n _Matting_ and the Wall of a House in Paris, gave the _Plague_
several Years after to a Workman, who took them out, which presently
spread through the City[74].

WHAT makes _Cotton_ so eminently dangerous, is its great Aptitude to
imbibe and retain any Sort of _Effluvia_ near it; of which I have
formerly made a particular Experiment, by causing some _Cotton_ to be
placed for one Day near a Piece of _putrefying Flesh_ from an amputated
Limb, in a Bell-Glass, but without touching it: for the _Cotton_ imbibed
so strong a Taint, that being put up in a close Box, it retained its
offensive Scent above ten Months, and would, I believe, have kept it for
Years. If, instead of the Fumes of _putrefied Flesh_ from a sound Body,
this _Cotton_ had been thus impregnated with the Fumes of corrupted
Matter from one sick of the _Plague_; I make no doubt but it would have
communicated Infection. And the Experiment would have succeeded alike in
both Cases, if instead of _Cotton_, _Silk_, _Wool_, or _Hair_ had been
inclosed in the Vessel: Animal Substances being the most apt to attract
the volatile Particles, which come from Bodies of the same Nature with
themselves.

AS all reasonable Provisions should be made both for the _Sound_ and
_Sick_, who perform _Quarantaine_; so the strict keeping of it ought to
be inforced by the severest _Penalties_. And if a Ship comes from any
Place, where the _Plague_ raged, at the Time of the Ship's Departure
from it, with more than usual Violence; it will be the securest Method
to _sink_ all the _Goods_, and even the _Ship_ sometimes: especially if
any on Board have died of the Disease.

NOR ought this farther Caution to be omitted, that when the _Contagion_
has ceased in any Place by the Approach of Winter, it will not be safe
to open a free Trade with _it_ too soon: because there are Instances of
the _Distemper_'s being stopt by the Winter Cold, and yet the Seeds of
it not destroyed, but only kept unactive, 'till the Warmth of the
following Spring has given them new Life and Force. Thus in the great
_Plague_ at _Genoa_ about four-score Years ago, which continued Part of
two Years; the first Summer about _ten Thousand_ died; the Winter
following hardly any; but the Summer after no less than _sixty
Thousand_. Likewise the last _Plague_ at _London_ appeared the latter
End of the Year 1664, and was stopt during the Winter by a hard Frost of
near three Month's Continuance; so that there remained no farther