to North America, | | 



of a blacki/h brown colour, and tainted with a fore 

 of yellowifh Serum, not unlike Pus or corrupt Mat- 

 ter, Mr. dela Banes Phyfician, who in my opinion 

 knew as little of the true caufes of Feavers as Hip- 

 pocrates or Galen, and a hundred thoufand befides ; 

 this mighty Phyfician, 1 fay, pretending to trace 

 the caufe of the Feaver I now fpeak of, imputed 

 it to the unfavourable qualities of the Air and the 

 Aliment. His plea was, that the exceflive heat of 

 the feafon, put the Vapours or Exhalations into an 

 over-rapid Motion ; that the Air was fo over-ra- 

 rify'd, that we did not fuck in a fufficient quantity 

 of it ; that the fmall quantity we did receive was 

 loaded with Infe&s and impure Corpufculum's , 

 which the fatal necefficy of Relpiration obliged us 

 to fwallow ; and that by this means nature was 

 put into diforder : He added, that the ufe of Bran- 

 dy and fait Meat fower'd the Blood, that thisfower- 

 nefs occafion'd a fort of Coagulation of the Chyle 

 and Blood, that the Coagulation hindred it to cir- 

 culate thro' the Heart with a due degree of Cele- 

 rity ; and that thereupon there infued an extraordi- 

 nary Fermentation, which is nothing elfe but a 

 Feaver. But after all, to my mind this Gentleman's 

 Syfteme was too much upon the Iroquefe ftrain j foe 

 at that rate the Diftemper muft have feiz'd all with- 

 out diftindion, whereas neither our Soldiers nor the 

 feafon'd Canadans were troubled with it ; for it 

 raged only among the Militia, who being unac- 

 quainted with the way of fetting the Boats with 

 Poles, were fore'd at every turn to get into the water 

 and drag "em up againft the rapid Stream : Now, the 

 waters of that Country being naturally cold, and 

 the heat being exceflive, the Blood might thereup- 

 on freeze by way of Antiperiftafis, and fo occafiofi 

 the Feaver I fpeak of, purfuantto the common Max- 

 im, Omnis repentina mutatio e(t periculofa, h e. All fud** 

 den changes are of dangerous Confequmce^ 



D As 



