A MILD CASE IN SYDNEY.

FOURTEEN PERSONS QUARANTINED.

On the afternoon, of Wednesday, January 24, in- formation reached the Department of Public Health, from a medical practitioner that a man with suspicious glandular swelling symptomatic of bubonic plague was lying in a house in Ferry-lane, Miller's Point. The quarantine ambulance was at once dispatched to the house in question, and the man was removed to the Quarantine Station, North Head, for observation. His name is Arthur H. Payne, and he is a carter in the employ of the Central Wharf Company. The authorities quaran- tined his family, his sister, who happened to visit the house, and four persons who were on visiting terms. All have been vaccinated with the plague prophylactic, as have also all the staff at North Head, and the President of the Department of Public Health. The president is, it is understood, of opinion that the infection did not arise in the house at Miller's Point which Payne occupied, but rather while he was following his avocation as a carter about the wharves. Much interest is naturally taken, especially by the authorities, in the question of how Payne contracted the disease. From inquiries and an examination of the patient, the theory.that he was inoculated by a flea, ridiculous as it might ap- pear to the unthinking, is now generally accepted ss correct. The humble but industrious insect   alluded to is supposed to have contracted it in turn from rats which have deserted some ship lately arrived here, from foreign parts, most likely, it is thought, Mauritius. Payne's attack was a mild one, and the latest news is to the effect that he is rapidly recovering.

It may he interesting to mention the symptoms attaching to the plague. These were described to a representative of this paper by an eminent Syd- ney doctor this week. The patient usually, it was stated, is first conscious of feelings such as those felt upon the approach of a severe attack of influenza-feverishness, shivering, and sickness, accompanied by pains and aches in the back, limbs, and head. The patient becomes very weak, and probably delirious. At about the second day, generally, small blotches, the result of hemorr  

hages under the skin, appear about the body, more particularly under the arms, around the neck, and on the wrists. Then follow glandular swellings, or buboes, often about the third day, chiefly about the armpits, the neck, and the groins. Should death not previously occur, as it sometimes does, these buboes frequently break, and suppurate. Anything in. the shape of dirt or filth are extreme- ly favorable to the disease, while cleanliness and healthy surroundings naturally reduce the risk of contagion.

ADELAIDE, Tuesday.-The lad M'Cann, who is quarantined at Torrens Island, supposed to be suffering from plague, was not quite so well on Sunday, but improved yesterday. Ships arriving from Sydney will be subjected to rigorous exami- nation, but will not be subjected to quarantine unless there are suspicious cases of sickness on board. The M.M.S. Polynesien, which arv.ved yesterday, declined to have any communication with the shore.

BRISBANE, Tuesday;-The Central Board of Health met yesterday, and framed regulations in connection with the bubonic plague similar to those which in times past have been in opera-

tion in connection with the outbreaks of cholera  

and other epidemics which set in force the qua-  

rantine regulations. One regulation provides for   the inspection at the border of persons entering Queensland. The regulations will be immediately submitted to the Lieutenant-Governor for appro- val.

HOBART (TAS.), Tuesday.-With reference to the supposed case of the bubonic plague at Queenstown, the Central Board of Health has en- joined a vigorous isolation. The chairman of the local Board of Health has replied that the patient, George Cliff, recently from Sydney, pre- sents suspicious local as well as constitutional symptoms. The patient shows signs of improve- ment, and there is no certainty that the disease he is suffering from is plague.

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