Loimologia: or, an Historical Account of the PLAGUE OF LONDON in 1665: with precautionary Directions against the like Contagion.
By Nath. Hoges, M.D. Who resided in the City all that Time.
FIRST EDITION / FIRST PRINTING, Printed in Enlish (printed previously in Latin).
To which is added [and bound in with a separate title page]:
An Essay on the Different Causes of Pestilential Disease, and how they become Contagious. With Remarks Upon the Infection Now in France, and The Most Probable Means to Prevent its Spreading Here. By John Quincy, M.D.
London: Printed for E. Bell... and J. Osborn, 1720. vi, 288 pages, 1 folded leaf: table. 7.75 inches. The FIRST EDITION of both books in English, previously printed in latin. Both books printed in 1720. Bound in the original, full leather binding. Initial capitals and section headings of text embellished.
In the years 1665-1666, a massive outbreak of disease ravaged London. The disease has been historically identified as the bubonic plague, but scholars today consider that the symptoms and incubation period of the disease are more similar to a viral hemorrhagic fever. Hodges' work details, first hand, the symptoms, effects, and spread of the disease. It is an invaluable document for investigating historical epidemiology.
The fold-out is present. Fold-out features: A Table of the Funerals in the Several Parishes within the Bills of Mortality of the City of London, For the Year 1665. See pictures.
John Quincy, M.D., was a well-known apothecary and iatrophysical writer who lived until the year 1722. Iatrophysics, a school of medical thought prevalent in the 17th Century, 'explained all physiologic and pathologic phenomena by the laws of physics' (CancerWEB's Medical Dictionary). His essay on pestilential disease, and the prevention of its spread is of interest not just as a primary source document of medical history, but as an insight into the development of medical thought.
Hinges starting, but held firmly by cords. Leather peeling on back cover and spine, which offers a glimpse of the quality and craftsmanship of this original binding beneath. The leather binding has protected the textblock extremely well. Binding/text block is very tight and strong. An early initial. Printed on quality rag paper that will last.
Excerpt:
'...Although the Soldiery retreated from the Field of Death, and encamped out of the City, the Contagion followed, and vanquish'd them; many in their Old Age, and others in their Prime, sunk under its cruelties; of the Female Sex most died; and hardly any children escaped; and it was not uncommon to see an Inheritance pass successively to three or four Heirs in as many Days; the Number of Sextons were not sufficient to bury the Dead...'
The treatise provides a first-hand account of the Great Plague of London; it has been described as the best medical record of the epidemic.
While most physicians fled the city, including the renowned Sydenham, and Sir Edward Alston, president of the Royal College of Physicians, Hodges was one of the few physicians who remained in the city during 1665, to record observations and test the effectiveness of treatments against the plague.
The book also contains statistics on the victims in each parish.
Loimologia was one of the sources used by Daniel Defoe, the famous author of Robinson Crusoe, when writing A Journal of the Plague Year (1722).
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