57(5 



TLAGUE. 



pulous cities, fur instance in Constantinople, in the 

 rcii;ii of Justinian, in 544, when 1000 grave-diggers 

 iiiv said to have been insufficient, for tile interment 

 ol the dead. This terrible phigue continued its rav- 

 ages for fifty years, with but short intervals. In 565, 

 it appeared under the name of pestia inguinaria, 

 in Treves, in 588 in Marseilles. In the seventh cen- 

 tury, it was in Saxony. In 823, it prevailed all over 

 Germany, and, from 875 to 877, was particularly 

 malignant in Saxony and Misnia, as was also the 

 case in 964. In the eleventh century, it broke out 

 in Germany at least six times, mostly after or during 

 a famine, and raged with so much violence that it 

 was believed that all mankind was doomed to be 

 swept away by it. This unfortunate belief prevent- 

 ed the taking of effectual means to check it ; and 

 apathy in suffering was considered as an act of piety. 

 In some cases, however, the Jews were suspected of 

 having poisoned the wells, as, in our own times, the 

 Hungarian peasantry suspected the nobility, when 

 the cholera morbus swept away so many of the poor- 

 er classes : in fact, the ignorant of all ages have been 

 inclined to ascribe general and far-spreading diseases, 

 whose true causes are unknown, or disbelieved by 

 them, to poisoned wells. Thus the writer recollects 

 that, when the ophthalmia broke out in the Prussian 

 army in 1813, many believed .the French had poison- 

 ed the wells. Similar notions were entertained by 

 many French soldiers during the plague which swept 

 them off in Egypt. In the twelfth century, the plague 

 prevailed in Germany above twenty-five years. In 

 the thirteenth century, it was brought into Europe 

 by the crusaders. From 1347 to 1350 it traversed 

 all Europe, and was then called the black death. 

 Since that time it has never raged with so much vio- 

 lence. Boccaccio, in the introduction to his Deca- 

 meron, has given a lively description of its physical 

 and moral effects in Florence in 1348. In the latter 

 half of the fifteenth century, it niged in all Europe, 

 and was accompanied with the most terrible suffer- 

 ings. The historians of that time give the most 

 horrible picture of distress. In the sixteenth centu- 

 ry, the plague again raged, and, in 1563, was intro- 

 duced into England, by the return of an English army 

 from the continent. At the same time, the sweating 

 sickness prevailed on the continent, which had been 

 imported from England, towards the close of the 

 fifteenth century : it was called in Germany the Eng- 

 lish sweat, and spread from the seaports over Ger- 

 many, France, the Netherlands, Italy. Though some 

 means were already taken against the plague, for 

 instance, lazarettos built, yet it raged in Europe 

 during the seventeenth century. In 1603, 1625, 

 1636 and 1665, it made great ravages in England. 

 As the plague never <j|ntirely ceases in the East, in 

 Greece, and European and Asiatic Turkey, it has 

 continually been introduced by vessels into the ports 

 of Italy and France, and has also been propagated in 

 Western Europe, through Hungary, Poland and Tran- 

 sylvania. The quarantine rules have not in general, 

 been strictly observed, and, as late as 1720, a Levan- 

 tine vessel imported the plague into Marseilles, which 

 soon spread all over Provence. In 1795 and 179G, 

 it extended over the countries on the Turkish frontiers, 

 but was checked by the skill of the physicians. See 

 History of the Plague in Sirmia (in German). 

 It broke out in 1816 at Noia, a town in Naples. 



The ancients endeavoured to avert the plague by 

 sacrifices, the Christians by processions and prayers. 

 The ancient physicians tried several modes of treat- 

 ment, among them sweating. The researches of 

 modern physicians have given us a greater insight 

 into the nature of the disease,'and of its remedies, tlian 

 were possessed formerly, when want of courage was 

 quite as fatal as want of knowledge. Precautions 



against contagion, and when that lias once occurred, 

 the speedy expulsion of the poison from the system, 

 the diminution of the internal inflammation, the pre- 

 servation of the vigour of the arterial blood, the 

 strengthening of the nerves, the promotion of sup- 

 puration, the seasonable resolution of the carbuncles, 

 are the main points of the treatment. Baldwin, Eng- 

 lish consul-general at Alexandria, recommended, 

 (1795) oil friction, which has been tried with success. 

 Having observed that the oil porters were never 

 attacked, he concluded that olive oil was a preserva- 

 tive against the plague ; and his expectations were 

 surpassed by the favourable results of his process. A s 

 soon as any symptom of the plague is perceived, the 

 body of the patient is vigorously and quickly rubbed 

 with warm oil, and the patient is put to bed. This 

 application is followed by a profuse sweat, which is 

 promoted by elder tea. The friction is repeated once 

 or twice a day, until a violent sweat is produced. If 

 there are buboes, they must be frequently rubbed 

 with oil, until suppuration follows. 



Doctor Madden, in the work already quoted, gives 

 the following as the results of his experience, both in 

 regard to the nature of the disease, and the treatment 

 of it : "I have given plague the name of typhus gra- 

 vissimus. The symptoms, from the first, are general 

 debility, congestion about the heart, not depending 

 on inflammation, but on the putrescent state of the 

 circulation. It differs little from putrid typhus, ex- 

 cept in its duration and eruptions. In every stage 

 of plague, nature appears to lie prostrate under the 

 influence of the poisonous miasma ; and, when the 

 patient sinks at last, it is from the want of force in 

 the constitution to drive out the eruptions on the sur- 

 face. The bubo recedes, or the carbuncle diminishes, 

 or neither appear at all externally ; but they have 

 seized on the internal vital organs, and the immediate 

 cause of death has been shown by dissection to have 

 been carbuncles on the liver, lungs, spleen, or mesen- 

 teric glands : in short, it appears that the whole glan- 

 dular system is the seat of the disease. I have seen 

 all the different species of plague enumerated by 

 Russel and the French authors, and I have no hesi- 

 tation in pronouncing all these different species of 

 plague to be the symptoms of one class only ; and I 

 assert, there is but one indication to fulfil, namely, to 

 assist nature to expel the poison by strengthening the 

 exhausted powers of the constitution, and enabling it 

 to throw out the morbific matter. By what means 

 is this to be done ? whether by emetics, by purga- 

 tives, by bleeding, by calomel, by mercurial unction, 

 or by oil friction ? There is none of these means I 

 have not tried, and out of the first eleven patients so 

 treated I lost nine. I had recourse to another mode 

 of cure ; strong stimulants, diffusable and perma- 

 nent, I now tried. I commenced with wine and bran- 

 dy the first moment I saw the patient. Whether the 

 eye was suffused, the cheek flushed, and the skin arid, 

 or the low delirium set in or not, I administered it in 

 the following manner : The first dose was a tum- 

 bler of hot brandy and water, about one third spirit. 

 This sometimes was vomited, and again repeated : 

 the second time it usually remained on the stomach, 

 and, in the course of two hours, it generally pro- 

 duced perspiration, even after James's powder had 

 failed. Two or three hours after the first dose, an- 

 other was exhibited, and the patient would feel less 

 of the burning pain at the heart. If vomiting super- 

 vened, it was again repeated ; and during the day, 

 it was now given every four or six hours, according 

 to circumstances. The buboes commonly increased 

 in size, and profuse sweating was often followed by 

 petechia, or livid spots on the chest : when I saw 

 this, I was always sure of my palient. The second 

 day, I increased the strength of the dose ; instead oi 



