to it. From the work of Forestier it seems clear that the heart was especially liable to attacks of sudden and overpowering force.
With the arrival of any new, and widespread, disease one is naturally prompted to enquire into the origin, and antecedent history, of the unwelcome visitant. This question suggested itself to the early writers on the " sudor Anglicus ", and was answered with but little hesitation. They attributed the epidemic to the soldiery of Henry Tudor, whose landing had by so short a time preceded the first appearance of the disease, and there seems good reason for accepting the traditional theory as to its origin.
The force with which Henry of Richmond secured the crown was collected in the neighbourhood of Rouen. Normandy at this period was overrun by bands of freebooters licensed by Louis XI. In assisting the Earl of Richmond to raise an army in this district the ministers of Charles VIII may have seen an excellent opportunity for ridding France of a portion of this social refuse. Men such as these, whose lives had been spent in the indulgence of every kind of excess, were fitting mediums for the attraction, and transmission, of any sort of infection.
We have no evidence that any disease like the sweating sickness existed around Rouen previous to the departure of Henry Tudor for England, or the origin of the epidemic might have been held to be established beyond cavil; yet nearly 250 years later, about 171 7, a disease resembling the English sweat in nearly every particular made its appearance in the marshy districts of the lower
