Read Ebook: An Essay on Contagious Diseases more particularly on the small-pox measles putrid malignant and pestilential fevers by Wintringham Clifton

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YORK:

THE PREFACE.

ERRATA.

The Causes therefore of these Diseases must either be generated in the Air, or produced from the Effluvia of Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral Substances floating in it. And consequently the Effects of the Contagious Particles must be extreamly various, according to the Qualities of the Bodies from which they are produced.

When any of these Causes is of so deleterious a Nature, as not only to be Infectious, but to destroy all or most of those that are affected by it, That Disease is called a Pestilence.

But before I proceed to examine the particular Properties and Effects of the Contagious Particles, it will be Necessary to Demonstrate the following Propositions.

The Magnitude of the Particles of the Blood being increased, Obstructions will be formed in the Ramifications of the smaller Vessels, which will happen sooner or later, in Proportion to the increased Magnitude of the Particles, and the smallness of the Vessels.

The Magnitude of the Particles of the Blood must be increased either by the Union of a greater Number of them than in a Natural State; Or by the Alteration of their Figure, by which their Surfaces become larger than before.

The other Observations of the Causes of these Fevers, may be reduced to such as arise from the Stinks of stagnating Waters in hot and close Weather, to some putrid Exhalations of the Earth, to the Parts of Animals and Vegetables putrifying in the open Air, or the taking of corrupt & unwholsome Nourishment.

The Changes wrought in the Animal Oeconomy from the above-mention'd Causes, may be reduced to such as depend either on the Increased Heat of the Air join'd with its Humidity; Or to such as are produced from the particular Qualities of the putrid and Contagious Particles floating in it; Or to the united and complicated Effects of all together.

The Blood being in this depraved Condition, the rest of the Animal Juices must degenerate in Proportion thereto, and the Nervous Fluid, as it consists of the most volatil and subtil Parts, be extreamly acrid and pungent, as well as unequal in its Texture and Fluidity, from the more viscous Parts contain'd in it.

These Disorders will necessarily be increased on account of the Air's Spring being weakned by its Heat, the Vessels of the Lungs being less inflated, and the Globules of the Blood less broken and divided, and the more especially in a humid Air, Heat and Moisture necessarily relaxing the Tone of the Fibres and Vessels, and rendring them less Springy and Elastic. Hence then the Quantity of Spirits being diminish'd, and their Motion more slow, the Contraction of the Heart and other Muscles will be more weak and languid, and being stimulated by the Acrimony of the Circulating Liquors, must contract more frequently than in a Natural State; The Consequence of which is Weakness, Faintness, Thirst, and Dejection of Spirits.

These and the preceeding Symptoms will necessarily continue, 'til such time as the gross and viscous Matter, being shook and loosen'd by the Action of the Capillary Vessels, is washed away into the Veins by the force of the Circulating Fluids, and there continues its Course with the rest, 'til it be either attenuated and secreted, or lodged again in the Capillaries to excite new Disorders.

Hence then must follow a violent Hurry and Colluctation of the Fluids, the Viscid and coagulated Parts of the Blood in some Parts obstructing the Circulation of the Juices, and the Acrid, Volatil, and Fiery Parts, rarefying and dissolving others of the more Liquid, to the greatest degree of Pungency and Volatility imaginable.

Hence it is easy to perceive how the Motion of the Blood must necessarily be in some Parts more languid, by the Cohesion of the more Viscous parts, in others quicker, join'd with a pungent and stimulating heat, from the increased Velocity and Acrimony of the moving Fluid, and the various Actions of the Particles upon each other, and their Impulses on the containing Vessels; As also how these are capable of almost infinite Variations, in Proportion to the different Quantities and Qualities of the constituent Particles. Hence then appears the Reason of that wandering and uncertain Heat and Coldness, in different Parts of the Body at the same time. Hence appears the Reason of that great Inquietude and Anxiety, of those uncertain and partial Sweats, Watchings, Tremors, stretching Pains of the head, and the like, as will be more fully shown hereafter.

But before I proceed to explain the Nature of a Fever truly Pestilential, it will be necessary to observe, that notwithstanding the foremention'd putrid Disposition be generally a Prelude to a Pestilential Constitution of the Air, yet it has never that I know of been observ'd, that these Causes alone at their first Onset, produced a real Plague or Pestilential Contagion, without the Concurrence of some preceeding Infection, either brought from abroad, or gradually augmented from the increased Putrifaction of the Air, and Poisonous Steams of Morbid Bodies.

Thus the putrid Air of Camps in hot Countries is frequently found to produce Pestilential Fevers, but this never happens at their first Onset; The Diseases first appearing being Fluxes, Putrid, and afterwards Malignant Fevers; which being exasperated and propagated by the Virulent Effluvia of Diseased Bodies, and the increased Putrifaction of the Air, grow up gradually to those of a Pestilential, and exceedingly infectious Disposition.

Now Putrifaction being only a kind of Fermentation, wherein the Particles of a putrifying Body are put into an intestine Motion, and by their Action and Attrition broken and divided, and since all fermenting Substances do emit vast Quantities of small separable Parts, it will necessarily follow, that the most subtil and active Particles of the Purifying Body will be elevated into the Air, and float in it.

These Effluvia consist of the finest and most volatil saline and oleaginous Particles, highly attenuated and set at Liberty from the gross Oil and Terrestrious Part, as appears from the Distillation of such Substances, all which afford great Quantities of a pungent and volatil Salt. It is likewise observable, that the subtil Oleaginous Particles being specifically lighter, as well as more easily attenuated and divided than those of a Saline Nature, will be thrown off in greater Proportion in the beginning of the Fermentation or Putrifaction than the heavier Salts will be, which must either be more attenuated and volatilised, or require a greater force to raise them into, and sustain them in the Air than the former, and consequently the greatest Emission of these saline Particles will be after the Fermentation has been for some time continued; As we find it happens in all fermenting Liquors, as Wine, Beer, Cyder, and the like. All which emit, during the Fermentation, greater Quantities of Particles of an active attenuated Oil or Spirit for some time, than of a Saline Nature, which requiring a longer time in order to attenuate them, are not raised till the former are in a manner quite exhaled, as appears from collecting the Steams of fermenting Liquors, and of those which are turn'd sower by Distillation, and consequently the Exhalations arising from putrifying Bodies will after some time consist mostly of Saline Particles highly attenuated and volatilised, and those not wrapt up and sheathed in the Oily ones, and thereby render'd innocuous, and often useful to the Body, but naked and exceedingly acrid and poignant.

Now supposing the Blood Saturated with these kind of Particles, and a Malignant Fever produced by their means, we all know that the Blood in this State throws off vast Quantities of subtil and active Particles thro' the Perspirable, Salival, and other Excretory Ducts of the Body, which not only must load the adjoining Air with great Quantities of them, and render it capable of producing more dismal Effects than the preceeding, but also the Particles thus thrown off must be endued with a more acrid and pungent Disposition than the former, inasmuch as they are more subtily divided and attenuated by the Force of the Fever, than those in the preceeding Disposition of the Air, where so powerful an Agent was wanting, And consequently produce a Fever of a most infectious and deleterious Nature; And especially when the Infection is taken toward the latter end of the Disease, at which time the Saline Particles will be more exalted and volatilised, as well as thrown off in greater Quantities, and thereby made more capable of producing an infectious Contagion.

It will I think be needless to show, that the Distempers here treated on are propagated by Contagion; But it may not be altogether unnecessary to explain by what Methods these Alterations in the Animal Oeconomy are brought about, and especially as the Means by which they are chiefly communicated, have not that I know of been fully examin'd.

Optic, in sine Quest. 22.

Animal Secret.

These likewise depend on the too great Cohesion of the sanguineous Particles, on which account the Circulatory as well as the Motion of the intestine Particles of the Blood being diminish'd, and many of the Igneous Particles intangled in the viscous Cohesions, a Sensation of Cold must necessarily ensue, and especially in those Parts where the Motion of the Blood is most slow, and its Cohesion increased as happens in the Extremities. The nervous Juice being likewise for the same reason determin'd Irregularly, and in less Quantity into the Muscles, sometimes one, sometimes another of them will be weakly contracted, or a Shuddering will ensue.

This is occasion'd by the weak Contraction of the Heart, and greater Viscosity of the Blood in the Extream Parts of the Body, for the Circulating Fluids being prest on every Side by the containing Vessels, the more thin and liquid Part will pass into such Vessels as arise nearest the Heart, and leave the rest more Viscous and unfit for Motion. The Force of the Heart in the extream Parts being also much diminish'd, thro' the numerous Ramifications of the Vessels, the Motion of the Blood will be more slow, the Cohesion of the Particles of the Blood greater, and the Obstructions in the Capillaries more fixt than in other Parts of the Body. Now the Heat of the Body depending in a great Measure on the Attrition of the Particles against each other, this being diminish'd in the Extream Parts of the Body, the other must be lessen'd in Proportion.

Hence likewise appears the Reason of Carbuncles, Boboes, Vesications, and the like, which take their Rise from the same Cause, and are different only in Proportion to the Viscosity or Acrimony of the obstructing Matter, and the Situation and Structure of the Part affected.

These show the greatest Corrosion and Acrimony imaginable in the Circulating Fluids, so as to be able to break and destroy the very Vessels themselves, and consequently certain Signs of a speedy Dissolution of the whole Animal Oeconomy.

Transcriber Notes:

Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.

Throughout the document, the oe ligature was replaced with "OE".

Errors in punctuation, spelling, and hyphenation were not corrected unless otherwise noted. Many of the spellings look strange by modern standards, but then the rules for spelling changed since 1721.

Footnotes were moved to after the paragraph they were referenced in. The footnote identifiers are the same as in the book, with the identifier "s" being used twice,

On page 38, "Convnlsions" was replaced with "Convulsions".

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