178 THE PIAGUE.

wide to prevent the inhaling the breath of a person. From this partition or table of separation I took the dishes, and after dinner returned them to the same place, suffering none of the servants to come near me ; and in the accounting-house, I had a partition made to prevent the too near approach of any person who might call on business ; and this precaution I firmly believe to be all that is necessary, added to that of receiving money through vinegar, and taking care not to touch or smell infectious substances.

Fear had an extraordinary effect in disposing the body to receive the infection ; and those who were subject thereto, invariably caught the malady, which was for the most part fatal. At the breaking out of the plague at Mogodor, there were two medical men, an Italian and a Frenchman, the latter, a man of science, a great botanist, and of an acute discrimination ; they, however, did not remain, but took the first opportunity of leaving the place for Tenerif!e, so that the few Europeans had no expectation of any medical assistance except that of the natives.

Plaisters of gum ammoniac, and the juice of the leaves of the opuntia, or kermuse ensarrah, i, e. prickly pear, were universally applied to the carbuncles, as well as to the buboes, which quickly brought them to suppuration : many ofthe people of property took copious draughts of coffee and Peruvian bark. The Vinaigre de quatre voleurs was used by many, also camphor, smoking