The most fruitful subject of speculation among our French neighbours

during the week, has been the somewhat tardy dis- covery of Cholera in Paris;•-The Times stated the fact of the dis- ease having occurred there several weeks ago ; but the local au- thorities either could not or would not see it until the number of the persons affected rendered any attempt at further concealment hopeless. The first case which came under tbe 4:special observe- tiian of the medical "men, occurred in a place where we should harillyilievelooked for a rnalady _which seems to mark the poor, the.ratked, the hungry, the wayfaring, for its peculiar prey. It was found in the kitchen of Marshal LOBAU, and in the person of the superintendent of the operations in that warm and generally comfortable apartment. The death-of a cook from cholera is not, however, at all at variance with the ordinary theory of the epi- demic. Exposure to heat and exposure to cold operate for the most part in nearly the some way on the digestive powers; and ' diseases of the stomach and bowels are as frequent in him who is from morning to night surrounded by the steams of that abund- ance which crowns the great mans table, as in him who is com- pelled to feed on the crumbs that fill from it. We have said that the disease' had been lurking about Paris for a considerable time past. The proximate causes that led to its exacerbation on Friday are not pointed out, but there can be no doubt that they were neither few nor small. The following bulletin appeared in the Moniteur of Saturday—

March 30, at Midnight.

" Number of persons attacked—males, 118 ; females, 60; total, 176. " Of whom have died—males, 41; females, 19.

" Remaining—males, 77 ; females, 41; total, 118."

The private letters add- " Every effort is made, not only to prevent the dissemination of the ialtction, but to insure relief to those attacked ; and as the disease appears to have broken out simultaneously in every part of the city, orders have been issued to arrange medical boards in each of the forte-eight districts, at which every medical man living and practising in them is obliged to attend in turn. The Mayors of the twelve arrondissements have arranged houses of reception in each quarter of these districts, with lanterns to point them out at night. Placards are stuck up on all the walls, announcing the means of preventing and of curing the disease; awl at various places boxes are fixed, to receive notice of the persons requiring medical assistance, which boxes are opened every hour. The narrow streets and lanes are swept daily, and the pavement in .many places washed, which is unusual in this city. As this is the season of Lent, during which some pious persons hesitate to eat flesh meat, an order from the Archbishop of Paris is ex- pected to be published to-morrow, to authorize the use of such food. In the Exchange, and in many of the theatres, vessels OA with solution of chloride of lime, &c. are placed. The theatres of anatomy are closed. Marshal Souk has published an order of the day, to require each soldier of the garrison to pro- cure a flannel waistband and woollen stockings, for which five francs are given. Strict regulations are made for preserving the health of the troops. At the hospital of the Hotel Dieu, a mob collected yesterday, and cried out that the cholera was brought here by distress ; but care has been taken to prevent such asSemblies in future. As the cholera is considered to attack soonest invalids from other diseases a division is made in the wards, to prevent the infection from spreading in the hospitals.

"Notwithstanding the assurances of the medical Men that the disease is prin- cipally confined to the ill-fed and badly-clothed classes, the wealthy and the idle have within two days commenced to migrate from hence. Some of the dili- genres are engaged for several days, and yesterday it required much interest to- procure post horses. "Thursday was Ili-Cart:me, and, as Mid-Lent day, was celebrated with fes- tivities. Masquerades, promenades, and balls took place. At the masked balls some persons were guilty of excesses at night, carried to the hospitals in the morning, and breathed their last in the afternoon. - "The alarm respecting the extension of the disease continues to prevail, and is said to have reached Orleans; consequently two of the greatest rivers, the Seine and the Loire, must, as it is said to folio* the course of water, disseminate it soon throughout a great part of France. Some of the most prudent journals recommend to persons having healthful dwellings in the city, to remain, as the means of obtaining good medical assistance is so much more secure than,in the country." ,

The law which authorizes the city of Paris to raise-, by way_ of . . loan; the_ sum of forty milliOnS of francs [1,600,000] has received _ . the royal assent ; and a large portion of the Money Will, it is as- sullied, be applied to the cure or mitigation of the scourge. The relative numbers of cases and of deaths do not seem to differ very materially from what has been observed in this country. The fol- lowing is the return for the first four days— Attacked. Dead.

Males. Females. Males. Females.

. .

Former statements up to Saturday ... 172 110 68 32

Sunday 108 73 46 21

Monday 158 94 69 31 Tuesday 193 124 91 ' 36

— — Total 651 401 274 120 .The absolute numbers, however, are, it will be seen, much greater. Up to yesterday, the number of cases in the metropolis of England, which is at least twice as populous as Paris, was only 2,15S ; the number of deaths 1,148. The progressof the disease in the one capital and in the other, fully bears us out in our opinion of its nature, expressed long before it reached our shores in any form,—that the superior comforts of England offered an obstacle to, its progress which was ranch more efficient than any quarantine regulations that the Wisdom Of our counsellors was likely to frame. In point of fact, its ravages in London have been in a great measure confined to the friendless strangers with which the town is inundated. The, living in* Paris is much infe- rior to what it is in this country ; a much largerpro getable substances, and a much smaller of ani enter into it. - Of the beverage of the lower order'/grandy,as perhaps worse than gin, except that it is strongertt tte*, larPlittle doubt that, with all its adulterations, o better than the mixture of vinegar and water iblencladierri drink under the :name -of wine. Add,to this, the- " owneis the streets in the greater part of Paris, and their fi aamp is easily generated and long retained—the crowded dwel- lings of the poor—the" stagnating river that crawls through the midst of the city—all these circumstances are evidently predis- posers to the influences of the epidemic, and easily explain its ra- pidity of progress. It does not yet appear that the labours of the medical men in Paris have been more successful in arresting the disease when once fairly formed, than those of their brethren in England. They remark, in a little sanitary code which they have published, that the grand object is the timely application of medicine ; and such has been the constant observation of medical men among ourselves. The idea of contagion is scouted by the Parisian medical autho- rities. The following is a copy of their opinion on that head- " The undersigned physicians and surgeons of the Hotel Dieu think it their

!fluty to declare, in the interest of truth, that although up to the present time this hospital has received the greatest number of persons affected with the cholera, they have not observed any circumstance which authorizes them to !Suspect that the disorder is contagious. (Signed) "PETIT RECAMIER HussoE DUPUYTREN MACENDIE BRESCHET HoEou GUENEAU DE Mussv SAMSON CAMARO GENDRIN, BAILLIU."

"Done at the Mitel Dieu, Paris, March 31, 1832."

The appearance of this disease in a town situated 130 miles from the nearest sea, without the occurrence of a single case at any of the outposts, was indeed sufficient proof that, however it might spread when there, it did not come by contagion. The Parisians have signalized the arrival of Cholera by a row. It might have been imagined that the removal of the filth from the streets of Paris would be hailed as an improvement. But hu- man beings have strange fancies. The smell of the Modern Athens is proverbially sweet in the nostrils of its learned inhabi- tants. The peasants round Lisbon deem no music so sweet as the creaking of a cart-wheel. The inhabitants of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine revel in their dunghills. The removal of the latter has been resisted even to blood. There is an order of men in Paris called Chiffonniers—we have transmogrified the word into Scaven- gers—who go about at night, after the "dust" of each house has been emptied at the door, picking up with careful hand whatever of use an unthrifty housewife or a careless servant may have allowed to mingle with it. The prompt removal of the " dust " :necessarily interferes with the occupation of these hunters after odds and ends. They assembled in consequence, in such numbers as they could muster, and set upon the new carts of the police,— whose very newness was, no doubt, an offence in the eyes of men who gain their livelihood from the refuse of what is old; broke a number, burnt some, and threw some into the river. The numerical force of the Chiffonniers is said, in some accounts, to be about 8,000: this, we suppose, must be very considerably exag- gerated; but, small or great, they formed a sufficient nucleus round which to agglomerate the constant enemies of order, the . partisans of the Exiled Family,—whose necessities have brought them acquainted before now with as strange fellows as the miserable Chiffonniers. The mob attacked the prison of St. Pelagie, where some of their co-freres were shut up ; and in the attack and defence, one man was shot and several were wounded. The absurd notions of the people respecting Cholera, have con- tributed to continue the disturbances which the anti-cleansing fac- tion began. From its attacking the poor, they seem to have jumped to the conclusion that there was something aristocratical in its nature ; and a report was propagated, that poison had been mixed with the wine of the taverns, and that it was from the poison, and not the Cholera, that the patients had died. The Constitutionnel asserts, that, in order to give credibility to this no- tion, some wretches were going about putting arsenic in the wine- butts ; and there seems no doubt such villany has been practised. Although there are not many things of which the desperate fac- tion of the Exiled Family are not capable, we must refuse credit to a statement which would convert them into the worst of assas- sins, unless on the very strongest evidence. In the midst of disease physical and political, some good is likely to spring up. The existence of cholera at Paris, in even a more aggravated form than in London,—and its reported appearance at Etampes, Tours, and Calais, where cases are said to have occurred, ---,render the observance of quarantine regulations between the two countries, which are of necessity useless when neither has any malady to import of which it is not already in possession, alto- gether ridiculous. Some of the French papers—Contagionists, we presume, from the singular force of their reasoning—still contend for the continuance of quarantine, in order to save the provinces from danger. The Government have taken the side of common sense, and ordered, by telegraphic despatch, all quarantine on account of cholera to be put an end to.