The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-09-07 00:00:00

IRISH' PLOT.

[Prom the Droll' Pateiot.l
We make the following extracts from a letter which has
appeared in the Leicester Jotenal, this day. It appears
that a plot was contemplated to excite alarm amongst the
Protestants of Pilltown and its vicinity. One of the instru-
ments has been discovered, and he has been examined by a
Bench of Magistrates, specially convened for investigating
the business. He displayed great calmness and steadi-
ness:—

" He declared that he had no recollection of having
offered information to a Magistrate, or having spoken to
any person of the conspiracy with which he was charged.
alleging, that, if lie had offered information, it was in a
moment of intoxication, and that, as he never recollected
any thing that occurred to him while in that state, the
only intimation he had of having done to was from others,
when he became sober. An attempt was made, by his bro-
ther, to prove him insane when he drinks ; but both his
alleged conduct when drunk, and his examination before
the 'Magistrates, left a very different impression on the
minds of the generality of persons present.
" It appeared that he sent for a magistrate, who went
to him to Hatchet's public-house, in Filltown, on Sunday
the 14th; that he told the magistrate that a conspiracy was
formed to murder all the Protestants of Pilltown ; that pikes
were concealed in certain public-houses of the village ; and
that a coffin full of pikes was to come on a hearse, by way of a
funeral, to Tybragney church-yard ; that green dresses were
being made for the leaders (four of whom he named, wealthy
and respectable Catholic farmers, than whom there are not
better conducted men in the entire country ;) that two of the
above persons went to his house, and putting a rope round
his neck, compelled him to swear to be " loyal to the laws
of Counsellor O'Connell; and to mow down the Protestants
like stubbles." Although, when offering this information,
he had the appearance of inebriety, he still had prudence
enough to decline swearing to his deposition. It also ap-
peared, in evidence, that he said that the expenses were to
be defrayed from the Catholic Rent Fund." _

In conclusion, the letter states the general satisfaction
felt at the unwearied and meritorious efforts of the magi'.
trate, engaged in this investigation,

HARVEST MOO N 8.-Thit is the last of a series of ten
years, in which the moon has proved the most beneficial to
farmers, for reaping and gathering in the fruits of the
earth, viz. from 1816 to 1826, inclusive. The preceding
nine years, namely, from 1807 to 1816, inclusive, were its
the class of those in which, from natural causes, the Har.
vest Moon has been least beneficial. Such also will be the
years from 1826 to 1982.

The harvest has been very scanty in the midland and
southern parts of Spain. In Madrid, wheat is 801. anti
barley 20s. the quarter.
During the last two weeks the demand for shearers a
Penrith has been so great that 4s. 6tl. per day and dinners
have been given for but indifferent hands.
Pattern, the convict left for execution at onr late assizes.
underwent the awful sentence of the law on Saturday last.
—Birmingham Gazette.
_ _

The foliostittiextraordinary scene recently took place at
a village near Nancy, in France. At she moment the Cure
uf the village was about plinsolancing his benediction at the
close of vespers, a young missionary% belonging to a troop
that are exhibiting in the neighbourhood, started up and
,troirrliscetilvweyyobitarvbee
said, " Stop father, there arc here seven women unworthy
church. A prneeN rrriol was drawn up, and transmitted to
rirede rite; Toseivute7 iwn°clnoteittlegssulioliti):'n' f
lie theta
pointed out the seven women, and forced them to quit the
the Bishop and the Proeureur-General.
On the second (lay of Siaurbridge Races, held last week,
an extensive range of hoothing erected on the course, at this
height of about ten feet from the ground, when nearly
will de wa11..4
Gloucester Journal.

PARIS ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES—SECTION
OF MEDICINE.
4,Yl,Sitting of 11;a
institution
in the last mouth, M.
LassVi iwesented a memorial to the academy, stating his rea-
Viiol' considering the plague and yellow fever noecoo-
•ous. The subject having been already before the pub-
bc, we shall state but in a very gown! manner the asser-
tions which it contains:— •
"Ancient Rome (said M. Legit.), like France, was un-
known tp America and to the East, but nevertheless they
,both aufered from the yellow fever and the plague. When-
ver an epidemical disease exists, it is produced by local
causes, which can always be explained. The yellow fever
is nothing but very intense fever, accompanied by the
jaundice—the plague is nothing but an intense fever, at-
tended with buboes, parotides, &c. These pestilential
buboes are absolutely the same as the pustules of the nature
of carbuncles which we notice in all parts of France, and
whieliare in a manner endemic in some of the provinces.—
The disorders called yellow fever and plague appear( d con-
tinually in all parts of France; but as they are called by
'mother name no mention is made of contagion, and no pre-
cautioo is taken. It is for this reason ',hat they are not
attended with the fatal consequences which always follow
th; §fEcial declaration of these maladies. The measures
which are called sanitary occasion all the accidents which
they profess to prevent. At Cairo, a; at Constantinople,
when the plague has a a contagious influence, it ravages
only certain quarters, whiled others more healthy are al-,
ways exempt from it. The plague which exists in Lower
Egypt never penetrates into the Upper."
lit. Lasses then made some observations relative to the
late epidemy at Barcelona. A committee was formed,
which declared unanimously that contagion was but a
chimera ; this committee published the reasons upon which
they had formed this opinion, which were so conclusive that
that effected the conversion ofes celebrated physician, who bad
fonnedy been at the head of the contagionists. M. L. pre-
sented a list of ten communes in Barcelona, enclosed with-
in the cordon sanitaire, in which three hundred sick took
refuge. The inhabitants communicated constantly with
the city, but no alteration took place in their health. M.
Lassie concluded by declaring that he not only did not be-
lieve that either the plague, the yellow fever, or any other
typhus, was contagions, but lie denied also the existence of
infection, and he thought that the adoption of this latter
opinion did not sense less calamitous results than the idea
of contagion itself.
At the conclusion of the memoir, of which we have
given an imperfect sketch, a very interesting discussion
took place in the Academy relative to contagion.
M. LAENNEC commenced the discussion, and interro-
gated the author as to whether he absolutely denied the ex-
istence of contagion in every species of disease, without
restriction.
M. LASSIS replied, that he always excepted the measles
and syphilis, but he excepted those only.
• " Since M. Lassie (continued M. LALNNLC) assimilates
the malignant pustule of Burgundy to the pestilential
buboes of the plague; and as he pretends that these two
diameters are the same, would it not be better, according to
him, to begin by making experiments on the disorder
which we have now before us ; and thus arrive at a conclu-
sion which, in the opinion of non-contagonists, might be
legitimately extended to the plague ?"
M. LASSI s replied, that the malignant pustule of Bur-
gundy is not more malignant than the plague ; but that the
experiments which might be made on it could not undeceive
the public. "We must strike at the root of the evil," said
be ; " it is the plague of the Levant which is feared, and
it is to the plague of the Levant that we must address our-
selves."
cEOF7ROY SAINT-HIT AIRE observed, that he would
'essromunicate to the Academy the result of the observations
which he had himself made in Egypt. " I have never
made them public," added lie, " either in my lectures, cr
It means of the journals ; and though the communications
Which I am going to make do not positively refer to the
fundamental merits of the question, yet I think they are
rot entirely devoid of all interest. The plague does not
re' exclusively in Lower Egypt ;it ravages sometimes
the Lower and sometimes the Upper, but never both at the
same time ; and it is always subordinate to the influence
of the overflowing of the Nile. If this river rises very
high Upper Egypt is attacked by the plague, because it is
influenced by the exhalations which rise from the damp
earth heated by the sun. The lower country, on the
contrary, situated beneath the place where the ema-
nation of deleterious gases takes place, is exempt from
It. The upper country remains healthy, because it is
exempt from humidity ; but Lower Egypt, being in its
turn subject to the influence of damp and heat, is ra-
vaged by this destructive scourge. It is, therefore, to
the Nile alone that we must attribute the plague in
Egypt ; and to deliver that country from it, it would be
heoisesary to take away that iver. The Nile, throughout
the ecurse of the year, dominates over the health of the
span try; and its variations totally change the medical con-
ciliations of the regions which it waters; and it results
that these constitutions have an energy of which we have
ti example in this country. This energy is such that
when there is a reigning disorder, any cause of interrup-
ttiti to the health whatever, produces always that dis-
order, and no other." M. Geoffrey Saint Hilaire sup-
ported this position by a number of facts, among which
is the following:-1 waterman, after violent exertion, had
the imprudence, whilst in a state of perspiration, to throw
himself into the river. In any other situation he would
letve contracted a cold or a pleurisy. In Egypt, however,
the plague being raging at the time, he died the day after
committing this rash act, as was predicted by M. Geoffrey
St. Hilaire at the moment when it took place. The same
thing happened to a soldier addicted to drunkenness, who,
having-one day escaped from the vigilance of the persons
appointed to watch him, drank to excess: his misfortune
was also predicted. "It would be useless," said M. Geof-
frey St. Hilaire, "to enter minutely into the detail of
other facts which I could cite. I have in my remem-
brance fl ve or six cases exactly similar to those I have
treaded. With another constitution, the same men who
died of' the plague would have contracted the ophthalmia of
the country, or perhaps an affection of the intestinal canal.
Ih ebort, in every month, whatever we may do, we can
never contract any thing but the reigning malady; and it
is possible to say with certainty beforehand, such and such
month I shall have such a disorder, and such and such
month another."
Nr:LOI:YER.VILLEILIKEY related a circumstance which
appeared to him to strengthen the opinion as to the iden-
tity of the plague with the yellow fever. " One of the
most enlightened men of America," he observed, " told me
abet at New York, whenever the yellow fever manifested
itself at the sea-side, the inhabitants of the port alone
were affected with it, whilst merchants and persons in
easy circumstances, who lived upon higher situations, were
preserved from it. Those alone who came into the plains
contracted it."
A similar circumstance as to a street which traverses
Nevi York, and eparates the healthy from the unhealthy
part of the city. was mentioned by M. Desormeaux.

Mr. Bose tasted the same fact, but stated that persons
might descend into the port without contracting the conta-
gion, but that they could not with impunity make it their
usual residence, or even sleep there.
Mr. LAENNI c observed that in spite of all that had been
said, es to the climate being as powerful an agent in the
production of the plague as the yellow fever, he thought
there w::s no rcasin to believe that an identity existed
between those two dim:lnters. It was requisite then to
divide the question, and to make isolated experiments.
The author then reverted to his first proposition, re-
kti►e to the maligoant pnstuie of Burgundy, and observed
that researches on contagion shotild commence with an in-
quiry into this.
Mr. PAD.IIET slid, he was astonished that in this dis-
cussion the mast notorious facts relative to the late epidetny
at Barcelona alone should have been brought forward. It
signed to have been forgotten, that Tortosa was infected
by a patient, who, on leaving Barcelona, took refuge
there; irr•wfts also Palms ; and that in the port of Ma-
bee similar commur.i.mtions ...had caused the same disor-
der. A vessel from Lars-, fhwiinF the ports of Spain shut,
pit into the Lae:vet:o at Marseilles. This vessel had
communicated with Mahon,- and almost the whole of the
cm, perished at Marseilles. " There is not, perhaps,"
continued M: Parities, " a more healthy village in the
wield than Carlotta. Situate on the declivity of a hill,
ewil removed from all specks of forest or stagnant water,

the air there has a free circulation, the .strects being .60
feet bioad ' • and yet this spot, so healthy and delightful,
has sufFered from the yellow fever, which had been
brought there by patients afficted with it. It has been
said that the villages in the vicinity of Barcelona were
exempt from the yellow fever, in spite of the number of
sick who had perished there; but it is certain, on the
contrary, that when an infected person is assiduously
taken care of, either by a parent or a friend, the person
who had constantly come in close contact with him is
sure to contract the disorder. It is, however, true, that
the new patient would scarcely ever transmit the disor-
der himself, for, ail contagious disorders lose their force
in passing from an individual, other thin t one who
first propagated it. Numerous facts mig tht iled of
111
muleteers, who, in transporting merchandise, brought
the disorder into places where it had not before existed.
'These facts are notorious, and I ran assure *sou, upon my
honour, that the great majority of Spanish physicians 49
notin any way doubt the reality of contagion."
The Tatsizr NT obsirved, that as the Academy of Me-
dicine were to discuss the subject of contagion when the
report was presented, it would' be desirable to close the de-
bate upon the subject. . .
M. LASSTS, who was about to addreis the Academy be-
fore the Closing wait_ orilereJ, contented 'himself with oh-
serving that it AcitifttfiCit foe difficult to refute the asser-
tions of M. ritiltet.