584 
P L A 
to pafs the trenches was expofed to inevitable death from 
the centinels who were polled atfhort diltances, and who 
werealfo commanded to fire on all cattle, poultry, or ani¬ 
mals, who might attempt to pafs. At night, not only 
patroles guarded every part of the trenches, but watch- 
fires and lanterns rendered every attempt to profit by the 
darknefs abortive. All provifions dellined for the city 
were conveyed over the drawbridge, and from thence 
removed by the inhabitants to their deflination; nothing 
was taken in return but letters, and thefe were previoufly 
fumigated and deeped in vinegar. The fecond cordon 
was ellablilhed at the diftance of ten miles, and was com- 
pofed of piquets of foldiers placed half a mile from each 
other; a communication was kept up by means of fol¬ 
diers who were within fight of each other. Every travel¬ 
ler was required to produce a ftrifl certificate of health 
before he was allowed to pafs. The third cordon com¬ 
prehended the whole province of Bari. All goods which 
had been difpatched from Noya were Hopped and de- 
ftroyed. Attempts had been made to conceal the real 
nature of the difeafe ; in confequence of which, thofe who 
died were buried in a fmall church fituated outfide the 
town. After the cordon was ellablilhed, this fadl wasfirll 
difcovered, and alfo that the church in quellion was in 
the rear of the firll line. Criminals, condemned to death 
or hard labour, were employed to cover thefe graves with 
pitch, fulphur, and chalk; to burn all the wood-work 
and paintings in the church, and to whitewalh the walls. 
Kound the lpot where all the different articles were burnt, 
as in the two pits which contained the dead, a wall was 
built, on which wasinfcribed: Sepoltura de Pestiferi 
Morte a chi l’aprisse. The interior of the city was 
divided into eighteen fedtions, fix of which were declared 
unhealthy, and twelve healthy; but occafionally thefe 
latter produced a patient or tw'o. In each fedtion a com- 
miflion of health was chofen from among the inhabitants, 
whcfe duty it was to correfpond with the general commif- 
fion. There were three liofpitals ; the Obfervation, the 
Convalefcent, and the Pell, Hofpital. To the former of 
thefe were conveyed all who laboured under any ordinary 
difeafe, whatever might be their rank or llation. Round 
the peft-hofpital two trenches were dug which it was for¬ 
bidden to pafs; the phyficians and attendants had' no 
communication from without; provifion and medicines 
were received into the houfe with all precaution, and only 
letters and money were permitted to be returned from 
within. The attendants were defired to wafh themfelves 
frequently with antifeptic vinegar and oil, and to avoid 
communication with the infedled, and even with each 
other. Thefe regulations, ftridtly enforced, would in any 
country flop materially the ravages of the plague ; and it 
is only to be regretted that the bigoted fatalifm of the 
Turks prevents their adoption at Conftantinople and in 
Egypt, countries which have fo long remained the birth¬ 
place of this terrible fcourge. 
We are led to infer, from the vacillating opinions of the 
beft phyficians, that the higheft knowledge we have ac¬ 
quired in the treatment of the plague is, that we fliould 
do nothing. This appears very dilcouraging, Bleeding, 
the grand agent in the cure of epidemics, feems, it is 
pretty generally agreed, to have no beneficial influence on 
this diteafe, and to be manifeftly hurtful, except in the 
early ftages, and in the inflammatory type of the diforder. 
Ruffell, however, always ufed one bleeding at the begin¬ 
ning. Sudorifics produce no fweating ; purges are hurt¬ 
ful; cold bathing has feemed tc be ufeful during deli¬ 
rium. Stimulants, as wine and bark, have been thought 
ufeful in the latter periods of the diforder; but harm has 
been done with them. The ule of oil externally applied 
has had its day. This is the fum of our therapeutics. 
Does it not amount to nothing? 
Having Hated every thing which appears to be material 
in the phyfical hiflory of the plague, we cannot altoge¬ 
ther omit the confideration of lome of the moral evils, 
G U E. 
which have commonly been obferved in the train of every 
fevere peffilence. So urgent are the phyfical diffrefles 
which peffilence inflidls, and univerfal the interruption 
to the ordinary intercourfe of focial life which it occa- 
fions; fo neceffary is it for individual fafety to Hum all 
communication with -others, and fo difficult, therefore, 
to obtain affiftance when in need of it ; that a fyffem of 
felfifh principles becomes every-wbere prevalent, and the 
ordinary moral rules of conduct are every-where laid 
afide: and vices, follies, and crimes, of every defcription, 
contribute to augment the fum of mifery which pefli- 
lence brings w ith it. The extreme uncertainty of the te¬ 
nure of life, when every day may probably terminate it, 
feems to loofen the moral ties of the people, partly be- 
caufe multitudes of thofe who are the arbiters of indivi¬ 
dual charadler are deltroyed, partly becaufe, in the gene¬ 
ral confufion, the chance of efcaping detedlion is much 
diminilhed, and partly becaufe the probability of living to 
undergo punifhment is exceedingly fmall. The extreme 
and fudden changes of fortune, too, which the death of 
whole families brings unexpefledly to many, unhinges 
the moral feelings, and leaves the indulgence of the paf- 
fions to be purfued with little controul. 
A ffriking pidlure of the diflolution of morals, during 
the prevalence of the peffilence at Athens, has been 
drawn by Thucydides. Afterdating that, in confequence 
of the dreadful mortality, the people, not knowing what 
to do, or whither to go, began to negledl all their duties 
facred and profane, he firll obferves, that the rites of bu¬ 
rial were not performed at all, from the deftrudtion of 
fefvants and domeftics, or performed in the moll irregu¬ 
lar manner. Some, he fays, would take poffefiion of the 
funeral piles eredled by others, and, anticipating their 
arrival, would lay the bodies of their friends upon them, 
and fet them on fire; while others would depofit their 
corpfe upon the burning pile containing one already 
partly confumed, and retire. “ But this malady,” he 
proceeds, “ was the fource of much greater depravities 
to the city in other refpefls. For people now dared to 
do many things openly, which they were heretofore com¬ 
pelled by Iharne to conceal; and they calculated upon 
their fudden change of fortune, feeing that many of the 
wealthy perilhed, while thofe who formerly were dellitute 
became rich with their property. They, therefore, 
deemed it right to fet about the immediate enjoyment 
of it, and gave themfelves up to pleafure, confidering that 
they in turn might be deprived of the treafures, and of 
life itfelf, in a few days. Nor was any individual difpofed 
to undertake any labours for an honourable reward, be¬ 
caufe he thought it uncertain whether he fliould not die 
before he could obtain it. Whatever each perfon deemed 
agreeable or lucrative to himfelf, this he conlidered as 
expedient and honourable; and he did not allow himfelf 
to be reftrained in the purfuit of it either by the fear of 
God or of human laws. This indifference to all moral 
and religious duties, arofe partly from the circumftaiice, 
that the fulfilment or negledt of them appeared to be 
equally unavailing; for all equally periflied ; and partly 
from the general expedlation that no one would furvive 
a fufficient length of time to undergo trial and punifh¬ 
ment. And many perfons, confidering themfelves already 
doomed by fate to vvorfe punifhment than the laws could 
inflidt, determined to enjoy fome of the pleafures of life 
before the time of fuffering arrived.” Thucydides, lib. ii. 
§ S 3 - 
Very fimilaraccounts of the diffolute (late of the public 
character, attendant on times of peffilence, are related by 
other writers, who have witnefled thefe calamities. In 
the interefling defcription of the plague at Florence in the 
year 1348, given by Boccaccio in the introdudlion to his 
Decamerone, many allufions are made to this lawlefs 
condition of the city. After defcr-ibing the different 
views which fome perfons adopted as to the mode of felf- 
prefervation, he fays, “ others maintained free living to 
