Clifton Wintringham

“ Hence it is easy to perceive how the Motion of the Blood must necessarily be in some Parts more languid, by the Cohesion of the more Viscous parts, in others quicker, join'd with a pungent and stimulating heat, from the increased Velocity and Acrimony of the moving Fluid, and the various Actions of the Particles upon each other, and their Impulses on the containing Vessels ”

“ Now if to this evil Disposition of the Air be added a number of pungent stimulating Particles, whether bred in the Body or floating in the Air, and thereby communicated to the Blood, which are apt to coagulate the Animal Juices, so as to form Moleculæ of such Shapes and Sizes as more firmly obstruct the Capillary Vessels, and at the same time stimulate and corrode the nervous Parts; It will necessarily happen, that the preceeding Symptoms must be highly exasperated, and a Fever of a much worse Nature produc'd. ”

“ These arise from the Secretion of a smaller Quantity of Animal Spirits, and those too unfit to actuate the Heart and other Muscles, whence their Contractions will be more weak, and being stimulated by the Acrimony of the Juices more frequent than in a Natural State. The Derivation likewise of the Nervous Fluid into the Fibres of the Heart being irregular, for the Reasons afore-given, the Motion of the Heart, and consequently of the Pulse, must be weak, quick, and unequal. ”

“ The Pestilential Effluvia being pack'd up and conveyed in Goods of a soft and loose Texture, as Silk, Wool, Cotton, and the like; And so much the more easily, as the Air into which these infested Materials are brought, is predisposed to act in full Concert with them; as happens in all Places at some times more than others; At which time if these infectious Particles be communicated, they exert their Rage with the utmost Violence, but frequently are either dissipated and lost, or produce Diseases of less fatal Consequence, in an opposite Disposition of the Air. ”

“ These Disorders will necessarily be increased on account of the Air's Spring being weakned by its Heat, the Vessels of the Lungs being less inflated, and the Globules of the Blood less broken and divided, and the more especially in a humid Air, Heat and Moisture necessarily relaxing the Tone of the Fibres and Vessels, and rendring them less Springy and Elastic. ”

“ Now if we suppose the Tube X inserted into the Neck of the Bladder Y and the Air forced into the Bladder in Expiration, to an equal Density with that of the incumbent Atmosphere, it is evident that the Air will not go out by the Tube without some external Force, being in Æquilibrio with the Atmosphere, and consequently the Force by which it is expressed thro' the Tube, must be that by which it exceeds the Pressure of the Atmosphere, upon the Orifice of the Tube. ”

“ If any one think that I have allowed too large a Quantity of Air to be taken into the Lungs in an Ordinary Inspiration, That is sufficiently recompensed by supposing the Diameter of the Larynx equal to O.5 and its Orifice O.19 which is more than it can be, for the Diameter does not exceed O.4, and consequently its Orifice will be but O.12. ”

“ Which Sum being multiplied by 1800, the Number of Drams which every square Inch of the Surface of our Bodies sustains, gives the Weight which the whole Internal Surface of the Lungs sustains by the sole Pressure of the Atmosphere, when the Mercury stands highest in the Barometer, equal to 39442556.800 Drams, equal to 410859.966 + 64/96 lib. ”

“ Nor is the Blood alone affected by its Mixture with these Saline Spiculæ, but the rest of the Animal Juices also in Proportion, and especially the Nervous Fluid, which consisting of the most fine Volatil and Subtil Parts, will be render'd extreamly Acrid and Pungent: Whence Pain, Sickness, Inflammations, &c. must necessarily succeed. ”

“ CHAP. V. The Symptoms accompanying a Pestilential Fever are Yawning, Stretching, Coldness, frequently to the greatest Extremity, Shuddering, suddain Pains in the Head, Giddiness, Loathing, Vomiting, a low unequal Pulse, Trembling, great inward Heat, especially about the Præcordia, Coldness of the Extremities, uncertain Sweats, Inquietude, Stupor, Delirium, Watching, Convulsions, Carbuncles, Buboes, Livid Vesications, Purple Spots, Hæmorrhages, which three last are the certain Forerunners of Death. ”

“ Whence the Reflux of the Spirits to the Brain will be altogether irregular, and the Representations brought by them Irrational and Inconsistent. As this Symptom may arise as well from the increased as lessen'd Quantity, and different Texture of the Fluids, and Springyness of the Solids ”

“ To the last belong those Pestilential Fevers, which take their Rise from a preceeding Famine, as was that in Judea in the time of Herod [k] , in which the Product of the Ground being consumed by the great Heat, and long Drought of the preceeding Summer, the poorest sort of People were obliged, thro' the Scarcity of Provisions, to make use of such Food as afforded unwholesome and putrifying Juices. ”