4IO ESSAYS AND OBSERVATIONS 



night ; fcarce one perfon remaining free 

 in the morning. All were affected with 

 heavy ficknefs, or the fpecial and more 

 aggravated fymptonis of catarrh. This, 

 perhaps, was tne moft univerfal difeafe 

 ever known, and irregular in its pro- 

 grefs. It appeared in America in --^cto- 

 bei ; at Edinburgh, and inSwitzerUnd, ia 

 December ; in London, Paris, Flanders, 

 and Ireland, in January; after that, in Ir 

 taly. In thefe two conPiitutions, the a- 

 ged, infirm, aflhniatic, and phthifical, 

 fufFered greatly. We have had feveral 

 returns of the difeafe fince ; the laft, the 

 mildefl; of them all, and floweft in its 

 progrefs, which in Britain was regular' 

 from fouth to north. In fome of the 

 former, their greatefl: fpread was over in 

 a few weeks ; but this continued fome 

 months before it was extinguiflied in 

 thefe parts ; and as many efcaped as v/ere 

 feized with it. Old people and children 

 were lefs the fubjeds of it than adults. 



With us, the difeafe appeared in A- 

 pril. At firil, one only here and there 



were 



