This may perhaps seem too long; but as we don't know how much Time precisely is necessary to purge the Interstices of Spongy Substances from _infectious Matter_ by fresh Air, the Caution cannot be too great in this Point: Unless there could be a Way found out, without hazarding Men's Lives, of trying when Bodies have done emitting the Noxious Fumes; which possibly might be done by putting tender _Animals_ near to them, particularly by setting little _Birds_ upon the exposed Goods; because it has been observed in Times of the _Plague_, that the Country has been forsaken by the _Birds_; and those kept in Houses have many of them dyed[11]. But the Use of this Fancy Experience only must shew; for I am well aware, that all _Plagues_ do not indifferently affect all Kinds of living Creatures; on the contrary, most are confined to a particular _Species_ of them; like the Disease of the _Black Cattle_ a few Years since, which neither proved Infectious to other Brutes, nor to Men. I take it for granted, that the _Goods_ should be _opened_, when they are put into the _Lazaretto_, otherwise their being there will avail nothing. The Misfortune, which happened in the Island of _Bermudas_ about 25 Years since, gives a Proof of this; where, as the Account has been given me by the learned Dr. _Halley_, a Sack of _Cotton_, put on Shoar by Stealth, lay above a Month without any Prejudice to the People of the House, where it was hid; but when it came to be distributed among the Inhabitants, it carried such a _Contagion_ along with it, that the living scarce sufficed to bury the Dead. Indeed as it has been frequently experienced, that of all the Goods, which harbour _Infection_, _Cotton_ in particular is the most dangerous, and _Turkey_ is almost a perpetual _Seminary_ of the _Plague_; I cannot but think it highly reasonable, that whatever _Cotton_ is imported from that Part of the World, should at all Times be kept in _Quarentine_; because it may have imbibed _Infection_ at the Time of its packing up, notwithstanding no Mischief has been felt from it by the Ship's Company. As all reasonable Provisions should be made both for the _Sound_ and _Sick_, who perform _Quarentine_; so the strict keeping of it ought to be inforced by the severest _Penalties_. And if a Ship come from any Place, where the _Plague_ raged, at the Time of the Ship's Departure from it, with more than usual Violence, it will be the securest Method to _Burn_ all the _Goods_, and even the _Ship_.