I burgeon General's Office I — ¦ — j= _^^U " ""* ™ = ••— , : SE ZH— «] — E — h*^^ A t:o.:ej-a.t?i»e <)Jf TUB ftsYL Miffii M, €©<©B*KftA, AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY in J. FRANKLIN REICERT, OP LANCASTER CITY, PA. B. J. PTNftMTON, Printer, "hf.n franklin" office. V ' 3 l-t 355 A TREATISE ON THE CAUSE OF CHOLERA. AN INTERESTING! DISCOVERY BY J. FX*. AUNTXSLXjXINr IT-IS IGH3XI.T Of Lancaster City, Pennsylvania. I beg leave to submit the following facts and suggestions : — About snnrise on the morning of Friday, July 00, 1852, (as my usual custom is to go early to the Hydrant to wash,) I espied the inside of the lien spout, attached to the Hydrant in the yard, literally covered with ry small transparknt light dust colored, winged insect or Fly, the I, wings and body all the same transparent color. I at first supposed l to be small winged Ants ; but on closer inspection I discovered that were pel feet Flies, of shape similar to Bees, and they were attached le spout dead. I could. not see any of them move. They appeared b about the fortieth part of an inch in length. I examined them sly with ¦ common pocket magnifying glass, which magnified them about times their natural size, or about an eighth of an inch. The reason ad a magnifying glass, was through sheer curiosity to satisfi| myself 4 I they were not small Ants. I was no sooner convinced of the fact they were small Flies and Dead, than my mind most singularly callrecollection a paragraph which was published in a newspaper about a before, "that several vessels had arrived at New York City, and after they had passed a certainjatitude, the Cholera^ broke out on board," and that I thon had supposed that a Cholera Miasma was floating in the atmosphere at the time in that Latitude, through which the Vessels passed, as the country or Ports the Vessels had sailed from were free from Cholera. The thought seemed to fasten upon my mind, although we had no case of Cholera that morning (July 30th) in the City of Lancaster, and gave me such uneasiness that I procured a cloth (and letting the whole force of the water from the Hydrant on to the spout,) washed the spout clean, and then went into the house, and cautioned my family not to use any of the water for drinking or cooking purposes in the morning, without first washing off the Hydrant Wooden £pout, as I had noticed it covered with small Flub, (not telling them of the particulars for fear of alarming them). As I was the fint person at the Ilydrant that morning, the Flies had not yet been disturbed until washed away by me. 1 never noticed them before ; I frequently examined the spout afterwards — and 24 hours had scarcely elapsed before I deeply regretted my want of presence of mind in not having preserved a few specimens. The spout is not painted ; is of pine wood, was very damp, soaked with the water the day previous; and on account of its brownish color, I would not have noticed the Flies, but for their extraordinary numbers, which had they been swept on a heap together, would have very likely filled a common Table-spoon. The weather at the time was warm, fair and dry, and had been so for several days previous. From my residence, the street on each side, East and West, for GOO or 800 yards is ascending; thus living in a hollow where the atmosphere is slightly damper than it is 600 or 800 yards distant. Illy impression was, that the flight of these Animalculac, during the ht, was intercepted by the slimy Spout, or that these Flies, desiring ir usual damp atmosphere or element, were attracted to the moist woodspout, which had, during the night, become coated with a glutinous or acious vegetable matter combined with Lime-stone substance; and the sngth of this glutinous moisture, or slimy Lime-stone water deposit, soon troyed them, proving that moll Aniinalculao cannot exist in a Limestone «ry surface. If then they produce, or arc the cause ef Cholera, Liine-stono water is a oertaiu antidote. 5 The next morning, (Saturday, July 31, 1852,) a man named McCltan, residing in the upper end of West Orange street, in this city, died with a Ec, pronounced by our most eminent Physicians to have been Chol Another man named Gemper, residing next door, and who assisted the short illness of the other, took the disease 00 the sunc Saturday night and died on Sunday. There V6N MYeia] other cases in the same neighborhood, and among them the wife of said MeClaue; sho lingered four or five days and died. These persons were attended by Dr. Henry A Muhlenberg. My dwelling place is 350 yards due East from the dwellings of the above named deceased. The City of Lancaster is a Btrong Lime-stone region, an anti-cholera district, never having been Tinted by Oholen, exoepting in these half-dozen OHM in IS;">2, and in some 4or 5 cases in 1882. The city has no creek or river running through it, or any marshy places; itn streets are undulating, location high, contains about 11, 000 inhabitants, the county about 100,000, and has always been remarkably healthy, notwithstanding the daily communications by Hailway with Philadelphia and .Baltimore cities, (only 65 miles distant,) where this pestilence, a few years ago, alarmingly prevailed. From the foregoing facts my humble opinion is, that these Animalcules are the Cholera Miasma, and that Limestone water is destructive to them I do not believe that Chloride of Lime, or Lime itself, has the same Berful virtue, because the burning of the Limestone dettrojl that glut. is or slimy substance which the pure Limestone water might collect or >c to be deposited on the wood; and I »till imagine, that if 1 had not lied off the Flies from the wooden spout, they would have escaped the notice of others, and they would have been baled unnoticed in the Tea Kettle that morning, and this Cholera l'oison might have been imbibed by my whole family, and consequently subjected to its terrible effects; and perhaps been the cause of spreading the disease, as these Flies are of such a delicate jelly transparency, they might in hot water become partially dissolved, and thus not easily discovered in our drinks; and among these extraordinary Animalcules, as among the species of Flies, some are much larger than others, and, of course, the largei ones could not be inhaled. — During the day they bask in the sunbeams 1 igh in the air, and on account of their transparency invisible to the naked eye, but at night only descend to the earth to spread their devastating po's m It is likewise not unreasonable too, to suppose that in cold or frosty weather these larger Flics or breeders secret themselves in the craoks or 6 crevices of wood in ships and buildings, aud there produce a fresh quautity, and the moment they receive warmth they seek the sultry atmosphere, and are floated by it, until the foul damp breath of a crowded city checks their flight and settles them on the roofs of Houses — and again ;i sudden gust or storm deposits them with the rain in our wells and cisterns, thus poison our drinks, and we become astonished by the visitation of the Cholera in the midst of winter. Many Vessels are arriving at New York city with the reports of having lost rnauy passengers at Sea by this fell Destroyer, this frightful Asiatic Cholera; and I feel constrained to suggest the closest examinations on the part of Sea Captains, and the use of pure Limestone Water to test my discovery, and sincerely desire others more scientific than myself to observe these suggestions, and if by means of searching, and thus easily experimenting, they can again discover a similar ininialculac, where Cholera prevails, these facts will be established, and my claim as the original discoverer, cannot be denied. I Mr. F. Kilburu a gentleman residing in the country, about one mile uth West of Lancaster, informs me that in the mouth of August 1552, c sultry afternoon, about three o'olook, I. M., he noticed a peculiar aparance of the atmosphere, hayings resemblance to very thin vapor clouds, a dusty hue, through which the rays of the sun occasionally penetrated, d he imagined tint those clouds contained something else than water, and might be floating Animalcules, as they appeared passing from the South East in a westwardly direction. He thonght to amuse himself by trying an experiment, and he went into his house and procured a large sized White Damask Table Cloth, and carried it out into the field, and spread it on the grasp, on the hill side, facing the East, and in a few moments, he observed it coTcred with very small Flies of a light brownish color, and their wings spread open. He felt satisfied that they hail been attracted by, and settled down on to the White Cloth, and wns so amazed at the vast numbers, and their peculiar appearance, that he disliked to mention the circumstauce to any person afterwards, lot he might not be credited, ai he was at the time inclined to believe that they were the Cholera Miasmae, and wondered bow any person could live in such an atmosphere. He was much gratified with his experiment, but regretted not having had a magnifying glass to examine them more closely. Kiese Flies were distinctly seen by him, upon the White Cloth, but he yes they could not have been noticed on the ground, or any other dark cc, so easily, by the naked eye. 7 Thus, it will be observed, that Ihipi Flics alighted, and were seen alive on the Table Cloth, whilst those that had alighted on the Hydrant spout were dead when first discovered, by me ; destroyed as I suppose by th? strength of the Limestone Water. During the year 1853, there were few cases of Cholera in the United States, and although I made diligent search throughout the Summer, I could not discover a single Fly of this specie. In the month of June 1854, the cities of New York and Philadelphia were again visited by Cholera, and 1 again made search fc~ \he Fly. About the first of July the air was hot and dr^ in the neighborhood of Lancaster, ami the atmosphere seemed to have a dingy yellowish hue. That morning after sunrise 1 agaiu discovered the Fly and found a number of them on the sill of the window ; with my magnifying glass 1 examined the sill closely, and MW, that what, appeared to the naked eye as dust, was in reality amoving living mass of Flies, and secured a few of the largest, which I suppose are the Breeders I made a careful examination every morning since that, and desired others to do so, but waa unable to find any more of them — having preserved these len specimens, I turned my attention to the appearance of the atmosre. During eaoh day the sun had a dull yellow cast — towards evening ngy yellow hue, and for many weeks the earth was parched with heat, t generally after sundown the air seemed hazy, resembling very thin >r clouds of a dusty hue but the air continued dry and hot, no moisture Uver, and by 9 or 10 o'clock, P. M., the atmospaere again appeared r and bright — there was no thunder gust to relieve us, no evening tning to change or purify the air — and this drought, from all 1 could i, extended throughout the Middle and Western States. On Monday September 4th, 1854, I was on the turnpike, six milei East of Lancaster, in an open healthy part of tho conntry. I noticed that the atmosphere was of a yellow dusty appearance giving the sun a yellow sickly tint. ] watched these appearances until the sun seemed to ii passed below the horizon, as we commonly say, " the sun has jus when I was astonished at the singular phenomena, the remarkabl liarity of rays shooting and branching out from the setting sub irds toward the zenith (by my watch, the time was twenty minute sd six o'clock,) the rays had a yellowish appearance, with altcrnatel Dwnish purple tint, and what astonished me so much, they seemed in on, like the rays of the Aurora Borealia, spreading then receding, occasionally a lateral quivering movem«nt, which I had never before or noticod in the sun's rays. I felt convinced that the effect was 8 IJuecd by the snn'n rays passing through a floating Miasma, and that Miasma or insects (as the sky was free from other vapor clouds) were tling down along the river Snsquehanna, attracted there by the imiti ¦.* of tke low water. The next day a remarkably dry South West id blew up, and continued blowing, quite stormy, from the sth to the v I felt satisfied, in my own mind, at the time, that the Cholera fcsma that had settled on the Monday evening along the river, would, wafted into the dwellings on the East side of the river, and that the rm would spread the poisoned atmosphere throughout the Borough of lumbia. My f«ars were realized, and the terrible scourge that raged Columbia after the Bth of September, is full evidence of the faot, and ,t the Cholera atmosphere is a living insect of a dust colored matter, and is wafted by the winds along the waters, and settles where the sealis the dryest, the waters lowest and most impure, and where the want leetricity has allowed the poison to spread. These insects aro of the t productive kind, and when inhaled by persons whose systems are rder«d by disease or improper diet, their poison is deadly as th« r's sting. Why these clouds of Animalcules did not alight in the ' of Lancaster, was because it is the purest Limestone region, and efore they passed over farther West, to settle near the Western ;rs, where they did spread their devastating poison. Many of the ¦ and towns West of Lancaster, suffered severely. On the 1 44h of tember, 1854, the Cholera broke out in Pittsburg, due West from easter, with alarming malignity — whilst every setting sun presented same remarkably sickly appearance. Mr. Soycr, an Engineer, a gentleman from Providence, Rhode Island, assures me, that some few years ago, when the Cholera prevailed there, nearly all the houser that had been painted white, and fronted along the wharves, were completely discolored by some substance, that was supposed to have been blown by the wind from the Bay, during the night. la a few days the houses presented such a streaked and dusty yellow appearance, as to attract the notice of many of the citizens. Iv'hen the Cholera commenced its ravages in many of our cities and ns, the citizens burnt powder and various materials in the streets. — s had very little, if any, good effect, as the smoke and heat were ried upward, and did not penetrate their dwellings. The better and *c economical plan would be to spread common lime and pulverized rcoal through the .streets and keep a continual fire in every chimney :e and stove, in overy dwelling, and to burn rosin or pine knots, aud tun down when the insects art settling to the earth, throw a handful 9 kept up, particularly at night, and the impurity of the atmosphere would soon be dissipated from the dwelling!, H 1 lie Cholera atmosphere is composed of those live insects, that seek a I Oiling place at night to spread their poisonous larvae, and in daytime bask in the noonday's sun. (forwarded several specimens of the largest Flies or Breeders, to two lie most celebrated entymologists in the United States — to Dr. John forru, of Baltimore City and S. S. Rath yon of Lancaster, to whom i much indebted for the following. Doctor Morris replies, Baltimork, July 26, 1854. v Your letter accompanied by the injects was received. I have examined them, and find them to be genuine Flies, the Genus Musca of Linne. Very few of our native Dipterous insects have been described by entymologists, and hence these specimens have no specific name. The suggestion you make, or rather the question you ask, whether these Flies are of Asiatic origin, I cannot positively answer. If they were of any of the other order of insects 1 would without hesitation say no, and could demonstrate it to you ; but Dipterous insects, and particularly the Genus Musca may be transmitted from one country to another, cither as perfect insects or as larvae or eggf< The common house Fly for instance I have seen all over Europe. The species you send is entirely new to me, and I can assure you that it has never been noticed, described and published by any Naturalists in the United States. As to its connexion with the Cholera I can say nothing but T can easily conceive, that a certain condition of the atmosphere would be more favorable to the development of the larvae of some insects, than another. It would certainly be important to have all the facts collected, md if you publish anything relating to them, I should be much oblige! to you for an opportunity to read your paper." Mr. S. S. Rathvon replies, October 14, 1854. II have examined your insect as thoroughly as the nature of circum* ces would admit, and would remark, that to the best of my knowledge Fly belongs to Fabricious' great Genus Musca, which has been did, and subdivided by Mm-quart, Halliday, Meigen, Desvoidy, and rs into 351 different genera, mak'ifg it impossible for me now to tell hich one it ought to be referred — we may however en a venture cal! U9oa Ochrapesus, as it docs not appear to have been described before, if it is not in the riirht Genus, it soon will be placed there by some iralist who knows more about it then I do — I describe it as follows "—" — 10 I Length, three-sixteenth of an inch; across the expanded wings one •ter of an inch— color dull ochcry yellow, iibdoincn divided into four lents, sessile or somipedunculated j the whole internal cavity of which, ie female, is tilled with yellowish eggs, visible through the external ruraent. Wings iridiscent, finely cellular, having fine longitudinal 'ures their whofc length, with ¦ row of minute spines along the anr margin. Thorax sparsely covered with long brownish spines or hairs;° the posterior margin much produced and armed at the outer M with two long spines. Head distinct; eyes prominent, complex deeply purple colored; rostrum apparently rudimental; anternal short and indistinct. Tarsi pentameroua, binnguate, and pulvululawith short spinel at each articulation. The abdomen of the male is i more elongated than that of the female and the segments more dis- I From the obsolete or imperfect (apparent) organization of the mouth is insect. I should judge its existence in the imago state would •ally be of very brief duration, two or three days at the longest. 1 oqwintod with an allied species, which is much larger, that appears in the Spring, resorting to freshly deposited animal excrements, a it under goes its various transformations, producing several broods ig the Summer. As regards its necessary connection with appearof Cholera, 1 know nothing. Doubtless a very long continuous spell inn, dry weather might produce an atmosphere destitute of the sary healthy quantum of electricity, and thus be the receptacle of ids of pestilential animalculae, which floating about in the air, and ; inhaled by individuals previously enervated by disease, dissipation use, would most likely engender Cholera or something akin to it, ially along the margin of stagnant streams and pool3of water, where »1 and vegetable decomposition is rapidly going on. I can see no reason why this should not be the case, although I do not feel myself to establish it from personal analysis or observation." listory informs us that, " in the year 1817, the terrible pestilence, the era broko out in Hindoostan. Dnring the 1 2 succeeding years it was t to and fro, in that immense tract of country which intervenes beu British India and the Russian dominions in Europe. It passed province to province and city to city. It journeyed by the highi, and strewed them with carcasses. It coursed along the rivers and ill were seen drifting in the current with their dead. It overtook jaravau in the desert and the merchant fell from his camel It fold armies to the field of battle, and broke up their array. It scaled 11 the great wall of China, forded the Tigris and the Euphrates, and traversed with the mariner the wide opium of the [ndian Ocean. The Bralnnin saw it rolling onward more terrible than the Car of Juggernaut. The Wild Tartar raised his war cry and expired. It swept away in its progress a hundred mill ions of the human species. In the Spring of L 881, the disease entered the Russian dominions, and (atmosphere of Moscow and St. Petersburg, WSJB obscured by clouds yellow insects, for some weeks previous to the breaking out of the olera ; in the midst of Winter, with the cold sixteen degrees below o, and in a tew brief months, after devastating the inland provinces, hagin ti ravage the shores of the Baltic. The harbors as is usual in the Summer season were crowded witli vessels from every port of Britain, and the infection spread among the seamen To guard against its introduction into this country, a rigid system of quarantine was established by the Government, and the Bay of (Vomait;, was one of the plaoel ap« pointed for the reception of vessels until their term of restriction should have expired. July 1831, a fleet of vessels were espied advancing toward the Bay. Their anchors were thrown out opposite the town of Cromarty. The plague ships had arrived, anil the whole country talked of nothing but the Cholera and the 1 quarantine Port. Dead bodies were Sung out every day over the side< of the quarantine vessels, aud might be seen, bloated by the water, and tanned yellow by disease, drifting along the surface of the Bay. The shores were strewed with dead fish ; the fishermen became terrified when rowing homewards before sunrise, and doubling the rocky promontories which jut into the sea. they saw a wreath of yellow vapor, winding slowly along the beach, and they believed it to be the visitation of the terrible pestilence which was to desolate the country. Thus the plague was brought to the place; by the vessels, and was seen slowly flying along the ground, disengaged from every vehicle of infection, in the shape of a yellow cloud — and thus was the Cholera introduced into Britain, notwithstanding every precaution had been taken to lude it. Jn Britain it travelled through the interior with the celerity he mail, and in a few weeks after its appearance it was ravaging the ropolis of England, and the southern shores of the Frith of Forth.— arted across the Atlantic Ocean, and the tortures of this dreadful disseized the citizens of Montreal and then New York. Across the ted States it swept until the living were wearied with burying the 1 ; multitudes stood waiting its approach in anxiety and terror ; they their cities colored with a sickly yellow hue, and the sun seemed lg behind the wreaths of yellow poisonous vapor. 1 ' 12 Each day's sky was without a elf id to send forth a single flash of electricity to purify the air, and the \ oods, fields and cottages of this wide extent of country, seemed to be coy red with a pale yellow blight] that deprived them of their fertility and beauty — whilst each night seemed wrapped in a pall of darkness; and where the yellow Fog had remained longest, the more disastrous were i' 3 effects. Even the fine linen that was left hanging out at night, was changed as if under the hands of the dyer, from white to yellow , doors and windows were fast closed by the inhabitants, and whole families wer, found lying dead on their floors — whilst the poultry, the swine, am 1 tl.j cattle were followed by the yellow pest, and expired in the open air. No Heaven's soft azure in the sky was seen, no genial sun, no spot of green, of blue, of red, of orange or of violet, nought but a towering ma. .? of yellow pestilential vapor, emerging from the gloomiest night to blurt the joys of man. I 'his mass of living insects, this horrible larvae to torment mankind, idered up and down the earth like a yellow shadow, remained stationfor ft few days, where the stagnant waters were most impure, and then, the carrion crow, it would, swiiter than the winds of Heaven dart to another remotely attraetiv. and filthy decaying matter, and spreadits devastating poison over the whole vicinity, it covered the waters vegetation, and fastened upon all things animate to spread before the Id another terrible picture of death, and this is the true history of yellow plague. 1 cannot conceive how this yellow il Plague Fly " can be the effect, rather than the cause of the disease, when 1 have discovered and pointed out the yellow cloud to others, .some days previous to the appearance of the pestilence— l know it to have preceded the pestilence, and claim to be the first discoverer of this Yellow Plague Fly, as the insect origin of the Cholera or Yellow Jack, and do consider it immaterial, by what name renowned Doctors may choose to distinguish these two kindred epidemics, when preceded by the same yellow Fly — I do but give the facts, and expect them to counteract the spreading epidemic poison. 1 have seen this dusty shadowy cloud glistening in the sun, and far distant along the horizon towards the setting pun, have Been it quivering, and as it were, settling down upon the earth. I have pointed out the phenomenon to numbers of my fellow citizens, and told them what my impression was , and that in one weeks time they would hear of the Cholera breaking nut along the Susquehanna River. I pointed out this phenomenon on the 4th of September, 1854, some fi\*e days before the Cholera raged so frightfully in the Borough of Columbia, Lancaster county. On the 14th of 13 June, 1855, I again discovered the dusty cloud floating along the distant horizon South West of Lancaster, and then predicted that the pestilence would ravage along the Chesapeake Bay. Those persons to whom I communicated my impressions, doubted their correctness, but the terrible scourge at Norfolk, Portsmouth and Gosport is evidence, positive evidence of the visitation of the kfflietilg calamity, and the " Yellow Plague Fly." A correspondent at Nortolk, September Ist, 1855, writes as follows : The Plague Fly at Norfolk, Virginia. 1A most singular looking fly has made its appearance, which is quite •anger in this latitude, and has never been known here by the " oldest inhabitant. 1 ' Its body is about the size of our common fly, of a yellowish color, with long delicate porous wings, of a texture as fine as the softest silk. They fly together in swarms, and may be seen in large numbers on the fig trees — but their great point of attraction seems to be the coffins in which repose the ill-fated victims of v Yellow Jack." We took a stroll out to the Golgotha of burial grounds, Potters field, yesterday, and was intensely horrified at seeing many of the coffins that lay on the ground, scattered around awaiting interment, literally yellow with these loathsome little insects, that squirmed themselves upon one another so thick as to exclude the coffin entirely from sight. It was the most disgusting spectacle we ever beheld, having an oily, wormy significance of the last of poor mortality about it, that was absolutely sickening ! What could have brought these tiny scavengers here ! do they follow like camp plunderers in the train of the pitiless destroyer — or are they engendered by the deadly disease itself, acting upon a peculiar atmosphere ? These are questions that we leave to savans, better skilled in such phenomena of nature than we are, to answer — satisfactory if they can.'' The above correspondent says : "The}' may be seen in large numbers on the fig-trees, 1 ' — and it is well known that the Cantharides or Spanish Flies produce a worm that is pecu- Ito the fig-tree — whose juices being very corrosive or biting are supid to be the cause of its corrosive or caustic quality. Physicians well w their service in blisters, since experience has confirmed the former, given us too dreadful examples of the latter. When a Spanish Fly iter is applied to our bodies, in a few minutes the result is a swelling of skin, and a painful burning and scalding. Suppose we inhale the c biting poisonou3 Larvae of the Plague Fly — and in a few minutes r caustic qualities seize upon our vitals; what can prevent or cure the ruciating pains, the terrible convulsions, so that death does not ensue ? s we believe to be the cause and the result — and we leave it to medical clemen to give relief and effect the cure. 14 THE EPIDEMIC IN NOPFOMv AND POKTHSMOVTEI. the angel of death still hovers over the stricken cities of Norfolk and thsmouth, and daily scores are. hurried to the grave. During the past week many of the bust citizens of each place have fallen victims to 1 pestilence, and it still ragei in all its malignity, and will probably iuue until it ceases for want ot victims, or is stayed in its ravages by vere frost. " A gentleman tells me that he was in Norfolk a few days since and saw 000 cases, and in one ward of the city hospital he saw 68 lying ill, 40 of whom were dying, an 1 three died while he was there He saw twelve bodies in one corner of the room, awaiting burial, and among them was the late young Walter Scott, son of Robert G. Scott, Richmond. " The atmosphere of Norfolk ii close, humid and suffocating, with an average temperature of 80 degrees. No peculiar stenches are observable ; tdo the streets possess that filthy character which is almost a necessary equence of thentter neglect that follows the out break of an epidemic proximity of a stench of marshy ground is believed to be an inciting c of the malady. M In some instances, the master, mistress and servants are all sick at a time, and on attempting to seperate the latter, they if possible seek their mistress' sick room, often hiding under the bed in order that they shall not be discovered by the physician or nurses; many of the slaves are heard begging, as a last request, to be interred with their master or mistress, as the case may be — all being alike subject to attack and death. I A common spectacle in the streets is a cart laden with coffins, which deposited at some convenient street corner, and removed thence by undertakers as occasion demands. Three or four of these coffins often d together. The dead arc immediately taken out of the houses and ed upon the sidewalks ; a strip of parchment, inscribed with the name and date of decease of the victim being nailed upon the lid of each n. A duplicate of this parchment record is preserved. The bodies he dead are conveyed away by carts which traverse the streets at id intervals. There arc three places of burial tThe houses of the citizens who have fled are, it is believed, pretty ;rally respected. Few cases of theft are reported, and burglaries are common. A considerable amount of valuable property is frequently in the hands of the physicians. This is always confined to the care he Banatary Committee. " The Richmond American states that a sufficiency of lumber has been procured and forwarded to tk Sharp's Farm," about 12 inilea below Rich- 15 Id, on James River, where workmen have been engaged putting up fortablo cabins for the accommodation of those citizens of Norfolk Portsmouth who can make it convenient to leave the plague-smitten s. I' There is no way of ascertaining the names of those who die, and no ord of them can be preserved. The prominent ones are notod down the reporters for the press ; but the masses arc hastily picked up by hearses and dead-carts, and hurried off to be hid in the earth till the at day of reckoning. We shall not know who are dead for six months :ome. Now and then some familiar face will recur to the living, and uiry will elicit the mournful response that 'he died of the fever.' It i only [to-day that here, in the midst (of the carnage, I learned that eph Rosson, a respectable mechanic and a member of one of the ancils, died last week ; also Mr. W. Ahcrn." The Petersburg Express, in recording the death of Avcry Williams, in Porthsmouth, says he is the nineteenth member of the Williams family that has fallen a victim to the epidemic. Geo. F. Guy, Esq., a prominent citizen of Porthsmouth, is sick as is also Mrs. Gait, the wife of the postmaster at Norfolk. "The officers of the banks in Porthsmouth and Norfolk having nearly all either died or been disabled by disease, there is hardly any body left to atinid tobtttilMM. The funds of the Branch Hank of Virginia, in PortilSnionth, have been withdrawn, and deposited with the mother Hank heir — We learn that there being nobody to attend to tin 1 affairs of the branch of the Fanners' Hank in Norfolk, the funds of that have been ordered away by the mother bank, and will be immediately translated hither." lam aware that the Theory of the insect origin of the pestilence has ti exploded by learned doctors; but with these facts now before them, the description of this heretofore undiscovered Plague-Fly, 1 trusttluit utitic men maybe enabled to stay the further ravages of this insect leiuio poison, and New Orleans and other cities will be hereafter freed 1 its malignity. In conclusion, 1 beg that my motives in publishing the foregoing dis. covery will be properly appreciated. Whilst assuring my fellow citizens that 1 feel fully convinced, th;it wherever this tenacious Plague-Fly locates itaelf, there is nothing but poison and death in every thing we eat and drink; and the first suspicion we receive of its visit, the first victim of its poison, should be a sufficient warning to the inhabitants of any locality, if they wish to save their lives, to desert the plague spot, or build fires in erery dwelling, and throughout every street from sun-down to sun-rise, as nothing short of a general conflagration will destroy this wingsd insect, this most certain Yellow Angel of Death.