1. On the Occurrences of the Plague in Scotland during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Extract

In this paper the author adduced, from contemporary chroniclers and diarists, all the visits of the Pest or Plague which occurred in Scotland after 1560; namely, in the years 1568, 1574, 1585, 1587, 1597, 1607, 1622, and 1645. He cited, from the same sources of information, the notable instances of scarcity and famine; namely, 1563, 1568, 1574, 1578, 1587, 1596, 1598, 1612, 1622, 1642–3. It thus appeared, that while there were several instances of famine not followed by the Pest, there was scarcely one instance of the Pest which was not immediately preceded by a famine. So far the opinion of modern medical writers, that deficient nutrition in the community is one of the predisposing causes of pestilential fevers, may be considered as borne out by facts.