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96, and therefore are named Infectious; for in those Cases the corrupt Particles, or noxious Effluvia flowing from the Body of the sick Person, being conveyed by the Mediation of the Air, will be communicated to others, and inspire into their Blood the Contagion, and this is the Nature of the Small-Pox: And therefore when any Person out of Choice brings into his House or elsewhere this Distemper, it is highly probable, if not certain, that he will propagate the Infection among the nearest Inhabitants, who will convey it to others, and so on, till the Distemper rages thro' the whole Village, or City, which, I am informed, has befaln the unhappy Sufferers in the Town of Hertford; and this Event is inevitable from the infectious Quality of the Disease: And notwithstanding the Inoculators should produce in their Patients only the Mild and Distinct, yet the Neighbours that shall be infected by it, may suffer the Confluent and most fatal Kind; for it is common to observe that in the same Family, where are many Children, if the first that falls sick, has a very mild Sort, the second that is infected by this mild Sort, shall have a Confluent and dangerous Kind, the third again a gentle and safe Sort, and the fourth, one not only Confluent, but Mortal: So that I cannot see but those who submit themselves or their Relations to this Operation, are guilty of great Injustice and Wrong to many, whose Lives by their Means are put in Danger. And tho' †