champagne party, and ladies dance. Mrs. Wood
can never dance with any other but our Sahib
(the magistrate); that I saw, when I was a
hearer. Mrs. Wood is very kind; through the
influence of one letter she got me the jemedary
of the jail."

In the fifth and last act there occurs in the
first scene a conversation between Mr. Wood
and his Dewan upon the subject of a disturbance
among the ryots. The Dewan ventures to speak
a little candidly, for which he gets knocked down
and kicked, and called "a diabolical nigger."
In the next scene, which is "The Bedroom of
Nobin," that unfortunate ryot is brought in
senseless, with a fractured skull, which he has
received from the Sahib at the factory. Both he and
his friend Torapa had made a brave resistance, but
had been overpowered; but not before Torapa
had made a rush at the elder Sahib (Wood) and
bitten off his nose! "That nose I have kept
with me," adds Torapa, in telling the story, " and
when the baboo (Nobin) will rise up to life again
I will show him that." (Here he produces the
nose.) " Had the baboo been able to fly off
himself, I would have taken his (Wood's) ears; but
I would not have killed him, as he is a creature of
God." After this, all the ladies of the drama,
and the entire female population of the
neighbourhood, enter. Sabitri falls senseless at finding
her son on the point of death; but Soirindri
commands herself sufficiently to "sit near his
mouth." Looking at Sabitri, she says, "As the
cow losing her young wanders about with loud
cries, then being bit by a serpent falls down
dead on the field, so the mother is lying dead
on the ground, being grieved for her dear son."
After this, she herself falls upon the breast
of Nobin. Nobin's aunt tries to raise her from
the ground, but fails, and falls also near her.
Sabitri next goes mad, and talks wildly. A
physician is afterwards brought to try and revive
Nobin.

Tlie following scene is laid in the "Room of
the Sadhu Churn." Khetromani lies in great
torment on her bed; Sadhu and Reboti are with
her. The physician does all in his power, but
she dies amidst the loud cries and lamentations
of her family. Then comes the last scene, the
"Hall in the house of Goluk," where Sabitri,
still insane, is found sitting with the dead body
of Nobin on her lap. She is performing some
wild incantations, which are interrupted by
Saralota, her daughter-in-law, whom she seizes
in a frenzy and strangles—standing afterwards
on her neck. Bindu Madhab, the husband of
Saralota, enters during this proceeding. Bindu
says that he cannot live now that his father is
hanged, that his brother Nobin has died of his
wounds, and that his mother has destroyed his
wife. "Upon hearing this, Sabitri suddenly
recovers her understanding, and aroused to a sense
of the crime she has committed, herself drops
down dead. Her son kneels and weeps beside
the body, taking some of the dust from her feet
and placing it on his head, eating also some of
the same dust, "to purify his body." Next
appears Soirindri, who says that she is going to
die with her husband Nobin, and will not be
prevented. She runs out. Bindu makes a
funeral oration upon the family, which he says
"has been destroyed by indigo, the great
destroyer of honour." The curtain falls, leaving
him sitting, clasping his mother's feet.

Such is the drama of Nil Darpan—as far as
its most essential features are concerned.
Considering that it pretends to be a true picture of
the indigo-planting system, it would certainly
warrant an investigation of the nature of that
system on the part of government, were it not
for the fact that the investigation was made last
year, and that all the charges here so pathetically
illustrated were found to be false. As a
political squib, therefore, it comes rather late in the
day. As a dramatic production, it may be sufficient
to remark that it is about twice as long as
Macbeth.

A NEW DISEASE?

DURING a journey in Brittany, Monsieur
Hardy, Doctor to the Hospital Saint-Louis,
Paris, spent several days at Brest; and there,
both in civil and medical society, he heard much
talk of a singular malady which, for some years
past, had affected a certain number of young
women resident in that city. The complaint,
characterised by a black discoloration of the
eyelids, has been very carefully described by its
discoverer, M. Leroy de Méricourt, Principal
Physician to the Navy, and Professor at the
Naval School at Brest. Dr. Hardy was so startled
by the peculiarity of this affection, which
was only known by hearsay at Paris, that he felt
a strong desire to see a case. M. Leroy de
Méricourt gratified his wish, by introducing him to
one of his patients suffering under black dropsy
of the eyelids.

Mademoiselle X., nineteen years of age, of
lymphatic temperament and average strength, a tall
and handsome girl, in the habitual enjoyment of
excellent health, belongs to the middle class of
society. One Sunday, two years ago, as she
came out of church after mass, something
occurred to annoy her excessively. In the evening,
observing some black spots upon her eyelids,
she feared she was going to have the black
disease of which she had already seen instances,
and which was the terror of all the girls in Brest.
Unfortunately, her apprehensions turned out too
true. On the next and the following days, the
spots remained and increased, without, however,
her general health's showing the least derangement
or irregularity. A few very slight and small
pimples only made their appearance once or
twice, and took their departure as harmless
shadows as they came.

On the 17th of September, 1859, the patient
was found in the following condition: at the
first glance you are struck with the black
discoloration which covers the cutaneous surface
of the two eyelids; both, and especially the
lower lid, are covered with a stratum of slightly
greyish black, as if they had been daubed over
with, some dark dye. On closer inspection, the