A.D. 1670, gangrenous ergotism broke out in Aquitaine, in Sologne, and in the Galinois district; it continued until 1674, by which time it had extended to Montagris and the neighbourhood. A.D. 1672, in the month of December, there fell in the West of England a shower of rain that froze into ice as soon as it touched the boughs of trees or anything above ground, and by the increase of size of the icicles, it broke all down with its weight. The ice on the sprig of an ash weighing three-quarters of a pound amounted to sixteen pounds. The rain that fell on the snow immediately became ice without sinking into the snow, so intensely cold was the weather. About this time, a strange phenomenon occurred; while the English were waiting for the flow of the tide, in order to land on the coast of Scheveling, they were disappointed; as the next tide flowed but two hours, when an ebb for many hours succeeded, which carried the English fleet again to sea before the return of the flow: the Hollanders were thus preserved from an invasion, as it were, by a miracle. In Spain, great sterility of the land and epidemic disease prevailed. In the month of May, the Council of One Hundred were informed that pestilence had broken out on the French frontiers. Miliary pestilence prevailed in Hungary; and in the early part of the year following, 1673, an epidemic of a violent character broke out in Spain, which continued until 1684; it was described by Valcarcel as being of a tertiary type. The disease was of a mild form in the months of May and June, but increased in malignancy in August, September, and October to such a degree that it destroyed nearly half the inhabitants of Barcelona. A.D. 1675 and 1676, virulent small-pox and measles again broke out in England. In the former year (1675), 11,300 persons were carried off by plague in the island of Malta: a miliary epidemic was very fatal in Hamburgh, and, according to Escobar, the inhabitants of the city of Carthagena suffered from epidemic tertian fevers. A.D. 1677, a comet was observed. Pestilence again broke out in Murcia and Carthagena; thousands died of small-pox in Charleston, Massachusetts, United States, and a plague desolated many parts of Europe. From this year until 1679, epidemic pestilence overspread Spain; and, according to the statements of several historians, the capitals of Granada, Cordova, and Seville suffered greatly. A.D. 1678. A comet was observed this year also. An inundation occurred in Gascony, when the water spouted in jets from the sides of an adjacent mountain in overwhelming quantities. Plagues ravaged Algeria and Morocco.--The year following, mortal pestilence prevailed in Vienna, and in Malaga and other parts of Andalusia. A.D. 1679, pestilence and famine were rife in Germany from June until the month of December the following year, 1680: two comets were observed. Dresden suffered from plague, and cholera prevailed in England.