| America. Philadelphia, 1812. 8vo. vol. i. p. 26.—_Lambert_, Travels | | through Canada and the United States. London, 1810. 8vo. vol. iii. | | p. 44.—_John Howison_, Sketches of Upper Canada. Edinburgh, 1822. | | 8vo. p. 150.—_Edward Allen Talbot_, Cinq Années de Résidence au | | Canada. Paris, 1825. 8vo. tome ii. p. 147. | | | | [347] The substance of Nos. III. and IV. having been embodied in | | the text, it seems only necessary to insert here the original | | old German, which is couched in language too coarse to admit of | | translation.—_Transl. note._ | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ THE SWEATING SICKNESS. PREFACE. The present work is a continuation of my treatises on collateral subjects, and, like them, maintains the opinion, that great epidemics are epochs of development, wherein the mental energies of mankind are exerted in every direction. The history of the world bears indisputable testimony to this fact. The tendencies of the mind, the turn of thought of whole ages, have frequently depended on prevailing diseases; for nothing exercises a more potent influence over man, either in disposing him to calmness and submission, or in kindling in him the wildest passions, than the proximity of inevitable and universal danger. Often have infatuation and fanaticism, hatred and revenge, engendered by an overwhelming fear of death, spread fire and flames throughout the world. Famine and diseases, among which may be instanced the fiery plague of St. Anthony, were no less powerful in calling forth the chivalrous spirit of the crusades than the enthusiastic eloquence of Peter the Hermit—the Black Death brought thousands to the stake, and aroused the fearful penances of the Flagellants—while the oriental leprosy cast a gloomy shade over society throughout the whole course of the middle ages.