THE Distemper, of which I propose to give a brief Account; is very common to new-born Infants in Finland, and vulgarly called lie Borsten, or the Bristles, from a supposition that a pregnant Woman touching a Hog or eating too much Pork, the Infant contracts the Borste: But as a Fright is always a a Fright, this absurdity we dismiss without any further animadversion.
I am very far from denying the influence of the Imagination on the Foetus; all I insist on is that the Borste is not in all Children owing to their Mothers having run against a Hog, but proceeds from a Cause little thought of, and which after a description of the Disease itself I shall explain. The Borste is a cutaneous Distemper in Children, their Skin appearing full of minute Excrescences like Bristles or Worms, some quite transparent, others blackish at the Tip, some straight, others crooked, whereby the Children are in extreme Pain, without any Sleep, and perpetually trembling and moaning.
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