I have followed Dr. _Mead_ with great Patience, into his _real_ and _propagating_ Causes of the Plague; because they are the _Principles_ and _Ground-work_ upon which he is to build the Explication of his Appearances, and the Method of _preventing_ and _curing_ the Plague; and if that should prove defective, the whole Work will fall into Ruins of it self, without doing it the least Violence: And thereby I shall neither tire my Reader, nor trouble my self, and only touch upon those Things very slightly, where he has either departed from the Truth, or contradicted himself. For, after the Foundation of any Position is over-turned, there is nothing more to be done, but merely to repeat what is already proved, and that as often as the Position is offered and assigned. And therefore it must not be expected that any one will spend, and waste his Time, in the pursuit of every Trifle, with the like exactness and fullness: That may be, perhaps, the Business of an Orator, but never of a Philosopher. I have been purposely thus prolix, that I may be shorter in putting an End to the remainder; nor have I leisure to animadvert on all the Blunders of this Author. I have already shewn the Impotency of Dr. _Mead_ in managing an Argument; and, at the same Time, I have over-turned and exploded some common Opinions, that were by him weakly defended; and that, because it is of great Use and Importance that Mankind be rightly apprized of them. How easily are any Man’s Fears dispell’d? What real Security does he acquire, when his _Reason_ is convinced, that the _Plague_ of _Pestilence_ is not begot by any _Contagion_, properly speaking? That this Plague is not propagated from the Body of a _Sick_ Person into the Body of the _Sound_: That it makes no _Nest_, is not _cherished_, nor _nursed_ in _soft_ or _porous_ Bodies, that its Seeds may be _propagated_ and _conveyed_ into far _distant_ Countries. And therefore, as we are to follow Dr. _Mead_ in the remaining Part of his _Short Discourse_, we must go back to consider some _Phenomena_, he thought fit to premise to his Inquiries about _Contagion_, but what, I hope every Reader will think, are most properly considered in this Place, if he will pardon the considering them at all.