FLIES. 435 



his bed. Confusion seemed to prevail everywhere ; and as 

 the attendants were fully occupied in bearing out the dead, 

 or in bringing in fresh patients, hardly a minute of their 

 time could be devoted to the proper attendance on the sick. 



" The windows of the chamber wherein the dead were 

 deposited, which faced the street, stood constantly open for the 

 sake of ventilation. Myriads of flies, with which the air was 

 filled, after feasting on the dead bodies, spread themselves 

 throughout the town. And had not the faculty pronounced 

 the disease non-infectious, its dessemination might have been 

 apprehended from this cause alone. 



" The windows of the sick-ward also remained always 

 open, that the poor patients might benefit by fresh air ; and 

 the passers-by could distinctly hear the voice of the clergy- 

 man whilst engaged in administering the Holy Sacrament 

 to the sick and dying ; which circumstance was believed to 

 increase in no immaterial degree the fears of the already 

 dispirited people. 



" For several days, indeed, whilst the cholera was at its 

 height, the churches in the town were always open, that the 

 passers-by might, if they wished, receive the Communion. 

 It was in the nineteenth century, that people thus sought in 

 the hour of distress and danger, to make terms, so to say, 

 with the Almighty, for the remission of their sins, and the 

 inheritance of eternal life. Had this crisis happened in the 

 fifteenth century, he who held in his hand St. Peter's keys 

 would have been enabled to gather a rich harvest by the sale 

 of indulgences." 



The common people, left thus in great degree to them- 

 selves, perished without medical advice ; which, indeed, was 

 nearly unattainable, from the doctors being few in number, 



F F 2 



