A.D. 1565, a pestilential epidemic prevailed in France, in which bleeding was said to have been fatal to many; the disease raged with great severity at Lyons. Charles IX. having inquired of his physicians the most judicious mode of treatment, they expressed their disapprobation of venesection. Seville and various other parts of Spain suffered from a similar disease, which, however, was not very fatal; great numbers are said to have owed their preservation to the use of treacle, immense quantities of which the Catholic king Philip II. sent to the Christian king Charles IX. Schenckius describes this pestilence as having been preceded by a sharp frost in December, the distemper having commenced in January: the air being filled with gross vapours was supposed to have given rise to this malady. Wierus informs us, that this pestilence afflicted all mankind; it was preceded by small-pox and measles; it proved very fatal, depopulating towns and cities, among which were Constantinople, Alexandria, Leyden, London, Dantzic, Vienna, Cologne, and the whole tract of the Upper Rhine, even unto Basle. The malady was accompanied by glandular tumors in the neck; it was an aggravated form of quinsy, proving fatal to many in one day. The sick were taken with vomiting, followed by a swelling of the tongue,--afterwards loss of speech and difficulty of swallowing anything, even in a liquid form; suffocation and death soon followed. A.D. 1566, a pestilence began at Comorra, called in Latin ‘Morbus Hungaricus’ and ‘Lues Pannonica.’ The Emperor Maximilian’s army, while carrying on hostilities against the Turks, lost many thousands by this disease. The symptoms were as follow: It began generally in the latter part of the day, towards evening, with cold shiverings, succeeded in a short time by great heat and insatiable thirst, lasting for some hours. There was pain in the head and stomach. On the second, or third day at furthest, delirium set in. The tongue was dry and black; the teeth were covered with sordes: some spit blood; others suffered from diarrhœa. The sufferers generally were covered with spots like flea-bites, chiefly on the breast. Stoppage of the urine was considered a fatal sign. A similar spotted fever was also prevalent at Paris the year following, 1567, carrying off great numbers; it raged in many parts of Europe, continuing for three years: it subsequently degenerated into a dreadful pestilence--the true plague, and prevailed for the four following years. A.D. 1568, Seville was visited by epidemic pestilence. Dr. Andres Zamudio de Alfaro wrote a treatise on this malady, as did also Francisco Franco, a native of Xativa, in the kingdom of Valencia, physician to his Serene Highness the King of Portugal. Franco in his work, alluding to the celebrated poet Ausias March, whose work he says should be written in letters of gold, quotes the following therefrom: