P L A 
been traced to importation, and that, fince our excellent 
quarantine-laws have prevented the tranfmiflion of in¬ 
fected perfons or goods among us, this fevere vifitation 
has not occurred. Greece, Turkey, and Egypt, are the 
climates in which it is indigenous, and in which it has 
at all times committed the greateft ravages. It is proper, 
however, to caution our readers againft the tremendous 
r.ewfpaper-accounts they may have read of the deftroying 
agency of the plague in the countries in queftion, fince, 
when it is faid that the plague has depopulated whole 
cities, it does not, therefore, follow that all the inhabit¬ 
ants of thofe cities are dead, but only that many are dead, 
and many more have removed to other places, through 
fear of infeftion. The truth is fufficiently dreadful, 
without any of thefe exaggerations. We have quoted 
one of thefe accounts below. 
Aleppo , Aug. 31, 1773.—On the 19th of January laft 
the plague firft manifefted itfelf in the fuburbs of Bagdat, 
(near the ruins of the ancient Babylon,) and foon after in 
the city itfelf. It made fuch havock in the months of 
February, March, and April, that of 400,000 inhabitants, 
only a quarter part were left alive. The inhabitants of 
the neighbouring towns of Hela, Iman-Aly, Iman-Huffein, 
and Iman-Mouifa, have been entirely fwept away. Several 
travellers, who pafi'ed by thofe places in April, found all 
the houfes deferred, and nothing but dead carcafes left. 
Some pilgrims from Iman-Aly, and fome Jewifh families 
who eicaped from Bagdat, carried the contagion to Baf- 
fora, at which place, towards- the end of March, the 
Chriftians and Franks fhut themfelves up to prevent 
infeClion, which the Turks negleCting, 8000 of them 
peri filed, in one quarter alone of the city, from the 15th 
to the 25th of April. Of 500 domeftics of the Muffelim 
(the governor), one flave only efcaped with life. This 
city confifted of 100,000 inhabitants, of whom 80,000 
have peri filed, 5000 fled to the Perfian gulf, about the 
fame number efcaped the infection, and 10,000 have arrived 
here. The number of Chriftians who periftied amounted 
to 374, feventy-four of which were of the Roman commu¬ 
nion, more than 4000 Jews, and three Idolaters; and all 
the reft were Turks. The heat of the month of May 
ftopt the infection at Bagdat, and the 10th of June B a flora 
was delivered from it. The biftiop of Babylon (whofe 
fervants all perifhing, was driven forth to feek provifions), 
the copful of France, two ecclefiaftics, and one Carmelite, 
died in the firft-mentioned place; and in Bagdat the 
Sieur Perault, agent to the India Company, and two Car¬ 
melite miflionaries. A Catholic Armenian prieft, who 
prafiifed phyiic, efcaped the infeftion, though he attended 
on the lick the whole time. The feveral tribes of Ara¬ 
bians who encamp on the borders of the river Chatel 
Arabe, as far as the fea, and to the portcf the Gulf, have 
likewife fuffered prodigioufly. Kerim-Khan, regent of 
Perfia, having placed a cordon of troops on the frontiers 
of that kingdom, preferved that country from the infeftion. 
Any account of the recent attacks of the plague can 
only be viewed with intereft, as leading to fome know'- 
ledge of its caufes or prevention ; hence we Ihall only 
touch on the mod remarkable fafts that-have been pre¬ 
sented to us, in the following medical account of the 
difeafe. 
We have already feen, that the early writers on the 
plague defcribe it as a fever of various intenfity, generally 
fatal, fometimes accompanied with vibices, or petechias, 
commonly with carbuncles and buboes, fometimes with 
ail thefe. The more recent obfervers fully corroborate 
thefe defcriptions. It is not eafy to give a general hiftory 
of the fymptoms of the plague; becaufe, in its different 
degrees of violence, its courfe and charafter exhibit very 
material variations. Hence it has been the praftice of 
aimoft all the phyficians, who have publifhed their obfer- 
vations on the difeafe, to divide the congeries of fymp¬ 
toms into feveral claffes: the phyficians of Marfeiiles de- 
fcribed five fpecies of the maladv, and Dr. Ruffed divided 
Vol. XX. No. 1392. 
G U £. 581 
it into fix ; but more recent authors fpeak only of three 
types which it a (Turned, or three degrees of violence. 
The general derangement of the fyftem, which ufliers 
in an attack of the plague, is much like that which com¬ 
mences the courfe of ordinary fever. A fenfe of cold, 
with fome (hivering, which is foon followed by heat, and 
acceleration of the pulfe, with giddinefs, head-ache, de- 
prefiion of ftrength and fpirits, white tongue, vomiting, 
or diarrhoea, and great oppreflion about the prsecordia, 
are among the firft fymptoms of the difeafe. Thefe are 
fucceeded by a burning pain about the pit of the ftomach, 
by p peculiar muddinefs of the eyes, by coma, delirium, 
and other afteftions of the fenforium, which terminate by 
death in fome cafes on the fecond or third day, before 
the buboes and carbuncles have appeared ; but which, in 
others, continue toincreafe, while thefe morbid changes 
enfue, together with purple fpots and ecchymofes, which 
belong to the plague in common with other malignant 
fevers. 
Fever is prefent at one ftage or other of the plague with 
very few exceptions, though it differs materially in its 
degree, duration, and fymptoms, in different individuals. 
It is ufually preceded by a wearinefs and a confufion of 
head, which becomes afevere pain, as thefever advances. 
The cold ftage is fhort, and lefs marked than in an inter¬ 
mittent; but the changes in the fucceeding hot fit are 
fudden, anomalous, and alarming. Naufea and vomit¬ 
ing frequently occur from the beginning; but thefe 
fymptoms are abfent in a large proportion, even in cafes 
which terminate fatally. Indeed in many the attack is 
fcarcely to be diftinguiftied from that of ordinary fevers 
before the fecond night, unlefs where buboes and carbun¬ 
cles arife within the firft twenty-four hours. Although 
thefe remove all doubts about the nature of the fever, 
they do not, however, afford any certain prognofis of 
the event of the difeafe. In fome cafes clear remifiions 
occur on the fecond or third day; but in general the 
changes from better to vvorfe are frequent in the courfe 
of the firft twenty-four hours, and more fudden and va¬ 
rious than in common fevers. The difeafe in moft cafes 
advances with extreme rapidity, infomuch that the pa¬ 
tient on the fecond or third day, is often, in point of de¬ 
bility, diforder of the fenfes, and of the vital funftions, 
reduced apparently to the condition of one in the laft 
ftage of a malignant fever; yet to this defperate (late will 
fucceed a remiflion, in which his fenfes and intellectual 
faculties arereftored, and weaknefs only feems to remain. 
Neverthelefs, thefe remifiions, when occurring early in 
the difeafe, or when not preceded by a fweat, are often 
(hort and fallacious; but when they follow a perfpiration, 
op the third day or later, and are of fome hours conti¬ 
nuance, they afford hopes of a favourable iffue. 
Delirium in the plague feldom becomes fo violent and 
phrenitic as in fome other fevers. It fometimes comes on 
the firft night, but in general not before the fecond ; and 
is higheft in the febrile exacerbations. Sometimes deli¬ 
rium alternates with coma, which laft is in general a more 
dangerous fymptom, but molt particularly fo when it 
comes on early, and does not abate in the remifiions. 
The change in the eyes, which has been defcribed as a 
mudclinefs, is extremely remarkable. It fometimes takes 
place on the firft day, but more commonly on the fecond 
or third, and remains till fome favourable turn of the 
difeafe occurs. “ It refembled fomewhat the dull fixed 
eye obfervable in the laft ftages of malignant fevers ; but 
the dullnefs was different, muddinefs and luftre being 
ftrangely blended together and Dr. Ruffelladds, that it 
contributed much to that confufion of countenance, 
which enabled him, after a little experience, to pronounce 
with tolerable certainty on the exiltence or non-exiftence 
of the plague. Sir A. B. Faulkner confiders this fymptom 
the pathognomonic one : it never deceived his diagnofis, 
even though he obferved it before the patient (uffered 
any feeling of ill health. Lofs of fpeech, faltering, and 
7 I tremor 
