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less, according to the constitution and disposition of the air in the same climate: for, some years, fevers are epidemic, and very mortal: other years, they are epidemic, but not mortal; the small pox the same; &c. And so the plague is some years more violent, and has some symptoms different from what it has in other years; which, I take for granted, must be the reason of any difference, that may appear in the remarks of the celebrated authors already mentioned. There is one extraordinary symptom, which the most of these authors mention, tho' none of them prove it, or pretend to have seen it; which seems to me inconsistent and incompatible with the animal œconomy; making still proper allowance for Omnipotence and Divine Vengeance, as in that of Sennacherib's numerous army, and many other such plagues, mentioned in Scripture. What I mean, is, that a person cannot die of the plague (such as it appears among us) instantaneously, or in a few hours, or even the same day, that he receives the infection. For, you know, Sir, by your long experience in this country, that all such, as have the plague, conceal it as long as they can, and walk about as long as possible. And I presume it must be the same in all countries, for the same reason, which is the fear of being abandoned and left alone; and so, when they struggle for many days against it, and at last tumble down in the street, and die suddenly, people imagine, that they were then only infected, and that they died instantly of the infection; tho' it may be supposed, according to the rules of the animal œconomy, that the noxious effluvia must have been for some time mixed with the blood, before they could produce a fever, and afterwards that corruption
