It omits all mention
of the eruption on the surface of the skin, the flushed eyes, and,
above all, the swollen and inflamed condition of the larynx, the
cough, the sneezing, and the hiccough, which Dr. Collier found so
significant.
Comparing, then, the several accounts which have come down to us,
meagre though they are, it ought to be possible to arrive at some
conclusions regarding the nature of the plague of the fourteenth
century which, for the pathologist, would amount to certainties. The
wonder is that such men as Dr. Hecker and his learned translator
should have shown so much reserve--not to say timidity--in
pronouncing judgment upon the question.
A layman runs a risk of incurring withering scorn at his presumption,
and ridicule at his ignorance who ventures to express an opinion--or
to have one--on any subject which the medical profession claims as
within its own domain; and I should not dare to speak otherwise than
as a very humble inquirer when the learned are silent. There are,
however, some conclusions which may be accepted without hesitation
and which will be admitted by all.
I. The Black Death was _not_ scarlatina maligna, as the plague
at Athens undoubtedly was. [Footnote: "The History of the Plague of
Athens," translated from Thucydides by C. Collier, M.D., London,
1857.]
II. It was _not_ small-pox.
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