I think it not improper, for the fuller Confirmation of the present Point, to give a Relation communicated to me by a Person of unquestionable Credit, of the like Effect from Goods, in respect to the _Small-Pox_; which Distemper is frequently carried in the Nature of the _Plague_ both to the _East_ and _West-Indies_ from these Countries, and was once carried from the _East-Indies_ to the _Cape of Good Hope_, in the following manner. About the Year 1718, a ship from the _East-Indies_ arrived at that Place: In the Voyage three Children had been sick of the _Small-Pox_: The foul Linen used about them was put into a Trunk, and lock'd up. At the Ship's Landing, this was taken out, and given to some of the Natives to be washed: Upon handling the Linen, they were immediately seized with the _Small-Pox_, which spread into the Country for many Miles, and made such a Desolation, that it was almost dispeopled. IT has been thought so difficult to explain the manner how _Goods_ retain the Seeds of _Contagion_, that some[54] Authors have imagined _Infection_ to be performed by the Means of _Insects_; the _Eggs_ of which may be conveyed from Place to Place, and make the Disease when they come to be _hatched_. But as this is a Supposition grounded upon no manner of Observation, so I think there is no need to have recourse to it. If, as we have conjectured, the _Matter_ of _Contagion_ be an active Substance generated chiefly from animal Corruption; it is not hard to conceive how this may be lodged and preserved in soft porous Bodies, which are kept pressed close together. WE all know how long a time _Perfumes_ hold their Scent, if wrapt up in proper Coverings: And it is very remarkable, that the strongest of these, like the Matter we are treating of, are mostly _animal Juices_, as _Mosch_, _Civet_, &c. and that the Substances, found most fit to keep them in, are the very same with those, which are most apt to receive and communicate Infection, as _Furrs_, _Feathers_, _Silk_, _Hair_, _Wool_, _Cotton_, _Flax_, &c. the greatest part of which are likewise of the _animal_ kind. NOTHING indeed can give us so just a Notion of _Infection_, and more clearly represent the manner of it, than _Odoriferous_ Bodies. Some of _these_ do strangely revive the animal Spirits; others instantaneously depress and sink them: We may therefore conceive that, what active particles emitted from any such Substances do, is in the like way done by _Pestiferous_ Bodies; so that _Contagion_ is no more than the effect of volatile offensive Matter drawn into the Body by our _Smelling_.