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We may observe from hence, that the Months July, August, September, and October, the Plague was at the greatest height, and even in those Months, all other Distempers had greater Power over Human Bodies than in the others. When I consider this, I cannot help taking Notice, that in those Months we have our chief Fruit Seasons, and when it happens that there has been a Blight in the Spring, or the Summer has not given our Fruit due Maturity, I suppose that the Habit of the Body is so disposed as to receive Infection more readily, than in Years that either afford us little, or else very Ripe Fruit.

Again, in those warm Months, I find that we have vast Varieties of the smaller kinds of Insects floating in the Air, and it is a thing constant, that every Insect from the greatest to the smallest has its proper Nidus to hatch and perfect it self in, and is led thither by certain Effluvia which arise from that Body which is in a right State for the preservation of it. In the Blight of Trees we find, such Insects as are appointed to destroy a Cherry Tree, will not injure a Tree of another Kind, and again, unless the Leaves of some Trees are bruised by Hail, or otherwise Distemper’d, no Insect will invade them; so in Animals it may be, that by ill Diet the Habit of their Body may be so altered, that their very Breath may entice those poisonous Insects to follow their way, ’till they can lodge themselves in the Stomach of the Animal, and thereby occasion Death. We may likewise suppose that where these Insects have met with their appointed Nests, they will certainly lay their Eggs there, which the Breath of the diseased Person will fling out in Parcels, as he has occasion to Respire; so that the Infection may be communicated to a stander-by, or else, through their extraordinary smallness, may be convey’d by the Air to some Distance.

It is observable, that all Insects are so much quicker in passing through their several Stages to the state of Perfection, as they are smaller, and the smallest of them are more numerous in their Increase than the others.

Two Years ago when the Plague was at Amiens, I pass’d by that Place, and then found the Contagion began to abate (’twas then about October, and the Rains began to fall) the People told me they were advised to eat Garlick every Morning to guard their Stomachs against Infection; but whether it was the Garlick, or the sudden alteration of the Season that was the occasion of the decrease of that Distemper, we shall examine in another Place; but we may Note, That all the Ground about that City is a Morass, so that there is no coming near it but by the Roads which are Paved and mark’d out. This Marsh or Morass, as all others do in the Summer Season, produce vast Numbers of Insects which are accounted unwholsome: But as some are of Opinion, it is rather a Noxious Vapour which occasions this Infectious Distemper, I shall mention my Opinion of such Vapours before I conclude.

 

In the Philosophical Transactions, N^o 8. we have the following Observations of Insects which are the Destroyers of Plants.

Some Years since there was such a swarm of a certain sort of Insect in New-England, that for the space of 200 Miles they poisoned and destroyed all the Trees of the Country; there being found innumerable little Holes in the Ground, out of which those Insects broke forth in the Form of Maggots, which turn’d into Flies that had a kind of Sting, which they stuck into the Tree, and thereby envenom’d and killed it.

The like Plague is said to happen frequently in the Country of the Cossacks or Ukrani, where, in dry Summers, they are infested with swarms of Locusts, driven thither by an East, or South-East Wind, that they darken the Air in the fairest Weather, and devour all the Corn of that Country, laying their Eggs in Autumn, and then dying; but the Eggs, of which every one layeth two or three Hundred, hatching the next Spring, produce again such a number of Locusts, that then they do far more mischief than before, unless Rains fall which kill both Eggs and Insects, or unless a strong North or North-West Wind arise, which drives them into the Euxine Sea: And it is very natural to suppose, that if the Winds have this Power over the larger sort of Insects; i. e. of moving them from one Country to another, the smaller kinds, which are lighter than the Air it self, may be interceptibly Convey’d as far as the Winds can reach.

 

Dr. Wincler, Chief Physician of the Prince Palatine, gives us the following Account of the Murrain in Switzerland, and the Method of its Cure, in a Letter to Dr. Slare, F. R. S. Anno 1682.

On the Borders of Italy a Murrain infested the Cattle which spread farther into Switzerland, the Territories of Wirtemburg, and over other Provinces, and made great destruction among them. The Contagion seem’d to propagate it self in the form of a Blue Mist, that fell upon those Pastures where the Cattle Grazed, insomuch that Herds have returned home Sick, being very dull, forbearing their Food, most of them would die away in twenty four Hours. Upon dissections were discovered large and corrupted Spleens, sphacelous and corroded Tongues, some had Angina Maligna’s. Those Persons that carelesly managed their Cattle without a due respect to their own Health, were themselves Infected and Died away like their Beasts.

Having had timely Notice of this Lues from our Neighbours, we made such Provision against the invading Disease, that very few of those who were infected by the Murrain died. Some impute this Contagion to the Witchcraft of three Capuchins in Switzerland. But the more learned believe it to proceed from some noxious Exhalations thrown out of the Earth by three distinct Earthquakes perceived here and in our Neighbourhood in the Space of one Year.

 

The Method of Cure for the Cattle.

As soon as ever there was any suspicion of the Contagion upon any one of the Herd, the Tongue of that Beast was carefully examined, and in case they found any Aptha or Blisters whether White, Yellow, or Black, then they were obliged to rub, and scratch the Tongue with a Silver Instrument (being about the breadth and thickness of a Six-pence, but indented on the sides, and having a Hole in the middle whereby it is