Page:A Treatise upon the Small-Pox.pdf/131

Rh recurs, as will presently appear. It must be allowed that the Principles, or Seeds of the Small-Pox, either are actually interwoven with the Stamina, or Principles of Life, and so are inbred and coeval with our Beings, or else there are such particular Impurities at first complicated with the Blood, that are soon improved and heightened into this Distemper, or are readily disposed and prepared to receive infection from abroad: And it must be granted, that these Seeds are at first mild and apt to produce the safe Distinct Kind, which appears from this, that Children have for the most part this gentle and temperate Sort, for generally speaking the Seeds are friendly at first; but afterwards, when they have by long Continuance in the Blood associated many other noxious Particles, and assimilated them into their own Nature, by the Adhesion of these, and the perpetual Access of more, they grow putred and malignant, which were mild and unhurtful before. Hence it comes to pass, that the longer it is before Men have this Distemper, the more dangerous it proves; and this likewise is the Reason why the Confluent Kind is so rife among those who inflame their Blood with excess of Wine and strong Liquors, and fare deliciously every Day: These luxurious Persons, that live high, and use little Exercise to purify and free the Blood, are full of noxious Impurities, which combined with the Seeds of the Small-Pox, raise them to a