without any exaggeration, that more than fifteen or twenty Thousand Persons were found in these sorts of Cases; and if the Distemper had not often taken this turn, there would not have been left in this City the fourth Part of its Inhabitants.

We may very well admit a Sixth Class of such as we have seen perish without any Forerunner, or other manifest Hurt, than only a decay in Strength; and who being asked concerning their Condition, answered, that they were not sensible of any Disorder, which for the most part denoted a desperate Case, and an approaching Death; but the Number of these were very small in Comparison of such as made up the preceding Classes.

Besides all these Observations, it has happened that amongst so great a Number of infected Persons, we have seen many particular Cases, wherein, contrary to our Expectation, and all the Appearance of Reason, the Sick have perished or recovered; but we are of Opinion that it would be useless to relate them here, and to give of them a long and tedious Account; being moreover persuaded that these Sorts of particular Events can serve as no sure Rule to form a Prognostick, or how to proceed in the like Distemper. It is therefore more proper to keep to the Observations we have made, and that the rather, since they are found conformable to those of our Collegues who have laboured in concert with us in this so painful and dangerous Work; and who have always professed to relate what they have seen and observed themselves, without suffering themselves to be prejudiced by all the Reports that a vain Credulity, a popular Superstition, the Boastings of Empericks, and the Greediness of making Profit by the publick Calamity, have spread through this City.

To conclude, the Medicines we have made use of are such, whose Efficacy and manner of Operation, are generally acknowledged by a long Experience, to be adapted to satisfy all the Indications reported above; having moreover not neglected certain pretended Specificks, such as the solar Powder, the mineral Kernes, Elixirs, and other alexiterial Preparations, as have been communicated to us by charitable and well-disposed Persons; but Experience itself has convinced us, that all these particular Remedies are at the most useful only to remove some certain Accidents, when at the same time they are often noxious in a great many others, and by consequence incapable to cure a Disease characterised by a Number of different essential Symptoms.

an

ABSTRACT

of the

aving finish’d the preceding Relation the Tenth of November, and applying to the Magistrates to procure Writers to copy a sufficient Number, to satisfie the Desires of all the Persons who have done us the Honour to consult us on this Subject, those Gentlemen replied, that by reason they could not get Transcribers enow, they would willingly take upon themselves the Care of having it printed; so that we have accepted their Offer, being persuaded that it is the shortest and most commodious Expedient to answer to all the Consultations that we receive from all Quarters on this Subject; but having reflected that this same Relation would be of no Use but to Persons of the Faculty who are instructed and experienced in the Knowledge and Cure of Diseases, we have thought proper to add here an Abstract of the different Methods which we have made use of in treating the different Kinds of diseased Persons contained in the five Classes mentioned above; presuming that they may be of Service to the young Physicians and Surgeons that are actually engaged in looking after infected Persons in divers Places of this Province. And we are the more readily determined to give this small Instruction to the Publick; since Mons. Lebret, first President of the Parliament, and Intendant of this Province, a Gentleman zealous for its Preservation, and very active in his Assistance in this time of Calamity, has done us the Honour frequently to ask of us an exact Account of the Treatment of this Malady.

The Method used in treating the Sick of the First Class.

If we afford but the least Attention to the Nature of the Symptoms related in the first Class, that is to say, to the small, unequal, and concentrated Pulse; to the Shiverings; to the universal Chilliness, especially in the extreme Parts, and to the almost continual Sickness at the Stomach; to those Lead-coloured, dismal and cadaverous Faces; it will be very easy to judge, that we have nothing to do in this Case, but to prescribe the most active and generous Cordials; such as are Venice Treacle, Diascordium, the Extract of Juniper Berries, the Lilium; the Confection of Hyacinth, of Alkermes; the Elixirs drawn from Substances that abound the most in a volatile Salt; the Treacle Waters, those of Juniper Berries of Carmes; the volatile Salts of Vipers, of Armoniack, of Hartshorn; the Balms the most spirituous; in one Word, all that is capable to animate, excite and strengthen; augmenting, doubling, and even tripling their ordinary Dose, according as the Case shall be more or less pressing.

All these Remedies, and others of the same Nature, are without doubt very proper to animate and raise the almost extinguished Strength of these poor sick Persons; nevertheless we have with Grief seen almost all of them perish on a sudden, which presently confirmed us in the Opinion generally received, that the Malignity of the pestilential Ferment is of a Force superior to all Remedies; but as we have also seen them succeed in some particular Cases, there is Room to presume, and one is but too much convinced of it by fatal Experience, that the Desertion and Inactivity of the greatest Part of the People who might have given Assistance, that the Want of Nourishment, of Remedies and Attendance, that the fatal Prejudice of being seized by an incurable Distemper, that the Despair of seeing ones self abandoned without any Relief, one is, I say, well convinced that all these Causes have not less contributed than the Violence of the Disease, to the sudden Destruction of so great a Number of the Sick, not only of this first Class, but also of the following; seeing that in Proportion as this mortal Fear of the Contagion is diminished, and that one is mutually assisted, that the Hopes and Courage of the People are returned; that, in one Word, the good Order is re-established in this City by the Authority, Firmness and Vigilance of the Chevalier de Langeron, by the great Care of the Governor, and by the constant and indefatigable Endeavours of the Sheriffs; one has beheld the Progress and Violence of this terrible Scourge to diminish insensibly, and we have been more successful in curing the infected.

Returning then to the Method proposed to treat the sick Persons of this First Class,