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CHAPTER XII.
Part II.-The Literature of Plague.
The literature of plague has now assumed such proportions that some
attempt to classify and collate it, at least as regards such works as may be consi-
dered classics, will perhaps not be- out of place here. The methods of
classification which might be employed in such an attempt are many. The
method adopted in this chapter is that of chronological order, supplemented by
sub-divisions of the subject. It is not proposed, however, to discuss works on
plague published before the year 1500 A. D.; in other words, the starting point
of the present synopsis will be that fell cycle of disease-the Black Death-which
was the first really authentic visitation of plague in Europe, and whose identity
with it is not open to question.* But in these outbursts of the pestilence, every
country in Europe was involved: the dread disease was discussed in many
tongues: and this fact has necessitated slight modifications in the original scheme
of classification. These are so obvious as not to require further comment.
16th and 17th
Centuries.
A number of works on plague were published in the 16th and 17th cen-
turies. The greater number of these were written in Latin: but there were also
many written in English, which were, however, of little medical value. Most
of these works it is now impossible to procure; and they are probably hardly to
be found outside the Library of the British Museum. Of the Latin treatises the
following may be mentioned:-
(1) Vochs, Opusculum de Pestilenti, 1537;
(2) Georgius Agricola, De Peste, libri tres, Basel, 1554;
(3) Victor de Bonagentibus, Decem Problemata de Peste, Ven. 1556;
(4) Prosper Borgarutius, De Peste, Ven. 1565;
(5) Hieron Mercurialis, De Peste, praesertim de Veneta et Pataxina, Basel, 1577;
(6) A. Massaria, De Peste, Ven. 1597;
(7) Josephus Ripamontius, De Peste, in 1630, Milan, 1641;
(8) Diemerbraeck, Tractatus de Peste, 1641-65;
[This work deals with the Nimeguen plague; and is one of the most important on
the subject.]
(9) Athanatius Kircher, Scrutinium Pestis, Rome, 1658; Lipsig, 1671;
(10) Cardinal Gastaldi, Tractatus de axertend et profligand peste politico-legalis,
Bologna, 1684;
[This work is a splendid folio, written by the man who had the power to enforce his
theories and ideas. The work is historically important, as it is one of the first
which deals with quarantine and cognate matters. The mildness of the epide-
mic in Rome, of which the book treats, is said to have been due to the measures
advocated and enforced by him.]
Of the English works on plague of this period, only one need be men-
tioned:-
(11) Lodge, Treatise of Plague, London, 1603.
* See Introduction, page vi.