Scrutinium Physico-Medicum Contagiosae Luis quae Pestis Dicitur

CHAPTER III.

Of the causes of the plague.

Bk. 2, ch. 12.That pestilential diseases have hidden and blind causes is attested by, among others, Fernel in On the Hidden Causes of Things. Hence, there is a great dispute among physicians regarding the uncovering of these causes. We, investigating the matter here a little more deeply, shall, with God’s help, assign those causes of such an unusual effect welling up in men, which he alone who has examined the economy of Nature more thoroughly could not be ignorant of. And let no one wish to persuade himself that only a single, total cause of this evil can be assigned. For it is as certain that the exotic effects shining forth in the pestiferous contagion result from several partial causes, as is the ferocity of the sum of symptoms dominating the microcosm. But before we teach this, we shall first treat of the various causes from which the plague can be born, so that we may then arrive at its primary origin and source, having been carried gradually, as it were, through various streams.

Plague is twofold: divine and natural.It should therefore be noted that pestilence can be viewed in a twofold manner: either as something considered divine, or as it is contained within the confines of nature. Concerning the former plague, there is no need for us to treat it here, since it far exceeds all boundaries of nature, [being under the sole command] of Almighty God’s...