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year; it was on the whole a year of excessive heat, it was
a year too in which we seemed to be threatened with
epidemics from various quarters. During the spring, the
public was alarmed with rumours of an outbreak of the
Siberian plague, as it was called, in St. Petersburg, and of
its advance towards this country ; it was alarmed also, at
the same time, with the reported prevalence of a peculiar
epidemic disease at Dantzic and in neighbouring situations,
which was called epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis;
cholera, again, which had been imported into Europe by
Pilgrims from the East, raged more or less over the whole
basin of the Mediterranean, subsequently penetrated into
the interior of France, and of some other continental
nations, and in the autumn, invaded Southampton, and
appeared also in the neighbourhood of Epping; lastly,
towards the end of June, there was suddenly imported
into the Metropolitan Cattle Market, and thence distributed
over the country, a disease of remarkable virulence,
now known as the Cattle Plague, which had not been seen
in this country for a century, but the possible introduction
of which had been foretold both by Professor Simonds
and Professor Gam gee.
As regards the (so called) Russian Plague; this, on
investigation under the direction of the Medical De.
partment of the Privy Council, turned out to be simply
the prevalence in St. Petersburgh of two diseases : the
one typhus fever, already prevalent in this metropolis:
the other, relapsing fever, a fever of low mortality, arising
out of famine, and little likely to be dangerous even if
introduced into this country. As regards the cerebro-