The Plague at Marseilles Consider'd E-Book

Richard Bradley

• Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

In "The Plague at Marseilles Consider'd," Richard Bradley meticulously examines the devastating epidemic that struck Marseille in the 18th century, weaving together historical accounts, medical observations, and societal reactions to the crisis. Bradley's narrative style is both analytical and imaginative, employing a rich, descriptive language that evokes the dread and turmoil experienced by the city's inhabitants. Contextually, this work emerges during the Enlightenment, a period steeped in the pursuit of knowledge and reason, yet still grappling with the omnipresent specter of disease, making Bradley's exploration of plague both timely and resonant with the contemporary debates on health and morality. Richard Bradley, a noted botanist and natural philosopher, was deeply influenced by the intersection of science and the human condition. His background in the empirical study of nature and keen observations of social dynamics informed his nuanced view of how epidemics not only ravage populations but also challenge the resilience and ethics of society. This cultivated perspective allowed him to craft a narrative that is as much a reflection on human behavior as it is a study of a public health crisis. For readers interested in public health, history, or the complexities of human response to calamity, "The Plague at Marseilles Consider'd" is an essential text that not only offers a vivid recounting of a specific event but also provides timeless insights into the human experience when faced with catastrophe. Bradley'Äôs work remains a significant contribution to both historical literature and contemporary discussions on health crises.

Leseprobe

Richard Bradley

The Plague at Marseilles Consider'd

With Remarks Upon the Plague in General, Shewing Its Cause and Nature of Infection, with Necessary Precautions to Prevent the Speading of That Direful Distemper

Published by Good Press, 2022

[email protected]

EAN 4057664580955

Table of Contents

PREFACE.

THE

PLAGUE

AT

MARSEILLES

CONSIDER’D, &c.

FINIS

PREFACE.

Table of Contents

here would be little Occasion for a Preface to this Treatise, if the last Foreign Advices had not given us something particular relating to the Pestilence that now rages in the South Parts of France; and what may more particularly recommend these Relations to the World, is, because they come from Physicians, who resided at the Infected Places.

The Physician at Aix gives us the following Account.

The Contagious Distemper, which has become the Reproach of our Faculty here for above a Month past, is more violent than that at Marseilles; it breaks out in Carbuncles, Buboes, livid Blisters, and purple Spots; the first Symptoms are grievous Pains in the Head, Consternations, wild Looks, a trembling Voice, a cadaverous Face, a Coldness in all the extreme Parts, a low unequal Pulse, great Pains in the Stomach, Reachings to Vomit, and these are follow’d by Sleepiness, Deliriums, Convulsions, or Fluxes of Blood, the Forerunners of sudden Death. In the Bodies that are open’d, we find gangrenous Inflammations in all the lower Parts of the Belly, Breast and Neck. Above fifty Persons have died every Day for three Weeks past in the Town and Hospitals. Most of them fall into a dreadful Phrenzy, so that we are forc’d to tie them.

The other is a Letter from a Physician at Marseilles, sent to John Wheake, Esq; who was so kind to give me the Abstract.

Marseilles Sept. 15. 1720.

Sir,

I Arriv’d here the 8th, and enter’d the Gate of Aix which leads to the Cours, which has always been esteem’d one of the most pleasant Prospects in the Kingdom, but that Day was a very dismal Spectacle to me; all that great Place, both on the Right and Left, was fill’d with Dead, Sick, and Dying Persons. The Carts were continually employ’d in going and returning to carry away the Dead Carcasses, of which there were that Day above four Thousand. The Town was without Bread, without Wine, without Meat, without Medicines, and in general, without any Succours.

The Father abandon’d the Child, and the Son the Father; the Husband the Wife, and the Wife the Husband; and those who had not a House to themselves, lay upon Quilts in the Streets and the Pavements; all the Streets were fill’d with Cloaths and Houshold-Goods, strew’d with Dead Dogs and Cats, which made an insupportable Stench. Meat was Sold at 18 to 20 Sous per Pound, and was only distributed to those that had Billets from the Consuls: This, Sir, was the miserable State of this City at that Time, but at present, Things have a better appearance; Monsieur le Marquis de Langeron, who Commands here, has caused the Dead to be Buried, the Cloaths and Goods to be burnt, and the Shops to be open’d, for the Sustenance of the Publick.

Two Hospitals are prepar’d where they carry all the Sick of the Town, good Orders are daily re-establish’d, and the Obligation is chiefly owing to Monsieur de Langeron, who does Wonders. However, there is not any Divine Service Celebrated, nor are there any Confessors. The People die, and are buried without any Ceremonies of the Church; But the Bishop, with an undaunted Courage, goes thro’ the Streets, and into Publick Places, accompanied with a Jesuit and one Ecclesiastick, to Exhort the Dying, and to give them Absolution; and he distributes his Charity very largely. The Religious Order have almost all perish’d, and the Fathers of the Oratory are not exempt; it is accounted, that there have died 50000 Persons. One thing very particular is, that Monsieur Moustier, one of the Consuls of the City, who has been continually on Horseback ordering the Slaves who carried away the Dead in Carts, or those that were Sick, to the Hospitals, enjoys his Health as well as he did the first Day he began; the Sickness seems at present to abate, and we have the Satisfaction to see several whom we took under our Care at the Beginning of the Sickness, promise fair towards a Recovery. The Sickness however, is of a very extraordinary Nature, and the Observations we have in our Authors, have scarce any Agreement with what we find in this: It is the Assistance of Heaven we ought to implore, and to wait for a Blessing from thence upon our Labours.

I am, &c.