ly recorded. These scourges have
appeared in all ages of the world; but, as time and space will not allow
our entering upon an extended consideration of them,--however
interesting they might be to the general reader,--we shall content
ourselves by quoting, somewhat in brief, from the lectures of the late
William Youatt on these fatal maladies:--

"In the year 801, and at the commencement of the reign of Charlemagne,
an epidemic disease devastated a great portion of his dominions. This
was attributed to the villainy of the Duke of Benevento, who was said to
have employed a great many persons in scattering an enchanted powder
over the fields, which destroyed both the cattle and the food of the
cattle. M. Paulet seems inclined to give full credence to this, and says
that history offers many proofs of this destructive and diabolical
practice. He affirms that many persons were punished in Germany,
France, and, particularly, at Toulouse, for the commission of this
crime. Several of the suspected agents of these atrocities were put to
the torture and made full confession of their crime.

"Of the occurrence of these diseases from the year 800 to 1316,--an
interval of mental darkness, and of horrors and calamities of every
kind,--history records twenty cases, more or less destructive, and
extending, with greater or less devastation, over France and Germany,
Italy and England. Of these twenty, four date their origin from an
excessive moisture in the air, accompanied by almost continual rains,
and flooding the country to a considerable extent. One was supposed to
be the consequence of long-continued drought and excessive heat; one was
traced to the influence of an eclipse of the sun; another, to a comet;
and a fourth, to a most unusually stormy winter. The reader will have
the kindness to remember that we are here expressing the opinions of the
writers of the day, and by no means, our own belief of the matter.

"Of the four which trace their origin to extreme wet and its
consequences, the first occurred in France, in 820, after a long
continuance of rain; and it was equally fatal to men and cattle. The
second, which was equally fatal to both, appeared in Lorraine, in 889.
The third broke out among the cavalry of the army of Arnoul, in its
passage over the Alps, on its return to Italy. The fourth pervaded the
whole of England in 1125, and was equally fatal to the biped and the
quadruped.

"That which followed excessive heat and