The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-15 00:00:00

SYMPTOMS of CHOLERA in EDINBURGH,

(nroin the Scotsman of Satnrday.)
So many eases of severe dysentery have occurred in this
place during sunenersome of which were attended with •
marked symptonat of the Asiatic plague,—that several of
our medical practitioners are of opinion we have already
been visited by the continental disease in its Modified torte, '
and shall not be subjected in the tnearit4sse to ah'i severer
at.aek. The following c4e .the
so strong a resernhl ince
to the spiotrolOe.c 'Cholera, that we question if even the fa-
cOlty could detect a difference. It is communicated by a
Naval Surgeon of respectabiiity, who was for some time
surgeon to a Naval hospital in one of our colonies, at that
time conducted upon a large scale.
" The patient, a healthy young girl of soventetni a
servant in my house-. She *Olt to bed tat Saturday night
in her usual good health ; and was suddenly awoke from
sleep about tWo o'clock on Sunday morning, under the most
painful and distressing circumstances that can be well ima-
gined ; her own expression to her neighbour servant was,
that she did not think she could live a minute, When I
saw her, about half an hour after she was taken ill, she com-
plained of encrticiating pain in her bowels, which she de-
scribed, as if her inside was twisting or turning round ; this
was accompanied with great sickness at stomach. She had
had two attacks at vomiting, and been three or four times
at the water-closet. The matter ejected, I had no oppor-
tnnity of seeing. She complained also of a distressing
sensation of cold over the whole body, equal to the cold
fit of ague ; and this was very perceptible to the touch,
the extremities especially were as cold as a dead body, and
the hands were evidently shrunk in size ; pulse natural in
frequency, but small and depressed ; countenance much
changed, pole and ghastly, with striking appearance of
anxiety and despondency, and the features all shrunk. She
complained also of cramps in her toes, feet, and calves of
the legs, but these did not reach above the knee, and were
not violent. Her breathing was somewhat laborious, but
not to any great degree. 'This is a brief state of the
symptoms when I saw her ; and I confess it struck me as
a case of some hazard ; perhaps my apprehension might
be increased by what is taking place around us, as without
hesitation I set it down as a case of cholera. Although
less violent than many of the accounts we are daily accus-
tomed to hear of, tt.ere is no saying to what length it
might have gone, had it been neglected for a few hours.
" TREATMENT.--I commenced by giving her nearly a
common wine glass full of Coniac brandy, mixed with
double the quantity of water, as hot as it could be taken,
to which was added thirty drops of laudanum, which she
swallowed greedily, from the comfort this hot draught
communicated to her feelings.
" It may be considered a pretty strong dose for a girl of
seventeen, but to a robust man, under similar circum-
stances, I would not have hesitated to have given doub'e
the quantity. I next proceeded to restore the heat of the
body by external means. For this purpose I got a tin
case, which I found at hand, (what is used in carriages
to put the feet on in cold weather), fil ed it with hot
water, and applied it to the feet. It answered the purpose
very well, while the body was wrapped up in hot
blankets, and bottles of hot water were applied to different
puts of the body, and the room heated with a good fire.
I next directed an injection of a pint (a mutchkin) of hot
gruel, containing a table spoonful of common salt, to be ad-
ministered. This was attended with the most soothing
effects to the feelings of the patient, was retained for some
time, and produced an evacuation of the bowels with con-
siderable relief. About an hour after these remeaies had
been employed, the heat of the body began gradually to re-
turn ; the sickness at stomach, and tendency to vomit,
had greatly subsided ; and there was an evident relief to
the symptoms ; I then gave her five grains of calomel,
which, notwithstanding some return of sickness, and
threatening of vomiting, was retained.
Matters went on very promising for about two hours,
when, unexpectedly, there was a return of the feeling of
cold, s specially of the extremities. I was a little alarmed
at this, but it was by no means to the same degree as at
first. By continuing the same applications the heat re-
turned ; and in about four hours a gentle perspiration
came on ; no further occurrence of consequence took
place. She was a little feverish for two days, but is now
quite well. I shall close this account by recommending
what has often been recommended, that not a moment
should be lost in obtaining proper assistance; that the
remedies should be early and vigorously applied ; anti that
there should be no timidity about the doses to be adminis-
tered, for although the practice may appear somewhat
rough, it must he bold and decided.
• Edinburgh, Nov. 11, 1831.

We regret to learn that a contagious fever is
Prevalent in Kilsyth, and has proved fatal in a number of
instances.— Caledonian Mercury.

Lord KINNAIRD
(Baron Rossie), who, it is
expected, will shortly form a matrimonial allance with
Miss Mv.t.usit, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of
Mr. MELLisit, formerly representative of Middlesex, inhe-
rits the bulk of the ample fortune of his uncle, the late
lamented Hon. DOUGLAS JAMES WILLIAM KINNAIRD,
who died in 1929. His Lordship lately retired from the
First Life Guards, in which distinguished corps he held
the rank of Lieutenant. A sister of Miss MELLtstr was
recently united to Lord EDWARD THYNNE, son of the
Marquis of BATH.

CONVEYANCE OF LETTERS TO SCOTLAND.
—On the sth ult. a meeting of the merchants, manufac-
turers, and other inhabitants of Glasgow was held, at
which a variety of resolutions were passed to the effect
that by the mails from the south arriving at a late hour,
after many places of business were closed, a full day in
business was lost ; and that this inconvenience might he
remedied by the London mail proceeding by Boroughbridge
as formerly, by which it would arrive at Carlisle two hours
earlier ; and by the Manchester and Glasgow mail leaving
the former place between the hours of one and three p.m.
instead of five p.m. its present time of departure. Copies
of these resolutions were transmitted to the Manchester
Climber of Commerce, inviting their co-operation in
effecting so desirable a change. The Chamber met,
and were agreed upon the subject, but deeming it
advisable that merchants and manufacturers connected
with Glasgow should have an opportunity of ex-
pressing their opinions on this matter, the Direc-
tors of the Chamber, by advertisement, convened a
meeting of those interested in the trade with Scotland,
on Wednesday last, in the Committee-room at the Ex-
change, to take the subject into consideration. At the ap-
pointed time, Mr. GEORGE WILLIAM Woon, President of
the Chamber, took the Chair, and briefly stated to the
meeting the nature of the object sought to be effected by
the proposed alteration. Ile added that he had seen the
Lord Provost of Glasgow the day before, and that that
gentleman had proceeded to Liverpool on purposes con-
nected with this object. The following resolutions were
then submitted to the meeting, and they were unanimously
passed That in the opinion of this meeting no disad-
vantage to the trade of this place with North Britain will
arise from the Glasgow mail being dispatched from Man-
chester at three instead of five p.m." " That a copy of
the foregoing resolution be transmitted by the President of
the Chamber, to the Lord Provost of Glisgow."—We
understand that as soon as the merchants of Glasgow shall
have obtained the acquiesence of those of Manchester and
Liverpool, they purpose to send a deputation to the metro-
polis, in order to induce the Post-office to consent to the
requisite alteration.—lllanchester Guardian.

THE PLAGUE OF 1666.—The village of
Eyam, in Derbyshire, was one of the last, if not very last
place in England, visited by this dire contagion. It had
been brought thither from London in patterns of cloth
sent to a tailor. Mr. MOMPESSON, the Rector, was in
the vigour of his youth, and had married a beautiful
young lady, by whom he had a boy and a gill of three
and four years old. Though supplicated by his wife to
quit the devoted spot, nothing could induce him to leave
his parishioners, and shortly after she sickened and died in
her husband's arms, in the 27th year of her age, Four-fifths
of the inhabitants shared the same fate.—By the great in-
fluence of Mr. Momressow, the rest of the county
of Derby escaped the plague ; for upon the first appear-
ance of the pestilence in Eyam, lie wrote to the Earl of
DEN-mistime, residing at Chatsworth, to say, that be be-
lieved it possible to prevail upon his parishioners to con-
fine themselves in the limits of the village, provided his
Grace would exert himself to induce the country round to
supply them with necessaries, leaving such provisions as
might he requested, in appointed places, and at appointed
hours, upon the neighbouring hills. The proposal was
penctually complied with ; and it is most remarkable,
that when the pestilence became beyond conception ter-
rible, not a single inhabitant attempted to pass the death-
ful bounds of the village, though a regiment of soldiers
could not, in that rocky and open country, have
detained them against their will; much less could
any watch, which might have been set in the
neighbourhood, have effected that infinitely important
purpose. It is a remarkable circumstance, that in the
summer of 1757, five labouring men, inhabitants of
Eyam, were digging amongst the plague graves, they-came
to something wnich had the appearance of having once
been 'lime. . Conscious . of its situation, they instantly
buried it again ; but in a few days, they all sickened of a
putrid fever, and three out of the five died. The disease
spread, and proved mortal to seventy persons of Eyam.