PART II. Explained.

It is with the greatest Pleasure we enter upon the Method ofpreventing, tho’ not ofcuringthisinsidiousEnemy 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.Meadhas gone through muchPhilosophyandTheoryinMedicine, with greatLabourandFatigue; even tofaintingaway,despairingoften 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 aSatisfactionit 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 thepureAir is onlyinfectedwithpestilential 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 tokeep our selves clear from it; tho’ we can find no greatEncouragementfrom 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; thathis 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, thatit will prove agreeable to Reason.

The Doctor is very full on this first Head of Caution, and bestows no fewer than nine Pages aboutQuarantines, andLazarettoes; 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 ofFrance, 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 forLazarettoesorQuarantines.

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 theirQuarantine; and whether forty Days were sufficient. His Answer is fine! why;we must set little Birdsupon 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 quotesDiemerbroeck.

How beautifully are such Presages related byLucretius,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 theHeavens; some from theAir; others from theEarth; and many from theWaters.

——Sæpe exiguus MusAugurium tibi triste dabit.

——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, inCase, 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 ofQuarantines, andLazarettoes, 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 toNatureandHealth: 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 owingto 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 inLondonmight 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.Mercurialistells us, how the Houses were shut up inMilanon 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, andRelief of the Sick. The same learned Author informs us, that burninginfected Goodswas found to do great Mischief in a Plague inPadua, and what then shall we think of our celebrated Physician, who[15]recommends this Method of Burning?[16]Quapropter, says the famousMercurialis,non possum commendare eos, qui hisce temporibus infectas supellectiles in urbibus cremant, propterea quod, &c. We may surely say, that this Error is not onlyowing 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 againstPhysickandPhysicians, 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 certainlyto be taken, which I think should be of this Nature.

Here begins an Account of Things to be done in anewManner, and what will be foundagreeableto Reason.Imprimis, Then,instead of ignorant old Women, we ought to have understanding and diligent Men. There is nothing New in this, nor veryUnreasonable; but as the Doctor has enhansed the whole Knowledge of Physick in his own Person, and madeold Womenof hisBrethren, I hope he will allow theseOfficersofHealthto 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 ofLondonwill erect anotherMonumentfor the Doctor, after they have burned their City, upon soreasonableAdvice. But as this Advice has been found hurtful in Experience, so neither is itNew, because it has been practised Two Hundred Years ago; as I lately observed. He has now the late Fire ofLondonin 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, whyHippocrates, and all other Physiciansafter him, have advised making Fires for preventing the Plague; neither spared they anyExpenceinScents,sweetandaromatick Woods; and even they putsacredThings 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.Hodgesassures 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 oneRaymundus, who is noted for this Singularity by other Authors, whose Words our Doctor seems to translate.Pestilentes Febres, saysRaymundus,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 thefiringof Guns. The WordFireis common in both Expressions, but it was never theHeatof great Guns, but theirNoisethat was recommended, and thatis a sort ofWind, so much recommended formerly, by Dr.Mead;but what some have too rashly advised. Mira vis verbis.

But to return toDamps; 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, asFiresare 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.MeadforsakeHippocrates, and the antient Sages of Physick, for an Error that is not new; and, perhaps, not agreeable to Reason? AndOvidtells us,Temporibus Medicina valet. As to the Story of theBlack AssizeatOxford, it shall not be carelessly neglected.

The last Member of Novelty mentioned, is the keeping ourHouses 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, neitherhereat Home, norAbroadin other Countries; and I’ll swear for him, this Time, that it is highlynecessary. His Inference is strong; for if all thesenewandreasonableInstructionstake effect, there will be no need of any Methods, forCorrectingtheAir,Purifying Houses, or of Rules forPreserving particular PersonsfromInfection.Yet in this very instantthere 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 grossContradiction.

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

This Discourse never look’d as if it were to live long, its firstStaminawere 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 theDispositionandAptnessof a Subject to receive and cherish the Disease, I was then very much afraid that the celebrated Dr.Meadmust suffer, when it was his Business to teachus 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 theFrench, 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 evenEastwardsandSouthwards, to the Contempt ofMatthæus 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 hisshort Discourse; for he then proposed to treat ofContagion, but he quickly dropp’d it, without so much as telling us what is meant by the Word. Here now we shouldprevent, 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 sobefore 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; theCurativePart ofPhysick, in that Sense, must be as impossible as thePreservative. 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.Meadwould 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 DoctorMeadunderstands the Method ofPreventing, and also how practicable it is: We findHippocratesvalues 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]Galensays, Thatall 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 anEmbryoDisease 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 howeverCurativeMethod, andPreservative, are different Words, they only signify the same Thing at different Times. Curing a nascent Disease ispreservingus 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 aSpecifick Preservative from the Small Pox; which we find is far from being impossible. But why aSpecifick? Must he have a Specifick, because Dr.Anodyne Necklacehas 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, andmay 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 maybe 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 ofInfectionorContagion; 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 ourHousescool, atPage 47, and so little for ourPersons, atPage 49of theDiscourse; and in Consequence to that, we find more Receipts for a House than for a Man. He mentionsVinegarupon the Authority ofRhazes, which is no more for a Person that affects an Opinion for being learned, than if he had recommended it from DrHodges; since Physicians know, how much it has been esteemed by the most antient Physicians ofGreeceandItaly: 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 greatCelsushas said of it.

But it will not be difficult to give a very probable Conjecture, why our Doctor givesso 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 ofPreventing; 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 theirVirtuesandUses. There is a second Sort, which some worthy Gentlemen of great Families, and great Estates, have told us of, and these were theSecretsof 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 goodlyIncomefrom a pretendedInheritanceto pretendedSecrets. This is theShrineof the greatDiana, to which every Thing must not only submit, but for it every other Shrine must be removed, even Truth itself; so that we may quickly hear of DoctorR——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 DoctorRosaryhas made a better Market for his Beads, than ever was in anyRoman Catholick Country,SpainandPortugalnot excepted. At this Time too, he is among the chief Writers on the Plague, and with insufferable Assurance, dedicates that Trifle to thePresidentof theCollegeofPhysicians, where, in the end, he tells the World, how usefulhis Necklaceis for thePlague.

Amulets, indeed, have been in greatEsteemin Times of the Plague, and I hope some greatPhysicianwill 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 ofAthens, 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, andSkins”

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

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,’ “AndOvidtells us”

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