But these trades are as eccentric as comets; nay, worse, for no one can calculate on the recurrence of the strange appearances which betoken the disease.
Moreover, the contagion is general, and the quickness with which it diffuses itself, almost incredible.
We will cite two or three cases in illustration of our meaning.

Six or eight years ago, the epidemic began to display itself among the linen-drapers and haberdashers.

The primary symptoms were an inordinate love of plate-glass, and a passion for gas-lights and gilding.

The disease gradually progressed, and at last attained a fearful height.
Quiet, dusty old shops in different parts of town, were pulled down; spacious premises with stuccoed fronts and gold letters, were erected instead; floors were covered with Turkey carpets; roofs supported by massive pillars; doors knocked into windows; a dozen squares of glass into one; one shopman into a dozen; and there is no knowing what would have been done, if it had not been fortunately discovered, just in time, that the Commissioners of Bankruptcy were as competent to decide such cases as the Commissioners of Lunacy, and that a little confinement and gentle examination did wonders.

The disease abated.