Season of I^IS. 285 



est subjects. He never gains, or merits, more celebri- 

 ty ; than he justly acquires, by preventing, or correct- 

 ing, the vices of the lowest and most worthless of man- 

 kind.* 



I am your obedient servant, 



Richard Peters. 

 Dr. James Mease. 



Secretary of the Philad, Agric. Soc. 



* I have known, in the course of my life, several years, remarka- 

 ble for insects and vermin, of all kinds. The seasons were always 

 sickly ; either for man, or beast. Two of them occurred during the 

 prevalence of the yellow fever, in Philadelphia. They were uni- 

 formly bad fruit years. 



This season the dysenterij h?is been rife; and often fatal. We 

 have lost by it, some of our most valuable neighbours. I have heard 

 of its being prevalent in many other parts of the country. It defied 

 the medical art, if it were not attacked in its incipient stages ; and 

 even then, assistance was not always successful. The cases were 

 often attended with symptoms more malignant, than had been here- 

 tofore known. The worst cases, so far as my knowledge extends, 

 were those of persons inhabiting near swampy grounds, mill ponds, 

 or dull streams ; where bilious complaints had, in other years, pre- 

 vailed. R. P. 



During the past summer, the dysentery has been unusually fatal 

 in Philadelphia. It is commonly a very manageable complaint. 



J. M. 



