learned
_Triumviri_, who have cited no fuller Authority for this Assertion than a
bare Relation of it from _Hodges de Peste_; it may be no unreasonable
Conjecture to have its first Progress from _Hungary_, _Germany_, and to
_Holland_, from which last Place they all have agreed we certainly
received the Contagion; and that we have had the Plague convey'd to us by
the like Means may be found in the _Bibliotheca Anotomica_, being brought
to us by some Troops from _Hungary_ sent thither against the _Turks_ by
_Henry_ VI. King of _England_.

Dr. _Mead_, who thinks it necessary to premise somewhat in general
concerning the Propagation of the Plague, might, to the three Causes he
has laid down, of a bad Air, diseased Persons, and Goods transported from
Abroad, have added the Aliment or Diet, because affording Matter to the
Juices it does not less contribute to the Generation of Diseases: And it
may be observed, that in the Year before the pestilential Sickness, there
was a great Mortality amongst the Cattel from a very wet Autumn, and their
Carcasses being sold amongst the ordinary People at a very mean Price, a
great many putred Humours might proceed from thence; and this, in the
Opinion of many, was the Source of our late Calamities, when it was
observed this fatal Destroyer raged with greater Triumph over the common
People: And the feeding on unripened and unsound Fruits are frequently
charged with a Share in Mischiefs of this Kind. _Galen_[7] is very
positive in this Matter, and in one Place accuses[8] his great Master to
_Hippocrates_ with neglecting the Consequence of too mean a Diet: From
this 'tis generally observed, that a Dearth or Famine is the Harbinger to
a following Plague. And we have an Account from our Merchants trading to
_Surat_, _Bencoli_, and some other Parts of the _East-Indies_, that the
Natives are never free from that Distemper, which is imputed to their low
and pitiful Fare. The _Europeans_, especially the _English_, escaping by
their better Diet, by feeding on good Flesh, and drinking of strong
generous Wine, which secures them from the Power of that Malignancy.

Their Hypotheses as widely differ in the very Substance or Nature of the
Pestilence; and Dr. [9]_Hodges_, [10]_Mead_, and [11]_Quincey_, have
asserted, that it proceeds from a Corruption of the Volatile Salts, or the
Nitrous Spirit in the Air.

Dr. [12]_Bradley_, from the Number of poisonous Animals, Insects, or
Maggots which at that Time