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Show llJSSERT: J x. ·L..--v--J I o • 1 DISS~RT; A ,:(lON ' l \ ' . Dn· the Origz'n 'of toe Frm~6 Evil. j 1 'I ( " I N the prefent Diifertation w~ have np~ only to difp~te with M .. ~~ Paw, b4~ fll,(o "l·~~ ~~hnoJt. all ~~.ro~panq, ~ho ~re g~Jlequ'ly ,Pctfi .{uaded th~t the french ey~l naq gs qr~gm l}l, Atpen~a; for fqme D:ation¥ of Europe ~a,vil)g 'eciprqcally ~c;cufed eacq othC( of prOff\gatiJlg t~i~ .o_pprobdous difte.nwer, at laft agreed to charge it upon the new wqtld, We !hould certainly deferve to 1~t taxed wit!1 rafhnefs in combating f~ ·.~qivetf!ll an opip~p, ·~f ~lte ar,g\:lm~~lts which we arC! t~ offer, and ~h; .e~arpple Qf ~yvo JJ;J.O~Jjn Eur~pea9s, did I)Ot • rel\4~r qgr ~HSW.Pt pf\r~ .flonable (P). M among the .(llpRqrters <lf the comiifDn op~nwn, .t~ princ\pal, the · ~ft renowned, aQd by who has w.ritten JnQft CQpio,uqy $0~ l~rned)y .\lpon the fubje~, ;.~. ~r. Alhuc, a lean,1ed French p(ly 4}<;i ·o.~ lw ,w.·ll gp~~lfarily ye prjqc·f!ally j9RPPfed by u~ , f9.f w.qich pur .. ,~.;WC i\1 ma~fniDP1i>f ·tbPfe :V~.nlM~r· ~SJ'vV}l!cp .lf~ 'o/O;.·k~fGf~n~ tQ ».PJ.M~ J •• n. r 1 • t!J :.}'•1, ·.o 1 • 1 { 4 , • ,;; J . ( ' I I • t , ,; ' • I' ;J • 'T. I. ,1 . • .r 'l;~t!,,Oiljl1iM.P/rflfrteJI?_"'Afc~fi i 'f~ cqp,Cf:,r,J1.iJ7g./bt: Q.rigit1 ifrth!fre!lt;~Jtw!. IIi•' •. I , !I I Ill f)' l I '· 011 • Jill H .: ' , I . liP •, I . J • I I • I I ' t>t1ltiN~ ... th'~ fitfl: 'tHH tf ye~d ttft~r the ; 'Fr~hch e\rif 1begari i'6 be 'known in Italy, .tht:t:e was not a iinglc author, as w'e tball me;{tio~ ;fte~. wards, who af·ribed the origin of it tG Amer.icn. .Alii the authors (a) There two IIU.thors nre William Beoket, ~ Surp:con of Loudon, and Antonio Ribero s~nche; o:. Jlcckcr wrotothrec Diflertntions, which .wcro inferred in vol. xx:-c . rtnd ·xx i. ·or rhc Phifofoph ic:• l :I'r:lllfit.'tions, 10 prove, that the French c:v :J was known in Eng-lund r1s far b:tck ns the fourteenth cnt ury. ·Ribcro .wrotc n Dlllcr:t:ttion, whi h was lll'iuted in P:u•ia wirh this • tit~c, D_!fler·tatio" f~r· r0~·igir1 d1• Ia. Mt~laHic Ym.er·ic""'' dttnJ Ia qutllc 1111 prouv: q1/d/ 11'a ,powt f t t po,·dc tl~ f Amr.l'lquc, Hav1ng read the title of this DitTcrtatiOJl in the 'at<llor.-uc of Sr,anifl:l books ;md manufcripts, prefi xed to llr. Hoh •rtf<m'G Hi!tory of America we Ctlllght lit •IL otl.o ·MGcnoa, and Venic<"1 but withouc fu cccfa. ' (b) De Mor;bis V.cnal'~is, vol. ii. V~uic'e Edition. :who • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F ME X I t ·o. wl1o wrote upon it, before r525, and even fome of thofe who wrote after, ~ttributed it to different caufes, the mention of which will excite the fmilcs and pity of our readers. Some of the firfi phyliciani th.en living, namely, Corradino Gillini, and Gafpare Torella, were perfuaded, ::tcc.ording to the ideas of thofc times, that the French evil was occafioncd by the near conjunction of the Sun with Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury, in the fign of Libra, which happen~d in 1483. ·Others, in agreement with the opinion of the celebrated Nicolaus Leonicenus (c), attributed it to the very abundant rains and inundatious which happened in Italy that year in which the contagion began. G. Manardi, a learned profefibr of the univedity ofF rrara, afcri .. 'bed the origin of the evil to the impure commerce of a Valentian gentleman who was leprous, with a courtczan ; und Paracelfus to the commerce of a French perfon who was alfo leprous, with a profiitutc. Antonia Mufa Bmfavola, a learned Ferrarefc, aflinns, that the French evil took its beginning from a courtezan, in the army of the French in Naples, who had an abfcefs in the mouth of the ttffr'fU. Gab. Fallopio, a celebrated Modenefc phyfician, affirms, that the Spaniards, being few in number in th~ war of Naples, and the French extremely numerous, one night poifqned the water of the wells, of which their enemies · were to drink, and that from thence the diftemper arofe. Andrea Cefalpino, phyfician to Clement VIII. hlys, he knew fro :n tho{~ who were prefent at the war of Naples, when the French bcfieged Somma, a place of Vefuvius, where there is a grc:tt abunchncc of excellent Greek wine; that the Spaniards cfcaped one night i11 ft:cn:t, leaving behind them ;l great qnantity of th;\t wine, mixed with the blood of the fick of San Lazaro, and that the French when they en· tcred that place drank of this wine, anu foon after. fclt the efKCl:s of the :venereal diforder. (c) Jtaqttc di ·im~IS, m;tlum hoc, CJLtOd 11/0r011111 G,/licll/11 vulgo nppel!ant i.nt<'l' cpidclll.i:IS dehere Cl>nnumcrari ••• lllud !i1tis con flat, co anno magnnm nqu:1rum per umvc~~~~~~~ Iral•.tm ft.1• i!lc o.xubcr:uniam •.. ::cfl ivam rt\ltcm ad illam vcnific intcmpcricmm calidam fcth cct & humt• dam, &c. Op"Ji:, de JVIurbp G:al/irq. VoL. II. Mmm LcJ- 449 DISSF.RT. IX • "--v--J .I |