of the disorder rendered the remedy necessary.

One case, a young stout man, belonging to the Sepoy guard, in whom the pulse had ceased, and the patient in a state to all appearance lifeless, was recovered by the free exhibition of a mixture consisting of æther and ammonia, which having the effect of rousing the nearly extinguished vital spark, the cure was completed almost miraculously with the calomel, accompanied with occasional small doses of opium. We are happy in having it in our power to communicate the foregoing important information to our readers, as it may serve to remove all apprehensions of infection being present in similar instances, and conveys the mode of treatment that may successfully be adopted for the symptoms, than which none in any disease can be more alarming or frightful. In the present instance about one hundred and fifty deaths are supposed to have occurred in the short space of twelve days, and it is imagined three or four hundred in the whole have been affected, without a single European being included in the number. It seems the natives very reluc. tantly admitted the cause of the disorder to exist in the use of new rice, the reason of which appears that from its cheapness it is considered an improper food for those respectable for their wealth and consequence, and being fully aware of its pernicious effects, they maintained none but such as were driven from necessity would employ it for food. Several of the higher classes have however perished, and the cause of the disorder is placed beyond the possibility of doubt.

There is no instance, we believe, of any disease so rapid and fatal in its course when left to itself, which has been so successfully combated by medicine, as the one in question; and from all we can learn it would appear that almost any stimulant, if given within two or three hours of the first attack, or before the pulse sinks, has the power of arresting the dis

ease.

While we deplore the loss of life occasioned by this pestilence, it is gratifying to know the impression made on the natives by the zealous humanity of their English friends in so promptly affording every possible assistance, and

which we have heard from various quarters calls forth their most grateful admiration.

The following directions were drawn up by the surgeon in Jessore, and circulated through the district during the continuance of this fatal disease. This document had been translated into Bengali for the benefit of the natives, who though at first averse to the use of the medicine, were at length so thoroughly convinced of its efficacy that they received the instructions and remedy with every appearance of satisfaction and gratitude. All the facts connected with the origin and progress of this destructive disorder that have come to light, tend, we understand, to confirm in the most satisfactory manner the cause which is assigned, and has so happily been ascertained. We should think ourselves deficient in that duty dividual, were we not to record that which we feel to every deserving inthe pains taken by the intelligent person in charge of the medical duties at Jessore to accomplish this desirable object, have not only been very great, but crowned with complete sucWe congratulate our readers upon this happy and timely discovery, as it may serve eventually to illustrate the demic, which generally prevail in the cause of diseases hitherto deemed epilower parts of Bengal at this season of the year. In the present instance, the origin of the disorder marked with features distinguishing epidemics of the worst description, seems established beyond the reach of doubt; and therefore

cess.

employed in the treatment of the Jessore disease.

Directions for using the accompanying medicines in cases of the disease, at present prevailing in the district of Jessore.

This disorder is cholera morbus of a very violent description, and if not relieved, destroys the patient in about twenty-four hours, frequently in much shorter time, from the commencement of the attack. Its origin seems entirely to consist in the use of the new rice or ouse

crops as food, and unless the employment of this pernicious article be restricted, it cannot be expected that the disease will decrease.

To diminish the ravages of this afflicting disorder, it is therefore particularly recommended to point out to the natives the cause, and by so doing put within their own power the means of putting a stop to its progress; for without this precaution, medicine will, it is evident, prove of little avail. The accompanying pills have been found of very considerable use in relieving the symptoms. As soon as a patient is seized, if above the age of fourteen years, let him or her swallow immediately two of the white pills, No. 1; and if they have no effect,

let one more be administered in the course of an hour afterwards, and a fourth in about four hours from the administration of the third dose.

Should the vomiting be excessive, let one of the black pills, No. 2, accompany each administration of the preceding. It is however to be distinctly understood, that unless these remedies be taken within the course of two or three hours from the commencement of the attack, experience has proved their exhibition to be attended with very limited success at the same time, even in that advanced period of the disorder, their use should be persisted in, examples having occurred where, in the very worst stage of the disease, the patient has been recovered by the employment of the medicine,

;

If the person affected be under the age of fourteen, one white pill at a time must be administered, and half of a black one.

N.B. Each of the white pills contains four grains of calomel, and the black, one grain of opium each; the patient making

Magnesia 20 grains.

- Laudanum from 80 to 100 drops, according to the violence of the symptoms. Essence of Peppermint 5 drops.

Water two table spoons full.

"A few hours after the sickness, &c. have ceased, I prescribe small doses of Epsom salts, every quarter of an hour, until they operate freely. And at the end of two or three days, a dose of calomel at night, and one of salts in the morning, which generally effect the cure.

"With the exception of a Sepoy who was seized in the middle of the night, and whose extremities were cold when I saw him, I have not lost a single patient to whom I was called within four hours after the first attack.

"Out of thirty-four cases in the Jail, not one has proved fatal; though many of the men had the worst symptoms of it. My native doctor has furnished me with the names of twenty-five people whom he recovered in the Bazar by the same means. I have visited the native huts in the town of Nattore, and made very particular inquiries, but cannot find that those who have died had any other symptoms but what properly belong to cholera morbus ; no sort of fever precedes the attack.

"The patients certainly complain afterwards of burning heat, and excessive thirst, which I conceive ought to be set down to exhaustion occasioned by the. violent spasmodic action of the whole alimentary canal,

"The pulse, in the beginning, is scarce

ly disturbed, but soon becomes quick, small and sharp: it returns however nearly to the natural standard, directly the spasms abate. The mortality at one time was truly alarming, but I am happy to state, that the deaths are now daily decreasing. When the casualties were very numerous, the judge, at my suggestion, issued a proclamation, recommending two grains of opium to be taken immediately upon the first attack, and after the symptoms had abated, a dose of any kind of aperient.

"I have since heard, that many who strictly attended to these directions recovered.

"The rains have been exceedingly heavy hereabouts, and the inundation unusually high this year. I believe the town of Nattore, in the course of last month, was nearly under water, and soon afterwards we had very hot weather. A hot moist atmosphere and the immoderate use of sable fish appear to me to have been the principal causes of the disease."

The following demi-official account of the measures adopted is from the Government Gazette:

"It will be satisfactory to the public to be informed, that the benevolent attention of the government has been directed to the fatal epidemic disease which has for some time past prevailed in the town and the suburbs of Calcutta, and that means have been adopted which have in a very eminent degree proved effectual in counteracting its ravages.

"The measures from which so much benefit is derived are under the general superintendence of Mr. Eliot and Mr. Blacquiere, and have been devised and brought into operation by those zealous magistrates in communication with the Medical Board.

66 Although the prevailing disease, which is cholera morbus, if permitted to run its course is frequently fatal in a few hours, and sometimes in a few minutes, yet in most instances its progress may be arrested, and the patient saved, by means which are not only simple but of easy application. Those means are supplied under the direction of the Medical Board from the public stores; and a large proportion of the native physicians of the town and the suburbs are employed to administer them, according to written instructions

with which they have been severally furnished. They are stationed at different places, under the immediate superintendance of the police, by which every requisite assistance is rendered to them; and they make regular reports of their proceedings to Mr. Eliot and to Mr. Blacquiere. It is somewhat remarkable that the native physicians entered into these measures without difficulty or hesitation, and are extremely assiduous in discharging the duties with which they are entrusted. The native inhabitants, to whom intimation was given in the different streets to apply for aid, shewed, even at first, but few instances of any aversion to the benefits held out to them; and after having witnessed the very speedy relief afforded, they are now for the most part earnest and pressing in their applications for speedy assistance.

"These benevolent efforts to oppose the prevailing epidemic very seldom fail of success, if employed at an early stage of the disease. Much pains have been taken to impress the natives with the importance of this fact, and a knowledge of it now in most cases seems to influence their conduct. The cures daily reported are accordingly very numerous, and for some days past the general mortality has not greatly exceeded it usual limits at the present season, as appears by a record of that of former years which is at the police office."

The approaching change of season will probably render it unnecessary to persevere for any considerable length of time, in the system of measures which has been adopted to combat the present epidemic. Independently, however, of the immediate gratification to humanity which must arise from the benevolent interference of the government on the present occasion, it must be interesting to contemplate the impression which the minds of the natives will probably receive from that care and solicitude in respect to their welfare which that interference so strikingly manifests.

Sept. 27.-We have great satisfaction in stating, that the epidemic, which has occasioned so much mortality in various districts of Bengal, and which ten days ago was so prevalent in the suburbs and vicinity of Calcutta, has much abated, and has been most successfully combated by medicine wherever it has appeared.

October -We have much pleasure in being enabled to state, that the disease which has been prevalent for upwards of a fortnight at the station of Jessore and its vicinity, has within the last week greatly diminished. This beneficial change, we understand, is solely to be ascribed to the cause of the disorder having happily been ascertained by the prompt exertions employed by the magistrate in consequence, and the judicious and effectual measures made use of by him to prevent its continuance.

We regret to mention, that since writing the above we have learned that in those parts of Jessore, (and also it is said portions of the neighbouring districts,) where from the alarm not having reached the new crops of rice continue to be used as food, the disorder rages with unabated activity. But at the date of our last accounts, in consequence of every precaution practicable being employed to restrict the natives in the enjoy ment of this pernicious food, the disease, had almost totally disappeared at the station, and the natives who had previously fled from Casbah were again pouring into the bazar in numbers from the adjacent villages, where they conceived themselves less secure than in the town which had been deserted by them a few days before. We are sorry to state that a Mr. John Deverell had died on the 4th instant; his complaint was very similar to that which is destroying the natives. The cause of his death was not ascertained, supposed to have arisen from swallowing a quantity of salts dissolved in lime juice, which occasioned an inflammation of the bowels.

In addition to the above causes we have to observe, that although we entertain no doubts that the use of the new rice was the cause of the disorder in the district of Jessore, yet we have reason to believe that the mortality, so prevalent in Calcutta and its environs was produced by the use of other aliments equally deleterious. The great plenty of sable fish at this season, but above all its extreme cheapness, has occasioned its becoming the almost daily food of the greater portion of the labouring natives; and being a fish which soon corrupts, it is generally eaten by that description of people when in the first stage of putrescency, a circumstance which cannot fail to render it

as an article of diet highly pernicious and unwholesome. Whether the disorder originated in the immoderate use of this fish or not is a question on which much diversity of opinion exists, yet we think that it at least contributed to the aggra vation of its symptoms may be admitted, since its ravages have been confined with few exceptions to the poorer classes of the community. We have, however, the satisfaction to remark, that the mortality which attended its progress has in great measure subsided, an evident demonstration that the disorder is on the decline.

We have now to describe the monstrous stratagem of the Brahmans in Calcutta to impose upon the people a new deity, for the purpose of swelling the coffers of the votaries of Kali. The disposition of the unfeeling part of mankind to turn to advantage any occurrence of public or private misfortune, was never, perhaps, more strongly exemplified than at present, and never was craft so wickedly and so shamelessly exerted to wring contributions from the poor. The information which has reached us, we are sorry to say, evinces that the mortality which has prevailed, may, in a great degree, be attributed to the wicked artifices of those who have taken advantage of the ignorance and superstition of the lower classes of the community; to the schemes of wretches, who, by the prostration of the mind, have contributed to produce the mischiefs to the person against which they have pretended to insure the infatuated sufferers.

"It may be amusing to some of your readers, and perhaps useful to mention the mode in which the Brahmans of Calcutta and its vicinity have turned the present prevalence of sickness to account.

The device which has been employed to alarm the natives in the vicinity of Calcutta, is that a newly created deity had opened her temple at Kidderpore, as the Ola Bebee, where those who wished to avert her dreadful visitation were required to sacrifice and make offerings. Ola means descent and oot'ha ascent. In medical language ola is used for flux and ola oot'ha for cholera morbus, aptly enough, and by a pretty obvious etymology. It seems, however, that in the prolific family of the Hindoo pantheon a new