A Succinct Account of the Plague at Marseilles: Its Symptoms and the Methods and Medicines Used for Curing It — John Shaqi
A Succinct Account of the Plague at Marseilles: Its Symptoms and the Methods and Medicines Used for Curing ItChicoyneau, François
History
A Succinct Account of the Plague at Marseilles: Its Symptoms and the Methods and Medicines Used for Curing It
Chicoyneau, François
Plague -- France -- Marseille -- Early works to 1800
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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