1S16,] Monthly Commercial Report, 261 



weeks, witness tbe birth of five tliousand descendants. Two other species of this 

 genus, besides the coramon lonse, are, in this country, parasites upon the human body. 

 At least tliree different descriptions are concerned in tlic various cases known under 

 the common name of PlUldriasis, and are called PtdicuU, Acari, and Larva. As far 

 as the habits of the genus Pediculus, Dr. Willan, in his work on Cutaneous Diseases, 

 remarks, " that the nits or egss are deposited on the small hairs of tht- skui," and that 

 •' tlie animals are found on the skin, and on tlie linen, and not under th'' cuticle, as 

 some authors have represented." Dr. Willan, in one case of Piurig-t senilis, obsei ved 

 a number of small insects on the patient's skin and linen. They were quick in their 

 motion, and so minute, that it required some attention to discover them. Acmi, or 

 mites, are the next insect somces of disease in the human species, and that not of one, 

 but probably of many kinds, both local and general. They are distin:;uislied frdin Pe- 

 diculi, not only by their forn), but also often by their situation, since they frequently esta. 

 blish themselves under the cuticle. Linn6 appears to have been ot opinion thiit many 

 contagious diseases are caused by Acari. That Scuhies, or the itch, is occasioned by an 

 Acarus, is not a doctrine peculiar to the moderns. In more modern times, microscopi- 

 cal figures have been added to descriptions of the insect. In ilie nurlii of Scotland, the 

 insect of the itch is well known, and easily discovered and extracted. Dr. Adams has 

 discovered that the Acnrus Scabiei is endowed with the faculty of leapnig. Besides 

 these /icurine diseases, there seems to be one (unless with Linne we ngard the plague ut 

 of this class) more fea.ifn\ and fatal than them all. Dr. Mead relates the miserable 

 case of a French nobleman, from whose eyes, nostrils, mouth, and unnary passage, ani« 

 malcules, of a red colour, and excessively minute, broke forth day and niglit, attended 

 by the most horrible and exenitiating pains, and at lens;th occasioning his death. The 

 account further says, that they were produced from his corrupted blood. This was pro- 

 bably a fancy ori<>inating in their red colour ; but the whole history, whether we con- 

 sider the size and colour of the animals, or the places from which they issue, is ina,'pli- 

 cabie to larvte or inasgots. and agrees very well with Acari, some of which, particularly 

 A. autumnalis, are of a bright red colour. The other case, and a veiy similar one, is 

 that recorded by Mouffet of Lady Penniddock; concerning whom he expressly tel!« 

 ns, that Acari swarmed in every part of her body — her head, eyes, nose, lips, gums, the 

 soles of her feet, &c. tormenting her day and night, till, in spite of every remedy, all 

 the flesh of her body being consumed, she was at length relieved by death. 



MONTHLY COMMERCIAL REPORT. 



FROM one end of Ennland to the other we hear of nothing but agricultural distress, 

 and the decay of our manufactures ; the distress is real, bin fow enquiie into the 

 real causes. The war of twenty-five years, which we have sustained against civil and 

 political liberty, has indeed been crowned with success ; but, alas, what has been, or ra- 

 ther what is, tlie result of that success? We have spent fifteen hundred millions .sterlings 

 and reduced ourselves to bankruptcy and beggary, so that capital is wantmg to carry- 

 on ^le common operations of trade; and even commerce itself, foreign cojuincice 

 we mean, is almost mined, and not temporarily so. At war in turn with all the world, 

 our manufactures were prohibited every where, and we compelled every nation to be- 

 come manufacturers of those articles we had been accustomed to supply them witli. Our 

 Custom-house books declare this fatal trutli, which hundreds of thousands ol starving fa- 

 milies attest in wretchedness and rags. America can do without us ; France and (ier- 

 many can do without us : our cotton manufacturers are rivalled in clieapiii-ss and qua- 

 lity ; and, as to the manufactures of Birmingliiiin and Sheffield, thi^y are not equalled ia 

 workmanship it is true, but they are executed on lower terms than England can funiisli 

 them, and, where they are evidently inferior in every respect, they aiY preferred a« 

 employing their own workmen; for, whatever England may fancy, certain it is, that 

 there is not any one nation in Europe grateful for her giyantic efforts : they say, and 

 perhaps too justly, that pride, envy, and personal int> re<t, were the grand causes for 

 which England bled, and therefore they look on her daniierous situation with coin|)la- 

 cency rather than sympathy. In the principal points of British commerce, France 

 more than rivals us, even in matters which we fancied we so much excelled in ; file-cut- 

 ting, for instance — France suffered sevciely during the revolution tor want of Enijlish 

 files, those of Amboise were good for nothing, and ton jcais ago did not occupy tvven« 

 ty hands ; at present 1,000 are employed, and the art is earned to a dei;ree of perfec- 

 tion unknown in England, by the genius and perseverance of M. <le Saint- Bi is. They 

 (ire exported every where, except to England, and afford one amongst a thousand 

 proofs that, by the war, we deprived Europe and America for a time of necessary arti- 

 cles, aud, by doing so, compelled tlieu) to mauufactuie for thuimclves, and at hw^tU be 



able 



