Doctor Mead's Short discourse explain'd
Author: Unknown
Date: 2018-01-16T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Plague -- Early works to 1800; Communicable diseases -- Early works to 1800; Mead; Richard; 1673-1754. Short discourse concerning pestilential contagion

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Title: Doctor Mead's Short discourse explain'd

Being a clearer account of pestilential contagion, and preventing.

Publisher: William Boreham

Release date: January 16, 2018 [eBook #56380]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOCTOR MEAD'S SHORT DISCOURSE EXPLAIN'D ***

Doctor MEAD’s

Short DISCOURSE

EXPLAIN’D.

BEING A
Clearer Account
OF
Pestilential Contagion,
AND
PREVENTING.

Nec satis est dixisse, ego mira poemata pango.

LONDON:

Printed, and Sold by W. Boreham, at the

Angel in Pater-noster Row. 1721.

Dr. MEAD’s
Short Discourse
EXPLAIN’D.

Many and various are the Opinions about the Design, as well as about the Meaning and real and true Sense of the short Discourse lately writ by the Celebrated Dr. Mead, for preventing the Plague. The various Turns of the Heads of different Men, their different Capacities, and the Sublimity of the Doctor’s Style may, no doubt, occasion all this Variety in understanding Him and his Book. Some, and if we may judge by the great Run and Demand for his Book, the greatest Number of the People of all Ranks expected some Esculapian, but easy Rules, whereby they might govern and conduct their Life against so silent an Enemy as the Pestilence, which walketh in Darkness. This seems to be more than a Conjecture, because this great Demand ceas’d of a sudden, as the Plague it self commonly does, after they found the Physician had no hand in it, or that his Rules were locked up for the Favourites of his Faculty. And as the People commonly make the best Judgment of Things after a little Experience, so we find this Judgment of the Town confirmed, by what his Friends, Adepts, and other Officers, who only understand or declare what Dr. Mead would have believed; and accordingly they labour to declare, that the genuine Meaning and Design of the Celebrated Doctor was, to give a Politick Account, how the Plague may be staved off by Force of Arms.

I grant this Authority is very cogent; yet, on the other hand, if we either consider the Title Page of the Book, the great Accurateness and Veracity of Dr. Mead, as well as his signal Humility, I must crave leave to dissent, at this time, from the Reports of these Men, tho’ they carry his daily and hourly Orders: for how do such Reports sute all those his known good Qualities, the last more especially. Can any Man think it consistent with his singular Humility, to teach the Secretary of State, what has been practised in our own and other Countries for some hundred of Years: Quarantines and Pest-Houses, or if the Doctor pleases, Lazarettoes, are not unknown to English Lawyers, nor English Ministers. And therefore I think it much the fairest Course, to consider the Discourse well, because it is short, and from thence to draw the Sense of its Author.

To do all imaginable Right to Dr. Mead, we will begin with the Title-Page, that nothing material may seem to be neglected. There we find it is to be a Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and Methods to prevent it. Turning next to the Dedication, he tells his Patron that he rather chuses to put down the principal Heads of Caution, than a Set of Directions in Form. This Head he seems to suggest chiefly to consist in performing Quarantines, and other things that may be collected from History. The next (Head I suppose) is concerning the suppressing Infection here; which he tells us is very different from the Methods taken in former times among us, and from what they commonly do abroad; but (as he very modestly perswades himself) will be found agreeable to Reason. This Account differs very much from the Rumours and Opinions now prevailing in the World; for we are to be entertain’d with a preventing Method, as far as Physick and Politicks extend, and on that Account cannot fail to be very new when finished; because all former Accounts are very defective, the silent Attacks of the Pestilence having been hitherto undiscover’d by all former Physicians. And therefore is there any Person so hard-hearted, or so stupid, that does not rejoyce and prick up his Ears at those ravishing Expressions, who does not desire to be instructed in this Method of preventing this unmerciful Enemy to Mankind. Come on then, and listen to the Celebrated Dr. Mead, who brings Death to Pestilential Contagion; as he is said to have promis’d while he was composing this Work. But we will next follow Dr. Mead into the Book it self, where we find that he thinks it necessary to premise somewhat in general concerning Contagion, and the Manner by which it acts. But alas! we are to meet with nothing but Disappointments, so soon are we fallen from all our Hopes and Expectations: Nothing to be found either of Contagion, or the manner of its acting, tho’ the Title of the Book promises it, and the first entring upon the Discourse declares it to be necessary; This is the very Soul of the Book, the subject Matter upon which every thing turns, the Cause of the Plague, and the Indication for preventing and curing the Plague, are to be drawn out of it.

Besides, the most ancient and best Physicians knew nothing of Contagion, and far less of Pestilential Contagion; Words only brought in by Physicians in later times, and of Ignorance; and therefore such suspected Words ought to be well described and defined before they are made use of; either in discovering the Nature of abstruse Diseases, or when we are to found Methods of preventing or curing them, upon such Discoveries.

To leave this Enquiry about Contagion to another Occasion, we will only observe, that this necessary Article is overseen and neglected by the Accurate Dr. Mead, for Reasons well known to himself, and easily to be guessed at by every body. It must be acknowledg’d that the Doctor’s way of writing and inquiring is very singular, the remaining part of his Book being carried on without Principles, or any known thing with which his Subject to be explained has any relation.

But, as I have now undertaken to make this short Discourse more intelligible, I will pursue my Design in Dr. Mead’s Method, as far as that does not obscure the Subject: In that Case I will take the Liberty to keep the Thread of our Discourse as much in our view is it is possible. Dr. Mead then having taken leave of Contagion, tells us, that this unknown Contagion is propagated by three Causes, The Air, diseased Persons, and Goods transported from infected Places. What a propagating Cause may be, shall be left to those that deal in Metaphysicks, to determine; it matters not what it appears to be, while the begetting Cause is unknown.

As to Air, he now undertakes to shew us how it becomes Infectious, and how it communicates its noxious Quality to other Bodies. The first, by the Authority of Hippocrates and Galen; but in this he mistakes his Authors, as he commonly does when they do not come up to his Purpose; for Hippocrates is thought, by many Authors, not to treat of the Plague, in this third Book of his Epidemicks; Galen, in the Commentary quoted by Dr. Mead, is so far from thinking that Hippocrates was resolved to give us Cases of the Plague, that he thought quite otherwise: And for the Truth of this Assertion, take an irrefragable Authority, instar omnium, the learned Dr. Friend, who says at the Remark [1]Λοιμωδης, hic non est proprie pestilens & contagiosus, siquidem in his morbis ab Hippocrate descriptis, nullum est contagii vestigium: Sed ut Galenus innuit aliud non est, quam Επιδημια ὀλέθριος. And a little after, sed ipse titulus Galeno paululum suspectus est.

We will not insist upon this Sense of Hippocrates; but suppose he there truly treats of the Plague, and that he has observed such a Temperament of Air to have preceded it, what is this to Contagion and Infection, which neither Hippocrates nor Galen ever dream’d of. Besides, Hippocrates calls the Plague a Fever, and in his Opinion several Affections of Air, to him, and us, perhaps, unknown, produced Plagues, or Fevers (for these Words are synonimous with him) and the greatest Part of other Diseases. So that it is manifest from Hippocrates, that this, and many other Alterations of the Air do not make it Infectious.

The following Paragraph is of no Force, after what is now said concerning Hippocrates; the best Historian, that is not a Physician, is never presumed to go beyond an Account and Relation of Matter of Fact, as he apprehends it; and so far went the great Thucydides, in relating the Plague of Athens. We will rather consider what the Doctor alledges for strengthning his Conjecture about Contagion. [2]Stinks of stagnating Waters, in hot Weather; putrid Exhalations from the Earth; and above all, the Corruption of dead Carcasses being unburied, have occasion’d infectious Diseases. Let us now suppose this Account to be true, yet his chief Article about Carcasses is absolutely false, as may be prov’d by one of the best Physicians in any Age; what is all this to Contagion breeding the Plague: For suppose again, some or all of them occasion’d infectious Diseases, the Consequence is not, Ergo, the Plague; there being many contagious Diseases that are neither Plague nor Mortal.

Yet, as if all this were Demonstration, he asserts, That the Plague is produced by a Concurrence of Causes; and their first Effect is a Degree of Stagnation in the Air, which is follow’d by Corruption, and Putrefaction. It is needless to enter upon this Hint of a new Hypothesis; for if his Machine of Contagion, or Infection, be good, these are unnecessary. But alas! the celebrated Doctor has, in the Conclusion, destroy’d the whole Fabrick he had rear’d with so much Trouble, after he had borrow’d Brick from one, Mortar from another, and Timber from a third; and only because he became, against Nature and his own Genius, a Master-Builder. Is a Concurrence of all the supposed Causes necessary to make a Plague? Then there never was a Plague in the World; and that because these Causes never all met together: A hopeful Conclusion! and which at once delivers the World of insufferable Fears, they hitherto groan’d under, by a vulgar Error; which is now contrary to Experience, because it is so to Dr. Mead’s Reasoning.

Hippocrates, on the other Hand, undertakes only to relate the Constitution of the Year when Plagues and Fevers were very frequent; he never thought of making any particular Constitution, or the Weather in it, the Cause of Plagues universally: If he had, Experience should have shewn the contrary, to which he would have submitted. But not to enter into any other Constitutions that might happen in Greece, Experience cries loudly against this Hypothesis of Dr. Mead; since we know that hard and continued frosty Weather produces the Pestilence, most commonly, in our Northern Climates. The Winter 1664, was a continued Frost all through, as Dr. Hodges informs us; yet the Plague broke out in the Christmas time, when it was in its Strength. The Plague in Dantzick, mention’d by Dr. Mead, was in the Winter, when every thing was bound up with a severe Frost; yet so violent was this Plague, that it bred the Dunkirk-Fever in the Fag-end of it, as Dr. Mead learnedly conjectures. So that the Pestilence frequently, and most commonly, happens in a Season very opposite to what the Doctor finds necessary for breeding Infection and Corruption, the Fore-runners of a Plague.

From all this Account it is manifest, that we hitherto know nothing of Contagion, nor of any Corruption convey’d into Air, which it is to foment and cherish, to beget or propagate the Pestilence; as also that this Notion of Contagion taken up and espoused by later Physicians, is very ill supported by them, and still worse by Dr. Mead, who is little acquainted with their Opinions, so common and obvious in Books of Physick. And therefore as he has been very unhappy in discovering the Change in Air that makes it infectious; we will try for better Success, in his discovering the Means, whereby it communicates its noxious Quality to other Bodies.

In order to pursue this Discourse with greater Exactness, it is necessary to ease our Memory from carrying the different Particulars of seven Pages, and not to oblige the Reader to take, on trust, what is writ so long before. It may, perhaps, be useful to Dr. Mead to tell us[3], that he, lately, left the Air in a putrid State; but that is nothing to us, who are at this present time sensible that the Doctor has not been able to bring the least Speck of Putrefaction into it. However, not to balk him in his projected Means, whereby it communicates its noxious Quality; he desires us to observe, that Putrefaction is a kind of Fermentation, and that all Bodies in a Ferment emit a volatile active Spirit, of Power to agitate, and put into intestine Motions, that is, to change the Nature of other Fluids, into which it insinuates it self. Now we have observed it, we find every Article of this Observation to be false; for Putrefaction does not always precede Fermentation, nor that every body in a Ferment emits volatile Spirits, nor that volatile Spirits have a Power to agitate, or to put into intestine Motions all Liquors into which they insinuate themselves; and still far less, that being put into intestine Motions, is to change the Nature of the Fluid thus put in Motion. What Use the Doctor may have for this Roll of precarious Assertions, time may tell us: for he has now got the Master-Key of all Philosophy, even Fermentation, into his Hand. By Fermentation Stones, Metals, Plants, Animals, and (if it pleases him) the Pestilence, are generated, and cherished. This makes Diseases; this cures them; by this we live, by this we die.

Neither does this Machine only answer all our Wants in performing the greater, but even the smaller feats, as we chance to employ it: for if we are asked, why Glow-birds shine in the Night? or why wet Hay takes Fire of it self, &c. one short Answer is sufficient to all these, that these great Works are done by Fermentation. A Poet in ancient times, pronounced those Nations happy, that had their rural Gods growing in their Gardens. But I esteem the Man far more happy, who has at hand so ready an Answer to every thing: who has got a Machine equally serviceable on every occasion, the Philosopher’s Stone, the universal Medicine, the making a Plague.

Being thus possessed of this useful Machine, he tells us what wonderful feats he could perform by it, with the Help of Bellini’s Doctrine of Fevers, if he had any time to bestow on so great a Digression: for he could shew us, how the Alterations made in the Blood will favour Pestilential Diseases, by rendering the Body obnoxious to them. Why, this is the Favour we have waited for in eleven tedious Pages; and if he writes in English, we may thus be taught how the Blood is affected in Pestilential Diseases, by laying us a-bed languishing with them. This would not only be one step towards Contagion, as he artfully begins the next Paragraph, but might fully inform us of every thing we want to know concerning it. Why should the Great and Celebrated Dr. Mead call this a Digression? I wish he would begin thus to digress: but it is now too late, since he has already digressed from all his Title-Page, and the half of his Preface. Contagion was dropt at first, and now we find that Pestilential Contagion has no better Fate. How preventing may thrive under his Hands, is not hard to guess, since he knows nothing of what he promises to prevent. These Methods are very different from those taken in former times among us, and from what they commonly do abroad. Insomuch, that had any body writ in this Method, besides the Celebrated Doctor, I should have thought him the most ignorant, impertinent, and self-sufficient Person that ever made a Sale of Physick.

What Account can he give to Physicians, for thus despising the received Opinions of Hippocrates, and of all their learned and experienc’d Predecessors, who unanimously declare, that the Plague differs in nothing from a Fever; or else that a Fever attends every Plague of Pestilence. And, therefore, in him is all Physick, or else he knows nothing of it.

Nay, how can he answer it to himself, who in his Manifesto, in the very next Paragraph, is under an unavoidable Want of a Fever he formerly neglected. Here he tells us a Tale, That, the next (Step towards Contagion, and it is not safe to go too near it) as it seems to me, proceeds after this Manner. This kind of introductory Humility has been very fashionable, of late, among dignify’d Authors; for in advancing a Proposition, whereof they can bring no Proof, it is not to be thought how humble, how self-deny’d they are in that Instant; but they rant, swagger, and bully, if they get their Reader but Three Lines further. So this celebrated Author, after this humble Cringe, tells us, The Blood in all malignant Fevers, especially pestilential ones (to be sure) at the latter End of the Disease, does, like fermenting Liquors, throw off a great Quantity of active Particles upon the several Glands of the Body, particularly upon those of the Mouth and Skin, from which the Secretions are naturally the most constant and large. These, in pestilential Cases, although the Air be in a right State, will generally infect those who are very near to the sick Person; otherwise are soon dispersed and lost.

The first Part of this Declaration, if my Memory fails me not, is taken from the Doctor’s elaborate Essay on Poisons; and is brought forth with all its primitive Elegance, for the present Purpose; but by no means answers his Want of it: For it does not appear, by any manner of Observation, that the Blood throws off any active Particles at the latter End of malignant Fevers, so there is no need to have Recourse to this Supposition. But why upon any Glands? This Expression does not favour of understanding Anatomy. Why upon the Glands of the Mouth? Surely this Supposition is not of any Use in this Place, however serviceable it might prove in the mentioned Book, when the Slabbering of a mad Dog was upon the Anvil. Moreover, Is Secretion most constantly performed at the Glands of the Mouth and of the Skin? Surely not, as Sanctorius evinces, and is evident from the Doctrine of Secretions, perfectly well explain’d many Years ago.

Next, let us suppose that this is Standard Physick, as it is quite the Reverse of it; what mighty matter is to be drawn from it? Why, these active Particles, tho’ the Air be pure, will infect those who are very near to the sick Person; otherwise are soon dispersed and lost. I hope there is no harm in the last, and there is no Proof alledg’d for the former. So that his next Step towards Contagion, does not proceed at all. I cannot tell how well he manages in the remaining Part of the Paragraph; and therefore I will only set it in View, that any Person of a more enlighten’d Understanding than my self may profit by the Doctor’s own Words. But when in an evil Disposition of this they meet with these subtle Parts its Corruption has generated, by uniting with them, they become much more active and powerful, and likewise more durable and lasting, so as to form an infectious Matter, capable of conveying the Mischief to a great Distance from the diseased Body, out of which it was produced.

Now if Dr. Mead’s Narration is to the Purpose, it goes further than he design’d it should; for how are the active Particles, like fermented Liquors, thrown out of the Blood in the latter End of malignant Fevers, and that in so great Plenty, and of so great Energy, that they themselves had been able to have helped to his next Step of Contagion, if he had not luckily interposed with a saving Clause, especially pestilential ones, whereby the last would have been deprived of all the Honour of making Contagion: But what is still worse, Fevers, especially those that are malignant, are now the chief Article in this Account, and leave Dr. Mead inexcusable, for not applying Almighty Fermentation to the learned Bellini’s Theory of Fevers. And here let it be observ’d, That those pestilential Steams go no great Length, ’till they are enabled by the next, unintelligible Means, whereby is formed an infectious Matter capable of conveying the Mischief to a great Distance. I hope Doctor Mead understands his last Words; for my Part, I do not, and by the next Paragraph I find my self still more unqualify’d to receive his Story of Contagion.

The former Piece of Knowledge is open to those only who are the familiar Friends of Attractions and Combinations made by Volatile Spirits; and we who are Strangers to these powerful Words, cannot hope for any Instruction. But to shew Dr. Mead I have been at true Pains to come acquainted with them, I find there was Old Attraction, Son of Aristotle; and there is Young Attraction, the great Geometrician; and a Counterfeit of this in the Works of the celebrated Doctor Anodyne Necklace; which last is mighty like Attraction before us; but as he is spurious, I must own that I do not find how this Attraction brings me to a clearer Understanding of the foregoing Paragraph. As to Combination, whether that of Cooks, or Algebraists, it is of very little or no Use to me. I must confess, a good Use may be made of these Words; for they will exchange with Fermentation, at any Time that an Author finds himself disposed to write on a Subject without understanding it.

For Instance, I now intend to make a short Discourse about the Philosopher’s Stone, and a Method for finding it; a very agreeable Offer to the Publick, when Money is scarce, and Credit very low, through the great Industry of the ingenious Directors of the South Sea. When, I say, a Man forms to himself this useful Project, Attraction and Combination does it at once. The Receipt is easy; it is but taking of Attraction, Circulation, Cohobation, Concentration, a. q. s. Combination, q. s. M. If this Receipt is duly managed, it will not only make the Philosopher’s Stone, and the grand Elixir, but cures the Plague, and all Diseases, Curable or Incurable. But it is to be noted, that when you would explain how Attraction makes a Plague, you must be sure due Consideration be had to the Facility and Aptness of all kind of Effluvia to be diffused in a warm Air, such as we have described an infectious one to be. And, therefore, as the Whole of Infecting Air is an ill-made Story, supported by Cant and Gibberish, we will take Leave of it, and his mortify’d Limb together, tho’ it is brought to give further Light to this strange Stuff.

But, to proceed, the celebrated Doctor smells a Rat; that unless the Air is allowed a greater Share of shedding Destruction than he has hitherto allotted it, Matters may go very hard with the whole Doctrine of Contagion; and therefore, notwithstanding its being a Medium for propagating Contagion only, the Doctor is now willing to pronounce, with full Power, and for Fear of great Inconveniencies that follow close at the Heels of the former Doctrine, that a corrupted State of Air is without Doubt necessary to give these contagious Atoms their full Force; for otherwise it is not easy to conceive how the Plague should ever cease, but with the Destruction of all the Inhabitants. Here is a Devil raised indeed, and he will not be in the least quieted, unless Dr. Mead will contradict himself, and renounce the half of his Defence, for the Pureness and Uncorruptedness of Air. And what will not a Man do for a quiet Life. And even the English Air, that could formerly kill the greatest Plague, is now without doubt under a State of Corruption: For if that is not admitted, God have Mercy on all English Men. This is very kind in the Doctor, to take shame to himself for the Good of his Country.

Conveniency is a pretty Argument, but not very cogent, as we now see; for this corrupted State of Air is only an Expedient to get rid of a Pestilence; because by Supposing an Emendation of the Qualities of the Air, and restoring of it to a healthy State, capable of dissipating and suppressing the Malignity, we put an end to the Plague in an instant. Mighty fine, and Meadish; tho’ he might have put a stop to a Plague at an easier rate, than the Loss of his Hypothesis; for as the stress of the Expedient rests upon another fine Word, supposing; why, he needed only to suppose that the whole Magazine of Poison is stopped at once, it matters not whether that be by an Army, by making it serve a Quarantine, by an Amulet, or that the raw Damp is again attracted by the Sea. I hope due Consideration will be had to this Expedient, in a new Edition of the short Discourse; if so be it has one. This would do much better than to make another Drawback, which we find is done in the very next Paragraph; for there, Infection is not received from the Air it self, however predisposed, without the Concurrence of something emitted from infected Persons. Now if Infection is never receiv’d from the Air upon any Account whatsoever, it is manifest, that the Air is a Medium, that can neither do Good nor Hurt, and so to the right about, and the former Allowance is recalled; so that the former Difficulty still remains, and consequently a Plague once begun in a Country, never comes to an end, as long as there is a Man alive.

The Principle upon which this Resumption is made, is, because the Progress of a Pestilence may be stopt at any time, by strictly preventing all Intercourse of infected Places with the Neighbourhood. He brings as a Proof of this lusty Assertion, what has lately happened in the raging Plague at Marseilles; and alledges, that it has been effectually confined to that miserable Town, by keeping careful Guard. But alas! this Argument is out of doors. Happy were it for the People of France if they had greater Assurance of their Safety, than they can draw from such vain Promises of Insuring Physicians. And therefore his Objection remains in full Force, without any Satisfaction being given to it. I know from whence he took this Difficulty, but he ought to have been well satisfied that he had brought a full Solution to so powerful an Argument against all manner of Contagion. I will only repeat the Difficulty, and leave the clearing of it to the Patrons of a Pestilence being begot by Contagion; especially that it is a Step towards Dr. Mead’s next propagating Cause. It is asserted by those who oppose this Contagion, that a Plague is sometimes bred without it, otherwise it would be perpetual. This Assertion is made good, by considering a Country where a new Plague is broken out; and ask us, whether it be just then bred in that Country, or brought thither from elsewhere? If we grant the first, then indeed adieu to all Contagion: If the last, they bid us name the originary Place, where it was bred: Which would oblige us to the same Concession as the former. Therefore, say they, Contagion may propagate but not begin a Plague.

Leaving then Doctor Mead and his Contagion under the Restraint of a very good Argument, we will consider in the next Place, after what manner he conveys it to a sound Person, and he supposes the way to be commonly this: These contagious Particles—taint the salival Juices (or Spittle) which being swallowed down into the Stomach, presently fix their Malignity there; as appears from the Nausea and Vomiting, with which this Distemper often begins its first Attacks. But all this is acknowledged to be a Supposition, and not of sufficient Strength to bear so weighty a Building upon it. Secondly, If a Man does nor swallow his Spittle, or if he gargles his Throat very well before he does swallow it, there would be no danger from the Pestilence; but this slye Plague should be easily evaded. To what Purpose is this silly Supposition to bring it into the Stomach, and then to suppose it fixes its Malignity there, because People are often troubled with Vomiting when they are ill of the Plague. An admirable Way of Reasoning: and as Admiration begat Philosophy, so Dr. Mead’s Philosophy cannot fail of begetting Admiration: For if the Stomach must needs be the first Place affected by the Plague, and the Doctor is gone over to Van Helmont, cannot he convey it thither down by the Nose, or even through the Mouth, without infecting the Spittle.

Dr. Mead is grosly out in his Observation, for the Symptoms of the Heart, our Strength at least, being affected, are previous to his supposed Nausea and Vomiting; so that he not only ought to make no Question, but to be sure that the Blood is also more immediately affected; as the Multitude of Physicians besides Van Helmont and him have always believed: But I find his Fancy lies much in odd Conceits. I know a very honest Man, and a good Observer in Physick, who has fallen into this very Error in explaining this Symptom of Vomiting; but every Body will acknowledge that his Philosophy is no where the best: And when this Symptom is truly explained, we shall find that it is a Symptom of a Malignant Fever, as well as of the Plague, without any manner of Irritation, or of any other Hurt of that Nature, in the Stomach. And therefore as this Way of conveying the Plague, is a Supposition grounded upon no manner of Observation (as the Doctor argues in this Paragraph) so I think there is no need to have recourse to it.

On the other Hand, it might be demonstrated, from the Nature of the Plague, that it is never, or very rarely, communicated from one Person to another. At present we will content our selves, to evince this Truth by a Demonstration of another kind, which is from Observation, or à posteriori, and I will borrow it too from Mr. Graunt, in his Observations on the Bills of Mortality. In his Observations on the [4]Plague of 1636: He says it lasted 12 Years, in eight whereof there died 2000 per Annum one with another, and never under 800. The which shews, That the Contagion of the Plague depends more upon the Disposition of the Air, than upon the Effluvia from the Bodies of Men. Which also we prove by the sudden jumps which the Plague hath made, leaping in one Week from 118 to 927; and back again, from 993 to 258; and from thence again, the very next Week, to 852. The which Effects must surely be rather attributed to Change of the Air, than of the Constitutions of Mens Bodies, otherwise than as this depends upon that.

And therefore as this very common Opinion, about the Plague of Pestilence passing from one Body into another, is not supported by any good Reason, far less by the Suppositions and Innuendo’s of Dr. Mead; and is now contrary to the best Observation, most duly and properly made, we may not doubt to declare, that it very rarely, and perhaps never, proceeds that Way.

The Third Way Contagion is spread, is, by Goods transported from infected Places. But the Reason of this Fact seems to surmount his Understanding, and no wonder, for it has already puzzled all other Philosophers and Physicians, insomuch, that it has driven them into absurd Notions of Maggots, against all Observation. But, before a Philosopher would spend his Time about this Difficulty, he should be sure his Fact is indisputably true, for thereby he may save himself much Trouble and Babling, about a Matter that is false in Fact. However, this Difficulty may have blunted the Edge of every other Genius, he makes no doubt to conquer it, and account for it to the World, as he now does in the following Words: If, as we have conjectured, the Matter of Contagion be an active Substance, perhaps in the nature of a Salt, generated chiefly from the Corruption of a Human Body, it is not hard to conceive how this may be lodged and preserv’d in soft porous Bodies, which are kept pressed close together.

Dr. Mead has the readiest Way of getting rid of a Difficulty, of any Author, tho’ I cannot say it is always the most informing and perswasive. No Man that understands these Terms, a Salt, what it is to be soft and porous, dares keep back his Assent to a Proof grounded upon such manifest Observations, as Conjectures, Perhaps’s, and May-bee’s; all which are far more ingenious than Kircher’s Maggots-Eggs. However bold this Argument may be, yet if any one will deny his Matter of Contagion to be an active Substance; or, that it is a Salt; or, that it rather affects a soft Bed than one that is hard, this Third, and last propagating Cause, may prove to be no manner of Cause; and all the World, Merchants especially, cry out against their Merchandize serving Quarantine.

Could Dr. Mead bring all his ordinary Vouchers, I cannot say how far he might have gone in commanding a Submission from a great Number of Men to this Article: And therefore if any Person, or Persons, wants fuller Conviction, let him repair to the Coffee-Houses, where they shall have the Affidavits of ten Physicians, fifteen Apothecaries, and five Surgeons; and I’ll answer for it, eight in ten shall go, from Batson’s especially, fully satisfied with the Truth of the Premises. But can it be imagined this cunning Doctor would have expos’d his Character, in this Kind of Argument, to Men of Learning and Virtue. But here his drooping Spirits revert, and his Humility and Modesty vanish, having at this Stage got rid of the Necessity of Reasoning, the rest of this inimitable Work being to be carry’d on by Banter and Assertion; whereby let us take Measure of the Faith and Credulity of the good People of England; for if this passes, Transubstantiation may be the next Article he will propose to you; if it does not, the Doctor and his Book are discovered at the same Time.

Now we are prepared for all Dr. Mead’s Absurdities, Wit and Banter, the first Thing he presents us with, how long a Time Perfumes hold their Scent, if wrapt up in proper Coverings; and we must remark, That the strongest of those, like the Matter we are treating of (are mostly animal Juices) as Musk, Civet, &c. (if there be any more.) And the Substances that keep them the best, are those which receive and communicate the Plague, as Furs, Feathers, Silk, Hair, Wool, Cotton, Flax, &c. the greatest part of which are likewise of the animal Kind. If the Pestilence is now a Scent, yet surely it is a Noisome one; and if it can be kept, like Musk, in its proper Covering, fourty Days will never deliver us from our fears of it. But all this is only to amuse us with another new Conceit the Doctor would entertain us with, that the Matter of the Plague is an animal Juice; but pray, good Doctor, of what Animal? This is not only ridiculous, but overthrows every Opinion of Physicians that ever was broached about it. But not to baulk his Wit, this Perfume of the Plague, like Musk, is best kept in animal Substances; (Attraction would have preceded very decently, for a more proper Introduction) but is Musk, commonly kept in Furs or Cotton; if in the last, what Animal is it that yields us Cotton? As for Civet it is no runaway Merchandize. It is therefore very obvious, that Men are now passing a Review of their Credulity before Dr. Mead and the World. But there is another quaint Observation that must not be neglected, which is, That of all the mentioned Plague-Keepers, Three of them are animal Substances, and but Two of them of the vegetable Kind. Mighty fine! and well order’d: But if we turn to another Page of his [5]Book, we may find this useful Observation contradicted: But the greatest Danger from Goods, is from Cotton, Hemp, and Flax; Paper, or Books (Paper Books surely, or else their covering will keep them upon an Equality in ballancing Accompts) Silk, Linnen, Wool, Feathers, Hair, and Skins. In this Account, the vegetable and animal Plague-Keepers are equal in Number.

What Purposes does this Conceit serve? Why, only to support another Conceit, viz. That animal Substances most vigorously attract animal Effluvia, or that animal Effluvia run furiously into the Embraces of animal Substances; which we see by his fine Experiments, is a mere Fancy. As for Musk, Cotton secures it the fastest from running away; nor do we find that Feathers, Silk or Wool, are ever put upon that Service. But supposing every Thing true, and nothing whimsical, that has been now advanced by the Doctor, we might have expected a further Discovery; how these Perfumes come to desire their being beded, cherished, or fomented in soft animal Substances: Is it in Abhorrence of Annihilation, or by the Love they bear to one another? Or are they kept together, as the celebrated Jonathan Wild keeps a Felon? In short, is it by Sympathy or Antipathy? For if we are rightly instructed in these Matters, these Remarks alone may lead us into great and useful Practices; for if they are skilfully employ’d, they may, perhaps, as I conjecture, keep the Plague at bay, by being strung up, like Pirates, at High Water Mark.

For as dull as these Conceits may appear to be; such as never dropp’d before from any Man in his Senses; yet our Author, who has hitherto shewn himself Blind in every kind of Argument, is now become so Sharp-sighted of a sudden, when you are to take his Word for it, that he boldly asserts, That this Remark alone (of Sympathy and Antipathy) may serve to lead us a little into the true Nature of Contagion. What! this Nature of Contagion, that is still unknown, after all Dr. Mead’s Endeavours; nay, Sweats and Labours, to be drawn at length from Trifles that bear no Relation to Contagion.

There is no Accounting for this Attempt upon Mankind: The Doctor, I doubt not, has often made Trial, how far their good Nature could carry their Belief: but this obtruding on Scholars, and Physicians too, is no less exposing Physick than Physicians. Such Credulity is the very Reverse of the Incredulity our Saviour complains of, and no less Marvellous. It is indeed Marvellous, how People were Unbelievers after the greatest Evidence of Reason and Miracle: Yet we cannot forbear admiring, if People should swallow all this Trifle and Contradiction, against all Sense and Reason. We are, indeed, at a loss to explain this lazy Credulity; and therefore we must have Recourse to the general Infection, that has wrought so strong Delusion, of late Years, all over Europe; when we find Men have become wonderfully Credulous, even to Infatuation. Upon this Supposition a very tolerable good Account may be given of the mentioned Attempts, for fathoming the Credulity of Men, let that be found to be ever so deep. If we hove our Lead in the South Sea, we could sound to an hundred Fathom, and bring up yellow Sand upon the Lead. Some Doctors have often sounded fifty Fathom for yellow Sand; and Doctor Anodyne Necklace almost as deep for the same. The South Sea Pilots have now run us a-ground, notwithstanding the Depth of Water; and Men begin to recover their Senses by the Surprize, Terriculamenta being often found useful to Children: And, I hope, now they are awake, they will never hereafter subject either their Lives or Fortunes to Directors of any kind.

But as we are, at present, got into the Metaphors of Trade and Navigation, it has been no small Omission, in every kind of Director, that they have lately forgot the Genius of England; of its being a Country of Merchants. Had Dr. Mead remember’d the Place of his Education, he might likewise have saved himself much Labour in explaining a groundless Phænomenon, and spoke more Truth. Was not Dr. Mead bred, if not born, within the Smoak of Black Wall and Wapping, where both Church and Conventicle have long been a safe Retreat to foreign Goods, that were not to stand the awful View of a Custom House Officer? Yet, in all that Time, and ever since, there have not appeared any Degrees of a Plague. Have not Merchandize been brought from many Parts of Turkey, all which have very deservedly an ill Name for the Pestilence, that very commonly rages among them. And how comes it to pass, That during this constant, and uninterrupted Commerce, when soft and porous Goods, the proper Fomes, have been brought from Smyrna, Scanderoon, Aleppo, Constantinople, and other Parts, the Pestilence has never taken a Journey hither, in all Appearance, those Fifty five Years? In all that Time Turkey Goods have not served a Quarantine, nor visited any other Lazaretto’s, besides the Companies Cellars; a certain Proof that Goods very seldom, or ever, bring a Plague into a Country; and oftner find it there than propagate it.

It is very remarkable, That our Commerce with Swedeland, Poland, and other Parts of those Eastern Countries, has been very considerable, when Plagues have been raging among the mentioned People; and yet we have not found any Attempts from this silent Enemy on this our happy Island. Nay, we must more especially observe, that in the Year 1708 and 1709, a most destructive Pestilence made great Waste in Dantzig; and, that there were some Hundreds of British Ships bound up in Ice, the whole Winter through; yet we had no other Visit from it, than the supposed fag End of it, by the Dunkirk Fever; which happen’d four Years after the former had expir’d. And therefore this Opinion, of a Pestilence being preserved, and convey’d to distant Places in Goods, as a Fomes, is not sufficiently supported; a particular Care ought to be taken to suppress such ill-grounded Notions, so prejudicial and hurtful to the People, and Trade of an Island Country.

The Account Dr. Hodges gives us of the Behaviour of the People of London, after they returned to Town in Winter 1665, is an undeniable Experiment against a Pestilence being propagated from a Fomes, and almost from one Body to another. He tells us[6], The Houses which before were full of the Dead, were now again inhabited by the Living; and the Shops, which had been most part of the Year shut up, were again opened, and the People again chearfully went about their wonted Affairs of Trade and Employ; and even what is almost beyond belief, those Citizens, who were before afraid, even of their Friends and Relations, would, without fear, venture into the Houses and Rooms where infected Persons had a little before breathed their Last: Nay, such Comforts did inspire the languishing People, and such Confidence, that many went into the Beds, where Persons had died, even before they were Cold, or cleansed from the Stench of the Disease. I would gladly know of Dr. Mead, if this, and the mentioned Histories, are Experiments that come home to the Purpose. In this Account of Dr. Hodges, there is no want of a Nest or Fomes, for here is Wool, Linnen, Silk, and, perhaps, even treacherous Cotton it self, the most secure Plague-Keeper of all the rest; yet no further Contagion appeared, but Men eagerly pursued their Business, and thought only how to repair the past Mortality, and that with more than ordinary Success, as Dr. Hodges tells us in this Place, and his Relation is fully confirm’d by the Bills of Mortality.

It is now very manifest, that Dr. Mead has not given any tolerable, or probable Account of his propagating Causes; and that every Thing he has offer’d, in his own Way, is a Corruption of what has been said by many Physicians. Moreover, he does not yet seem to understand Matters of Propagation, for he makes his Causes propagate by themselves, contrary to the common and known Methods of Nature. In this he is not only unnatural, but I am afraid, that this his Method must be very defective, tho’ it carries his peculiar mark of Excellency, in differing from the Methods taken in former Times among us, and from what they commonly do Abroad. For formerly here in England, and the People abroad, thought it necessary that the Seeds of the Plague should, like other Seeds, have a proper Matrice to receive them, to cherish them, and to rear them up for their proper and peculiar Uses, consonant to their Nature. They could not see how a Plague could more thrive out of its proper Ground, than a Grain of Wheat, or the Seed of an Apple. So that it was incumbent on Dr. Mead, to have shewn the Disposition that may be in every Man to receive, and entertain the Plague, and with all the Variety in which it palpably affects them. For a Plague has often laid its devouring Hands on Children and Young Men, when it has spared the Old; and, on the contrary, it has proved fatal to Age, when Youth has been excused: Nor has a Pestilence that afflicted Men hurt Women. At other Times Men and Women of all Ages have felt its Strokes promiscuously, and some have conversed boldly among the Sick of the Plague with Safety, while others are quickly punished for their Rashness.

It was very remarkable, that there was not a British Subject, that wintered in Dantzig in that hard Frost, and Time of Pestilence, received any Hurt, while Thousands of the Natives fell on their Right Hand, and Ten Thousands on their Left: This happen’d in the Year 1713. But it is recorded by [7]Utenhovius, that in a cruel Plague that raged in Copenhagen, all Strangers, English, Dutch, Germans, were not affected with it, when at the same Time it made Havock among the Inhabitants; yet those Foreigners went freely every where among the infected People, and into the infected Houses.

What could Dr. Mead mean by so gross an Oversight, in an Article, too, so material for preventing pestilential Contagion? This Disposition, to be affected peculiarly by the Plague, is not neglected by Hippocrates, Galen, or any good Author of succeeding Ages; tho’ they had the same Reason to profess their Ignorance, as Dr. Mead has to conceal his at this Time; for he is sure to make no Confession of this kind, howsoever it may otherwise appear. I hope he will not call this a great Digression, as we find he did formerly, on a like Occasion. Fernelius declares, that it is very hard and difficult to know, what it is that renders every Body obnoxious to the Plague. And Platerus makes this ingenuous Confession, That as I would gladly learn what this Disposition of an Object may be; so I very readily confess, that I know nothing of it, though I am not ignorant, that this Poison acts very differently, according to the various Dispositions of the Body. And, what Hurt had it done Dr. Mead’s Character to have owned, That no Agent can do any Thing without a fit Disposition in the Patient? But, how dares he undertake to give Rules for preventing a Pestilence, and proceed in corrupting the Means of Knowledge that are common among other Physicians, and absolutely neglect this Disposition? It is for this Reason, that we hear them speaking another Language than Doctor Mead does, even while they talk of what he calls his propagating Causes. Hear the excellent, and learned Fracastorius[8]. Contagion, says he, takes its Rise, often from the Air; it often passes from one Person to another; it is often receiv’d by a Fomes; and it sometimes has its first Origine and Beginning in our selves. Hence it is we find Dr. Hodges, in the common Language of Physicians, asserting, that [9]four Things are necessary to a Contagion. First, That there is an Efflux of the contagious Seminium, or Seed. Secondly, That there is a convenient Medium for the contagious Particles to move through, and be conveyed by. Thirdly, A Fitness in the Subject to receive and cherish the contagious Effluvia. And, Fourthly, A due Stay of this Seminium. So that it is much to be feared, that Dr. Mead will suffer grievously in explaining his darling Phenomena, to which we are next to return; and no less in teaching us, in the following Part of his Discourse, how to prevent the silent Approaches of the Pestilence, and to suppress its Poison, if it should appear among us: All which he graciously promises to perform, and that in a newer and perfecter Method than was ever done before.

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

I have already shewn the Impotency of Dr. Mead in managing an Argument; and, at the same Time, I have over-turned and exploded some common Opinions, that were by him weakly defended; and that, because it is of great Use and Importance that Mankind be rightly apprized of them. How easily are any Man’s Fears dispell’d? What real Security does he acquire, when his Reason is convinced, that the Plague of Pestilence is not begot by any Contagion, properly speaking? That this Plague is not propagated from the Body of a Sick Person into the Body of the Sound: That it makes no Nest, is not cherished, nor nursed in soft or porous Bodies, that its Seeds may be propagated and conveyed into far distant Countries. And therefore, as we are to follow Dr. Mead in the remaining Part of his Short Discourse, we must go back to consider some Phenomena, he thought fit to premise to his Inquiries about Contagion, but what, I hope every Reader will think, are most properly considered in this Place, if he will pardon the considering them at all.

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

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

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

Now if the Plague of Pestilence has thus frequently shewn it self, in its most terrible manner, and very often not so terribly, how can People prevent taking Fright at the King of Terrors? Or, with what Face can Dr. Mead call terrible Death, vain Fears? Can a reasonable People, relying on History, and their own Experience of Things, be delivered from their Fears, by a bold Assertion, that can proceed from no other Cause, than great Ignorance, or the worst Opinion of the Reason and Experience of Mankind, that they are subject to so gross an Imposition, as to take Comfort in the most lamentable Danger, exposed to Death, and forsaken by their dearest Friends; and all upon an Assertion, that is neither grounded on Knowledge, nor Integrity? It may be a pia Fraus, a well meant Cheat, but it cannot be of any manner of Use.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But if we consult the Bill of Mortality of that Year, we find only fifty Thousand one Hundred and 22; and if we add 1/4 Mr. Graunt proves to be suppressed in the Account, there will be sixty six Thousand six Hundred and 96 died of the Plague in 1665. But if we consider that it began about the 27th of December, 1664. and ended the 26th of September, 1665. we find it did not last above nine Months. Consider likewise, that from the 27th of December to the 6th of June inclusively there only died 92. and therefore the Mortality is to be reckoned from the 13th of June, 1665. to the 26th of September in that Year. Now if we take the Mortality to have been equal (as it was not) from the 13th of June to the 26th of September, the Mortality did not last above 16 Weeks: So that the Mortality was really greater than if there had died equally 100000 in ten Months; for in this Case there only died 2500 each Week: but by the true Account there died 4162. a far greater Mortality, and far more terrible, than what is brought on the former Supposition, about the time the Plague lasted, and the Havock that it made in that time.

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

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

Here, lies a Mother and her Child;
The Infant suck’d as yet, and smil’d;
But strait by its own Food was kill’d:
There Parents hugg’d their Children last;
Here, prating Lovers last embrac’d;
But yet not parting neither:
They both expir’d, and went away together.
The Friend does hear his Friend’s last Cries;
Parts his Grief for him, and then dies;
Lives not enough to close his Eyes.
The Father, at his Death,

Speaks his Son Heir, with an infectious Breath:

In the same Hour the Son does take
His Father’s Will, and his own make.
The Servant needs not here be slain,
To serve his Master in the other World again;
They languishing together lie;
Their Souls away together flie:
The Husband gasps; his Wife lies by:
It must be her turn next to die:
The Husband and the Wife
Too truly now are one, and live one Life:
That Couple, who the Gods did entertain,
Had made their Prayers here in vain:
No Fates in Death could them divide;

They must, without their Privilege, together both have dy’d.

PART II. Explained.

It is with the greatest Pleasure we enter upon the Method of preventing, tho’ not of curing this insidious Enemy of Mankind, which very justly has filled the World with Fear and Horror. For this Reason, and that Matters may proceed not only in greater Order, but also with greater Truth, Dr. Mead has gone through much Philosophy and Theory in Medicine, with great Labour and Fatigue; even to fainting away, despairing often in doing any thing to his own Satisfaction, knowing by much Experience, that the World is not so hard to please.

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

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

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

The Doctor is very full on this first Head of Caution, and bestows no fewer than nine Pages about Quarantines, and Lazarettoes; but as there is nothing newer said of them than what has been known, these two hundred Years; I leave that Affair to the Civil Magistrate, whose Care can never exceed, when it’s employed for the Good of the People. But as far as we may depend upon the first, and Philosophical Part of this Discourse, there is no great Occasion for either of them: We live a great way from the South of France, and the Doctor has assured us, that the Plague cannot reach us, by some hundreds of Miles. For, to our Satisfaction be it remember’d, that Air it self is very pure and harmless; nor can it otherwise be infected, than by pestilential Steams issuing out of Bodies, at the end of the Disease; as also, that they cannot travel any length, if there is not a Disposition in the Air, which it only has when supposed. And therefore, we are very little obnoxious to a Plague, and consequently have no great Occasion for Lazarettoes or Quarantines.

I cannot omit, without incurring Displeasure, the pretty Expedient the Doctor recommends, for discovering when the Plague has forsaken a Parcel of Goods; and that because he might foresee a Question might arise, about the Time they should serve their Quarantine; and whether forty Days were sufficient. His Answer is fine! why; we must set little Birds upon the exposed Goods. But, may not the Attempt prove dangerous, and as dangerous as to set a lighted Match to a good large Barrel of Gun-powder. The Reason for this Experiment, is, because it has been observed in times of the Plague, that that Country is forsaken by the Birds; and for this he quotes Diemerbroeck.

How beautifully are such Presages related by Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, and other Poets; but how insipidly are they misapplied on this Occasion. Physicians have carefully observed and recorded, every thing considerable and extraordinary that preceded the Pestilence; and that in order to provide themselves against it, and to give the Alarm of its first Approaches, that People may provide for their Safety in time. Some of these Presages are taken from the Heavens; some from the Air; others from the Earth; and many from the Waters.

——Sæpe exiguus Mus

Augurium tibi triste dabit.

But as the Consideration of those Presages do not fall properly in my way at this time; we proceed next to consider, how a stop is put to the Plague, in Case, through a Miscarriage in the Publick Care, by the Neglect of Officers, or otherwise, such a Calamity should be suffered to befal us.

And here we must observe, that this Art of Quarantines, and Lazarettoes, is so infallible, that we may blame the Civil Magistrate, and his Officers, if ever the Plague is suffered to come among us. For my part, I cannot think any Government so foolishly malicious to suffer a Plague to come into their Country, if they knew how to avoid it. But that we may not slightly bring an ill Report against Governors; the Physicians are to be blamed, when the Orders of the Civil Magistrate are hurtful; for he always takes Counsel with Physicians in all Matters, relating to Nature and Health: This has been the Practice in all Nations, and in all Times, since Mankind has been govern’d by Law; and if these wrong Measures are owing to the Ignorance of the true Nature of Contagion, surely it’s none of the Magistrate’s Business to discover it.

The Magistrate may contradict his former Orders, for any Thing that is better, at least not so pernicious, as those whereunto he was led by Physicians. But the Physicians in London might not have advised the shutting up of Houses, if they had remember’d the fatal Experiments of it in other Countries, recorded in Books of Physick. Mercurialis tells us, how the Houses were shut up in Milan on this Occasion, but that the Magistrates found their Mistake in a Week, and set them open again, very much to the Comfort of the Healthy, and Relief of the Sick. The same learned Author informs us, that burning infected Goods was found to do great Mischief in a Plague in Padua, and what then shall we think of our celebrated Physician, who [15]recommends this Method of Burning? [16]Quapropter, says the famous Mercurialis, non possum commendare eos, qui hisce temporibus infectas supellectiles in urbibus cremant, propterea quod, &c. We may surely say, that this Error is not only owing to his Ignorance of the true Nature of Contagion, but even of his Ignorance of what Physicians do Abroad.

I think the Doctor has made a little too free with the Civil Magistrate, and his Brethren of the Faculty; especially, that he has no where told us any Thing of the Nature of Contagion; not so much as what we may read in many Books of Physick. And therefore his further inveighing against Physick and Physicians, is the most surprizing, unaccountable Indiscretion that Man ever was guilty of: A Man that has done nothing, but to corrupt it: For thus he puts an End to a great deal of rambling Stuff, about shutting up Houses. [17]The Management in former Times neither answers the Purpose of discovering the beginning of the Infection, nor of putting a stop to it when discovered; other Measures are certainly to be taken, which I think should be of this Nature.

Here begins an Account of Things to be done in a new Manner, and what will be found agreeable to Reason. Imprimis, Then, instead of ignorant old Women, we ought to have understanding and diligent Men. There is nothing New in this, nor very Unreasonable; but as the Doctor has enhansed the whole Knowledge of Physick in his own Person, and made old Women of his Brethren, I hope he will allow these Officers of Health to consist of discarded Physicians. Secondly, When the sick Families are gone (whether?) all the Goods of the Houses, in which they were, should be burnt; nay, the Houses themselves, if that can conveniently be done. A very good Advice, and, I hope, the City of London will erect another Monument for the Doctor, after they have burned their City, upon so reasonable Advice. But as this Advice has been found hurtful in Experience, so neither is it New, because it has been practised Two Hundred Years ago; as I lately observed. He has now the late Fire of London in view, and recommends another general Conflagration of our City, from the great Good, he fancies, accrued thereby: But the Reason he brings is admirable. For nothing approaches so near to the first Original of Contagion, as Air pent up, loaded with Damps. This is the very Reason, why Hippocrates, and all other Physicians after him, have advised making Fires for preventing the Plague; neither spared they any Expence in Scents, sweet and aromatick Woods; and even they put sacred Things to that very Use. Yet, according to Custom, the Doctor [18]contradicts himself, on this Article, at the small distance of four Pages; where Fires again are condemned as pernicious. The Reason alledged for this later Experiment is absolutely false; for Dr. Hodges assures us, that the Weather was not Hot in that Summer. But, I believe, the true Reason of the Contradiction is, that the Doctor will, at any Time, venture being found in a Contradiction, three Doors off, as well as four Pages off, to save his Bacon, or for a merry Conceit. But there is, even in this, nothing New, for there was one Raymundus, who is noted for this Singularity by other Authors, whose Words our Doctor seems to translate. Pestilentes Febres, says Raymundus, Ardentes sunt, & idcirco ab aere fervido, & calente augentur. I must beg leave to crowd in another Conclusion, because I follow the Doctor; that as Fires are thus hurtful, so, and for that Reason, is the firing of Guns. The Word Fire is common in both Expressions, but it was never the Heat of great Guns, but their Noise that was recommended, and that is a sort of Wind, so much recommended formerly, by Dr. Mead; but what some have too rashly advised. Mira vis verbis.

But to return to Damps; he allows they approach the first Original of Contagion, so that if they are not the first, they may very well be the second Original of Contagion; for where there is a first, there is always a second in every Order and Number of Things. Now, as Fires are manifestly useful in the Damps of Coal Pits, and Goals, why not in the raw Damps of Contagion? And if that is a true Experiment, why does Dr. Mead forsake Hippocrates, and the antient Sages of Physick, for an Error that is not new; and, perhaps, not agreeable to Reason? And Ovid tells us, Temporibus Medicina valet. As to the Story of the Black Assize at Oxford, it shall not be carelessly neglected.

The last Member of Novelty mentioned, is the keeping our Houses and Streets clean from Filth, Carrion, and all manner of Nusances; and I hope every Body will readily admit, that this was never done before, neither here at Home, nor Abroad in other Countries; and I’ll swear for him, this Time, that it is highly necessary. His Inference is strong; for if all these new and reasonable Instructions take effect, there will be no need of any Methods, for Correcting the Air, Purifying Houses, or of Rules for Preserving particular Persons from Infection. Yet in this very instant there follows a fresh Contradiction, if I understand him; but least I do not, I shall give you his own Words, in order to be better inform’d. To all which, if the Plague get head, so that the Sick are too many to be removed, Regard must be had. Now, as far as I understand the Doctor, the Plague may get Head against all these infallible Methods, but I cannot for my Life tell, what we are to Regard; but as these Methods are both fallible and infallible, at the same Time, the Doctor has fallen into another gross Contradiction.

But, which is a more melancholy Story, this seems to be the whole of Preventing we have hitherto expected; so that all the Philosophy he brought forth, in the first Part of his Discourse, has only been to make us Constables and Scavengers, to set the Watch, and clean the Streets. A fine Account, indeed, of Preventing.

This Discourse never look’d as if it were to live long, its first Stamina were so rotten, and defective; and any one, with half an Eye, might see it would die of an Apoplexy, or first die and then have an Apoplexy, as the Fashion of Dying has been of late.

When I formerly observed the great Neglect of the Disposition and Aptness of a Subject to receive and cherish the Disease, I was then very much afraid that the celebrated Dr. Mead must suffer, when it was his Business to teach us how to preserve our selves from Infection; which has, at this Time, befallen him with a witness; for now our Security consists in the former. But if the Plague should chance to force his Lines, it is very plain, that we must surrender at Discretion to this most cruel Enemy. Our Generals taught the French, some Years ago, how slender a Defence Lines were; and the Plague has taught them, to their sad Experience, how insufficient they are to restrain its Violence; for it has nor only marched over their Lines in Defiance of their Guards, but even Eastwards and Southwards, to the Contempt of Matthæus Villanus, and our Doctor, his zealous Follower.

But I am, again, afraid that the Case at present is much the same as it was in the beginning of his short Discourse; for he then proposed to treat of Contagion, but he quickly dropp’d it, without so much as telling us what is meant by the Word. Here now we should prevent, but he knows as little of this as he did formerly of Contagion: For when he [19]is to consider by what Means particular Persons may best defend themselves against Contagion; he adds, for the effectual doing of which it would be necessary to put the Humors of the Body into such a State, as not to be alterable by the Matter of Infection. What Physician ever said so before Dr. Mead? And if an Impossibility of this Nature was expected from the Faculty of Physick, I hope they would acknowledge and confess their Ignorance. It is the same Thing, as if the Government should expect, that Physicians are to cure the Subjects of any one Disease, so that they should never feel it hereafter; the Curative Part of Physick, in that Sense, must be as impossible as the Preservative. Mankind is more easy, and not only bears with what is not possible, but even with Blunders, that proceed from Ignorance and Stupidity. All that is expected from Physicians, is to have such Rules, whereby our Health may be secured to them, as far as it is consistent with Human Nature, and the known Means: And if Dr. Mead would have communicated some of those wise Rules, that are to be found in Books of Physick, even without deducing them from any Principle of Reason, he then had done them the greatest Good, and what they seem to want and desire.

That we may see, how little Doctor Mead understands the Method of Preventing, and also how practicable it is: We find Hippocrates values himself for being the first that foresaw a Disease; and he tells us, That [20]Diseases do not come upon Men of a sudden; but being collected by degrees, shew themselves afterwards in the bulk. And [21]Galen says, That all Physicians are agreed, that there must be some Time for breeding a Distemper. Now, if Diseases take a Time before they are bred; then it is an obvious Consequence, that Diseases may be prevented. Surely this is consonant to common Sense; for an Embryo Disease must be far more easily cured, than a Disease after it is formed, and settled upon any Person; and thereby his Strength, or Constitution, destroyed: For however Curative Method, and Preservative, are different Words, they only signify the same Thing at different Times. Curing a nascent Disease is preserving us from being hurt by it; and curing a settled Disease, where the Instruments of Action are hurt, is curing it in the common Acceptation.

And therefore our Doctor seems to have no manner of Notion of these Words, when he would tell us that it is as impossible to prevent the Plague; as to have a Specifick Preservative from the Small Pox; which we find is far from being impossible. But why a Specifick? Must he have a Specifick, because Dr. Anodyne Necklace has one? I cannot find any other Reason, especially, that it now plainly appears, and is evident, that curing a Disease, and preventing it, is the same Action, and may be done with the same Tools, whether they are Common, or Specifick, in the strictest Sense Physicians use those Words. This his Misunderstanding the Doctrine of Physicians is further manifest from the last Paragraph of his Discourse; that his Directions may be of Use towards establishing a better Method of Cure, than Authors have commonly taught, which might be true, if that Doctrine had been drawn from the Nature of Infection or Contagion; but, at present, he knows as little of the grammatical Sense of these Terms, as he does of the Things themselves.

Let us cease, then, to wonder why so great Care is had to keep our Houses cool, at Page 47, and so little for our Persons, at Page 49 of the Discourse; and in Consequence to that, we find more Receipts for a House than for a Man. He mentions Vinegar upon the Authority of Rhazes, which is no more for a Person that affects an Opinion for being learned, than if he had recommended it from Dr Hodges; since Physicians know, how much it has been esteemed by the most antient Physicians of Greece and Italy: But this its Virtue in the Plague of Pestilence is not contrary to what Authors advise, in making Fumes of hot Things on that Occasion. This is very manifest, if the Doctor will consider what the great Celsus has said of it.

But it will not be difficult to give a very probable Conjecture, why our Doctor gives so trifling, and contradictory Account of those Medicines, recommended for preserving us against the Plague; even, when there is not so great a Store for any other Disease, and some of them come well recommended for the Purpose of Preventing; if we remember the common Method of our Author through all this Book; for he constantly tells us, in the end of one Paragraph, what he offers to our Belief in the next. He has all along thrown mighty Contempt upon Physicians, when he would recommend himself; and now he disparages their Medicines; and surely, upon no other Design, but to set up his own. But what in the Name of Wonder are they? In this consists the great Mystery of State. If so, then there is an end of our wondering.

His Medicines are of two Sorts; one Set of them published in a very small Book, tho’ there is a large Account of their Virtues and Uses. There is a second Sort, which some worthy Gentlemen of great Families, and great Estates, have told us of, and these were the Secrets of an eminent Physician. But how do Gentlemen know Secrets in Physick? It is not hard to guess who were chiefly concern’d in their Information, and who have made a goodly Income from a pretended Inheritance to pretended Secrets. This is the Shrine of the great Diana, to which every Thing must not only submit, but for it every other Shrine must be removed, even Truth it self; so that we may quickly hear of Doctor R——f’s Secrets for the Plague, if it should be the Will of God to send it us for a Punishment of our Sins.

How easy a Matter is it to become a great Physician, but how difficult to a Man of Education and Honour? Hence it is that we find in all Times, tho’ never more than in the present, that Physick is the common Resort of all indigent Men, that no other Arts can provide with a Living. Here Doctor Rosary has made a better Market for his Beads, than ever was in any Roman Catholick Country, Spain and Portugal not excepted. At this Time too, he is among the chief Writers on the Plague, and with insufferable Assurance, dedicates that Trifle to the President of the College of Physicians, where, in the end, he tells the World, how useful his Necklace is for the Plague.

Amulets, indeed, have been in great Esteem in Times of the Plague, and I hope some great Physician will lend his Name to one, that may frighten away this terrible Disease.

FINIS.

Footnotes:

1.  Sect. 2.

2.  Page 3.

3.  Page 11.

4.  Page 70.

5.  Page 24.

6.  Page 27. Trans.

7.  Peregrinat. Eccles. Anglicanæ, cap. IV.

8.  Lib. 3. de Morb. Contag. cap. 7.

9.  Page 52.

10.  Page 4.

11.  Page 18.

12.  Page 19.

13.  Page 3. Transl.

14.  Plague of Athens, Stan. 19 & 20.

15.  Page 40.

16.  Cap. 21.

17.  Page 37.

18.  Page 45.

19.  Page 48.

20.  Lib. 1. De Vict. rat. Lib. 3. De Diæta.

21.  Lib. 1. De loc. affect. Pag. 13. Junt.

Transcriber’s note:

Page 6, ‘preceeded’ changed to ‘preceded,’ “Air to have preceded it”

Page 12, ‘suffient’ changed to ‘sufficient,’ “and self-sufficient Person that ever”

Page 17, ‘Philosophers’ changed to ‘Philosopher’s,’ “make the Philosopher’s Stone, and”

Page 27, italics removed from around ‘and,’ “Wool, Feathers, Hair, and Skins”

Page 33, ‘shown’ changed to ‘shewn,’ “to have shewn the Disposition”

Page 34, ‘succeding’ changed to ‘succeeding,’ “good Author of succeeding Ages”

Page 55, full stop changed to comma after ‘Women,’ “ignorant old Women, we ought to have”

Page 57, ‘tell’ changed to ‘tells,’ “And Ovid tells us”

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Table of Contents

- Doctor MEAD’s Short DISCOURSE EXPLAIN’D.

- Dr. MEAD’s Short Discourse EXPLAIN’D.

- PART II. Explained.

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