VOL. XVIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 635 



sometimes above a month, some way or other it affected every body : those in 

 the country, as well as those in the town ; those that were much abroad in the 

 open air, and those that staid much within doors ; the robust and hardy, as 

 well as the weakly and tender ; and if it were favourable to any, they were the 

 aged, many of whom escaped it. 



As it first appeared towards the beginning of November, so it seemed to 

 arrive at its greatest degree of violence, and spread most universally about the 

 middle of it ; and by the beginning of the following month it very sensibly 

 abated, so that very few then complained of their colds. So that in the space 

 of 4 or 5 weeks it had its rise, growth, and decay ; and though the disorder was 

 so general, none died of it, unless such whose strength was before spent by 

 some tedious fit of sickness, or laboured under some heavier disease complicated 

 with it. 



This cold was as general in England, and with the same symptoms, as it 

 seized us in Dublin ; but with this difference, that it appeared 3 or 4 weeks 

 sooner in London, (that is, about the beginning of October,) than it did in 

 Dublin, where it was not the least taken notice of till about the beginning of 

 November. Nor was its progress bounded by these islands, for it spread itself 

 it seems still farther, and reached the continent, where it infested the northern 

 parts of France, as also Flanders, Holland, and the rest of the United Pro- 

 vinces, with more violence, and no less frequency then in these countries ; so 

 that hardly any epidemic distemper has been observed to extend so far. 



No instance of any epidemic distemper seems in all respects to come nearer 

 to this general cold, than the transient fever in the year l688, which I consider 

 as the most universal fever, as this the most universal cold, that perhaps has 

 ever appeared. 



About the beginning of July l688, this fever was first observed to appenr 

 here in Dublin ; and it so universally seized all degrees of men whatever, that 

 not above 1 in 15 escaped. It began as fevers generally do, with a chillness 

 and shivering all over, like that of an ague, but not so violent, which soon 

 broke out into a dry burning heat, with great uneasiness, that commonly con- 

 fined the patients to their beds, where they passed the ensuing night in a very 

 restless manner ; they complained likewise of giddiness, and a dull pain in the 

 head, chiefly about the eyes, with wandering pains in their limbs, and about 

 the small of the back, a soreness all over their flesh, a loss of appetite, a nau- 

 sea, and an unusual ill taste in the mouth, yet little or no thirst: and though 

 these symptoms were very violent for a time, yet they did not continue lono-; 

 for about the 2d day of the distemper, the patient usually of himself fell into a 

 sweat, unless it was prevented by letting blood, which, however beneficial in 



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