A.D. 1527, mention is made by Franco of a pestilence which broke out at Xativa. Great numbers of the Imperial army of Italy were destroyed by pestilence after the sacking of Rome; it also carried off thousands at Wurtemburg. Hailstorms were prevalent about this period in Italy. Cardinal Gastaldi relates that, in the following year, 1528, the kingdom of Aragon was visited by severe plague, the cause of which was superstitiously attributed to the ringing of the great bell of Velilla.[1] Deadly fevers were rife in London, which, in the autumn, degenerated into sweating sickness: it invaded Cork, in Ireland, and Italy also. From this period (1528) until 1534, there was experienced much suffering from famine, preceded by moisture and great heat: repeated inundations occurred, and continuous summer fogs prevailed in Italy. Petechial fevers were very destructive: the French army before Naples lost great numbers from spotted fevers. The ‘trousse galante’ carried off, it is said, a fourth part of the population of France during this period: this disease was attributed to elemental disturbances; the spring was cold, and the summer wet, so that the growing corn was destroyed, and a dire famine was the consequence throughout France, it being more distressing than the period of scarcity in the time of Louis XI. on account of its long persistence; for the failure of the harvest continued for five years in succession, during which period all natural order of the seasons appeared to be reversed. A damp heat prevailed in the autumn and in winter. The course of all vegetation was changed; scarcely had the trees shed their leaves in autumn, when they began to bud again and the fruit-trees to bear blossoms. The disease was a highly inflammatory fever, which proved fatal in a very short time, very frequently in the space of a few hours. In many cases of those who recovered, the hair and the nails dropped off, and convalescence was tedious, leaving the constitution much shaken. These symptoms were evidently the same as those observed in what was termed the ‘Dandy fever,’ which prevailed in later times in France and in the West India Islands in the year 1828. During this period drought, swarms of locusts, and fiery meteors were observed in the north of Germany.