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JlUtarpfltitan QfJDsaip

THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION…

EXAMINATION OF THE ASSASSIN.

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A STRANGE STORY.

LETTER FROM COUNT ZAMOYSKI.

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THE NEW BLACK DEATH.

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THE NEW BLACK DEATH. The Chronicle of Saturday had a very interesting, and at the S'lme time very alarming, article upon the disease which has lately appeared in Ireland, and which our contempo- rary dreadfully names "The New Black Death." We reprint the greater part of this article below For more than fourteen months a mysterious disease has been displaying a rapid and fatal activity in Ire- land. The first case occurred as far back as the 18th of March, 1866. An apprentice t,) a surgeon in Dublin had felt unwell, and remained indoors during the day, taking his meals, however, as usual. He had a bad night, and complained of headache in the morning and his master then remarked some spots upon his chebt. Dr. Stokes, an eminent Dublin physician, was immediately sent for, and saw the patient at 11 a.m. He found him perfectly collected, and in apparently ordinary strength but the left arm and left breast were covered thickly with large purple patches of the deepest hue. Both medical men recognised that they were in presence of a case which, if an attack of typhus fever, was certainly such as neither of them had ever witnessed before. When Dr. Stokes returned two hours later a great change had taken place. The patient was as self-possessed as before, but the left arm and breast were now completely black At half-past one the young man was sitting Up in bed, discussing his case with his master and as he com- plained of great thirst, the latter went from the bed- side to the window to mix a cooling draught, but upon turning round almost instantly he saw, to his horror, that collapse had set in, and by 2 p.m., within little more than twenty-four hours of the first sign of indis- position, within eight or nine hours of the appearance of any formidable symptoms, and within half an hour of being in full possession of all his faculties and of a considerable amount of muscular strength, the patient was dead. A few other cases occurred during tue spring and early summer, all presenting the same general features, and all fatal; but, with theappearalice of cholera in August, this strange disease vanished. With the approach of spring, however, it re-appeared. One of the earliest of the new cases was that ot a healthy child about five years old. Here the first symptom of illness was noticed at 8 a.m.; at 11 a.m. a small purple eruption appeared, generally diffused over the bo ly at 1 p.m. the whole body was covered with large purple patches; coma gradually supervened, and at 3 p.m. death. The last audible utterances of the child were complaints of cold. Another caseoccurred at the Portobello Cavalry Barracks on the 17th of April. An officer had complained on the previous morning of feeling slightly unwell. He got feverish towards night, had little sleep, suffered from headache, and was oc- casionally incoherent. In the morning, about nine o'clock, purple spots appeared, which spread rapidly both in size and number, until the whole body became covered with them. Collapse set in with the usual suddenness, and at 11 a.m. he was dead. Within ten minutes after death the superficial purple hue had given place to a rose red. In the following week a boy about nine or ten years old was attacked in the same rapid way. NVIlen seen at 1 p. m. his body was all dotted with purple specks; the pulse was scarcely perceptible at the wrist, but the action of the heart was perfect; he was in full possession of muscular strength and mental faculties, and felt so little ill that he complained bitterly of being kept in bed. At 7 p.m. he was dead. In the beginning of April the first provincial cases were noticed. They were connected with the troops who had been engaged in pursuit of the insurgents through the Galtee mountains. Two or three soldiers a married woman, and a couple of children were at- tacked the woman and one of the soldiers recovered, the others died. The fatal cases were remarkable for great suffering, which no skill seemed capable of re- lieving. Indeed the children appear to have screamed themselves to death iu the violence of the pain which no efforts could mitigate. In all these cases there were indications of considerable inflammation of the brain and spinal column. A special interest attaches to these military eases, as throwing some light upon the question of contagiousness. The mother of the children washed for some of the soldiers of the flying column, among whom we have just mentioned the attacks of the disease occurred, and in this way the disorder may, it is conceived, have been communicated. At this moment a woman is in the Meath Hospital in Dublin with her young child, both suffering from this malady; and Dr. Stokes, who has them personally in charge, has declared his conviction that this is an unquestionable case of contagion. It appears, then, that a strange and terribly fatal disease exists in Ireland, and as yet chiefly in Dublin. The general features of the preliminary stage are bilious vomiting and sometimes purging, and usually headache of unparalleled intensity, with incoherency. Then comes the pur | >le eruption, accompanied, in most cases, by great debility, and followed by collapse and death. The duration of the illness is of a threefold variety. In the first, where the period is reckoned by hours, one case was fatal in four hours from the occur- rence of the first symptoms; but the average is eighteen hours. The second variety includes from three to six days, from the first indications of indis- position to the fatal issue. The third variety, in which alone any recoveries have taken place, embraces a period extending to many days, and even weeks. It is hardly necessary to say that in Dublin great interest is felt upon the subject among the members of the medical profession, and considerable anxiety has been awakened among the general public. Already the Medical Association of the city has held two meetings, in one of which detailed and authentic reports of the cases observed were presented and read, while the other was devoted to a discussion of the character of the disease. It is not unnatural that, upon the latter point, medical opinion should be divided. Some consider it to belong to the family of blood-poisons, of which in these countries typhus and typhoid fevers have hitherto been the chief specimens; and they refer as proofs to the purple eruption and the rapid development. Others consider that it is a new form of cerebro-spinal malady, appealing to the headache and injected character of the spots, and to the appearances usually presented by the brain and spinal column in post-mortem examinations. They also cite, in confirmation of this view, the morbid sensibility of the surface, the dilatation of the pupil and temjiorary loss of vision, the twitching I, of the muscles and convulsive spasms, the muscular rigidity and curvature of the spine, which often accompany the disease, and the displacement of the head, paralysis, and other affections which frequently I retard the very few cases of recovery. Others, again, suggest that two distinct types of disease elist, in these cases, and by their commingled symptoms give oc sion to confusion of diagnosis and pathology. All important as the decision of these matters must bet the time has hardly come when it can be given upoi the safe basis of a sufficiently extensive and searching induction. Meantime it is unfortunately too clean with the steady and rapid increase in the Dublin deathi rate from this mysterious complaint, that its attacks deserve the closest and most watchful attention, not only from the medical profession, which is thoroughlj on the alert, but also from the public and the Goyenfe ment.

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BIDDING FOR AN ACTOR.

CAPTURE OF A BRIGAND QUEEN..

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EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS…