To illustrate this Matter, I shall relate a remarkable Story told Me by the learned Dr. _Baynard_. The Body of a Malefactor was Hung up in Chains in the Country; after a few Months, in very hot Weather it was Sport and Pastime to some Boys, Playing thereabouts to Swing the Carcass up and down; One more bold than the Rest struck It with his Fist upon the naked Belly, which being outwardly parch’d and dry, and from the falling down of the Humours Swell’d and Tense, was easily burst by the Blow; out gush’d a Water so Corrosive and Fiery, that running down the poor Lad’s Arm, it caus’d a Violent _Excoriation_, and a very hard Matter it was to preserve It from being truly mortified. What this _Serum_ could do upon the outward Skin, the more Volatile Parts of It would, without all doubt, Effect upon the more tender and sensible Membranes of the _Stomach_, if a considerable number of them were fixt there. The Fluids of Humane Bodies being Ranker and more abounding in active Salts than those of other Creatures, which are not continually repaired and nourish’d by the Juices of Animals.
The Way by which _Bad Food_, _ill ripened Fruits_ of the Earth, _&c._ do oftentimes produce _Malignant_ and _Pestilential_ Diseases, is not very different from _That_ by which We have observ’d Unwholesome Airs to be the Cause of the like Effects. For the Juices with which Those do supply the Blood being Corrupted, must necessarily make a Fluid of quite other Properties than what the Animal Œconomy requires, that is, neither Fit for Nutrition, nor for the Secretion of those Liquors which in the several Organs are to be derived from It; whereupon the small _Tubes_ are obstructed by an unequally Glutinous _Slime_; and it is therefore no wonder, if besides the other Symptoms insuing, _Sore Pustules_, _Inflammations_, _Ulcers_, &c. (more common in Fevers from this Cause than in any other,) are raised in the Surface of the Body.
This is the Ground of the common Observation, that a _Famine_ is very often succeeded by a _Pestilence_. And This _Calamity_ generally begins among the Poorer sort of People, whose Diet to be sure is the worst.
The City of _Surat_ in the _East-Indies_ is seldom or never free from the Plague; and yet it is observ’d, that the _English_ who Trade there are in no danger of being Infected thereby. Now the Chief of the Natives in this Place are _Banians_, who neither Eat Flesh, nor Drink Wine, but Live very Poorly upon _Herbs_, _Rice_, _Water_, &c. and most of the Inhabitants do the like, except Foreigners; This Poor Fare, together with the Heat of the Climate, makes them so liable to Malignant Distempers; from the Attacks of which Those who Feed well are more Safe and Secure.