The river shall bring forth. It is difficult for us to realize the severity of this plague. For the whole country to be filled with these disgusting creatures, to be unable to walk in the streets without treading on them, to find them not only occupying one’s doorstep but in possession of one’s house, in one’s bedchamber and upon one’s bed, to listen without respite to their dismal croak, to see nothing but their loathsome forms on every side, to be in perpetual contact with them and feel the repulsiveness of their cold and clammy skin, would be perhaps enough to try one’s sanity.