.00 TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Stit,—I may be able
to add a few facts of interest bearing on the subjects mentioned in your article under this title in the Spectator of February 7th. The quotation from an old writer as to the East wind bringing diseases in its train is certainly supported by what was at one time a common experience in this county (Essex). My father, who is now eighty-two years of age, well recollects the periodical visitations of ague that used to extend inland from the marshes bordering on the German Ocean. So soon as the sun got sufficient power in the springtime it drew out the unwholesome exhalations from the marshes which were blown inland by the East wind. He well remembers being twice suddenly "bowled over" by ague when a little boy, and carried home from school. It was a common proceeding for the well-to-do farmers from the, neighbourhood of Tillingham and Bradwell to own or rent houses in the inland districts, and migrate to them with their families in the spring, generally in the month of May. Unfortunately the well-to-do farmer able to keep two
large houses has disappeared almost as completely as the ague. The prevalence of that complaint in- those days, and its subse- quent departure, are explained by the fact that in old days the sea-water made its way through the imperfect sluices and rotted the vegetation, carrying seaweed with it, and the strong sun in late spring drew up the foul water "in cold sweating clouds" which the East wind drove inland. With the intro- duction of indiarubber or other means the sluice-doors have been made more efficient. I cannot say whether this explana-
tion is correct or not.—I am, Sir, &c., W. B. DUFFIELD. Brownings, near Chelmsford.
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