] L. I. c. 4. p. 39.

Still more distinct notions on the causes of the plague were stated to his contemporaries in the 14th century, by Galeazzo di Santa Sofia, a learned man, a native of Padua, who likewise treated plague-patients at Vienna,[171] though in what year is undetermined. He distinguishes carefully _pestilence_ from _epidemie_ and _endemie_. The common notion of the two first accords exactly with that of an epidemic constitution, for both consist, according to him, in an unknown change or corruption of the air; with this difference, that _pestilence_ calls forth diseases of different kinds; _epidemie_, on the contrary, always the same disease. As an example of an _epidemie_, he adduces a cough (influenza) which was observed in all climates at the same time, without perceptible cause; but he recognized the approach of a _pestilence_, independently of unusual natural phenomena, by the more frequent occurrence of various kinds of fever, to which the modern physicians would assign a nervous and putrid character. The _endemie_ originates, according to him, only in local telluric changes--in deleterious influences which develope themselves in the earth and in the water, without a corruption of the air. These notions were variously jumbled together in his time, like everything which human understanding separates by too fine a line of limitation. The estimation of cosmical influences, however, in the _epidemie_ and _pestilence_, is well worthy of commendation; and Santa Sofia, in this respect, not only agrees with the most intelligent persons of the 14th and 15th centuries, but he has also promulgated an opinion which must, even now, serve as a foundation for our scarcely commenced investigations into cosmical influences.[172] _Pestilence_ and _epidemie_, consist, not in alterations of the four primary qualities,[173] but in a corruption of the air, powerful, though quite immaterial, and not cognoscible by the senses: (corruptio aëris non substantialis, sed qualitativa) in a disproportion of the imponderables in the atmosphere, as it would be expressed by the moderns.[174] The causes of the _pestilence_ and _epidemie_ are, first of all, astral influences, especially on occasion of planetary conjunctions; then extensive putrefaction of animal and vegetable bodies, and terrestrial corruptions (corruptio in terra); to which also, bad diet and want may contribute. Santa Sofia considers the putrefaction of locusts, that had perished in the sea, and were again thrown up, combined with astral and terrestrial influences, as the cause of the pestilence in the eventful year of the “Great Mortality.”

[171] Fol. 32. a. a. O.

[172] _Galeacii de Sancta Sophia_, Liber de Febribus. Venet. 1514, fol. (Printed together with _Guilelmus Brixiensis_, _Marsilius de Sancta Sophia_, _Ricardus Parisiensis_. fol. 29. seq.)

[173] Warmth, cold, dryness and moisture.

[174] The talented _Chalin_ entertains the same conviction, “Obscurum interdum esse vitium aëris, sub pestis initia et menses primos, hoc est argumento: _quod cum nec odore tetro gravis, nec turpi colore fœdatus fuerit, sed purus, tenuis, frigidus, qualis in montosis et asperis locis esse solet, et tranquillus, vehementissima sit tamen pestilentia infestaque_, etc.” p. 28. The most recent observers of malaria have stated nothing more than this.

All the fevers which were called forth by the _pestilence_, are, according to him, of the putrid kind; for they originate principally from putridity of the heart’s blood, which inevitably follows the inhalation of infected air. The Oriental Plague is, sometimes, but by no means always, occasioned by _pestilence_ (?), which imparts to it a character (qualitas occulta) hostile to human nature. It originates frequently from other causes, among which, this physician was aware that contagion was to be reckoned; and it deserves to be remarked, that he held epidemic small-pox and measles to be infallible forerunners of the plague, as do the physicians and people of the East[175] at the present day.

[175] Compare _Enr. di Wolmar_, Abhandlung über die Pest. Berlin, 1827. 8vo.

In the exposition of his therapeutical views of the plague, a clearness of intellect is again shewn by Santa Sofia, which reflects credit on the age. It seemed to him to depend, 1st, on an evacuation of putrid matters, by purgatives and bleeding: yet he did not sanction the employment of these means indiscriminately, and without consideration; least of all where the condition of the blood was healthy. He also declared himself decidedly against bleeding ad deliquium (venæ sectio eradicativa). 2d, Strengthening of the heart and prevention of putrescence. 3d, Appropriate regimen. 4th, Improvement of the air. 5th, Appropriate treatment of tumid glands and inflammatory boils, with emollient, or even stimulating poultices (mustard, lily-bulbs), as well as with red-hot gold and iron. Lastly, 6th, Attention to prominent symptoms. The stores of the Arabian pharmacy, which he brought into action to meet all these indications, were indeed very considerable; it is to be observed, however, that, for the most part, gentle means were accumulated, which in case of abuse, would do no harm; for the character of the Arabian system of medicine, whose principles were everywhere followed at this time, was mildness and caution. On this account too, we cannot believe that a very prolix treatise by Marsigli di Santa Sofia,[176] a contemporary relative of Galeazzo, on the prevention and treatment of plague, can have caused much harm, although, perhaps, even in the 14th century, an agreeable latitude and confident assertions respecting things which no mortal has investigated, or which it is quite a matter of indifference to distinguish, were considered as proofs of a valuable practical talent.

[176] Tractatus de Febribus, fol. 48.

The agreement of contemporary and later writers, shews that the published views of the most celebrated physicians of the 14th century, were those generally adopted. Among these, Chalin de Vinario is the most experienced. Though devoted to astrology, still more than his distinguished contemporary, he acknowledges the great power of terrestrial influences, and expresses himself very sensibly on the indisputable doctrine of contagion, endeavouring thereby to apologize for many surgeons and physicians of his time, who neglected their duty.[177] He asserted boldly, and with truth, “_that all epidemic diseases might become contagious,[178] and all fevers epidemic_,” which attentive observers of all subsequent ages have confirmed.

[177] De Peste Liber, pura latinitate donatus a _Jacobo Dalechampio_, Lugdun. 1552. 16. p. 40. 188. “Longe tamen plurimi congressu eorum qui fuerunt in locis pestilentibus periclitantur et gravissime, quoniam e causa duplici, nempe et aëris vitio, et eorum qui versantur nobiscum, vitio. _Hoc itaque modo fit, ut unius accessu in totam modo familiam, modo civitatem, modo villam, pestis invehatur._” Compare p. 20, “Solæ privatorum aedes pestem sentiunt, _si adeat qui in pestilenti loco versatus est_.”--“Nobis proximi ipsi sumus, nemoque est tanta occœcatus amentia, qui de sua salute potius quam aliorum sollicitus non sit, maxime in contagione tam cita et rapida.” Rather a loose principle, which might greatly encourage low sentiments, and much endanger the honor of the medical profession, but which, in _Chalin_, who was aware of the impossibility of avoiding contagion in uncleanly dwellings, is so far excusable, that he did not apply it to himself.

[178] Morbos omnes pestilentes contagiosos, audacter ego equidem pronuntio et assevero, p. 149.

He delivered his sentiments on blood-letting with sagacity, as an experienced physician; yet he was unable, as may be imagined, to moderate the desire for bleeding shewn by the ignorant monks. He was averse to draw blood from the veins of patients under fourteen years of age; but counteracted inflammatory excitement in them by cupping; and endeavoured to moderate the inflammation of the tumid glands by leeches.[179] Most of those who were bled, died; he therefore reserved this remedy for the plethoric; especially for the papal courtiers, and the hypocritical priests, whom he saw gratifying their sensual desires, and imitating Epicurus, whilst they pompously pretended to follow Christ.[180] He recommended burning the boils with a red-hot iron, only in the plague without fever, which occurred in single cases;[181] and was always ready to correct those over-hasty surgeons, who, with fire and violent remedies, did irremediable injury to their patients,[182] Michael Savonarola, professor in Ferrara (1462), reasoning on the susceptibility of the human frame to the influence of pestilential infection, as the cause of such various modifications of disease, expresses himself as a modern physician would on this point; and an adoption of the principle of contagion, was the foundation of his definition of the plague.[183] No less worthy of observation are the views of the celebrated Valescus of Taranta, who, during the final visitation of the Black Death, in 1382, practised as a physician at Montpellier, and handed down to posterity what has been repeated in innumerable treatises on plague, which were written during the 15th and 16th centuries.[184]

[179] Vide preceding note, p. 162. 163.

[180] Ibid. p. 97. 166. “Qualis (vita) esse solet eorum, qui sacerdotiorum et cultus divini prætextu, genio plus satis indulgent et obsequuntur, ac Christum speciosis titulis ementientes, Epicurum imitantur.” Certainly a remarkable freedom of sentiment for the 14th century.

[181] Ibid. p. 183. 151.

[182] Ibid. p. 159. 189.

[183] Canonica de Febribus, ad Raynerium Siculum, 1487, s. l., cap. 10, sine pag. “Febris pestilentialis est febris contagiosa ex ebullitione putrefactiva in altero quatuor humorum cordi propinquorum principaliter.”

[184] _Valesci de Tharanta_, Philonium. Lugdani, 1535. 8. L. VII., c. 18., fol. 401., b. seq.--Compare _Astruc_, Mémoires pour servir à l’Histoire de la Faculté de Médicine de Montpellier, Paris, 1767. 4. p. 208.

Of all these notions and views regarding the plague, whose development we have represented, there are two especially, which are prominent in historical importance:--1st, The opinion of learned physicians, that the _pestilence_, or epidemic constitution, is the _parent of various kinds of disease_; that the plague sometimes, indeed, but by no means always, originates from it: that, to speak in the language of the moderns, _the pestilence_ bears the same relation to contagion, that a predisposing cause does to an occasional cause: and 2dly, the universal conviction of the contagious power of that disease.

Contagion gradually attracted more notice: it was thought that in it, the most powerful occasional cause might be avoided; the possibility of protecting whole cities by separation, became gradually more evident; and so horrifying was the recollection of the eventful year of the “_Great Mortality_,” that before the close of the 14th century, ere the ill effects of the Black Plague had ceased, nations endeavoured to guard against the return of this enemy, by an earnest and effectual defence.

The first regulation which was issued for this purpose, originated with Viscount Bernabo, and is dated the 17th Jan. 1374. “Every plague patient was to be taken out of the city into the fields, there to die or to recover. Those who attended upon a plague patient, were to remain apart for ten days, before they again associated with any body. The priests were to examine the diseased, and point out to special commissioners, the persons infected; under punishment of the confiscation of their goods, and of being burned alive. Whoever imported the plague, the state condemned his goods to confiscation. Finally, none except those who were appointed for that purpose, were to attend plague-patients, under penalty of death and confiscation.[185]

[185] Chronicon Regiense, _Muratori_, Tom. XVIII. p. 82.

These orders, in correspondence with the spirit of the 14th century, are sufficiently decided to indicate a recollection of the good effects of confinement, and of keeping at a distance those suspected of having plague. It was said that Milan itself, by a rigorous barricado of three houses in which the plague had broken out, maintained itself free from the “_Great Mortality_,” for a considerable time;[186] and examples of the preservation of individual families, by means of a strict separation, were certainly very frequent. That these orders must have caused universal affliction from their uncommon severity, as we know to have been especially the case in the city of Reggio, may be easily conceived; but Bernabo did not suffer himself to be frightened from his purpose--on the contrary, when the plague returned in the year 1383, he forbad the admission of people from infected places into his territories, on pain of death.[187] We have now, it is true, no account how far he succeeded; yet it is to be supposed that he arrested the disease, for it had long lost the property of the Black Death, to spread abroad in the air the contagious matter which proceeded from the lungs, charged with putridity, and to taint the atmosphere of whole cities by the vast numbers of the sick. Now that it had resumed its milder form, so that it infected only by contact, it admitted being confined within individual dwellings, as easily as in modern times.

[186] _Adr. Chenot_, Hinterlassene Abhandlungen über die ärztlichen und politischen Anstalten bei der Pestseuche, Wien, 1798, 8vo. p. 146. From this period it was common in the middle ages to barricade the doors and windows of houses infected with plague, and to suffer the inhabitants to perish without mercy.--_S. Möhsen_, Loc. cit.

[187] Chron. Reg. Loc. cit.

Bernabo’s example was imitated; nor was there any century more appropriate for recommending to governments strong regulations against the plague, than the 14th; for when it broke out in Italy, in the year 1399, and still demanded new victims, it was for the 16th time; without reckoning frequent visitations of measles and small-pox. In this same year, Viscount John, in milder terms than his predecessor, ordered that no stranger should be admitted from infected places, and that the city gates should be strictly guarded. Infected houses were to be ventilated for at least eight or ten days, and purified from noxious vapours by fires, and by fumigations with balsamic and aromatic substances. Straw, rags, and the like, were to be burned; and the bedsteads which had been used, set out for four days in the rain or the sunshine, so that, by means of the one or the other, the morbific vapour might be destroyed. No one was to venture to make use of clothes or beds out of infected dwellings, unless they had been previously washed and dried either at the fire or in the sun. People were, likewise, to avoid, as long as possible, occupying houses which had been frequented by plague-patients.[188]

[188] _Muratori_, Tom. XVI., p.560.--Compare _Chenot_, loc. cit. p. 146.

We cannot precisely perceive in these an advance towards general regulations; and perhaps people were convinced of the insurmountable impediments which opposed the separation of open inland countries, where bodies of people connected together could not be brought, even by the most obdurate severity, to renounce the habit of a profitable intercourse.

Doubtless it is Nature which has done the most to banish the Oriental plague from western Europe, where the increasing cultivation of the earth, and the advancing order in civilized society, prevented it from remaining domesticated; which it most probably had been in the more ancient times.

In the fifteenth century, during which it broke out seventeen times in different places in Europe[189], it was of the more consequence to oppose a barrier to its entrance from Asia, Africa, and Greece (which had become Turkish); for it would have been difficult for it to maintain itself indigenously any longer. Among the southern commercial states, however, which were called on to make the greatest exertions to this end, it was principally Venice, formerly so severely attacked by the black plague, that put the necessary restraint upon the perilous profits of the merchant. Until towards the end of the fifteenth century, the very considerable intercourse with the East was free and unimpeded. Ships of commercial cities had often brought over the plague: nay, the former irruption of the _great mortality_ itself had been occasioned by navigators. For, as in the latter end of Autumn, 1347, four ships full of plague-patients returned from the Levant to Genoa, the disease spread itself there with astonishing rapidity. On this account, in the following year, the Genoese forbid the entrance of suspected ships into their port. These sailed to Pisa and other cities on the coast, where already Nature had made such mighty preparations for the reception of the Black Plague, and what we have already described took place in consequence.[190]

[189] _Papon_, loc. cit.

[190] _Chenot_, p. 145.

In the year 1485, when, among the cities of northern Italy, Milan especially felt the scourge of the plague, a special council of health, consisting of three nobles, was established at Venice, who probably tried every thing in their power to prevent the entrance of this disease, and gradually called into activity all those regulations which have served in later times as a pattern for the other southern states of Europe. Their endeavours were, however, not crowned with complete success; on which account their powers were increased, in the year 1504, by granting them the right of life and death over those who violated the regulations.[191] Bills of health were probably first introduced in the year 1527, during a fatal plague[192] which visited Italy for five years (1525–30), and called forth redoubled caution.

[191] _Le Bret_, Staatsgeschichte der Republik Venedig. Riga, 1775. 4, Part II., Div. 2, p. 752.

[192] _Zagata_, Cronica di Verona, 1744. 4, III., p.93.

The first lazarettos were established upon islands at some distance from the city, seemingly as early as the year 1485. Here all strangers coming from places where the existence of plague was suspected were detained. If it appeared in the city itself, the sick were despatched with their families to what was called the Old Lazaretto, were there furnished with provisions and medicines, and, when they were cured, were detained, together with all those who had had intercourse with them, still forty days longer in the New Lazaretto, situated on another island. All these regulations were every year improved, and their needful rigour was increased, so that from the year 1585 onwards no appeal was allowed from the sentence of the Council of Health; and the other commercial nations gradually came to the support of the Venetians, by adopting corresponding regulations.[193] Bills of health, however, were not general until the year 1665.[194]

[193] _Le Bret_, loc. cit. Compare Hamburger Remarquen of the year 1700, p. 282 and 305.

[194] Göttinger gelehrte Anzeigen, 1772, p. 22.

The appointment of a forty days’ detention, whence quarantines derive their name, was not dictated by caprice, but probably had a medical origin, which is derivable in part from the doctrine of critical days; for the fortieth day, according to the most ancient notions, has been always regarded as the last of ardent diseases, and the limit of separation between these and those which are chronic. It was the custom to subject lying-in women for forty days to a more exact superintendance. There was a good deal also said in medical works of forty day epochs in the formation of the fœtus, not to mention that the alchymists expected more durable revolutions in forty days, which period they called the philosophical month.

This period being generally held to prevail in natural processes, it appeared reasonable to assume and legally to establish it as that required for the development of latent principles of contagion, since public regulations cannot dispense with decisions of this kind, even though they should not be wholly justified by the nature of the case. Great stress has likewise been laid on theological and legal grounds which were certainly of greater weight in the fifteenth century than in more modern times.[195]

[195] The forty days’ duration of the Flood, the forty days’ sojourn of Moses on Mount Sinai, our Saviour’s fast for the same length of time in the wilderness; lastly, what is called the Saxon term (Sächsische Frist,) which lasts for forty days, &c. Compare _G. W. Wedel_. Centuria Exercitationum Medico-philologicarum. _De Quadragesima Medica._ Jenae, 1701. 4, Dec. IV., p. 16.

On this matter, however, we cannot decide, since our only object here is to point out the origin of a political means of protection against a disease, which has been the greatest impediment to civilization within the memory of man; a means, that, like Jenner’s vaccine after the small-pox had ravaged Europe for twelve hundred years, has diminished the check which mortality puts on the progress of civilization, and thus given to the life and manners of the nations of this part of the world a new direction, the result of which we cannot foretel.

APPENDIX.

I.

Das alte Geisslerlied

NACH MASSMANN’S AUSGABE VON HERRN PROFESSOR LACHMANN MIT DER HANDSCHRIFT VERGLICHEN.

Sve siner sele wille pleghen De sal gelden unde weder geuen So wert siner sele raed Des help uns leue herre goed Nu tredet here we botsen wille 5 Vle wi io de hetsen helle Lucifer is en bose geselle Sven her hauet Mit peke he en lauet Datz vle wi ef wir hauen sin 10 Des help uns maria koninghin Das wir dines kindes hulde win Jesus crist de wart ge vanghen An en cruce wart he ge hanghen Dat cruce wart des blodes rod 15 Wer klaghen sin marter unde sin dod Sunder war mide wilt tu mi lonen Dre negele unde en dornet crone Das cruce vrone en sper en stich Sunder datz leyd ich dor dich 20 Was wltu nu liden dor mich So rope wir herre mit luden done Unsen denst den nem to lone Be hode uns vor der helle nod Des bidde wi dich dor dinen dod 25 Dor god vor gete wi unse blot Dat is uns tho den suden guot Maria muoter koninginghe Dor dines leuen kindes minne Al unse nod si dir ghe klaghet 30 Des help uns moter maghet reyne. De erde beuet och kleuen de steyne Lebe hertze du salt weyne Wir wenen trene mit den oghen Unde hebben des so guden louen 35 Mit unsen sinnen unde mit hertzen Dor uns leyd crist vil manighen smertzen Nu slaed w sere Dor cristus ere. Dor god nu latet de sunde mere 40 Dor god nu latet de sunde varen Se wil sich god ouer uns en barmen Maria stund in grotzen noden Do se ire leue kint sa doden En svert dor ire sele snet 45 Sunder dat la di wesen led In korter vrist God tornich ist Jesus wart gelauet mid gallen Des sole wi an en cruce vallen 50 Er heuet uch mit uwen armen Dat sic god ouer uns en barme Jesus dorch dine namen dry Nu make uns hir van sunde vry Jesus dor dine wnden rod 55 Be hod uns vor den gehen dod Dat he sende sinen geist Und uns dat kortelike leist De vrowe unde man ir e tobreken Dat wil god selven an en wreken 60 Sveuel pik und och de galle Dat gutet de duuel in se alle Vor war sint se des duuels spot Dor vor behode uns herre god De e de ist en reyne leuen 65 De had uns god selven gheuen Ich rade uch vrowen unde mannen Dor god gy solen houard annen Des biddet uch de arme sele Dorch god nu latet houard mere 70 Dor god nu latet houard varen So wil sich god ouer uns en barmen Cristus rep in hemelrike Sinen engelen al gelike De cristenheit wil mi ent wichen 75 Des wil lan och se vor gaen Maria bat ire kint so sere Lene kint la se di boten Dat wil ich sceppen dat se moten Bekeren sich. 80 Des bidde ich dich Gi logenere Gy meynen ed sverer Gi bichten reyne und lan de sunde uch ruwen So wil sich god in uch vor nuwen 85 Owe du arme wokerere Du bringest en lod up en punt Dat senket din an der helle grunt Ir morder und ir straten rouere Ir sint dem leuen gode un mere 90 Ir ne wilt uch ouer nemende barmen Des sin gy eweliken vor loren Were dusse bote nicht ge worden De cristenheit wer gar vorsunden De leyde duuel had se ge bunden 95 Maria had lost unsen bant Sunder ich saghe di leue mere Sunte peter is portenere Wende dich an en he letset dich in He bringhet dich vor de koninghin 100 Leue herre sunte Michahel Du bist en plegher aller sel Be hode uns vor der helle nod Dat do dor dines sceppers dod

The Ancient Song of the Flagellants

ACCORDING TO MASSMANN’S EDITION COMPARED WITH THE MS. BY PROFESSOR LACHMANN.

(_Translation_).

Whoe’er to save his soul is fain, Must pay and render back again. His safety so shall he consult: Help us, good Lord, to this result. Ye that repent your crimes, draw nigh. 5 From the burning hell we fly, From Satan’s wicked company. Whom he leads With pitch he feeds. If we be wise we this shall flee. 10 Maria! Queen! we trust in thee, To move thy Son to sympathy. Jesus Christ was captive led, And to the cross was riveted. The cross was reddened with his gore 15 And we his martyrdom deplore. “Sinner, canst thou to me atone, “Three pointed nails, a thorny crown, “The holy cross, a spear, a wound, “These are the cruel pangs I found. 20 “What wilt thou, sinner, bear for me?” Lord, with loud voice we answer thee, Accept our service in return, And save us lest in hell we burn. We, through thy death, to thee have sued. 25 For God in heaven we shed our blood: This for our sins will work to good. Blessed Maria! Mother! Queen! Through thy loved Son’s redeeming mean Be all our wants to thee pourtrayed. 30 Aid us, Mother! spotless Maid! Trembles the earth, the rocks are rent,[196] Fond heart of mine, thou must relent. Tears from our sorrowing eyes we weep; Therefore so firm our faith we keep 35 With all our hearts--with all our senses. Christ bore his pangs for our offences. Ply well the scourge for Jesus’ sake, And God through Christ your sins shall take. For love of God abandon sin, 40 To mend your vicious lives begin, So shall we his mercy win. Direful was Maria’s pain When she beheld her dear One slain, Pierced was her soul as with a dart: 45 Sinner, let this affect thy heart. The time draws near When God in anger shall appear. Jesus was refreshed with gall: Prostrate crosswise let us fall, 50 Then with uplifted arms arise, That God with us may sympathise. Jesus, by thy titles three,[197] From our bondage set us free. Jesus, by thy precious blood, 55 Save us from the fiery flood. Lord, our helplessness defend, And to our aid thy spirit send. If man and wife their vows should break God will on such his vengeance wreak. 60 Brimstone and pitch, and mingled gall, Satan pours on such sinners all. Truly, the devil’s scorn are they: Therefore, O Lord, thine aid we pray. Wedlock’s an honorable tie 65 Which God himself doth sanctify. By this warning, man, abide, God shall surely punish pride. Let your precious soul entreat you, Lay down pride lest vengeance meet you. 70 I do beseech ye, pride forsake, So God on us shall pity take. Christ in heaven, where he commands, Thus addressed his angel bands:-- “Christendom dishonors me, 75 “Therefore her ruin I decree.” Then Mary thus implored her son:-- “Penance to thee, loved Child, be done; “That she repent be mine the care; Stay then thy wrath, and hear my prayer. 80 Ye liars! Ye that break your sacrament, Shrive ye throughly and repent. Your heinous sins sincerely rue, So shall the Lord your hearts renew. 85 Woe! usurer, though thy wealth abound, For every ounce thou mak’st a pound Shall sink thee to the hell profound. Ye murd’rers, and ye robbers all, The wrath of God on you shall fall. 90 Mercy ye ne’er to others shew, None shall ye find; but endless woe. Had it not been for our contrition, All Christendom had met perdition. Satan had bound her in his chain; 95 Mary hath loosed her bonds again. Glad news I bring thee, sinful mortal, In heaven Saint Peter keeps the portal, Apply to him with suppliant mien, He bringeth thee before thy Queen. 100 Benignant Michael, blessed saint, Guardian of souls, receive our plaint. Through thy Almighty Maker’s death, Preserve us from the hell beneath.

[196] We hence perceive with what feelings subterraneous thunders were regarded by the people.

[197] For the sake of thy Trinity.

II.

Examination of the Jews accused of poisoning the Wells.[198]

[198] An appearance of justice having been given to all later persecutions by these proceedings, they deserve to be recorded as important historical documents. The original is in Latin, but we have preferred the German translation in Königshoven’s Chronicle, p. 1029.

_Answer from the Castellan of Chillon to the City of Strasburg, together with a Copy of the Inquisition and Confession of several Jews confined in the Castle of Chillon on suspicion of poison. Anno 1348._

To the Honorable the Mayor, Senate and Citizens of the City of Strasburg, the Castellan of Chillon, Deputy of the Bailiff of Chablais, sendeth greeting with all due submission and respect.

Understanding that you desire to be made acquainted with the confession of the Jews, and the proofs brought forward against them, I certify, by these presents, to you, and each of you that desires to be informed, that they of Berne have had a copy of the inquisition and confession of the Jews who lately resided in the places specified, and who were accused of putting poison into the wells and several other places: as also the most conclusive evidence of the truth of the charge preferred against them. Many Jews were put to the question, others being excused from it, because they confessed, and were brought to trial and burnt. Several Christians, also, who had poïson given them by the Jews for the purpose of destroying the Christians, were put on the wheel and tortured. This burning of the Jews and torturing of the said Christians took place in many parts of the county of Savoy.

Fare you well.”

_The Confession made on the 15th day of September, in the year of our Lord 1348, in the Castle of Chillon, by the Jews arrested in Neustadt, on the Charge of Poisoning the Wells, Springs and other places; also Food &c., with the Design of destroying and extirpating all Christians._

I. Balavignus, a Jewish physician, inhabitant of Thonon, was arrested at Chillon in consequence of being found in the neighbourhood. He was put for a short time to the rack, and, on being taken down, confessed, after much hesitation, that, about ten weeks before, the Rabbi Jacob of Toledo, who because of a citation, had resided at Chamberi since Easter, sent him, by a Jewish boy, some poison in the mummy of an egg: it was a powder sewed up in a thin leathern pouch accompanied by a letter, commanding him, on penalty of excommunication, and by his required obedience to the law, to throw this poison into the larger and more frequented wells of the town of Thonon, to poison those who drew water there. He was further enjoined not to communicate the circumstance to any person whatever, under the same penalty. In conformity with this command of the Jewish rabbis and doctors of the law, he, Balavignus, distributed the poison in several places, and acknowledged having one evening placed a certain portion under a stone in a spring on the shore at Thonon. He further confessed that the said boy brought various letters of a similar import, addressed to others of his nation, and particularly specified some directed severally to Mossoiet, Banditon, and Samoleto of Neustadt; to Musseo Abramo and Aquetus of Montreantz, Jews residing at Thurn in Vivey; to Benetonus and his son at St. Moritz; to Vivianus Jacobus, Aquetus and Sonetus, Jews at Aquani. Several letters of a like nature were sent to Abram and Musset, Jews at Moncheoli; and the boy told him that he had taken many others to different and distant places, but he did not recollect to whom they were addressed. Balavignus further confessed that, after having put the poison into the spring at Thonon, he had positively forbidden his wife and children to drink the water, but had not thought fit to assign a reason. He avowed the truth of this statement, and, in the presence of several credible witnesses, swore by his Law, and the Five Books of Moses to every item of his deposition.

On the day following, Balavignus, voluntarily and without torture, ratified the above confession verbatim before many persons of character, and, of his own accord, acknowledged that, on returning one day from Tour near Vivey, he had thrown into a well below Mustruez, namely that of La Conerayde, a quantity of the poison tied up in a rag, given to him for the purpose by Aquetus of Montreantz, an inhabitant of the said Tour: that he had acquainted Manssiono, and his son Delosaz, residents of Neustadt, with the circumstance of his having done so, and advertised them not to drink of the water. He described the colour of the poison as being red and black.

On the nineteenth day of September, the above-named Balavignus confessed, without torture, that about three weeks after Whitsuntide, a Jew named Mussus told him that he had thrown poison into the well in the custom-house of that place, the property of the Borneller family; and that he no longer drank the water of this well, but that of the lake. He further deposed that Mussus informed him that he had also laid some of the poison under the stones in the custom-house at Chillon. Search was accordingly made in this well, and the poison found: some of it was given to a Jew by way of trial, and he died in consequence. He also stated that the rabbis had ordered him and other Jews to refrain from drinking of the water for nine days after the poison was infused into it; and, immediately on having poisoned the waters, he communicated the circumstance to the other Jews. He, Balavignus, confessed that about two months previously, being at Evian, he had some conversation on the subject with a Jew called Jacob, and, among other things, asked him whether he also had received writings and poison, and was answered in the affirmative; he then questioned him whether he had obeyed the command, and Jacob replied that he had not, but had given the poison to Savetus, a Jew, who had thrown it into the Well de Morer at Evian. Jacob also desired him, Balavignus, to execute the command imposed on him with due caution. He confessed that Aquetus of Montreantz had informed him that he had thrown some of the poison into the well above Tour, the water of which he sometimes drank. He confessed that Samolet had told him that he had laid the poison which he had received in a well, which, however, he refused to name to him. Balavignus, as a physician, further deposed that a person infected by such poison coming in contact with another while in a state of perspiration, infection would be the almost inevitable result; as might also happen from the breath of an infected person. This fact he believed to be correct, and was confirmed in his opinion by the attestation of many experienced physicians. He also declared that none of his community could exculpate themselves from this accusation, as the plot was communicated to all; and that all were guilty of the above charges. Balavignus was conveyed over the lake from Chillon to Clarens, to point out the well into which he confessed having thrown the powder. On landing, he was conducted to the spot; and, having seen the well, acknowledged that to be the place, saying, “This is the well into which I put the poison.” The well was examined in his presence, and the linen cloth in which the poison had been wrapped was found in the waste-pipe by a notary-public named Heinrich Gerhard, in the presence of many persons, and was shewn to the said Jew. He acknowledged this to be the linen which had contained the poison, which he described as being of two colours, red and black, but said that he had thrown it into the open well. The linen cloth was taken away and is preserved.

Balavignus, in conclusion, attests the truth of all and every thing as above related. He believes this poison to contain a portion of the basilisk, because he had heard, and felt assured, that the above poison could not be prepared without it.

II. Banditono, a Jew of Neustadt, was, on the fifteenth day of September, subjected for a short time to the torture. After a long interval, he confessed having cast a quantity of poison, about the size of a large nut, given him by Musseus, a Jew, at Tour near Vivey, into the well of Carutet, in order to poison those who drank of it.

The following day, Banditono, voluntarily and without torture, attested the truth of the aforesaid deposition; and also confessed that the Rabbi Jacob von Pasche, who came from Toledo and had settled at Chamberi, sent him, at Pilliex, by a Jewish servant, some poison about the size of a large nut, together with a letter, directing him to throw the powder into the wells on pain of excommunication. He had therefore thrown the poison, which was sewn up in a leathern bag, into the well of Cercliti de Roch; further, also, that he saw many other letters in the hands of the servant addressed to different Jews; that he had also seen the said servant deliver one, on the outside of the upper gate, to Samuletus, the Jew, at Neustadt. He stated, also, that the Jew Massolet had informed him that he had put poison into the well near the bridge at Vivey.

III. The said Manssiono, Jew of Neustadt, was put upon the rack on the fifteenth day of the same month, but refused to admit the above charge, protesting his entire ignorance of the whole matter; but the day following, he, voluntarily and without any torture, confessed, in the presence of many persons, that he came from Mancheolo one day in last Whitsunweek, in company with a Jew named Provenzal, and, on reaching the well of Chabloz Crüez between Vyona and Mura, the latter said, “You must put some of the poison which I will give you into that well, or woe betide you!” He therefore took a portion of the powder about the bigness of a nut, and did as he was directed. He believed that the Jews in the neighbourhood of Evian had convened a council among themselves relative to this plot, before Whitsuntide. He further said that Balavignus had informed him of his having poisoned the Well de la Conerayde below Mustruez. He also affirmed his conviction of the culpability of the Jews in this affair, stating that they were fully acquainted with all the particulars, and guilty of the alleged crime.

On the third day of the October following, Manssiono was brought before the commissioners, and did not in the least vary from his former deposition, or deny having put the poison into the said wells.

The above-named Jews, prior to their execution, solemnly swore by their Law to the truth of their several depositions, and declared that all Jews whatsoever, from seven years old and upwards, could not be exempted from the charge of guilt, as all of them were acquainted with the plot, and more or less participators in the crime.

[_The seven other examinations scarcely differ from the above, except in the names of the accused, and afford but little variety. We will, therefore, only add a characteristic passage at the conclusion of this document. The whole speaks for itself._]

There still remain numerous proofs and accusations against the above-mentioned Jews: also against Jews and Christians in different parts of the county of Savoy, who have already received the punishment due to their heinous crime; which, however, I have not at hand, and cannot therefore send you. I must add that all the Jews of Neustadt were burnt according to the just sentence of the law. At Augst, I was present when three Christians were flayed on account of being accessory to the plot of poisoning. Very many Christians were arrested for this crime in various places in this country, especially at Evian, Gebenne, Krusilien and Hochstett, who, at last and in their dying moments, were brought to confess and acknowledge that they had received the poison from the Jews. Of these Christians some have been quartered; others flayed and afterwards hanged. Certain commissioners have been appointed by the magistrates to enforce judgment against all the Jews; and I believe that none will escape.

III.

Extracts from “A Boke or Counseill against the Disease commonly called the Sweate or Sweatyng Sicknesse,” made by John Caius, Doctour in Phisicke.-- Emprinted at London. A. D. 1552.

“Hetherto I haue shewed the beginning, name, nature & signes of this disease: now I will declare the causes, which be ii: infection, & impure spirites in bodies corrupt by repletion. Infection, by th’aire receiuing euel qualities, distempring not only y^e hete, but the hole substance thereof, in putrifieng the same, & that generally ii waies. By the time of the yere vnnatural, and by the nature and site of the soile & region . whereunto maye be put the particular accidentes of this same. By the time of the yeare vnnaturall, as if winter be hot & drie, somer hot & moist (a fit time for sweates) the spring colde and drye, the fall hot & moist. To this mai be ioyned the euel disposition by constellation, whiche hath a great power & dominion in al erthly thinges. By the site & nature of the soile & region, many wayes. First and specially, by euel mistes & exhalations drawen out of the grounde by the sunne in the heate of the yeare, as chanced among the Grekes in the siege of Troy, whereby died firste dogges & mules, after, men in great numbre: & here also in England in this M.D.L.I. yeare, the cause of this pestilent sweate, but of dyuers nature. Whiche miste in the countrie wher it began, was sene flie from toune to toune, with suche a stincke in morninges & euenings, that men could scarcely abide it. Then by dampes out of the earth, as out of Galenes Barathrum, or the poetes auernum, or aornum, the dampes wherof be such, that thei kil y^e birdes flieng ouer them. Of like dampes, I heard in the north country in cole pits, wherby the laboring men be streight killed, except before the houre of coming therof (which thei know by y^e flame of their candle) thei auoid the ground. Thirdly by putrefaction or rot in groundes aftre great flouddes, in carions & in dead men. After great fluddes, as happened in y^e time of Gallien the Emperor at Rome, in Achaia & Libia, wher the seas sodeinly did ouerflow y^e cities nigh to y^e same. And in the XI yeare of Pelagius, when al the flouddes throughe al Italye didde rage, but chieflye Tibris at Rome, whiche in many places was as highe as the walles of the citie.

In carions or dead bodies, as fortuned here in Englande upon the sea banckes in the tyme of King Alured or Alfrede (as some Chroniclers write) but in the time of Ethelred after Sabellicus, by occasion of drowned Locustes cast up by the Sea, which by a wynde were driuen oute of Fraunce thether. This locust is a flie in bignes of a manne’s thumbe, in colour broune, in shape somewhat like a greshopper, hauing VI fiete, so many wynges, two tiethe, & an hedde like a horse, and therfore called in Italy Caualleto, where ouer y^e citie of Padoa, in the yere M.D.XIII. (as I remembre,) I, with manye more did see a swarme of theim, whose passage ouer the citie, did laste two hours, in breadth inestimable to euery man there. Here by example to note infection by deadde menne in Warres . either in rotting aboue the ground, as chaunced in Athenes by theim of Ethiopia, or else in beyng buried ouerly as happened at Bulloigne, in the yere M.D.XIV. the yeare aftre King Henrye theight had conquered the same, or by long continuance of an hoste in one place, it is more playne by dayly experience, then it neadeth to be shewed.

Therefore I wil now go to the fourth especial cause of infection, the pent aier, breaking out of the ground in yearthquakes, as chaunced at Venice in the firste yeare of Andrea Dandulo, then Duke, the XXIV day of Januarye, and XX hour after their computacion. By which infection mani died, & many wer borne before their time. The V cause is close & unstirred aire & therfore putrified or currupt, out of old welles, holes in y^e ground made for grain, wherof many I did se in & about Pesaro in Italy, by opening them aftre a great space, as both those countrimen do confesse & also by example is declared, for y^t manye in opening them unwarely be killed. Out of caues and tombes also, as chaunced first in the country of Babilonia, proceding aftre into Grece, and so to Rome, by occasion that y^e souldiers of themperour Marcus Antoninus, upon hope of money, brake up a golden coffine of Auidius Cassius, spieng a little hole therin, in the temple of Apollo in Seleucia, as Ammianus Marcellinus writeth. To these mai be ioyned the particular causes of infection, which I cal the accidentes of the place, augmenting the same. As nigh to dwelling places, merishe & muddy groundes, puddles or donghilles, sinckes or canales, easing places or carions, deadde ditches or rotten groundes, close aier in houses or ualleis, with such like. Thus muche for the firste cause.

The second cause of this Englyshe Ephemera, I said were thimpure spirites in bodies corupt by repletion. Repletion I cal here, abundance of humores euel & maliciouse, from long time by little and little gathered by euel diete, remaining in the bodye, coming either by to moche meate, or by euel meate in qualitie, as infected frutes, meates of euel juse or nutriment: or both ioyntly. To such spirites when the aire infective cometh consonant, then be thei distempered, corrupted, sore handled, & oppressed, then nature is forced & the disease engendred. But while I doe declare these impure spirites to be one cause, I must remoue your myndes from spirites to humours, for that the spirites be fedde of the finest partes therof, & aftre bringe you againe to spirites where I toke you. And for so muche as I haue not yet forgotten to whome I write, in this declaration I will leaue apart al learned & subtil reasons, as here void & vnmiete & only vse suche as be most euident to whom I write, & easiest to be understanden of the same: and at ones therwith shew also why it haunteth us Englishmen more then other nations. Therfore I passe ouer the vngentle sauoure or smell of the sweate, grosenes, colour, and other qualities of the same, the quantitie, the daunger in stopping, the maner in coming furthe redily, or hardly, hot or cold, the notes in the excrementes, the state longer or sorer, with suche others, which mai be tokens of corrupt humours & spirites, & onli wil stand vpon III reasons declaring y^e same swet by gret repletion to be in vs not otherwise for al y^e euel aire apt to this disease, more then other nations. For as heraftre I wil shew, & Galen confirmeth, our bodies cannot suffre any thing or hurt by corrupt & infectiue causes, except ther be in them a certein mater prepared apt & like to receiue it, els if one were sick, al shuld be sick, if in this countri, in al countries wher the infection came, which thing we se doth not chance. For touching the first reason, we se this sweting sicknes or pestilent Ephemera to be oft in England, but neuer entreth Scotland, (except the borders) albeit thei both be joinctly within the compas of on sea. The same beginning here, hath assailed Brabant & the costes nigh to it, but neuer passed Germany, where ones it was in like facion as here, with great mortalitie, in the yere M.D.XXIX. Cause wherof none other there is naturall, then the euell diet of these thre countryes whiche destroy more meates and drynckes withoute al ordre, conuenient time, reason, or necessitie, then either Scotlande, or all other countries vnder the sunne, to the greate annoiance of their owne bodies and wittes, hinderance of theim which haue nede, and great dearth and scarcitie in their common welthes. Wherfore if Esculapius the inuentour of Phisike, y^e sauer of men from death, & restorer to life, should returne again into this world, he could not saue these sortes of men, hauing so moche sweatyng stuffe, so many euill humoures laid by in store, from this displeasante, feareful, & pestilent disease: except thei would learne a new lession, & folowe a new trade. For otherwise, neither the auoidyng of this countrie (the seconde reason) nor fleying into others, (a commune refuge in other diseases) wyll preserue us Englishe men, as in this laste sweate is by experience well proued in Cales, Antwerpe, and other places of Brabant, wher only our contrimen ware sicke and none others, except one or ii. others of thenglishe diete, which is also to be noted. (Fol. 13 to 17.)

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The thirde and laste reason is, y^t they which had thys sweat sore with perille or death, were either men of welthe, ease & welfare, or of the poorer sorte such as wer idle persones, good ale drinkers, and Tavern-haunters. For these, by y^e great welfare of the one sorte, and large drinkyng of thother, heped up in their bodies moche euill matter: by their ease and idlenes, coulde not waste and consume it. A confirmacion of this is, that the laborouse and thinne dieted people, either had it not, because they dyd eate but litle to make the matter: or with no greate grefe and danger, because they laboured out moche therof. Wherefore upon small cause, necessarily must folowe a small effecte. All these reasones go to this ende, that persones of all countries of moderate and good diete, escape thys Englishe Ephemera, and those be onely vexed therewith, whiche be of immoderate and euill diete. But why? for the euill humores and corrupte aier alone? No . for then the pestilence and not the swet should rise. For what then? for y^e impure spirites corrupte in theimselues and by the infectiue aier. Why so? for that of impure and corrupte humores, whether thei be blode or others, can rise none other then impure spirites. For euery thynge is such as that wherof it commeth. Now, that of the beste and fineste of the blode, yea in corrupte bodies (whyche beste is nought) these spirites be ingendred and fedde I before expressed. Therfor who wyl haue them pure and cleane, and himselfe free from sweat, muste kepe a pure and cleane diete, and then he shall be sure. (Fol. 20 to 21.)

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Who that lustethe to lyue in quiete suretie, out of the sodaine danger of this Englishe Ephemera, he aboue all thynges, of litle and good muste eate & spare not; the last parte wherof wyl please well (I doubt not) us Englishe men: the firste I thinke neuer a deale. Yet it must please theim that intende to lyue without the reche of this disease. So doyng they shall easely escape it. For of that is good, can be engendred no euill: of that is litle, can be gathered no great store. Therfore helthful must he nedes be and free from this disease, that vsethe this kinde of liuynge and maner in dietynge. An example hereof may the wise man Socrates be, which by this sorte of diete escaped a sore pestilence in Athenes, neuer fleynge ne kepyng close him selfe from the same. Truly who will lyue accordynge to nature and not to lust, may with this diete be well contented. For nature is pleased with a litle, nor seketh other then that the mind voide of cares and feares may be in quiete merily, and the body voide of grefe, maye be in life swetly, as Lucretius writeth. Here at large to ronne out vntill my breth wer spent, as vpon a common place, against y^e intemperance or excessive diete of Englande, thincommodities & displeasures of the same many waies: and contrarie, in commendation of meane diete and temperance (called of Plato sophrosyne, for that it conserueth wisdome) and the thousande commodities thereof, both for helthe, welthe, witte and longe life, well I might, & lose my laboure: such be our Englishe facions rather then reasones. But for that I purpose neither to wright a longe worke but a shorte counseill, nor to wery the reders with that they luste not to here, I will lette that passe, and moue them that desire further to knowe my mynde therin, to remember that I sayd before, of litle & good eate and spare not, wherby they shall easely perceiue my meanyng. I therefore go furth with my diete, wherin my counseill is, that the meates be helthfull, and holsomly kylled, swetly saued, and wel prepared in rostyng, sethyng, baking, & so furth. The bread of swet corne, wel leuened, & so baked. The drinke of swete malte and good water kyndly brued, without other drosse now a daies used. No wine in all the tyme of sweatyng, excepte to suche whose sicknese require it for medicin, for fere of inflamynge & openynge, nor except y^e halfe be wel soden water. In other tymes old, pure & smal. Wishing for the better execution hereof & ouersight of good and helthsome victalles, ther wer appointed certein masters of helth in euery citie and toune, as there is in Italie, whiche for the good order in all thynges, maye be in al places an example. The meates I would to be veale, muttone, kidde, olde lambe, chikyn, capone, henne, cocke, pertriche, phesane, felfare, smal birdes, pigeon, yong pecockes, whose fleshe by a certeine natural & secrete propertie neuer putrefie, as hath bene proued. Conies, porke of meane age, neither fatte nor leane, the skynne taken awaye, roste & eaten colde. Tartes of prunes, gelies of veale & capone. Yong befe in this case a little poudered is not to be dispraised, nor new egges & good milke. Butter in a mornyng with sage and rewe fastynge in the sweatynge time is a good preseruatiue, beside that it nourisheth. Crabbes, crauesses, picrel, perche ruffe, gogion, lampreis out of grauelly riuers, smeltes, dace, barbell, gornerd, whityng, soles, flunders, plaice, millers thumbes, minues w^h such others, sodde in water & vinegre w^h rosemary, time, sage, & hole maces, & serued hote. Yea swete salte fishe & linge, for the saltes sake wastynge y^e humores therof, which in many freshe fishes remaine, maye be allowed well watered to them that haue non other & wel lyke it. Nor all fishes, no more then al fleshes be so euill as they be taken for: as is wel declared in physik, & approued by the olde and wise romaines moche in their fisshes, lusty chartusianes neuer in fleshes, & helthful poore people more in fishe than fleshe. But we are nowe a daies so vnwisely fine, and womanly delicate, that we may in no wise touch a fisshe. The olde manly hardnes, stoute courage, and peinfulnes of Englande is vtterly driuen awaye, in the stede wherof, men now a daies receiue womanlines & become nice, not able to withstande a blaste of wynde, or resiste a poore fisshe. And children be so brought up, that if they be not all daie by the fire with a toste and butire, and in their furres, they be streight sicke.

Sauces to metes I appoint firste aboue all thynges good appetite, and next Oliues, capers, juse of lemones, Barberies, Pomegranetes, Orenges and Sorel, veriuse & vineigre, iuse of unripe Grapes, thepes or Goseberies. After mete, quinces, or marmalade, Pomgranates, Orenges sliced eaten with Suger, Succate of the pilles or barkes therof, and of pomecitres, olde apples and peres, Brunes, Reisons Dates and Nuttes. Figges also, so they be taken before diner, els no frutes of that yere, nor rawe herbes or rotes in sallattes, for that in suche times they be suspected to be partakers also of the enfected aire. (Fol. 21 to 24.)

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I remytte you to the discretion of a learned manne in phisike, who maye judge what is to be done, & how, according to the present estate of youre bodies, nature, custome, & proprety, age, strength, delyghte & qualitie, tyme of the yeare, with other circumstaunces, & thereafter to geue the quantitie, & make diuersitie of hys medicine. Otherwise loke not to receiue by this boke that good which I entend, but that euel which by your owne foly you vndiscretelye bring. For good counseil may be abused. And for me to write of euery particular estate and case, whiche be so manye as there be menne, were so great almost a busines, as to numbre the sandes in the sea. Therefore seke you out a good Phisicien and knowen to haue skille, and at the leaste be so good to your bodies, as you are to your hosen or shoes, for the wel making or mending wherof, I doubte not but you wil diligently searche out who is knowen to be the best hosier or shoemaker in the place where you dwelle: and flie the vnlearned as a pestilence in a comune wealth. As simple women, carpenters, pewterers, brasiers, sopeballesellers, pulters, hostellers, painters, apotecaries (otherwise then for their drogges.) auaunters themselues to come from Pole, Constantinople, Italie, Almaine, Spaine, Fraunce, Grece and Turkie, Jude, Egipt or Jury: from y^e seruice of Emperoures, kinges & quienes, promising helpe of al diseases, yea vncurable, with one or twoo drinckes, by waters sixe monethes in continualle distillinge, by Aurum potabile, or quintessence, by drynckes of great and hygh prices, as though thei were made of the sunne, moone, or sterres, by blessynges and Blowinges, Hipocriticalle prayenges, and foolysh smokynges of shirtes Smockes and kerchieffes, wyth suche others theire phantasies, and mockeryes, meaninge nothinge els but to abuse your light belieue, and scorne you behind your backes with their medicines (so filthie, that I am ashamed to name them) for your single wit and simple belief, in trusting them most, whiche you know not at al, and understand least: like to them whiche thinke, farre foules haue faire fethers, althoughe thei be neuer so euel fauoured & foule: as thoughe there coulde not be so conning an Englishman, as a foolish running stranger, (of others I speake not) or so perfect helth by honest learning, as by deceiptfull ignorance. For in the erroure of these vnlearned reasteth the losse of youre honest estimation, diere bloudde, precious spirites, and swiete lyfe, the thyng of most estimation and price in this worlde, next vnto the immortal soule.

For consuming of euel matter within, and for making our bodies lustye, galiard, & helthful, I do not a litle commende exercise, whiche in vs Englishe men I allowe quick, and liuishe: as to runne after houndes and haukes, to shote, wrastle, play at Tennes and weapons, tosse the winde balle, skirmishe at base (an exercise for a gentlemanne, muche vsed among the Italianes) and vaughting vpon an horse. Bowling, a good exercise for women: castinge of the barre and camping, I accompt rather a laming of legges, then an exercise. Yet I vtterly reproue theim not, if the hurt may be auoyded. For these a conueniente tyme is, before meate: due measure, reasonable sweatinge, in al times of the year, sauing in the sweatinge tyme. In the whiche I allow rather quietnesse then exercise, for opening the body, in suche persons specially as be liberally & freely brought up. Others, except sitting artificers, haue theire exercises by daily labours in their occupations, to whom nothing niedeth but solace onely, a thing conuenient for euery bodye that lusteth to live in helth. For els as non other thing, so not healthe canne be longe durable.

Thus I speake of solace, that I meane not Idlenesse, wisshing alwayes no man to be idle, but to be occupied in some honest kinde of thing necessary in a common welth. For I accompt them not worthie meate and drink in a commonwelth, y^t be not good for some purpose or seruice therin, but take them rather as burdennes vnprofitable and heauye to the yearth, men borne to fille a numbre only, and wast the frutes which therthe doeth geue, willing soner to fiede the Lacedemonians old & croked asse, whiche labored for the liuing so long as it coulde for age, then suche an idle Englisshe manne. If the honestye and profite of honeste labour and exercise, conseruation of healthe, preseruation from sickenesse, maintenaunce of lyfe, advauncement, safety from shamefull deathes, defence from beggerye, dyspleasures by idlenesse, shamefulle diseases by the same, hatefulle vices, and punishmente of the immortalle soule canne not moue vs to reasonable laboure and exercise, and to be profitable membres of the commune welthe, let at the least shame moue vs, seyng that other country menne, of nought, by their owne witte, diligence, labour and actiuitie, can picke oute of a cast bone, a wrethen strawe, a lyghte fether, or an hard stone, an honeste lyuinge: Nor ye shall euer heare theym say, alas master, I haue non occupacion, I must either begge or steale. For they can finde other meanes betwene these two. And for so muche as in the case that nowe is, miserable persons are to be relieued in a common welth, I would wisshe for not fauouring the idle, the discretion of Marc. Cicero the romaine were vsed in healping them: who wolde compassion should be shewed vpon them whome necessitie compelled to do or make a faute: & no compassion vpon them, in whome a faulte made necessitie. A faulte maketh necessitie, in this case of begging, in them, whyche might laboure and serve & wil not for idlenes; and therefore not to be pitied, but rather to be punished. Necessitie maketh a fault in them, whiche wold labor and serue, but cannot for age, impotency, or sickenes, and therefore to be pitied and relieued. But to auoyde punishmente and to shew the waye to amendmente, I woulde again wishe, y^t for so much as we be so euel disposed of ourselfes to our own profites and comodities without help, this old law were renued, which forbiddeth the nedy & impotent parentes, to be releued of those their welthi chyldren, that by theym or theire meanes were not broughte vppe, eyther in good learning and Science, or honeste occupation. For so is a man withoute science, as a realme withoute a kyng. (Fol. 27 to 30.)

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Al these thinges duely obserued, and well executed, whiche before I haue for preseruation mencioned, if more ouer we can sette aparte al affections, as fretting cares and thoughtes, dolefull or sorowfull imaginations, vaine feares, folysh loues, gnawing hates, and geue oure selues to lyue quietly, frendlie & merily one with an outher, as men were wont to do in the old world, when this Countrie was called merye Englande, and euery man to medle in his own matters, thinking theim sufficient, as thei do in Italie, and auoyde malyce and dissencion, the destruction of commune wealthes, and priuate houses: I doubte not but we shall preserue our selues, both from this sweatinge syckenesse, and other diseases also not here purposed to be spoken of. (Fol. 31.)

FINIS.

_Wertheimer. Printer, Leman-st. Goodman’s-fields._