The existence of blights and mildews of cereals had been observed and recorded in very ancient times, as witness the Bible, where half a dozen references to such scourges occur in the Old Testament alone.
They have thus become one of the greatest scourges to mankind, and Sir J.
Plague, formerly one of the great scourges of the country, seems to have been stamped out, the last visitation having been in 1844, but cholera epidemics occasionally occur.i Cholera rarely extends south of Cairo.
Finland has been visited at different periods since by these scourges; so late as 1848 whole villages were starved during a dreadful famine.
Later, they are winged maidens of serious aspect, in the garb of huntresses, with snakes or torches in their hair, carrying scourges, torches or sickles.
