24 ' PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1713. 



which, the distemper gradually insinuated itself: for in March, 1709, there 

 died out of one district of the old town, called Raumbaum, 7 persons : the 

 eighth remaining was a young girl, who by order of the magistrates was sent to 

 the hospital, having already some bad symptoms, as buboes, about her ; which 

 being yet unknown, one would not have presently taken for pestilential, but 

 rather venereal : but they soon showed their epidemic kind, by seizing other 

 children kept in the same rooms. 



In the same month I had under cure a Polish lady, from Jarislaw, labouring 

 under a cachexy and tympany. In a fortnight she recovered so as to go to 

 church: but she soon fell ill again, being taken with a slow fever, and a sudden 

 decay of strength, and died within 8 days. On washing her dead body, there was 

 found on the lower belly a brownish red swelling, about the size of a small hen 

 egg, which I afterwards judged to be a furunculus: so much I could then guess, 

 that it was not a common swelling; for it was surrounded with a lead-coloured 

 circle, from which proceeded several blue rays in the adjacent parts. However, 

 this was not a sufficient ground to demonstrate, or to give public notice, that 

 the contagion was already among us ; but in the mean time care was taken to 

 prevent, as much as possible, the further progress of this distemper: the streets, 

 the waters, and houses were ordered to be cleansed from all manner of nastiness. 



On Sunday the l6th, the governors of the hospital desired that I would be 

 physician in ordinary to their hospital, or at least that I would give my help and 

 assistance at present, by reason of the many sick that were in the hospital, and 

 which increased daily. Next day I went to the hospital, and inquiring for the 

 .surgeon in ordinary, I was informed that he died the day before ; but they 

 knew not of what disease. In viewing the patients, I found 10 in a room to- 

 gether, of various ages, some of which had buboes, others carbuncles, others 

 gangrenous ulcers, which one cannot always judge to be pestilential. In another 

 room there were above 20 children, from 6 to 13 years of age, all which, ex- 

 cept 4 or 5, had either pestilential buboes in the groin, armpits, and about the 

 neck, or else carbuncles on the arms, thighs, legs, and other parts of the body. 

 After I had perfectly informed myself of the state of the hospital, I took my 

 leave, having first recommended to the attending surgeon, such medicines as 

 I judged proper in these cases to be given inwardly ; but 1 could not forbear 

 telling him my opinion, that these were symptoms, if not of a plague already 

 insinuated, yet at least of something but little inferior to it, and certain fore- 

 runners of that destructive distemper.* The surgeon did not then think it so 



that even in the northern parts of Europe extreme degrees of winter-cold have not afforded a security 

 against the introduction and spreading of the plague. 



* It is truly astonishing that any doubts should have been entertained of the actual introduction of 

 the plague, under such circumstances ; especially when it was known that this disorder had been 

 raging only a few months before at Thorn, distant from Dantzick not more than 70 miles. 



