432 THE PEST IN GOTHENBURG. 



The mortality from cholera in Gothenburg was probably, 

 in proportion to the population (some twenty thousand), fully 

 as great as in any other place in Europe. 



Although France, Germany, and even Russia, had suffered 

 fearfully in turn from the fell disease, still the inhabitants of 

 Gothenburg, relying on the healthy state of the country, and 

 the efficacy of their strict quarantine laws, which three years 

 previously were believed to have saved Sweden from the 

 pestilence, indulged in the hope of being altogether exempted. 

 But these pleasing expectations were fearfully disappointed ! 



The summer of 1834, when the contagion broke out, was 

 remarkable for its great heat. During the month of July 

 the thermometer ranged between 80 and 90 of Fahrenheit, 

 and no rain had fallen for a long time ; and it was remark- 

 able, that the leaves of the trees in the vicinity of the town 

 turned yellow, and dropped as if the autumn had been far 

 advanced : a sign that there was something in the atmosphere 

 that suited neither vegetable nor animal life. 



As is usually the case in hot summers in Sweden, much 

 diarrhoea prevailed ; and as this disorder is frequently accom- 

 panied with cramp and great prostration of strength, it was 

 at first considered the patients might be labouring under 

 an aggravated form of common cholera. But the number 

 of seizures, and the rapid transition to a state of collapse, 

 together with other unmistakable symptoms, at length con- 

 vinced the faculty, who at first were divided in opinion, of 

 the true nature of the disease. This was towards the end 

 of July. 



The town being totally unprepared for the dire visitor, 

 consternation, when the truth came out, was universal ; not a 

 few, indeed, of the leading inhabitants, whose duty it was to 



