Richard Mead

“ Indeed, as it has been frequently experienced, that of all the Goods, which harbour Infection, Cotton in particular is the most dangerous, and Turky is almost a perpetual Seminary of the Plague; I cannot but think it highly reasonable, that whatever Cotton is imported from that part of the World, should at all Times be kept in Quarantaine: Because it may have imbibed Infection at the Time of its packing up, notwithstanding no Mischief has been felt from it by the Ship’s Company. ”

“ The People took Infection by their Attendance on each other, dying like Folds of Sheep. And this Effect of the Disease was the principal Cause of the great Mortality: for either the Sick were left destitute, their Friends fearing to approach them, by which means Multitudes of Families perished without Assistance ”

“ Does any body complain of ill usage upon his House being ordered to be blown up, to stop the Progress of a Fire which endangers the whole Street: when he reflects that his Neighbour, who by this means escapes, must have suffered the same Loss for his sake, had it so happened that each had been in the other’s Habitation? ”

“ THE Methods practised in France are likewise obnoxious to great Objections. Crowding the Sick together in Hospitals can serve to no good Purpose; but instead thereof will promote and spread the Contagion, and besides will expose the Sick to the greatest Hardships. It is no small Part of the Misery, that attends this terrible Enemy of Mankind, that whereas moderate Calamities open the Hearts of Men to Compassion and Tenderness, this greatest of Evils is found to have the contrary Effect. ”

“ In general, a hot Air is more disposed to spread Contagion than a cold one, as no one can doubt, who considers how much all kinds of Effluvia are farther diffused in a warm Air, than in the contrary. But moreover, that State of Air, when [Pg 63] unseasonable Moisture and want of Winds are added to its Heat, which gives birth to the Plague in some Countries, will doubtless promote it in all. For Hippocrates sets down the same Description of a Pestilential State of Air in his Country, as the Arabians do of the Constitution, which gives Rise to the Plague in Africa [56] . ”

“ However, I do not think this is often the Case: just as the Smoak, with which the Air of the City of London is constantly impregnated, especially in Winter, is not carried many Miles distant; though the Quantity of it is vastly greater than the Quantity of infectious Effluvia, that the most mortal Plague could generate. ”

“ In the mean time, I own I am fond of the Thought, in compassion to poor Labourers, who must expose their Lives to danger, in the attendance upon this Work: and tho’ I am well aware that there are Plagues among Animals, which do not indifferently affect all kinds of them, some being confined to a particular Species, (like the Disease of the Black Cattle here, a few Years since, which neither proved infectious to other Brutes, nor to Men;) yet it has always been observed that the true Plague among Men has been destructive to all Creatures of what kind soever. ”

“ We know too little of the Frame of the Universe, and of the Laws of Attractions, Repulsions and Cohesions among the minutest Parcels of Matter, to be able to determine all the Ways by which they affect one another, especially within animal Bodies, the most delicate and complicated of all the known Works of Nature. ”

“ We learn from hence the reason why when the Plague makes its first Appearance in any Place, though the Number of Sick is exceeding small, yet the Disease usually operates upon them in the most violent manner, and is attended with its very worst Symptoms. ”

“ The Air of our Climate is so far from being ever the Original of the true Plague, that most probably it never produces those milder infectious Distempers, the Small-Pox and Measles. For these Diseases were not heard of in Europe before the Moors had entered Spain: and (as I have observed in the Preface) they were afterwards propagated and spread through all Nations, chiefly by means of the Wars with the Saracens. ”

“ Usually indeed the Plague, especially when more violent than ordinary, spreads from infected Places into those which border upon them: which probably is sometimes effected by some little Communication infected Towns are obliged to hold with the Country about them for the sake of Necessaries, the Subtlety of the Venom now and then eluding the greatest Precautions; and at other times by such as withdraw themselves from infected Places into the Neighbourhood. ”

“ For in the present Case, when Infection has seized any Part of a Country, much greater Care ought to be taken, that no Seeds of the Contagion be conveyed about, than when the Distemper is at a great Distance: because a Bale of Goods, which shall have imbibed the Contagious Aura when pack’d up in Turky, or any remote Parts, when unpack’d here, may chance to meet with so healthful a Temperament of our Air, that it shall not do much hurt. ”

“ As the Plague always breaks out [Pg 101] in some particular Place, it is certain, that the Directions of the Civil Magistrate ought to be such, as to make it as much for the Interest of infected Families to discover their Misfortune, as it is, when a House is on Fire, to call in the Assistance of the Neighbourhood: Whereas, on the contrary, the Methods taken by the Publick, on such Occasions, have always had the Appearance of a severe Discipline, and even Punishment, rather than of a Compassionate Care; which must naturally make the Infected conceal the Disease as long as was possible. ”

“ For by absolutely denying a Passage to People from infected Places, they subject to the same common Ruin, both from the Disease, and from the Disorders committed in such Places, those, whom their Fortunes would otherwise furnish with Means of escaping: and this, no doubt, in every free Country, must be looked upon as an unjust Infringement of Liberty, and a Diminution of Mens natural Rights, not to be allowed. ”

“ Fevers, from which People recover without any Discharge by Tumors in the Glands, or by Carbuncles, want the characteristic Signs, which have been shewn to attend the slightest Cases of the true Plague; we cannot, upon any just Ground, certainly conclude them to be a less Degree only of that Distemper: but as far as appears, they are of a different Nature, are not ordinarily Contagious like the Plague, nor yet have any such necessary relation to it, but that such Fevers do sometimes appear, without being followed by a real Pestilence. ”

“ For while Contagion is kept nursed up in a House, and continually encreased by the daily Conquests it makes, it is impossible but the Air should become tainted in so eminent a degree, as to spread the Infection into the Neighbourhood upon the first Outlet. The shutting up Houses in this Manner is only keeping so many Seminaries of Contagion, sooner or later to be dispersed abroad: For the waiting a Month, or longer, from the Death of the last Patient, will avail no more, than keeping a Bale of infected Goods unpack’d; the Poyson will fly out, whenever the Pandora’s Box is opened. ”

“ As for Houses, the first Care ought to be to keep them clean: for as Nastiness is a great Source of Infection, so Cleanliness is the greatest Preservative; which shews us the true Reason, why the Poor are most obnoxious to Contagious Diseases. ”

“ By the preceding Cause, the Plague may be spread from Person to Person, from House to House, or perhaps from Town to Town, tho’ not to any great Distance; but this carries it into the remotest Regions. From hence the trading Parts of Europe have their principal Apprehensions, and universally have recourse to Quarantaines for their Security. The Universality of which Practice is a strong Argument, that Merchandize will communicate Infection: for one cannot imagine, that so many Countries should agree in such a Custom without the most weighty Reasons. ”

“ If there has been no Sickness in the Ship, I see no reason why the Men should perform Quarantaine. Instead of this, they may be washed, and their Clothes aired in the Lazaretto, as Goods, for one Week.
But the greatest Danger is from such Goods, as are apt to retain Infection, such as Cotton, Hemp and Flax, Paper or Books, Silk of all sorts, Linen, Wool, Feathers, Hair, and all kinds of Skins. The Lazaretto for these should be at a Distance from that for the Men; and they must in convenient Warehouses be unpack’d, and exposed, as much as may be, to the fresh Air for forty Days. ”

“ That Dogs do not, at least not so readily, receive Pestilential Infection from Men, as Men do from one another: And also, that the Bile is so highly corrupted in a Body infected with the Plague, that by putting it into the Blood of a Dog it will immediately breed the same Disease. ”

“ It cannot be pretended, that this is occasioned in the Plague from this only, that the sound Persons are render’d more than ordinarily obnoxious to the unhealthy Air, or whatever be the common Cause of the Disease, by being put into fear and dispirited, upon seeing others in the same House taken sick: For if this were the [Pg 16] Case, Children, who are too young to have any Apprehensions upon this Account, would escape better than others, the contrary of which has been always experienced.
It is true, some have not been attacked by the Disease, though constantly attending about the Sick. ”

“ The next thing after the Purifying of Houses, is to consider by what Means particular Persons may best defend themselves against Contagion: for the certain doing of which, it would be necessary to put the Humours of the Body into such a State, as not to be alterable by the Matter of Infection. But since this is no more to be hoped for, than a Specific Preservative from the Small-Pox; the most that can be done, will be to keep the Body in such Order, that it may suffer as little as possible. ”

“ THE Usage among Us, established by Act of Parliament, of Imprisoning in their Houses every Family the Plague seizes on, without allowing any one to pass in or out, but such as are appointed by Authority, to perform the necessary Offices about the Sick, is certainly the severest Treatment imaginable; as it exposes the whole Family to suffer by the same Disease ”

“ Our great Philosopher, whose surprising Discoveries have exceeded the utmost Expectations of the most penetrating Minds, has demonstrated that there is diffused through the Universe a subtile and elastic Fluid of great Force and Activity. ”

“ I think it certain that Respiration does always communicate to the Blood some Parts from the Air: Which is proved from this Observation, that the same Quantity of Air will not suffice long for breathing, though it be deprived of none of those Qualities, by which it is fitted to inflate the Lungs and agitate the Blood, the Uses commonly ascribed to it. ”

“ That when the Constitution of the Air happens to favour Infection, it rages there with great Violence: that at that time more especially diseased Persons give it to one another, and from them contagious Matter is lodged in Goods of a loose and soft Texture, which being pack’d up and carried into other Countries, let out, when opened, the imprisoned Seeds of Contagion, and produce the Disease whenever the Air is disposed to give them force ”

“ Diseases, not only shews us, that we cannot expect to cure the Plague any more than the Small-Pox, by Antidotes and Specific Medicines; but will likewise direct us in the Cure of the Distemper, with which we are less acquainted, by the Methods found useful in the other Disease, which is more familiar to us. ”

“ For there are a Set of distinguishing Symptoms as essential to the Pestilence, as the respective Eruptions are to the Small-Pox or Measles; which are indeed (as I have mentioned in the Preface) each of them Plagues of a particular kind.
As the Small-Pox discharges itself by Pustules raised in the Skin; so in the Plague the noxious Humour is thrown out either by Tumors in the Glands, as by a Parotis, Bubo, and the like; or by Carbuncles thrust out upon any part of the Body. ”

“ This I take to be a more effectual Method to keep the Infection from spreading, than the absolute refusing a Passage to People upon any Terms. For when Men are in such imminent Danger of their Lives where they are, many, no doubt, if not otherwise allowed to escape, will use Endeavours to do it secretly, let the Hazard be ever so great. And it can hardly be, but [Pg 144] some will succeed in their Attempts; as we see it has often happen’d in France, notwithstanding all their Care. ”

“ But, to conclude what relates to the Air, since the ill Qualities of it in these Northern Countries are not alone sufficient to excite the Plague, without imported Contagion, this shews the Error of a common Opinion, countenanc’d by Authors of great Name [60] , that we are necessarily visited with the Plague once in thirty or forty Years: which is a mere Fancy, without Foundation either in Reason or Experience; and therefore People ought to be delivered from such vain Fears. ”

“ When the sick Families are gone, all the Goods of the Houses, in which they were, should be buried deep under Ground. This I prefer to burning them: because, especially in a close Place, some infectious Particles may possibly be dispersed by the Smoak through the Neighbourhood; according to what Mercurialis relates, that the Plague in Venice was augmented by burning a large Quantity of infected Goods in the City [83] . ”