ndies_ to the _Cape of Good Hope_, in
the following manner. About the Year 1718, a ship from the _East-Indies_
arrived at that Place: In the Voyage three Children had been sick of
the _Small-Pox_: The foul Linen used about them was put into a Trunk,
and lock'd up. At the Ship's Landing, this was taken out, and given to
some of the Natives to be washed: Upon handling the Linen, they were
immediately seized with the _Small-Pox_, which spread into the Country
for many Miles, and made such a Desolation, that it was almost
dispeopled.

IT has been thought so difficult to explain the manner how _Goods_
retain the Seeds of _Contagion_, that some[54] Authors have imagined
_Infection_ to be performed by the Means of _Insects_; the _Eggs_ of
which may be conveyed from Place to Place, and make the Disease when
they come to be _hatched_. But as this is a Supposition grounded upon
no manner of Observation, so I think there is no need to have recourse
to it. If, as we have conjectured, the _Matter_ of _Contagion_ be an
active Substance generated chiefly from animal Corruption; it is not
hard to conceive how this may be lodged and preserved in soft porous
Bodies, which are kept pressed close together.

WE all know how long a time _Perfumes_ hold their Scent, if wrapt up in
proper Coverings: And it is very remarkable, that the strongest of
these, like the Matter we are treating of, are mostly _animal Juices_,
as _Mosch_, _Civet_, &c. and that the Substances, found most fit to keep
them in, are the very same with those, which are most apt to receive and
communicate Infection, as _Furrs_, _Feathers_, _Silk_, _Hair_, _Wool_,
_Cotton_, _Flax_, &c. the greatest part of which are likewise of the
_animal_ kind.

NOTHING indeed can give us so just a Notion of _Infection_, and more
clearly represent the manner of it, than _Odoriferous_ Bodies. Some of
_these_ do strangely revive the animal Spirits; others instantaneously
depress and sink them: We may therefore conceive that, what active
particles emitted from any such Substances do, is in the like way done
by _Pestiferous_ Bodies; so that _Contagion_ is no more than the effect
of volatile offensive Matter drawn into the Body by our _Smelling_.

THE third Cause we assigned for the spreading of _Contagion_, was a
corrupted State of _Air_. Although the _Air_ be in a right State, yet a
sick Person may infect those who are very near him: As we find the
_Pestilence_ to continue sometimes among th