own of Macroom has a
fever hospital; persons of all ages are dropping dead in the streets. In
May, it is announced that fever continued to rage with unabated fury at
Castlebar. "Sligo is a plague spot; disease in every street, and of the
worst kind." "Fever is committing fearful ravages in Ballindine,
Ballinrobe, Claremorris, Westport, Ballina, and Belmullet, all in the
county of Mayo." From Roscommon the news came, that the increase of
fever was truly awful; the hospitals were full, and applicants were
daily refused admission; "no one can tell," says the writer, "what
becomes of these unfortunate beings; they are brought away by their
pauper friends, and no more is heard of them." "Seven bodies were found
inside a hedge," in the parish of Kilglass; the dogs had the flesh
almost eaten off. Under date of the 18th of May, I find this entry;
"Small pox, added to fever and dysentery, is prevalent at Middleton,
County Cork; and, near Bantry Abbey, 900 bodies were interred in a plot
of ground forty feet square." From the autumn of 1846 to May, 1847, ten
thousand persons were interred in Father Mathew's cemetery at Cork--he
was obliged to close it. On the 12th of June, the number of fever
patients in the hospitals of Belfast was 1,840. "Awful fever," "Fearful
increase of fever," were the ordinary phrases, in which the spread of
the disease was announced from every part of Ireland.[270]

"Of the extent of the epidemic in Dublin, it would not be easy to give
any very correct idea. The hospital accommodation of the city amounted
to about 2,500 beds, a greater amount by 1,000, I believe, than were
opened in any previous epidemic. It may give some idea of the vast
amount of sickness, to state, that, at the Cork Street hospital, nearly
12,000 cases applied during a period of about ten months. At one period
there were upwards of 400 outstanding tickets; and as many as eighty
applications for admission have been made in one day. Still it may be
safely stated, that all this would give a very imperfect idea of the
real amount; for all who had to go amongst the poor at their own houses,
were well aware, that vast numbers remained there, who either could not
be accommodated in hospital, or who never thought of applying. It was
quite common to find three, four, and even five ill in a house, where
application had been made but for one. I think the very lowest estimate
which could be arrived at cannot make the numbers who sickened in Dublin