Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-06-18

Nv IN the palms Of the hands and soes OF the feet,
tormenting the wretched victim day and night,
and deriving him completely of sleep. lie ire
ouently feels as if an electric spark darted IRON
the brain and few to the eye-balls, the ears ana
the nostrils, burning and consuming those parts.
To these severe Affections of the body are often
added strange Authorizations of the mind. Inc
victim of pellagra fances that he hears the nces-
SAINT noise of millstones grinding near him. OF
hammers resembling on anvis, OF bells ringing
or the dscordant cries of various animals. lhe
disease, when advanced. takes the form OF ma
n, other maladies-as tetanus, commissions, cpl
lepsy, dropsy, mania. and marasmus--the patient
cea sing at last to exist and suffer, when reduced
to the State and appearance Of mummy. 1t Is
by no means uncommon-who can say 1t Is Won
derful-that the wretched being abbreviates the
term of his affections, and anticipates the too tar
DIV hand of death in parOxysm OF suicidal ma
MIA. Ii is remarkable that this tendency to sell
destruction very often assumes the form OF de-
sire to consummate that last act OF the tragedy
by drowning, so much 50, that Strawbi, writer
on the pellagri, has given it the name OF hydro
mania, where this propensity exists
Whatever be the precise nature OF the cause
of this dreadful disease, it is certain that Al Is al
most universally confined to those who reside in
the country, leading An agricultural lite, and to
the lowest orders of society. 1t is not bounded
by any age, being frequently seen in the young
| est children. The whole Of the flat country on
both sides of the river Pc, but more especially
the fertile and level plains between that river and
the Alps, are the theatre and head quarters OF
pellagra. have only sketched the mare prcml-
nent features of the complaint, and have by no
means magni6ed either its horrors or its preva-
lency.
Such is the sweeping and terrible scourse of
those beautiful and fertile plains. that furnish
themes of admiration for the poet, the painter,
| the novelist and the romantic tourist. Had to-
gers and Wordsworth, while celebrating the bOr-
ders of Cormo and the Logo Maggoire, repre-
senting them as terrestrial Paradises. been ac-
qualned with the pestiIence that afflicted one Sc
venth of the inhabitants, they would have curb
ed little of their poetic tancies OF added back
ground to the picture;-
| Where the world danced.
Listening TO the Moo,i qusfing gromoIsta,
And reading in the eyes that sparkle d round
| len thousand love adventures written there
| [R0s9s.
The cause of this frightful epidemic has engag-
ed the pens Of many learned doctors; but it is
just as inscrutable as the causes of hepattis on
the coast of Doromandel, eIephantiasis in Ma
| ldUdt UdtIiucIi III ScNiohS DatuauoeS hy III pic
Antilles; goitre among the Alps; the plica in
Poland; cretinism in the Valos, or malaria in
the Compagna di Roma. 1t an emanation from
the soil; but whether conveyed in the air we
breathe, the food we eat, or the water we drink,
is unknown. II this, or any of the endemies
which have mentioned, depend on the filth or
dirty habits of the people, we ought to have 81
mar complaints IN Sion, or the Jews quarter in
in Rome; the narrow lanes Of Naples, and the
sinking alleys of all Italian towns and cities, -
But such is not the case. The Jews quarter in
Rome is the dirtest and the heathiest spot in that
famous city. The inhabitants of Fondi hi, and
other wretche1 villages in the Neapolitan do.
minions, are eaten up with dirt, starvation, and
malaria; but no pelagra, no elephanuasis, no gol-
| tire, no Cretnsm, is to be seen. The inevitable
and the rational inference is, that each country,
where peculiar or endemic malddies prevail, pro.
duces them from some hidden source which hu-
u an knowledge has not yet been able to penetrate
The general opinion among the medical men of
the Milanese is, that the pelasra results from the
extreme poverty, and low, unwhoesome diet Of
the peasantry. /, might moderate the wailings
of the English farmers. and ease their labors.
If they knew the condition of their own ranks on
those fertile plains so bepraised by our poets and
travellers. The author, in sundry other places,
describes the victims Of malaria as wretched-look-
ing people. The children. too, are said TO be
neither handsome nor good-tempered; so that We
may adopt Byron's sentiment, and say, that all
in Italy seems divine but its inhabitants DR..
.Johnson's .4Wunnat EacorSion through France,
Switzerland and hoiy.
-sseoocoo,,