20 



the things, in addition to wool, the air, and garments, that were reck- 

 oned infectible. Animals were considered capable of conveying dis- 

 ease. During the pestilence at Palermo in the year 1575 Ingrassia 

 caused all the dogs in the city to be brought together alive on a cer- 

 tain day and cast into a common pit, where they were covered with 

 quicklime and then with earth and stones. As to cats, they were 

 allowed to live, so as "not to have worse war with rats," says Ingras- 

 sia, but all cats that had been near suspected houses were required to 

 be kept closed up. There were similar restrictions for fowls and pig- 

 eons. Elsewhere geese and cattle were banished from the cities dur- 

 ing epidemics. Habitations, ships, and even the sails and cordage 

 with which vessels were rigged belonged to the category of infectible 

 things. Nicola Massa, a Venetian physician, who published in 1556 

 a book on pestilential fevers, names the following as fomites: Wool, 

 hair, cotton, linen, hemp, silk, thread, and all things made from these 

 substances; skins, feathers, and the like; and all merchandise, as well 

 as sacks, baskets, boxes, casks, and cords that cover them. Massa 

 considered as noninfectible all metals and objects made of them, 

 including arms and cooking utensils; precious stones and marble; 

 grain, flour, and meal; vegetables, fruit' — fresh and dried — and nuts, 

 wine, oil, and vinegar; and all drugs and aromatics. In regard to 

 metallic money he said that those who held it in suspicion might allay 

 their fears by receiving it in a vessel of vinegar. 



Exposure for many days to the air in selected places and to the dew 

 was looked upon with great favor. The dew of the dead of night was 

 supposed to be particularly efficacious. This practice originated in 

 the more or less accurate observation that during the season when the 

 mists of the Nile were thickest the pest in Lower Egypt began to 

 diminish. 



The vapors of volatilized aromatic substances, known technically as 

 "perfumes," were credited with great virtues in correcting the alter- 

 ation of the air generated by pest. Cloves, cinnamon, cedar bark, 

 camphor, mints, resinous wood, and similar substances were kept boil- 

 ing in pots of vinegar and rosewater for long periods. One recipe 

 containing garlic and known as the "vinegar of the four thieves" 

 enjoyed high repute. Fumigations in summer differed from those in 

 winter. Aromatic wine was added in fumigations for cold weather, 

 being assumed to have a special property of correcting air at a low 

 temperature. It was also considered advisable to lengthen the period 

 of isolation in winter because cold was thought to have a tendency to 

 conserve the contagious principle. Sulphur fumigation was not 

 regarded with favor in early days. The strong sulphurous fumes 

 were said to alter the air unfavorably rather than rectify it; but sul- 

 phur came more into vogue in the eighteenth century. The burning 

 of gunpowder was also thought useful. 



