JET SE 
p Re i 
NG 
56 RÅ COLLETTS Sal [No. 3. 

country, and also remarkable for the unusual dryness of the 
summer, which consequently caused å drought in several of the 
invaded districts. This latter is apparently å circumstance of 
vital importance. 
Thus Dr. Eggers! writes from Surendal in Romsdal: 
«The common people, as is known, have given the disease 
the name *Lemænsot” (Lemming-fever), which is, so far, an ap- 
propriate one, as I consider that the illness is caused by the 
means of drinking-water that has been polluted by the dung of 
these animals, and by their dead bodies. If one has ever wit- 
nessed the swarming multitudes of lemmings that can overwhelm 
a district during their periodical migrations, . . ... one cannot 
doubt that, in the heat of summer weather, with little rain — 
as was precisely the case in 1872, a fermentative process 
must result, the yield of which must infect the water it mingles 
with, and easily produce diseases of the blood. It is also 
worthy of notice, that the spread of the complaint kept 
steady pace with the advance of the lemmings. This began in 
the uppermost tracts of Surendal, extended successively down 
the valley and out over the fjord districts, and,-only when far 
into the autumn, did the lemmings find their way across the 
fjord to Thingvold, where some cases of sickness likewise shewed 
themselves. Even before any illness had broken out, the com- 
mon people expressed a fear that such would happen. Old folks 
asserted that, about fifty years before, å similar migration of 
lemmings had occurred in these districts, accompanied by general 
sickness amongst men and animals.” 
This disease has been subsequently mentioned in 1891, 
when, as previously related, M. lemmus had a great prolific 
1 *Epidemi af Lemæn Feber i Surendals Distrikt, 1872.” (Beretning 
om Sundhedstilstanden og Medicinalforholdene i Norge, 1870; Bilag 
B, Beretning for de enkelte civile Overøvrighedsdistrikter. C. No. 
4, p. 155), Christiania 1972—73. [Epidemic of Lemming Fever in 
the district of Surendal, 1872. (Report on the Condition of Health 
and Medical Matters in Norway, 1870, Appendix B., Reports from the 
separate Superior Magisterial Districts. C. No. 4, p. 155, Christi- 
ania, 1972—73).] : 

