 While most physicians fled the city, including the renowned Thomas Sydenham, and Sir Edward Alston, president of the Royal College of Physicians, Hodges was one of the few physicians who remained in the city during 1665, to record observations and test the effectiveness of treatments against the plague.The book also contains statistics on the victims in each parish.The English translation (1720) was released while a plague was spreading throughout Marseilles, and people in England were fearful of another outbreak.