Virginia Argus

Deferred Articles.

Extracts from two letters written in Lexington, Kt. one in January and the other in February 1814. and addressed from a Physician there to a Physician in New-York

"We have but little to console us on the return of our army; for they contracted the seeds of a disease in Camp, which broke out on their return, and has carried many of them off, and now assumes the form of an epidemic. Scarcely a family has escaped its visitation. Lexington is at this time under its influence: and as Dr Rush used to say—'Every disease is made to wear its livery. It is not confined to the town: the country is equally unhealthy. Our friends Mr. and Mrs. Breckenridge. have had a most distressing bereavement. Miss Caroline Laurens Smith, the youngest daughter of President Smith, of Princeton, visited her sister and was permitted to remain but a few days, until she fell sick & died. The disease that prevails here is the same I had to encounter last winter, modified by circumstances. There is not that immediate prostration of the system which I have seen; but there is an obstable of the alimentary canal, such as I have never witnessed before. Its appearance is ushered in by a head ache, a very deep seated pain in the head, chills, subsequent fevers, pain, and frequently a swelling of the eyes, a very dry, black, and furrowed tongue, dry rough skin, and extreme torpor of the Cutaneous vessels, particularly the feet, pain in the breast frequently and bad cough. When a family is attacked, it frequently goes the round. It has appeared also in the neighboring towns, equally fatal. Upon the first appearance, it was not understood, and its termination was often fatal. Many of our Citizens have fallen victims to it. Our Legislature is about to adjourn without doing much. The fever made its appearance among them, and three or four Members died; the remainder became alarmed and agreed to adjourn much earlier than common."