Family oracle of health, economy, medicine and good living. Volume 2, 1825

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THE

ORACLE OF HEALTH

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FAMILY

ORACLE OF HEALTH ;

ECONOMY,

MEDICINE, AND GOOD LIVING ;

ADAPTED TO

ALL RANKS OF SOCIETY, FROM THE PALACE TO THE COTTAGE.

Bv A. F. Crell, M.D. F.R.S., and XV. M. Wallace, Esq.,
Assisted by a Committee of Scientific Gentlemen.

LONDON :

PUBLISHED BY .1. BULCOCK,

16*3, STRAND. v

1825

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PRINTED BY C. SMITH, ANGEL COURT, STRAND.

A i

THE FAMILY

ORACLE OF HEALTH.

Patronage and Currency of the Oracle.

We hate mathematics, and square dining tables, (prefaces and
introductions of course) and all sorts of regular, precise, prim,
per-nick-nack-ity persons and things, save and except Dr.
Kitchener alone, and his mathematical spectacles which are as
fertile a commodity of fun and joking as ever were Paddy
Carey’s potatoes — the inexhaustible butt of burlesquery and
quiz. Laughing-stock and jest-butt, however, as Kitchener
has made himself, he finds that the Oracle is a pretty enough
thing in the purse way, bringingniM annually, a matter of some
cool hundreds of sterling money, as we can unanswerably prove.
Did we not hate mathematics as we have just told you, we
should have taken the liberty of saying that the Oracle- — our
Oracle is increasing by an accelerated motion in geometrical ratio,
to the great gratification of the active amateur members of our
Committee who projected, and who continue and will continue
to support it with their best and newest, and to the great grief of
the Tewhadiddle fellows, and sundry other quacks.

Our subscribers who honour us with their patronage, will be
equally gratified to learn that notwithstanding a four times re¬
peated increase in the numbers printed monthly, and five large
editions of the earlier numbers — so great is the demand still for
the whole work from the commencement, that we are again re¬
printing the first eight numbers entirely: a circumstance which
happens to few periodicals indeed.

In such cases, it is the regular custom to whine about 66 con¬
siderable expence” — “ great trouble,” and similar humbug.
Now we glory herein (not in the humbug, God forbid, but in
the reprinting) ; for we feel assured that the public will amply
repay us in a few months, both principal and interest of the
money expended. Our assurance is rested on the fact of a
regular monthly sale of from 500, to 1000 copies of our early
numbers, independent of our regular sale of the late ones, which

VOL. II. B

(i Patronage and Currency of the Oracle.

alone in a single month this season, experienced an increase
above the previous month of 500 copies. This is encouraging:
and while it gives a strong stimulus to our exertions, it gives at
the same time a guarantee to our subscribers, that we shall use
our utmost endeavours to deserve the continuance of their
patronage.

We glory in this increasing currency of the Oracle, inasmuch
as it unequivocally proves the rapid advancement of the highly
interesting science of health, comfort, and good living, and this
owing chiefly, if not exclusively, to the publication of our little
work. We are quite assured that its influence has already
begun to diminish the sale of drugs; to increase the consump¬
tion of beef and home-brewed ; and to make a marked deficit in
the bills of mortality. The art of training alone, which was
first taught by us for invigorating the weak, and for curing cer¬
tain unmanageable disorders, has done more good within the
last ten months, than all the drugs and doctoring ever invented;
and has been the means (under Providence) of bringing
hundreds from a state of melancholy, low spirits, and feeble¬
ness, into cheerful and vigorous health, and enabled them to
enjoy the greatest of earthly blessings — a good dinner, and a
comfortable glass of claret, champaigne, or Glasgow punch, —
and all this not only without fear of danger or disease, but with
the certainty of prolonging life by such scientific gratification
and indulgence. We may safely challenge the world to produce
any rival to the Oracle in this point of view.

The quacks, we think, are now pretty well done for. We
have certainly done Whitlaw and Cameron, while Eady, Jordan,
Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. V incent, Mrs. Pearson, and a few others,
are horribly sick at heart from the alarming increase of intelli¬
gence among the people. The quacks indeed absolutely live
on the infernal catholic maxim, that ignorance is the mother of
devotion, that is, of gullability; and all quacks and humbug
saints, such as the old canting worm-man, Gardiner, and his
doxy, hate knowledge and intelligence with all the bitter venom
so common with the class. To believe in the infallibility of
Whitlaw’s nostrums — of his holiness the Pope — of St. Sandy
Fletcher — or of the pure and persecuted Dr. Collyer, is much
the same thing in matters of faith, and marks the strongest
symptom of helpless ignorance and canting folly. Economy is
our watch-word in all such cases. To save is to thrive, and you
can never go wrong if you keep your purse strings obstinately
shut to all quacks, whether they sell poisonous nostrums, or
whine you out a canting request for a contribution to one or
other of their jobbing societies. The facts, which we have

7

Diseases of August.

promulgated on this subject, have alarmingly diminished the
influence of the clerical wolves in sheep’s clothing, who lend
themselves for hire to puff quacks and to gull the ignorant and
credulous. We have already done much, and we shall as we
proceed do more, to eradicate this abominable anti-christian
nuisance from the land.

Diseases of August, and the Means of Escaping them.

- August, being rich array’d

In garment all of gold, downe to the ground ;

Yet rode he -not, but led a lovely mayd
Forth by the lily hand, the which was crown’d

With eares of corne, and full her hand was found. Spenser.

Now is the manhood of the year ; and now also is the man¬
hood of health and vigour.

The warm weather of July acts genially on the numerous
class of coughs, asthmas, consumptions, and chronic catarrhs,
and unless in cases far gone, relieves for a time the more dis¬
tressing symptoms. This seems to arise chiefly from the equa¬
lity in the temperature of the atmosphere, the nights from their
shortness seldom becoming sufficiently cold in ordinary cases to
obstruct perspiration. We warn you, however, if you have
been threatened with consumption during the spring and the
early months of the summer, that a remission now during the
continuance of the warm weather, is by no means a guarantee
that your disease is cured or gone 5 for it may, and probably will
return with increased violence on the first setting in of the
autumnal colds. Be on your guard therefore, and attend to the
frequent advice which we have given to watch the first appear¬
ance of the returning symptoms, and check them as we have
pointed out in our former pages.

Bowel Complaints of hot Weather.

As coughs and other chest disorders disappear, during the
prevalence of warm weather, bowel complaints become more
numerous, in consequence of the disorders of the liver and the
bile, caused by heat, as we have seen above, (page 455.) That
those bowel complaints are immediately dependent on the heat
of the weather is manifest, from the fact that they are rare during
cold summers, which medical men can testify, are for the most
part remarkably healthy ; because the weather is seldom cold
enough to produce the disorders of spring nor sufficiently hot to
derange the liver, and engender the bilious and bowel complaints
now under consideration. We may mention on the contrary,
the year of the rejoicings at the peace, as one in which bowel
complaints were numerous and of an alarming character, in

s

Diseases of August.

consequence of the prevalent heat of the weather. Such com¬
plaints are for the most part marked both by excessive and
alarming purging and vomiting, known by the name of

Cholera Morbus.

This, as usual with medical slang, is a jumble of mongrel
Greek and Latin, which being literally translated, means, the
“ Bile-flux-disease.” A bile-flux it assuredly is, for a super¬
abundance of bile is poured into the bowels, and irritates them
strongly, producing gripes, purging, and vomiting often of pure
bile. This disease may arise from any of the numerous causes
which produce an overflow of bile, and besides the leading cause
of hot weather, may be generated in consequence of suppressed
perspiration, particularly from cold or damp applied to the feet,
as in standing long on a moist soil in foggy weather ; cold
drinks, especially when the body is heated by exercise ; cold,
indigestible fruits, such as unripe apples or pears, cucumbers,
melons, mushrooms, violent purgative medicines used in excess,
or any other strongly irritating substance taken into the stomach.
Sudden fright may also cause the complaint, and an instance of
this in consequence of fright from thunder, is mentioned in the
Philosophical Transactions. All the depressing passions also,
such as grief, fear, despondency, disappointment, &c., may give
rise to the bile-flux. Surfeit also produces a complaint of the
same character, though it is perhaps more dangerous still.

Besides the violent purging and vomiting which are always
more or less present there are agonizing pain, and griping in¬
flammation of the bowels, great heartburn, thirst, a quick pulse
which is often small and unequal, heat and anxiety, nausea, and
weakening sweats, spasms and convulsions of the arms and legs,
fainting, coldness of the extremities, and other symptoms of
equal danger, which often terrify the bystanders and kill the pa¬
tient within twenty-four hours. The matters discharged by
stool or by vomiting, are foul and ill-conditioned. “The bile,”
says old Celsus, “bursts forth both upwards and downwards ;
at first like water, afterwards as though fresh flesh had been
washed in it; sometimes w'hite, sometimes black, and sometimes
variegated. Now all these symptoms associating, it is not to be
wondered at, that the patient should die suddenly

Treatment of the Tile flux.

If you have observed the process of nature in the instance of
sneezing, you may from this learn wisdom in the case of bile-
flux. You take a pinch of snuff which irritates the nostril, and
it immediately makes a convulsive effort to expel the snuff' by

* Celsu*, Mcdicina, Lib. IV. Sect. II.

Diseases oj August, $

sneezing. In the same way, when the bowels are deluged with
a superabundant quantity of irritating bile, they make convul¬
sive efforts to throw it off by purging or vomiting, in which
efforts they will persevere till they expel the cause or destroy
the patient by exhausting his strength.

Our first object, therefore, in curing the disease, must not be,
as might be rashly imagined, to stop the purging and vomiting;
but to assist nature in clearing away the superfluity of the bile.
All astringent and binding medicines then, and all violent emetics
and purgatives are to be avoided, as tending to augment the irri¬
tation, or to spur on the liver to throw out more bile. If the eva¬
cuations be lumpy or unnatural in colour, a small dose of castor
oil, or any other mild purgative may be useful, or what is even bet¬
ter, a free use of mild fluids to dilute and wash out the stomach
and bowels. For this purpose, the famous Dr. Sydenham prescri¬
bed weak chicken broth. Dr. Douglas, who had much experience
in the complaint, recommended toast and water made with oat
cake, toasted quite brown and boiled in the water till it was of
the colour of coffee. He says he never found that this was re¬
jected in the very worst cases. Celsus prescribed the free use
of spring wTater with the chill taken off ; while Lienard and
Cleghorn gave it fresh from the fountain with great success.
Linseed-tea or barley-water with a little gum arabic and barley-
sugar in it, is also good, and it is better still if made with spear¬
mint or peppermint-tea from the green leaves, fresh gathered.
If these liquids are taken in sufficient quantity and persevered
in, there will be little use for any other medicine, till once the
purging and vomiting are quite subdued. Solid food is seldom
or never relished by the patients, and ought not to be pressed
upon them.

When the bowels seem to have been fully evacuated, and the
discharges become scanty, though still painful, the best medicine
we can recommend is the

Opiate Mixture for Flux.

Take five drops of laudanum,

twenty grains of Epsom salts, dissolved in
a sufficient quantity of peppermint water.

Mix, and repeat every four hours till relief is obtained.

In the case of much pain and sickness, when this mixture
would be too fluid for the patient, the most eligible remedy for
the griping and spasm is the

Opiate Fill.

Take one grain of opium,

three grains of submuriate of mercury.

Make into a pill, and repeat it, if necessary, in six hours.

10

Hydrophobia , or Water Fear.

This treatment will generally cure the patient in two or three
days. Should any weakness remain troublesome after the dis¬
ease has been subdued, it will be of advantage to take a few
doses of the

Bitter Tonic.

Take one ounce and a half of infusion of cascarilla,
three drachms of tincture of calurnba,
one drachm of compound tincture of cardamoms.

Mix for a draught thrice a day.

Hydrophobia, or Water-Fear.

It seems to be a vulgar error, that dogs are more liable to be¬
come mad in warm than in cold weather. In hot countries, the
disease indeed is almost unknown ; and any body who observes
the accounts in the newspapers may remark, that at least as
many cases occur in winter as in summer. On the Continent,
where the disease is often caused by the bite of wolves, it seems
to occur oftener in winter than in summer*. The disease may
be produced by the bite, not only of the dog and wolf, which are
the most common, but of the fox, and the common cat. In¬
stances of death are also given by authors from the bite of the
horse, ass, ox, and hog, and even from that of a hen, a goose, a
duck, &c. ; but without all the marks of hydrophobia. It has
been remarked that when the disease is derived from the cat, it
is less violent in the symptoms, though in the end not less fatal
than when received from the dog, the wolf, or the fox. A very
interesting case of this kind is given in the London Medical
Transactions, of a young lady, aged eighteen, who w7as attacked
in January by a cat which sprung from under a bed. The
wounded parts were immediately cut out, and they healed well,
but in three months after, viz. in April, she was attacked with
the symptoms of hydrophobia, which proved fatal. It is to
be remarked that a scratch from the claw of a mad cat or dog,
is equally dangerous with a bite. A wound from the horn of an
enraged ox, ram, goat, or deer, is said to be also greatly more
dangerous than when the animal is calm.

Unlike most other poisons, this often lurks quietly in the con¬
stitution for a long period. The ordinary period of attack is six
weeks after the bite, but it may occur in a few days, and it may
be som£ months before it appear. Three months is not an un¬
common interval. Nine and twelve months are more rare ; but

* See Professor Brera’s Cominentario Clinico per la cura dell’ Idrophobia. —
Modena.

Hydrophobia, or JVater Fear.

11

several years have been said sometimes to intervene; and in a
case which occurred under Dr. Bardsley at the Manchester In¬
firmary, twelve years had intervened.

Sketch oj the Symptoms.

In many particulars, hydrophobia bears a strong resemblance
to lock-jaw, particularly in the spasm of the chest and in the rest¬
lessness accompanying it. There is little however of the horror,
the incoherence, and the hurry of mind in lock-jaw which are so
dreadful in hydrophobia. The first remarkable symptom in
hydrophobia is usually a return of pain with redness, stiffness,
numbness, and swelling in the part bitten or wounded, though it
have been previously quite healed. The patient is next oppressed
with anxiety and depression, and sometimes sinks into a melan¬
choly from which nothing can rouse him. At this period the
pulse and the heat of the skin are usually natural : but a stiff¬
ness and painful straitness are felt about the chest and throat ;
the breathing becomes oppressed, and is interrupted by sobs
and deep sighs, while the sleep (if any is obtained) is broken by
starts and frightful dreams. Bright colours, a strong light,
acute sounds, particularly the sound of water poured from bason
to bason, even a simple agitation of the air by a movement of the
bed-curtains, is a source of great disturbance, and will often bring
on a fit of general convulsions or aggravate the spasms and
straitness of the throat.

The patient is tormented with thirst, but dares not drink, as
the sight or even the idea of liquids makes him shudder. His
eyes are haggard, fixed, and swollen with blood, from the vio¬
lence of the struggle. His mouth is filled with a tenacious
saliva, in which lurks the poison that is capable of commu¬
nicating the disease to others. This he is perpetually endea¬
vouring to hauk up and spit away from him in every direction,
often desiring those around him to stand aside as conscious that
he might thereby injure them. The sound which is thus made
from the great oppression he labours under, and his vehement
effort to get up the tough, sticky phlegm is often of a very
singular kind. Sometimes this peculiar sound is acute, quick,
and sudden, and like every other motion of the body being fre¬
quently repeated, it has struck the fancy of some to be like the
yelping or barking of a dog; and hence the vulgar error that a
barking like that of a dog is a common symptom of the disease.
The restlessness is extreme, and if the patient attempt to lie
down and compose himself, he instantly starts up again and
looks wildly round him in unutterable anguish.

The following is a very forcible and at the same time a very
correct picture of the state of a patient an hour or two before

12

Hydrophobia , or H ater Fear.

his death, by Dr. Munckley. — “On going into the room, we
found him sitting upon his bed, with an attendant on each side
of him. He was in violent agitation of body, moving himself
about* with great vehemence, as he sat in the bed and tossing
his arms from side to side. On seeing us, he bared one of his
arms, and striking it with all his force, he cried out to us with
the greatest eagerness to order him to be let blood. His eyes
were redder than the day before ; and there was added to the
whole look an appearance of horror and despair greatly beyond
what I had ever seen, either in madness or in any kind of deli¬
rium. He was nevertheless perfectly in his senses at this time $
and there was not the least appearance of danger of his biting
any person near him ; nor, among the variety of motions which
he made, was there any which looked like attempting to snap or
bite at any thing within his reach, and they who were about
him had no apprehension of his doing this.”

This last symptom — the snapping and desire to bite, is how¬
ever very common. Patients are often so bad as to bite them¬
selves, the bed clothes, and whatever falls in their way.

Treatment of the wounded Parts.

When a person has been wounded, either by the teeth or the
claws of an enraged animal, the limb ought to be immediately
bound tightly with a garter, a ribbon, or a handkerchief, which,
according to Dr. Paris, will prevent the poison from getting into
the constitution by deadening the action of the absorbent
vessels. This is an ingenious idea, and Paris would be much
better employed in discovering such things than in writing
pretty paragraphs and building lumpish volumes for the book¬
sellers. After the limb has been bound, the wound should be
cut all round with a sharp knife to remove any poison that
might lurk in it. For still greater security, tepid water should
be poured into it for a considerable time from the spout of a tea¬
kettle, ink being first poured into the wound, and the washing
continued till the water come away untinged by the ink. This
is the proposal of Dr. Withering. Above all we advise cupping
glasses to be applied to the wound after the washing to make it
bleed freely, and then to apply a blister over the part, and keep
it discharging for several weeks by washing it with solution of
potash, or sprinkling it with powdered cantharides. Every ex¬
citement or excess ought to be avoided, and above all things
venery. Dr. Darwin was of opinion that complete amputa¬
tion of the wounded limb would be a certain preventive. It
would, at all events, be worth trying in so dreadful a case as
hydrophobia, when it is possible to cut off the parts.

Hydrophobia , or Water Fear.

13

Pj'oposed Remedies.

Many remedies and modes of treatment have been proposed
for hydrophobia when it is confirmed, but there has as yet been
none found to answer the high expectations excited at their first
announcement. One of the oldest, mentioned by Celsus, is
plunging the patient unexpectedly head foremost into a pond of
water, but this is not known to have ever been successful. All
the powerful drugs which are known have been repeatedly and
unsuccessfully tried, such as musk, opium, camphor, bark, mer¬
cury, arsenic, tobacco, &c. Extensive bleeding followed by
opiates seems to have produced a decided effect in a few instan¬
ces; but, what is singular, much loss of blood from the wound is
unfavourable. In Professor Brera’s work already quoted, he gives
an account of 13 persons bit about the same time by the same
wolf, nine of whom died, and four were cured after the disease
had distinctly appeared. The person bitten tenth in order, died
first ; then the second, third, eleventh, twelfth, eighth, and first ;
after upwards of ten months, the seventh ; and after five years
and a half, the ninth. In the case of this ninth person the
teeth of the wolf, before reaching the skin, passed through a
mantle, a coarse woollen coat, and two shirts, one fine and the
other coarse. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and thirteenth were
cured. The plan followed by Dr. Brera was the warm bath
and rubbing in a drachm of mercurial ointment daily, with the
following

Pills for Hydrophobia.

Take half a grain of oxvmuriate of mercury,
ten grains of belladonna root in powder.

Mix, and divide into four pills, one every three hours, and gradu¬
ally increasing the dose up as high as three drachms a day of the
belladonna.

We have been told recently that Dr. Spalding, of New York,
can cure hydrophobia by the herb Skull-cap, called by Botanists
Scutellaria laterifolia ; and that the Russians cure it by Water
plantain, the Alysma plantago of the Botanists ; but we have no
faith in these. We should place more dependence on the plan
of Dr. Axter, of Vienna, which he has successfully followed for
thirty years. It is howrever quite ineffectual, he says, unless
adopted before the difficulty of swallowing comes on. He treats
the wound as we have directed, by blistering, and at the same
time gives the

Preventive Powder.

Take one grain of powdered cantharides,

one drachm of powdered crabs eyes, and the
same quantity of sugar.

C

von. n.

1 4 Hydrophobia , or H ater Fear .

Mix, and give once or twice a day for a week, increasing the dose
according to the symptoms.

Our readers may wish to see, as a curiosity, the receipt for a
preventive of hydrophobia which was at one time in high repute
in this country, but which has now deservedly lost its character
in consequence of numerous failures; we mean the

Onnskirk Medicine for Hydrophobia.

J ake half an ounce of prepared chalk powder,
three drachms of armenian hole,
ten grains of alum,

one drachm of elecampane- l oot, powdered,
six drops of oil of anise.

Mix, and give every morning for a week in a glass of water, with
some fresh milk in it.

We have seen above (page 396.) the failure of M. Magendie
in the experiment of injecting water into the veins. This ex¬
periment has been lately repeated with complete failure by
Dr. Gaspard; though M. Magendie consoles himself by saying
“ We must not judge by the event; success is not to he obtained
at a first attempt/’ — At all events we should not again try this
experiment, as a cure for hydrophobia.

Hr. MarochettPs Remedy.

The only other remedy which we think worth mentioning, is
one which has been long known, it seems, in the Ukraine and
in Greece. It is said that in all cases of hydrophobia, little
blisters appear below the tongue, containing the poison of the
disease. These are opened or cut out, the parts cauterized with
a hot needle, and the mouth gargled with decoction of butcher’s
broom, the Genista tinctoria of Botanists, which is also to he
drunk copiously. If this is done carefully every day, from the
third to the ninth day of the disease, it is said that the patient will,
almost to a certainty, he cured. Dr. Marochetti, of Moscow,
says he cured twenty-six patients in this way, and he saw the
peasant who taught him, cure fourteen without a single failure.
Dr. Xanthos, a Greek physician, has lately added his testimony
to the fact. The pimples or blisters are said to he situated close
to the bridle of the tongue. Little has yet been done in this
country to ascertain the truth of this singular method of cure.

Before concluding this paper, we think it may be of consi¬
derable importance to our readers to give them as distinctly as
possible a

Description of a Mad Hog.

Unfortunately, we have much less accurate information on
this head than we could wish, "flic beginning of the disease is

Philosophy of Bathing. No. 2. 1 r>

marked by a complete change of disposition, and habit in the
animal. A stupid, sullen, lounging, unsociable air; the tail
and ears hanging as if lifeless, and the eyes muddy and morose.
When the fit comes on, all the symptoms ot furious madness
ensue. He looks fierce and surly, and snaps at the bye-standers;
his breathing becomes quick and laborious, his tongue hangs out
of his mouth, and changes to a leaden colour. He discharges a
frothy saliva from his mouth, refuses all food and drink, and
runs about and bites furiously at every thing. This is the last
stage, in which he seldom lives above thirty hours.

It is a vulgar error, that a mad dog runs straight iorward
without turning from his course; for this is disproved by the
history of most of the authentic cases. The symptoms of mad¬
ness are but too seldom apparent till it is too late to avoid the
animal. Another vulgar error is that a mad dog is afraid of water;
for in a great number of cases both dogs and wolves have
swimmed through water, just before giving the fatal bite *.

The saliva or spittle is the poisonous agent, as M. Magendie
proved, by inserting some within the skin of dogs, which pro¬
duced madness by inoculation. The spittle taken from a mad
dog after death, however, did not produce the disease f .

Dr. Palmarius mentions a case, in which a peasant communi¬
cated the disease to his children, by kissing them just before his
death. Dr. Good, however, tells us that he saw a young man
who died of hydrophobia, repeatedly kiss a girl to whom he was
betrothed, and who would not be restrained, even a few hours
before his death, and yet she escaped harmless.

It is well worth knowing that what is called the Distemper in
dogs is not communicable to man, and that it even preserves
dogs themselves from afterwards catching hydrophobia. Mr.
John Hunter was wont to mention a case in his lectures, of a
gentleman who had been so bit, and who was under the most
distressing dread of hydrophobia, till the dog was brought to him
in good health.

Philosophy of Bathing. No. 2.

Bathing — we mean improper bathing — does more injury to a
numerous class of invalids than even drugging itself, and other
abused remedies. Under the appearance of producing tem¬
porary benefit and temporary vigour, it is incautiously persevered
in till it undermines and often destroys the constitution of the

* Sec Sanvages, Nosologia; and Dr. James, on Canine Madness,
t Magendie’s Journ. dc Physiologic, Vol. ii. 97.

16

Philosophy of Bathing. No. 2.

infirm, particularly if they be young. We have taken frequent
occasion to hint at this subject, and warn our readers to be
cautious in their use of the bath, particularly the cold bath, and
we shall now go a little more into detail to point out the nature
of the

Da?igers of Cold Bathing.

You know that a very common inconvenience to swimmers is
an attack of cramp, in other words, a violent nervous convulsion
of one or other of the limbs employed in the exercise. Now if
you think for a moment that this cramp or nervous convulsion
of the limb is, and must be uniformly caused by some weakness
or injurious irritation, you will surely pause before you grant
that the cold bath is the powerful strengthening remedy it is
always supposed and said to be by those who know no better.
Another very striking fact must have been remarked by most of
our readers, namely, that almost all the nervous and feeble in¬
valids who try cold, or sea-bathing, feel the stronger and better
for it at first, while this effect gradually wears off and leaves them
weaker and worse than before. We think it a perfectly fair argu¬
ment to illustrate this by dram drinking. The cold bath, parti¬
cularly in sea-water, acts on the skin and through it on the nerves
in a similar way as brandy acts on the stomach, and through it on
the nerves. That is, it irritates and agitates them, and spurs them
on to exertion beyond their strength, and the deluded patient
fancies that he is gaining in vigour, while in reality he is fast
spending the little that remains to him. The dram of brandy,
you know7, excites the drinker for a space into hilarity and high
spirits ; but it always leaves him more sunk, weak, and low
spirited than before. Precisely so does cold bathing with the
nervous and those who have ruined their constitutions, as we
have above described, (page 476.) by drugging, sexual indul¬
gence, &c. In such cases, cold bathing is often speedily fol¬
lowed by severe headache, indigestion, low spirits, ill-temper,
alarm at trifles, want of appetite, constant desire to make
water, and numerous other symptoms of nervous disorder. Dr.
Reid justly remarks that many persist in bathing until their
strength is so much exhausted, that they can scarcely walk up
from the sea-side. Dr. Beddoes adds, with equal truth, that in
the certain hope of being braced at last, they go on dipping,
while like other staunch and thorough-going believers, they pay
no regard to such feelings as have the impertinence to give the
lie to their faith. Nothing, indeed, more certainly enfeebles the
weak than cold bathing, more frequently brings on consumption,
or hurries on declines and debility to a fatal termination.

Dr. Beddoes gives a very striking case of this kind, which we fear

17

Philosophy oj Bathing. No. <1.

would stand equally well for the history of many thousands. Mr.
H., a fi ne young man, feeling himself much reduced in strength,
from certain juvenile excesses, but too well known at large
schools and colleges, imagined that sea-bathing would restore
his strength. After two or three trials of the sea-bath, how¬
ever, he not only felt worse, but a dry cough came on, which in¬
creased with each repetition. Suspecting, at last, that he was
doing himself injury, he quitted the sea and applied to the
doctor, who found him already far gone in a rapid consumption,
which carried him off in a few weeks. Miss L. Baines, a young
lady of good constitution, in consequence of fright, becoming
nervous, with loss of sleep, appetite, and strength, was advised,
by her apothecary, to try sea-bathing. On coming out of the
sea, she felt the glow, supposed so erroneously to be the test of
its advantages ; but she was soon seized, while in the water,
with oppressed breathing; and after coming out of it, with
headache, feverishness, and increase of a slight, short, dry cough,
which she had had from the beginning of her complaint. On
the eighth day from her first bathing she was rendered so weak,
that she fainted away three times before breakfast. She died
soon after in confirmed consumption. We could add numerous
cases of a similar description, but these, we think, will suffice to
make the weak and nervous verv cautious in the use of this

J

very powerful agent of destruction when it is improperly tam¬
pered with.

The strong have less need, perhaps, of our admonitions, yet
even they often do irreparable injury to their constitutions, by
indulging in the luxury of cold bathing during warm weather.
We have often seen the strongest and most robust youths, so
enfeebled by abusing the cold bath as to be unable to walk home
from it with their usual firmness of step.

The plan of bathing, recommended vol. i. page 27, has never,
to our knowledge, injured the most feeble.

Tests oj Danger and of Advantage in Bathing.

It is commonly thought when a glow is felt on coming
out of the cold bath, that this is a test of its being proper and
advantageous ; and in a certain degree it is so ; yet we have
just seen that Miss Baines felt this glow, though the bathing
was evidently the means of killing her, or at least of hastening
her death. You may be quite sure that if the cold bath pro¬
duces chilness or shivering on coming out of it, that it is too
strong for your constitution, and will certainly weaken you.
While in the bath, you may be certain that it will injure you if
you feel weaker than out of it, and particularly if your breathing
is much oppressed. When the water is very cold the breathing

18

Philosophy oj Bathing. JSo. 2.

will always be affected, for the blood- vessels of the lungs and
those of the skin are in strict companionship — and if those ol
the skin collapse and become pale, as is usual in going into very
cold water, those of the lungs will certainly follow their exam¬
ple, the blood will accordingly be stopped in its passage through
the lungs, and the breathing will be consequently laborious
from the obstruction.

We should hold it a pretty good test of the too strong effects
of the cold bath, if it produce, either during the time you are in
the water or afterwards, any increased or obviously unnatural
desire to make water. Cold, externally applied, has always
more or less effect on the kidneys, and stimulates them to drain
off urine from the blood as it passes through them ; but there
is a great difference between this in a moderate, and in a mani¬
festly irritative, tendency to make water, produced in this
manner.

If the patient dislike the bath, it is a natural indication that
it is improper.

Time cnid Manner of Bathing.

Those who feel none of the sensations just described, as
intimations of danger from the cold bath, may nevertheless do
themselves injury by inattention to the proper time and manner
of bathing. The best time for the cold bath is decidedly in the
morning before breakfast ; because the refreshment of the body
from the sleep of the previous night prevents the weakening
effects of the cold bath from proving injurious. An hour or
two before dinner is a favourite time, and as a piece of luxury
may be indulged in when the day is hot by those w'ho are
robust ; but is decidedly improper for invalids, unless it be a
momentary plunge and out again ; any thing like swimming or
delay in the water ought to be carefully avoided except by the
robust.

In the case of sea-bathing where it is often requisite to regu¬
late the time of bathing by the tide — the invalid should never
bathe in the evening nor after dinner, though a bath before
going to sleep may be grateful and not injurious to the strong;
by a bath, how'ever, we do not mean swimming for twenty,
thirty, or forty minutes.

It is very improper to go into cold wrater when the body is
either cold or in a state of perspiration. Even after the skin
has been perspiring profusely, though this has sometime ceased,
it is improper to go into cold water. In short, it is indispensa¬
ble that the skin on going into the cold bath be in a gentle
glow of heat. If too hot, the sudden checking of the heat is

Market Secrets for Poultry.

\\)

equally injurious, as the increase of the cold when the skin has
been cooled down below its healthy standard. In the first case
the system cannot stand the sudden shock ; in the second, the
body cannot sufficiently soon recover its heat.

Nothing can be more improper in bathing than going into
the water slowly and timorously, as the fear of the patient acts
upon the skin and renders it pale and bloodless before the water
touches it. The bather ought to plunge in at once over head
and ears, and not stand paltering to wet his head or face, which
can have no more effect in preventing the rush of blood to the
head, than if it were crossed by the mummery of the catholic
holy water. The only explanation which can be rationally
given of the striking effect said to be produced in some cases
by wetting the head is, that it may take off some of the timidity
of the patient by amusing him. A headlong plunge must be
always advantageous.

The bather may remain in the water according to the object
he has in view, and according to the vigour of his constitution.
If the cold bath be used as a strengthening agent, the shortest
possible time will be the most advantageous to the patient. If
it be used for luxury or amusement in swimming, then we
should say, that even for the vigorous half an hour is too long,
at least to be repeated two or three times a week, much less
every day ; though half an hour or more spent in swimming,
provided it be before breakfast, can do no harm to a strong man
once a month or so during summer. The invalid who remains
five minutes in the cold bath, may do injury; but he certainly
can do no good to himself. t 1

•*** We shall continue this interesting subject with its appli¬
cation to the cure of Diseases.

Market Secrets for Poultry. By M. Rozea.

No plan of saving and thrift will avail you, if you are not up
to marketing. You may economize as you may in your larder
and in your kitchen : you may contrive to preserve your meat in
the best possible way, and to make it go far in furnishing cot¬
tage dishes and economical dinners ; but all this is beginning
at the wrong end if you know not how to market. In our pre¬
vious directions for the butcher market, (vol. i. page 327.) we
have given you some of the best rules for directing your pur¬
chases ; and we shall now, by the assistance of M. Rozea, late
principal cook to the Duke of Montrose, instruct you how to
purchase poultry to the best advantage.

20

Market Secrets for Poultry.

Chickens. — Chuse the whitest and fattest; if chickens be new
killed, they will be stiff and white, and firm in the vent ; but if
stale killed, they will be limber, and the vent green. Choose
them dry pulled ; for they will in this case roast best. Chick¬
ens are best in summer: and pullets and hens best in winter.
Cock-chickens are best before they crow ; and hen-chickens be¬
fore the cock treads them ; the game sort have the finest fla¬
vour, but their flesh is somewhat darker than the other, and of
course affords more nourishment, (see vol. i. p. 49.)

A cock has a red comb and red gills; if he has a short spur,
not cut nor pared, and if he is fat he will eat well ; if stale
he will have an open vent, but if new, a close hard vent ; some
think the best part of a cock is his comb ; and it is so, if he
lives to the age of two years ; for then his flesh turns brackish
and tough. The Romans called these medici galli , cocks of
physic; because the physicians most commended them. A cock
is a creature extremely lascivious ; the frequent dissipations he
makes by the great heat in which he continually is, causes his
flesh to be dry and hard of digestion, he has, in consequence,
but little flavour.

Hens , before they have laid eggs, are called pullets ; January
is the high season for pullets with eggs, which you may know
by their soft open vent, and by their red comb : if they be old,
their combs and legs will be rough ; if young, smooth. Choose
the fattest and whitest. Hens are best, just before they are
ready" to lay, and yet are full of eggs; they hold good all the
cold months; because long rest and sleep, in the long nights,
make them at that time the fattest.

It is generally believed that fat pullets, when young, are a
very temperate food, of good juice and much nourishment,
strengthening natural heat, engendering good blood, sharpening
dull appetites, quickening the eye-sight, and nourishing the
brain. They agree with all ages and complexions ; for they are
neither so hot as to turn, as the old physicians were wont to
say, into choler, nor so cold as to turn into phlegm, nor so dry
as to be converted into melancholic; but turn wholly, or for the
most part, into blood, making a lively colour in the face, and
quickening both the eye-sight and every sense. The flesh of
pullets is sweetest when they are not too much fed, as the barn¬
door sort, which dig out their meat with their heels, in some
clean place, where they have plenty of room and fresh air ;
those that are kept in coops are not so sweet ; for as jailors are
said to smell of the prison, so do they of their own dung.

Some ancient authors have been so mistaken as to aver, that
the flesh of fowls has a secret property of causing the gout,

Market Secrets for Poultry.

21

and we see that this distemper rages most among those who
feed on fowl’s flesh ; for the poor, who cannot get fowls to
cat are seldom troubled with this distemper. The logicians
would say non sequitur ; for it is not surely that this distemper
proceeds from eating of fowls, so much as from want of exer¬
cise, and most -of all by drinking acid wine and other liquors,
that gout arises.

Capon. — A good capon will have a fat thick rump and belly,
a fat vein under the wing, and on the side of the breast. If
young, he will have a short blunt spur, and smooth legs; but
if old, he has a sharp spur and rough legs ; but look narrowly
for fear his spurs be cut, pared, or scraped lesser ; and if
you mistrust his being old, pinch him on the breast with your
thumb; and if it is soft, receiving the pinch easy, he is a young
one ; but if hard, then he is old; if he is pale about the head,
and has a short comb, then he is young ; if red about the head,
he is no clean capon ; if new, he will have a close hard vent;
if stale, a loose open one. Capons are of a right age at eight or
nine months.

A capon fed in. the open air on pure meat is preferred, says
an old author, by all physicians, ancient or modern, Greeks or
Latins, before all meats ; a roasted or boiled capon helps the
appetite, opens the breast, clears the voice, fattens lean men,
and nourishes old men, restores sick men, hurts none but the
idle, tastes pleasantly, and digests easily. He is more solid
than the flesh of pullets, more tender than cocks ; not so dry
as a cock, to be slowly digested ; not so moist as a chicken, to
be soon corrupted; but equally affected and temperate in all
qualities, engendering much blood, and yet inoffensive; and
helps natural heat, without unnatural sharpness. The flesh of
capons is so mild, temperate, and nourishing, that it is thought
he must be desperately consumed that capon jelly would not
recover.

Turkey. — If a turkey-cock be young, he has a smooth black¬
ish leg, and a short spur ; but if he be old, he has a sharp spur
and red legs ; when stale, he is dry footed, and his eyes are sunk
in his head; but if he be new killed, his eyes will stand firm in
his head, as if he were alive.

If a hen turkey be old, her legs will be red, and will have a
rugged grain ; if full of eggs, she is soft and open vented; if
hard vented, not full of eggs: she is preferred before the cock;
her legs are not so coarse. As for newness and staleness, the
same as the cock ; and the same for turkey-poults, their age
cannot deceive you.

A turkey is a dainty dish, and worthy a prince’s table; they

VOL. IT. D

Market Secrets for Poultry,

22

were first brought from Numidia into Turkey, ami thence to
Europe; for which reason we call them turkeys. A turkey eats
best in winter, and should be hung at least three days ; their
flesh recovers strength, nourishes plentifully, and agrees with
every person and complexion, except such as are of too hot a
constitution, or inclined to rheumatism or gout.

Peacocks. — They are seldom used except for great feasts, and
more to make a shew than for the goodness of the meat ; and
then a pye will best suit the flesh of them. A pea-chicken is
exceeding good meat, but must be dressed the day, or the day
after, it is killed. Peahens lay, set, feed, and bring forth their
young of themselves, without any trouble to their owners.

Peacocks are, as poets say, the beloved birds of Juno, which
none durst kill, in old times, for fear of the displeasure of that
jealous and revengeful goddess. Among the Romans, Quintus
Hortensius is recorded to be the first that brought them to the
table, whose commendations made them so desired, that in a
little time a peahen’s egg was sold for ten pieces of silver, and
the carcase for twenty times as much. Leo X. the famous epi¬
curean Pope, caused their flesh to be made into sausages, for
which he paid, every year, many hundred ducats. St. Austin
writes of peacocks’ flesh, that in a twelvemonth it corrupts not
after it is dressed, drawing thence some far strained comparison
about the soul’s immortality.

Geese. — If a tame goose has a red foot and bill, then she is
old; if yellowy young; if new, limber-footed; if stale, dry¬
footed. A goose is in high season at Michaelmas, and a stubble
goose eats best when it is between four and five months old :
green geese are eat from one month to three ; they are in high
season in May and June : a green goose is scalded, w'hereas a
stubble goose is dry picked; and wild geese are in their high
season in or about December; for new and stale, young or old,
the same as the tame goose.

Swans. — When they are young, they are called cygnets; and
if kept in a little pond, and well fed with corn, their flesh will
not only alter its blackness, but also be freed of its unwholsome-
ness ; they are generally skinned, and the flesh potted or made
into pies; they are much admired in Muscovy, and East Fricz-
land : swans’ flesh was forbidden the Jew's, because by them the
bieroglyphical sages described hypocrisy; for a swan has the
whitest feathers and blackest flesh of anv bird ; so the hearts of
hypocrites are contrary to their outwaird appearance. It was not
therefore for the badness of their flesh, but for resembling
wicked mens’ minds, thev were forbidden.

7 j

Tame Ducks. — When thev are stale, their feet will feel drv ;

Dr. Kitchener's Humming-bird, Feast.

23

but if new killed, they will be limber- footed. The tame has
a thicker foot than the wild duck, somewhat blackish, in
dining to yellow. Ducklings are related to ducks, as chickens
are to hens ; they are always scalded ; and if you meet with
them so, ready prepared in a poulterer’s shop, rub your finger
on the breast ; if it feels rough, they are new killed ; but if it
feels slippery or slimy, then they are stale killed : their age can¬
not deceive you.

Pigeons. — Dove-house pigeons, when new killed, feel stiff
and firm in the vent ; but when stale killed, they are limber and
green in the vent; if old, red legged. Turtle doves for the most
part are white, and they have a blueish ring about their neck ;
after they are matched and are bred together, if one of them
dies, the other will never match again with any other, but will
pine away and die. The best way to kill pigeons is to blood
them to death under the wings, which makes their flesh more
cold and white, insomuch that the Italians usually give them to
sick persons for agues, as we do chickens.

Dr. Kii ■chener’s Humming Bird Feast.

O that old Ovid were once more to revisit the earth to sing
his funny, fantastical, and pleasant songs of transformations,
and metamorphosations ; — warm lovers to wit, turned into cool
fountains, and running brooks; gods showering themselves down
in golden hail; and goddesses playing the very deuce among sim¬
ple shepherds, and handsome huntsmen. Those were the times
when Dr. Kitchener should have been begotten — bad luck to
the supper of a cheese-paring, which is always productive of
small witlings. Then he might have received his due meed of
praise from the pen of immortal poets — then, he would not in
vain have slain his tens of thousands of native oysters with
Sampson’s redoubted weapon ; — then, he would not in vain have
sung his frying melodies in heavenly chorus with the cuckoo •
clock; — then, he would not in vain have trolled his Go-to-bed-
Tom catch, as a requiem to the departed shade of his Tewha-
diddle night-cap ; — then, he would notin vain (to continue the
climax a la Irving) have transformed himself by aid of the black-
art of spectacle-choosing into a humming-bird, the least and
tiniest of the feathered creation. And is there, in truth, no
inspired Ovid to make this wondrous tale outlive the mountains
of everlasting brass *, and defy the hungry and eating propen-

* A now rendering of Horace’s Exegi monumentum aere perennius,” by the
learned Chaplain of the Glasgow Punch Club, who translates it,“ I have eaten a
mountain of everlasting brass.” It is but fair to tell you, however, that this piece
of bright scholarship is not fatherable on the punch; but may be traced to a por¬
tion and parcel of “ Draff and Dregs,” procured from M’Farlane and Co’s,
distillery, at Port Dundas.

24

Dr. Kitchener a Humming-bud Feast.

si ties of time, iron, and the anger of Juve ? Peter Pindar is
gone — Frere, is choking upon Aristophanes — the Smiths, since
they became nympholept, are now rejected every where — Tom
Campbell is dreaming of brochan and death-watches — Hogg is
at the hopeless task of holding forth to his countrymen on the
absurdity of faith, the saving efficacy of good works, and
the good old bible practices of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in
respect of concubinage and polygamy * — and O’Doherty, God
help him, would only burlesque so grave a matter as Kitchener’s
transformation into a humming-bird, in the same way as he vil¬
lainously compared the “ rosy fingers” of Aurora, to “ raspberry
jam f.” Sucii being the state of poetry, Kitchener must “ rest
and be thankful” with our tribute of prose; but first listen to the
doctor himself. Silence ! Kitchener speaks: —

“No grand gourmand who has any pretensions to prudence
should venture to a turtle feast, without such sentinels on his
nose; (as my grandmother’s spectacles,) they are absolutely as
indispensable a part of the paraphernalia of the banquet, as a
plate or a spoon ! The eye is a mighty and merciless enemy to
the stomach — alas ! as the proverb says, “ it is bigger than the
belly.” Now, even supposing your eye to be as big again with
these powerful spectacles, your eyes may he filled with delight,
and your stomach also; for the former will imagine, that while
you have been leisurely sipping a small soup-plateful, you have
been swallowing an immense tureenful ; — what a beautiful delu¬
sion ! at once, equally delightful to your stomach, your eye, and
your tongue, equally magnifying the pleasure of those two most
troublesome of the senses, the sight and the taste, which are
ever the most irrationally importunate in their demands, and the
most difficult to be satisfied !

“ Whenever your tongue cries out for more dainties than
your stomach has previously plainly told you is agreeable to it,
to settle all the difference of their demands to their mutual
satisfaction, you have nothing to do but to put on your specta¬
cles, and you may set to at calipash and calipee with impunity ;
for they will make a little lark look like a large fowl, and a
penny roll as big as a quartern loaf! Some philosophers have
said that pain is only imaginary, we may as justly believe the
same of hunger ; and if a gentleman who eats only an ounce of

* See his Confessions of a Justified Sinner, just published,
f We quote from memory, —

Jupiter Ammon with gills red as salmon,
Twists round his temples the horns of a rani ;
And pretty Aurora salutes sister Flora,

With fingers as rosy as raspberry jam.

Remedies for Pimples.

2.S

mutton, imagines by the aid of these magnifiers, that he has
eaten a pound — Ids hunger ought to be as fully satisfied.

“ M em. The addition to your optician’s bill will soon be
overpaid by the subtraction from your butcher’s and baker’s.”

After this fashion it is then that Kitchener actually transforms
himself into a humming-bird every day before dinner, or when¬
ever a bonne bouche is to be enjoyed. We have not yet learned
whether he also uses his grandmother’s spectacles, in the way
the old Romans were wont for aiding other sensualities, but
from his announcement of a certain book lately, we may con¬
jecture that - but we are forgetting the humming bird — here

it is then : —

u In dissecting many humming birds, Mr. Wilson found that
the stomach, even when distended, is very small, not exceeding
the globe of the eye. The stomach indeed is scarcely equal to
the sixth part of the size of the heart*.” O what an exquisite
little gourmand must this same humming-bird be; and what an
ingenious man is Dr. Kitchener, who has contrived to metamor¬
phose his great oyster-fed corpus, into a similar large-eyed and
small-stomached animal, by the simple device of putting on his
grandmother’s spectacles, and thus making all his sauces and
saucepans £< beauty to the eye,” by enlarging its vision to an
equality with the dimensions of his oyster-tub, alias his sto¬
mach.

*** We must leave the doctor's rules for preserving the eyes,
and for choosing spectacles till another opportunity.

Remedies for Pimples. By S. Plumbe, Esq. M.R.C. &c-

As a sort of preface to our forthcoming articles on diseases of
the skin, we shall here set down for you the treatment recom¬
mended in the latest work on the subject by Mr. Plumbe, a
young gentleman who made his debut as a surgeon, by tearing
out by the roots the hair of all his patients who had the mis¬
fortune to have scald-head, or as he calls it, porrigo , which is
Latin for “ I kill,” — rather an unlucky surgical term, we should
think with all deference to Mr. Plumbe, who in reality goes
only the length of torture; but perhaps his profound scholarship
might make him suppose this porrigo to be kinsman to the
onion, and capable of course of being sliced and dealt with as
onions have been since the days of Pharoah, and his delicious

* “ Ln diss&juant plusieurs oiseaux-m ouches, M. Wilson, a observe que l’csto-
mac, inline distendu, est fort petit, et n’est gu&res plus grand que le globe de
Pceil; Pestomac enttn est a peine fegal a la sixiJrnc partie du volume du coeur.”
Bulletin Universal. Janvier, 1824.

2 ft Remedies for Pimples.

flesh pots. Together, indeed, with tearing out the hair by the
roots, (called, in Mr. Plumbers lady-language extirpation, and ex¬
traction,) by means of a pitch cap and tweezers, this onion¬
slicing of the scabs and crusts is precisely the plan lie adopts in
treating scald-head. We pity the little patients from our very
souls ! — Perhaps Plumbe may get on more mercifully with pim¬
ples ; — let us see :

There are as we have already remarked (Vol. 1. page 480.)
three or four sorts of pimples; first, a sort red, painful, soon
suppurating, and containing matter; second, a small flat sort,
with black heads, and thick humour, which squeezes out like a
small worm ; and third, a sort red, blue, or purple, and hard and
buttony, and seldom suppurating or forming matter. These
severally depend on the original complexion and constitution of
the individual, the manner of his living, and the vices open or
concealed which he may indulge in, as we shall afterwards show
at length; in the mean time we shall let you into the secret of
Mr. Plumbe’s remedies for each of these sorts.

The first and second sorts are to be treated by attending, if
necessary, to any disorders in the organs of digestion, and re¬
moving them by the usual means. Mr. Plumbe thinks it best
to promote rather than attempt to stop the suppuration of the
pimples, and for this purpose he very properly prohibits cold
cream, kalydor, Gowland’s lotion, and other repellants, advising
frequent bathing of the parts with warm water, and gently rub¬
bing them with the mildest kinds of soap. The stimulant and
irritative plan recommended by Bateman and others, Mr. Plumbe
unequivocally condemns as unsurgical, and tending to aggravate
and prolong the disorder. Blistering, as recommended by Darwin,
he thinks unnecessarily troublesome and “ scvei'e” though he
thinks it might prove successful. He has some compunctious
visitings of conscience, you perceive, for the chins and faces of
his grown patients, though he has no mercy on the hair of
children.

In the hard, blue, buttony sort, Mr. Plumbe recommends them
to be pricked with a lancet or needle, in order to spur them on
to suppurate, which being done, the matter is to be squeezed
out, and if any blueness or hardness remain, it is to be slightly
sponged three or four times a day with

Mr. Plumbe’s Pimple Wash .

Dissolve two grains and a half of oxymuriate of mercury in
four ounces of proof spirit.

Keep it in a close-stopped bottle for use.

The appetite, which is for the most part unnaturally voracious

Art of Medical Training. 27

in such cases, must be treated as we have recommended in our
first volume.

When the nose is affected, in the Bardolph fashion, Mr.
Plumbe advises a persevering use of a very soft brush with
warm water and soap, which will first bring the rosy parts to
point into pimples, and these being freed from their matter, the
parts will readily heal. So much lor Mr. Plumbe.

We shall, in our next paper on pimples, mention the
constitutional causes and remedies, and give receipts for the
humbug kalydor, &c.

Art of Medical Training, applied to particular Dis¬
eases AND INDIVIDUAL CONSTITUTIONS. No. 1.

The series of papers on the Art of Gymnastic Training and
its effects, inserted in our First Volume, were intended as only
introductory to the application which we mean to make of the
general principles there laid down to the several classes of dis¬
ease, and the peculiarities of individual constitution. The avo¬
cations and business of many, prevent them from availing them¬
selves to the full extent of the rules hitherto inculcated, while
others are equally precluded from their benefit by age, sex, or
the nature of their diseases. Now our wish is to obviate such
inconveniences, by modifying the rules, or devising such sub¬
stitutes of diet and exercise as may seem best for those which
cannot be followed. We must not forget, however, that the
art, as laid down in the previous volume, will be much more
efficacious and powerful than any modification of it, and ought
always, as far as possible, to be followed to the letter.

We think it right to mention, that among our very numerous
correspondents and patients, who have had their lost health and
strength revived and made young again by Training — we have
the honour to rank a number of ladies — and though many of
them move in the first circles of fashion — they persevered, for
months together, in rigid observance of the rules. As we expect
it, therefore, to be all the rage at the opening of next season,
for the numerous ailments and indispositions of fashionable life,
we should be wanting in gallantry, did we not open our new
series with directions for

Training adapted to Ladies.

Leaving diseases altogether out of the question, we can
recommend training to our fair readers as the only certain and
infallible means ever discovered for improving the brightness of
the eyes, and the clearness and transparency of the complexion.

28

Art of Medical Training.

Lest, however, we should be misunderstood in this, we solemnly
declare that we are not admirers of barn-door beauties, with
great ruddy and rosy cheeks; nor city beauties, puffy, punchy
and purfled, as if they were FalstafFs great grand-daughters ;
nor hot-bed beauties, ghost-like and fleshless, with neither
roses nor lilies to boast of on their pale and unsunned faces.
This being our negative creed of beauty, we say, that training
will to a certainty abolish one and all of these unbeautiful cha¬
racteristics. The training which we are about to describe will
diminish the superfluous rosy colour of the face ; which we may
remark is not so much a sign of high health, as it is too com¬
monly supposed, but is closely allied to inflammatory diseases,
and sudden death in consequence. Save us, say we, from rosy
cheeks and fatal inflammations ! Our art will in the same wav
as certainly remove all unhealthy, greasy, and pale-livered cor¬
pulence, and their sickening effluvia; and will render plump and
pretty the most meagre skeleton figure that ever was the victim
of fretting, fidgets, or nervous low spirits.

In one word, training is all-powerful in beautifying the worst
and plainest complexion, and rendering it soft, delicate, and
transparent, like the natural healthy hue of opening youth ;
while at the same time it improves the health, strength, and all
the finest feelings of pleasurable enjoyment. To those beau¬
ties particularly who are beginning to lose their earlier admirers,
we most strongly recommend it as capable of ensuring them an
additional ten years of youth and cynosureship *, and even of
restoring at least five years of vanished charms. To keep you
no longer in suspense, we shall now teach you this wonder¬
working art ; and if after following it rigidly for at least two months
or more, you do not find that our account of its effects are
genuine and true, we shall henceforth resign, for ever, the task
of teaching the art of

Beauty Training.

In this case you have no quack nostrums to buy at an extor-
tionable rack price, and with the absolute certainty of their
failure, if not of their doing you injury. No kalydor, Gow-
land’s lotion, Tonic Wine, and similar trash, can ever do any
thing but injury ; and before you commence training you must
rigorously give up all such. After the preliminary emetic and
purgative as at vol. l.p. 47. the first injunction we Jay upon
you is, that you must rise at six o’clock every morning, or at
five if you please, but not sooner. Before breakfast you must
walk in the open air from half a mile to three miles, according

* The cynosure of neighbouring eye?.

Mittow

Art of Medical Training.

29

to your strength at a quick pace, and if you botanize by the way
it will be of immense advantage, or in winter when you cannot
do this, if you note the state of the clouds according to the
classes of Mr. Ltike Howard. If you have perspired so as to
damp your clothes, or if you have wetted your feet, you must
change and have all dry before breakfast ; and it is also indis¬
pensable to have your skin, particularly over the stomach, well
rubbed with a soft cotton cloth, or a flesh brush, for ten or fifteen
minutes before breakfast, and to wash your hands and face in
cold soft water.

T1 ie breakfast itself — not later than eight o’clock — ought, in
rigid training, to consist of plain biscuit (not bread), broiled
beef steaks or mutton chops, under- done, without any fat, and
half a pint of mild bottled ale — the genuine Scots ale is the
best. Our fair readers will not demur to this, when they are
told that this was the regular breakfast of Queen Elizabeth, and
Lady Jane Grey. But should it be found too strong fare at the
commencement, we permit, instead of the ale, one small break¬
fast cup — not more — of good strong black tea or of coffee —
weak tea or coffee is always bad for the nerves as well as the
complexion. If tea or coffee is taken, the half pint of ale is to
be used three hours after breakfast with a biscuit, on returning
from your second walk, which must be as long as the first.

The forenoon must be spent in walking, or any other active
amusement out of doors, such as gardening, nutting, romping,
&c. ; dinner at two, the same as breakfast ; no vegetables, boiled
meat, nor made-dishes being permitted, much less fruits, sweet
things, or pastry. Those who are very delicate may begin with
a bit of broiled chicken or turkey, but the steaks and chops
must always be the chief part of your food. A mealy potatoe,
or a little boiled rice, may now and then be permitted, but no
other vegetable.

The afternoon should be spent in amusement in the open air,
as before, and supper at seven or eight as most convenient, at
which we allow you tea or coffee, if you have had none to break¬
fast ; if you have, you must take your half pint of mild ale, and
a bit of cold fowl, or cold roast mutton or beef, but no fat.
Butter, cream, milk, cheese, and fish, are prohibited. You may
take an egg occasionally with a biscuit. At meals you may eat
heartily, but nothing is allowed between, not even drink, and
thirst must be allayed without drink, as directed, vol. 1. p. 194.
You must always take at least an hour’s active exercise before
going to bed, and have your feet bathed in tepid water, and
your whole skin well' rubbed with the cotton cloth or the flesh-
brush. Go to bed not later than ten.

VOL, II.

F.

30 h it possible to restore a Ruined Constitution f

Except in the case of the very delicate* we can relax nothing
of these regulations ; and recollect that whatever rule is broken
will be to the disadvantage of the lady in training, who cannot
in conscience expect improvement in beauty, while she does not
pay the price of obedience. Recollect, that for the first week
or fourteen days, you may lay your account with feverishness,
thirst, headache, and want of appetite; but if you persevere this
will go off, and your appetite and your spirits will improve
rapidly. Every body, however, is not so affected.

Closely allied to this subject is the effect which certain female
complaints have on the beauty of the complexion, and the bright¬
ness of the eye. With this view, we cannot too strongly re¬
commend what is mentioned as a new discovery, vol. 1. p. 274.,
as by far the best ever tried in removing such complaints, and
mav well be called

Dr. Lavagna’s Improver of Beauty.

Th is — in all cases where the complexion has become sickly
and ghost-like, and the eyes sunk, rheumy, and lustreless from
irregularities, suppression, whites, &c., — will be almost certain to
prove successful. Indeed every female, before beginning to
train, ought to correct all irregularities or disorders of her system,
by the use of Dr. Lavagna’s remedy, otherwise we can promise
nothing, at least in regard to the beauty of the complexion, and
the healthy brightness of the eye. Even without training, in¬
deed, Dr. Lavagna’s remedy will often effect wonders in the im¬
provement of beauty and health.

Training for the Bilious and Sallow eomplexioned in our
next, with the effects of drugging on beauty.

Is IT POSSIBLE TO RESTORE A RlJINED CONSTITUTION ?

This is a question of very deep interest to thousands. How
few indeed — how very few of our young people pass through the
thoughtless and giddy period of life — the vices, public and secret,
of large schools, and all the dissipation of feasting and parties,
with their constitutions unimpaired, and their health as vigor¬
ous as it ought to be, and would be, had they foreseen the
dangers and diseases which always lurk malignly in i( the prim¬
rose path of dalliance,” and make sure prey of incautious youth
before they dream of evil. Late hours, feasting without a proper
knowledge of the science of good-living as laid down in this
work; unscientific drinking ; improper exercise, or a neglect of
exercise altogether; unskilful clothing, too cold in winter and
too warm in summer; drugging daily, weekly, or monthly ; un¬
scientific indulgence of the young passions ; but above all, ira-

Is it possible to restore a Ruined Constitution T

31

proper secret practices, bat too well known, .are among the
chief causes that often bring ruin on the strongest constitutions,
and make the young feeble and nervous, while old age arrives
in the noon of manhood, ten or twenty years before its due
time. The question recurs then, is it possible when the evil has
been done to rectify or remedy it ? To bring back, in some de¬
gree, the months and years of constitutional vigour, which have
been prodigally squandered ? To arrest in its rapid advancement
the threatened approach of old age and feebleness — the tremb¬
ling hand, the infirm step, the dry and shrivelled skin, the
dimmed eye, the impaired ear, the thready and broken voice,
the sleepless nights, the distressing night- mares, the exhausting
dreams and dread of impotence — with thousands more of the
painful consequences of youthful vice and dissipation ? Is it
possible, we say, to arrest any or all of these, and bring back
the constitution to the vigour of manhood, if not to the fresh¬
ness of youth ?

We answer all these questions by referring you to the imme¬
diate causes of early old age, as sketched above, vol. 1 . page
474. Now, we put it to your philosophy — we put it to your
common sense, and your common experience, whether it is not
partly, if not altogether possible to arrest the progress and rapid
increase of many of the symptoms of early old age, and even to
restore also many of the impaired functions. We are quite cer¬
tain that it is both possible and practical, and we cannot too
strongly impress this opinion upon the minds of all who have
been the unthinking victims of youthful ignorance, and in¬
dulgence in folly and vice. WTe shall therefore lose no time in
introducing you to the

Means of Recovering Youthful Vigour.

You will better understand our philosophy and believe more
firmly in the efficacy of our plans, if you have ever been scald¬
ed with hot water, or stung by a nettle. Recollect that we
told you the leading cause of old age is the obliteration and
obstruction of the smaller blood-vessels, which prevents the
blood from getting to all the parts as formerly, to supply them
with nourishment. Now all that is necessary in this case, you
perceive, is to re-open if possible, those small thread-like and
hair-like blood-vessels, which have thus been shut up in conse¬
quence of the patient’s heedless career of indulgence. So far
this is an easy task, and so far as it is carefully performed, your
lost constitution will be restored. Observe the effects of the
scalding water, or the sting of the nettle on your skin. The
skin becomes instantly red and blushy, because the small hair-
l;ke blood-vessels on its surface have been stimulated to ' rn

62 Is it possible to restore a Ruined Constitution ?

crease their calibre, and to admit the augmented stream of
blood. You may see this more manifestly in the white of the
eye when a particle of dust or sand gets within the eye-lid : the
small blood-vessels previously invisible and empty, all at once
enlarge, become filled with blood, and the eye is then expres¬
sively said to be bloodshot, and the hitherto invisible veins are
seen branching along the white surface of the eye-ball. This,
however, is an approach to inflammation, from the vessels being
too much enlarged or the stream of blood too strong, and this
we must take care to avoid in our restorative plan. We have
put the case strongly that you might the better comprehend the
philosophy and common sense of the thing. Now for the prac¬
tice.

According to our philosophy, in order to re-open the smalt
shut blood-vessels, you have only to stimulate them. On the
surface of the body this is best done by gentle and continued
fricti on with the flesh brush, or with a soft cotton cloth. In this
friction you must persevere daily, and you may be certain that
your skin, however dry and shrivelled it may be, will soon be¬
come supple, moist, transparent, and healthy. Not only so,
hut the inner parts of the body are all in such close companion¬
ship, or sympathy with the skin, that they will be improved in
an equal degree, and the youthful routine of nourishment will
be thus slowly but effectually established.

This, you will easily infer, however, is only a small part of the
process, though it is the part which applies immediately to the
source of the disease. Along with this there must be rigid ab¬
stinence from all the causes above pointed out, as the origin of
the obliteration of the small blood-vessels — unscientific feasting,
namely, improper drinking, late hours; and above all, immode¬
rate drugging and sexual indulgence.

lo crown this our philosophical method of renewing the lost
vigour of youth, w’e must insist on as rigid an adherence as pos¬
sible to the rules of training, as laid down in our first volume,
particularly those respecting food, exercise, and sleep. If these
measures are properly persevered in for two or three months —
(attending to them one day and neglecting them the next,
would ruin all)— we stake the character of our little work, and
our own character as professors oi the philosophy of health and
comfort on the issue, though the constitution of the individual
should be reduced to utter feebleness, and though his nerves
should be at the mercy of the slightest agitation. It would be
wrong in us, however, notwithstanding our firm confidence in
these plans, to promise that those who are very much reduced
and broken down, will recover as rapidly as those who have not

New French plan oj treating Indigestion. S3

suffered so much or so long. Indeed it is a maxim which holds
almost universally, that when a weakness or a disorder is of long
standing, that it will require a proportionable length of time
for its cure, and those who expect miracles must lay their ac¬
count with sad disappointments. — One of the most common and
distressing symptoms of ruined constitution which we have
above alluded to, and which requires to be more particularly no¬
ticed here, is the feeling or the

Dread of Impotence .

It may be worth knowing, that this can arise from causes
which are but little suspected. Among these we reckon all sti¬
mulants which affect the kidneys in particular, and produce a
desire to make water. Those who have tarried long at the
wine, need not be told of its certain effects in this way; and all
liqueurs, strong waters, and malt liquor, when incautiously
drank, are no less injurious. This we say is well known, though
we fear it is but little attended to ; it is not, we believe, so w7ell
known though not the less true, that ginger beer, soda wTater,
or even plain water, and indeed all weak watery liquids when
much used as drink, have a very strong influence in producing the
unpleasant feelings in question. Rice also, is justly we believe,
accused of the same injurious power ; and all the medicines
called diuretic, particularly cantharides, which is often and very
erroneously taken to obviate the evil, though it will to a cer¬
tainty increase it. Half a pint of mild ale, twice or thrice a day,
is liquid enough — and it is the best in all such cases.

Those readers who may blame us for introducing this subject,
cannot be aware of its prevalence and the distress of mind
which it always occasions. It is our duty to attend to all such
complaints, and wre hope that we shall always be able so to
express ourselves as not to offend delicacy, and so as not
even to be understood by those who require not our directions
and advice.

New French Plan of treating Indigestion.

Dr. Broussais, the very ingenious and clever physician of the
Military Hospital at Val de Grace, near Paris, has for several
years been founding an entirely new school of medicine, and
new methods of treating diseases, in which he has been uncom¬
monly successful. Of some of his doctrines indeed we approve
highly, and for this strong reason, that though his theory appears
often to be erroneous, his practice is found to succeed beyond all
expectation. It reminds us of the advice Sir Matthew Hale

34 New French Plan of treating Indigestion.

gave to a country magistrate, who asked the judge how he
should manage the causes that came before him. “ Give judg¬
ment,” said the experienced lawyer, “ according to the best of
your ability ; but beware of ever assigning any reason for your
decision ; as your judgment will seldom be very far wrong,
though if you begin to give reasons, you have odds against you
that you will ever be right.” It is for the most part thus in
medicine as well as in law, and was never better exemplified
than in the case of Dr. Broussais, to whose plan of treating in¬
digestion we shall now introduce you, by way of a specimen of
the new French doctrine.

Dr. Broussais’ Account of Indigestion .

Our readers will recognize, in the new French theory, consi¬
derable resemblance in some respects to our own philosophy, as
expounded in the Oracle. Broussais, for example, says that in¬
digestion and bilious complaints, and the disordered bovyels of
hot weather, are occasioned more or less by inflammation of
the stomach and intestines, that is, by a greater rush of blood
going to those parts in consequence of the irritation of undi¬
gested or improper food and drink. If acids then are produced
in the stomach by the fermentation of food of hard digestion, or
taken in the form of sour wines, hard malt liquor, &c., the sto¬
mach and bowels are thereby irritated, and inflammation com¬
mences with a flow of blood, which reddens the internal skin of
the stomach in the same way as hot water, or the sting of a
nettle wi 11 redden the external skin of the hand. I he conse¬
quence will be, that if this inflammatory redness is slight, un¬
easiness, weight, and low spirits, with disinclination to move,
will affect the patient 5 and if it is severe or violent, pain, fever,
and universal disorder of the system will follow.

Upon this doctrine of the inflammation, in a greater or less
degree, of the internal skin of the stomach and bowels, Dr.
Broussais founds his

New Remedies for Indigestion.

If my doctrine is true, says M. Broussais, nothing can be
more preposterous than the drugging plan of the doctors, one
of whom will give an emetic ; another will give a dose of Epsom
salts, or some other purgative ; and a third, following the ab¬
surd practice of the English apothecaries, will give a dose of
calomel. Now, if there be always inflammation, however slight
it may be, as the new doctrine maintains — you must to a cer¬
tainty increase it by the additional irritation of emetics, and pur¬
gatives, and calomel, and the patient will infallibly have hi*

35

Sew French Plan of treating Indigestion*

disease aggravated by such unskilful doctoring. All purgatives,
indeed, as we have seen vol. 1. p. 343, tend to produce inflam¬
mation of the intestines, and this must be still more the case
with emetics and calomel. Dr. Broussais, however, goes mucli
farther than this, and asserts, that all nourishing food of every
description will aggravate the complaint by increasing the in¬
flammation ; and that the disorder is almost always piolonged
by the chicken broth, veal soup, and beef tea, so commonly
given in such cases, under the erroneous notion of soothing and
comforting the stomach. M. Broussais, indeed, follows exactly
the advice of Shakspeare, in Hamlet: —

- .Refrain, - .

And. that shall lend a kind of easiness,

To the next abstinence ; the next more easy ;

For this almost can change the stamp of nature.

And either curb the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency.

The grand remedy of the school of Val de Grace is leeching
extensively, as near as possible to the seat of the disease, for the
purpose of diverting the current of blood from the inflamed
parts, and at the same time diminishing its force and quantity.
According to the violence of the disease, and the apparent ro¬
bustness of the patient, Dr. Broussais orders from one to four
or five dozen of leeches to the stomach, and allows the bleed¬
ing from the bites to continue several hours. If one bleeding
is not successful, he repeats it as soon as it appears necessary;
but he never dreams of putting on two, three, four, or half a
dozen leeches, as is done so often in this country. In this we
conceive that M. Broussais is philosophically correct ; for except
in the case of infants, or in a slight bruise of the finger and the
like, we cannot see what good a few leeches could do, since it
is well ascertained that they cannot draw above a dessert spoon¬
ful of blood each, and many of them not more than a tea
spoonful.

The only other remedy which Dr. Broussais prescribes is
bai ley- water, gum arabic water, eau sucree or sugared water,
and often plain cold water from the spring, avoiding of course
pump and hard water, which are almost always loaded with
lime, &c., and very unwholesome. This water diet, he says,
soothes the inflammatory symptoms, and prevents relapse, which
soups and broths always tend to produce.

One of the first symptoms of recovery is, that the tongue be¬
comes clean and red, from being white and loaded ; and as soon
as you observe this improvement, you may be assured that a
similar improvement has taken place in the stomach and bowels,

36

Diseases of the Unmarried State.

from the close companionship between them, which we for¬
merly pointed out, vol. 1. p. 31. The leeching and the absti¬
nence from nourishment will often, in recent cases, produce
this clean appearance of the tongue, in from twelve to twenty-
four hours ; and in going round the wards at Val de Grace,
the rapid improvement produced on the tongues of the patients
is the most striking circumstance which we remarked, and this
alone seldom fails at once to convert all the young men who go
there to Broussaism. We are not very sanguine that our
readers, who are the victims of indigestion, will be induced to try
this leeching and starving plan, but we have thought it our duty
at least to explain it, and record its wonderful effects which are
supported on the most respectable testimony.

-***: Desk Diseases are not forgotten ; but we think this plan
of B roussais will for once furnish a good apology for intermit¬
ting the series.

Diseases of the Unmarried State. No. 1.

We are instructed by the high authority of divine inspiration,
that c< it is not good for man to be alone,” and natural feeling
concurs with inspiration in establishing the fact. Our darling
science of comfort, accordingly, can never be pursued — at least
in all its varied and extensive bearings by those who live in
“single blessedness,” and who cannot, as we have irresistibly
demonstrated above, vol. 1. page 457, go into half the enjoyment
of the table or the bottle, as those who have obeyed the natural
and divine command. Since then it must be not only unnatural
but a direct breach of an enjoined law to follow the absurdities
of monks and nuns, what else can be expected from the crime
of celibacy, if we may call it so, than the just and natural punish¬
ment of disease. In sins of commission, such as in the instance
of overloading the stomach, or of unstringing our nerves in the
enjoyment of a cold bath, we suffer, and deserve to suffer, the
pangs of disordered digestion, and the distress of languor and
low-spirits. In a similar manner, for sins of omission, such as
resisting the compunctious visitings of hunger, or in neglecting
to marry, we as deservedly suffer in the flesh in proportion to
the magnitude of the sin.

It is here — at this point — that our assistance is of the most
moment to remit — so far as we can and dare — this punishment
for omissions, and to bring comfort and consolation to those who
are suffering from the darts of Apollo *, in consequence of their
neglecting to heal the wounds made by Cupid’s arrows. Com-

* Set* Ilomrr, Hind 1. v. 43.

Diseases of the Unmarried Stale.

37

fort and consolation then are so far in our power in such cases,
though we cannot promise complete relief without obedience to
the scripture law. Attend then to our counsels, which we shall
first give to such of our fair readers as may require them — *
bachelors must wait their turn. We shall begin with the very
common and distressing disorder usually called

Green Sickness.

The doctors who sport their odds and ends of Greek, to throw
dust in the eyes of their employers, call this disease Chlorosis ,
which is barbarous Greek for “ grass-greenness/’ referring to
the pale greenish-yellow tinge of the complexion in this com¬
plaint. Besides tliis diseased colour of the skin, the patient,
who is usually young, is affected by numerous symptoms, parti¬
cularly a deranged and depraved appetite from the generation
of acid in the stomach, which excites the desire to eat chalk,
lime, fuller’s earth, charcoal, cinders, and other outrd tilings,
and along with this she is languid, listless, unwilling to move or
to do any thing, and apt to faint from the slightest causes.
Her limbs are feeble, her head aches, and the back of the neck
feels stretched and painful, her eyes glisten, her mind is tickle
and irritable : she is melancholy and sad, and loves to be alone;
she has a tendency to weep for mere trifles ; she is troubled with
pimples and eruptions about the face and neck ; and on the
slightest exertion, she breathes with difficulty. There is pain
in the back and in the loins, and often gripes like those of colic.
Sometimes the skin assumes a glazed waxy look, and the face,
particularly the eyelids, in the morning appear swoln, turbid,
and of a leaden colour. The feet and legs feel cold, as if they
were placed in cold water, and become swelled at night. The
sleep is broken or disturbed by night-mare, and there are fre¬
quently ringing in the ears, bleeding at the nose, and giddiness.
The dreadful feeling of sinking, as if the patient were about to
d,ie, and often ending in a faint, occurs chiefly in close rooms,
churches, and other public places, and more particularly when
the patient is standing.

Method of Treatment.

This must always depend on the cause, and as the chief cause
is implied in the title of our article, we must have recourse to
attacking the secondary ones. Among these, Professor Frank
mentions the injury produced by napkin-bandages and cloths,
so common among European females, and tight dresses and
stays. He also justly accuses novel-reading, and other excite¬
ments of the passions ; the use of acids to diminish corpu¬
lence * ; and indulging in improper food and much weak watery

* Wc are preparing a paper on this subject.

F

VOL. II.

Mr. Kingan on Cock -a- Leek if .

drink. The shame attending certain discoveries which the mo¬
ther has not previously mentioned is also, he says, a frequent
cause, and gives the case of a noble virgin who died in a few
days, in consequence of an unforeseen disclosure at a ball.

As suppressions, obstructions, and irregularities, are always
a leading feature of the disease, we must, in the very first order
of remedies place the great discovery of Dr. Lavagna, mentioned
in Vol. 1. page 27a, and cannot repeat it too often that it is the
best and safest female remedy ever devised by human skill.
Along with this the warm bath ought to be used ; but the cold
bath must be strictly prohibited and bleeding also, except when
the pulse is strong and bounding, and where there is, as often
happens, a decided fulness of habit, in which case two dozen
leeches or more applied below the navel will always do good,
and still more if followed with a blister in the same place. We
also strongly recommend lying as much as possible on a sofa or
couch, and the use of light, simple diet, and such as is not apt
to become acid on the stomach. One of the best things which
we know for correcting the diseased appetite for cinders, clay,
&c., is the

Bitter Draught for Acidities .

Take half an ounce of the liquor of sub-carbonate of potass,
one ounce of the compound infusion of gentian,
one drachm of the tincture of cascarilla.

Make a draught, to be taken when occasion requires.

it is important to tell you that though green sickness is often
a very alarming disease, from its assuming so closely the symp¬
toms of consumption, yet it is much less dangerous, and for the
most part easily cured if taken in time, by the means we have
pointed out, and particularly by Dr. Lavagna’s plan. If suffered to
go on for months or years, it may certainly end in consumption
at last. We shall take another opportunity of pointing out the
marks by which it may be distinguished from consumption.

*** The Green sickness and other diseases of Old Maids and
Bachelors to follow in succession.

Cock-a-Lbek y, a National Scots Dish.

By J. Ki ngan, Esq.

Buck's Head, Glasgow , 1 Oth July, 1824.

“ Sacrifice a cock to Esculapius” were amongst the last words
of Socrates. I know not if the dying sage meant simply that
the animal’s throat should be cut, bis blood poured out by way
of libation, and then ignominiously thrown out on his own
dunghill. I am convinced, however, if his disciples possessed
any taste* they, sans question, entombed the luckless crower in

59

Mr. Kingan on Cock-a- Leeky.

the bowels of a lusty mass of Captain Fluellen’s favourite
vegetable. Could Esculapius have possibly received a higher
compliment? If, as 1 believe, they so offered up the fowl, they
not merely shewed their sense of what constitutes good-eating,
but followed up to the letter, the injunction of their revered
master, by making his cock the principal ingredient of a dish
worthy of the god of health himself, as being one of the most
salubrious and savory that ever rejoiced the growling bowels of
a hungry sinner. Should any captious horticulturist in a hypo¬
critical spirit, object that there are no leeks to be found in
Greece, the onus probandi , that is the burden of the argument,
lies with him. Let him take a voyage up the Mediterranean, if
not to help the Greeks, at least to ascertain what they feed on.
He will then find that the spirit of their warlike ancestors has
revived with the restoration of their ancient fare, and that cock- .
a-leeky has been one of their standing dishes from the com¬
mencement of their glorious struggle with the Turks. I shall
consult Mr. Hopkirk, or Professor Hooker, on the point over the
first bowl of punch I happen to drink with either of those
learned Botanists.

I once knew a great original, Geordy Coulter by name, a
sticket minister, like Dominie Sampson, whose fondness for the
subject of the present article was excessive. — His remarks on
cock-a-leeky I must give you in his own words, though I fear
they will not merely torture but be unintelligible to an English
car : —

“ Hech, man/’ quo’ Geordy, “ if the pangs and grips o’ the
foul fiend hunger’s upon ye, unless ye chance to hae the cocky
and his broo afore ye, dinna feed your fancy a minute theranent.
Fegs, the very yedea wull gar ye gang clean daft. For I know,”
quo’ Geordy, “ its baith meat and drink, grand and gusty food
for the bowels, and mawmy liquor to slocken the thirst forbye.”

How far the taste of our Southern brethren may have been
depraved by the late inundation of French cooks and their exe¬
crable trash, I am unable at this distance to ascertain, but
wherever these foreign corrupters hang out, rely upon it 66 there
is death in the pot.” Take canny Mrs. Pringle’s advice, and
eschew them as enemies more dreadful when armed with the
ladle than with the firelock. The one is a mode of warfare,
open and above-board; the other, hidden, insidious, and deadly.

If you ever feel disposed for a season to exile from your table
roast beef, (Gallice, Ros RiJ- — O the reptiles !) let your taste
wander — not beyond the channel, but beyond the Tweed, and
that you are heartily inclined to make a fair trial of Scots fare,

I can hardly doubt, from several excellent articles which have
lately appeared in your very amusing and valuable publication.

40

Mr. Kingan on Cock- a- Leek y .

The following receipt for making the coek-a-leeky, 1 was fa¬
voured with from honest Lucky Black, of the Gallowgate, who
recommended in addition a stomach-lid of her beef steaks, and
pickled cabbage, and a reaming jug of her best porter, previous
to the regular set-to at the punch bowl.

Lucky Black’s Receipt.

Take an old cock, and stew him in company with a piece of lean
beef, till nearly done. Then cut into pieces of an inch long, about two
dozen of fresh leeks, and with a little parsley and spinnage, add them to
the soup. Let the whole stew till you find the soup rich and good.
Season with pepper and salt. Serve up the whole in a tureen.

I conclude with the hope, that you will this day week at the
farthest, address your committee at six o’clock, in the honourable
words of Sapient King Jamie, Ci Let us a’ awa’ to our dinner,
for the cock-a-leeky is cooling;” and that you will not forget to
wash down the same with a brimming bowl of our glorious
punch ; and for myself, and for the other members of the
punch club, 1 remain,

meat-like, claith-like, and punch like,

Yours most devotedly,

J. Kingan.

P.S. The following anecdote was told by Dymock, in his
best manner, at our first sederunt, after Frank Mackay * came
to the Buck’s Head, and will, I am sure, gratify you and your
numerous readers : —

The late Laird of Macnab was a great lover of cock-a-leeky.
He was invited to dine at Taymouth Castle, the seat of the Earl
of B - , a personage who took much delight in the singula¬

rities of the ancient chieftain. It was a standing regulation, that
cock-a-leeky should form a part of the feast, when the Laird
dined at Taymouth. His lordship wishing to play his old friend
“a souple trick,” as the latter afterwards termed it, ordered the
cook to pinion with brass wire the legs and wings of the cock.
Having partaken, as usual, largely of the soup, Macnab was re¬
quested to cut up the fowl. This he attempted, but after sun¬
dry desperate efforts, accompanied with gestures the most fero¬
cious, yet expressive, he fairly laid down his dissectinginstruments
and panted much in the style of one of his over driven Stots.
“ What is the matter, Macnab ?” cries his lordship : <c My lord,
growled the chief, “ this teuch creature’s a truly patriarchal
chield.” “ How! tough, did you say ?” “ Teuch/” cries the laird,

* Mackay’s coming to Glasgow is a great era in the history of Good Living,
which we shall takecare to record. We are promised a sketch of his “ Brithering,’’
«r introduction to the Punch Club.

41

Meg Dods’s Critiq ue on Hatch Patch.

with a voice of thunder, “ by G — d this must be the cock that
crew to Peter.”

The chaplain looked ruefully grave at this peroration, and

Harley was also in the sulks; but Robroyton kindly clapped the

man of learning on the shoulder, and Holmy cried “ Hout man,

never fash your thumb at thae lang faced hypocrites— tak’ aff

your punch, an’ aye keep the back o’ your hand and the outside

o’your purse to all the pious, pauky, and powdered chiels, that

think a joke as iniquitous as good works themselves, and good

works ye ken in this country are said by the godly, to be the devil’s

chief weapon of temptation. If it be sae, indeed, God help baith

you and me, Dymock ! whose chief faith and belief are placed

in the efficacy of beef steaks, and cold punch. I would wad a

bowl of Mackay’s best, that the chaplain and all the saints to

boot would side with us blithely, if we would secure them plenty

o’siller, and screen them from the shame of turn-coatism. No

one of them all believes in this blaflummery of faith more than

ourselves.” — The hubbub and high words which this Erastian

speech produced, I cannot describe ; but Dr. Jarvie took a

sketch of it for vou. J. K.

*

Meg Dods’s Critique on Hotch Potch.

Cliekum I/m, St. Romms , 2b 4h July, 1824.

Sir — This comes to let you know that I find ane Mrs.
Pringle has been blawin in your lug and whully-whawin tae
you about her receipt for hotch potch. Her’s it may be, what
for no ; but its no the real Scots I gie ye my trouth, and would
tak my oath on the same afore the fifeteen. if it were necessary,
in a matter as plain as parritch. Did ye ever see hotch
potch a’ your life made in sic a new7 fangled gait, as to grate
down the carrots and turnips as if ye were gawn to make gar¬
dener’s brose ? Na, na, this is ne’er the way. If ye want to
make real hotch potch, ye maun cut the turnips and carrots
into sma’ dice, and ha’e them swooming about among the pease,
like as mony grozets, and than ye’ll be sure of a dish that ye’ll
no match if ye wrere to seek from Dan to Beersheba, and that’s
as far, 1 have heard the minister say, as frae the Aulton to John-
a- Groats.

I would have sent you, according to promise, the receipt for
making “ Plottie but as I am in a great hurry the night, ye
maun excuse me for ance, and I maun bid you bide w7ith pa¬
tience.

No more at present, but remains,

Yours to command, Margaret Dods.

U’o W. M, Wallace , Esq, , 44, Paternoster Roiv*

M

Philosophy oj the Hair. iV>. 4.

[We think that the hotch potch would be greatly improved by
a combination of the two methods of Mrs. Pringle and Mrs.
Dods; namely, bv grating one half of the carrots and turnips,
and cutting the other half into the size of dice. Editors.]

Philosophy of the Hair. No. 4.

From what we have already laid down, respecting the anatomy
and chemistry of the hair, you may readily infer that it must be
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate it from any
part of the body, in such a manner as to prevent its future
growth. The roots lie so deep, that it is hopeless to think of
getting any external wash or application which will destroy them
and leave the skin uninjured. Even if you pull the hair out. by
the roots, you may see, by turning to Vol. 1. page l?7b‘, that it
will not avail you, as there are thousands of roots which never
shot up a single hair, ready to start through the skin the
moment you make room for them by pulling out their bre¬
thren.

If you attend to what we have above said on the cause of
baldness and grey hair, you may learn, that the only way of
getting rid of superfluous hair, is by causing the skin to shrink
and to strangle it at its exit. By the chemical articles used in
tanning, & e., this perhaps might be accomplished, though we
know not whether these have ever been tried ; and in default of
such experiments to found an advice upon, we shall keep to
the things which have been tried to advantage. Among these
there is one w hich in Turkey, as we are informed by Lady Mary
Wortley Montague, is esteemed equal to its weight in gold.
We shall, therefore, give you the genuine receipt for this

Turkish Depilatory.

Take three ounces of quick-lime, and

half an ounce to an ounce of orpiment.

Mix carefully, and sift the powder, taking care not to take in any of
the dust in breathing. Keep in a well-stopt bottle for use.

To use this powder, you must mix it with a quarter of an
ounce of starch-powder, pour on the whole a sufficient quantity
of warm water to form a paste, and after bathing the parts
where the superfluous hairs are, with warm water, you may
apply it cautiously. Leave it on a few minutes, and moisten it
it it dries too quickly. Try every twTo or three seconds whether
the hair comes away easily, and when it does, wipe it off with
warm water. The hair will come away entirely; but it will
probably grow again, and the operation must be repeated. It
si necessary to warn you that this, in proportion to its power, is

Hereditary Dunces and Borough Jobbery. 43

not to be sported with ; for it will be apt to burn tbe skin itself,
if left longer on than is absolutely necessary.

Tbe other depilatories, which are mentioned in books or
sold by quacks, are all inferior in power to this, and therefore are
less worthy of notice. We may probably return to some of
these at another opportunity.

Hereditary Dunces and Borough Jobbery

That a particular breed of men, cattle, or potatoes, will in
time wear out and degenerate, is, we believe, unquestionable.
In Ireland this is well ascertained in the case of potatoes, which
are there every year becoming worse ; in the Highlands of Scot¬
land, where improvement is not likely to travel far or fast, the
same is true of cattle; and in all places of moment obtained
hereditarily by a sort of entail, the same holds of men. Fletcher,
of Saltoun, a man of keen sarcasm and deep observation, tells a
story of a person who was, as he says, hereditary professor of
Divinity in some German University, and who as a matter of
course was a dunce, like all the sons and grandsons of great men
from Cicero and Shakspeare, downward to Professor Munro,
the founder of the Medical School of Edinburgh. These facts
then we consider to be in some measure established.

It is not quite so clearly laid down in books that the relatives
and dependents of great men usually feel the benumbing spell
of their celebrity, and have their faculties paralysed and duncified
by living under the overpowering shade of genius. This, how¬
ever, we consider to be no less capable of unanswerable proof
than the other ; and we may instance the case of the relatives
of Sir H. Davy, some of whom flounder about after chemical
discoveries in most pitiable helplessness; Edmund Davy, for
example, (who annually enjoys somewhere about five hundred
pounds of the public money for ten or a dozen milk-and-water
lectures, to about twice the number of auditors *,) recommends
as an improvement, on the faith of his chemistry, to mix mag¬
nesia with bread flour ! ! 1

Magnesia for bread, O Davy 1 what trash !

Turn out — and show cause why a finishing crash
Be not made of the lump which you wear as a head,

For your chemical hoax of be-poisoning bread.

We shall say nothing of ability or want of ability either in
the common stock or individually, among Sir Astley Cooper's

* A prime subject for Ifnmc next Session of Parliament.

44

Hereditary Dunces and Borough Jobbery.

junta of relatives and dependents at the Borough; but we
should like to come at the secret manoeuverings which preceded
their several elections ; to see the certificates of character drawn
up by Sir Astley and his friends; and to know whether ability,
or connection with Sir Astley swayed most in their favour.
Our readers may like to see this Borough list, as an example of
the powerful spell of genius, in concentrating like a superior
planet so many satellites around it. Sir Astley himself shall
give it you : Listen ! —

“ Mr. Travers is my apprentice ; Mr. Green is my godson ;
Mr. Tyrrel is my nephew ; Mr. Key is my nephew ; Mr. Mor¬
gan is my apprentice. I feel proud in having such men around
me*.”

Yet these are the men — ( such men !) who have been for years
past, according to Sir Astley’s own account, drugging the pa¬
tients in Guy’s Hospital with mercury, till they spit a pint and
a half a day. — Shocking ! These are the same men, also, whom
Dr. J. Johnson takes occasion to bepraise and flatter so fulsomely
at all times and in all places, for the manifest purpose of booing
to Sir Astley, and picking up an occasional patient. He calls
i( Mr. Key, one of the most promising young surgeons of the
celebrated school,” but this is far exceeded by his magni-loquent
eloge on Green. Hear him !

“ Mr. Green’s lectures at the College attracted a most crowded
audience, and called forth enthusiastic plaudits, this year. The
subject was highly favourable — being no less than a delineation
of the structure, functions, and natural history of the whole of
animated nature, from the minutest animalcula up to man himself.
The present course ascended to the conclusion of the inverte-
brated animals. Mr. Green not only displayed an intimate ac¬
quaintance with every link in this immense chain, but elucidated
each subject by means of beautiful magnified drawings, dia¬
grams, and figures, in aid of the costly and numerous prepara¬
tions in the College Museum. Nothing could exceed the matter
thus brought forward except the manner in which it was deli¬
vered. The most abstruse points of physiology and anatomy
were descanted on in an easy and flowing oratory, that would
have done honour to the senate or the bar. In fine, we have
no hesitation in averring, that, in point of elocution, Mr. Green
is the first medical lecturer we have ever heard in this or any
other country” ! ! ! ! ! !

This is without a doubt the ne plus ultra of journalizing in
flattery, even in the Medico-Chirurgical Review.

* Report of Sir A. Cooper’s Lecture in *■ The Lancet,” Vol. III., No. 8.

September Diseases.

45

Diseases of September, and the Means of Escaping them.

- September -

- Heavy laden with the spoyle

Of Harvest’s riches, which he made his host,

And him enriched with bounty of the soyle.

Spenser.

To follow Nature is undoubtedly your very best rule of health,
if you can find out what it is, and how you are to do it; but
without practical explanation this is always too general a maxim
to be turned to useful account, and in this respect it is very like
the boasted doctrine of utility and the general good, so glibly
talked about, and so little understood, by moralists and politi¬
cians. It is all very well to tell us to follow Nature for our
health, and to attend to the general good, and conform to the
will of God in our actions ; but it is a very different thing to
discover how we are to do this in every little action of our lives,
and for this plain reason, that we cannot tell whether one action
in a hundred will conduce to our health, or be in conformity
with general utility ; or, as Paley would have it, with the will of
God. We are plain practical men, and give no quarter to such
pithless and fruitless talking — such mock philosophy, which
may do to talk about, and serve old Jeremy Bentham or a Col¬
lege fresh-man to write about — but cannot be made to direct
our conduct or our actions in our every-day life. u Vain man
would be wise,” says Solomon, “ though he be born like a wild
ass’s colt,” — a dead home-thurst, we should say, at all these
unintelligible doctrines of following Nature, attending to utility
and the general good, and conforming ourselves to the will of
God, when we cannot tell how to do so in any one case, and
nobody, not even the men who prate about it, can inform us
The whole of these doctrines, then, we make bold to say, are
splendid nothings — quite incapable of being practised by man,
woman, or child, and therefore we make no ceremony of kicking
them aside, and coming to what you can both understand and
practise, if you will take the trouble.

The beasts, as they act by instinct, certainly follow Nature ;
but we, who are, or ought to be, guided by reason, conduct our¬
selves by art: yet in respect of health (the subject before us),
we often appear less rational than the beasts. Cattle will over¬
eat themselves, and poison themselves by eating deleterious

* Those who would like to see this farther discussed, are referred to Gisborne
and Paley. The doctrine of general utility is highly absurd.

VOL, II. G

September Diseases.

plants *, in the same way as men who are ignorant of the rules
of good living, as laid down in the Oracle, will surfeit them¬
selves with good things, and enjoy what will injure them. Now
our business is to instruct you particularly to avoid every thing
which may hurt your health in this way, in order that we may
add to your comforts and to your enjoyment of life. In this
month, above all others, our cautions are the more necessary,
that it is the season of festivity and abundance for man and
beast;

The feast is such as Earth, the general mother,

Pours from her fairest bosom, when she smiles
In the embrace of Autumn.

The fields supply their grain and the orchards their fruit, and
the whole earth is joyous and glad at the return of harvest. The
wine-press and the cyder-press are put in full operation to sup¬
ply genial liquors for the winter’s board ; and malt is now pre¬
pared for the annual supply of nut-brown October.

By turning to our remarks on last September, you will find
some useful things respecting the care which you ought to take
in the increasing chilliness of the nights, which are very apt, in
the weak and delicate, to bring on dangerous colds and coughs.
We shall now take up more particularly the crowd of disorders
arising from the eating of fruits, and which we shall take the
liberty of calling

Fruit Fevers and Autumnal Indigestions.

Fresh, ripe, sound fruit, of most kinds, when eaten mode¬
rately, is light and wholesome; but when it is not sound nor
sufficiently ripe, or is eaten in greater quantity than the stomach
can comfortably warehouse, or easily manufacture into good
blood, then it must ferment or corrupt by the internal heat, and
give rise, in consequence, to turmoil and disturbance in the
bowels. Stone fruits, in particular, are more dangerous when
eaten incautiously than apples or pears ; and it has been long
observed in England and (as we are informed by M. Grimrod
de Reynier) in France, that a plentiful year of plumbs is always
rife in fevers and dysenteries. The chemical parts of stone
fruit are sugar, water, mucilage, acids, and woody fibre; and
hence you may infer how easily they will run into fermentation.
Unless, indeed, they are fully ripe and mellow, which is best
known by the pulp being easily separated from the stone, they
must prove injurious to the stomach from the first, in conse¬
quence of their acerb juices acting as astringents, and producing

* See Linn«vs, LachesiV Lapponioa, Jnlv 11, nnd Oracle of Health, Vol. I.

p. 66.

September Diseases.

*7

colic and griping. When ripe, however, or plainly cooked, no
fruit is more easily digested or more wholesome. They gene¬
rally act on the bowels as a mild laxative. The kernels, parti¬
cularly those of peaches, recommended by Dr. Willich, in his
Lectures, as containing a wholesome bitter, are strongly im¬
pregnated with prussic acid ; and though a few of them may
prove salutary, as the prussic acid itself does when cautiously
administered, a quantity might prove deleterious. Ripe apricots
are refreshing and laxative; but often only one half is ripe and
the other not, in which case we should recommend the advice in
the Almanack des Gourmands, that the delicate ought only to
eat the ripe side, freed from its skin. Peaches are best eaten
fresh with sugar : when too heavy for cold stomachs, they may
be stewed. These hints may, perhaps, prevent you from being
forced into disagreeable acquaintance with the following

Symptoms of Fruit Fever .

We shall say then that you have thought fit to eat some un¬
ripe, and therefore indigestible, fruit; or, if the fruit was ripe,
a greater quantity than your stomach had comfortable room for.
The stomach accordingly takes offence at the mal-treatment,
and makes you suffer in the flesh for the misdemeanor. You
begin to feel weight, oppression, lassitude, and unwillingness to
move, with cold chills, running chiefly along the small of the
back, and ending in flushing heats and perspiration. Your
head aches, and you feel pains in various parts of the body,
sometimes fixed and sometimes wandering. The face becomes
pale, and the eyes yellowish; but the stomach is the chief suf¬
ferer; and from its being loaded and distended, there is nausea
and loathing, and often retching, and eructation of disagreeable
wind, or of bilious, tenacious, acid, or acrid matter. The state
of the mouth is the best test of the state of the stomach, which
is observable in the foetid breath, the tongue loaded with a white
or yellow viscid crust, sometimes tasteless, at others bitter and
disagreeable. Disorders of the bowels succeed, such as rum¬
bling noises*, gripes, sense of weight and fulness, accompanied
either with costiveness, or with bilious, foetid, or frothy stools.

At this stage of the complaint, the patient may not be so ill
as to be confined to bed ; but in a short time the thirst, giddi¬
ness, and headache increase ; the pulse becomes more frequent
and often intermittent; the symptoms of the stomach, the nau¬
sea, the retching, and the griping, are aggravated ; the flushing
of the face is greater, with greenish paleness towards the sides

* Aristophanes (in his Nubes, if we recollect right) compares this rumbling of
the bowels with thunder!

48 September Diseases.

of the nose; the under-lip quivers; theeyes are suffused with
tears; the breathing becomes hurried and difficult, often ac¬
companied with cough, either with or without expectoration ;
pain similar to that of rheumatism is felt in the chest, the
shoulder-blades, and in the throat; and along with loss of
strength, there is drowsiness or sleeplessness and delirium.

In the course of three or four days the fever begins to remit
in the morning with a gentle sweat breaking out on the forehead
and breast. The tongue is sometimes more loaded with a thick
yellow crust, and sometimes it is dry in the middle, and of a
brown colour; the urine is made with burning pain, is deep
yellow, or appears like the urine of cattle, or with a pink or
bran-like sediment. Towards night there sometimes comes on
a slight chilliness or shivering, with an aggravation of all the
symptoms. The skin becomes dry, harsh, and burning, and is
often suffused with a yellow tinge. Blood sometimes drops
from the nostrils, mixed with a yellowish fluid, while the sleep¬
lessness, restlessness, and delirium are exceedingly distressing.

As the disease advances farther, the remission in the morn¬
ing almost disappears. The region of the liver and stomach is
more tense and painful. The feelings of anxiety, heat, thirst,
and headache, become much aggravated. The delirium is al¬
most constant. The throat is parched. The tongue is brown, •
livid, or approaching to black, covered with a tough phlegm,
and so hard as to appear almost brittle to the touch; and this
appearance is increased by its being deeply chapped. The
speech is impaired and stuttering. The eyes are red, the hear¬
ing dull, and the temples throb. The urine is scanty, thick, of
a bad smell, and often discharged unconsciously. The stools
are liquid, and brown or greenish, and of an extremely bad
smell, while the belly is inflated, and sounds to the touch,
and the skin is either parched or bathed in a clammy sweat.
When the disease in this stage is neglected or badly treated, it
often terminates fatally.

When the disease is more slow and mild in its attack, the
patient, on awaking from sleep, feels little refreshed, is listless,
morose, quarrelsome, or in low spirits. The mouth and throat
are loaded with phlegm, and he belches foetid gas, or spits up
great quantities of phlegm, with much nausea. There is little
appetite for food, but not absolute loathing; but after eating he
complains of weight, fullness, drowsiness, flatulence, and ob¬
struction of the bowels. Cold shivering is succeeded by wan¬
dering flushes, and dry squalid skin or slight sweating; a leaden
heaviness of the head, and murmuring and ringing of the ears,
causing a degree of painful stupidity. The belly sometimes

Treatment of Fruit Fever.

49

swells, and is painful to the touch, and this is succeeded by
hiccup, difficulty of swallowing, and great anxiety and oppres¬
sion of stomach, which in a few days end in the appearance of
thrush in the mouth. Some patients have cough and difficulty
of breathing.

Treatment of Fruit Fever.

It is dangerous in all such cases to let blood, unless when
the symptoms have a decided tendency to inflammation, marked
by full pulse and tightness, and pricking pain in the side. If
these are well marked, blood-letting is indispensable. When
there is no inflammation, and when there is neither rupture,
pregnancy, or other circumstances to forbid it, and if the strength
of the patient can support it, an emetic should be promptly ad¬
ministered. In this case we should recommend the

Antimonial Emetic.

Take three grains of tartarized antimony,
three ounces of distilled water.

Mix for an emetic, and work it off with camomile tea.

The best time for giving an emetic is just before you expect
a tit of the cold shivering, as it will often check it altogether.
When the shivering has begun or has just gone off, the emetic
will often prove too weakening to the patient. When the
bowels are loose, or flux is present, an emetic of ipecacuan is
the best. When the bowels are costive or obstructed, it is a
good thing to give a laxative along with the emetic ; for which
purpose we prescribe

Dr. Bang’s Fever Draught .

Take one ounce of sulphate of magnesia,
two grains of tartarized antimony,
six ounces of distilled water.

Mix for a draught, to be repeated occasionally till it be successful.

Before going to dinner, or at bed-time, it is excellent to
begin by taking one grain of ipecacuan, increasing slowly to
twenty grains. One-fourth or one-half of a grain of tartar
emetic, increased slowly to two or even three grains, is also
good. In order to dissolve the phlegm when it accumulates to
a troublesome extent, we would recommend lemonade, decoc¬
tion of endive, or tamarind or cream of tartar water, or the

Decoction of Grass Roots.

Take an ounce of the roots of couch grass,
four pints of soft water.

Boil down to two pints, and strain for use.

50

On Sauces.

When the phlegm is by these means loosened, and made less
tough, one of the best things for expelling it is

Dr. Munro’s Draught for Phlegm.

Take three ounces of spirit of mindererus,
three ounces of infusion of elder,
one ounce of simple oxymel.

Mix for a draught, to be repeated occasionally.

When the patient is recovering, he must be treated with
generous diet, a moderate use of wine, and country air and
exercise. A very excellent restorative is the syrup of quinine,
(Vol. [. p. 270.) or the

Aromatic Bitter .

Take two drachms of gentian,
two ounces of Cyprus wine,
two ounces of mint water.

Mix, and take a wine glassful as occasion requires.

On Sauces. By an Amateur Gourmand.

Sauces form not only an essential addition to most meats,
but even make an important part of them ; they do not alone
vary the taste and form in which they are presented to us, and
impart that relish which enables us to eat three times as much
as we could without them, but they form an attractive decora¬
tion, which may justly be compared to the finishing touch of
the painter or the toilette of a beauty. The office of a good
sauce is to flatter and excite the appetite. If it be too mild,
it causes no sensation, and its object is not obtained ; and if it
be too pungent, it excoriates instead of gently stimulating the
palate, in which the enjoyment of a real epicure consists, and
which an experienced and accomplished cook can alone pro¬
duce. Medical men indeed pronounce that all sauces are to be
avoided, because they induce us to eat to repletion ; but what
would they make of fish under such a prohibition, which every
body knows cannot be passed without sauce ? Besides, it would
quite undermine the whole system of modern cookery, reduce
us to a diet of plain roast and boiled, and condemn us for the
remainder of our lives to the regimen of a family joint. If we
are not forced, however, to refrain from the use of sauces till we
see physicians refuse lobster with their turbot, swallow venison
without jelly, take beef-steaks without oysters, or reject turtle
and ragouts, we need be in no dread of being speedily com¬
pelled to abstinence.

A foreign ambassador, when in this country a few years ago,

51

Mysteries of Equivocal Generation .

shrewdly remarked, that the English had twenty religions and
only one sauce ; but the everlasting melted butter, which then
ruled over our tables with undivided sway, has since been stripped
of a great portion of its authority, and only reigns in the majesty
of uncontrolled dominion among a few obstinate and pertina¬
cious disciples of the old regime. So great indeed is the pro¬
gress we have lately made in rubbing off our old-fashioned pre¬
judices, and in adopting the more scientific and enlightened
cookery of our neighbours, that a detailed catalogue of sauces,
now naturalized in spite of the Alien Bill, would of itself fill a
volume ; for, according to an accurate computation made one
or two years ago, the nomenclature of sauces was found to
comprehend about two hundred varieties, and we are daily
making important additions to the number.

Were we to enter into all the niceties of these, and the man¬
ner of preparing them, we should find the topic so inexhaustible
and irresistible, that we must avoid entering into the delectable
maze, though we must give our readers the useful caution to be
very wary in forming the connexion of sauces ; for all family,
matrimonial, illicit, political, commercial, friendly, and equivocal
connexions are not by half so dangerous as an ill-placed con¬
nexion of sauces. The art indeed of forming these is one of
the greatest mysteries in science, and its acquirement is the very
acmd of the culinary art. Its elements however are simple,
consisting chiefly of gravy or cream, and their object, like that
of other connexions, is to cement the union of various and often
discordant qualities. As, in a happy marriage, the interests,
the temper, and the wishes of each must mutually yield to the
other, in order to produce that harmony which forms the basis
of connubial happiness and of social order; so, in a good ra-
gofit, the substance, the seasoning, and the sauce should all be
blended in that exquisite concord which constitutes the founda¬
tion of good cookery, and of all rational enjoyment. In the
management of this, however, the generality of cooks are la¬
mentably deficient ; for, like many of their masters, they cheat
us with false appearances, and give their sauces the semblance
of richness by the aid of mere colouring matter, while they, in
fact, possess neither flavour nor substance.

Mysteries of Equivocal Generation.

By a Correspondent.

The ancients believed that crocodiles and other animals were
generated from the mud of rivers, and, more marvellous still,
that the world itself was hatched from an egg. Virgil, in his

52 Mysteries of Equivocal Generation.

Georgies, instructs us largely how to generate a hive of bees
from a dead ox, and many other things equally wonderful.
These processes of producing animals have been well called
equivocal or mysterious generation, in which the greater number
of our modern philosophers do not believe, and the ingenious
Darwin was most unmercifully ridiculed for reviving it after it
had been so long exploded by the experiments of Redi *. Dar¬
win, indeed, carried his doctrines so far as to make it quite ludi¬
crous ; for example, he supposes that after oysters had been
mysteriously generated in the sea, and left dry by the ebbing of
the tide, their efforts to reach the water again, expanded the
parts nearest to it, and these parts became arms or legs; and
again, the efforts of beasts without wings to get into the air in
pursuit of insects, after a few trials, actually formed wings !
When fowls, again, went accidentally into water, the efforts to
swim caused webs to grow between their toes ! Now this is not
only ridiculous, but quite athiestical ; though notwithstanding,
when kept within rational bounds, we confess that we have a
strong hankering after the doctrine of equivocal generation,
modified as we shall endeavour to sketch it.

The opponents of the doctrine say, that every plant and every
animal must be formed from a seed or an egg, and that this
must be the joint production of two sexes. If this be the fact,
we should like exceedingly to hear some of the following cir¬
cumstances explained. Take an example from plants. You
are aware that no plant can grow without soil, and that soil is
formed first of sand, clay, or gravel, or, in other words, the
powder of rocks and stones ; and, secondly, of the remains of
decayed vegetables, this being indispensable to support vegeta¬
tion. You would, however, be apt to accuse us of favouring the
Huttonian vision of the eternal succession of worlds, were we
to state, that before plants could grow they must have a supply
of soil formed from plants which had decayed and perished;
and you will naturally ask, how the first plants were supported ?
Those who forget that the Deity always acts by means and in¬
struments, would at once answer, that the first plants were di¬
rectly nourished by Heaven ; but this seems to be no less irre¬
ligious than it is unphilosophical. There can be no fancy in
the following account, for you may see it going on every day
under your own eye.

Observe the top of a brick or of a stone wall green with moss,
and sometimes tufts of grass and other plants growing there.
We ask you, whence was the soil formed which supports the

* See Redi de Gencrationc Insectormn, passim.

53

Mysteries of Equivocal Generation .

moss and the grass ? It was not there when the wall was built,
*md appears not to have been carried thither : whence then has
it come ? We cannot, we confess, go to the very first beginning
of the formation or manufacture of this soil, but we can go very
near it. The first indication of vegetable life on the wall is that
of a green silky-looking substance, having somewhat the ap¬
pearance of a coat of green paint. When this is examined by
a microscope, it is found to consist of minute buds of moss.
As at this stage there is almost no support for these tiny moss-
buds, minute though they be, they never advance farther than
the bud, and die with the first dry weather which occurs, leaving
their remains to rot, and form the first particles of true vege¬
table soil.

As soon as a thin layer of this soil is thus formed, a crop of
lichens make their appearance, and go through the same pro¬
cess of growth and decay ; and, if other circumstances are fa¬
vourable, the soil soon accumulates to a sufficient depth for
grass and other plants which can grow in little earth. If the
wall in question be very old, other larger plants, such as wall¬
flower and house-leek will make their appearance. On old
ruins you may even see trees, particularly those which bear
winged seeds, as the ash and sycamore.

Whence, however, the seeds are, of the tiny moss which first
appears on the wall, we cannot say, and in this consists the
mystery. We have seen a house built of free-stone raised from
a quarry more than a hundred feet below the surface of the soil,
and in the course of one month the whole wall as green with
moss as if it had been painted. Now, if we are to take the
doctrine for granted that every plant arises from seed, the many
millions of seeds of these innumerable mosses must have come
from the air, or must have existed for centuries in the stqne
under the earth. One or other of these must be the case.

That it is not impossible the seeds may have existed in the
rock, several curious facts would lead us to believe. We know,
for example, that seeds retain the power of germinating and
growing for several thousand years .; for some wheat which was
found wrapt up with an Egyptian mummy was quite fresh, and
when sown, grew as well as if it had been gathered the preced¬
ing harvest. A more striking fact still is, that when a piece of
land which has never been tilled is turned up by the spade or
the plough, it becomes immediately covered with a crop of an¬
nuals, charlock, chick-weed, shepherd’s-purse, and many others,
not one of which may grow within a hundred miles of the spot.
What is no less wonderful is, that all these annuals will again
disappear as soon as the grass is again suffered to spread over

VOL. II. h

54

Mysteries of Equivocal Generation .

the spot which has been dug up. We may likewise mention
what is well known to farmers, that by scattering quick-lime
over a field which only produces coarse grass, this is destroyed,
and other grasses of better quality, and previously unknown to
the soil, spring up. Now, whence, we ask, were the seeds
procured, it they were not equivocally and mysteriously ge¬
nerated ?

The facts respecting animals are no less wonderful. We
may inquire, for example, how every river and brook comes to
be peopled with fish, since it appears from the scripture history,
as well as from geology, that the rivers are all of recent for¬
mation ? The river fish could not come from the sea, for most
of them (though not all) would be as soon killed by salt water
as by being brought into the air. We have no means of know¬
ing whether Noah’s deluge was fresh or salt water, or a mixture
of both; or how, if it were any of these, the fresh or the salt
water fish were preserved. The fact, however, we do know,
that they either were both preserved, or were created, or equi¬
vocally generated after the flood ; and if so, they must have been
created or generated in each particular river; for they could
not come through any communication that rivers may have with
the sea.

Besides, many rivers do not run into the ocean. In Persia,
for example, some streams abounding in fish are exhausted in
watering grounds. We may ask, also, whence came the fish
which live in the boiling springs of Iceland, and those which
are thrown out from the mud volcanos of South America ?
Every set of rivers is distinct from every other set, and many of
them have fish peculiar to themselves : — Whence did these
come ? Pools of rain in warm countries presently swarm with
fish? an(l the brooks also which are dried up in the dry season.

Water allowed to stand produces animalculse, said to arise
from eggs which were floating in the air. But if so, why are
the smallest always produced first ? Should it not sometimes
happen that the greater would precede the smaller, which is
never the case. An infusion of pepper is soon filled with ani¬
malcule of a peculiar kind. Does the fly, that lays such eggs
as produce these, float about till some philosopher chooses to
make the experiment ? What must this fly have done for a
place to lay its eggs before pepper was brought from India,
and before philosophers thought of making the experiment?

In Prince of Wales’ Island, and other parts in the East,
the roofs of the houses are flat and stuccoed. In the rainy
season, the rain lies on them in hollow places. When the sun
lias shone long on them, sometimes small creatures are observed

Mercantile Indigestion . 55

in the water, which gradually take the form of fish, and soon
grow to the size of from three to six inches in length. These
roofs are quite dry for eight months in the year, and are ex¬
posed to a vertical sun, while they are kept clean swept every
day. Whence then come the eggs from which our opponents
assert that they are produced ?

Our doctrine is favoured by the principle that similar causes
produce similar effects, and both together serve to explain the
very interesting observations recently made respecting the dis¬
tribution of plants and animals. Baron Humboldt has ascer¬
tained, for example, that in a climate of a particular tempe¬
rature, the plants are nearly of the same class, and that the
same holds of animals. Thus a lake on a mountain in Scotland
shall have the same sort of fish in it as one in parallel circum¬
stances in Switzerland. The char, a species of trout, but red
in the fish like salmon, is found in lakes a thousand leagues
asunder. Capt. Parry even found a species of char in a lake
in Melville island, near the pole. Mr. Saunders, who travelled
in Thibet, found on the mountains there, the same plants as
would be produced in the same situation in Europe; the shrub,
called by Botanists, arbutus nva ursi , for example, which is a na¬
tive of Scotland, Switzerland, and Canada. Now these countries
stand so widely separated, that it is scarcely within the com¬
pass of probability, that seeds could be wafted from the one
to the other ; and therefore, we must either admit a partial
creation, or equivocal generation.

We shall not lose sight of this interesting subject, and
shall be obliged to our correspondents for illustrative facts.

Mercantile Indigestion, with the Prescriptions of
Professor Gregory, of Edinburgh.

[We are indebted to a clever Glasgow correspondent for the following sketch,
premising what indeed must be evident, that the patient Mr. — — • is not a
member of the celebrated Punch Club. Corkindale maintains that a diploma
from Walter Graham has more potency than all the prescriptions ever penned.

Editors. J

Scene. Dr . Gregory's Study — Enter Mr. - *, a douce

looking Glasgow Merchant.

Patient. Good morning Dr. Gregory, I’m just come in to
Edinburgh about some law business, and I thought when I was
here at ony rate I might just as weel tak your advice Sir, anent
my trouble.

* We conceal the name from delicacy ; but Graham, Hunter, Kingan, and others,
will vouch for the truth of the story, as they know the man well.

56 Mercantile Indigestion,

Doctor . And pray what may your trouble be my good Sir.

Pa. 'Deed Doctor, I’m no very sure, but Fm thinking its a
kind of weakness that maks me dizzy at times, and a kind of
•pinkling about my stomach — -Fm just no right.

Dr. You're from the west country, I should suppose Sir?

Pa. Yes sir, from Glasgow.

Dr. Aye : — pray sir, are you a gourmand — a glutton ?

Pa. God forbid sir, Fm one of the plainest living men in all
the west country.

Dr. Then perhaps you're a drunkard ?

Pa. No, Dr. Gregory — Thank God no one can accuse me of
that, Fm of the dessenting persuation Doctor, and an elder, so
ye may suppose Fm nae drunkard.

Dr. Aside. [I’ll suppose no such thing, till you tell me your
mode of life.] I’m so much puzzled with your symptoms sir,
that I should wish to hear in detail what you do eat and drink,
when do you breakfast, and what do you take to it?

Pa. I breakfast about nine o’clock. I tak a cup of coffee,
and one or two cups of tea. A couple of eggs, and a bit of ham
or kipper'd salmon, or maybe both, if they'r good, and two or
three rolls and butter.

Dr. Do you eat no honey, or jelly, or jam, to breakfast ?

Pa. O yes sir, but I don’t count tlvat as any thing.

Dr. Come, this is a very moderate breakfast, what kind of
dinner do you make ?

Pa. O sir, I eat a very plain dinner indeed 3 some soup, and
some fish, and a little plain roast or boiled, for I dinna care for
made dishes, I think someway they never satisfy the appetite.

Dr. You take a little pudding then, and afterwards some
cheese ?

Pa. O yes — tho' I dont care much about them.

Dr. You take a glass of ale or porter with your cheese.

Pa. Yes, one or other, but seldom both.

Dr. You west country people generally take a glass of High¬
land whiskey after dinner ?

Pa. Yes we do, it’s good for digestion.

Dr. Do you take any wine during dinner ?

Pa. Yes, a glass or two of sherry, but Fm indifferent as to
wine during dinner — 1 drink a good deal of beer.

Dr. What quantity of port do you drink ?

Pa. O very little, not above half a dozen glasses or so.

Dr. In the west country, it is impossible I hear to dine with¬
out punch.

Pa. Yes sir — Indeed it’s punch we drink chcijly, but for my-

Mercantile Indigestion. 57

self, unless I happen to have a friend with me, I never tak
more than a couple of tumblers or so, and that’s moderate.

Dr. O exceedingly moderate indeed ! You then after this
slight repast take some tea, and butter and bread ?

Pa. Yes, before I go to the counting-house to read the even¬
ing letters.

Dr, And on your return you take supper, I suppose ?

Pa. No sir, 1 canna be said to tak supper, just something be¬
fore going to bed. A rizzer’d haddock, or a bit toasted cheese,
or half a hundred of oysters, or the like o’that, and maybe two
thirds of a bottle of ale, but I tak no regular supper.

Dr. But you’ll take a little more punch after that ?

Pa. No sir, punch does not agree with me at bed time. I tak
a tumbler of warm whiskey toddy at night, its lighter to sleep on.

Dr. So it must be no doubt. This you say is your every day
life; but upon great occasions you perhaps exceed a little ?

Pa. No sir, except wheij a friend or two dine with me or I
dine out, which, as I am a sober family man, does not often
happen.

Dr. Not above twice a week ?

Pa. No, not oftener.

Dr. Of course you sleep well and have a good appetite.

Pa. Yes sir — thank God I have — Indeed any wee harl o’health
that I hae is about meal time.

Dr. (Assuming a severe look , kniting his brows and lowering
his eye-brows.) — Now Sir, you are a very pretty fellow indeed :
you come here and tell me that you are a moderate man, and I
might have believed you, did I not know the nature of the
people in your part of the country ; but upon examination I find
by your own shewing, that you are a most voracious glutton ;
you breakfast in the morning in a style that would serve a mo¬
derate man for dinner; and from five o’clock in the afternoon
you undergo one almost uninterrupted loading of your stomach
till you go to bed. This is your moderation ! you told me too
another falsehood — you said you were a sober man, yet by your
own shewing you are a beer swiller, a dram-drinker, a wine
bibber, and a guzzler of Glasgow punch ; a liquor, the name of
which is associated in my mind only with the ideas of low com¬
pany and beastly intoxication *. You tell me you eat indigestible
suppers, and swill toddy to force sleep — I see that you chew
tobacco. — Now sir, what human stomach can stand this ? — Go
home sir, and leave off your present course of riotous living —
take some dry toast and tea to your breakfast — some plain meat

* Peace to the manes of Gregory ! Had he been alive — we should have h.ul
(bbby Kennedy or John Douglas to horsewhip him for this libel.

5* Mercantile Indigestion.

and soup for dinner, without adding to it any tiling to spur on
your flagging appetite; you may take a cup of tea in the evening,,
but never let me hear of haddocks and toasted cheese, and oysters
with their accompaniments of ale and toddy at night ; give up
chewing that vile — narcotic — nauseous — abomination, and there
are some hopes that your stomach may recover its tone, and you
be in good health like your neighbours.

Pa. I’m sure Doctor, I’m very much obliged to you — [taking

out a bunch of Bank Notes.] I shall endeavour to -

Dr. Sir, you are not obliged to me — put up your money sir —
Do you think I’ll take a fee from you for telling you what you
knew as well as myself? Though you’re no physician sir, you
are not altogether a fool. You have read your Bible, and must
know that drunkenness and gluttony are both sinful and dan¬
gerous, and whatever you may think, you have this day con¬
fessed to me that you are a notorious glutton and drunkard.
Go home sir, and reform, or take my* word for it your life is not
worth half a years’ purchase.

( Exit Patient, dumbfounded and looking blue).

Dr. (Solus). — Sober and temperate ! - Dr. Watt tried to live

in Glasgow, and make his patients live moderately, and purged
and bled them when they were sick ; but it would not do. >
Let the Glasgow doctors prescribe beef steaks and rum punch,
and their fortune is made.

[Let Dr. Jarvie attend to this sensible hint. He tolls ns that the gluttony of (he
Glasgow folks is beyond belief, though the Oracle has done wonders to instruct
them in the uoble science of good living, and they are fast improving. Editors.}

Effects of Drugging on Beauty.

If you have perused our remarks on the causes of early old
age, page 4/4, 5, you can scarcely fail to draw the inference,
that drugging must be a powerful cause of spoiling the com¬
plexion and dimming the eye of beauty. All drugs are poison¬
ous, and if taken in sufficient quantity would absolutely kill you 5
but if taken in smaller quantity — when you have little occasion
for them, they will to a certainty half-kill many of the parts of
your body. The skin, which is one of the principal scats of
beauty, is frequently the first to be affected by drugging, and
you may remark that ladies who are constantly taking draughts
and pills for every slight cold or trifling ailment, have almost
uniformly sallow and shrivelled skins, nothing of the bright hue
and transparency of health, and not even the delicate paleness
produced by a sedentary life within doors, and admired by some
as a mark of high rank if not of genuine natural beauty.

We have on several occasions explained this on philosophical

53

Effects of Drugging on Beauty.

principles, from the effects produced by drugs in* stimulating the
absorbents to carry off more of the substance of the body than
the powers of the stomach, in preparing a supply of fresh blood,
were able to repair, and also from the shutting up of the hair¬
like blood-vessels that carry only the transparent parts of the
blood, and of course give transparency to the skin and other
superficial parts, where the branches spread, as on the lips, the
cheeks, the eyes, See.

Moisture is indispensable to the beauty of the skin and of the
eyes; if the skin become dry, it also soon becomes harsh,
rough, and probably scaly. If the eyes are not properly sup¬
plied with tears to wash the eye balls at every motion of the
eyelids, they will to a certainty become painful and red, indepen¬
dent of their loss of lustre. Now, all the natural and delicate
moisture which keeps the skin soft, pliant, and transparent, and
the eyes moist and brilliant, is supplied by a sort of filtration
from the extremities of those hair-like blood-vessels which carry
the transparent part of the blood. If therefore you shut up
those vessels by the use of drugs, so that they can no longer
carry the transparent fluid to moisten the skin and the eyes, of
course you destroy the very source of all beauty.

These facts, which are indisputable and may be easily verified
by every body who will take the trouble to inquire and to ob¬
serve, will teach our fair readers to beware, as they value their
beauty, of contracting the baneful habit of dosing themselves
daily, weekly, or monthly with apothecaries' trash. The habit
of taking pills and drops is exactly like the habit of taking snuff,
or of dram-drinking. When once it has been acquired it can¬
not be relinquished, and the person feels uncomfortable, unless
the bowels are artificially moved by some regular purgative or
laxative. The system goes on till not only the beauty of the
skin but the beauty of the shape is impaired, and perhaps
ruined.

The elegance of shape depends on the perfection of the bones
and the muscles which cover them ; but if you shut up the
small blood-vessels, both the bones and muscles are deprived of
due nourishment, and of the necessary repairs for the daily waste
carried off by the absorbents, and of course become diminished
in size. . The back- bone in particular is shortened, and often
bent as is seen in the old.

1 he remedy for these lamentable effects is to renounce in¬
stantly the constant habit of drugging, and follow the plan laid
down in Vol. 2. page 28, which is by far the most powerful re¬
storative of faded or fading beauty that has ever been tried.
While we recommend this, however, as the sovereign restorative

60 New French Test of Danger in Coughs and Consumption.

of decayed beauty, we are not so very sanguine that we shall be
able to persuade our readers to undergo the trouble of the pro¬
cess. As a secondary expedient, therefore, we shall prescribe a
wash which, though not so powerful in its effects on the skin
and eyes as what we have just recommended, will tend in some
casure to revive its beauty.

Beauty Wash for the Skin and Eyes.

Boil a handful of pearl barley in

a pint of water, till it be soft ; strain it, and add
a few drops of the balsam of Mecca.

Mix well, by agitating it in a bottle, and preserve for use : the face
and eyes to be washed with it morning and evening.

New French Test of Danger in Coughs and

Consumption.

We can only spare room for a sentence or two, to announce
what we consider to be a great discovery in medicine, and
which has for some years been making its way against strong
prejudices and opposition. In this country, where the preju¬
dices of medical men are so firmly rooted in their own ignorance,
and consequent self-sufficiency and pride, the discovery is ab¬
solutely laughed at! In a former page (Vol. 1. p.294.) we
mentioned several tests of danger in consumption, as proposed
by eminent men, to be taken from experiments made on the
matter coughed up. In consumption, however, and even in
bad and dangerous coughs, matter is not always coughed up,
and of course our former tests will not apply to every case.
The French test, however, will apply in every case, as it does
not depend upon the matter spit up.

It consists of a very simple instrument, very learnedly called
the Stethoscope , which so magnifies the sound of the air passing
in and out of the lungs, that, when applied to the outside of the
chest, you can distinguish at once, both whether there be any
obstruction or disease in the lungs, but also the very spot where
such obstruction exists. As the ascertaining of this point is of
the very utmost importance to all who may be threatened or
may be affected with this fatal disease, we shall, in our next,
give an engraving of the instrument, with the manner of using
it. Our readers will thank us for this, were it no more than
for our effort to crush the prejudices of English physicians
against what is, out of all doubt, of high importance in deciding
on the danger of consumption. The details which we shall
give on this subject, both in the Oracle and in our Medical

Influence of Fear and Panic in the Spread of Fever.- 61

Advice on Consumption, will enable the intelligent to distin¬
guish at once between a fatal decline and a common cold, and
will, we hope, remove from many their groundless fears of
danger, while it will put others on the alert to combat a threat¬
ening consumption.

It may not be out of place here to mention, that Avenbrugger,
a German physician, has a method of examining the state of
the chest by percussion, or tapping on it in various places,
and observing very carefully the sound which is produced.
This, however, requires too much experience and nicety to be
practically useful to unprofessional readers.

Influence of Fear and Panic in the Spread of Fever.

By R. Hamilton, M.D. F.R.S. Edinburgh.

Typhus fever, and some other contagious diseases, are so
alarming in their nature, and so very fatal, particularly among
the upper and middling ranks of society, that we deem it our
duty to circulate every information that may tend to check
them in their progress of destruction, which makes its yearly
ravages in these islands. What we are now about to state,
from the information of Dr. Hamilton, gives besides a very
strong proof of the influence of the mind on disease, and shews
the paramount importance of the maxim, “ Laugh and be fat/’
our commentary on which, we are sorry to say, is not yet ready
for publication.

No sooner does typhus fever, or any other form of contagious
fever, appear in a town than the fear of infection spreads to
almost every individual; and this, as we shall see, tends strongly
to propagate and aggravate the evil. In the Magdalene Asy¬
lum at Edinburgh, a girl was seized with fever, at that time
prevalent in the city, and though she was instantly removed, as
well as all her bed-clothes, &c., two more were seized next day,
and an alarm and panic soon spread over the whole house.
Next day no fewer than sixteen more were in the sick-room,
and in the course of four days, out of a community of less than
fifty individuals, twenty-two were apparently labouring under
decided fever.

It now struck Dr. Hamilton that there was much delusion in
all this, arising from panic and imitation ; and, acting on this
belief, he went to the sick-room, and told the poor girls that
such a rapid spread of disease was quite unknown — that they
were under a delusion by yielding to their fears, and imi¬
tating others, who were now undergoing all the tortures of
bleeding, blistering, and purging in Queensbury Hospital. He

VOL. II. i

62 Infallible Medical Cure for a Weak Memory.

assured them that the fumigation, and other precautions, must
have destroyed the contagion ; and that if they would only keep
a good heart, and dismiss their fears, he would pledge himself
the fever would soon disappear.

The effect of the Doctor’s speech was like magic. The
minds of all in the house were instantly re-assured. The tide
of opinion set in a contrary direction, and several of the pa¬
tients, then in the sick room, recovered before night, and seven
out of eight were quite well in a day or two. Not one of the
other inmates of the house, from this day, fell ill for nearly a
month afterwards. The patients who had previously been re¬
moved to the hospital, went through a regular fever, some of
them severely; and Dr. Hamilton has no doubt that all the
girls in the sick-room, when he addressed them, would have
gone through the same course.

We shall conclude with a still more striking illustration,
which we translate from Vander Mye, a respectable Dutch
author. The famine and distress produced by the siege of
Breda, in 1625, gave rise to scurvy, which carried off great
numbers of the inhabitants. The garrison were in consequence
strongly inclined to surrender, when the Prince of Orange,
anxious to prevent its loss, contrived to introduce letters, not
only promising speedy assistance, but accompanied by a medi¬
cine, said to be of great price, and infallible against the scurvy.
Three small phials of this miraculous medicine were entrusted
to each physician, and three or four drops were said to be
enough to impart their sovereign virtue to a gallon of liquor.
The effect of the device (which was kept a secret even from
the commanders) was truly astonishing, and many patients
were quickly and perfectly recovered. Such as had not moved
out for a month, were seen walking in the streets with their
limbs sound, straight, and whole. Many who had declared
they had been rendered worse by all former remedies, recovered
in a few days, to their inexpressible joy, by taking what was
called their gracious Prince’s cure.

Infallible Medical Cube for a Weak Memory.

A greater hoax was never played off on English credulity,
than Von Feinagle’s Art of Memory and its disgusting jargon of
associations, which every body that took the trouble to learn
. was most anxious to forget. In a future page we shall pro-
bably give an extended view of the philosophy of the memory,
in the mean time we may mention the chief causes of its weak¬
ness, in order to show you the rationality of our remedies.

Infallible Medical Cure for a Weak Memory. 6 3

At the very head of the causes which tend to impair and des¬
troy the memory, we place sexual indulgence ; for as a good
memory depends on clearness of the brain, and strength in the
nerves of the head, and as undue indulgence to a certainty mys¬
tifies the brain, and undermines the nerves — the weakening, if
not the destruction of the memory must follow, as a thing of
course. We may say the same most strongly of all sorts of ir¬
regular living, late hours, and debauchery, and particularly inat¬
tention to the standard rules of good living, as laid down in this
work. Nobody who indulges in any, or all of these, has the
least right to complain of a weak, or a bad memory, as they are
themselves the plain cause of its destruction. Another common
cause of weak memory among those who are much employed at
the desk, is long hours and hard study, by which not only the
nerves are impaired, but what is still worse, the stomach is in¬
jured, and cannot prepare a due portion of nourishing blood, to
keep up the vigour of the nerves.

The state of the head has, as we have seen, very considerable
influence on the memory. If you will take the trouble of look¬
ing back to Vol. 1. page 300, you will see how the briskness, or
slowness, of the current of blood in the brain affects the powers
of the mind, in waking, and in sleep, and we now tell you, that
this has precisely a similar effect on the memory. If the blood
ffovv slowly and sluggishly through the brain, the memory will
be bad ; if it flow briskly, the memory will be clear and ready ;
and in proportion as the current of blood verges, to one or other
of these states, will the memory partake of the circumstances
attending these states, and be either bright or cloudy. Our at¬
tention then, in endeavouring to improve the memory, must be
primarily directed to the current of blood through the brain.
We have already, in Vol. 1. p. 388, mentioned one of the most
powerful means hitherto known, for clearing the brain of stagna¬
ting or superfluous blood, and shall not again repeat what we
have there said, but shall furnish you with a receipt, that has
been famous from remote antiquity, as a

Medicine for improving the Memory .

Take a table spoonful of tincture of hyssop }
a single drop of oil of cinnamon.

Mix, and put into your last cup of tea morning and evening.

As the virtue lies in the hyssop, those who take this for tea,
instead of the tea of the shops, will, we have no doubt, find
advantage therefrom.

64

Secrets for Choosing Venison and Came.

Secrets for Choosing Venison and Game. By M. Rozea.

As our former paper on poultry has been pretty generally
liked, we shall now follow it up with another from the same ex¬
perienced hand, on the very interesting subjects of venison and
game, the latter of which continues, and will continue, to be
sold in utter contempt of prohibitory laws.

Venison. — To know whether it be fresh or stale, try the haun¬
ches or shoulders under the bones, that stick out, with your
finger or knife ; as the scent is sweet or rank, so is it new or
stale ; and the like of the sides, in the most fleshy parts ; if
tainted, they will look greenish, in some places, or more than
ordinary black.

To recover tainted venison. — Wrap it up in a coarse cloth,,
and bury it in dry mould, two feet deep, for forty hours, and the
taint will be nearly all taken away. To know whether it be old
or young, look on the claws of the foot ; if the cleft be very
wide and rough, it is old ; if close and smooth, it is young.

The buck-venison begins in May, and is in high season till
September. The Doe is in season at Michaelmas, and holds
good, if fed, to the end of January.

Joints . — The fore-quarter contains the shoulder, neck, and
breast ; there is no hind-quarter ; the haunch takes up most of
the loin with it : besides these, there are some trimmings, which
are generally the park-keeper’s perquisite, as the tongue, greskin,
and umbles. Deers’ flesh, which Isaac so much longed for, is
thought, by some, the best; and by some, the worst of meats;
it is very bad and unwholesome in rutting time.

Wild fowl. — A pheasant-cock, if he be young, has a short
blunt spur; but if he be old, he has a small sharp one. Ob¬
serve narrowly, if it be not cut or pared. If he be fat, he will
have a fat vein upon the side of his breast, under the wing; if
he be new, he will have a fast, firm vent ; but if he be stale
killed, he will have a green vent; and if you touch it any thing
hard with your finger, it will peel.

The hen-pheasant, when young, has smooth legs, and her
flesh of a curious grain ; if, with egg, she will have a fast, open
vent; — for newness and staleness, as the cock.

All physicians allow pheasants to be one of the best of meats,
and often prescribe pheasant-poults in hectic fevers ; and upon
recovery from a long or violent sickness, no meat more fit than
pheasant-poults ; but strong stomachs, such as these of labour¬
ers and ploughmen, by feeding on pheasants, fall immediately
into sickness and shortness of breath, shewinir the truth of our
observations, Vol. 1. page 41).

Secrets for Choosing Venison and Game . 65

r . . ^

Heath-cock and hen. — If young, they have smooth leg’s and
bills ; if old, rough ; as for the rest, they are known as the fore-
going.

Partridges. — Partridges are best and most in season at the
end of harvest, before they have either trode or laid. A par¬
tridge, if it be old, has a white bill and blueish legs; but if it
be young, it has a blackish bill, and yellowish legs; if new, it
will have a fast, firm vent ; but if stale, it will have a green
vent, and will peel, if you touch the vent hard with your finger.
If they have fed on green corn, and their crops are full, they will
taint there ; and, to know this, open the bill, and smell at the
mouth. A partridge of this sort is what the French admire.

Partridges have a temperate heat, but incline a little to dry¬
ness ; they feed upon snails, chick-weed, tops of leeks, and all
manner of good and wholesome corn ; they are never subject to
pips, or rheumatic diseases, which makes them live till they be
almost twenty years old.

Woodcocks. — If a woodcock be fat, it will feel thick and hard
in the vent, and have a fat vein upon the side of the breast ; but
if lean, it will feel thin in the vent ; if new killed, limber foot¬
ed ; but if stale, dry footed ; observe if it has a snotty nose or
muddy throat, which is very bad ; and you may know this by
squeezing the throat. Woodcocks are best when they first come
in, cr rather a month after, when they have rested themselves
after their long flight from beyond the seas. Choose a snipe by
the same rule as the woodcock.

Quails. — The quail is less than a pigeon, yet much larger
than a lark ; they are fine birds, when fat; the best come from
France and Germany ; they are fattened in large cages, and sold
by Germans, who bring them from abroad, to the poulterers in
London. Some others imagine, that quails have a secret pro¬
perty of engendering the falling sickness, which certainly must
be a mistake ; for we read, that, when the Israelites loathed
manna, quails were sent them as the best and daintiest meat of
all other : and some curious paraphrast would therefore say,
it was the worst; because, while the flesh was in their mouths,
many thousands of them fell in the wilderness : but this is a
mistake ; for it was not through the badness of the food, but
their wickedness, lusting, and tempting of God. — So saith M.
Kozea.

Plover. — There are four kinds of plovers, the green, grey,
stone, and bastard plover, called a lapent. The two first are the
best ; when new, they are limber footed ; when fat, they feel
thick and hard in the vent ; but when lean, they feel thin in

66 Secrets for Choosing Venison and Game.

the vent ; when stale, they are dry footed : these birds keep
sweet and good the longest of any in England. A grey plover
has ever been in great esteem, and the ancients have raised this
proverb made on a curious and mal- contented stomach : A grey
plover cannot please him.

Afeldfare. — If she be thick, and hard in the vent, it is a sure
sign of her being fat ; if limber footed, new killed ; but if thin
in the vent, and dry footed, then is she both stale and poor.
They are best when juniper berries are ripe ; for then all their
flesh is perfumed therewith.

Blackbirds. — They are very seldom made use of in a kitchen,
yet, by some, they are preferred before thrushes or feldfares ; in
general, they are suspected to be a melancholic meat ; because
they are never found but alone and solitary ; whereupon the
Latins call them Merula , that is to say, solitarians.

Larks. — They are of three sorts ; the tit-lark, wood and field
lark : when any of these are fresh, they are stiff and firm ; but
limber and flabby, when stale ; the feathers come off' with the
least touch, when stale; the contrary, when fresh.

Wild duck. — When fat, she feels thick and hard on the belly ;
but if lean, she feels thin and soft on the belly ; if new killed,
she will be limber footed ; but if stale, she will be dry footed ;
and if it be a right wild duck, it will have a small reddish foot.

Teal. — For newness and staleness, as the wild duck ; they
feel thickJand hard on the belly, when fat ; but if they feel thin
on the belly, then they are lean.

Hare. — A hare will be white and stiff, if new and clean killed;
if stale, the flesh will be blackish in most parts, and the body
limber ; if the cleft in her lips spread very much, and her claws
are wide and ragged, she is old ; the contrary, if young.

Leveret. — A leveret if she be new killed, will be stiff; but
if stale killed, will be limber; a right leveret has a small nobbed
bone on the outside of her fore-leg, near the foot; if, by stroak-
ing your finger down her leg, you do not feel any, she is not a
leveret, but a hare.

It is said, that hares flesh prevents fatness, cleanses the blood,
and is very diuretical. The Italians generally believe, that eat¬
ing of much hares’ flesh makes a man fair, and merry seven days
after; for which purpose, perhaps, they were so much in request
among the Homans, that they bred them tame, as we do rabbits.

A rabbit. — If she is new killed, she will be stiff'; if stale kill¬
ed, limber and slimy; if old, her claws are very long and rough,
and the wool motted with grey hairs ; if young, the claws and
wool smooth.

Art of Medical Training.

67

Art of Medical Training, No. 2.

If there be one class of invalids more than another, to whom
training is beneficial — it is the bilious, and those who are
troubled with disorders of the liver. We speak under a caution
however; for when liver, or bilious diseases are firmly rooted in
the constitution — are in a state of active inflammation — or are of
long standing, we cannot train with advantage, without the pre¬
vious use of mercury, and perhaps of leeching and blistering
over the liver. It is indeed, in most cases of these complaints,
very advisable to preface your training, by applying two or
three dozen leeches over the liver, as there is generally more or
less inflammation present, which it is expedient to get under.
If this leeching, be followed up with a blister, it will be so much
the better, and your training will go on much more smoothly
and rapidly. It may be as well before proceeding to our mo¬
dified plan, as adapted to the bilious, just to sketch in a sentence
or two, the

Effects of Training on the Liver and Bile.

As the liver is a sort of strainer, or cullender, for separating
bile from the blood, it follows that it will be very much in¬
fluenced by the state of the blood ; for if this be thick and viscid,
it will stagnate in the liver, and obstruct its own passage out of
it ; and of course produce a derangement and disease. If a clot of
blood is stopped and imprisoned in the liver, it will act very
much in the same way as any foreign substance, such as a plumb
stone, or fragment of bone, that is, it will produce inflamma¬
tion to a certain extent in the parts around it. The same will
take place if there is a clot of bile, if we may use the term, or a
gall-stone. If the blood is too thin again, or deficient in the
matter which forms the bile, the liver will be incapable of manu¬
facturing a sufficient quantity to supply the purposes of diges¬
tion, in the formation of blood. Now all these consequences,
a course of training will effectually obviate from its powerful
influence on the blood, as we have already seen in detail, (Vol. 1.
p. 434.) where we remarked, that the derangement of the
bile is only a secondary effect depending on the blood, and
consequently, when the blood is restored as it is in training, the
liver will partake of the happy restoration, and the whole body
will be improved.

Training adapted to the Bilious.

Those who are subject to bilious and liver complaints should
always, when circumstances permit, go through a rigid course ol
training, but when, from great violence of the disease, debility
of frame, or situation in life, this cannot be followed to the lette

68

Art of Medical Training.

of the rules, then we recommend the following modifications : —
In the diet, instead of a beaf-steak or mutton chop breakfast,
the bilious trainer should eat as many raw eggs, beat up with
good white wine, as wall satisfy his hunger. If he has much
pain about the liver, the wine may be omitted. Biscuit may
always be eaten in any quantity along with the eggs. A person
who cannot stomach the eggs quite raw, may have them as soft
boiled as possible. The value of eggs as food for the bilious
is strongly proved by a case which happened some time ago in
London. An able medical gentleman, of the metropolis,
became so bad with disordered liver, that notwithstanding the
best advice, he was given over as incurable, and went to Bath
to die. Here he was advised, by an old woman, to live wholly
on raw eggs, and she would guarantee his recovery. Eager to
catch at the least glimmer of hope, he tried the prescription, and
by keeping to it for a few months, he was not only placed out
of danger, but was able to resume his profession.

If the disease be severe or has been of long standing, the
chops and steaks may also be dispensed with (at first) to dinner,
and soft boiled eggs with biscuit or veal, chicken, rabbit, or
other white meats eaten. Stewed prunes, or roasted apples,
may be eaten with advantage to supper.

With respect to drink, no ale nor malt liquor should be taken
at first, much less wine or other strong liquors. Coffee we must
also reluctantly prohibit, but particularly chocolate. Tea may
be taken in small quantity ; but what is greatly preferable,
though not to some very palatable, is decoction of dandelion or
fumitory, sweetened or not with sugar or honey as the patient
inclines. Of this any quantity may be drunk without injury;
and unless you use at least a pint a-day, it can do little good.
As soon as you can do it, after your health improves under
this system, begin gradually to try the beef-steaks and ale; but
be not too eager and rash in the change, lest you cause a re¬
lapse.

The exercise most proper for bilious training is riding on
horseback, or any cheerful active game in the open air, as the
keeping of the spirits on the alert is one of the main secrets in
the process of cure. If the mind is suffered to become gloomy,
or to mope in solitude, all your other exertions and plans will
be of no avail. Friction will also prove of the greatest advan¬
tage; but the cold bath, which is advised in the general system
of training, must for the bilious be avoided, and the warm bath
substituted in its stead. The clothing should be cool and light.

Above all other things, abstinence from stimulants must
be enjoined, and particularly sexual indulgence, which is by far

Bilious and Liver Coughs . 6’{J

the most frequent cause of bilious and liver disorders. From
this cause alone thousands are annually laid on their sick-beds,
and hundreds of them never rise again. We warn you, there¬
fore, most earnestly to attend to this, before it be too late — be¬
fore your liver become gorged and inflamed — and before the
dropsy, which in such cases usually precedes death, announces
that your case is fast becoming incurable.

*** Training adapted to the Gouty, in our next.

Bilious and Liver Cough.

There are almost as many kinds and causes of cough as there
are organs in the chest and the belly. Some are original, and
depend on the disorder of the organ excited ; others are second¬
ary, and arise from the companionship of the lungs, the wind¬
pipe, or the diaphragm with the stomach, the bowels, the spleen,
the liver, or the heart. Now you must perceive at once the
great importance of ascertaining the cause and the seat of a
cough ; for otherwise the cure is out of the question, unless you
stumble upon it by accident. In No. I. of our Medical Advice,
you will find some remarks on stomach coughs — a subject
which we intend to treat of very fully in an early page. We
shall now explain the nature of coughs arising from liver com¬
plaints and bilious disorders.

What is a cough ? you may ask. We answer, that it is an
effort of the lungs, the wind-pipe, or the midriffj to throw off
some offensive matter, or to relieve some irritation, in the same
way as sneezing is an effort to expel snuff from the nostrils, or
to get rid of too much blood driven thither in consequence of a
cold, &c. The immediate cause of consumptive cough has been
explained, Vol. I. p. 334. The coughs now under considera¬
tion are very different, and depend altogether (at least in the
first instance) on the companionship of the liver with the lungs
and the midriff. The case is this : —

When the liver is gorged or inflamed, as it lies immediately
under the midriff and lungs, it must press upon them, and occa¬
sion a degree of tickling and discomfort, which will excite them
to make an effort to relieve themselves by coughing. Even
when there is no gorging or swelling of the liver, if it be irrita¬
tive or pained, it will excite the nerves in connexion with the
organs of the chest, and coughing will in the same way be pro¬
duced. The philosophy of the thing, you perceive, is plain and
rational, and we may thence deduce some practical

VOL. JU K

70

Bilious and Liver Coughs .

Tests for distinguishing Liver Cough.

The usual expedient adopted by doctors for examining the
seat of a cough is, to make the patient draw in a very full breath,
and observe minutely whether it excites cough or pain in any
part. If this pain be seated in the lungs, the cough is then
determined to be consumptive or catarrhal; but if it produce a
sharp pain under the ribs on the right side, extending towards
the back or across by the stomach, then it is determined that
the liver is diseased. Sometimes you can even excite liver
cough by pressing externally over the diseased part of the liver.
When you can do this, there can be no doubt of the nature of
the disease; but sometimes it is more obscurely indicated; and
in that case it will assist you to observe whether the complexion
is clear or sallow. In coughs arising primarily from the lungs,
the skin is generally clear and well coloured, whereas, when the
liver is affected, or where there is bilious derangement, the skin
is almost always more or less tinged with yellow, and, according
to circumstances, is either moist with clammy perspiration or
harsh and dry. The only other test which we need propose is,
the indirect one of the French instrument, mentioned at p. GO,
above, which will at once determine, if in experienced hands,
whether the lungs be affected in the case of a cough, and of
course establish, or otherwise, the affection of the liver.

It is not to be concealed, however, that both the liver and
the lungs may be affected at the same time — a case which is
more dangerous than when there is only a simple disease of one
of them. When a liver cough also continues for a length of
time, it will almost to a certainty produce disease in the lungs,
the midriff’, or the stomach, and thus produce a complicated
disease. This fact ought to put our readers on their guard, and
make them attentive to remove what they may consider a very
trifling ailment, but which may be, in reality, the commence¬
ment of a fatal disease.

Treatment of Bilious and Liver Cough.

We have already given you' such directions for Training,
adapted to the bilious, that if you rigidly follow them you will,
to a certainty, relieve the symptoms, if not altogether re¬
move them, so far as they depend on the affections of the liver.
For immediate relief of the cough, if it is hacking and trouble¬
some, we know nothing which will be more effectual than the
warm bath, or the

Opiate Bill for Liver Cough.

Take one grain of opium,

three grains of submuriate of mercury,
one grain of extract of rhubarb.

71

Hints for choosing Spectacles.

Make a pill, to be taken on going to bed, and followed in the morn¬
ing with a cup of senna tea.

We must also insist particularly on what we have recom¬
mended above, with respect to dandelion or fumitory taken as
a diet drink. The leeches or the blister will sometimes prdve
almost immediately effectual in removing the cough.

Hints for Choosing Spectacles. By Dr. Kitchener.

We have more than once accused our friend, the Doctor,
of the petty device of appropriating to himself the good things
of others, and particularly some of the more attractive things in
our little work. Now we have no objections to his playing off
a hoax of this kind at the Tewhadiddle club, where the sumphs
cannot detect him ; but to publish is another affair, and must
be looked to. Kitchener, we maintain, cannot even contrive
the title of a book without dabbling about for it among his
neighbours. We recollect that he expressed himself very gra¬
ciously pleased, when our excellent article made its appearance
on “ The Economy of the Eyes;” see Oracle, Vol. 1. p. 137;
but we had no notion that he would have plagiarised it for the
purpose of re-baptizing his book on telescopes. This, however,
he has done, as you may see by comparing the title of our
article and the Doctor’s book. In that book, of which the price
is seven shillings, you may certainly pick out a few penny
worths of useful things, by hunting among whole pages of ab¬
surdity and low burlesque. We shall here give you a specimen
of our

Useful Pickings.

“ A part of the parapharnalia of an Optician’s counter, is a
book of rather a small print — which is presented to those who
come to choose spectacles — and such glasses are very properly
recommended, as will enable the person to read it at the same
distance, and with the same ease that he would before his eyes
were impaired, i. e ., through which the letters appear perfectly
distinct, and of their natural size. The first thing to attend
to, is to look at a book with each eye alternately, (shutting the
other) and carefully ascertain if you see equally well with both
eyes, with the same glass, at exactly the same distance. Per¬
sons are quite unconscious of the frequent inequality in the
focus of the two eyes till they thus try them separately ; when
they often find that a glass which will do very well for one
eye is of little or no use to the other, which, to be rendered
effective, must have a glass of a different focus.

72

Hints for choosing Spectacles .

“ With glasses ,not convex enough, or, according to the com¬
mon expression, which are too young, you will not see clearly,
unless the book is placed so far from your eyes that the letters
cannot be seen distinctly. With glasses too convex, or too old,
you will be obliged to bring ^the book nearer to your eyes than
you did when your sight was good — and the letters will appear
larger than they really are. Spectacles which magnify too much
will strain the eyes even more than those which do not magnify
enough, and instead of retarding, will accelerate the defect
which age brings on.

*e When persons apply to an Optician for spectacles to read
or work with, they should clearly understand that the objects
for which such spectacles are solely calculated, are not placed
more than twelve or fourteen inches from their eyes, i.e., whe¬
ther reading, writing, sewing, &c. ; for there seems to be a na¬
tural impulse in most persons, that after a printed book has
been handed them for trial to read, they wall presently look off
to some object on the gther side of the room, or across the
street, and say, u Why now I can see well enough to read with
these glasses — but I cannot discern the door;” and the optician
has oftentimes no little trouble to convince them that such
spectacles are not intended to show objects at a distance — to see
which, their sight is as strong as ever; and, in fact, that they
can see distant objects best with their naked eye.

“ A person in business began to want the common optical
assistance, especially for writing, when about forty years of
age — the glasses he first used were of thirty inches focus, but
he soon found them useful to look at the labels on the parcels
of muslin arranged on the shelves around his shop ; after a
while, he found it easy and convenient to keep them on during
the day, to serve his customers, or occasionally to look along
the street for a passing friend. Another pair, of deeper focus,
was deemed a necessary consequence; for the mechanism of his
eyes naturally formed themselves to the power of the convex
glasses, and his eyes still growing older — and strained by too
strong excitement, at last would not perform their office dis¬
tinctly, unless assisted by spectacles of eleven inches focus — so
that he became literally half-blind in the course of about ten
years.

“ This is not a very singular, but a very common case, and
one of the most frequent causes of irreparable injury to the
eyes, and is one of the first cautions to be given to those who
are choosing convex spectacles. From not being aware of this,
I have known several painters and other artists, who have, in
their natural anxiety to see as well as possible, irremediably

School Diseases.

. 73

injured their sight — so that when they became sixty or seventy
years of age, they were obliged to use two half glasses of diffe¬
rent foci, fixed in the rings of a spectacle frame — the upper half
to help them to observe a distant picture or sketch, &c., and
the lower half to transmit it to the canvass. The late president
of the Royal Academy — Benjamin West, Esq., was in the habit
of using divided glasses for many years ; the upper half was of
thirty inches focus, and the lower of twelve. But for some
time before his death, which happened when he was about
ninety years of age, lie had the upper half of thirty inches focus,
and the under half of only eight inches focus. The glasses were
round, and an inch and a half in diameter.

u With such divided glasses, it requires considerable attention
to raise or depress the eyes sufficiently, so as only to look through
one half — and that the rays from the other half may not con¬
fuse the eye and distress its adjustment, which would be ex¬
tremely perplexing and detrimental to the eyes, to which it
would be as bothering as it would be to the ears, to have two
barrel organs at the same moment — one playing, 4 Sally in our
Alley/ and the other, c Ally Croher.' ”

Well done Kitchener ! that was a home hit, almost as good as
your frying melody, and the cuckoo clock, see Oracle Vol. I.
p. 359. Pray, may we ask where you had it from ?

School Diseases from School Vices. By Dr. A. P, Buchan.

It so happens, we are extremely sorry to say, that the subject
of this article is too well known to require us to speak in lan¬
guage which might give offence, even to those who are ever
ready to object when certain things are talked about or even
hinted at. Already, more than once, we have spoken as
pointedly and strongly as we felt it to be our duty to do respect¬
ing the baneful practices, which, particularly in large schools,
tend to undermine the health and ruin the constitution of the
young of both sexes. It is of intense interest to parents, and
guardians. VVe refer you to Vol. I. p. 4/9, and Vol. II. p. 30,
for some useful and practical observations respecting this sub¬
ject. We shall now take advantage of the information of our
friend Dr. A. P. Buchan, the son of the well known author of
the Domestic Medicine, to fortify our own remarks. We need
not tell you that the following is penned with classical ele¬
gance : —

A youth unfortunately tainted with the vice in question, soon
affords manifest tokens to the discerning eye, that a canker is
seated in the germ of life. He resembles a faded flower, a tree

74

School Diseases.

blasted in the bud* The eyes lack their usual lustre, the purple
bloom of youth vanishes, the features shrink, he becomes lean,
pallid, and sallow; complains of weakness, particularly in the
back and legs, a symptom which has obtained for this complaint
the name of Tabes Dorsalis ; he stoops, and is unable to endure
fatigue. The appetite is irregular, frequently voracious, but if
indulged is attended with the most distressing indigestions. The
face is frequently covered with dark-coloured hard pimples.
Society is avoided, seclusion sought after, and this species of
self-murderer at last assumes the appearance of a moving skele¬
ton, enveloped in a leaden shroud. Hectic fever takes place,
which finally terminates in an early death.

Nor does the mind suffer less injury than the body; genius
and talents seem to wither and become torpid ; the eye-sight
and the memory are impaired, and the* faculty, as well as the
desire, of acquiring knowledge, seems to be lost. The imagina¬
tion is also perverted. Existence is embittered by a perpetual
gloom; and too many instances have occurred to the writer of
these pages, of unhappy beings having terminated their exist¬
ence by a premature death.

Such is too faithful a picture of the results of an unfortunate
habit, generally acquired by thoughtless imitation, and persisted
in from ignorance of its injurious consequences. It is singular
that the female appears to have an innate perception of this
condition of the male sex, dislikes and avoids their society,
and feels for them a kind of contempt and disgust.

Thanks to the attention paid to the moral education of fe¬
males in this country, examples of their being tainted in youth
with this vice are somewhat rare, although far from being wholly
unknown, as some melancholy examples of whole schools being
contaminated have proved. Its frequent occurrence in other
countries is proved by Dr. Biennville, by whom also the perni¬
cious effects on the softer sex, especially on their minds, are
pointed out, and a humane and successful method of treatment
recommended.

Of those persons who have unwarily acquired this habit,
many, convinced of its iniquity, and injurious consequences to
health, determine to give it up, thinking that, by so doing, they
may recover their pristine health and vigour. In this, however,
they are deceived. A new and unnatural association having
been established, the bad consequence of the practice does not
cease, even when the habit is left off. Involuntary discharges
take place during sleep, occurring sometimes so frequently as
three times in the course of one night. The effect of these is
extremely debilitating. All the symptoms already described are

School Diseases.

75

very much aggravated, and the mind sinks into a state of the
deepest dejection. It is in this state that persons generally
apply for medical assistance, and fortunate are they who do not
fall into the hands of quacks, who, without doing them any
good, augment their distresses, in order to convert them into a
pecuniary prey.

Every person who, like the present writer, has had an oppor¬
tunity of listening to the confessions of a variety of victims to
this pernicious practice, must be well aware that they always
endeavour to supply the absence of an object by the most ardent
exertions of the imagination 5 endeavouring, by an effort of the
will, to keep in the mind’s eye the form of some favourite, to
supply the absence of a legitimate object. Upon this impro¬
per interference of the will with an action wholly instinctive,
chiefly depends the evil consequences of this vicious habit.
Proper indulgence, as far as inclination leads, produces less
languor and less mischief than a single act of unnatural indul¬
gence.

Persons addicted to this vicious habit, being accustomed to
associate in their mind the idea of an object with their disgrace¬
ful practice, and the organs being enfeebled by an unnatural
stimulus, like the stomach of a habitual drunkard, whom the
smallest portions of alcohol will intoxicate, the slightest irrita¬
tion recalls this artificial association, and the whole is completed
in a dream. In persons not very much debilitated, the dis¬
charges commonly take place towards morning, when sleep is
the soundest ; they are generally conscious of their situation,
and if they can awake themselves, or are awakened by others,
the consequence is prevented.

Treatment of the consequent Debility .

It is almost unnecessary to say, that the first and indispensable
step on the part of the patient is an immediate and total relin¬
quishment of the unmanly practice, which is the source of all
such complaints. The man whose mind is so depraved as to
persist in a course of vicious indulgence, notwithstanding a con¬
viction of the evils attending on it, can have no more reason to
expect the restoration of vigour, than the incorrigible drunkard
can hope for that health which is the meed of temperance.

So infatuated are the votaries to this vice, that I have known
several cases where it was requisite to keep the patient in a
strait-waistcoat day and night for many weeks, to prevent the
consequences; and, even after such severe treatment, a com¬
plete recovery has taken place.

The first purpose to be effected is, to break that unnatural

School Diseases.

: c

Association of ideas, which is the primary cause of this com¬
plaint. This is best done by administering a grain of pure
opium, or some other sedative, every night, till the habit is
broken through. Costiveness must be guarded against by the
combination of some gentle aperient. (See Vol. I. p. 86.)

Strict attention must also be paid to the state of the mind.
Constant occupation is the best means of excluding improper
ideas, which are prone to haunt the idle and the solitary. Ex¬
ercise in the open air, application to business, and moderate in¬
dulgence in the pleasures of society, are all proper. Solitude
and idleness are to be carefully avoided. Where circumstances
render it convenient, a long and interesting journey, in the
society of an agreeable friend, is highly expedient.

When the body is feeble, it is always irritable. Such a state
of the constitution ever accompanies the complaint at present
treated of. To remove this state, no means ought to be ne¬
glected ; for it should be generally understood, that there exist
no means of invigorating the organs, except such as strengthen
the constitution in generaL

A plentiful supper, taken after much fatigue, is particularly
injurious to delicate persons.

It is upon the false pretences of possessing specific invigo-
rants that the quacks who pretend to cure these complaints rest
their claims to confidence. Temporary irritation may, indeed,
be excited by tonics ; but that will only be followed by greater
debility.

During the night, the bed-clothes should be as light as is
consistent with due warmth. To sleep on a mattress is much
preferable to a bed of down ; and it is of particular importance
not to indulge in repose a moment after the termination of the
natural limits of sleep; £C the head/’ as the sagacious Osborn
says, “ being af that time too apt to become a cage for unclean
ideas.” Sleeping on the back should be avoided. This is best
effected by raising the head very high, which prevents turning
in the night, and is also useful by obviating the flow of blood
to the brain, which is one cause of dreaming.

Early rising is, indeed, the most effectual remedy for all ner¬
vous complaints, and forms an essential part of the cure of the
present*. The sedulous use of a hard flesh- brush, or coarse
cloth steeped in a strong solution of sea-salt, as soon as out of
bed, is extremely beneficial. If flannel has been habitually

* See an excellent Sermon on the Duties and Advantages of Early Rising, by
John Wesley ; and also Oracle, Vol. I. p. 331, 371, &c.

Evils of Boarding Schools Exposed. 77

worn next the skin, it should he decidedly, but gradually left ofB
as no custom is more debilitating *.

Considerable advantage is derived from washing the peri-
naeum, and loins, regularly every morning with cold water.
The coldness of the fluid may be increased, and the utility of
the practice augmented, by dissolving a quantity of common
salt in the water.

So far Dr. Buchan, and we entirely agree with him, though
we still insist that along with these remedies, training is indis¬
pensable, and the leeching or blistering recommended, Vol. I.
p. 470.

Evils of Boarding Shools Exposed.

In several articles, in Vol. I. page 138, 148, and 235, we
have exposed some of the very flagrant evils that beset our
schools, and particularly boarding schools, which, as at present
conducted, may be in general considered as nurseries of disease,
and hot-beds for rearing debilitated constitutions. The press
is the grand instrument we conceive, for abolishing such evils,
by opening the eyes of the public to their universal prevalence,
and we therefore take advantage of the extensive circulation of
the Oracle, to publish the minute inquiries of a distinguished
philanthropist respecting the food, clothing, sleep, exercise, and
studies, of some of the most fashionable schools in the Empire.
The names of those schools we conceal, to avoid personalities,
and because it is not individuals but the injurious system against
which we wage war. The examinations were taken, as will be
perceived, with the utmost fairness, a specimen of which we
subjoin ; the others we shall abridge.

Boarding School. No. 1.

What time did you rise ? — In summer at six, in winter at
seven.

What time did you breakfast ? — In summer we walked an
hour before breakfast. In winter we had seldom time. We
never had our breakfast in less than two hours after rising.

Of what did your breakfast consist? — Of bread and butter
with tea. ;

How many hours did you sit before dinner ? — Three hours.

Were you and the other girls cold in the winter, particularly
in the feet ? — Yes : extremely.

Could not you go and warm yourselves? — We might go to the
fire — but we never did for more than a few minutes ; and hardly

* For a full account of the bad effects of flannel, see Buchan on Sea and
Warm Bathing.

L

78

Evils of Boarding Schools Exposed.

ever till we were very cold indeed. Besides, there were too
many who wished to go, for any to get any good this way.

Were the chilblains much among you ? — Very much : both
in the lingers and feet.

After morning school hours, what did you do? — We walked
about an hour, before dinner; (as we did also again before sup¬
per, in summer). In foul weather, we played about within
doors.

What was the interval between breakfast and dinner ? —
About five hours.

Had you nothing to eat between ? — No; unless we bought
it, or were supplied by our friends.

Where, and bow did you walk ? — Always backwards and for¬
wards along the same ground — and two and two : but never
arm in arm *.

What time did you go to bed ? — About nine.

Were stiff stays worn ? — Either stiff stays or back boards.
Still' stays were recommended for the larger girls; and generally
worn.

Boarding School. No. 2.

Rise at six in the summer — a little after in winter — work
and read till half past eight — never go out before breakfast. As
soon as breakfast is finished, go into school, or else, in winter,
walk for an hour and a half — school lasts till one — when some
walk on a terrace, which the greater part are not fond of. — Din¬
ner at two — afterwards school till five. — Then, if the next day is
lesson day, learn for an hour, or an hour and half. — Dance two
evenings in the week — go to bed at half past eight — chilblains
very common — feel very cold in cold weather — may go for a few
minutes to the fire. Stiff stays recommended, and worn almost
without exception.

Boarding School. No. 3.

Rise at six in summer, at half past in winter. Breakfast at
half past seven, on tea or bad milk — school in half an hour —
school over at twelve — dinner between one and two — school
again till near six — tea in the evening — for supper, bread and
cheese, alternately with potatoes and salt ; beer to drink — go to
bed at half past eight, A small play place behind ; but all were
indifferent to it — scarce walked once a week. All uncomforta¬
bly cold in cold weather — chilblains very general.

* “ r Calking Advertisement is a pat expression for such a hoax on healthful
•Xerris^.

Evils of Boarding Schools Exposed. 7 9

Boarding School. No. 4.

Rise in the summer at tive, and in the winter at six. Tea for
breakfast, made by the governess, at eight o’clock. Dinner at
three. Slice of bread and butter at one. Tea at half past six,
made by the governess. Sit in school five hours — learn tasks
mornings and evenings, which takes from three to four hours.
Go to bed at eight. In cold weather, all are almost starved
with cold feet, or rather benumbed, and many have chilblains.
Many girls have stiff stays, which the governess approves. Back
boards not much worn ; but ribbon braces very uncomfortably
tight.

Boarding School. No. 5.

Must be down by seven in summer, and by half past seven in
winter — breakfasted about eight, dined at one, supped at seven
— went to bed at eight. — Sate about seven hours in school ;
learned and practised besides — walked little — wore stiff stays. —
Chilled in winter time, and much troubled with chilblains.

Boarding School. No. 6.

Up by seven — breakfast at half past eight — might buy cakes
at twelve — dine at two — drink tea, made by the girls, often
strong. Supper afterwards — go to bed at nine — stiff stays are
common, and back-boards worn. Chilblains common — greatly
pinched by cold.

Boarding School. No. 7-

School in a very damp situation — chilblains common in the
house — many girls never had them till they came to school —
cold feet — rose about six o’clock in summer, and in winter as
soon as it was light — breakfast about an hour and half after —
sate in school about seven hours a day, besides learning and
practising.

Boarding School. No. 8.

Another from the same reporters. — Hours and other circum¬
stances much the same as in the last; except that chilblains
were not so frequent or so bad.

Boarding School. No. f).

Rose in summer at six — in winter at seven — breakfasted in
an hour and half, on tea and bread and butter — dined five hours
after. — School three hours in the morning; paraded two and
two, for an hour, twice a day, in fine weather — in foul, used
dumb bells, or played about — chilled in winter — and chilblains
common — evening tea made by the girls, and often made strong.
Stiff stays much worn.

80

Evils of Boarding Schools Exposed*

Boarding School. No. 10.

Monday before breakfast, which was always on the table at
eight, the younger scholars rose at seven, and attended the go¬
verness in her bed-room, to read the psalms and repeat their
prayers — -the elder not obliged to rise before the breakfast hour.
Ihe writing master attended at nine, and remained with us one
hour ; then we had prayers and moral lecture by the gover¬
ness; — we then dressed for the morning, during which we were
neither allowed to speak, work, read, or move, except when en¬
gaged in the dances. We seldom walked on Monday. — At one
we dined on a plain joint of meat and pudding afterwards. — We
had then one hour to ourselves, in the course of which a fruit
or pie woman attended, with whom we were allowed to spend
a certain sum.-— We danced again from three to five. We had
then an hour more to ourselves, at the end of which we drank
tea, or supped, for we had only one meal after dinner — this
consisted of tea and bread and butter, that we eat of as much
as we chose. After it was over, (which was generally at seven)
we employed ourselves in learning for the next, which was our
first u lesson day/' of which we had three in the week; Tues¬
day, Wednesday, and Thursday; on those days everything was
conducted the same as on the preceding, except that we read
aloud, worked, and repeated our tasks of geography, grammar
spelling, &c., instead of dancing. At twelve, school ended, and*
if ordered, we prepared for walking, which we generally did
when the weather permitted, and which was always in the
country, though we very rarely varied our walks. In these we
were attended by two teachers, who were strict in not suffering
us to walk more than three abreast: even this number was an
indulgence, for we usually were limited to two. — Our punish¬
ment for mischievous tricks, buying eatables clandestinely, &c.,
was, being obliged to take milk and water (sometimes gruel)
instead of tea, and being placed, during that meal, on a form
apart ; generally accompanied by a severe lecture. For more
serious faults, such as lying, insolence, &c., we learnt different
and appropriate pieces of prose or poetry : and for carelessness
we were disgraced, bearing the article in which we had offended,
it being pinned to our shoulders when we walked. Those who
learnt drawing never walked on Tuesdays or Thursdays, our
drawing days.

Friday almost precisely as Monday. Instead of writing on
Saturday, grammar exercises and repetition. In some chambers
were four, in others two beds, each of which (if not very small)
contained two young ladies. We went to bed early both in

Economical Elder Wine.

81

summer and winter. On Sunday went twice to church, and
before tea learned a task from an explanation of the catechism ;
after repeating this we sate till bed- time, round a table, to hear
a sermon. This day we had not any bread and butter at tea,
but w'ere permitted to purchase as many biscuits as we chose.
Our tea and sugar we always provided ourselves ; and selected
our own parties, which generally consisted of five or six. We
all felt the warmest affection and the highest respect for our
governess. The slightest illness was treated with the most
particular attention, so that when we had a particular wish for
a holiday and a black dose, the smallest hint was sufficient to
procure both. There was school held in two separate rooms,
in one of which those always attended who learnt French,
therefore our French lessons never interfered with our walking
or playing, as drawing and music did. — There was a person to
dress the chilblains with opodeldoc — they were very common..

Boarding School. No. 11.

Comprises, as we find, by comparing different accounts, the
situation of a large body of females; almost all the circum¬
stances being common to more than one establishment. — Rose at
six in summer, seven in winter — all who learned music, prac¬
tised in winter for two hours before breakfast — in summer all,
except the puny and sick, walked for an hour — six hours inter¬
val between breakfast and dinner, but each, in one school at
least, had a large piece of bread at twelve. Out of school
hours, in fine weather, an hour’s walk, two and two, before
dinner, and another before supper — in foul weather, used the
dumb bells, or played about in the dancing room. The rest of
the time out of school hours, practised the lessons appointed by
the several teachers. Feet generally cold in winter ; there
were constant good fires in the school room, but the streams of
air from the school room doors were chilling. All wore stiff
stays — “ it was the fashion — ” so says one reporter, who wTas
excellently situated for knowing the fact in numerous schools —
<c the custom universally; the friends, in general, expected or
approved it.” — Chilblains common, particularly on the fingers.

Excellent and Economical Elder Wine.

We are indebted to our correspondent, who contributed the
useful receipt for Economical Home-Brewed, Vol. I. p. 378, for
his method of making elder wine, and though we have not yet
had an opportunity to try it, we have much confidence in his
authority, and shall therefore give our readers an equal op-

82

V

Philosophy of Hearing. No. I.

portunity with ourselves, of proving the excellence, in the near
approaching season. Here is the receipt : —

Take sufficient ripe bunches of Berries, to yield when picked, five
wine measure gallons, and one gallon of ripe damsons — to these, put
six gallons of water in a tub — and let the mass stand six days — stir
them well four times each day — then put all into a copper, and boil for
a quarter of an hour, strain through a sieve, and squeeze the husks,
which may be thrown away — put the liquor back again into the cop¬
per, and stir in twenty-four pounds of Jamaica foot sugar*, two ounces
of cloves, and if liked, one to two ounces of whole ginger — make this
boil, and continue boiling, half an hour, during which it will require
frequent skimming — when done, put it into a tub or pan, and before
cold, put in a quarter of a pint of good yeast, and the next day it may
be barrelled — in ten days, the fermentation will cease — it should then
be stopped close, and not tapped till December. The sediment from
Elder Wine may be boiled with the small beer, (see Vol. 1. page 3T9,)
as it improves it much.

Philosophy of Hearing. No. I.

Before vve enter minutely, as we intend to do, on the im¬
portant diseases of the ear, and the best means of treating them,
we shall first attempt to give as plain a description as we can
of the ear itself, and its connexions. We say as plain as we
can ; for we are well aware that it is extremely difficult to give
as distinct an account of the complex apparatus of hearing, as
it is to describe the less intricate, though no less beautiful struc¬
ture of the eye; and we must call upon you for some stretch of
attention and study.

Besides, so much difference of opinion has prevailed as to
the use of the several parts of the ear, that it is by no means
easy to decide which is the most correct. In such cases, we
shall give the conjectures and opinions which appear to us the
most plausible. We must always indeed expect to find difficul¬
ties which we cannot surmount — something beyond which we
cannot pass in the explanation of any and all of the works of
God. We go as far as we can, but we are compelled to stop
somewhere. The ear is usually described as consisting of divi¬
sions, the outward and the inward, which are separated by what
is wTell known by the name of the drum. We shall first de¬
scribe the

Funnel of the Ear.

The outer ear is spread out into a sort of funnel, well adapted

* This foot, is what settles at the bottom, or side of the cask, on its passage
from Jamaica, and contains a great deal of spirit, afid very sweet syrup.

*

Philosophy of Hearing. No. I. 83

from its windings, for collecting the waves or pulses of sound
afloat in the air around. The substance of this funnel is also
carefully fitted for its office, being very sensitive, and composed
of a firm though flexible and elastic texture of gristle or carti¬
lage, and not of unyielding bone, nor of soft fleshy muscle,
though there are small muscles which stretch or relax it as occa¬
sion may require.

The lap of the ear is indeed soft and flabby; and full of fat,
but may not this be to prevent the escape of the sound collected
in the upper windings of the funnel, when it has reached the
entrance of the passage ? For soft substances, like the lap of the
ear, are well known to be not easily penetrated by sound.

The utility of the outer ear in making sounds distinctly
heard, is demonstrated by a very simple experiment. Place the
palms of the hands closely on the ears, so as to press the wind¬
ings of the funnel flat to the temples ; and the sounds which
you hear will be confused and humming, like that of running
water, or the distant murmur of a forest. The same effect will
be produced by interrupting the communication in any other
way. This is well known to children, who put a shell to their
ear to hear, as they suppose, the sound of the sea.

It may be remarked, that the external ears of Europeans are
much flatter, and lie closer to the temples, than in savage na¬
tions. This arises from the dress worn in infancy, which cramps
the outer ears of our children, and consequently injures our
hearing for life. Magendie, however, affirms that the removing
of the external ear altogether does not injure hearing more than
a few days. This, we think must depend on the age of the
person. Some individuals have the power of moving the funnel
similarly to what we observe in the lower animals; but it does
not appear to improve or increase the hearing.

From its great sensibility, the funnel of the ear is liable to be
easily acted on by cold, and is very susceptible of inflammation,
with violent pain. This, if not prevented, will generally ter¬
minate in suppuration, and matter will be discharged. From
irritating causes, such as the cutting of the teeth in children,
excoriations will also arise, with a disagreeable running sore,
which it is imprudent rashly to check.

The different windings of the outer ear meet in the narrowest
part of the funnel; and this, we may remark, is protected from
the intrusion of insects, and from dust by little hairs, and by a
bitter soapy substance called the wax of the ear, which is secreted
by numerous small glands within the skin of the entrance to the
passage, and poured out into it through several short pipes.

Its chief use, as Dr. Elliotson observes, may be to preserve

84

Philosophy oj Hearing. No. 1.

the passage in a fit state for conveying sound : — a flute sounds
badly, when perfectly dry.

When the wax of the ear becomes thickened and hard, so as
to obstruct or plug up the passage, the hearing is impaired, the
noise of beating as with a hammer is heard, and sometimes even
deafness ensues. This is sometimes the case with infants at
birth. The best solvent of the hardened wax is tepid water,
which may be injected with a syringe, till the obstruction be
removed.

Drum of the Ear.

The tube of the funnel enters the hone of the temple, and is
continued through it, till it reach the drum. This is a thin
parchment-like skin, consisting of several plates closely adher¬
ing, and stretched obliquely and across the bottom of the funnel,
like the head of a drum, whence its name.

The middle plate of the drum is quite transparent, and in a
healthy state, has no vessels carrying red blood which can be
discovered. When it is inflamed, however, it becomes quite
red with blood-vessels, as well as the layers on each side, which
cover it.

It is remarkable, that it is braced much like a drum head ;
but in place of the strings of the drum, the membrane of the
ear is stretched and kept tight by the threads of a muscle. So
at least it is conjectured by Sir E. Home from analogy, for these
threads have as yet been only discovered in large animals, such
as the elephant. When any foreign substance touches the drum
it causes great pain.

The tube of the funnel which leads to the drum of the ear is
oblique and winding, to prevent the sound being reflected from
the drum into the air again without producing the sensation of
hearing. This would to a certain extent be the consequence,
were the tube straight.

It is not an unfrequent occurrence, particularly in infants at
birth, for the outer passage to be crossed in part or altogether
by a preternatural membrane. When this is the case, the hear¬
ing is much injured, but it is for the most part easy for the
surgeon to remove the evil, by piercing or breaking the mem¬
brane. This operation often restores the hearing instanta¬
neously. In after life the ear is sometimes obstructed by fleshy
substances, called polypi, growing in the tube. These also
the surgeon can remove.

The drum is not quite plain but a little depressed inwards, as
if kept down in the middle by a weight.

#** In our next we shall finish the description of the car, and bcsfin the philo¬
sophy of sound.

October' Diseases.

85

October Diseases, and the Means of Escaping them.

Winter is now rapidly approaching, with all its train of colds,
coughs, consumptions, and gouty and rheumatic pains. The
warm weather of the preceding summer having exhausted the
debilitated invalid, and left him susceptible of every variation of
weather, renders October, as we shewed last season, a very dan¬
gerous month for the access or confirmation of fatal declines,
and the re-appearance of senile and asthmatic coughs. Now
also some of the winter fevers and epidemic eruptions begin lo
make their attacks, such as typhus fever, measles, hooping-
cough, scarlet fever, &c., and the complaints of infancy and
childhood, are much aggravated by the increase of cold 'and
moisture. Teething and bowel complaints are accordingly very
frequent and unmanageable. One of the most frequently ob¬
served complaints, however, in October, is what we may call by
the rather indefinite name of

Nervous Weakness.

This, it is evident, arises immediately in consequence of de¬
ranged or enfeebled nerves, from the want of a proper supply of
fresh blood; either because it is badly manufactured by the or¬
gans of digestion, or because it is somehow obstructed in its pas¬
sage to the nerves. In both cases the nerves must be imperfectly

VOL. II. M

October Diseases.

SG

nourished, and therefore unfitted to perform their functions.
This imperfect supply of good blood to the nerves soon becomes
manifest in the whole system, and announces itself bv general
languor, a sense of lassitude or weariness, and aching in the
limbs, which we call fidgets (see Oracle, Vol. I. p. 339.) Fre¬
quently there are tremors, succeeded by shooting pains, head¬
ache, giddiness, and strong disposition to sleep, even in the day
time. There is a sensation of faintness or sinking, and depres¬
sion, referred to the stomach, and assuming the character of
hunger; a frequent supply of nourishment is called for, though
nothing can be more improper than overloading the stomach
to satisfy this diseased craving. In our Medical Advice, No. I.
page 41, we have explained this to be a peculiar gnawing of
the stomach, which usually comes on an hour or two after eat¬
ing, particularly after breakfast, or in the evening after a long
walk.

The philosophy of this unnatural hunger is very obvious, and
easily explained, from what we have so often said concerning
the overflow of the bile. It requires, as all our readers know,
only a certain portion of bile to convert food into chyle, or sto¬
mach cream, for the formation of blood. Now, if the bile is in
extra proportion to the food which is passed from the stomach,
this extra proportion of bile will crave for more food than is
ready for it ; that is, having no food to neutralize it, as the che¬
mists would say, it will act on the stomach, and produce the
gnawing or unnatural hunger which we have described. The
reason that this gnawing is most felt some time after eating is,
that it is at the time the food is passing onwards out of the sto¬
mach, when the disproportion between it and the bile is first
felt.

This overflow of the bile may depend on several causes ; but
the most common is that of an acid in the stomach, producing
irritations of the liver, and the canal which carries the bile into
the bowels. The feeling produced is often so oppressive that
the patient wishes to die, or rather does not care to live, from
sheer languor and sinking of the powers of activity. The crav¬
ing and sinking may always be relieved for the time, by taking
a raw egg beat up with wine, or a few drops of liquor of am¬
monia in a glass of cold water. If you eat heartily to remove
it, you may lay your account with a severe fit of heartburn,
flatulence, pain in the stomach, nausea, or bilious vomiting.
Females who are thus affected are often seized with a distressing
pain in the left side, sometimes alternating with the pain in the
stomach.

The general weakness which we have here described takes

October Diseases.

87

away the ability of exertion and bodily activity, and also ren¬
ders a long attention of the mind to any subject both difficult
and painful. The patient’s temper becomes irritable, fretful,
and capricious ; the judgment is defective and irresolute ; the
imagination suggests nothing but gloomy ideas, often extending
to despondency. No taste remaining for accustomed amuse¬
ments, but every feeling, every sensation, seems unpleasant.
The night-sleep is disturbed by frightful dreams and startings,
and the patient awakes in the morning unrefreshed, or feeling
as if much bruised and fatigued, for which the remedy page 94 is
good.

The chief causes of this distressing state are, impure air,
sedentary employments, anxiety, and irregular modes of living
in a crowded city. Not only those who live delicately and with¬
hold themselves from no indulgence are affected with it, but
labourers, servants, and all persons confined to a dull, unvaried
track of business, are sensible of its effects. In the moments of
languor they court the delusive aid of spirits, by which their
complaints are rendered more inveterate $ they gradually droop
and pine ; become debilitated, feverish, consumptive, or para¬
lytic.

The grand cure for this very common complaint is training —
rigid if circumstances permit, and if not, modified, as we have
pointed out, Vol. II. p. 27. It is of the utmost moment to take
these means of checking the complaint promptly, otherwise, as
we have said, it may terminate in something worse ; and parti¬
cularly at this season of the year, it may lead to

Consumption or Decline .

To a person in high health and vigour it is of little moment,
in most cases, to be exposed to or to catch cold ; but it is a
very different thing when a weakly, debilitated person is so ex¬
posed ; for not only does it run a less rapid and violent course
in the weak, but it is apt to fix itself, or sit down , as it is ex¬
pressively termed, on the lungs, from which it is not always in
the power of the most skilful management to dislodge it. When
pains in the chest, stitches, short hacking cough, oppressed
breathing, loss of strength on going up a stair or a rising ground,
give reason to fear the approach of this fatal disorder, recourse
must be immediately had to the means formerly pointed out
(Vol. I. pp. 86, 332, 334, 374.) for checking it, and relieving
the lungs from the begun inflammation. But before alarming
the patient unnecessarily, or adopting a severe and disagreeable
treatment, we should recommend a careful trial of our tests of
danger (Vol. I. p. 294.) to ascertain the actual existence of the
disease. For this purpose also, we shall now introduce to our

88

October Diseases.

readers, as we promised, one of the greatest modern discoveries
on this subject, we mean the

New French Test of Danger in Coughs and Declines.

We mentioned, on announcing this discovery, that the instru¬
ment was extremely simple, which you will now perceive from
the following sketch of the

Stethoscope.

The instrument consists of a cylinder of lignum vitee, beech,
or any other hard wood, a foot in length, perforated by a small
bole through its whole length, and formed so as to come apart
in the middle, for the benefit of being more easily carried in
the pocket. One extremity of the cylinder (C. Fig. 1.) is hol¬
lowed out into the form of a funnel, to the depth of an inch
and a half; but this can be shut up at pleasure, by a plug
formed of a piece of wood {Fig. 2.), so constructed as to fit it
exactly, with the exception of the central bore which is conti¬
nued through it, so as to render the instrument in all cases a
pervious tube. The instrument, with the plug infixed, is used
in examining the state of the voice and the heart; with the plug
removed, for examining the state of the breathing. On all occa¬
sions the stethoscope should be held in the manner of a pen, as
is seen in the Plate, page 85, and the hand of the observer should
be placed near to the body of the patient, to ensure the correct
application of the instrument. The end which contains the
plug is that which ought to be applied to the patient; and in
order to ensure its greater stability in application, it ought to be

October Diseases.

89

made slightly concave. When the patient is much emacia¬
ted, it is sometimes necessary to insert between the ribs a piece
of lint or cotton, or a leaf of paper, on which the instrument is
to be placed, as otherwise the examination might be imperfect.

The use of the stethoscope, in examining the state of disease,
is founded on the well known property of solid bodies to trans¬
mit sound with much greater intensity than is done through the
air. You will hear the ticking of a watch, for example, as it
lies on a table much more loud and distinct by applying your
ear to the table than otherwise. By means of the stethoscope,
on the same principle, you will be able to hear the passage of
air, or the sound of the voice in the lungs, which, with the naked
ear could not be perceived at all.

So delicate is the stethoscope as a test of disease, that it will
point out to the observer the very point where the lungs are
obstructed, or have been wasted away. For example, if it be
applied to the front of the throat in a healthy person while
speaking, the voice will appear to come directly from the point
where the instrument is applied. Now, whenever any cavity is
formed in the lungs by disease wasting away their substance,
and the instrument be applied over that spot, the voice will ap¬
pear to come from that spot in the same way. Whereas if the
lungs be obstructed, the voice will not be heard at all. If the
instrument, however, be removed to ever so short a distance
from the point of the chest in question, none of these circum¬
stances will be observed. In some cases of consumption, when
there are several diseased communications in the lungs, the
voice is observed by the stethoscope to have a metallic tinkling
sound, like the sound of a cup of metal, glass, or porcelain,
when gently struck with a pin, or when a grain of sand is drop¬
ped into it.

The examination of the breathing is still more important. On
applying the stethoscope, with the plug removed, to the chest of
a healthy person, we can hear distinctly the passage of the air
to and from the cells of the lungs. This can be perceived by
applying the instrument to almost any part of the chest, the
back, or the armpits. When it is applied to the throat again,
it seems as if the breath of the patient actually passed through
the bore of the stethoscope. If the sound of the breath be heard
by applying the instrument to every part of the chest, it gives
a confident assurance that there is no obstruction in the lungs ;
but if at any point this sound cannot be heard, then it is equally
manifest that the lungs are obstructed in that point.

Again, when the air in passing to and from the cells of the
lungs encounters any sort of phlegm or other excretion, the

Acid in tlw Stomach and Bowels.

90

sound observed by the stethoscope is rattling, in various ways
indicating the particular point where the phlegm is, and also
whether it be tough or fluid. M. Laennec, the French inventor
of this valuable test, has proved its accuracy in several hundred
cases, by examining the state of the lungs after death. Dr.
Forbes, of Chichester, deserves the thanks of our own country¬
men, for the spirited manner in which he has introduced and
advocated the utility of the stethoscope. Several young prac¬
titioners, who have been at Paris, are now, we understand, em¬
ploying it in practice in spite of the prejudices of the elders, who
stand up most lustily for the good old paths of ignorance. We
shall do our best to demolish all such and render their habita¬
tions desolate.

*** In our next we shall take up the important subject, of the
best modes of distinguishing common Colds, and Catarrhs, from
Consumption, with the most approved remedies.

Acid in the Stomach and Bowels.

We cannot repeat it too often that acid, generated in the
stomach, is the cause of more than the half of human disorders.
We repeat it because we know that it is either forgotten or
neglected by thousands, who suffer daily, from not attending to
our precepts of comfort and good living. Did we think it of
moment we should give you the recent analyses of the acid of
the stomach, made by Dr. Prout and Mr. Children, whose
celebrity as men of science entitle their experiments to attention;
but as we are plain practical men, we think it more important
to show the existence, and the effects of the acid, than to de¬
termine whether it is the muriatic, the acetic, &c. which is pro¬
duced.

We say then that acid of some kind or other will be produ¬
ced in the stomach, by overloading it with food or drink — by
taking, even in moderate quantity, in opposition to the rules of
the Oracle, substances which are difficult of digestion, or by
stopping or interrupting the process of digestion in any manner,
whether that be by violent exercise after eating — by indulging
the emotions or passions of the mind, such as melancholy,
anger, love, fear, &c. — by exposure to too much heat or too
much cold — every and all of which must withdraw the nervous
energies from the stomach, where, during the process of indi¬
gestion, they are indispensable. These remarks alone will en¬
able our readers to see clearly, that in many instances they are
themselves the cause of all their diseases, by aiding and assist¬
ing, (unconsciously it may be) the production of the acid which
causes them ; the process of the formation of acid is this : —

Acid in the Stomach and Bowels.

91

The stomach can only digest a certain portion of the food
which is taken in a given time — according, of course, to its power
and to the digestibility of the food. Besides, as we have fully
explained above, (Vol. 1. page 132.) only the portion of food
which is in contact with the sides of the stomach is digested,
while the rest must wait its turn. Now it is well known that a
mixture of animal and vegetable matter, mashed together, as the
food is in the stomach, and exposed to heat in a close place will
run rapidly into fermentation, and discharge gas in consequence.
This explains the constant presence of belching and flatulence
in most cases of acidity of the stomach. The result of fermen¬
tation, when allowed to go on, is uniformly an acid, and it will
therefore follow that if a mass of food remains for some hours
in the stomach before it can be digested, that it must ferment,
and acid will be produced. The portion of food thus ferment¬
ed, and converted into acid, by the time it comes to its turn to
be spread over the sides of the stomach to be digested, is altoge¬
ther unfit to be formed into sweet, healthy chyle or stomach-
cream ; instead of this it frets and irritates the stomach by its
sharp corrosive qualities, and very frequently produces inflam¬
mation, more or less violent, which is indicated to the patient by
a burning pain, or at least a disagreeable feeling of heat. In one
stage of it this is well known by the name of heartburn ; and
in another stage by the name of the stomach colic, or the sto¬
mach ache.

The ill effects of the acid, however, do not stop here (if they
did we could soon arrest them) ; — for when the process of fer¬
mentation continues to go on day after day in the stomach, all
the various organs in companionship with the stomach partake
of the inconvenience of nervous twitches, irritative pains, and
disagreeable feelings, in proportion to their previous constitu¬
tional strength or debility. Sometimes in this way gout will be
produced in the foot, or the hand, and, still worse, apoplexy or
palsy, from the head being affected by the same companionship.
But more commonly the effect of the acid of the stomach is
upon the liver and the spleen, in consequence of their lying in
the vicinity where the acid is first produced. Part of the acid
indeed passes onwards, and comes into actual contact with the
mouth of the canal which discharges the "bile into the intestines,
and of course must fret it and inflame it, and the nerves will not
fail to communicate all this annoyance and irritation along the
canal to the liver itself, which will thus be spurred on to give out
more bile than is wanted. In this way you see how acid in the
stomach may give rise to severe bilious disorders, and may
even end in inflammation of the liver itself.

92

Diet best for Acidities.

Food to be avoided in Acidities;

The substances which those who are troubled with acid in
the stomach ought chiefly to avoid, are such as are most readily
disposed to run into fermentation. All sweet, watery, and crude
vegetables are of this kind, such as greens, cabbage, coleflower,
asparagus, parsnips, carrots, turnips, Jerusalem artichokes, and
every kind of salad, with the exception of lettuce. Fruits are
almost all bad if eaten in a green state, though apples when
dressed may sometimes be eaten with impunity. Potatoes are
by far the best vegetable, yet many cannot even eat a potntoe
without producing acidity and derangement of the stomach.

Of animal substances, those most disposed to become acid in
the stomach, are fat, and all the young white meats, such as
veal, lamb, sucking pig, chicken, &c., as may be proved by the
experiment of allowing a bason of veal soup, and another of beef
tea, to be set aside at the same time. If you do this, you will
find that the veal soup will become rapidly sour, while the beef
tea will remain sweet for a considerable time. Fat is still
worse in all the symptoms of acidity and sour belching; and
after this solemn warning, those who persist to eat fat, and
other things here forbidden, can have no right to complain of
the consequences, and must put quietly up with the gout, gravel,
apoplexy, or palsy, which they bring upon themselves by dis¬
obedience to the rules of health and comfort.

The drink forbidden in all such cases is hard malt liquor,
tart wines, cider, or perry, and in a word, whatever contains the
adulterating leaven of an acid, which, like power and money,
rapidly propagates itself, and increases wherever it goes. Indeed
we may lay it down as indisputable, that more than half of
the acidities, so much complained of, arise from some acid pre¬
viously existing in the drink commonly used by the patient.
Even plain water, or toast and water, when drank in too great
quantities (and almost all water-drinkers drink too much), will
tend powerfully to produce acid. Milk is, perhaps, the worst
of all liquids, for a stomach prone to acidity. The smaller the
quantity of drink taken the better.

Diet best for Acidities.

There is only one system of proper diet for those who are the
victims of indigestions from acidity, and that is the system of
Training, in which biscuit is the only vegetable substance used,
and red meats, without fat, the only animal food, with mild ale
for drink. We do not, however, affirm that even the most rigid
training diet will always ensure a patient from acidity and its
consequences ; for if the disorder is severe, or of long standing,

New Remedy for Bad Dreams.

93

even the best beef and biscuit which can be eaten will some¬
times turn sour. We are confident, however, that perseverance
in this system will ultimately produce the most beneficial re¬
sults, and along with alkaline medicines is the only remedy for
effecting a complete cure. Besides the medicines of this kind
which we formerly prescribed (see Vol. I. pp. 179 and 183.), we
shall here give one or two additional prescriptions which have
often been found useful.

Dr. Cullen’s Antacid Mixture .

Take half an ounce of prepared carbonate of lime,
three drachms of lump sugar in powder,
half an ounce of pulverized gum arabic,
one pint of water.

M ix, and take a wine glassful when you feel acid on your stomach.
Dr. Hamilton’s Ammoniated Draught.

l ake twenty grains of carbonate of ammonia,
three ounces of peppermint water,
two drachms of syrup of roses.

Mix, and take half for a draught in acidities accompanied by loose
bowels.

Dr. Paris’s Aromatic Mixture.

'l ake half a drachm of magnesia,

two drachms and a half of peppermint water,
half a drachm of compound spirit of lavender,
four drachms of spirit of carraway,
two drachms of syrup of ginger.

Mix, and take a dessert spoonful occasionally in heartburn and flatu¬
lence.

Dr. Wendt’s Powder for Heartburn and Flatulence.

Take from two to three grains of magistery of bismuth,
four grains of magnesia,
half a grain of ipecacuan powder,
ten grains of cinnamon powder.

Mix, and divide into twelve papers, one to be taken three or four
times a-day.

Bismuth is found to be an excellent remedy in all stomach
cases of long standing, particularly where there is vomiting,
water brash, or cramp and other disorders of the stomach.

New Remedy for Bad Dreams, Low Spirits, and other
Nervous Disorders. By Dr. J. Johnson.

We have more than once had occasion to mention the very
powerful effects of the new medicine, the sulphate of quinine, on
ague and other nervous affections ; but though we had a very

VOL. II. N

91

i\cw Remedy for Bad Dreams.

high idea of its power, we were scarcely prepared to expect its
very extraordinary effects over the mind, which seems to be
proved (so far as one case can go) beyond appeal, as will be seen
by the following statement from the pen of no less a personage
than Dr. James Johnson, who was himself the patient, as will
be seen from the following

Curious and Interesting Case.

From professional fatigue and exposure to damp, Dr. John¬
son was seized with fever, which gradually assumed the form of
intermittent. Almost from the first, he was troubled with dis¬
mal dreams, half-waking fantoms, and a beclouded intellect.
On the seventh day of the attack, though broad awake, and
perfectly sensible, a rapid succession of the most terrific images
perpetually presented themselve sto his mind, while the most
perfect conviction obtained that his last day was come.

“In more than one of my dreadful waking dreams, ” says Dr.
Johnson, “I conceived that I was lying on my face in a dissect¬
ing room, while two anatomists were opening my head and spine,
and descanting on the mass of disease which the parts present¬
ed! The horrors of that evening can never be forgotteh. The
images now, and indeed all along, were invariably of a sepulchral
hue — tombs, skeletons, putrid bodies, and fearful spectres,
were ever the prominent figures of the agonizing drama which
passed before me, or in which I thought myself engaged/’ —
Now mark the powerful effect of the new medicine.

“After the second dose of the sulphate of quinine,” continues
Dr. Johnson, “ these dreadful visions changed into a character
diametrically opposite. Every image that now floated before
the mind, whether waking or sleeping, was of the joyous and
pleasing cast; nor could I, when I tried from curiosity, conjure
up a single sombre spectre, of all the countless multitudes that
before occupied the whole of my mental view.”

The chief inconvenience which the doctor found from the
medicine was the costiveness of the bowels, and for which he
had to combine it with opening medicine; but even in doses of
three grains it produced no inconvenience to the stomach — on
the contrary, he felt there a warm pleasant sensation for an hour
or more after taking the medicine. He commenced by taking
two grains every four hours. The best prescriptions of this va¬
luable medicine are given in Vol. I. p. 279.

M. Pelletier, of Paris, has used the syrup of quinine with con¬
siderable effect in the scrofulous disorders of children.

We should recommend to all those who are low spirited, me¬
lancholy, or nervous, to try a few of the pills, or the syrup, and
observe their effect. The medicine, being a chemical prepara-

Oriental Good Living. 95

tion from the celebrated Jesuit’s bark, is unquestionably power¬
ful ; and is about, we think at no distant period, to supersede
most other tonics and strengthening medicines. VVe recom¬
mend our readers to procure it at Allen’s, Plough Court, Lom¬
bard-street, or Garden’s, Oxford-street; for in common shops
an expensive medicine like this is seldom to be had genuine, as
the following statement will show.

Adulteration of Medicines.

It is the very common but shameful practice of many che¬
mists and druggists, when they have not an article, to contrive
something similar to it rather than send away a customer. The
practice is not a new one, as it is satirized severely by Smollet in
his Roderick Random; but it is very difficult to put it down, as
it is in most cases impossible to detect it. Dr. Gairdner, a
young metropolitan physician, who has been laudably endeavour¬
ing to introduce another new remedy, Iodine, for the cure of
scrofula, says, “I have sent prescriptions for the hydriodate of
potass to several chemists in London, and my prescriptions were
said to have been made up : but in a few days afterwards, when
I called at their shops, in order to examine the medicine, I
discovered that they were not even aware of the existence of
such a drug!!”

Where this shameful system exists, and we fear it is but too
common, the best prescriptions must go for nothing. At the
shops above mentioned we have always found every thing to be
good and genuine. We think it necessary to add, that we are
altogether unacquainted, and neither directly nor indirectly con¬
nected, with any of the proprietors of either concern.

John Bull in India, and Oriental Good Living.

[The following has just reached us from a valuable correspondent at
Calcutta. Editors.]

Calcutta , March 24 th, 1824.

There is no opinion more common, and at the same time
more erroneous, than that the European inhabitants of our
Asiatic dominions are an indolent and lazy people, attending
merely to their own comforts, and leaving the business of their
employers, or their own, to take care of itself. The fact is, that
in no part of the world do men undergo more bodily, or mental
fatigue, in their various avocations, than in India; and what are
called luxuries, are only an attempt, and that attempt frequent¬
ly proves abortive, to acquire by artificial means what in more
favoured climes is produced by nature spontaneously — thus
one of the greatest luxuries of Bengal is a glass of rain water,
(for there are no springs, and the tanks are filthy beyond descrip-

Oriental Good Living .

96

tion) cooled at a great expense of saltpetre and manual labour,
down to a temperature compared with which the water of the
Thames would appear to be iced. In one thing, however, gene¬
rally speaking, they may be said to be luxurious — the pleasures
of the table, and for the very plain reason, that they are the
only pleasures which can be enjoyed in any degree on an equal-
lity with those they have been accustomed to in their own tempe¬
rate climate. That they sometimes carry this taste to a glorious
pitch will appear from the following

Sketch of a Bengal Gourmand.

Jack Broom was a worthy man, and fat withal, the latter a
matter of no slight importance in these parts, as the person so
gifted is held by the courtesy of the Bengalese, to be both good
tempered and wealthy. He was besides a magistrate of Cal¬
cutta. In his younger days he had been addicted to field sports,
but as he advanced in years, and grew in grease, no horse could
be found that w’ould pretend to carry him in the boar hunt, so
he satisfied himself with witnessing the chase from the back of
an elephant, and admonishing all and sundry, that if they came
across a fine fat old sow, not to spoil the best pieces by spearing
her, but to shoot her, if possible, through the head. At the
same time he had an utter antipathy to the inconveniences to
which the chase too frequently subjects its votaries, and it wras
a favourite saying of his that he liked to rough it with all his
comforts about him.

One of the greatest and most esteemed delicacies of Bengal,
(and it is peculiar to that presidency,) is a small fish called the
mangoe fish, from its being in season at the same time with
that most esteemed of all tropical fruits — the mangoe; these fish
are brought to Calcutta from parts lower down the Ganges in
boats, and as the boats can only come up with the influx of the
tide, the fish do not always arrive in proper season for dinner.
This however was no bar to honest Jack’s enjoying them when¬
ever they did arrive, more especially in the early part of the sea¬
son, while the zest of novelty and rarity w as yet upon them ;
for this purpose he stationed a messenger on the ghetut, or
wdiarf, w’here the boats rendezvoused about midnight. The mo¬
ment a boat came in, a basket was filled, and the messenger
started off at speed for his master’s residence, about three miles
oft' in the country. On his arrival there, the cook was sum¬
moned to his duty, and Jack awakened to his repast; for this
purpose — the wreather during that season being intensely hot
even at night — he immersed himself in a tub of cold water, where
he sat like an enormous turtle, up to the chin, his favourite
luxury being served to him on a board placed on the edges of

John Bull at Home.

97

V'

the tub. In this position he filled his stomach to the utmost
extent of its delatcability, and that was no trifle; for it has been
stated that more than a hundred of these sprats, went to form
a single meal for this worshipful leviathan. This done, the wa¬
ter was changed round him, and two or three earthen pots full
dashed over his head, after which he again retired to rest under
the cooling influence of the punkah or swinging fan, to digest
his meal in an apoplectic sleep.

Had the worthy magistrate ever read of the ingenious device
of the Abbe in the Almanach des Gourmands, we have no doubt
he would have adopted it, and deified the reviver of this admi¬
rable stratagem for procuring a double appetite; the original
inventors of which were the antient Romans, and that too in
the brightest aera of their history. — We recommend our corres¬
pondent to send Jack a set of the Oracle, which we have for¬
warded for his use, as he will find in our pages the only genuine
philosophy of w'hets, and the true means of prolonging the en¬
joyments of the appetite. We have likewise given the princi¬
ples of the science of eating comfortably, in our little work en¬
titled Medical Advice in Indigestion, sent at the same time.

John Bull at Home.

“ Beef,” says M. Grimroa de Reynier, in his Manuel des Am-
phitryons , u has a legitimate right to be called the King of the
Kitchen *, and it merits this title most peculiarly in Paris, for
in no other place of the universe is beef so fleshy, so plump,
and so rich in gravy. The English beef,” our author continues,
“ though proudly boasted of, is nothing but a mass of grease,
bloated and purfled (boursoufflees). What is eaten at Paris
is a thousand times more juicy, savoury, and spirited ( plus
d’ esprit) !!” All wdiich nonsense, though spoken by the very
Newton of gourmands himself, only proves that M. Grimrod
de Reynier had never tasted a beef-steak in all the glory
of its rich English flavour, full of nourishing juices, and tender
as a March chicken, such as we could dine upon every day in
the year at Dolly’s chop-house, in Queen’s Head Passage, Pa¬
ternoster Row, were it no more than to eat to the memory of
the celebrated writer on diet, Dr. George Fordyce. Avaunt ! — •
old Jack Broom and your mangoe fish — Aroynt ye ! M. Grimrod
de Reynier, and your libels on English fare — Give us a true

* Dr. Kitchiner is the only person likely to dispute the title, which he wishes
vainly to appropriate to hitnself, though every body would pronounce him better
fitted for the part of the Court Buffoon, or King Beef’s Fool, than the King him¬
self.

1)8 Boarding School. Evils.

O

Sketch of a Bcef-stcak Gourmand at Dolhfs Chop-house.

At this house the ingenious anatomist and chemical lecturer,
Dr. George Fordyce, dined every day, for more than twenty
years. Iiis researches in comparative anatomy had led him to
conclude that man, through custom, eals oftener than nature
requires, one meal a day being sufficient for that noble animal
the lion. He made the experiment on himself at this his fa¬
vourite house, and finding it succeeded, he continued the fol¬
lowing regimen for the term above mentioned. At four o’clock,
his accustomed hour of dining, he entered, and took his seat at
a table, always reserved for him, on which were instantly placed
a silver tankard full of strong ale; a bottle of port wine ; and a
measure containing a quarter of a pint of brandy. The moment
the waiter announced him, the cook put a pound and a half of
rump steak on the gridiron, and on the table some delicate trifle
as a bonne bouche , to serve until the steak was readv. This morsel
was sometimes half a broiled chicken, sometimes a plate of fish;
when he had eaten this, he took one glass of his brandy, and
then proceeded to devour his steak. We say devour, because
he always ate so rapidly that one might imagine he was hurrying
away to a patient, to deprive death of a dinner. When he had
finished his meat, he took the remainder of his brandy, having,
during his dinner, drunk the tankard of ale, and afterwards the
bottle of port. He thus daily spent an hour and a half of his
time, and then returned to his house in Essex-street, to give
his six o’clock lecture on chemistry. He made no other meal
until his return next day at four o’clock to Dolly’s.

What dish equal to beef-steaks can all the luxury of the
East produce! Even the voluptuous and pleasure-hunting So¬
lomon, with all his wealth and wisdom, was forced to abide by
his “ pleasant fruits,” and eat his “ honey-comb with his
honey.” You will find no mention of beef-steaks among all
his delicacies. Those who may like to see Solomon’s entire
system of gourmand enjoyment, are referred to Vol. I. p. 45G.

Boarding School Evils, and the Crimes of Parents.

Our faithful sketches of the systems followed in Boarding-
schools have procured us much valuable correspondence, of
which we shall amply avail ourselves, as we conceive the subject
to be of the very first importance. The sketches of the schools,
which we gave in a former page, were taken from the informa¬
tion of the ladies who had been pupils ; we therefore think it
right to give all the ladies fair play, by adding a sketch, drawn
up by a lady who has conducted a respectable establishment for

Hoarding School Evils. <)<)

young ladies for many years, together with her remarks on the
folly, or as we should say the crimes of parents, who insist up¬
on their children being not only over-crammed with learning
till their minds are wholly destroyed; but on having them tor¬
tured into ricketty deformities by strapping, bracing, stiff-stays,
back-boards, foot-frames, Sir. A. Cooper’s chairs, and a thou¬
sand other absurd, unnatural, and criminal devices for destroy¬
ing the shape, and ruining the health of young ladies. (See
Vol. I. pages 146, and 235.)

Hoarding School , No. 12.

“ My pupils rise at seven — make their own beds — prayers
about ten minutes, after which they exercise themselves in the
play ground in whatever way they like, till eight. — Breakfast —
milk and w?ater, and rolls — play again till nine. — School three
hours, including master’s lessons andpractice — dress andstudyin
classes from twelve till one, when they dine — meatand pudding,
with variety of vegetables. — School again from three to five —
play or walk on the downs, where they are suffered to run
about till seven. — Tea, with as much bread and butter as thev
please — get short lessons for the next morning, and go to bed
at eight or half past. Now I know not,” says the lady, 44 how
any more eligible distribution of time can be made, when young
ladies have to study so many branches oPeducation as they* are
usually put to — six hours in the day being barely sufficient for
the purpose. — They have, besides, two half holidays, when those
who learn drawing are detained one hour — the rest have entire
liberty. I grant that in many schools the pupils are too much
restricted in point of exercise, but I can assure you, that the
fault originates with the parents, very few of whom like their
children to go where there is a play ground, under various pre¬
tences, such as 4 play makes them hoydenish,’ 4 discomposes
their hair/ ‘tears their frocks/ 4 the sun tans their skin/ 4 the
wind chops it} ’ and that 4 balls, battledores, skipping ropes, &c.
enlarge the joints, and spoil the delicacy of their hands */ Ma¬
king their own beds is also considered by many a servile degra¬
dation. This objection has been made to me by persons in a
very humble sphere of life, yet who had money enough to place
a daughter at school. In regard to the wearing of stiff stays,
I suppose you allude to those horrible long bones worn in front,
which I consider highly injurious to young people, both in re¬
spect to their health and growth, but I must beg to remind you
that it is the parent who regulates the young ladies’ dress, and

* We could scarcely have believed' in the existence of such pitiable and crimi¬
nal ignorance. Editors.

i

100

Dr. Hale’s Experiment on Himself.

not the governess. Backboards are also, I believe, used in
schools, mostly by desire of the parents. In the winter, when
the school-room is kept warm with a good fire, there can be no
occasion for the children to come near it, to the exclusion of
others; I think it sufficient for the forms to be placed in squares
round it, so that all may enjoy as nearly as possible an equal
share of warmth — though I know that it is not unfrequently
the practice of the teachers to monopolize the fire, and drive
the children back.

cc Chilblains I conceive would not be so common, were not the
feet wetted too often, and when wetted, not properly dried. —
Chilblains however I do not consider an evil of the first magnitude,
as they certainly do not injure the constitution, only occasioning
temporary inconvenience*. In general it may be taken for cer¬
tain, and even parents will most of them acknowledge the fact,
that children are more healthy at school than at home, where
late hours and excess in eating and drinking is, if not allowed
by the parents, usually connived at by the servants, and occasion¬
ally permitted as an indulgence.

“ Having thus endeavoured to rescue myself, and others of the
same avocation, from unmerited obloquy, I submit to your can¬
dour to decide, whether conductors of schools should be con¬
demned for faults not wholly their own, and publicly censured,
before both sides of the question have been impartially con¬
sidered.”

This interesting subject will be continued, and we shall
be obliged to correspondents for information.

Dr. Hale’s Experiment on Himself.

The proposal of M. Magendie to cure hydrophobia by in¬
jecting water into the veins, which, though it has been tried
without success as we expected, (See Oracle, Vol. II. p. 14.)
both in London and on the Continent, has rendered the sub¬
ject of injections into the veins of eonsiderable public interest.
We shall therefore give a detailed account of a most heroic,
and unique experiment of this kind performed on himself by
Dr. E. Hale, Jun. of Boston, United States f.

The substance which Dr. Hale selected for his experiment

* Here we are compelled to differ most decidedly from our fair correspond¬
ent, for chilblains though not in themselves a. formidable evil, are always a sure
indication of a consitution enfeebled by sedentary confinement, and are often the
prelude of scrofula and consumption. (See Vol. I. page 186.) Editor?-.

i We take our account from Dr. Hale’s Boylston Medical Prize Dissertations,
published at Boston.

Dr. Hale’s Experiment on Himself.

101

was cold drawn castor oil, raised to about the temperature of
70°, which was thrown by a syringe into one of the veins of the
left arm. About half an ounce of the oil was injected by a friend,
and about eight ounces of blood were lost in the operation,
which occupied twenty-five minutes. The wound was then ban¬
daged, about twelve o’clock, a. m.

“ I felt very well,” says Dr. Hale, 6‘ for a short time after
the operation was finished. The first unusual sensation that I
perceived, was a peculiar feeling, or taste, of oiliness in the
mouth, a little after twelve o’clock. Very soon after, while I
was washing the blood from my arm and hands, and was talking
in very good spirits, I felt a slight nausea with belchings, and
some commotion in the bowels, then a singular indescribable
feeling seemed very suddenly to ascend to my head. At the
same instant, I felt a slight stiffness of the muscles of the face
and jaw, which cut short my speaking in the middle of a word,
accompanied by a bewildered feeling in my head, and a slight
faintness. I sat down, and in a few moments recovered my¬
self a little.

“This part of the experiment had been performed in a room,
at a little distance from my lodgings. At a quarter past twelve,

1 walked home. My countenance was pale, and the oily taste
continued in my mouth, with some dryness ; but I felt a little
better for the air. After sitting ten minutes, at twenty-five mi¬
nutes past twelve, I counted my pulse, and found it seventy-five
in a minute.

“ Thirty-five minutes after twelve. The disturbance in the
bowels continues and increases; slight pains moving about in
them, with the feeling as if I had taken a purgative: copious
belchings of wind, and slight nausea. There is a strange^aensa-
tionin my head; it is not a dizziness, though somewhat like it.
My arm feels rather stiff, which I attribute to the bandage; it
is also a little sore, but is not painful.

u Forty-five minutes after twelve. The bowels are still more
in commotion, and the nausea is increased. My mouth still
feels oily, but is not so dry as before. In five minutes more the
disturbance in the bowels was increased so much, that 1 thought
there would have been a discharge from them, and I made the
attempt; but without success. There is a slight pain in my
head and the strange feeling continues.

“ Twenty minutes past one. The pain in the bowels is in¬
creased, with some tenderness on pressure; have a very strong
feeling as if a purgative were about to operate; but an attempt
to procure a discharge from the bowels was unsuccessful, as
before. The nausea continues.

VOL. II.

o

l 02 L)r. Ilale’s Experiment on Himself.

“ Two o'clock. My general feelings are better : the nausea
is nearly gone. Notwithstanding my previous experience of
the deceptive nature of the pain and uneasiness in the bowels,
the feeling of inclination to go to stool was so strong and dis¬
tinct, that I was induced to make another attempt, but with no
more success than before. The same thing occurred again at
forty minutes past two, and twice in the course of the evening.
The sensation was, in every instance, strong and perfectly dis¬
tinct; at least it entirely deceived me, although I was on my
guard, from the previous unsuccessful attempts. In the course
of the afternoon and evening, the flatulence and pain in the bow¬
els diminished; but the tenderness remained for several days.

“ At twenty minutes past two, while I was making a little
exertion, my arm began to bleed again, rather freely; and we
had some little difficulty in stopping it. I was alone at the
time, and before I could call my assistant, and take oft' my coat
and apply the dressings, about six ounces of blood were lost.
We were obliged to make the compress and bandage quite tight
over the vein; and even then, there was a considerable effusion
of blood under the skin.

“ At three o’clock I dined upon a piece of pudding, which I
ate with some little relish, but felt a slight nausea afterwards.
About four o’clock, having a pretty urgent call to visit a patient,
I went a little distance in a carriage, but took my assistant with
me3 to guard against accidents. I did not go out again until
the 25th of February, and only twice for a short time till the
2nd of March. Towards evening my arm became quite stiff',
and considerably painful, and continued so through the night.
It was swollen on the inside, from several inches below the el¬
bow almost to the arm-pit; and there was considerable heat and
tension, especially about the elbowT, and a little above it. At
eleven o’clock, my pulse was eighty-four. I passed rather a
restless night, but got some sleep.

“February 21. In the morning there was a small discharge
from the bowels, which was smaller and more costive than I
am accustomed to have at that hour. My arm was more swell¬
ed, and more painful than before : pulse eighty. I had some
pain in the head, and was all day much inclined to chilliness,
though without regular fever. My arm was quite painful
through the day. I had some fever and loss of appetite, and felt
altogether too ill to make any use of my faculties, either of
body or mind. This state continued several days; and when I
began to recover from it, I found my strength so much dimi¬
nished, that it required two or three weeks to restore it to its
former vigour.

103

Brain Slicing, a Philosophic Humbug.

“ February 22. I was costive the whole day ; and at night
took a mild purgative pill. The pain in my arm was less severe,
and I was in every respect better. From this time I gradually
recovered my health, although very slowly. The swelling of
my arm went off slowly, by the diminution of the inflammation,
so that on the 25th I was able, for the first time, to touch my
forehead with the end of my fingers. For sometime after Ire-
covered my appetite for food, my powers of digestion seemed
to be enfeebled, and I was frequently annoyed by indigestion.

“ It is now four weeks since the experiment was begun by
injecting the oil, and I have not yet quite recovered my usual
strength and vigour. I am more easily fatigued, and am ob¬
liged to pay more careful attention to my diet than before. My
left arm is weaker than it was previous to the operation, and is
still sometimes subject to pains about the elbow.”

We hope that we shall hear no more of injections into the
veins, for the cure of either hydrophobia or any other complaint.
We are glad however that the experiment, fool-hardy as we
think it, has had a fair trial.

Brain Slicing, a Philosophic Humbug.

Our meddling intellect,

Mis-sliapes the beauteous forms of things ; —

We murder to dissect.

Wordsworth.

• f

We are so constituted that, whenever there is pain and suf¬
fering, we feel an interest which it has puzzled all our mo¬
ral philosophers to explain. The most rational account of it
we have met with is in Knight’s Essay on Taste ; but explain
it as we may, there is no doubt of the fact that all human
beings take interest in either seeing, or reading the history of
sufferings and torture, from the boy who pins a fly or enjoys a
dog-fight, to the despot who sports with the agonies of his slave,
or the philosopher who dissects animals alive. The dissection
of living animals has lately been practised to an extent as shame¬
less 'as it is incredible, in so far as it appears to us to have chief¬
ly arisen from the thirst of fame, which is thus procured at a
comparatively easy rate ; for the more cruel the experiments,
and the bolder the living dissections, the greater chance there
is of their being chronicled in every journal in Christendom,
independent of any ostensible fact or discovery, thereby proved
or disproved. Now this we hesitate not to pronounce to be a
humbug of the first water.

101

Art oj Medical Training .

M. Magendie, for example, is just now poking his knife
into the brains of rabbits, ducks, and oilier inoffensive creatures,
to prove the very absurd proposition, that the nerves which go
to the nostrils have no concern with smelling, because, forsooth,
the poor creatures, after the destruction of the nerves, writhe in
torture on the application of hartshorn and spirit of lavender !
This, however, is nothing to the cold-blooded brain-slicing,
practised by a M. Flourens, of Paris, of which we shall just
give you a specimen, to show you the extent of the humbug.

In one experiment, which he often repeated, M. Flourens cut
away the small brain, called by anatomists the cerebellum, of a
live pigeon, in successive slices. The pigeon, during all this
torture, remained spirited, erect, and could see and hear to the
last; but the slicing successively produced weakness, hesita¬
tion, unsteady agitation, inability to walk, and to stand up¬
right; and at last, it remained on the back or the belly, but
still restless, though not convulsed so long as the tubercles or the
spinal marrow remained untouched. The power over the vo¬
luntary muscles seemed to be the only loss.

In another experiment, frequently repeated, M. Flourens re¬
moved the right lobe of the brain from a pigeon. It instantly
lost the sight of the left eye, though the pupil remained con¬
tractile. The right side of its body appeared feeble, though it
was otherwise well, and could stand, walk, run, and fly. When
the other lobe of the brain was cut away, the sight of the left
eye was lost, though the pupil remained contractile; but ge¬
neral debility and stupor succeeded, and the will, the memory,
the hearing, and all perception seemed to be lost; yet it walk¬
ed when pushed, and flew when tossed into the air. When the
brain was left entire and the tubercles removed, the loss of
vision was produced by destroying the contractability of the
pupil.

Such are a specimen of the experiments, the honour of de¬
vising which is now keenly contested between M. Flourens and
an Italian named Rolando, who says the Frenchman stole the
idea from him. It is dealing too gently by such fellows, we
think, to call the whole a humbug — it is gross cruelty.

Art of Medical Training. — No. 3.

The philosophy of old age, which we have explained, we hope,
with some clearness, (Vol. I. p. 4J4.) will furnish us at once
with a master key for reconciling all the discordant and singular
opinions entertained by. the medical world respecting the nature
and causes of gout. By different authors gout is looked upon

105

Art of Medical Training.

as an acrid humour — as a thick viscid humour, arising from sup¬
pressed perspiration — as the result of the decomposition of the
bones — as a nervous disease, or an inflammation of the nerves —
as spasm — as a poison — and as twenty other tilings equally in¬
congruous and irrational. If you apply to gout the doctrine which
we have laid down above, you will see at a glance why the gout
occurs chiefly after mature age, and in those who have indulged
in sensualities and drugging, by which the finer blood-vessels,
particularly at the extremities, have become obliterated, and the
blood consequently been stopped in its free circulation. All
this we shall take an early opportunity of explaining at large;
but we have now said enough to show that the measures which
we have recommended above, (page 31.) are by far the most
rational for the prevention or removal of gout, together with a
regular and continued course of training, adapted to the gouty,
as forthwith to be laid down.

Nothing, as we have often repeated, so effectually improves
the quality, equalizes the quantity, and clears away all obstruc¬
tion of the blood, as training; and therefore, since gout uni¬
formly arises from the blood being obstructed in the small hair¬
like vessels of the lesser joints, producing swelling, inflamma¬
tion, and painful pressure on the nerves — if the obstruction is
cleared away or prevented by a course of training, the gout must
disappear, with all its accompanying inconveniences. This will
apply both to those who are corpulent and full of blood, and to
those who are pale, emaciated, nervous, and weak, as we shall
fully show in our paper on the Philosophy of Gout. In the mean
time we shall proceed to give you our rules of

Training adapted to the Gouty .

Our modifications of rigid training in the case of gout must
be understood, as in other cases, to apply to those patients only
who cannot, from debility of constitution, or circumstances in
life, follow up the rules as practised by Jackson, and first esta¬
blished by us in this work on philosophical principles.

No patient can refuse to commence the course, as the fancy
trainers do by clearing the stomach and bowels of whatever
offensive matter may be lodged there, and this is best done ac¬
cording to the method, Vol. I. pp. 47 and 48. The training
breakfast of the gouty (which may be at eight or nine o’clock^,
instead of chops or steaks and ale, ought (at first) to be light
and easily digestible, such as a cup or two of ginger tea, or
black tea with a little tincture of cardamoms in it, a biscuit,
and a bit of cold fowl, but never seasoned with mustard, nor
accompanied with ham— all salted or smoked things being ex-

106

Art of Medical Training .

pressly forbidden. Coffee, chocolate, honey, jellies, marmalade,
and other sweet things, must also be avoided. At dinner (for
which two o’clock is the proper training hour), we also at first
would omit the steaks and chops, and recommend a small
portion of either roast or boiled, an inside slice underdone, of
either veal, lamb, or mutton, but no beef nor pork. Fish is
also forbidden ; but any kind of fowl or game may be taken if
plainly cooked, and eaten without mustard, pepper, vinegar, or
other condiments. No vegetables, except potatoes, can be al¬
lowed ; though biscuit, or boiled rice, may be used in whatever
quantity is found agreeable. No pies nor puddings of any de¬
scription are permitted; and all sorts of soups must be ab¬
stained from.

We prohibit, as drink, — water, small-beer, cider, perry, home¬
made wines, and indeed wines of every description, except, as
an indulgence, an occasional glass of good old sherry or port,
tak* ng care that the acid is previously destroyed bv a little mag¬
nesia, or a few drops of liquor of potass. Water, however, we
consider to be the very worst drink for the gouty, as mild Edin¬
burgh ale is by far the best, provided it be old or bottled. In¬
deed many cases of gout have been cured by ale alone, when
wine and high-seasoned food were at the same time left off.
Recollect we speak of the intervals between the fits of gout, and
not of the period of attack, when ale, though ever so mild,
would be much too strong, and would certainly aggravate the
disorder, as we shall see when we lay down the proper manage¬
ment of a fit of gout. Soda water, or ginger beer, if drank mo¬
derately (say not more than two tumblers a day), has been found
useful : in larger quantities they would certainly do injury, by
deluging the stomach, and generating acid. Much liquid is very
bad for gout.

For supper, which may be taken about seven or eight, wre re¬
commend the same as at breakfast, or panado of arrow root,
plain rice pudding, or any thing not above prohibited, that may
agree with the patient’s stomach. Gruel, so often recommended
by others, as good to sleep on, we disapprove of strongly, as
apt to engender acidities and flatulence.

Above all other regimen, so often prescribed by ignorant phy¬
sicians for gout, we put down vegetable diet and water-drink¬
ing, as decidedly the worst; for its certain to enfeeble, if not
to destroy the very best constitution, while training, such as
we have laid it down, will not only expel the disease with cer¬
tainty, but will invigorate and re-establish the constitution as
before the attack.

One of the most important things in training for the gouty is

New Worm Medicines .

10/

exercise. The weak and debilitated may do much injury to
themselves by taking too much or too violent exercise; but it
is a much more common error to take too little, or to take it
irregularly, one day too much and another too little. For ex¬
ercise to do good must be constantly persevered in, and a por¬
tion of it always taken before breakfast, another portion after
breakfast, and another after dinner. Riding on horseback, as in
bilious cases, is the best for the gout, and indeed the same rules
as given page 68 above, apply precisely here. We may add, that
when the gouty patient is too much weakened, or pained, to
follow out the exercises recommended, that he ought at least to
take an airing once, twice, or thrice a-day, according to his
strength, in a carriage. It is necessary to remark, however,
that this will not be enough, but at first it must be used till a
little strength is gained for more beneficial exercise. Of the
striking effects of exercise in gout, the following case from
Loubet is a good instance: —

“ A young man, at the age of 25, was of a most enormous
corpulence of body. He was an only son, and very rich. He
experienced an attack of gout, which frightened him so much,
that he entered on the following system of exercise. On
Mondays he played at tennis for three or four hours in the fore¬
noon ; on Tuesdays he devoted the same space to mall; on
Wednesdays he hunted; on Thursdays he rode; on Fridays he
exercised at arms a la militaire ; on Saturdays he walked to one
of his country-seats, three leagues distant; and on Sundays re¬
turned on foot again. The remedy proved so successful, that
at the end of eighteen months, he was reduced to common di¬
mensions. He married; and continuing his exercises, he got
rid of all the humours with which he had been gorged; and
from a mis-shapen mass, he became a well-made and vigorous
man, exempt from gout, and enjoying perfect health.”

The clothing should be warm and dry, but such as not to
produce unnatural heat of the skin, and weakening perspiration.
“ Patience and flannel” have often done more harm than good.
The sleep should be regulated precisely as in other training.

*** In our next we shall begin the Philosophy of Gout, and
also Training adapted to the Consumptive.

New Worm Medicines.

We intend, at an early opportunity, to continue our inves¬
tigations into the natural history, and the mode of destroying
the worms which infest the bowels, and cause so mapy anoma¬
lous and distressing complaints. In the mean time we shall

108

New Worm Medicines.

introduce you to two remedies, which are in some measure
new, at least when given with the intention of expelling
worms. In our former paper on worms, (Vol. I. p. 384.) we
mentioned that the most popular remedy for tape-worm, at
present, is turpentine, and gave some of the forms in which it is
best exhibited. The medicine which we now introduce, suc¬
ceeded, we are told, after the patient had taken “ turpentine
enough to kill a horse.” The’patient was a respectable farmer,
who had been afflicted with tape-worm for ten years, and had
tried, under various practitioners, the whole round of worm
medicines, with only temporary benefit. Dr. Chisholm, having
accidentally discovered, that after prescribing colchicum wine for
rheumatism, a tape-worm was unexpectedly discharged, resolved
to try it in the case of the farmer. In three or four days the
medicine expelled the worm, and he has now been quite free
from it for three years. We take the liberty to call this

Dr. Chisholm’s Draught for Tape-Worm.

Take sixty drops of colchicum wine,

a tea spoonful of compound tincture of cardamoms,
a wine glassful of peppermint or cinnamon water.

Mix for a draught, twice a day : to be continued from eight to
fourteen days.

The next remedy we shall mention, is a discovery by
Dr. Carter for the cure of the small thread-worms, called by
surgeons ascarides , and also for the long round worms called
lumbrici , both very obstinate, and frequently baffling all medi¬
cine. Strong purgatives, such as Ching’s lozenges and other
quack medicines, uniformly aggravate the disorder, while they
delude the patient into a belief of their powerful efficacy by their
effects in expelling a great quantity of worms. They cer¬
tainly do expel worms, but by irritating the bowels to throw out
an additional quantity of slime, they also form a nest for thou¬
sands more to engender. The quacks know this right well, and
chuckle to see you swallowing their extortionablc trash, which
is sure to render another dose indispensable. The very oppo¬
site, is the effect of Dr. Carter’s new remedy, which, instead of
weakening the bowels, as purgatives and the usual worm me¬
dicines do, tends to strengthen them ; and you may be assured
that worms will never breed nor live in strong, healthy, bowels.
We shall therefore give you the prescription for

Dr. Carter’s Worm Medicine.

'l ake half a drachm of the solution of muriate of lime,

. half a wine glassful of pimento water.

Mix for a draught, three times a day, for a fortnight or a month.

109

Dr. Kitchiner on Sheep’s Head Broth.

Or, the following —

JPorm Pills for Ascarides.

Take four grains of muriate of lime,

six grains of extract of rhubarb.

Mix, and divide into two pills, thrice a day.

The bowels, before commencing the medicine, must be eva¬
cuated by any mild purgative, and kept open during the time of
taking it, if necessary, by Sir H. Halford’s pills, or any other
laxative medicine.

Dr. Kitchiner’s Glasgow Epistle on Sheep’s Head
Broth, a Scots National Dish.

Dear V* allace. Buck's Head. , Glasgow , Sept. 17 th.

Just arrived, and now comfortable, with a mug of tewhadiddle
and a devilled biscuit on the table. Maekay, (mine host of the
Buck’s Head) is one of us — quite the thing — up to comfort and
good living, and all that sort of thing — has studied my Apicius
like a true scholar — and added notes and criticisms on every
page. The Punch Club meets here to-morrow night, when I
shall have the honour of presenting my credentials of brother-
snip. I do long to see Kingan, and Robroyston, and Holmy,
swigging it in chorus to the Chaplain’s broad jokes. It is un¬
derstood that Dr. Balmanno will give a lecture on the proper¬
ties of old cheese, with learned quotations from Cicero and
Petronius, which the Chaplain (it is anticipated) being unable
to construe, will turn into jokes, by ludicrously applying to them
the old rule of te decei , delectat,” &c., a signal for Dymock to
pounce upon, and demolish him, in his own superior style of
wit. Duncan, the funny bibliopole stenographist, has volun¬
teered to take down the old-cheese lecture in short hand, for
the behoof of your committee, though he declines partaking of
the punch as too expensive a beverage. — Such are the news;
but I have still better — a noble receipt I have just picked up
from Mackay’s notes, for a dish which has not hitherto been
chronicled in the Oracle — the celebrated national soup, sheep’s
head kail or broth. The style of the receipt is not Scotch, but
it is antique, and worth preserving in its original raciness.
Here it is : —

To make this broth in the best manner, you must first make
a good broth of leg of beef, made in the common way the over
night; about three English quarts will be enough ; next must
be got a ram’s head and feet ; these must not be skinned, but
should have the wool and skin on them ; the head should be

VOL. II. P

110

Dr. Kitchiner on Sheeps Head Broth .

cut with about four inches of the craig to it ; the wool must be
singed off with red hot irons; if you live in London, and are
acquainted with any Scots smith, best send to him to singe it;
for it makes a most monstrous smoke and stink in a kitchen.
Being singed, put it in warm water, where let it soak for a
quarter of an hour; then, with a knife, scrape all the black
from the skin, both from the head and feet, and continue
washing and scraping till it is quite clean ; then cleave the
head in two, without cutting the tongue; pick out the blue
skins and jelly of the eyes, with the grisly bones from the
snuffles of the nose ; take out the brains, and rub them all over
the outward skin of the head and feet; let it remain so a
minute or two, and then scrape it off, which will cleanse and
whiten the skin surprisingly ; wash the feet and head in cold
water, put them into a soup pot, with three-quarters of a pound
of pearl barley, which should be put to soak the over night ;
then put in the beef broth ; the head should be covered six
inches, or thereabouts; if the broth runs short, make up the
deficiency with water ; both the broth and water should be
cold ; cover the pot and set it on a moderate, brisk, clear fire;
scum it well, and put in two whole, small carrots, with three or
four large turnips, seven or eight white pepper-corns, just
cracked, and three cloves, each broke in two; let these boil,
covered for two hours and a half ; then take off’ the cover, and
put in the nice, tender, white part of five heads of cellery, cut
exceeding small; twenty-four little, white, round-headed onions,
peeled, and put in whole, or four middle sized onions cut small ;
but if the little ones can be got, they are best; a small, light,
yellow, heart of a savoy cabbage, cut exceeding small.

Before these are put in the pot, scum well off the fat; after
which put them all in ; let it boil gently for an hour and a half
longer ; so that it will, in all, need four hours’ boiling gently
all the time with the cover on : with the rest of the ingredients,
put in three common spoonfuls of salt ; the above time being
expired, serve up in this manner.

Take out the carrots and turnips, and take off' the great bones
from the ram’s feet, and dexterously take out, with a knife, the
tuft of wool which grows in between the inside of the toes of
the feet ; once more scum off' the fat from the broth : take the
skin oft the tongue ; put it, the feet and head, handsomelv in a
soup dish ; and then fill up the soup dish with the broth, and
serve it hot : the carrot and turnip which were boiled in the
broth are not sent to table, when the head is sent in the soup
dish ; but when two dishes are made of it, then the carrots and
turnips, &c., are sent up round the head.

It is generally made in Scotland without beef-broth, and is

Method oj Cleaning Furniture.

Ill

very good : some palates will have nothing in it but the head,
feet, water, barley, and salt ; other palates like all the other
seasoning in it except the onions; a third has an aversion to
any thing of the cabbage tribe : so you must regulate yourself
according to the palate you have to please. The above will
please most palates. This dish is much in vogue in Scotland,
and often seen at most noblemen’s tables there : it is thought
King James was the first that ever eat a sheep’s head, dressed
this way, in England. — So far Mackay’s notes.

N.B. The report in London, that Graham, the distinguished
president of the Glasgow Punch Club, had gone to the shades
to jollify with old Horace and Anacreon, is a malicious hoax
and libel, which you must speedily contradict. Dr. Jarvie and
he have just called to take their evening tumbler at Mackay’s.
The only other news here is, that the Editor of the Glasgow
Mechanics’ Magazine, in a fit of absence, while meditating on
the resolution of a surd* algebraic formula, stalked in upon
the Punch Club, during their third bowl, like the ghost in
Hamlet, and pulling out a piece of chalk, began to disfigure the

walls with a-\r 6 = \/ x 2 — &c., when John Douglas, very good
naturedly, interrupted his problem, by handing him a glass of
punch, which had the immediate effect of bringing him down
from his cloud-capt tower, to the ordinary level of punchability.

Yours, in good fellowship and greeting,

W. Kitchiner.

To TV. M. Wallace , Esq.

44, Paternoster Row, London.

Method of Cleaning and Polishing Furniture.

By Mr. Hatchard’s Footman.

We have repeated-— among all our repetitions nothing so
often — and nothing that deserves to be repeated so often — as
the economical maxim, that to save is to gain. It is in fact
the sum and substance of all economy. In the case of
furniture it is indispensable, otherwise you will soon have all
your best things looking like the rubbish of a broker’s shop.
By attending to the following directions, this evil may be easily
avoided.

How to Polish Mahogany Furniture .

II mahogany has been cleaned with a mixture of a dark co¬
lour, and the lurniture has become old, it will be impossible to
make it look light coloured, unless it be planed; this is not
easily done ; therefore when it is of a light colour, and is to be
kept so, you must be very particular in what mixture you put
on it, as none which is of a dark colour should be put on ma-

Quere, absurd? — Printer’s Devil.

1U

Method of Cleaning Furniture.

hogany which is intended to be kept a light colour. If you
have two sorts of mahogany, that is, light and dark, you should
have two sorts of paste, or oil, to do them with ; but if the dark
mahogany be as dark as it is wanted, the paste or oil which is
used for the light will do for the dark, as the polish will not be
affected by its colour; it may, therefore, in such case, be used
for both, without keeping two sorts.

Keep your paste or oil in a proper can or jar, that you may
not run any risk of upsetting it when you are using it. Whether
you use oil or paste, you must have two pieces of woollen cloth,
one for rubbing it on, the other for rubbing it dry, and polish¬
ing; you must likewise have an old linen cloth to finish with,
which you should keep for this use only, and not dirty it with
any thing else : have a piece of smooth soft cork to rub out the
stains with, and use a brush, if the paste be hard, as you will
not be able to put it on with a woollen cloth if it is very stiff.
Always dust the table well before the oil or paste is put on ; and
if it should be stained with any thing, rub it with a damp sponge,
and then with a dry cloth. If the stain does not disappear, rub
it well with the cork or a brush; but let it be rubbed the way
the wood grows, for if you rub it cross-grained, you will scratch
it. Be careful to keep the cork and brush free from dust and
dirt.

When you have cleaned the dust off, and got the stains out,
put on your oil or paste, but not too much at a time; rub it
w7ell into the wTood. If you use oil, be as quick as you possibly
can in rubbing it over the table, and then polish it with another
wroollen cloth. If you use wax, put a little bit on the w’oollen
cloth with your finger, or a small stick ; rub it well with this
till the table looks of a high polish, then have another cloth to
finish it with. If you use paste and oil to different furniture,
you must have different cloths to rub it with; do not use one
for the other, as it will not answer to do so. Be very careful
to have the edges of the tables w’ell cleaned, and the oil and
wax well rubbed off; if this be not attended to, the ladies and
gentlemen will get their clothes dirtied when sitting near the
table.

It perhaps will be necessary to wash the tables sometimes ;
as, where too much w’ax or oil has been put on, and not well
rubbed off, the dust will settle, and you will find it impossible
to get it off without. In such cases, they must be washed all
over with a sponge or flannel dipped in hot beer ; then rub them
dry as quickly as possible with a linen cloth, and put the oil or
paste on, as before directed, rubbing it well in, as they will re¬
quire more rubbing after washing, but they will look of a lighter

Method of Cleaning Furniture. IJ3

colour and a higher polish than they did before : never use the
beer boiling hot, or leave it on too long.

Sideboards and cellarets frequently have brass rods or orna¬
ments of brass about them, which must be cleaned also; this
ought to be done before the mahogany is cleaned, and in doing
it great care must be taken that you do not dirty the mahogany.
If there be any fly- dirt on the brass, take it off with a piece of
flannel well soaped, then polish it with the leather you clean
your plate with, but do not rub it on the mahogany. If the
brass which is on the cellaret has got the lacker worn off, you
must polish it with a bit of leather and brick-dust, the same as
you do the steel forks ; be very careful not to rub the brick-
dust into the wood. Wrap the leather up in a small compass
when you clean it; this will keep the brick-dust from flying
about the furniture. When you have done the brass, you must
be careful that you do not dirty it wTith the oil or paste you may
use in cleaning the mahogany.

The furniture which is not in constant use will not require
to be oiled as often as that which is ; once a-week will be quite
enough ; oftener will do it harm rather than good ; it ought,
however, to be dusted every day, and well rubbed; if it be kept
covered with green cloth, it will not want so much rubbing.
Tables which are used daily must be well rubbed every morning,
and great care should be taken to remove all spots from them,
particularly ink : this you can do very easily, if it is not left to
dry in a great while, by putting a little oxalic acid or salt of
lemons on the spots of ink; then have the end of a cloth just
dipped into hot wrater, and rub the salt of lemons or oxalic acid ,
on with your Anger; this will remove them directly.

If you use oil for tables, never let it stand on long, nor put
much on at a time, as you will And, if you do, that the damp
will rise when hot dishes are put on, or any thing else which is
hot. There is less water in wax than in oil, therefore wax is
preferable to oil on this account, as you will And it very dis¬
agreeable to have much damp to wipe off the table, when the
company is seated round it; which you will And must be done,
or else it will look dull and clouded after the hot dishes are
taken off ; and it is a sad appearance when one part is of a high
polish, and the other looks dull and smeary.

When you clean the tables or chairs, be careful to remove
them into the middle of the room, or at a distance from the
wall, or any thing which they may stand near, as in many places
where I have been, I have seen the walls, where the tables and
sideboard have stood, smeared with the mixture the furniture
has been cleaned with ; this has not only a slovenly appearance,

114

Critique o)t Old Women's Remedies.

• _

but likewise disfigures the wall. If the sideboard or side-
table is fixed to the wall, you must be the more careful in
cleaning it, and roll up your woollen cloth, or whatever you rub
it with, tight in your hand, and into a small compass.

Polish for Mahogany Furniture.

Take two ounces of bees-wax scraped fine, put it into a pot
or jar, and pour over it enough of spirits of turpentine to cover
it. Let it stand a little while, and it will be ready. If the fur¬
niture is to be kept a light colour, add nothing to it; but if it
is wished to have it a darker colour, take a very small quantity
of alkanet-root or rose-pink, and mix with it.

Oil for Furniture.

Take a pint of cold-drawn linseed oil, and, if you wish to
colour it, take a little alkanet-root or rose-pink, and mix with
it. Put a little on the furniture, and rub it well with a woollen
cloth. Do not let the oil stand long on the table before it is
rubbed off, as the sooner it is done the better.

German Polish for Furniture.

Melt an ounce of black resin and a quarter of a pound of
yellow wax in an earthen pipkin, and pour in by degrees two
ounces of spirits of turpentine. When the whole is well incor¬
porated, put it in an earthen jar, and keep close covered for use.
When you use it, spread a little of it on the furniture with a
woollen cloth, and rub it well in. In a few days the polish
will be as hard and bright as varnish. — In trying a new receipt
like this, it is a good caution to begin with some trifling article
of furniture, to see how it succeeds, as otherwise you may spoil
valuable things.

Medical Critique on Old Women’s Prescriptions.

No. I.

Though the Oracle has made powerful and successful war¬
fare, both on the ignorance of the legitimate doctors and on
the villanous practices of quacks, yet there is still a wide field
for examination in the private quackeries of a countless number
of old women, who, having nothing else to do, betake them¬
selves to prescribing for their neighbours, drawing their know¬
ledge either from tradition, from the Complete Housewife,
Culpepper’s Herbal, Buchan’s Domestic Medicine, or similar
books of less note, all of which much oftener mislead than in¬
struct the reader in what is plain and rational. Whatever of

115

Critique on Old Women's Remedies.

this description we shall find in our critical visits among old-
women doctors we shall not hesitate to expose, while we shall
be equally ready to do justice to all that we find effectual, and
at the same time rational and safe. We shall begin, in the
spirit of approbation, with a very common traditional prescrip¬
tion as an

Old Cure for Rheumatic Pains .

This is unquestionably a safe remedy, and we have many
facts to prove it an effectual one, though we shall at once con¬
fess we cannot fathom the philosophy of its operation. In this
case the patient is not required to swallow any nauseous draught,
nor submit to bleeding, blistering, or purging. All that is re¬
quired is, a stick of sulphur, about two inches long, or so, which
must be constantly worn near the skin of the patient, and as near
as possible to the part liable to be affected with pain. The thing
is well known to seamen, wrho usually carry a stick of sulphur in
the pocket of their waistcoat or trowsers. We have no doubt
at all of its powerful preventive efficacy; but we cannot form a
conjecture how it operates, unless it be through the imagination
of the patient. There must, however, be something more than
this, for the exhalations of the sulphur find their way into the
system, and of course produce some change hitherto inexplicable
to physicians. During our studentship, our venerable preceptor
in physic, mentioned this in his lectures every year, as a singular
and effectual preventive of rheumatic pains.

Olcl Remedy for a Cough .

We cannot recommend, in the same unqualified terms, the
old remedy for coughs, which we are next to mention. The
prescription is, to boil a handful of bay-leaves in milk, which is
to be made into whey, by adding white wine, and drank in the
dose of a tea- cupful, or more, three or four times a day. Now
when we tell you, that bay-leaves contain a considerable portion
of that deadly poison, the prussic acid, and that the whey in ques¬
tion is so indefinite, as to the quantity of this poison it may con¬
tain, we think it at best a very dangerous sort of medicine to
tamper with.

Old Prescription for Ague.

Take a quantity of cobwebs and make into six middling pills,
with crumb of bread. In order to prevent a fit of ague, take two
pills before you expect the cold fit; and if that do not effect a
cure, take three pills before the next fit, and so on increasing the
dose till the fit is prevented. This, we are aware, has sometimes
proved effectual; but as cobweb is a very strong poison, it
should not be given in this slap-dash way, without accurately

Secrets for Amateur Drinkers.

1 16

weighing the dose. Ten grains is the medium dose, but the
webs of different sorts of spiders have different qualities. The
spiders which frequent dark cellars, have the most poisonous
webs. The remedy is popular in America, but since the great
discovery of the sulphate of quinine, (seeVol. I. p. 2^9,) it is not
wanted, at least in ague. We shall have to mention the bene¬
ficial application of Spider’s web externally on a future occasion.

Valuable Secrets for Amateur Drinkers.

Eat, drink, and be merry, by all means; but never heedlessly
neglect the philosophical precepts which we have been careful to
lay down for the benefit of our friends, as well as to keep our¬
selves in faithful remembrance of the same. You can now be
at no loss to combat the acid which is so pregnant with mischief
to the stomach and bowels, and tends, through the companion¬
ship of the nerves, to distress and stupify the brain on the morn¬
ing after a jollification. But leaving the acid out of consider¬
ation, there is something more which will keep the head uncom¬
fortable, and leave dull aching pains about the stomach and
sides. We shall explain: — •

You cannot be merry over the wine-cup, or the punch-bowl,
without laughing atthe passingjest — the Cynthia of the minute —
that, according to the good old standing metaphor — sets the table
in a roar. Now it is this muscle-exercise of laughing, more
than acid or any other circumstance, which causes the morning
discomforts of your amateur. We state the cause broadly, in
order to discover a remedy. It is, therefore, manifest weariness,
even unto pain, of the muscles about the face, the temples, and
the ribs, and of the nerves, belonging to them, which constitutes,
in a great measure, your morning’s uneasiness.

If this be the true state of the case, after making proper de¬
ductions for the effects, of the acid in irritating, and of the sti¬
mulus of the alcohol exhausting the strength — you cannot be
at much loss to devise a remedy. Rest is always your only
cure for weariness, whether you be saddle sick or bottle sick.
Rest then, and be thankful — sleep next morning till you feel
refreshed, and comfortable, and do not attempt to rise till you
are so. If you attend to this simple advice, you will, to a cer¬
tainty, cure whatever uneasiness, pain, or headache has arisen
from your joining too freely in the song and the laugh of the
preceding night.

The evils produced by acid, we have formerly told you how
to combat; — we must now instruct you how to remedy the ner¬
vous headaches, and other morning troubles, caused by the sti¬
mulus of the alcohol upon the brain, — the said alcohol being

117

Philosophy of the Hart'. — No. 5.

tiie spirit or life of all liquors, from small-beer to champagne.
Its action is first upon the very sensitive nerves of the stomach,
and by them is transmitted to the brain itself. Now if you spur
up the nerves and the brain to ail effort beyond their natural
exertion, when you withdraw the spur, they will soon sink be¬
low their usual standard ; in a similar way as when you stretch
a piece of India rubber, it will recoil the instant you let it go.
When the nerves and brain, therefore, have been spurred and
kept on the stretch over night by the stimulus of liquor, you
must expect that they will feel fatigued and sore next morning.
Then is your time to sooth them by the means we formerly
mentioned, Vol. I. page 166, and by what we now recommend
as the most powerful

Amateur'"1 s Remedy for Morning Headache.

Take two grains and a half of sulphate of quinine,
fifteen drops of laudanum,
two table spoonfuls of simple syrup.

Mix, and take the whole before your coffee, and of course before
getting out of bed, see Vol. I. page 25.

Philosophy of the Hair, No. 5.

Hair oils and bear’s grease have for ages been a most lucra¬
tive concern, for a host of quacks; and though we lament to
see the existence of so much gullability in the public who are
taken in by the hoax, yet we are happy that this trash is in
general so harmless — a thing which we cannot say of any of
the internal nostrums so audaciously puffed by advertisement
through every public channel. We have already in a former
paper (Vol. I. p. 399.) given our reasons for not making an in¬
discriminate use of oily and greasy applications to the hair in
all cases, though in the instances of baldness, and thin hair from
the drying, puckering, or thickening of the skin, such may
often prove beneficial, by softening the skin, opening its pores,
and allowing the strangled hair freedom to grow. In all cases
of this kind we recommend the Palma Christi oil of the West
Indies as the best preparation, and we have been since informed
by many of our correspondents that it has been found on trial
to be very efficacious, of course when judiciously applied after
ascertaining that the cause of the diminished growth of the hair
was dryness or hardness of the skin, through which it passes.
Those who may prefer the Maccassar oil, may easily make it
themselves at a cheap rate by the following

Cheap Receipt for Maccassar Oil .

Put two pints of sweet oil in a pan, with an ounce of alkanet root
Vol. n. q

118

The Philosophy of the Hair . — No. 5.

cut and bruised, in a linen bag ; and add two wine glasses of good
spirits of wine (ruin, brandy, gin, or whiskey will do). Give the
whole a good heat but do not let it boil, and keep it on the fire till it
take a fine red colour. Then pour it out of the pan into the vessel to
cool, and when cold add an ounce of essence of Bergamot, and two
tea spoonfuls of essence of cinnamon. Filter the whole through a fun¬
nel lined with blotting paper, and it is ready to be bottled. The bot¬
tles and corks must be perfectly dry.

You will thus have a quart of Maccassar oil for about half a
crown, equal if not superior to what Rowland will charge you a
guinea for, and which the advertisements call “ the best and
cheapest article for the hair.” We are told that the oil used in
the manufacture is the cheapest that can be had in the market,
and that its rancid smell is got rid of by heating the oil, and
putting into it a quantity of sliced onions. The truth of this we
do not vouch for; but if it be true, you can, by using the best
oil, prepare a much superior Maccassar oil yourself than the
article sold at so high a price in the shops. — We shall give the
receipts for Essence of Tyre, and the humbug Xalydor in an
early page.

Bear's Grease Puffing.

By far the most palpable hair-hoax, (we must coin a word in
this case) is that of the Bear’s grease, in which, Ross, M‘Alpine,
and others are determined rivals. We marvel exceedingly how
this digusting stuff ever became popular; we are certain it could
never have been without the substitutes and adulterations palm¬
ed on the public by the venders, as we shall soon convince you
by a description of the genuine bear’s grease, contrasted with
the stuff usually sold as such.

Genuine Bear's Grease.

There are two sorts of genuine bear’s grease, one of the con¬
sistence of thick olive oil, which is procured by boiling from the
fat about the caul and intestines of the animal; the other much
harder, and in appearance like frozen honey, procured from about
the kidneys. Now mark it, both the sorts, even when fresh, stink
intolerably, which, says Lillie, is perhaps the reason that but
very little of it is imported from the bear-countries — that it is
seldom used — and often thrown away as soon as it is smelt.
Even of this very unfragrant and nauseous stuff, it is difficult to
obtain the genuine sort, unless the perfumer, when a bear is
killed, takes the pains to stand by to see the caul and kidney
fat taken out, tied up, and cleansed, and in that state puts it
up for use. Ross and M‘Alpine tell us they do so, but it is
much more probable, we think, that they throw away the stink¬
ing grease, which all the perfumes of Arabia will scarcely

119

Monopoly of Mock Dignity,

sweeten, and substitute in its stead the grease of dogs or goats;
or in the case of those buyers who pretend to be judges of the
true bearish odour — old, rancid, yellow hog’s lard, which has
acquired, by being rusty, a proper shade of yellow, and a suffi¬
cient perfume, will pass off with great eclat as genuine bear’s
grease.

When you do happen to have some genuine bear’s grease,
and are determined to use it though you should smell like a
bear, you should mix it with half the quantity of fresh beef
marrow, as directed by M. Bertrand, to give it more consist¬
ence, and temper its unpleasant oilyness. If you want it still
more consistent, you must melt it in a vessel placed in boiling
water with a fourth part of the best wax.

In our next we shall give some new and interesting views
of Baldness, arising from Weakness and Relaxation of the
Skin, with Remedies.

Monopoly of Mock Dignity by a Cabal of London

Physicians.

We never yet met with a man of real dignity who was jealous
of it, though every little manikin in the kingdom is perpetually
on the watch lest he be laughed at, or looked upon with con¬
tempt, and will strut on tip-toe, and carry a high head, to add,
if possible, an inch to his dignity which he feels to be so defi¬
cient in stature. Our remarks apply to mental as well as to
corporeal manikinism; and we think them no less applicable
to a club of some dozen of third and fourth-rate London phy¬
sicians, who have formed a cabal, to u add,” as they prepos¬
terously hope, “ to the dignity of the profession,” and “ increase
its usefulness.” This very laudable object they propose to
effect by excluding from their Society every person or persons
66 engaged in the actual practice of surgery, pharmacy, or mid¬
wifery,” or who have what are called Scotch diplomas, unless
they have been “ members of the London College prior to the
year 1800.” The plain interpretation of all which is, that sur¬
gery, pharmacy, and midwifery, are no part of 66 medical science,”
and that members of the London College, prior to the year
1800, are now more dignified than their juniors, or rather, have
attained unto the proper measure of dignity, by their accidental
connexion with Drs. Birkbeck, Cleverly, Clutterbuck, Copland,
Hancock, Roberts, Sheerman, Tweedie, and Uwins, the ori¬
ginators and members of this precious ninny scheme for mono¬
polizing dignity, and insulting all who have the meanness (as
they look upon it) to follow the degrading and undignified prac-

120

Philosophy of Hearing . — No. 2.

tice of surgery, midwifery, and pharmacy — such mean, low, un¬
dignified men, for instance, as Sir A. Cooper, Mr. Cline, Mr.
Brodie, Dr. Gooch, Mr. Battley, Mr. Hume of Long-acre, and
a hundred others whom we could name. Had we not seen the
printed prospectus of this junto of Mock-dignitaries, who call
themselves “ The Society of Physicians of the United King¬
dom, we could not have pre-conceived that any set of third
and fourth-rate men would have thus dared to cabal, for the
express purpose of insulting all the surgeons, accoucheurs, and
apothecaries in the kingdom ; and not only so, but covertly, as
we are well informed, to oppose and fight against the Royal
College of Physicians itself — this being understood to be the
grand bond of union in this mock monopoly of dignity.

That this is the real motive of the cabal, appears strongly
from the fact, that some of the dignitaries have themselves
condescended to practise the now despised branches of surgery,
midwifery, and pharmacy — aye, even in the least honourable
and lowest grades thereof, as we shall afterwards shew ; and
some of them are at present officially connected with dispen¬
saries, &c., where they must associate with the undignified
classes. Had the acquisition of dignity, indeed, been the true ,
as it is the ostensible motive of the cabal, one of their leading
men would not be, at this moment, compromising his dignity
by low Billingsgate attacks on the weekly journals, for their
spirited exposure of his conduct in the London Mechanic’s In¬
stitution. We speak not at random, and we are happily un¬
known to, and unconnected with, the parties who are turning
that infant establishment into mercenary jobbing, and engaging
lecturers on short-hand, and such stuff, instead of providing
useful instruction. We speak advisedly, and refer to a pub¬
lished document — Dr. Birkbeck’s own letter in the Literary
Chronicle of the llth September — as the most pitiable speci¬
men of Billingsgate ribaldry and personality we have ever seen
from a professional man. If such be the dignity of the cabal,
it is gross humbug, which being — as Dr. James Johnson well
remarks, “ erected on the basis of injustice and illiberality — will
end in discomfiture and contempt.” — ( Medico- Chir. Review.)

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 2.

The drum of the ear is sometimes affected with inflammation,
which may go on to ulcerate the membrane, and give out an acrid
discharge, erroneously supposed by some, to be a salutary evacu¬
ation. W hen this state continues, the membrane becomes, in
part, destroyed, and air is found to issue from the ear, on blow-

J 21

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 2.

ing the nose. It may follow scarlet fever and quinsy, Or be
induced by peas or insects getting into the ear. It may be
sometimes cured by astringent injections, by blisters, and by
improving the general health. When an insect gets into the ear,
it may be killed by putting into it a drop of oil of almonds.

Springs of the Erum.

Behind the drum of the ear is placed a chain of small bones,
or springs, so arranged as to hinge upon one another, and when
one moves, all the others follow. They are moved by means of
minute muscles, or ribbons.

The first of these bones, which is shaped like a hammer, is in
contact with the middle of the drum of the ear, and when sound,
strikes upon the drum, it must put this bone in motion; that is,
the sound causes the muscles, which are attached to it, to con¬
tract, and to pull the bone, and, consequently, to re-act upon
the drum.

The hammer-like bone communicates its motion successively
to the other three bones of the chain ; the last of which is formed
like a stirrup, but with 'a solid base! This base plays, like the
key of a flute, upon a hole, or opening, which leads to several
channels and passages further inward.

These passages are much in the form of wind instruments, of
the convoluted kind; being full of turns and windings, like a
French horn, so full, indeed, of intricate windings, as to have
obtained the name of the labyrinth.

It is well known that a violin, or common drum, will not
sound well, without a hole in it, to cause the sound produced,
to come with more force, by a communication with the air with¬
out. The sound, indeed, would otherwise be imprisoned in the
instrument, and would be heard muffled and confined by the sur¬
rounding wood. The same would be the case in the ear. The
sound transmitted from the drum to the bony springs, and by
them to the parts of the labyrinth, would be smothered in its
passage, almost as soon as it had passed the drum. To prevent
this, there is a contrivance exactly like the hole in the common
drum and in the violin.

Behind the drum of the ear a tube opens for this purpose, and
runs by the side of the labyrinth, widening as it goes, till it ends
in a trumpet-like opening behind the curtain which separates
the nostril and the mouth. It is called the Eustachian tube , from
its describer, Eustachius.

It was fancifully supposed in former times, that it was a drain
for the corrupt humours of the ear, as the nose was for those of
the brain. Were this true, the throat is certainly not the
most eligible part to make a common sewer for corruption.

122

Philosophy of Hearing . — No. 2.

Within its termination, indeed, are numerous wrinkles and cells,
which give out a mucus, similar to the mucus of the nose; the
skin which lines it being a continuation of the skin of the nostrils.

The use of this tube, as we have explained it, is, perhaps, more
correctly understood than any other part of the ear. It is so
indispensible, indeed, to perfect hearing, that when it is in any
way obstructed, there always follows some degree of deafness.
When it is opened, also, by opening the mouth we hear better
than when the mouth is shut. The termination of the tube,
however, is but little exposed to obstruction from extraneous
substances. It is too high placed, and too well defended by the
curtain between the mouth and nose, to be liable to accidents
from particles of food or drink getting into its mouth. The chief
cause of obstruction of the tube is, inflammation from colds or
other causes. Most people, indeed, have experienced, some time
of their lives, a temporary deafness, or imperfect hearing, from
cold affecting the nostrils or the throat. In such cases also,
pain is felt stretching along the tube to the drum of the ear.

The tube may also be permanently obstructed by disease, or
even before birth, in which case deafness is always the conse¬
quence. Formerly this affection was thought incurable, till the
genius of Sir Astley Cooper suggested to him the experiment of
admitting air into the inner ear, by perforating the drum *. This
bold operator was successful, and many have since been re¬
stored to hearing, from having been totally deaf. The smallest
hole in the drum is sufficient, but it is difficult to keep a small
hole open, and the surgeon is often obliged to make a larger
one than he should otherwise prefer. By opening the mouth,
the orifice of the tube is enlarged, and hearing rendered more
acute, an observation which did not escape Shakspeare —

“ I saw a smith stand with his hammer thus,

The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool.

With open mouth swallowing a tailor’s news. King John.

When the drum of the ear is accidentally rent, smoke can be
passed from the mouth through the ear. The illustrious Haller
was wrong when he said this feat was fabulous.

The Labyrinth of the Ear.

The labyrinth is filled with a fluid of a watery consist¬
ence, which acts, as is conceived, a similar part in the convey¬
ance of sounds, as the fluid in the mouth and nose, in convey¬
ing tastes and smells. For the fluid in the labyrinth of the ear
is in contact with the nerve which is spread in numberless
branches over its inner surface. This opinion, however, though
very probable, is different from that of some distinguished in-

* Sir A‘s claim to (hi? has been disputed by an obscure German !

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 2. 123

quircrs. The labyrinth will be most easily understood by con¬
sidering it as made up of three parts — the vestibule, or oval
gallery, on the door of which the base of the stirrup bone plays,
as we have said, like the key of a flute; the canals in the form
of a half circle, leading from the gallery; and the cochlea, or
snail shell, so called from its shape, with which also the gallery
communicates.

The vestibule, or gallery, is a small oval cell, nearly filled
with a watery fluid, contained in two little bags, on which a
part of the nerve of the ear is spread. From this cell several
small passages run into other parts of the labyrinth. The oval
hole, on which the base of the stirrup-bone plays, we have al¬
ready described.

The three canals, in form of a semicircle, open into the ves¬
tibule by five passages. The entrance into each is too small to
admit the head of a pin, and the entrance is the widest part of
them. Their substance is bone of uncommon hardness, but
very brittle, and easily broken. Along the canals run small
transparent tubes, which are connected with one of the bags in
the vestibule, where all the three tubes unite. On these tubes
a; portion of the nerve of hearing is likewise spread. Some
have imagined that the canals were enlarged at the ends, to give
room for the circulation of sound, in the way that takes place
in a trumpet; but the wider portion in the living ear is filled up
by a similar widening in the transparent tubes, which must pre¬
vent the reverberation of sounds in them.

The cochlea, or snail-shell, the last portion of the labyrinth,
is carved out of the same hard and brittle bone which composes
the three canals. It has two openings, one into the vestibule,
the other into the part behind the drum. It lies somewhat
obliquely, the broader portion or base inwards, and the point
outwards and a little downwards in the fore and under part of
the hard bone of the temples. Its interior is made up of two cen¬
tral hollow pillars, placed point to point, around which are dis¬
posed spiral plates, somewhat like a hanging stair. These have
been compared to the strings of a harp, continually shortening
from the base to the top of the triangular cone. This arrange¬
ment was formerly supposed to be adapted to consonance or
unison, according to the variety of grave or acute sounds; but
this doctrine is now given up.

The cochlea, like the other portions of the labyrinth, con¬
tains soft parts, consisting of a mucus-like membrane, a soft
cartilage or gristle, a nervous pulp formed by the ends of nu¬
merous divisions of the nerve of hearing, and the common
watery fluid of the labyrinth. When this fluid is wanting, the
hearing is destroyed.

12 1

Song on October Ale .

October Ale,

A Song, to be sung at the Cellar of Trinity College , Dublin, on the
1st of October 1824, by the Rev. James Kennedy, F.T.C. #c.

I know that Old England is proud of her malt.

Her Nottingham beer, and her famed Burton stingo.

And I own, on this point, she her horn should exalt.

For the composts are famous — I swear it by jingo :

But here of one liquor at least we are proud —

A liquor delicious for drunk or for sober —

So in chaunting a couple of staves I 'll be loud
For Old Trinity’s tipple — the Lemon October *.

’Tis this month that such chaunt should be heard, it is clear.
For this month gives its name to that exquisite liquor
Which here in our cellar, for many a year.

Has been quaffed by dean, bishop, peer, lawyer, and vicar.
While cheered by its juice, we could bear all the ills
That ever w^ere felt by the poor Uzzite, Job ; or
We’d gulp them all down — as we swallow sour pills
When seasoned with honey — while quaffing October.

See here o’er our tables we jollily sit.

While over our heads bend the old stony arches f ,

Which re-echo all through with the sound of our wit,

While the tankard of silver J around the board marches.

To the girl of our souls, then, we drink the pint toast —

<( May the mantle of pleasure for ever enrobe her !

And may we ne’er want for the lass we love most,

When we’re drinking her health — a stiff cup of October !”

One more in due order — You all well may guess

That I pledge you the name of our famed female founder —

Here’s — Hip, hip — Hurra ! — To the health of Old Bess§ ! -

To her memory, I mean, since the tombstones surround her.
One more, for Jack Barrett || let’s moisten each mouth,

A toast to be swallowed in famed Ballinrobe, or
The Causeway far north, or Cape Clear of the South —

And here is its true fitting medium — October.

* October is strong ale, brewed for the exclusive use of Trinity College, Dub¬
lin, and is really a good ale. It has a slightly acidulated citric taste, said to be
produced by the infusion of lemons. As we happen to know the comparative
price of lemons and of October, we can only say, “ Credat judecus''’

t The cellar of Trinity College, Dublin, is surrounded by strong stony arches,
t It is, or rather was, a custom for nobleman and gentlemen to present silver
tankards to the College cellar, and the names of the donors are duly recorded on
the sides of their gifts.

^ Queen Elizabeth, who founded Trinity College, Dublin, in 1558. Her pic¬
ture, be- ruffed, hangs in its theatre.

11 The Jacky Barrett, V.P.T.C.D. Need we say more?

November Diseases.

125

November Diseases and the Means of Escaping them.

Next was November ; he full grown and fat

As fed with lard, and that right well might seeme ;

For he had been a fatting hogs of late. Spenser.

November, it has been well said, with its loss of verdure, its
frequent rains, the fall of the leaf, and the visible approach of
winter, is, undoubtedly, a gloomy month to the gloomy ; but to
others, it brings but pensiveness, a feeling very far from being
destitute of pleasure; and if the healthiest and most imaginative
of us do feel our spirits pulled down by reflections connected
with earth, its mortalities, and its mistakes, we should but
strengthen ourselves the more to make strong and sweet concord
with the changeful but harmonious movements of nature.
There are besides many pleasant things in November, if we
choose to look about us, and find that there are matters of fact
and sources of cheerfulness which we seldom dream of. For
example, it is a pleasant thing

»

To view the leaves, thin dancers upon air,

Go eddying round *.

It is a pleasant thing to meet the gentle fine days that occa¬
sionally sprinkle sunshine through this “ gloomy month,” and
come to contradict our sayings for us; it is a pleasant thing to
see the rath primrose, as Milton calls it, come back again to the
woods and meadows ; it is a pleasant thing to catch the lonely
whistle of the plover, and to see the birds making up their
winter groups ; it is a pleasant thing to listen to the deep plain¬
tive note of the wood-pigeon, and to hear the amorous voice of
the stags amidst the falling leaves.

All this is pleasant, and ought to banish gloom and melancholy
— so far at least as the eye is concerned ; but the well garnished
table is your only radical cure for raw fogs, and the low spirits
thereby engendered; — and now begins our season of the feast, the
song, and the dance, ushered in by holy St. Martin himself, who
in the northern parts of the kingdom has lent the first half of
his venerable name as a title of honour for the winter’s stock of
beef, mutton, pork, ham, sausages, &c. f, stored up to meet the
bleak days of January and February. Martinmas is truly the
Gourmand’s feast day, as the saint is the patron of good cheer,
and is always particularly invoked by all who love the pleasures
of the table. It is not recorded whether the saint, while he so-

* Lamb’s John Woodvil, a Tragedy.

t In Scotland, the peasants salt up a winter stock of meat at Marfinmas, and
this they call their Mairt.

R

126

November Diseases.

journed at Tours, distinguished himself as an eating bishop, or
whether he taught his nephew Saint Patrick to enjoy potheen
whiskey ; but we know that this anniversary of his death is the
origin and the witness of some glorious feasting attended as
usual by a grisly band of bilious disorders, flanked by innume¬
rable apothecaries, who, as Barry Cornwall has it,

- eager watch the gourmand’s door.

To prey upon his morning stomach qualms,

And mark his purse for plunder. -

To save yourself from those harpies and their poisonous
draughts, we shall teach you one of the finest secrets of good
living, which, in honour of the author, we shall take the liberty
of calling

Dr. Gastaldy’s Preparatory for a Feast.

If you wish to worship St. Martin, with heart and soul, and
honour his festival of Martinmas with due veneration, while at
the same time you wish to keep yourself unpolluted by the
villainous acquaintance of diseases and apothecaries — Dr. Gas-
taldy recommends as infallible the preparatory measures which
he himself followed for many years, as did his celebrated table
companion, M. Grimrod de la Reyniere. Commence with
spare commons, or fasting for three days before the coming feast,
that is, giving up Glasgow breakfasts, (see page 56, Vol. II.) and
Glasgow Punch — breakfasting on Dr. Gregory’s dry toast, din¬
ing on Millbank starving soup, and supping on the east wind,
which, according to Job, filleth no man’s belly. Those who dis¬
like such fare, and have no relish for the tedious formation of a
capacity in their appetite for a feast — are advised on the same
authority, two nights before the feast to obey the first rule in
Training, following it up next day by the second rule, or what
may perhaps be still better, as interfering less with the previous
comfort of the stomach — is what we shall call, in a dedicatory
wav,

ti 7

Sir W. Curtis’s Lavement before a Feast.

Take a pint of plain warm gruel,
two ounces of olive oil,
one ounce of Epsom salts.

When the salts are dissolved, inject in the usual way.

It is very philosophically remarked by Mr. Jones, in the Medi¬
cal and Vulgar Errors, that a lavement is much safer than any
purgative or laxative, “as it irritates only twelve inches of intes¬
tine, and spares raking down the other thirty-nine feet” of the
stomach and bowels. If you attend to these feasting directions,
you will strongly brace yourself against the influence of the No¬
vember fogs ; if you do not, you may expect and prepare for an

IS ovember Diseases. 127

attack of what the ancients called black-bile, or atrabilious
madness, and which we may well call

Bilious Melancholy .

We trace this, as we do many other disorders, first to the
stomach or to the liver, and other organs closely connected with
it, and in the second place to the nerves and brain. But pre¬
vious even to any affection of the stomach, there may be an
affection of the mind itself arising from the depressing passions,
hard study, or sedentary occupations and long confinement.
Grief and disappointment are the most unmanageable circum¬
stances to deal with, as it is next to impossible to withdraw the
mind from them ; and so long as it is thus haunted, there is
almost no hope of bringing the liver into healthy action, though
it is always well to try the effect of a little wholesome discipline
upon it in the form of some simple medicine, such as the herb
draught, (Vol. I. p. 456.) or the following,

Excellent Pills for the Bilious.

Take-twenty four grains of blue pilly

same quantity of extract of dandelion,
twelve grains of compound extract of colocyntli.

Make into a mass, and divide into one dozen pills, one every night,
or every other night, for a dose.

Religious Melancholy and Madness.

We would advise a similar trial of these pills in religious
melancholy, which we are sorry to say appears to be on the
increase, in proportion to the increased exertions of fanatical,
or, we should rather say, hypocritical preachers, in giving a
dark and mysterious colouring to their false — blasphemously
false descriptions of the deity, the designs of providence, and
the future state of man. When the laws of the country
permit such a fellow as Fletcher to compare, in so many
words, Whitlaw’s quack nostrums to the atonement of the
Saviour, and the mock philanthropy of quack Whitlaw him¬
self to the benevolence of Christ, as we actually heard him do,
from his pulpit in Moorfields, and reported accordingly (see
Oracle, Vol. I. p. 323.) ; since the Vice Society allows the same
fellow to go on unprosecuted, to assert that God not only sanc¬
tions, but highly favours his gross prevarications and derelictions
of solemn promises, and withal that hundreds of poor infatuated
creatures are hoodwinked by his pulpit charlatanism to believe
him a holy man : — when all this is going on, is it to be won¬
dered at that religious melancholy and religious madness should
spread and increase? The same absurdities and shameless

1 28 Comfortable Economy of an English Gentleman.

conduct of preachers is one chief cause of infidelity, and the
melancholy and suicide often caused by it.

It has been ascertained from collating many cases of religious
melancholy by Dr. Burrows, that it always arises during the
mysterious uncertainty produced by change of opinion, or in
passing from one religious sect to another. It should therefore
appear, that the best cure at the commencement would be to
keep the unhappy patient away from the infernal conventicles
and meetings which deal by wholesale in what they call soul-
searching and sinner-awakening doctrines ; that is, being plainly
interpreted, brain-turning and mind-deranging fanaticism. We
hope that the intelligence which is now so widely spreading
among the people by means of cheap publications, will soon
put an end to these diabolical farces, originating in the love of
money among idle and designing fellows, who put on solemn
faces and preach up the terrors of hell, for the sole purpose of
filling their pockets; and when such wolves in sheeps clothing
derange, as they often do, the intellects of the infatuated
wretches who listen to their stuff' — they have the blasphemous
effrontery, to boast that it is an out-pouring of the spirit of
God ; or that they have awakened the benighted sinners, and
brought them from darkness to light. It is thus that the
Gospel is now perverted from the plain practical morality laid
down by the Saviour, and is now made (under the evident chief¬
tainship of the devil) the vile tool of money-making and religious
knavery. We meddle not with sects or parties so long as they
interfere not with the comforts and enjoyments of life; but
whenever we find them doing so, we deem it our duty to tell
our readers to attend to their purses, and to beware lest the
devil’s agents, who call themselves the servants of heaven, de¬
range their minds and plunge them into incurable religious
melancholy and madness.

The causes of suicide, and the means of preventing it, were
stated, with some minuteness, in Vol. I. p. 126; and the low
spirits arising from nervous causes are fully described, with the
suitable remedies and diet, in our little work called Medical
Advice, No. 1.

Comfortable Economy of an English Gentleman,

By his Nephew.

Mr. Langton had an annuity for life of two hundred pounds per
annum. He resided in a village in Lincolnshire; the rent of
his house, with two or three small fields, was twenty-eight
pounds; the county he lived in was not more than moderately

Comfortable Economy of an English Gentleman. 129

cheap; his family consisted of a sister, who paid him eighteen
pounds annually for her board, and a niece. The servants were
two maids, and two men in livery. His common way of living
at his own table was three or four dishes ; the appurtenances to
his table were neat and handsome; he frequently entertained
company at dinner ; and then his table was well served with as
many dishes as were usual at the tables of the other gentlemen
in the neighbourhood. His own appearance, as to clothes, was
genteelly neat and plain. He had always a post chaise, and
kept three horses. Such, with the resources I have mentioned,
was his way of living, which he did not suffer to employ his
whole income; for he had always a sum of money lying by him
for any extraordinary expences that might arise. Some money
he put into the stocks ; at his death, the sum he had there
amounted to one hundred and fifty pounds. He purchased out
of his income his household furniture and linen, of which latter
he had a very ample store ; and as I am assured by those who
had very good means of knowing, not less than the tenth part
of his income was set apart for charity : at the time of his death,
the sum of twenty-five pounds was found, with a direction to be
employed in such uses.

He had laid down a plan of living proportioned to his
income, and did not practise any extraordinary degree of parsi¬
mony, but endeavoured, that in his family there should be plenty
without waste ; as an instance that this was his endeavour, it
may be worth while to mention a method he took in regulating
a proper allowance of malt liquor, to be drunk in his family, that
there might not be a deficiency, nor any intemperate profusion :
on a complaint made, that his allowance of a hogshead in a
month was not enough for his own family, he ordered the quan¬
tity of a hogshead to be put into bottles, had it locked up from
his servants, and distributed out, every day, eight quarts, which
is the quantity each day at one hogshead in a month ; and told
his servants, that if that did not suffice, that he would allow
them more : but by this method, it appeared at once that the
allowance was much more than sufficient for his family; and this
proved a clear conviction that could not be answered, and saved
all future dispute. He was in general very diligently and punc¬
tually attended and obeyed by his servants ; he was very con¬
siderate as to the injunctions he gave, and explained them dis¬
tinctly ; and, at their first coming to his service, steadily exacted
a close compliance with them, without any remission ; and the
servants finding this to be the case, soon grew habitually ac¬
customed to the practice of their business, and then very little
further attention was necessary. On extraordinary instances of

130 Gomjortable Economy of an English Gentleman.

good behaviour or diligence, he was not wanting in particular
encouragements, and presents above their wages, it is remark¬
able that he would permit their relations to visit them, and stay
at his house two or three days at a time.

The wonder, with most that hear an account of his economy,
will be how he was able, with such an income, to do so much,
especially when it is considered that he paid for every thing he
had. He had no land, except the two or three small fields
w7hich I have said he rented ; and instead of gaining any thing
by their produce, I have reason to think he lost by them ; how¬
ever, they furnished him with no further assistance towards his
housekeeping, than grass for his horses (not hay, for that I know
he bought), and for two cows. Every Monday morning, he
settled his family accounts, and so kept up a constant attention
to the confining of his expences within his income ; and to do it
more exactly, compared those expences with a computation he
had made, how much that income would afford him every week
and day of the year. One of his economical practices was, as
soon as any repair was wanting in or about his house, to have it
immediately performed. When he had money to spare, he
chose to lay in a provision of linen or clothes, or any other
necessaries; as then, he said, he could afford it, which he might
not be so well able to do when the actual want came ; in con¬
sequence of which method, he had a considerable supply of ne¬
cessary articles lying by him, beside what was in use.

But the main particular that seems to have enabled him to do
so much with his income was, that he paid for every thing as
soon as he had it, except, alone, what were current accounts,
such as rent for his house, and servants’ wages ; and these he
paid at the stated times with the utmost exactness. He gave
notice to the tradesmen of the neighbouring market towns, that
they should no longer have his custom, if they let his servants
have any thing without their paying for it. Thus he put it out
of his power to commit those imprudences to which those are
liable that defer their payments, by using their money some
other way than where it ought to go. And whatever money he
had by him, he knew that it was not demanded elsewhere, but
that he might safely employ it as he pleased.

His example was confined, by the sequestered place of his
abode, to the observation of few, though his prudence and vir¬
tue would have made it valuable to all who could have known
it. These few particulars, which I knew myself, or have obtain¬
ed from those who lived with him, may afford instruction, and
may be an incentive to that wise art of living, which he so suc¬
cessfully practised.

13 1

The Philosophy of Gout.

Now this is what we call stylish comfort, at a very moderate
expence; and we have no doubt, that were the same regularity
in payments strictly attended to, the same care taken in the
management of servants ; and the same weekly balancing of all
accounts — that thousands of those who now feel embarrassed,
though they have large incomes — compared with Langton’s two
hundred a year — would soon find that they had more money
than they could readily find means to spend.

The Philosophy of Gout.

Your physicians, who pretend to be up to every thing, but who
really know nothing of diseases beyond the jargon of a few slang
words, find gout to be a regular bore, which persecutes and
baffles them more than the whole host of diseases besides. Poor
Scudamore ! what a silly sheepish figure he cuts, when, after
writing a book of more than 7^0 pages on the subject, he is
forced to confess that he cannot cure it; and to save himself
from the odium of the thing, makes an awkward escape by a
loop-hole, and boldly asserts that it is bad practice and danger¬
ous to cure it. ( See Oracle, Vol. I. p. 160.) Were not the cre¬
dulity of patients so incontrovertibly established, we should not
have believed that the same Scudamore, notwithstanding this
printed confession of his own ignorance, now pockets some¬
where about 5000/. a-year, for trying, that is experimenting, to
cure gout. As we have long ago kicked aside the learned non¬
sense so current among the doctors, and talked of diseases as
we would do of any every day matter, while we always examine
their causes and cure, on the plain principles of common sense
philosophy, we shall now, for the information of our gouty
friends, take up in our own plain way, the

Scientific Causes of Gout.

All the blood in your great toe comes direct from the heart,
and as soon as it has done its duty in repairing what has been
worn in the skin, the nail, the muscles, the nerves, the bones,
and the marrow of the toe, it must return to the heart, to
have the loss which it has thus sustained again made up, by the
new blood manufactured from food. Now this process is all
natural and clear, according to the doctrine taught more fully,
Vol. I. p. 316., and Medical Advice, No. 1. p. 16.; but be¬
fore the blood can pass from the toe to the heart, it must get
out of the arteries into the veins, and the only passage is through
a great number of small hair-like vessels, which the doctors
call capillaries. If, therefore, these small vessels be by any
means obstructed, so as to prevent the return of the blood, or

132

The Philosophy of Gout.

if more blood flows to the toe than they have calibre to admit,
the portion of blood which cannot make its way through them,
must perforce be stopped in its course.

Swelling and Pain of Gout .

The consequences of the stoppage which we have mentioned
are evident: the accumulated and accumulating blood must
swell out the vessels of the toe where it is imprisoned ; and
hence the whole toe will become swelled and enlarged, while
the unusual pressure this caused will stretch the nerves and
produce great pain. To understand the origin of this pain still
more minutely, you are to understand that every blood-vessel
is supplied with a great number of very sensitive nerves, which
branch out all over and through it. If you have ever been pre¬
sent at any surgical operation, where it was necessary to tic
blood-vessels, this will be more strongly impressed upon your
mind, as you could not fail to remark that the patient expressed
little feeling of pain from the cutting part of the operation,
compared with the torture experienced on tying up the bleeding
vessels. Now in a case of gout, the numerous nerves which
branch over the pipes of the blood-vessels, are stretched by the
accumulation of blood beyond endurance, and the pain is excru¬
ciating. You may easily understand the incalculable amount of
this pain, when you consider that in tying a single blood-vessel
at a single point, as in the case of the surgical operation, so
much torture is felt ; whereas in the case of gout, all the nerves
of all the blood-vessels in the toe, or other parts affected, are
at once put upon the rack.

This is the simple statement of facts, which will, we hope,
put to immediate flight the mysterious and absurd theories re¬
specting corruption or redundancy of the humours, inflamma¬
tion of the nerves, weakened concoction of the solids and fluids,
decomposition of the bones, salts corroding the joints, poison
eating awray the nerves, and similar trash, which you will find
in works on gout. The facts, however, which we have now
stated, will not clear the subject of all the difficulties attending
it; they are all correct and simple, so far as the toe is con¬
cerned; but we have still to investigate the numerous and com¬
plicated causes which lead to the obstruction or obliteration of
the small hair-like blood-vessels. One of the simplest — and it
is best to begin with the simplest — cases is that of

Gout brought on by Cold and Damp.

Why does the skin become red on applying to it a piece of
ice? The answer to this question will explain in what manner
cold becomes a cause of gout, namely, by producing a contrac-

The Philosophy of Gout.

133

tion in the small vessels, preventing the blood from flowing
through them, and of course causing its accumulation in the
larger vessels, where its progress is arrested. It is well known,
that as heat expands bodies, so cold contracts them : the steam
which fills the large cylinder of a steam engine, is instantly con¬
tracted or condensed by the application of cold into a few pints
of water; in the same way, the small blood-vessels which had
calibre enough to allow blood to flow through them, is by the
application of cold entirely shut up, the course of the blood is
impeded, and the swelling and pain follow in proportion to the
quantity of imprisoned blood, and to the irritability of the
parts. If the contraction caused by cold can be speedily re¬
moved, no fit of gout will follow; but if not, the patient
must lay his account with it. Damp, we need scarcely say,
acts precisely like cold; for by evaporation it carries off the na¬
tural heat of the parts into the air, faster than it can be sup¬
plied by the body.

Independently also of shutting up the small blood-vessels,
cold and damp act injuriously by shutting up the pores of the
skin, and thus preventing the natural flow of moisture from it
by perspiration. As all this moisture, therefore, which should
be continually passing off, is derived from the watery parts of
the blood, when it does not get a free passage in consequence
of the pores being contracted or shut up by cold, it must add
to the volume of the imprisoned blood, and thereby increase the
swelling and the pain.

The frequent accounts then which we meet with in authors,
of gout arising from cold and damp will no longer surprise us.
The celebrated Boerhaave, who attended closely to this subject,
tells us the continuance of a north wind was certain to bring
him several cases of gout. He also observed, that many pa¬
tients who had a fit in the cold weather of spring, continued
well all the summer, until the setting in of the autumnal colds
brought back the enemy, w'hose approach was always foretold
by the veins of the feet swelling, and the skin becoming dry for
a day or two previous to the attack, exactly as we have described
it above. Dr. Scudamore knows several patients who are almost
certain of an attack if they are exposed to the east wind, or
foggy weather; if they stand on a damp pavement, or put on
damp stockings.

Objection from Chalk Stones answered.

We anticipate that our explanation will be said to be nothing
new, and not only so, but that it is altogether defective in ac¬
counting for the affections of the stomach, the liver, the kid-

VOL. II. s

1 Nursery Experience in Health and Disease.

neys, and particularly the anomalous appearance of what are
called chalk stones, in the joints of individuals who have long
suffered from gout. Our explanation of this circumstance will,
we expect, show at once that our account is both novel in its
nature and correct in principle.

We refer to our description of the approaches of old age
(Vol.I. p. 474.), for the fact of the successive obstruction and
obliteration of the small hair-like blood-vessels, according to
the advance of life, and to the habits of sobriety or intemper¬
ance of the individual. Now, when those small vessels become
obstructed, it follows, that the parts through which they run
cannot as formerly receive nourishment from the blood, and of
course, if blood is manufactured by the stomach and liver, in
the same proportion as before, it must retain a greater quantity
of nourishment unappropriated. The matter, for example,
which should go to the repair of the bones, will superabound,
because the channels through which it was formerly conveyed
away, are now blocked up. This superfluity of the boney mat¬
ter accordingly seeks for itself a new depot, and finds it, ac¬
cording to individual constitution, sometimes, in those subject
to gout, forming what are called chalk stones, and by the
doctors, Uric concretions in the joints; sometimes in causing
ossifications , that is, collections of bone in the heart, the brain,
and other parts. From this it will be seen, that our account of
gout is not superficial and limited, as its plainness might indi¬
cate. All true philosophy is plain. It is only the spurious
sorts that are mysterious and unintelligible. Gout has been
hitherto covered with a deep veil ; but we shall try to explain
it as clearly as any simple disease. The present paper we have
given as a specimen of what we shall do as we proceed.

The Philosophy of Gout will be continued in our next.

Nursery Experience in Health and Disease.

In our paper on Water in the Head, Vol. I. p. 344., we re¬
marked that it is much easier than is usually imagined to detect
the approach and the symptoms of disease in children. We
wish to press this strongly on the attention of our readers, be¬
cause it is a very prevalent vulgar error, that the diseases of
children are veiled in mystery, from their inability to explain
their feelings ol pain and uneasiness. On the contrary, expe¬
rience has shewn us most clearly, that symptoms are sooner and
more readily perceived in infants than in adults, inasmuch as
t u actions of the former are often plainer than the words of
the latter. Besides, as has been well remarked^ an infant in-

135

Nursery Experience in Health and Disease.

stantly, and without disguise, gives expression to the pain which
he feels, while an adult is, in most cases, so accustomed to
bear pain, that unless the disorder which has arisen in his
constitution becomes more than usually distressing, he disre¬
gards his slight feelings of uneasiness; and thus a formidable
disease may gain ground, till it may be difficult, if not impos¬
sible, to arrest its progress. Neither has an infant ever any
cause to conceal its complaints. It is fearless of consequences
and disclosures, and complains the moment it feels pain or dis¬
co m 1 ort , but adults are frequently interested in concealing
their complaints, and will accordingly disguise their feelings,
lest the extent of their disorders should be observed. Another
circumstance very favourable to the detection of an infant’s dis¬
eases, is their simplicity ; whereas in most grown up people,
disorders, like misfortunes, seldom come single. The natural
weakness of all infants, too, renders their constitutions more
easily deranged, and from this cause, the younger a child is
the sooner will trifling causes produce disorder. As illustra¬
tion, however, is always better than general remark, we shall
apply our doctrines to

Disorders of the Bowels in Infancy.

In infancy, as well as in adult age, acid seems to be by far the
most common cause of disease. If you taste verjuice, or an un¬
ripe crab-apple, or any other very sour thing, you are forced to
make faces, and contort the muscles of your mouth, and you
can scarcely by any effort avoid doing so. In precisely the same
way, acid in the stomach and bowels will cause them to writhe
and twist, and by stretching the nerves will produce great pain
the pain in a word of colic. Now this may at once be ob¬
served in the youngest infant by looking at its belly, or by its
drawing up its little legs to relieve the writhing of the bowTels,
while at the same time it utters the well known cry of pain,
which is very different, as nurses know, from that of mere fret¬
fulness. lo relieve this, the acid should be as quickly expelled
as possible, which may be done by the aperient, Vol. I. p.347.
For immediate lelief, the warm bath, or warm fomentation, is
excellent, or the belly may be rubbed before a good fire with the

Soothing Liniment for Gripes and Colic.

Pake an ounce of compound soap liniment,
four drachms of tincture of opium.

Mix, and apply it with the hand.

Flatulence is usually a consequence of acid, being the gas
given out during the chemical combination of the acid with
other substances, which it meets with in the bowels. This gas,

136

Management of Infants and Children.

when it is imprisoned, so that it cannot find an easy escape,
expands and stretches the part of the intestine where it is
lodged, and consequently puts the nerves of the part on the
rack, causing great pain. The same means of relief, just pointed
out for acid, will apply exactly to colic, produced by imprisoned
gas or flatulence.

If acid has long prevailed, or the bowels be irritated by worms,
it will be manifest from the squalid and emaciated looks of the
little patient; for in this case looseness, or diarrhoea, as it is
called by the doctors who talk Greek, will be the consequence;
and all the nourishment prepared by the stomach, instead of
getting, as it ought to do, into the blood, will be hurried along
the bowels, and discharged by stool. The infant cannot, of
course, thrive or grow without due nourishment, and will pine
and lose flesh. For you must be aware that all the nourish¬
ment manufactured by the stomach for the growth of the body
passes into the blood, and is by it distributed all over the body.
Now it is carried into the blood by innumerable small tubes, or
pipes, the mouths of which open into the intestines, where the
digested food is stored for them to convey it away. But if by
the irritation of acid or worms, this digested food be hurried
along the intestines, it is clear that it cannot pass into the
mouths of the little pipes to be conveyed to the blood. In order
to be before hand with the acid, which is the cause of the irri¬
tation, we strongly recommend the

Soothing Mixture for Infants.

Take five grains of magnesia,

five grains of compound powder of chalk,
a tea spoonful of sugar or honey.

Mix with a little milk or tea, and repeat it once a day, or as occa¬
sion requires.

Management of Infants and Children in Health and
Disease. By J. B. Davis, M.D. Physician to the Royal

Dispensary for Children *.

Food and Feeding.

Maxim. — “ Ever keep in mind, that it is generally right to be
sparing in the quantity of food ; for over feeding, as well as
feeding improperly, are highly injurious/’ — A child in health

* Since this article was arranged for the press. Dr. Davis has paid the debt of na¬
ture. The excellence of the advice contained in it will show how7 admirably he
was qualified for the duties he had to perforin. We hope that by means of our
publication it may be more extensively useful than the .author had coutemplated,
and may triumphantly reverse the poet’s assertion — “ The evil that men do live*
after them — the good is often buried with their bones.” — Editors.

Management of Inf ants and Children. 1 37

will require only breast milk for four months ; but, if weakly,
and the mother’s milk is small in quantity, it will stand in need
of a small cup of beef tea daily. At the end of four months it
should be fed twice a day, once with bread and milk, or biscuit
powder and milk, and once with light broth and bread, arrow
root, or rice. At eight or nine months it should be fed three
times in twenty-four hours 5 and then more solid food should
likewise be given daily, as a bread or rice pudding, or a boiled
egg. For an infant taken early from the breast, the diet should
principally consist of cow’s milk warmed, and poured on bread,
first soaked in water, and of light broth with bread or rice. If
the child has a purging the milk should be boiled.

After the first year, animal food in substance may be given
twice a week to children. To those four or five jears old,
animal food may be allowed daily ; and bread and milk, night
and morning. Particular care is however necessary not to give
nutriment in large quantities to children who take but little ex¬
ercise, or to those who are weakly, for in such, an excess or
even a great variety of food is apt to produce worms, convul¬
sions, rickets, slow fever, scrofula, and purging.

The acid change of food is a common cause of disease in
children. If a child at the breast be repeatedly attacked with
the gripes and falls away, change the diet from milk to one con¬
sisting of broths, beef tea, and light puddings ; and to aid in
preventing a return of the gripes, exercise the child well in the
open air. In this case, it will be proper, also, for the mother
to live chiefly upon animal food. If this should not be effectual,
apply for medical assistance. In general, the use of spices in
children’s food is to be reprobated : and in illness, the diet of
all children should be as light as possible. In fever, drinks
containing nourishment, such as barley water, toast and water,
thin tapioca, and rice water, will be proper, taken cold in
summer, and warm in winter. In obstinate purgings, children
must have rice, arrow root, and also hartshorn shavings boiled
in beef tea, or beef tea thickened with baked flour, or sago and
thick milk ; and much good has been derived from putting a
flannel roller round the body, when the purging resists these
means.

Dress and Dressing.

Maxim . — “ Over clothing, and clothing improperly, make a
child tender, and subject to cold/’ — A child requires fewer clothes
than a grown up person ; a short shift and a flannel waistcoat
tied behind with a short petticoat sewed to it, and a short gown,
rather stouter in winter than in summer, is all the body dress
that a child requires ; more clothes only make it tender, chilly,

138

Management of Infanta and Children.

and subject to colds, unless it is weakly, and then a flannel shirt
is sometimes useful. Until an infant reaches the seventh or
eight month, it is best without shoes or stockings ; neither can
its petticoats be too short. The whole dress of children, what¬
ever may be their age, should be perfectly loose and easy, so as
to allow of free motion to the limbs. It is highly beneficial to
expose the legs, arms, and breasts of healthy children to the
open air.

Exercise and Sleep.

Maxim. — “ Never prevent a child from attempting to walk,
however young it may be*.” — When a child seeks to put its feet
upon the ground, let it do so, but do not force it to walk. This
effort at exercise is both pleasant and serviceable to a child ; it
is proper to encourage it in this, and as it grows up, regularly
to exercise, but to avoid fatiguing it. Amuse and employ a
child, but never suffer it to be still when it is right for it to be
in motion and actively employed. In exercising any child,
however, avoid fatiguing it, and particularly a sickly one ; a weakly
child ought not to be allowed to stand or walk long together ;
therefore it should be alternately carried in the arms, drawn in a
vehicle, and invited to walk. The practice of placing children
on the damp ground after fatiguing them with long walks, can¬
not be too much reprobated.

Until the third year, most children require an hour’s sleep in
the middle of the day; after which, they should be invariably exer¬
cised till they begin to be tired, and may be put to rest at seven
o’clock. In summer, let them rise at six, and in the winter at
seven.

Air .

Maxim. — “It is indispensably requisite to bear without incon¬
venience the vicissitudes of the atmosphere.” — A free and con¬
tinued exposure to the open air is of the utmost consequence to
children’s health ; the sooner infants are taken into it, the faster
they will thrive; in the air they grow up strong, less subject to
colds, disordered bowels, convulsions, and rickets ; complaints
so frequent among those children who are reared in nurseries.
Not only the face, but the legs, thighs, and arms, should be
freely exposed to the air. Even in confined streets in the po¬
pulous districts of the metropolis, it is of infinite service to keep
the children out of doors; and the poor should set open the bed
room windows and doors of their habitations ; those children

* We have great doubts of the propriety of this maxim. We were once of a
similar opinion, but experience has taught us that a child’s tender limbs may be
very readily bandied by too early attempts to walk, or even to stand. — Editors.

139

Management of Infants and Children.

who have been properly exposed to the air from birth, may be
safely exercised in it, if healthy, at all seasons.

Cold, Bath and Bathing.

Maxim. — u Frequent bathing is conducive to cleanliness, it im¬
parts vigour to the muscles and nerves, and promotes alacrity
and cheerfulness of mind.” — In a striking* manner does the cold

c.

bath preserve and promote the health of the infant race. It is
proper to begin the practice of dipping in warm weather, and to
continue it through every season after. The cold bath is not
only a serviceable application to children in health, but to those
that are sickly also, especially the rickety ; it may be resorted to
thrice a week ; a sudden dip, twice repeated each time of using
the bath, will be sufficient. The more delicate and weakly, re¬
quire the chill to be taken off the water the first and second time
of going into it. If the shock of a cold bath appears too power¬
ful for the constitution, partial bathing with salt water, or wiping
the body with a sponge dipped in it, may be substituted, and is
often highly useful. Sea bathing is preferred for those having
the evil, that is scrofula.

Immediately after bathing, let the child be wrapped in a
blanket and well dried, and if it be disposed to sleep, allow it to
do so ; if not, it may be dressed and suffered to run about ;
weakly children using the cold bath may wear a flannel shirt.
Although the warm bath is rarely employed except in disease,
yet both the cold and the warm bath are remedies against erup¬
tions on the skin, by washing off those salt and acrid particles
which are left upon it by perspiration. Excoriations are effec¬
tually obviated by frequently washing the parts of the body sub¬
ject to them with cold water.

Rules adapted to the Infant State.

1 . Use a child early to the boat or spoon — in case of illness,
or failure of milk from the breast in the mother.

2. Keep an infant dry and warm — to preserve health, promote
growth, and obviate chafing.

3. Feed an infant in an upright posture — to give uniform dis¬
tension to the stomach, and thus to obviate indigestion and
gripes.

4. In the art of suckling, it is proper to take a child fre¬
quently from the breast, for a minute or two — to obviate too
rapid a distension of the stomach, which occasions puking, or
acidities.

5. Expose an infant early to the air — to strengthen and enable
it to withstand colds, and to obviate purging.

b\ Attend invariably to cleanliness in an infant — to prevent
diseases of the skin, slow fever, rickets, and decline.

140 Management of Infants and Children

7. Let an infant’s dress be loose and easy, and free from
pins — to avert accidents, glandular obstructions, and impedi¬
ments to growth.

8. Place an infant, when asleep, on the right side — to favour
the descent of the food into the bowels, and to obviate indi¬
gestion.

9. Attend strictly to plaintive cries — by this means you may
trace the first causes of illness; fora child will never cry, if
well and at ease.

10. Wash a strong child in cold water, and dip it thrice a
week — wash a weak one in warm water — to refresh, promote
healthy perspiration, and prevent diseases of the skin.

11. Encourage a child to stretch and thrust out its limbs, and
to crawl about — to teach it active habits early, to strengthen it,
and promote the circulation. ( see Oracle , vol. 1. page 440.^

12. Rub a young child night and morning, all over with the
hand — this exercises it, and promotes the circulation of the
blood.

13. Comb a child’s head, and wash it frequently with soap
and water — to prevent scald head, and painful eruptions behind
the ears, and on the neck.

14. If a child has cut four teeth, if it is in good health, and
its bowels are regular, wean it at nine months, without any
previous preparation — do this to obviate numerous inconve¬
niences both to the mother and child.

15. If a child has been lately weaned, and is attacked with
hooping cough, or any other severe disease, it may require the
breast again — it will be thus supplied with the diluting nutri¬
ment which it would then stand in need of ; or, should a weaned
child, to which is offered suitable food, fall off' in its health, de¬
cline and pine away, it may be prudent to procure for it a good
breast of milk, and to let the child suck again— to obviate an
exhausting fever, which will inevitably prove fatal.

N.B. This rule, however, must not be invariably adopted ;
and ought always first to have a physician’s sanction.

16. An infant should have three or four stools daily, of a
bright orange colour — a deviation from this appearance denotes
acidities and indigestion, requiring the prompt interference of
a physician.

Rules adapted to Childhood.

17. If a young child takes but little exercise give it but little
solid food, increasing it in proportion to the exercise taken — to
obviate thirst, fever, headaches, and glandular obstructions.

18. Should a child’s breath smell, it is commonly a symptom
of a disordered stomach, or of worms. Should its belly grow

Management of Infants and Children.

141

large, its complexion become pale, and skin soft, disease has al¬
ready commenced. — In either of these cases the child will re¬
quire good open air, and not only domestic but medical man¬
agement.

19. In a fit — untie the clothes, raise the head, wipe away
all froth from the mouth, and keep it open, pressing down the
tongue, and drawing it forward at the same time. Let the child
be first quickly exposed to cool fresh air, and its face sprinkled
with cold water ; then gently rub, with a warm hand, the belly,
back, and limbs ; apply a succession of warm flannels to them,
or resort to a warm bath, and put warm tiles under the arm-
pits ; strike the soles of the feet smartly with a piece of flat
wood, tickle the nostrils and inside of the ear with a feather or
toothpick. To an infant, give five drops of hartshorn in a little
water; to a child two years old, ten drops in a little water.

N.B. Remember, though no signs of life appear, it is neces¬
sary for two hours to act up to these directions. Caution — Do
not suffer the head to hang back, nor to lean forward upon the
chest.

Cautions adapted to Infancy and Childhood.

1. Never let an infant sleep alone in cold weather — for fear
of suspending the breath, and the circulation of the blood.

2. Never let an infant sleep the whole night on the mother’s
arm — for fear of suffocation.

3. Never awaken an infant out of a sound sleep, by rough
means — for fear of producing fits, or a purging.

4. Avoid the use of tight bandages, especially round the
body — for fear of producing fits, obstructions in the bowels, or
decline.

5. Avoid giving Godfrey’s Cordial, Daffy’s Elixir, or any
other warm anodyne — for fear of producing fits, fever, or palsy,
a common consequence of quack medicines indiscreetly given.

6. Avoid giving any quack medicine — for fear of bringing on
decline, or sudden death.

7. Avoid feeding infants in the night — for fear of bringing on
the gripes, from over distension of the stomach.

8. Avoid warm nurseries and close air — for fear of making a
child delicate, weakly, and susceptible of cold.

9. Avoid carrying a child always on the same arm — for fear
of making it crooked.

10. Never confine a child’s limbs by wrapping its clothes
tight round it, especially at night — by inaction of the muscles,
and retention of moisture, the child will become weak and
sickly.

1 1. Avoid exposing an infant to the open air, in a cold sea-

vol. ir. T

142

Scarlet Fever and Measles.

son, when its bowels are disordered, or if it has shortness of
breathing, with fever and cough — for fear of bringing on high
inflammation.

12. Never allow a child’s food to be chewed — it is not only
a nasty practice, but if the nurse has a sore mouth or gums, she
may communicate disease.

13. Never provoke violent laughter, nor disregard violent
crying — for fear of a fit in either case.

14. Never wash a child with milk, with a view to heal a
chafed part — -milk will inflame, and cold water will heal it.

Scarlet Fever and Measles.

A fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Dr. Macmichael
to wit, who is also physician extraordinary to His Royal
Highness the Duke of York, has lately published a very
foolish, and we may add, a very dangerous proposal. Dr. Mac¬
michael, (who would have been better employed, we think, in
Michael-making) founds his advice upon the supposed dis¬
covery, that almost every body, once in their lives, has scarlet
fever, in the same way that almost every body has measles and
hooping cough ; but the scarlet fever, in nine cases out of ten,
is so mild and gentle in its operation, that the patient is not
observed to have more than a slight cold, or a slight rash over
the skin. He therefore infers that if children were exposed to
infection when it is so mild as this, they would be saved from
the danger and fatality of scarlet fever when it is severe.

The truth is, however, that this mild scarlet fever, which
nobody besides this learned Boeotian has hitherto seen or heard
of — seems to be a mere fancy, and even if it were ascertained,
it is still a disputed question, whether the having of scarlet
fever once, is any protection against it in future. Besides, no
one can say that infection from a mild case will not produce a
fatal one, as it depends not on the mildness or virulence of the
contagion, but on the weakness or strength of the person in¬
fected, as every apothecary’s boy is well aware, however igno¬
rant this fellow of the College seems to be of this undisputed
first principle of the science which he professes. We cannot,
therefore, use too strong language in condemning this most
absurd, and we might well say, wicked proposal, were it not
evident from the whole tenour of his book, that the author in
the simplicity of his ignorance meant it for good.

New Preventive of Scarlet Fever.

A still more strange proposal respecting scarlejt fever has
lately come into vogue on the Continent, particularly in Ger-

Scarlet Fever and Measles.

143

many — the Foreign Journals being full of reports proving its
efficacy. It was remarked by one of the experimental tribe of
doctors, with which the world now swarms, that when lie pre¬
scribed belladonna internally, in certain doses, it produced
symptoms very nearly resembling those of scarlet fever. He
accordingly made the profound inference, that by giving such
doses of belladonna as would produce such symptoms, scarlet
fever would be effectually prevented. He tried, that is, he in¬
stituted a course of experiments on the subject, and was, if we
may believe the Journals, not only successful himself, but all
his friends who have tried it are full of the praises of his great
discovery. We, on the contrary, look upon the whole as a
gross humbug. We deem it useful, however, to mention all
the puffed off absurdities of this sort, to prevent our readers from
being taken in with them. But it will be more useful, perhaps,
in the present instance, to give a

Plain Description of Scarlet Fever.

We discard, as practically unnecessary, the varieties of this fever
as described in books, these being nothing more than different
degrees of severity in the same complaint, or according as the
contagious matter directs its violence to the throat or to the
skin. The first hints of the disorder are a cold, chilly, sensation
along the small of the back, producing an inclination to shiver,
with weariedness of the limbs, and a restless desire for rest,
with considerable thirst and headache. You may know whether
the disease is about to be mild or severe by the absence or
presence of a kind of stiffness and dull pain on moving the
neck or shoulders, accompanied, on the second day of the attack,
with a rough sort of soreness in the throat, a thickness in the
voice, a difficulty of swallowing, and a feeling of straitness ; the
breathing becomes oppressed, and the temperature of the body
rises sometimes ten or twelve degrees above blood heat, and in
this case the breath may be observed to be burning hot ; the
mind is also, in severe cases, depressed and desponding.

In the milder form, when the fever does not run high, and
the contagion directs its attack to the skin — on the second day,
or from that to the third, numerous red points begin to appear
on the neck and face, and in about twenty-four hours usually
spread over the whole skin, though it is seldom universally dif¬
fused on the trunk of the body. As the red points increase,
they run together into small patches, and these again uniting, the
skin assumes, by the third day, an uninterrupted blush of
scarlet. This, at the same time, affects the mouth, the nostrils.

144 Scarlet Fever and Measles .

the eyes, the throat, and the tongue ; the little scarlet points
rising through the thick, white, fur, while the sides of the
tongue are dark red, the face swells, and an itching or tingling
is felt over the skin, sometimes as if hot needles were thrust
into it. The patient is occasionally delirious, and this, by
some, is looked upon as rather a favourable symptom than
otherwise. By the fourth day the eruption is at the height, and
it begins, on the fifth, to go off as it had come on, by leaving
white patches between the red ones, and these white interstices
gradually increase, till, on the seventh day, the scarlet hue en¬
tirely disappears, and on the eighth and ninth day the skin
begins to fall off in scales, like bran — or larger, especially on
the hands and feet. Dropsical swellings and painful enlarge¬
ments of the glands of the neck very frequently succeed at the
period of recovery, with great weakness and languor, and if care
is not taken of the food, a relapse may be the consequence.
Mr. Haden mentions the case of a fine boy, who relapsed after
he had been ten days convalescent, by eating two raw apples ;
and after being again recovering, and doing well, his parents
imprudently gave him some broth and he died. Dr. Armstrong
has seen many cases of fatal relapse from eating broth, the pulp
of oranges, &c.

Scarlet Fever Distinguished from Measles .

As Scarlet fever resembles Measles in the feverish feelings,
being followed by an eruption, it may be useful to state some
distinctive tests, as the treatment required is often different.
The appearance, then, of the eruption, is two days earlier in
scarlet fever, as it is the third or fourth day of the fever before
it is seen in measles. In the former, also, the red points run
into one another and form a uniform blush; while, in the
latter, there is always some central spot of deeper colour, like
the bite of a flea. In the former the eruption is scarlet ; in the
latter crimson. In the former the patches are diffuse and irre¬
gular ; in the latter they are semi-circular or crescent shaped.
In measles, also, the inflammatory symptoms are much more
severe at the commencement; while, in scarlet fever the ner¬
vous symptoms of low spirits and universal weakness and
weariness prevail. There is some little difference of opinion
respecting the roughness of the skin, some authorities saying,
that in scarlet fever it is always smooth, while Dr. Bateman
says that on the breast and the extremities the skin is somewhat
rough, i he specks of measles often feel rough, as if they
were raised above the skin. — Attention to these marks will
enable any body to distinguish the two complaints.

Medical Counsellors.

145

Treatment of Scarlet Fever .

In the mild form, the less that is done for the patient the
better. Dr. Sydenham says it is seldom fatal, except through
66 the meddling of the doctor*,” and he might well have added,
through the interference of the nurse or the parents, in keeping
the patient too warm, or giving too much or improper food.
Cool air and cool drink are the great remedies. We have given
an admirable receipt for medicine, Vol. I. p. ill., to which we
refer with confidence. Barley water, or thin gruel with lemon
juice, or cream of tartar, and rendered agreeable by sugar, is
the best thing for common drink. When the symptoms run
high, we advise you to call in the best practitioner in the neigh¬
bourhood.

Medical Counsellors.

Solomon must have had but small experience, with all his
wisdom, of doctors and Lady Bountifuls, or he never could have
said that “ in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”
We take the liberty of altering this celebrated maxim to suit
the present improved state of society, and aver, that in the
multitude of counsellors there is death or danger; that is, if
their advice and prescriptions be literally followed. Should you
once fancy yourself sick, or if you chance to become a little
thinner or paler than usual, you will acquire a willing counsellor
in every body you meet. Follow the advice of all, and we pro¬
mise that you will never be put to the trouble of committing
suicide. A friend of ours, a bachelor of some thirty odd years,
has just sent us a memorandum of a morning’s adventures which
comes pat to illustrate our subject. A healthier man (though a
little palish and not to call fat) we do not know ; and he has
verily no ailment whatever, except that of sometimes fancying
himself in love, and putting on a melancholy face to match.
This may possibly furnish a key to our friend’s narrative which
he has quaintly entitled,

Thirty Prescriptions for a Bachelor.

On one of the bright mornings which we had in August, and
after a warm night, I rose from bed somewhat languid and a
little paler than usual. After sipping a cup of tea for breakfast,
1 was walking slowly through Sloane-street, with my hands be¬
hind me, enjoying the pure breeze which was beginning to blow
from the northwest, when I was met by two friends, who stop¬
ped and exchanged with me the compliments of the day.

“ Methinks you look a little pale,” said one ; you had better
try a cold bath. Nothing invigorates the frame like cold-bath-

* Nimia Medici diligentia. — Svdemia’.ii Optra. VI. 2.

Medical Counsellors.

146

ing. “ Provided it be a shower bath/’ interrupted the other.
“ But in my opinion nothing is so fatal to health as plunging
the whole body into cold water. It checks perspiration — im¬
pairs digestion-produces cramp— and”— ‘‘Good bye,” I exclaim¬
ed, rather abruptly; “ I believe I shall try neither at present.”

Continuing my walk a few minutes longer, I called at the
house of a friend, with whom I was in habits of familiar inter¬
course. I found him at breakfast with his family. His wife,
a fine motherly looking woman, with a large shawl thrown over
her shoulders to protect her from the morning air, was pouring
out the coffee; while the eldest daughter was watching a little
urchin whose ruddy cheeks, and laughing blue eves, shewed how
much comfort he derived from the huge bowl of bread and milk
he was in the act of devouring. In the simplicity of my heart,
I related the conversation I just had in the street.

My friend shook his head slowly, and fixing his eyes upon me
with a very solemn expression: “There is something in it.
You are sick, my dear fellow. You must ride on horseback.”

“ You must drink pearl ash and cider in the morning to give
you an appetite,” added his wife.

“You should drink milk,” exclaimed the daughter, looking
significantly at the chubby cheeks of her little brother.

“ Tansy and wormwood pounded together, is a thousand
times better,” said a maiden aunt — at the same time laying down
her knitting. “ Take a little tansy.”

“ Spearmint is better,” interrupted the mother anxiously.

“ A little tansy,” I say, “ and fresh rue,” resumed the aunt —
“yes, and ginger,” — said the daughter; “aunt Dorothy always
uses ginger tea with a drop of brandy to qualify it.”

“ My dear ladies,” I exclaimed, “ for mercy’s sake spare me, I
am not sick, and — ”

“ Come” — said my friend, who had now finished his breakfast,
and perceiving that I had with difficulty kept my countenance
during these various prescriptions — “I will walk with you;”
and taking me by the arm, we set forth together.

“ How are ye my good fellow,” was the rough salutation of
the first man we met. It was Capt. Jones. My friend replied
to his greeting very cordially ; but shook his head as he looked
at me.

“Aye — I see how it is,” said Capt. Jones. — “Poor fellow !
consumptive. But never mind, take a voyage, and all will be
well.”

I thanked him for his kindness, and passed on ; and for the
first time in my life began to fancy that I felt something that
was a little like a pain in my side — but I was not certain.

Medical Counsellors.

147

A few steps onward wc met Mr. Thomson — long, lank and
lean, the very image of famine. He accosted us with a languid
bow, and glancing his eyes at me — “ A fine morning this, sir,
especially for those who, like you and I, are dying of Indigestion.”

My friend, who was fond of quizzing me about a certain young
lady, without saying a word led me unthinkingly close to her
father’s house, and, though it was early, proposed to make a
call ; and being already recognised from the window by Mary,
I could not gallantly effect a retreat. As I turned towards the
door, a chaise that was passing raised a cloud of dust, that filled
for a moment my eyes and throat. I entered the room with a
slight cough.

“Ah, that cough of your’s,” said Mary’s mother — “it will
bring you to the grave.”

“Nothing but the dust,” said I.

This answer seemed to awaken all her sympathies. She said
something about the flattering nature of certain disorders, and
proceeded at once to get me a dose of balsam of tolu. Her
kindness was so importunate that resistance was vain. I
took the glass, and was in the very act of raising it to my lips,
when the door opened and three old ladies entered, two of them
with black hoods, and the third with spectacles.

“ I am a lost man !” I muttered to myself. But Mary was
near, and I thought I read in her eyes some hope of life.

One of the black hooded ladies immediately addressed me.
“You will do well to take care of yourself sir. You look as if
your lungs were affected ! Have you ever tried onion tea?”

“Never, madam, I am not sick, and I detest onions.”

“Ah, you must not be too squeamish, where health is at
stake. Three tumblers of onion tea, taken hot, every forenoon,
at eleven o’clock, would soon relieve you. There is no trouble
in it — take only a peck of onions” —

“ - And make them into a good poultice,” interrupted the

other black hood, “ and wear them upon your breast all the
time, and you will soon be well. Nothing opens the pores,
and relieves a cough like an onion poultice.”

I turned a despairing eye upon Mary. “An onion poultice
and a morning call ! Shade of Aesculapius ! — What shall 1
do ?”

“ If you talk of poultices,” said she with the spectacles, “ my
prescription is buttercups and vinegar. Take a handful of but¬
tercups” —

“ — And drink rosemary and honey,” said the first black
hood.

148

Medical Counsellors.

“ That is good,” said the second, “ but butter and molasses is
better.”

“ Or flax seed tea,” said Mary’s mother.

“ Or wheat bran,” said Mary, “with boiling water poured
over it, and sweetened with loaf-sugar. You love wheat bran,
I know.”

There was a little archness in her manner that led me to
suspect she wTas not above half serious. I made her a lowly
bow in token of acknowledgment. As I slowly raised my* head,
1 perceived the lady with the spectacles wras regarding me very
earnestly.

“ Poor young man !” said she, “how feeble ! you must wear
a plaster upon your back. A little Burgundy pitch — ”

“ Or a back board,” said Mary, laughing.

“ Do’nt sport with human life,” said the second black hood,
gravely. “ Your friend here must be careful, or he is not long
for this world. But if he will follow my prescriptions” —

“ If he will follow mine,” interrupted spectacles — “ Take a
wine glass of Cayenne pepper, and a pint of alcohol.”

“ - And by all means bottles of boiling water at your feet

when you go to bed,” said Mary’s mother.

“ — And a flannel night-cap,” said Mary.

“ Double flannel,” said the first black hood, “ or a petticoat
would be better still.”

“And a pair of stockings round your neck,” said the second
hood.

“ Woollen stockings,” added Mary. —

“ And drink during the night about two gallons of boiling
cider,” said spectacles, solemnly.

“ And a spoonful of tobacco tea every ten minutes,” said
Mary.

“ Child, child !” said spectacles, sharply, “ you talk fool¬
ishly. A poultice of burdock leaves for the feet” —

“No — rye meal and cider,” interrupted the second hood.

“ No, no' — mustard seed and vinegar,” said the third, eagerly,
“ I remember that” —

Human patience could endure no more. I started from my
seat, made a hurried bow, and left the house with so much pre¬
cipitation, that as I passed over the steps, I stumbled and nearly
fell.

“Have you sprained yourself?” said a gentleman who was
passing. “If you have, take a little opodeldoc” —

“ Chemical embrocation,” said she with the spectacles, run¬
ning to the door.

M9

Stomach Coughs.

“ Hub it with flannel,” said the first black hood, pressing be¬
hind her.

“Take a pailful of wheat bran,” said the second, coming
out on the steps ; “ mix it with boiling water, stir it well with
a mould candle, and —

“ Take a walk with me to the gardens, this afternoon,” said
Mary.

This, continues our bachelor, is but one forenoon of my mi¬
serable life. Go where I will, I hear nothing but potions and
plasters, flannel gowns, burdock, and arrow root. My very
night dreams are disturbed. It was only last night, I thought
our majestic river was converted into a stream of onion tea,
while the blessed stars above us were suddenly changed into
calomel pills. If there be a remedy-r-alas ! 1 sicken at the
word — do advise me how I am to get rid of this hourly annoy¬
ance of medical prescribers.

N.B. Has our correspondent ever tried to turn the tables on
his tormentors and prescribe for them ? If this have no effect,
the only thing he can do is to get married, and then he ought to
have no time to listen to their nonsense.

Stomach Coughs and the Methods of Detecting them.

It is always of the utmost importance to ascertain clearly the
cause of a cough, for otherwise a patient may be actually
frightened into a consumption, who had only simple indigestion,
or is affected by some bilious derangement of no peculiar dan¬
ger. At p. 70? Vol. II. we have laid down some plain tests by
which you may readily discover whether a cough is dependant
on any affection of the liver, or disorder of the bile, we shall
now mention the signs by which you may distinguish a stomach
cough, from coughs arising from other causes. The midriff or
diaphragm, that is the broad fleshy partition which separates
the lungs and the heart, from the liver and the stomach, and
which moves upwards and downwards every time we breathe,
is always in every case one of the chief agents in producing
cough. The philosophy of the complaint is similar to what we
have above given, p. 69, namely, that as the midriff' lies imme¬
diately over the stomach, if the latter be inflamed or irritated on
its upper portion where it is in contact with the former, a tick¬
ling will be produced, which the midriff will try ta get rid of by
coughing, in the same way as you endeavour to get rid by sneez¬
ing, of any thing which irritates or tickles the nerves of the
nostrils. Now when you consider for a moment, how many
VOL. II. u

150

Stomach Coughs .

disorders of the stomach there arc, which would cause this irri¬
tation, you will not be surprised at the frequency of stomach
coughs, nor at their being often mistaken, even by those who
ought to know better, for consumptive and asthmatic coughs;
and patients have accordingly been thrown into dangerous,
though groundless alarm.

One of the most common causes of stomach cough is ner¬
vous indigestion, in which, the nerves of the stomach become
unusually irritable, both from the want of food and from its
presence. Accordingly, we have observed that patients thus
affected are teased with their stomach cough, both in the morn¬
ing when the stomach is empty, as we have stated in our
Medical Advice, and also after eating a hearty meal. The
nerves seem unable to bear either too much or too little stimu¬
lus, and it is hard for the patient to find out the exact medium
of comfort. By attending to these circumstances, you may
easily distinguish this species. The remedies for this sort
of stomach cough, are the same as those we have recommended
for nervous indigestion, for as soon as this is cured, the cough
will, to a certainty, disappear.

Another and no less troublesome variety of stomach cough
arises, during what has been called the second stage of indiges¬
tion, when the lower portion of the stomach becomes so much
diseased as to feel tender, sore, or painful to the touch, when
the finger is pressed upon the part, which is a spot about the
size of a shilling lying between the pit of the stomach and the
bend of the ribs, on the right side. The patient is seldom
aware of this till it is pointed out to him by the doctor, and
hence it is a professional secret of great importance, for esta¬
blishing a reputation for skill and sagacity. The treatment of
this complaint is laid down at length in our Medical Advice,
No. I. p. 42. In addition to what we have there recommended,
we should insist strongly on an issue or perpetual blister over
the painful part, or if that is inconvenient or disliked, you
should try

Cheseld^en’s Warm Plaster for Stomach Coughs .

Take four ounces of burgundy pitch plaster,

V. half a drachm of euphorbium,

a sufficient quantity of common turpentine,

Melt the burgundy pitch plaster, add the euphorbium in fine powder,
and by means of the turpentine, make the whole into a proper thickness
for spreading on leather.

This plaster is also excellent in inflammations of old stand¬
ing of the liver or spleen, and for all swellings or pains of the
joints. *** This subject shall not be lost sight of.

Dublin Discussions on Whiskey .

151

Discussion on Whiskey at the Dublin Potheen Club.

[We heartily congratulate our brethren of the sister island on their great Na¬
tional Association — the Dublin Potheen Club — as a very powerful instrument for
diffusing improvement in the noble science of comfort and enjoyment. — -Thanks to
our correspondent for his delicious peep behind the curtain. Editors.}

Dame Street, Dublin , October ls£.

Gentlemen, — We leave it to others — to mystify themselves
at the Dublin Institution or to talk nonsense at the D’ Ollier
Street Library — while we endeavour to sustain our national
character and rally round our national colours by keeping it up
with the Dublin Potheen Club, in Crow Street, at the mansion
of the venerable Mr. Peter Kearney, Secretary for Foreign
Correspondence. The Club was originally instituted under the
auspices of the late Duke of Richmond, during his vice-royalty,
for the purpose of ascertaining, by experimental potation, the
liquor best fitted for the enjoyment of Irishmen; and it was
discovered and philosophically proved by Alderman Nugent,
that the potheen of Inishowen far surpasses all others as an ex¬
hilarating cordial for brightening the intellect, winging the
fancy, comforting the stomach, expelling gout, warding off apo¬
plexy — and in a word, sending a flash of new life through the
whole man. Falstaff ’s sherris sack, in this respect is a mere
caudle compared with potheen.

During the late engagement of my friend Kean at our thea¬
tre, I was solicited by him to introduce him at the Club, which
I accordingly did, and he afterwards acknowledged that he
never was half so much enlightened in his life; as he had drunk
deep draughts of divine philosophy during the discussion which
took place. On entering the room I took the chair and we im¬
mediately proceeded to business. My friend of course, had the
seat of honour, Alderman Nugent was Vice President; amongst
the members present were, Sir George Whitford, the ribbon man
who was knighted by the King ; Jacob Peter Hodgson, the
poetical Custom-House officer; Peter Kearney the venerable
and venerated Secretary for Foreign Affairs ; Sir John Steven¬
son, the celebrated Composer ; Doctor Spray, renowned as well
for his profound knowledge of music, as for the sweetness of
his pipe and the capacity of his jolly paunch. These two were
honorary members, both being foreigners, the latter from Ash¬
by de la Zouch, and the former from the land of Cakes, where
his father is said to have been a doodle-sack pfeiffer to a
highland regiment. The country deputies, were Mr. John
Lawless, Proprietor of the Irishman from Belfast; Professor

152

Dublin Discussions on Whiskey.

Davy, from the beautiful city called Cork; Mr. James Morgan,
Agent to the Royal Exchange, Limerick ; Mr. Patrick Costello,
from Kilkenny ; Mr Miciiael Mulchinough, from the kingdom
of Kerry; Mr. Terence Magrath from Edinburgh, a visitor;
and Doctor Sullivan. After the Secretary had read a letter
from Sir Humphrey Davy, presented by his little relative from
Cork, on proof spirit, and one from Ugo Foscolo, stating his
opinion, (for which he expected his usual fee of one hundred
guineas) that whiskey was the only rational instrument for
civilizing the popol irsuta of ultima Irlanda , the conversation
became general.

“ I wonder” said Kean, “if this be really a wholesome fluid,
for by the shade of Will Shakspeare, 1 feel my head turning
after the third tumbler like a whirligig, or as if I had swallowed
three bottles of moulin a vent*, which, when in France, was my
usual custom in the afternoon.”

“Wholesome sir?” ejaculated Peter Kearney, (whose face
was divinely irradiated with the profound philosophy of potheen,
and his Bardolph blazing like a sky-born meteor,) “ it is so
wholesome that I never used any other medicine : it would not
hurt an infant ; my son Charley’s pap was moistened with it,
and if I had a thousand sons, the first lesson I should inculcate
into their youthful minds, would be to drink potations pottle
deep of prime potheen punch.”

“Which whiskey do you deem the best, Mr. Kearney?”
demanded the hero of the buskin.

Mr. Kearney. “In my mind there is nothing superior to
potheen, which is exactly similar to the liquor which our ances¬
tors made their pet tipple along with metheglin or mead. They
called it uisge-bagh, which being interpreted signifieth strong
water, or more literally the water of life.”

Lawless. “ There are, however, various opinions upon the
subject, and if I might be allowed to differ from one so experi¬
enced as the learned secretary, I should say that the result of
my observations is, that I find Roscrea whiskey the most palat¬
able and mildest in its effects. I acknowledge I have not haut
gout enough to enjoy the flavour of the smoke, this, however, is
a mere matter of taste, and we know that taste is as varied as
the human” -

Pat. Costello. Bedershin , Jack, don’t be getting into a
philosophical inquiry, but suck your nourishment such as it is,
for my part, though I have quaffed all liquids, except the Faler-
nian, from humble ‘ Port to imperial Tokay’, as little Johnson

* Rottled Windmills?

153

Dublin Discussions on Whiskey.

says in the farce, yet the liquor to my liking, is made in the
bogs near Johnstown, and has a taste of the turf that would
make you smack your lips with delight.”

P. J. Hodgson. “I am astonished Mr. Costello that a loyal
man like you would encourage illicit distillation, which pro¬
duces a consequent diminution of his Majesty’s Revenue, and
has also a most demoralizing effect on the lower classes of
the” -

Costello. “ Bother ! — don’t preach man ! I hate hypocrisy
and cant; didn’t Captain Fottrell tell me the other day at the
library, that you and your son-in-law, Sir Nicholas, use no other
spirits but potheen at your own tables, that is, when the lodge
is tiled. By the way, that is a very euphonious title your
daughter has, Lady Brady, it sounds mighty pretty.”

Terry Magrath. “ I have drunk of every stream; I’ve
sippped the gin twist of Cockaigne, and when domiciled at Auld
Reekie, have chaunted the groves of blarney at Ambrose’s, over
a full bumper of Glenlyvet, but I never met any thing to equal
the strength and purity of the nectar distilled in my own native
vale, by Pat Callaghan at Dodge’s glen, near Cork.”

Mr. Davy. — “ I must beg leave, as my relative Sir Hum¬
phrey says, to differ with you, Terry. — to be sure Pat does
occasionally make prime stuff — but he’s so fond of taking
a drain for the Queen , and is then so hurried for fear of Jemmy
Morris the gauger, or the tall protestant, that he spoils the
whole run of the still. ’Tis true also, as Sir Humphrey says,
that Hewit and Teulon in the groves of Blackpool make good
drink, but they are nothing to compare with Tommy Walker’s;
'tis as mild as new milk and as strong as a giant; it flings a
bead upon its surface like a podreen, and it is all as good as first
shot. There is not a headache in a hogshead of it, which, is
very detrimental to the sale of my friend Tom Jennings’ soda
water.”

Jemmy Morgan. — “ You forgot Wise, on the North Mall,
my learned Sir. He sends excellent spirits to Limerick,
although there is tolerably decent stuff in Garryowen. Wise
has a great connection in our county since he married his
daughter, to my literary friend O’Grady, of Kilballyowen,
cousin to the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and a subscriber to
Valpy’s variorum edition of the Classics.

Davy. — “ 1 acknowledge, as Sir Humphrey says, that Wise
makes drinkable whiskey, but nothing to Walker’s. — Were you
in Cork Jemmy, when Wise’s coal store took lire, in conse¬
quence of the strong fumes of the spirit, as I afterwards
found ; though I then thought it took place by spontaneous
chemical ignition ?”

154

Dublin Discussions on IVhiskey.

Morgan. — “ Balderdash ! — drink your punch man! what
do you know about spontaneous ignition ! — spontaneous fiddle
stick !”

Sir George Whitford. — “ I must raise my voice to
uphold the character of the Dublin whiskey — where can you
find better than what my friend Charley Smith gets distilled,
especially for his customers, by Jamieson, of Bow-lane.”

Doctor Spray. — “ That’s right Sir George, stick up for
Jamieson, Dan Kinahan sells it also; I never drink any other;
it is the very best spirit for warming a man’s stomach after
gulping a cistern full of claret, as I’m used to do at Morrison’s.
My old friend Sir John Stevenson, by drinking it, has preserved
his youth, and has not yet a grey hair on his head.”

Sir John S. — “ Tommy Moore and I never drank any
other, while we were doing the first numbers of the Irish
Melodies, and this accounts for their being so good ; but the
late numbers are bitter bad, which I explain from the accom¬
paniments being done by Bishop. The Wiltshire water also
has turned out but a wishy-washy inspirer of poetry, since
Moore went to live at Sloperton Cottage.”

Jacob Hodgson. — u You could never get the Honorable
George O’Callaghan, to drink it when he wrote the Irish
Melodies, conjointly with you in opposition to Mr. Moore
which accounts for the failure.”

The President. — “ I think after Potheen, that Phil. Cos-
tigan makes the best legitimate whiskey — it often brought com¬
fort to me during my long imprisonment.”

Costello. — “ What think you of the rectified stuff of my
namesake, Costello?”

Dr. Sullivan. — “ It is most exquisite. I sent a cask of it
at the suggestion of my wife, Lady Louisa Sullivan, to Istam-
boul, as a present to my brother in law, the Ambassador to the
Sublime Porte.”

Sir John S. — u Sublime port or sublime sherry, what fudge
you make about your grand connections, as if no one was allied
to nobility but yourself. A’nt 1 a nobleman myself — an Irish
nobleman ?”

Dr. Sullivan. — “ If you be noble at all, you must be a
Scotch nobleman. Is not your crest a pair of bag-pipes, with
the motto Dum spiro spero ? What are you but a musical
professor?”

Sir John. — u No Sir, I am no professor, I am an amateur,
and a member of the beef-steak Club — am I not a relative of
the late Lord Lieutenant, Earl Talbot, who was married to the
sister of Gustav us Lambert Esq., of Beauparc, and was not
Gusty married to my daughter?”

155

Dublin Discussions on Whiskey .

Dr. Sullivan. — “ If you take another tumbler Sir John
you’ll fancy that the King is your uncle, and that you are
Mozart Redivivus.”

Sir John S. — Mozart! Reddy vivus! — Reddy Driscoll 1 —
Reddy Devil ! — you don’t mean to infer that William Mozart
was ever so great a man as I am ?”

President. — “ Drink your punch Sir John, and let us
resume the discussion of the merits of whiskey.”

Mr. Kean. — “Is whisky good taken neatY’

Peter Kearney. — “It is the finest cordial in the world after
dinner, it dissipates the fumes of hot viands with unprecedented
rapidity.”

Sir John S. — “ It is good after fish particularly — Doctor
Sullivan, do you know that 1 never knew till the other day that
whiskey was a latin word. A gentleman asked me for the latin
for fish after dinner, I said what’s that ? what says he, you don’t
know that whiskey is the latin for fish. A goose is a strong
tasted bird — it is excellent after goose, what’s the latin for goos6
doctor ?”

Doctor Sullivan. — “ Anser !”

Sir John S. — “ Answer yourself ! he doesn’t know, there’s
a doctor for you !”

Doctor S. — “ Pshaw ; mind your punch and let latin alone.”

Peter Kearney. — “ I drink all sorts of cordials, Cura5oa,
Kirchwasser, Cr£me de Venus, Parfait amour; but a glass of the
native inspires more parfait amour than a bucket full of foreign
syrups. That’s the thing to make Paddy make love !”

Costello. — “That’s the reason I suppose that Lady Manners
approves of the Lord Chancellor’s drinking it.”

President. — “ Doctor Sullivan, can you tell us if it have that
effect.”

Doctor S. — “ It certainly is a stimulant when taken moderate¬
ly, but a glass too much is, what Etmullerus, in his learned
treatise, denominates a Caput mortuum: it is an excellent diuretic
and a sovereign specific for all diseases certain and uncertain,
you understand 1”

Costello. — “ I’m glad to hear that.”

Doctor S. — “It has other medical properties ; it is an excellent
styptic, is a greater Cosmetic than Jean Maria Farina’s far
famed Eau de Cologne , look what a complexion Peter Kearney
has got from it !”

Peter Kearney. — “Mind your own face Doctor !”

Doctor S. — “ It is equally good internally as externally — a
half noggin of it is ‘ the sovereign’st thing in life for an inward
bruise.’ ”

156

Dublin Discussions on Whiskey.

Peter Hodgson. — “ It is an inspirer of the muse : I wrote all
my songs when I was half seas over.”

Sir John. — “ I wish you had never come back with them.”

Peter Hodgson. — “ Sheer envy, by the Gods !”

Doctor S. — “ It feeds the taper of life ; I have known regular
whikey drinkers attain to a great age.”

Jemmy Morgan. — “It is veritably a promoter of longevity;

I know several instances in Limerick.”

Davy. — “ You might, as Sir Humphrey says ; and in Cork do
you recollect old White the schoolmaster, who drank two quarts
a day mixed and otherwise for upwards of fourscore years, and
1 believe would never have died, only a rascal crammed him
into the north gaol on suspicion of debt ?”

Dr. Sullivan. — “I should never have done enumerating its
excellences : it produces no nausea, like other ardent spirits ; it
does not rack your head as arrack punch does, according to
Lord Byron. ’Tis true, taken to excess overnight, it produces
a fur on the tongue next morning, and a slight exsiccation of
the fauces, which however, is speedily dispelled by soda water.”

Davy. — “ Aye, as Sir Humphrey says, Tom Jennings5 Cork
soda water : that beats Thwaites5 and all others hollow : seven
atmospheres, think of that ! I put Jennings up to the chemistry
of the thing myself. You can get it, doctor, at the fruit shop
on Ormond quay.55

President. — “The only thing now to be decided for Mr,
Kean’s satisfaction is, whether the parliament whiskey, or the
potheen, ought to take the first rank.55

Costello. — “ We’ll put it to the vote. — but before you hold
up your hands let me remind you, that it is the liquor used by

the L — C - , which is brought to town in the carriages

of certain personages, after still-fines have been impartially
levied on the potheen-making districts ; finally, the cordial pre¬
ferred before all others by our gracious Sovereign, ought to have
the suffrage of every loyal man and person of taste. Does the
King pay duty for bis whiskey, I’d be glad to know ?”

President. — “ Gentlemen, those in favour of potheen will
please to hold up their hands.” [ All hands up.]

President. — “The potheen carries the sway: fill up bumpers
— here’s the Potheen Club of Dublin for ever ! — Three times
three ! huzza !’’

Peter Hodgson. — “I’ll sing you an extempore song I wrote
yesterday upon Pat Costello.”

The whole company manifested signs of impatience, and gradu¬
ally slipt away during the song, which it was impossible to make
out, from the slurring style in which it was given.

Philosophy of the Hair. 157

President. — Peter ! desire the waiters to see the poet home
to Harcourt-street, then you and 1 will finish the punch.

[Club Room. 4| o’Clock , a.m.]

We have just finished the punch, and therefore I can write
no more, but will fling myself upon the ground and take the
measure of an unmade grave. Amen ! and drunk or sober,

Yours, &c. J. J. Simpson.

Philosophy of the Hair. — No. (j.

We are quite certain that we have done more for the elucida¬
tion of the interesting subject of the hair than has ever been
done before, either in books of medicine, physiology, or perfu¬
mery ; and we refer with some pride to our preceding papers as
containing more correct and practical principles than are any
where besides published on the hair. Indeed we may boldly
challenge a comparison of our articles both on this and other
important subjects, with those of any similar publication, par¬
ticularly as to the main points of plainness, correct science, and
varied and familiar illustration. We conceal nothing under
the mask of learned words, and as we have no quack medicines,
nor cosmetics to puff, we are not interested in withholding use¬
ful receipts. The new views which we are now about to illus¬
trate respecting baldness will, we hope, give equal satisfaction
with those we formerly published.

Baldness from Debility and Relaxation of the Skin.

You will recollect we formerly said that one of the chief, if
not the only cause of baldness is the contraction of the pores of
the skin, which cuts off or snaps short the hairs at their exit,
and leaves only the roots behind; but wholly confined and kept
out of view below the skin. It will also be necessary to remind
you of the fact that the hairs do not rise perpendicularly from
their roots, but pass very obliquely and at an acute angle
through the two outer coats of the skin, serving to bind these
down to the inner coat, as if nature had used the hairs for sew¬
ing thread, and hence the difficulty of pulling them out. On
these facts taken in conjunction with the structure of the roots
of the hair, we have already shewn how baldness may arise from
causes which produce an unnatural contraction of the skin ;
and we now take up the converse of the position.

You have often heard people complain of their hair. — not
falling off— -but coming out in great quantities whenever it was
combed or brushed. If you had observed narrowly or inquired
farther, you would have found that the complainants were of

VOL. II. X

158

Philosophy oj the Hair .

a weak or relaxed constitution, affected with indigestion, con¬
sumptive, nervous, or bilious ; or that they had been weakened
by intemperance or long illness. It frequently, for example,
occurs among women who have bad a tedious confinement in
child-bed, or to robust men who have been long confined with
fractured bones or other injuries. It is still more common in
the weakness remaining after a severe fever for the whole hair
to fall off, come out, and even in women with whom baldness if
not altogether unknown is very rare, this temporary loss of the
hair is very common.

The cause in all those cases is very clear, though we are not
aware that it has hitherto been mentioned in hooks. The skin,
being under the influence of the whole system, is weakened in
consequence of the general disorder, and instead of maintaining
its natural healthy tone and firmness, becomes relaxed and loose.
The pores also become enlarged, and perspiration much more
abundant; for it is almost a uniform circumstance that those
whose hair is coming out or has come out from relaxation, are
prone to sweat on the least exertion or exposure to heat.

The skin accordingly having become relaxed from the causes
we have just mentioned, the firm interlacement of the hairs
with it is partly destroyed, and they have consequently little to
hold them, except their own roots. Now by pulling out a hair
with the root, and examining it, you will at once see that the
root can have extremely little power of retaining it, as the root
is soft and pulpy, and besides it is naturally fixed in the softer
portion of the skin, or, as some anatomists say, in the fat im¬
mediately underneath it. The firmness and tone of the outer
skin being therefore relaxed, and the hairs owing their chief
stability to this, it is not wonderful that they should be loosened
and come out.

From these plain principles it will at once appear, that as
remedies for baldness or thin hair, arising from debility and
relaxation, nothing can be more improper than the hair oil
usually applied, as oil of any kind cannot fail to increase the
relaxation of the skin. We wonder, indeed, how the proprietors
of the expensive nostrums puffed off with this view, have so
long been able to gull the public with so bare-faced a hoax —
as a few trials must demonstrate the truth of what we have now
said. If the patient then is prone to perspire, particularly on
the head ; if there be general weakness, indigestion, nervous or
bilious ailments, or other symptoms of infirm health, and shat¬
tered constitution, avoid — we advise you most earnestly — all
oils and greasy applications, however much lauded and puffed by
those who are interested in their sale.

159

Art of Medical Training . — No. 4.

As the only means of cure, we recommend attention in the
first place to the general health, according to the rules laid
down in this work. Unless the health be improved you can never
expect to restore the relaxed skin to its natural healthy tone — or
at least the restoration can only be temporary. It may, how¬
ever, be useful to have recourse to temporary remedies and local
applications, till your constitutional measures of training, &c\,
take effect on the system. For this purpose we recommend the
Strengthening Lotion for Baldness and Thin Hair.

Take half a pint of rose water,

half a drachm of sulphate of zinc,
three tea spoonfuls of tincture of galls.

Mix, and scent it with essence of bergamot, or eau de cologne. The
roots of the hair to be moistened with it twice a day, for at least two
months.

This, by proper perseverance, will remedy the loss of tone in
the skin, which may have been caused by Bear’s grease, Mac-
eassar oil, Russia oil, and similar puffed nostrums, that are cer¬
tain to do injury in all such cases.

*** In our next we shall give a curious paper on Baldness,
as a sign of talent and genius.

Art of Medical Training. — No. 4.

When it has been clearly established from the tests that we
have described in this work, that consumption is beginning, or
has begun, to undermine the constitution, it will be advisable
without loss of time, to have immediate recourse to the methods
we have directed for checking its progress, or expelling it alto¬
gether, and particularly Dr. Reid’s plan of relieving or prevent¬
ing the cough, by clearing the lungs morning and evening from
the phlegm which irritates the nerves, and gives rise to the
cough. All this we repeat is indispensable to give a really con¬
sumptive patient any chance of recovery, and where this is hope¬
less, any chance of ease or relief. Along with the other mea¬
sures which we have recommended, we advise a course of
Training adapted to the Consumptive.

We must premise, that rigid training, as practised by the
Fancy, is by far too strong a measure for those who are already
affected with consumption, though, for such as have con¬
sumptive habits, as described Vol. I. p. 437> or may be threat¬
ened with an attack, rigid training may be advantageous, and
may ward off the impending evil. Though, in those who are
constitutionally consumptive, it is wrong and injurious to be
sparing, or abstain from animal food ; yet in the inflammatory

160 Art of Medical Training. — No. 4.

stage of the disease, when there is much shifting of blood, or
when the pulse is full and throbbing, and the pain in the chest
or side is acute, it would be dangerous to stuff the patient with
steaks or chops, or to advise the drinking of strong ale; while,
at the same time, it is important to support the strength by the
general diet and regimen recommended Vol. I. p. 333. When
none of those symptoms predominate, and though the pulse be
quick, provided it is small and thready, and not full and bound¬
ing, we advise the following plan of training, which is in a great
measure that which was so successfully practised nearly a cen¬
tury ago by Salvadori *, of Trent, and Mr. May, of London ; and
lately re-introduced by the Rev. Dr. Stewart, of Erskine, and
sanctioned by the celebrated Dr. Gregory, of Edinburgh, Dr.
Hume, of Hamilton, and other eminent physicians.

If the cough is troublesome, the first thing to be done by the
patient is to take a dose of the cough preventive, (Vol. I. p. 335.)
about five o’clock in the morning, sleep till seven or eight, and
then immediately before breakfast use the warm salt water bath,
as recommended by Dr. Baillie, or sponge with vinegar and
water, as advised by Dr. Stewart. Equal parts of vinegar and
water are at first applied warm, but as the patient becomes ac¬
customed to it, are cooled down to the ordinary temperature of
the air. The neck, back, and chest, are the most particular
parts; and after the sponging, the skin is to be rubbed for about
half an hour, or till it is quite dry. By increasing the tone of
the skin, this plan is considered to be very effectual in strength¬
ening the lungs, with which the skin is in close companionship.
It can do no harm indeed, in any case, or any stage of the dis¬
ease, and ought always to make a part of every mode of treat¬
ment.

The best breakfast is milk deprived of its cream, with arrow-
root, or Iceland moss, or what may be more palatable to some
patients, coffee milk, that is milk having as much coffee and
sugar added to it as may make it palatable, with biscuit and
honey, or orange marmalade, and a soft boiled egg, but no but¬
ter ; chocolate is decidedly bad. After breakfast, if the weather
permits, walk in the open air, or ride on horseback for at least
two hours ; if the weather be unfavourable, exercise with the
swing for a similar time, or till slight weariness comes on. If
the cough be violent, swinging is to be preferred to riding or
walking. When the hectic fever is formed, so as to cause a
chilliness or shivering about mid-day, it will be of advantage to

* See Salvadori’s Italian work, entitled “ Del Morbo Tisico,” published at
Trent, 1788. One Dr. Sanders claims the discovery of the plan. What an igno¬
ramus he must be ! Salvadori settles Dr. Sawney at all events.

161

Critiques on Old Womens * Prescriptions. — No. 2.

make the time of the most active exercise fall about that period,
to prevent its accession as much as possible.

About four hours after breakfast, a lunch may be taken of a
little broiled fowl, hot or cold, with biscuit and a draught of
fresh made butter milk, or the

Cooling and Strengthening Drink for the Consumptive.

Take thirty drops of aromatic elixir of vitriol,

two or three tea spoonfuls of honey or sugar,
half a pint or less of cold soft water.

Mix, and take thrice a day, or when thirsty. It must be drunk
through a quill, or glass tube, to save the teeth from the acid.

If soup is perferred, not more than a pint of beef tea, mutton
broth (as at Vol. I. p. 83.), or chicken soup, warmish, but not
hot, and deprived of all fat, may be taken with biscuit, and in
that case no other drink is allowed.

Dinner at least three hours after lunch, may consist of some¬
thing similar to what we have advised for lunch ; but when the
inflammatory symptoms are not threatening, a good training
dinner of steaks or chops, deprived of all fat, and with biscuit,
but instead of ale, cold water prepared as above ; or half a glass
of good old port wine, in a quarter of a pint of water. As a ge¬
neral rule, the less liquid that is taken the better; when thirst
is urgent, drink the elixir water, or sponge with vinegar and
water, as in the morning. At page 194, Vol. I. we have given a
method of quenching thirst without drinking.

For supper, which should be taken about two hours before
going to bed, the best will be arrow root, or sago dressed in the
usual way. Exercise before or after supper, the same as after
breakfast. On going to bed the warm salt water bath, and the
vinegar sponging, which will have a considerable effect in con¬
junction with the elixir water, to prevent the night sweats that
are so disagreeable and so weakening. Bed at nine, or not
later than ten ; the bed clothes, and indeed the general dress
to be rather cool than too warm. Silk rather than flannel ought
to be worn, as the best protection for varieties in the weather.

Medical Critiques on Old Womens’ Prescriptions. No. 2.

The facetious article above, by our friend the Bachelor, which
shows the enormous extent of quackery in private life, will
testify the usefulness of this series of papers. It is scarcely cre¬
dible, though it is nevertheless true, that doctors are as often
prescribed for by those volunteer advisers, as any other class,
and at the very time too when they are making their professional
visits. If a doctor complain of a cough, all his patients and his

I(i2 Liberty oj the Medical Press.

patients’ friends, are each ready with infallible receipts for him :
even those very patients — strange to say — who are paying him
high fees for his advice in their own coughs ! We shall, for
the present, examine only one of these anomalous prescriptions,
and begin, as we have been talking of the thing, with a

Popular Remedy for Coughs.

Boil two ounces of Spanish liquorice, and
a pound of raisins stoned, in
a quart of good verjuice or vinegar,
till reduced to a half ; add
a pound of sugar candy.

Simmer it into a syrup, and take about a table spoonful every two
hours, or when the cough is troublesome.

This and many other prescriptions of a similar nature are very
favourite remedies with old women, for all sorts of coughs ; and
as patients like to take what is contrived more to please the
taste than to cure their disease, such receipts as this are most
willingly followed. The truth is, however, that there are few
coughs which will not be aggravated by this method; for as the
stomach has, in’ almost every case of cough, a very powerful in¬
fluence, and as the stomach must be injured by such a quantity
of syrup crammed into it, the cough will to a certainty be in¬
creased. The only thing which it can do is to smooth the
throat a little, if it feel raw and irritable from the coughing.

Liberty of the Medical Press — The Lancet — The
Oracle — The Students — and the Lecturers.

Who are the persons, we ask, that desire to gag the medical
press ? This is the boasted land of freedom. The general liberty
of the press is recognized (somewhat partially we confess, yet
it is recognized), both by law and custom ; but certain classes of
men have lately started up, illiberal, wrong-headed, and obsti¬
nate in principle, who for their own selfish interests, wish to
put down the Medical Press, or at least to keep it to the old
stupid style of journalizing. We ask, therefore, who are those
persons ? The enemies, it is answered, of the Lancet and the
Oracle : and why ? Because both have fearlessly dragged Medi¬
cal humbug and jobbery into open day — the Lancet tor the pro¬
fession, and the Oracle for the people. The Lancet publishes
for the profession correct and admirable reports of the best
medical Lectures given in London — of the cases treated at the
Hospitals — and of foreign improvements: the Oracle publishes
for the people — plain, rational, and practical advice on every sort
of disease, and exposes the tricks of quackery, legitimate and
illegitimate. The enemies, consequently, of the liberty of the

Liberty of the Medical Press.

163

Medical Press may be easily unearthed. We shall begin our
dissection with

The Medical Students. — It is only, we are well informed, a
very few of the students who have a horror of the Lancet, but
these are noisy in proportion to their consciousness of imbeci¬
lity, in order to make up for their lack of importance in bluster
and bravado. They are chiefly the extreme few who have had
a narrow education, and are afraid that the publicity of the
medical lectures in the Lancet will be the means of showing the
nakedness of the land — their own scrap notes of lectures being
the sole and only foundation of their knowledge. The time of
such would, we think, be better spent in study, than in forming
silly cabals, and uttering foolish speeches against the liberty of
the press. This class hate the Oracle with a deadly hatred.
Another few are such as look forward to jobs and official hum¬
bug. It is this class chiefly who artfully stir up the country
simpletons, and make tools of them to serve their own pur¬
poses, while they themselves stand aloof from the contest. It
was in this way that two American students were so shamelessly
assaulted, and almost murdered, last year, at St. Bartholomew’s,
under the false accusation of reporting for the Lancet; and at
this moment, we understand, plots are laying to get up a similar
scene. The cowardice of the thing is, that by artful intention
an innocent person is selected as a victim — the Editor of
the Lancet and his assistants being too well known as genuine
Tartars, to be rashly visited; though it is vainly supposed by the
job-hoping ninnies, that they will take alarm and cease their re¬
ports. We pity the poor bread-chippers, who are made tools of
in raising the clamour. All the liberal and well-educated are
for the liberty of publication, and friends to the Lancet and the
Oracle. What is strange enough, all buy the Lancet.

The Lecturers. — Sir Astley has retired, and lectures no more;
one principal reason for which was, that the Lancet has publish¬
ed his all, and he had no resources from which to draw a fresh
course of lectures— not even with the assistance of Tyrrel and
Travers, who were actually forced to take instructions from the
Lancet, how to treat simple Hospital cases of syphilis ! As to
Armstrong, the Lancet reports manifestly show, that his fame
as a lecturer rests more upon his mysterious and unintelligible
pedantry than on useful and practical information. It is not the
first time that what is unintelligible has been deemed profound,
and listened to with gaping mouths by the ignorant. His pub¬
lished works are good, we allow; his reported lectures are utter
trash. Compare his opening lecture with the manly and scho¬
lar like introduction of Brodie and you will see what we mean ;

164 Tewhadiddle Morality .

or with the wit and polish of Gooch ; the philosophical simpli¬
city of Hue; the easy flow of Lawrence; or with the graphic
picturing and frankness of Abernethy. Armstrong has some
right to curse the Lancet, and to threaten to get an Act of Par¬
liament to put it down. But he will find, if we mistake not,
that the Lancet will not be crushed by a threat, as the poor
Medical Examiner was last year.

Abernethy is said to have called the reporter of the Lancet a
hireling; and pray, may we ask who or what is Abernethy ? A
man of talent and education, as the Editor of the Lancet evi¬
dently is — though we know him only from his book — undertakes
for the public information, to report Mr. Abernethy’s lectures,
for which labour he is remunerated by his sale. Is he any more
a hireling than the Lecturer who is remunerated for his labours
by the fees of his pupils? We are sorry to see an eminent man,
like Abernethy, let himself down so low. One thing we trust
the Lancet will do, namely, shame him out of his vulgar and
profane habit of swearing during the lecture, and out of his
shameless annual history of his own case, of a certain disease,
which must tend to demoralize the pupils. Mrs. Abernethy, we
understand, reads the Lancet : what would she say to this his¬
tory, if it be told and reported this season ? And what will the
parents of his pupils say and do, should it meet their eye? The

joke of “ ’Gad, gentlemen, it was only a - will not, he

may depend on it, go down with the public as it does in the
lecture-room. Do the managers of Bartholomew’s know this ?
Or do they wink at it ?

*** Hospital Mysteries — the Royal College, and their laws,
in our next.

TEWHADrDDLE MORALITY - CROLY AND L. E. L.

Our friend Kitchener is now heartily ashamed of the Tewha¬
diddle gang. L. E. L. the young maiden poet, was by pressing
desire of Croly, one of the gang, introduced to him by Mr.
Jerdan, of the Literary Gazette, and he was more than once
asked to meet her at Mr. Jerdan’s house. In return, this Tew¬
hadiddle fellow pounces upon the young Lady like a foul vulture,
and basely insinuates in his Feckless Review, that she not only
reads obscene poems, but writes lasciviously on seduction ! Envy,
manifestly, because L. E. L. has eclipsed him ; and gross false¬
hood to boot, as Croly was aware when he wrote the Review.
What do the rest of the gang think of their pot companion ?
Break up the concern, Kitchiner, we advise you : it is a dis¬
graceful humbug, and renounce Tewhadiddle suppers which
seem to inspire such harpyism.

December Diseases.

1 €>*>

Diseases of December, and the Means of escaping

THEM.

Heap on more wood ! — The wind is chill,

Hof let it whistle as it will, —

M e’ll keep our merry Christmas still.

I-ittle we heed the tempest drear.

While music, mirth, and social cheer,

Speed on their wings the pacing year.

Sir Walter Scott __

Dark December may, if he so pleases, gloom the day, and
deprive us of the autumnal beauties of the sun, beaming on the
yellow corn-field and the ripening orchard. Let him — for we
care not — becloud the blue sky, veil the sun, and drench the
fields with his cold comfortless rain, while we are snug in our
warm parlours, studying our glorious seience of good-living,
and practising the most approved whets for the coming feasts.
This is your true secret for turning winter into summer, when

Comes blythe Christmas back again,

With all his hospitable train*.

If December frowns on your enjoyments, take counsel of us
and laugh at him ; we know of nothing so effectual for cheer¬
ing on the stomach and the liver, in their task of manufactur¬
ing the good things of this life into proper nourishment ; and
those who are simple enough to mimic the gloom of a Decem¬
ber day, by putting on melancholy looks, or by obeying lite¬
rally, and of course foolishly, the Scripture precept — “ Weep
with those that weep,” and who fall into sad musings and bode¬
ful moralizings on the shortness of human life, while they
ought to “eat, drink, and be merry;” — all such should be
judged and sentenced by Tom Moore, who would assuredly
have them transported to the coldest boundaries of the solar
system. Then

Oh, think what a w orld we should have of it here,

If such haters of drinking, good living, and glee,

Were all banished to Saturn’s cold comfortless sphere,

And leave earth to the sons of fun, frolic, and spree.

Well, it is very sad, that though there is “a time to laugh
and a time to dance,” yet that the wisest man should pronounce
all this enjoyment of existence to be “vanity and vexation of
spirit.” We are loth, exceedingly loth, to agree with Solomon
in this opinion, and would, at the hazard of being thought odd
and singular, venture to say that he is wrong, and must be
wrong so far as the enjoyment is concerned, which, while it

VOL ir.

Marmion. — We quote from memory.

y

1 6G

December Diseases.

lasts, is, for the most part, pure and unimbittered by the usual
gall-drops of our frail humanity, however much it may entail
headaches and disordered livers as a morning consequence.

Our standing maxim is — be merry while you may, before
“ the days come and the years draw nigh, when” — as the
same Solomon has most poetically described old age and infir¬
mity — “ the [the hands ] keepers of the house shall tremble, and
[the limbs ] the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grind¬
ers cease, because they are few, and those [eyes] that look out of
the windows be darkened ; — when [the ear and the voice ] all the
daughters of music shall be brought low, and the grasshopper
shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goeth to Ids
long home, and the mourners go about the streets ; ere the sil¬
ver cord [of the nerves] be loosed, or the golden bowl [of the
belly] * be broken, or the pitcher [of the heart] be broken at the
fountain; or the wheel [of the brain] be broken at the cis¬
tern f.” Be merry then, enjoy the passing hour, and as Solo¬
mon most wisely advises, “let your heart cheer you in the days
of your youth ; remove sorrow from your heart, and put away
evil from your flesh J.” Take science, however, for your guide
in all your pleasures; for if you neglect the study and the prac¬
tice of our philosophy of good living, you can make no claim
to exemption from what Solomon justly calls the u days of
darkness §,” and which in our own times are but too well
known by the name of bhie devils. These unbidden and un¬
welcome visitors never show themselves in the abode of the
scientific gourmand, and not even at his outer gate. Take
warning by poor Burns, who was too much of a poet to bend
liis mind to the study of personal comfort, or the science of
good living and safe drinking. He suffered accordingly from
the morning visits of all sorts of fiends who haunt the homes of
the unscientific. Hear his own description.

Whiskey de’ils and bogles fley me,

Glow’rin’ by the hallan en’

Sair I feght them at the door,

An’ aye I’m eerie they come ben [J.

If you will listen to our precepts and obey them, particularly
those laid down in our “ Medical Advice in Indigestion, and in
Bilious Complaints,” you will be safe from the morning saluta-

* We found this interpretation of the “golden bowl” on a passage in Solomon’s
Song. — ‘‘ Thy navel is like a round goblet which wanteth not liquor; thy belly is
like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.”

+ Ecclesiastes, xii. 1 — 6. + Ecclesiastes, xi. 9, 10.

^ Ecclesiastes, xi. 8. J Burns’ Fragments.

December Diseases.

167

tions of all such rascally companions, and may enjoy your holi¬
day dinner to very ecstacy,

When smokes (he sirloin, and hard bye
Plumb-porridge stands, and Christmas pye *.

At this season also, you may more safely indulge in an extra
glass of good wine or stiff punch, hot and smoking, than in the
warm evenings of summer and autumn, when cold Glasgow
punch is the go. SaJ'ely? — not so, we should have said benefici¬
ally; for as the liver becomes sluggish with the cold of December,
and refuses to bestir itself actively in the manufacture of bile,
it requires to be spurred up a little with a generous glass. We
shall therefore say beneficially instead of safely, that is, if you
take care to indulge in moderation, and do not spur the liver
beyond its proper speed. Then

Quick ! you have but a second ;

Push round the bright glass while you may,

For Time, the churl, has beckon’d
And all must away, away f.

Having thus given you our best advice for banishing the
glooms of December, and for enjoying with scientific comfort
the good things of the holy days, we shall refer you for further
information to our first volume, and shall next introduce you to
the J

Effects of Frost in Health and Disease. By Mr. Haden.

When, as sometimes happens, but more commonly at the com¬
mencement of December, a sudden frost occurs and continues
for a few days — what a change do we experience — the whole
town is regenerated. The healthy man laughs at his uncomfort¬
able feelings of yesterday; the invalid says her headache is quite
gone; the nervous feel invigorated and refreshed, and even
those who labour under acute diseases respond cheerily to the
improved state of the atmosphere. The change is sometimes
ridiculous. A medical man sees a number of patients to-day,
and they all complain of the fog, and of the little efficacy of his
prescriptions. A frost comes at night, and to-morrow he finds
them all lively and mended in a really surprising way.

Unfortunately, however, these beneficial results do not take
place in all cases equally. For in some, a reverse effect too com¬
monly follows. Convalescents from inflammatory diseases feel
the bad effects of frost under these circumstances; and diseases,
which would have passed away without inflammation being pro¬
duced, if the weather had continued open, become complicated
by inflammation immediately that the frost commences.

* Sir Walter Scott.

t Irish Melodies, No. V.

168

December Diseases.

A change of this kind was marked in both these particulars
very evidently three years ago. The weather had been very damp
and cold, and the majority of the sick were stationary and de¬
sponding. A frost came, and thousands of blue devils seemed
to have vanished. As a specimen of the rest, one young lady,
who had complained of constant headache for a week, said that
her complaint was quite gone. But the obverse of the medal
was equally though not so agreeably marked. A poor little boy,
who had escaped from a severe attack of inflammation of the
lungs after measles, and was convalescent but very weak, lapsed
again into inflammation as soon as the frost appeared, and died
in two days. Thus does the same wind blow good to one and
evil to another.

Preservation of Health.

The directions for the preservation of health during this
month, and the greatest part of the next, may be comprised un¬
der a few heads. The coldness of the weather suggests the
proper increase of clothing; but the flannel waistcoat should be
changed the oftener, or a silk one should be worn over it ;
silk stockings also should be worn over others of a warmer
description. In short, the electricity should be kept in by every
possible means. Moreover, the body should be fairly sup¬
ported by nourishing food ; but as, in the general torpor of the
corporeal functions, the bowels are very likely to become torpid,
and thus lay the foundation for future complaints of the diges¬
tive organs, enough of gentle opening medicine should be taken
to keep the bowels clear and unobstructed.

Winter Dress for Invalids.

If electricity be not precisely the life of the body, according
to the notion of M. Sprengel, Dr. W. Philip, and other modern
inquirers, it supplies at least the main stimulus to activity and
cheerfulness ; a conclusion proved to demonstration, by the fact
that the moment our electricity is curtailed of its due proportion,
our spirits sink into despondency, and our power of motion is
deadened or destroyed ; while, on the contrary, if our electricity
be in excess, we arc all life, buoyancy, and spirit; sometimes,
indeed, too much so for healthy existence; like the trained pu¬
gilist, whose health is so high that it borders on disease. This
state of things, however, is sufficiently rare in this climate of
rains and fogs, and can only occur during an unusual continu¬
ance of dry weather; for damp air, whether it be warm or cold,
drinks up our electricity as a sponge does water, and leaves us
comfortless, spiritless, and moping, for want of its cordial in¬
fluence. It is this that renders damp weather so depressing to
the spirits, by its robbing the nerves of their electricity, which

December Diseases.'

16*9

alone can keep them in tone ; and on the same principle it is
that hard irost or dry weather braces the nerves into a healthy
tone, by husbanding the natural electricity of the system. In
dry frosty weather, accordingly, as Mr. Haden well remarks,
even the horses are full of life, and the very cart horses will frisk
and "gambol, instead of passing soberly along, as such solemn
looking animals ought to do.

What we said in a former paper on this subject, we must
again repeat, that the best clothing for winter is that which shall
most effectually confine our electricity, and prevent it from pass¬
ing off into the thankless air. By far the best non-conductors
of electricity used in dress are those manufactured from animal
productions, and the worst are those produced from vegetables,
such as linen and cotton stuffs. Silk is the best, then furs of all
kinds, then flannel and other woollen stuffs ; and lastly, leather.
From this it will appear, that the latter class ought always to
be the main staple of clothing in damp weather, and particularly
when accompanied with cold ; and it is material so far as the
electricity is concerned, that the non-conductors be worn nearest
the skin. We explain in the following manner the

Philosophy oj Silk and Woollen Clothing.

For the sake of illustration, suppose that the electricity con¬
tained in your body is so much water; that part of it has escaped
to the skin in the form of sweat ; and farther, that your shirt is
composed of blotting paper. If the circumstances were so, the
sweat would be immediately drunk up, or would pass through
the blotting paper, while your outer garments would be soaked
in proportion to the quantity of the sweat. You may say that
our illustration is an odd one, though odd as it may seem, it is
precisely what takes place when you wear next your skin a non¬
conductor of electricity, such as linen or cotton, through which
the electricity passes from your body in much the same way a
sweat would pass through a blotting paper shirt. The nerves
are of course relaxed and unstrung, for want of their natural
cordial — electricity.

y

Suppose again as the converse of this, that instead of blot¬
ting paper you have a shirt made of oiled paper. In this case,
you are aware that not a drop of sweat would be taken up or
pass through, but would remain on the surface of the skin, and
be carried back again into the blood by the absorbent vessels.
Now this is precisely the way in which the electricity is confined
by non-conductors, such as silk, flannel, fur, and leather, and
the tone of the nerves is preserved.

We leave you to make your own application of these scion*

i;o

Asthma and Winter Cough.

tific principles in the selection of your dress, particularly in
damp weather, when the moisture of the air will drink up all
your electricity which it can get at, and leave you downcast and
spiritless for your loss. We refer you for some practical re¬
marks on this subject to Vol. I. page 128.

*** The subject of flannel, as worn next the skin, with its
good and bad effects, we intend to take up very soon.

Asthma and Winter Cough.

We have more than once explained coughs by a reference to
sneezing. Take a pinch of snuff and it will fret and irritate the
nerves of the nostrils till they become indignant at the smart-
causing particles, and make a strong convulsive effort, called
sneezing , to expel them from the nose. In the same way, when
the lungs or the throat are teazed with quantities of tough or
acrid phlegm, they summon in the assistance of the midriff, and
make a strong convulsive effort, called coughing , to expel it
through the mouth, and so long as this effort is unsuccessful
the cough continues, unless the nerves and muscles become too
much exhausted, in which case the effort to cough is made with
each returning interval of strength. This explains the spitting
cough , and the common or humid asthma, as it is called by the
doctors.

There is another sort of cough, arising from a somewhat dif¬
ferent cause, which we shall also explain by a reference to
sneezing. The nerves of the nostril, from their daily habit of
causing sneezing to expel irritating substances from the nostril,
and not being, as it should seem, very knowing in the causes of
irritation, often give the signal to sneeze when there is really
nothing to expel. When the nostrils are very dry, for example,
or when they are inflamed, as in the instance of a common cold,
sneezing is excited by the irritation, when there is really nothing
of the nature of snuff or other irritating substance to get rid of.
The very same is the case in coughing ; for if the throat or the
lungs become too dry, or are inflamed in consequence of a cold,
or any other cause, they send a signal to the midriff to assist
them in coughing, the same as if there was really a quantity of
phlegm to be expelled. As there is none, the cough of course
only increases the irritation, and will continue either till the
strength be exhausted, or till something is done to blunt or lull
the feeling of the nerves. This explains dry cough, and what
the surgeons call nervous asthma.

These illustrations will give you more solid knowledge of the
several kinds of Asthma and Winter Cough than you will find by

171

Asthma and Winter Cough.

reading all the learned volumes that have been published on the
subject, in which you will be more ready to find sounding words
and barbarous Greek terms than genuine philosophy, or practical
information. As we cannot, in one short paper, overtake the
whole of this interesting subject, we shall take part and reserve
part, beginning with the

Symptoms of Common Asthma .

A fit of asthma is always ushered in by weariness, languor, and
a disinclination to motion, with flatulency, Joss of appetite, op¬
pression of the stomach, sickness, nausea, a weight over the eyes,
headache, pale urine, disturbed sleep somewhat like night mare,
and a feeling of pressure, straitness, fulness, and anxiety over the
stomach and liver. As the evening approaches, the heaviness of
the eyes becomes more oppressive, the patient yawns frequently,
and at last is almost overcome with drowsiness and sleep.
Heat and tingling of the ears, neck, and breast, are also often
felt, and the bowels act, in attempting to expel their contents,
with violence and great uneasiness of the muscles of the belly.
The sudden desire to go to stool is often indeed the first signal
of the fit. These are the immediate forewarnings of an approach¬
ing fit, which usually makes its attack about the middle of the
same night, or the night following the above symptoms, when
the sleep is deepest ; and this occurs in consequence, we think,
both of the greater difficulty of breathing in a lying posture, and
also of the diminished influence of the will over the breathing
during sleep. It may also occur during the day, but this is not
so common.

About midnight, then, the patient awakens suddenly as if
frightened, and his first sensation is a feeling of straitness of the
chest, as if it were forcibly and distressingly bound with cords,
which forces him to sit up erect and to struggle for breath, as if
he were upon the point of death from suffocation. He draws
his breath with great difficulty and distress, and gasps for air,
with a wheezing hissing sound. His heart heaves with palpi¬
tation, and his belly is swollen with flatulence, which is one
main cause of the oppressive breathing, by pressing upwards
upon the midriff, diminishing the space of the chest, and causing
a heaving of the shoulders. In consequence of only a small
portion of air finding admission to the lungs, his desire for hav¬
ing it pure, cool, and good, becomes intense; and as the least
pressure on the ribs or chest has some effect in preventing the
expansion of the lungs, he cannot endure the weight of the
lightest bed-clothes.

The struggle for breath affects the stomach, which becomes

172

Asthma and Winter Cough.

faint, and often throws up a greenish yellow froth or slime, pro-
duced bv the agitation, while a sweat breaks out about the fore¬
head and neck. As the fit, advances, the eyes become prominent
and staring, the face flushes, or is livid and bloated, in some
cases, but rarely, it is pale. The efforts to speak or to bring up
phlegm during the fit are very distressing. Sometimes, a little
tough frothy mucus is spit up, and the fit subsides, and goes off'
in an hour or two ; and at other times a much greater quantity
is discharged, being occasionally tinged with blood. The relief,
however, is almost always in proportion to the quantity of
phlegm expectorated. But though the fit usually subsides in
a few hours, the tightness of the chest and difficulty of breathing
continue for the following day, often ending in another fit
at night, and sometimes for several successive nights ; or even,
in bad eases, for weeks together.

The irritation from the fit is usually so great, that even on
the second or third day the patient cannot move without great
uneasiness, and particularly so, if he engages in the fatigue of
dressing whilst the stomach is empty, lie seems better on t lie
second night. On the third day, he has a little more ease and
freedom of motion, and he spits up more copiously, which al¬
ways gives proportional relief. As the severity of the symptoms
abate, the urine gradually loses its paleness, and becomes higher
coloured, smaller in quantity, and deposits a sediment, while the
mind ceases to despond or to fear death, and cheerfulness again
brightens the countenance.

Marks of Danger in Asthma .

The appearance of a lit of asthma gives to the inexperienced
the alarm of fatal danger; but though it be a “ very terrible
disorder,” as Dr. Willis calls it in Latin,* yet it is seldom rapidly
fatal, and if some other disease does not supervene, it may haunt
the unfortunate patient to an advanced old age. This, however,
is not always the case, for the violence or the frequent
returns of the fit may, and in many cases do, lay the foundation
of deadly disorders, from the weakness or the injury produced.
Among other diseases apt to be brought on by asthma, we may
mention gout f, water in the chest, dropsy, apoplexy, consump¬
tion, inflammation of the lungs, or aneurism or as we call it
bulging of the heart or some blood-vessel from weakness.

When the fit is about to prove fatal the face and lips become
livid, or pale and swollen : the hands and arms also swell, with
a loss of feeling, bordering on palsy. The legs become dropsical,

* Morbus terribilis.

t See Scudamore on Gout, page 4bb, 3d lid it.

On the Flavour and Strength of Wines. 1 7 *>

and suffocation from inability to continue the struggle to get up
the phlegm closes flic scene. On dissection, phlegm or watery
matter is usually found in the cells of the lungs, the blood¬
vessels of which are usually overloaded with blood.

Causes and Preventives of Asthma.

Peruse the beginning' of this paper and you will learn that
whatever cause may tend to load the lungs with tough or acrid
phlegm, or on the contrary, a deficiency of their natural moisture,
may bring on asthma. Cold, it will follow, and damp air, parti¬
cularly in those who are full of blood, and at the same time, of
comparatively weak constitution, are most apt to give rise to
asthma, and ought, therefore, to be avoided. We recommend
a perusal of our remarks on the philosophy of silk and woollen
clothing, page 16*1), above, to all asthmatics, who are subject to
returns of their fit, as is very usual from fogs, rain, snow, cold
winds, and other changes of weather, and particularly, as has
been remarked according to the age of the moon. Those who
inherit asthma from their parents, ought to be particularly care¬
ful of their dress, and of their living. It very often arises from
indigestion and bile, in consequence of the flatulence thereby
produced, pressing upwards and diminishing the capacity of the
chest. Excellent rules for preventing these will be found in the
first two numbers of our Medical Advice. For a similar reason
corpulence is a frequent cause of asthma. All corpulent per¬
sons, indeed, wheeze in their breathing like asthmatics. In such
cases, training is a certain cure if commenced in time. We
reserve the general treatment of asthma for our next, and shall
conclude with a very superior New Prescription for Asthma and
Winter Cough , the

French Anodyne Cough Drops.

Dissolve sixteen grains of acetate of morphine*, in
one drachm of alcohol,
four d rons of acetic acid, and
one ounce of distilled water, add

From ten to twenty drops, taken in a cup of coffee, as strong as it
can be made, will often relieve the fit, and give almost immediate ease
to a cough, if it he not inflammatory.

On the Flavour and Strength of Wines, and the
Method of Increasing these.

The natural and original flavour of wines is always, it should

* As the Acetate of Morphine is a new chemical medicine, we know not whe¬
ther it is to he procured except of t he* more respectable chemists in London, such as
< iardon, Oxford-street ; or Allen, Plough-court, Lombard-street.

VOL. II. Z

17-4 On the Flavour and Strength of Wines.

%

seem, the best, provided the vintage have been good ; but, as we
can seldom procure wine with this genuine flavour, we must be
contented with the flavours artificially imparted. Dr. Maculloch
informs us that among the ancients, and in modern Greece to
this day, it is the fashion to give a resinous flavour to almost all
wines, by introducing turpentine into the casks ; a taste which
is now, as it doubtless was then, rendered agreeable, if not
almost indispensible by habit. By means of chips of fir wood,
the same effect, with some modification, is produced. In Ma¬
deira wines, as well as in those of Xeres and San Lucar, sweet
or bitter almonds are used, and to these we are indebted for the
well known nutty taste of those wines, arising from the prussic
acid of the almonds. A mere infusion of the substances, during
the fermenting stage, is sufficient to communicate the flavour.
The use of odoriferous flowers has long been known, and in this
country, a highly agreeable flavour is given bv the flower of
the cowslip. In Egypt it has long been a practice to give
flavour by the flowers of the vine itself, the odour of which so
much resembles that of our common mignionette, that there is
little doubt the same effects would be produced by it. Rasp¬
berries have been also used in the wine countries; and orris
root, the flavour of which bears so great an analogy to that of
violets, is in current use in France. It is also said in that
country, that an agreeable flavour is communicated by worm¬
wood.

But as it would be useless to enumerate, so it would be diffi¬
cult to discover, the various perfumed substances to which wine¬
makers are indebted. Taste or caprice must be allowed to judge
on this subject. It will, however, be of some use to point out
the

Method of Communicating Artificial Flavours.

If, as is practised with cowslips in this country, the flavour¬
ing substance is added at the commencement of the fermenta¬
tion, the greater part of the aroma wall be carried off along with
the carbonic acid during its first and violent stage. The esta¬
blished and rational practice is, to suspend the flavouring in¬
gredients in the cask during the stage of insensible fermentation,
for a few days. By this method their effect is obtained without
a similar chance of its dissipation.

To whatever experiments makers of domestic wines may re¬
sort for this purpose, they should keep in mind, that custom has
established a certain set of flavours for all wines, from which it
would be dangerous to wander too far. These may, by a

17>

On the Flavour and Strength of Wines .

certain latitude of imitation, be increased, but the limits to this
increase are narrow. Analogy must be consulted, and that
there are analogies in flavours we need scarcely say. It should
also be recollected that the flavours of even the most highly
perfumed wines, those of Hermitage and Rivesaltes for example,
are gentle, or, compared to the wine, small in quantity, if we
may apply the term quantity to this sensation. Thus, for in¬
stance, a slight taste of musk is generally agreeable, a strong one
almost always offensive ; and in the case of analogous flavours,
although that of the clove, if slight, may coalesce well with the
taste of wine, yet that of cinnamon, although abstractedly more
agreeable, would assuredly give a flavour which would render
the same liquor offensive to most palates.

The English taste in wines makes their strength an indispen-
sible quality, and imposes upon the growers the necessity of
mixing brandy with all the produce intended for our market.
The chief cause of this taste appears to be the high price of
wines, arising from the extravagant duties on their importation.
The principal use of wine is to elevate the spirits and electrify
the whole man, or, in one word, to make him comfortably tipsy.
Now, it is not every body in this country, rich and flourishing as
it is, that can afford four or five shillings each time he wishes to
produce this artificial current of enjoyment; but give him two
bottles at the price he now pays for one, and we shall soon see
his taste improve, as he discovers that it is greatly more pleasant
to have for his money plenty of drink, as well as of what Kit¬
chener-calls the delights of tipsification, than to be hurried into
absolute drunkenness by strong brandified trash, without the
pleasure of “ tarrying long at the wine.”

Best Methods of Strengthening Wines.

By Brandy. — Dr. Macculloch justly remarks, that although
wines made from fluids whose composition we can command, may
be produced of any degree of strength, merely by a due proportion
of sugar and a proper management of the fermentation, and al¬
though bad consequences follow from the admixture of brandy
or spirits with wine ; yet, as it is difficult to overcome established
practices, it is right to describe the mode in which brandy may
be added to wines with the least possible injury, when it is de¬
sired to render them stronger. This is, in fact, the only effect
which spirits are capable of producing. If it be added to any
wine after that is completed, it merely produces a mixture, in
which it is not only generally to be distinguished by an accurate
palate, but in which all its evil effects are most conspicuous.

To render the mixture more complete and less injurious, the

J7*> On the Flavour and Strength of Hines.

spirits should be added while the process of fermentation is still
going on. The most convenient time will he during the insen¬
sible fermentation which takes place in the cask. By this
method, a portion at least of the added spirit enters into perma¬
nent combination with the wine, in consequence of its having
undergone the action of the fermenting process ; and the injury
to the quality of the wine is the least possible.

If the wish to add brandy should not have arisen till after the
wine is completed, it should then be managed by the process
technically called fretting-in. That time of the year should be
chosen when the wine is inclined to fret or to renew its fermen¬
tation, which process can be aided by stirring up the lees, by
heat, or by rolling ; the brandy being then added, a more inti¬
mate union of the two is produced than could have been procured
in the common way.

By Gypsum. — Another mode of strengthening wines is founded
upon the chemistry of affinities, by adding any substance which
will absorb the water, and leave the spirit untouched. Potash
is one of those substances, but the best is gypsum, or sulphate
of lime, by means of which wine may be rendered of any strength,
without giving it a brandified harshness, and without either add¬
ing any spirituous gout , or impairing its genuine flavour. Brandy
altogether destroys the finer kinds of wine, by changing their
qualities, and preventing them from keeping, while it is at the
same time rendered either less wholesome or positively perni¬
cious. Gypsum, on the contrary, if properly used, can never
prove injurious. The wine-coopers use gypsum without 'know¬
ing any thing of its chemical principle, or power of strengthen¬
ing the wines.

By a piece of Bladder . — A still more ingenious application of
the same chemical principle is founded on the affinity ot animal
membranes for water, while they reject spirits or alcohol. Try
a simple experiment, and the result will convince you of the
philosophy of our principle : put a quantity of wine in an un¬
covered cup or glass, and the same quantity in one closely co¬
vered with a piece of bladder. If you inspect the vessels some
time afterwards, you will find that the spirit of the wine has
escaped from the uncovered one, leaving the water; and that
the water has escaped from the covered one, leaving the spirits.
The bladder, indeed, drinks up the water like a sponge, and
passes it off into the air, while it does not allow a particle of the
spirit to pass. On this principle, by ingenious management,
you may render your wines of anv strength vou please.

• J * J O J l

Kitchen Economy.

Kitchen Economy. By Mrs. Taylor, of Ongar.

Suppose you have twenty shillings a week, and spend but
eighteen, or at any rate no more than you earn (which 1 hope is
the case), you are really richer than one who has ten times as
much, if it is not equal to what his situation in life requires.
Those who have not enough for this purpose, are poor ; and
those who have, are rich , be their income small or great. In
most families every shilling, almost every penny, is an object ;
and ought not to be spent without knowing how and for what.

Broken Victuals. — How unbecoming, then, is the wasteful¬
ness of letting provisions stand by from day to day, till they are
quite spoiled, and unfit to be eaten 1 Instead of this, the servant
should be made to look into the pantry every morning (if the
mistress does not), and bring out all that was left the day before.
If it is not eatable to-day, it will be worse to-morrow; and in
plain families, where the broken victuals cannot be given away,
the servant should eat her share of such leavings at any rate. It
is probable, they are better than what she has been accustomed
to taste at her mother’s cottage, or than what she may taste
again when she gets one of her own.

Bread. — It is a servant’s duty to take care of the bread : it
has been a very expensive article for many years, and it is justly
called the staff of life. No. more should be cut at a time than
is likely to be wanted; and what pieces are left should be eaten
before fresh is cut. Keep the loaf as even as possible. A care¬
ful servant ought to be taught the way to manage her bread ;
for a careless one will sometimes have to throw away half a loaf,
that has been left to spoil. When any pieces are left which
could not be avoided, they should neither be given to the chick¬
ens, nor thrown into the swill tub, nor cast on the cinder heap;
but saved for bread puddings, and used in proper time. A penny¬
worth of bread may be easily wasted every day, and that is thirty
shillings a-year !

When tlie Saviour fed five thousand people, with five barley
loaves and two small fishes, it might appear strange to some of
them, that he, who could so easily supply their wants, should
nevertheless command them to gather up the fragments, that
nothing should be lost; and many a scrap might be so gathered
up at your table and in your kitchen, which might appear to
you scarcely worth the trouble of stooping for; yet by this care,
twelve baskets full of wholesome food were preserved, and the
multitude were thus taught, and wc arc thus taught, to estimate
frugality as a high Christian virtue.

3 78

Kitchen Economy .

Beer. — For the same reason, no more beer should be drawn
at a time than is likely to be wanted : when, however, any is
left, a piece of under crust should he put into it, and it should
he covered close. A pint of beer is sometimes left to he thrown
away, and thought nothing of; but there are only eight pints
in a gallon !

Coals. — Coals are a most expensive article in a family, and
servants should be insructed to be particularly careful of them.
They ought not to he always stirring the fire : fresh coals are
quickly turned into dead cinders, by frequent and violent stir¬
ring; besides its keeping the hearth in a constant litter, and
giving the fire-place a very uncomfortable appearance. When
a fire is made up, the coals should be wetted with a little water,
and suffered to lie a short time to cake together, before they be
stirred. Careless servants by using up the large coals, when
they are not wanted, have only dust to burn towards the last :
thus both parlour and kitchen have to put up with bad fires, till
a fresh stock of coals comes in. A fire always burns deader after
the bellows have been applied to it; at any rate it should be
blown gently, and from a distance. People are apt to suppose,
that the more coals they heap on a fire the better it burns ; but if
it is loaded too much, it will not draw till it is half stirred away
into the ashes. How many more shovels full than are wanted,
may be thrown on in a day ! how few of these go to a peck !
and there are but four pecks in a bushel !

Candles . — Candles are another expensive article : make the
servant therefore carry them steadily, that they may not gutter
down ; and see that no pieces are left in the candlesticks, to be
melted away when they are cleaned. Carefully save aH such
pieces, and never let a whole candle be cut for the kitchen
while any of these remain, nor suffer it to burn in the socket.
If the servant have occasion to leave the kitchen for any length
of time, she should put out the candle while she is gone ; and
not let two or three be burning at once, when one is sufficient.
How many pounds of candle may be wasted in a year, by not
attending to such precautions as these !

Soap . — There is no occasion to use soap in scouring of boards,
where wood ashes can be had ; these with fuller’s earth, and even
without it, are quite sufficient, and will make them look equally
well, if they are properly wetted, scoured the right way of the
grain, well rinccd, and dried. There is less occasion still to leave
the soap in the water, for whatever purpose it is used. It
should not be so left, even while you are washing your hands ;
for if you wash them frequently, it will make it quite soft in the

179

New Remedies for Unmanageable Diseases .

course of the day. Much less should it be left in the hot suds
while washing. Half a hundred of soap costs a great deal of
money, and it is gone in a very short time, without care.

New Remedies for unmanageable Diseases.

Lock-jaw cured by Tobacco.

Lock-jaw is only inferior to hydrophobia, which it consider¬
ably resembles, in the dreadfulness of the symptoms. Like hy¬
drophobia, too, it has long defied the most skilful treatment and
baffled the ingenuity of the most scientific practitioners. Yet
cures have been effected even in lock-jaw, when it has arisen
spontaneously in nervous patients, as hydrophobia itself some¬
times does; but seldom indeed, when it has been a consequence
of a wound. Opium, mercury, extensive bleeding and blistering,
wine, cold and warm bathing, and every strong measure have
almost uniformly failed. Tobacco had been often tried without
success till Dr. Anderson, of Trinidad, thought of using it, not
only in the form of hot fomentation, but also applied tobacco
poultices to the muscles of the jaw, along the throat, the cheeks,
and the temples. The bowels were at the same time kept freely
open. He has already cured two cases, one of which was caused
by cupping over the temple, and another arose from the hand
being wounded by a cutlass.

Cancer cured by Master-wort.

Cancer quacks, such as Whitlaw and Sir Cancer Aldis, have
a dextrous knack of persuading their patients, that they either
have cancers or are threatened with them, if they chance to have
hard tumours, or sores of any kind. It is thus that numerous
cures are talked of and puffed, though it is certain the patients
never had cancer at all. We cannot answer for the effects of
the following remedy, but we think there can be no harm (and

that is saying a great deal,) in trying the

\

Cancer Plaster of Dr. Milius.

Take an ounce and a half of masterwort root*, powdered,
two ounces of the tincture of masterwort,
two ounces of hogs lard ;

Make into an ointment, spread it on leather, and renew it morning
and evening.

* The Imperntorium of Botanists. See Magazinder Pharmacie,

ISO

The Beauty of the Eye-brutes.

The Beauty of the Eye-Brows.

Part of the soul, if we believe the elder Pliny, resides in the
eye-brows; but though we may be sceptical in this, we must
agree with Lavater, that they always give the tone to the ex¬
pression of the face, and are the least equivocal interpreters of
the feelings, and though pride have its birth in the heart, it al¬
ways takes it seat on the eye-brows. The eve-brows in women,
from being soft and delicate, are more easily moved than in
men, and lienee they have for the most part a stronger expres¬
sion ; and according to the German poet. Herder, may become
the seat of serenity or chagrin; of intelligence or stupidity ; of
sweetness or discord; the iris of peace, or the bended bow of
war ; the test of dislike, or the sign of affection. Since the eye¬
brows, therefore, form so important a feature of the counte¬
nance, they will require your careful attention to improve and
preserve their beauty.

You may have remarked that the eye-brows are commonly of
a darker shade than the hair of the head, a circumstance more
remarkable in those who have light coloured hair. A good hint
may thence be derived for improving both their beauty and use¬
fulness, without betraying the artificial means employed. We
mean, that as it is natural for the eye- brows to be a shade darker
than their hair, a slight additional artificial tinge wall not be
readily detected, while it will give a tone of character to the
forehead, that must be deficient where the eye-brows are light.
Very light eye-brows, indeed, impart to the countenance a sort
of babyish vacancy and simpletonism, which must always de¬
tract from the influence of the most beautiful features, or the
finest eyes. In light eye-brows also, their hair is usually less iu
quantity than in the dark, which is another reason for adding
to their colour by artificial means. For this purpose we recom¬
mend the

t

Wash for darkening the Eye- brows .

Dissolve in one ounce of distilled water,
one drachm of sulphate of iron, add
one ounce of gum water,
a tea spoonful of eau de Cologne.

Mix, and after having wetted the eve-brows with the aromatic tinc¬
ture of galls, apply the wash with a camel hair pencil.

We have before given a receipt for darkening the eye-brows,
at page 176, Vol. I. of which wc think the following is an im¬
provement : —

181

The Beauty of the Eye-brows.

Paste for darkening the Eye-brows.

Take an ounce of walnuts,

an ounce o t irankincense,
an ounce of resin,
an ounce of mastiche.

Burn them all on clear red hot charcoal, and receive the fumes into
a tunnel, to which a very fine black powder slightly perfumed and
unctuous will adhere. Mix this with a little oil of myrtle, in a leaden
mortar, and apply it to the eye-brows.

This paste has the property of resisting both heat and per¬
spiration; but it must be occasionally renewed. The following
method may also be used : —

Clove Black for the Eye-brows.

Burn a clove in the flame of a wax candle, dip it in the juice, or the
rob ot elder berries, and apply it to the eye-brows.

The powder also, which is used in the East for painting the
eye-lashes, and which is composed of antimony and bismuth ;
or a paste prepared from powdered black lead, with eau de Co¬
logne, or oil of myrtle, or essence of bergamot, may be safely
and advantageously used.

Though, however, it is indispensible to beauty to have the
eye-brows of a dark colour, and also a protection to the sight,
as they are the natural shade of the eye, yet when they become
large and shaggy, it gives a look of vulgarity, and is also a mark
of old age. We must request you to attend to this; and if the
hair grow too long and thick, to keep it down with the scissars.
If this be not sufficient, some of the longest hairs may be re¬
moved by the tweezers. The same means may be tried, and are
much better and safer than any depilatory, to diminish the ex¬
tent of the eye-brows, and prevent them from spreading. We
have a very different taste in this respect from the ancient Ro¬
mans, who- considered it indispensible in a beauty to have her
eye-brows meet, what is in Scotland called lucken-browed , from
a notion that the person whose eye-brows are so formed, is or
should be lucky. Instead, therefore, of painting the space be¬
tween the eye-brows to imitate hair, we consider it more hand¬
some to have all the hair removed, and the eye-brows well se¬
parated. The Roman fashion, it must be confessed, formed a
better out-work to prevent the perspiration of the forehead from
falling into the eyes; and this, besides forming a shade for the
light, is their chief office, according to Socrates, who instances
the form and place of the eye-brows, as a strong argument for
Providence #.

vol. n.

* See Xenophon’s Memorabilia of Socrates.

2 A

1S2

Nerves of Ike Liver and its Companionships.

New Test of Recovery from Disease.

Among the surest symptoms of amendment in a sick person
is the growing indifference he expresses for the visits of his phy¬
sician. This observation is illustrated by the following conver¬
sation, which passed between Mr. Cline and a noble Earl,
whom he had attended during a long and severe indisposition.
As he entered the chamber on a certain occasion, he was thus
addressed by his patient : — tc Good day to you, Mr. Cline, I
feel quite in spirits, and I think my fever has left me.'*' “ I am
sure of it,” replied the Surgeon ; “ the very first expression you
used convinces me of it.” “ Pray explain yourself.” “ Nothing
more easy : in the first days of your illness, when your life was
in danger, I was your dearest friend ; as you began to get bet¬
ter, I was your good Mr. Cline ; and now I am plain Mr. Cline —
depend upon it you are quite well.”

Nerves of the Liver, and its Companionship with the

Skin.

We take advantage of the publication of our Medical Ad¬
vice in Bilious and Liver Complaints , to draw up from it a brief
statement of some interesting facts respecting subjects very ill
understood, even among the most learned of the Faculty. — The
nerves which go to the liver, and on which its feelings ought
to depend, (the nerves being the grand medium of sensa¬
tion throughout the body) seem to be either uncommonly in¬
sensible, or easily rendered obtuse, and feelingless by disease.
We make this inference from the well known fact, which often,
and very unjustly, brings doctors into disgrace, that most exten¬
sive diseases of the liver will occur, and go on for months, and
even years, without their seat being detected, and many times
without giving the patient much uneasiness, at least in the liver
or its vicinity where the evil is in progress. From the researches
of Walter, Weber, Lobstein, and others, it is demonstrated
that the nerves of the liver, derived from what is called the
Great Sympathetic Nerve, are more copiously distributed along
the course of the blood-vessels than through the substance of
the liver* itself, and consequently, that any derangement in the
blood will become sooner manifest than in the structural sub¬
stance. Yet in the case of chronic inflammations, hardening, soft¬
ening, enlargement, or abscesses in the liver, there is frequently
no pain, or a very slight one. Among many proofs which we

*

Sec Walter, Tabulae. Nervorum Thor, et Abdom. Plate IV.

Nerves of the Liver and its Companionships. IBS

could give of this fact, we shall content ourselves with the fol¬
lowing

Striking Case. By Dr. A. Robertson

A naval officer, stationed at New Orleans, was carried off by
the dysentery, which was there epidemic. On opening the body,
it was discovered that there were no less than two large ab¬
scesses in the liver — one containing a pint of matter, and the
other of so great extent, and so lined on its inner surface with a
thick, fretted, and irregular collection of matter, that it resem¬
bled, if the comparison may be allowed, a large winter-glove
lined with worsted. Now it might have been thought, that
something of this extensive suppuration in the liver would have
been indicated by previous pain or uneasiness, whereas Dr. Ro¬
bertson is positive that the deceased had never, at any period of
his disease, felt any pain in his side; for as he was very intelli¬
gent, and gave minute descriptions of all his feelings, he would
assuredly not have omitted to mention this had it occurred.
Besides, he was one of the last men in the world who could
have been suspected of disordered liver, being of a florid com¬
plexion, and having previously enjoyed the best health all his
life. Dr. Robertson was led from this case to keep an eye upon
the liver in his subsequent practice; but he could not often dis¬
cover any particular pain of the side, either on drawing in a
deep breath, or on pressure upon the liver under the ribs,
though he frequently found after death, equally extensive disease
of the liver, with that in the case of the officer, and in some in¬
stances, as much as a quart of matter in a liver abscess. Many
similar cases may be found in the great work of Morgagni, and
in Portal, Baillie, & c.

Our friend, Dr. James Johnson, was the first to trace the im¬
portant circumstances of the close connection between the liver
and the skin, which had been previously overlooked, though the
companionship of the skin with the lungs, the stomach, and the
bowels had been long understood. We shall, therefore, make
free to borrow the doctor’s illustrations, though we shall not
adhere closely to his language. There exists then, between the
skin and the vessels in the liver, which separate the bile from
the blood, the strongest companionship of any in the body —
that is, the formation of bile and of perspiration go on uniformly
and proportionately together, and from infancy to old age are
under the influence of the heat of the air or of climate, from the
pole to the equator. In warm climates this is more easily trace¬
able; for as we approach a hot latitude, perspiration and the
flow of bile both increase, whereas when we go to a cold lati-

* See Johnson on Tropical Climates, page 488, 3d edition.

184

Nerves of the Liver and its Companionships.

tude, they both decrease in an equally proportionate degree.
This is in direct opposition to the authority of Bich4t, but it is
fact in opposition to theory : for any surgeon who crosses the
equator may remark, that the stools of his patients with loose
bowels will be of a bright yellow (that is full of bile) when ap¬
proaching the line ; and, on the contrary, the loose stools will
be pale and white (that is deficient in bile) when receding from
the line into a colder climate. The heat increases the perspira¬
tion, and also the flow of bile : the cold air narrows or shuts up
the pores of the skin, and also decreases the flow of bile, while
the fluids in the blood, thus prevented from escaping by the skin
and the liver, are thrown upon the bowels, and cause what we
may call the pale-flux, as we may call the former the yellow-flux.
In our own climate, we may observe numerous instances during
the hot weather of August, of this yellow-flux, which some¬
times goes farther, as we shall see onwards, and constitutes bile-
flux, which the doctors call cholera morbus.

JBich&t found by experiment, that while the process of digestion
is going on in the stomach, the flow of bile is diminished, and
the outlet of the stomach closed; but no sooner does the food
pass from the stomach, than the bile flows copiously. It is the
same with the perspiration of the skin, which is diminished dur¬
ing the preliminary stage of digestion, and is increased the
instant the bile begins to flow upon the digested food. A
similar observation holds good respecting those invalids from the
East and West Indies, whose livers are sluggish and torpid, and
produce little bile — namely, that their skins are at the same time
dry, harsh, and without any appearance of the softness and
moisture characteristic of health.

Every person who has taken an emetic, may recollect how he
was drenched in perspiration from the nausea, and how at the
end of the operation he discharged a quantity of pure bile. In
the analogous case of sea-sickness, this is still more remarkable,
the perspiration and the vomiting of bile keeping strict pace with
each other.

Exercise powerfully promotes the flow of the bile as well as
of perspiration, illustrative of which, a curious case is given in
the Edinburgh Medical Journal. The patient had an obstinate
indigestion with deficiency of bile and dry skin. All remedies
were taken without effect till he tried violent broad-sword exer¬
cise, which brought on a copious perspiration, and with it, of
course, the requisite flow of bile.

*** The companionship of the liver with the stomach and
the lungs, are taken notice of above, Oracle, Vol. II. pp. 69 and
149.

Philosophy of the Gout — No. 2.

185

Philosophy of the Gout. — No. 2.

Lime, a Cause of Gout.

Our principles respecting the causes of gout are singularly
confirmed by a fact recorded by Musgravc, an eminent writer on
gout, though he was astray in his philosophy, as he attributed
the disease to what he calls a peccant humour — the term pec¬
cant, of course, being a mere cloak for the humiliation of saying
“I am ignorant.” Musgrave, however, records the important
fact, that in Devonshire, previously to the introduction of lime
as a manure, gout was almost unknown ; whereas it is now very
prevalent, in consequence, as it should seem, of the lime hus¬
bandry. If you will take the trouble to turn to Vol. I. p. 321,
you will find a very remarkable coincidence of these principles,
with what we have there said respecting the cause of grey hair.
Every circumstance, indeed, which tends to obstruct or ob¬
literate the small hair-like blood-vessels will cause a super¬
abundance of lime in the body, and a tendency to form bone in
the soft parts of the system, as always occurs in the old, and
even in the young, who have ruined their constitutions. But
independently of any of those causes, if an undue portion of
lime is taken with our food or drink, it must, as in the instance
recorded of Devonshire, have a tendency to induce gout, grey
hair, and other marks of advancing age. Recollect, we say, an
undue portion, for a certain quantity of lime is indispensible in
our system for repairing the wear and tear of the bones, the
teeth, &c.

The lime necessary for the repair of bone is manufactured
by the stomach and liver along with the blood from vari¬
ous articles of our diet which contain it. The greatest supply
is usually from the water which we drink, or which is em¬
ployed in the various processes of cooking and preparing of
liquors. All animal food, also, contains some portion of lime
as well as some of the sorts of vegetable food. These facts will
lead us to some excellent

Practical Preventives of Gout .

Ascertain by chemical trial, whether the water used for your
tea, coffee, soups, punch, &c., contains a large proportion of
lime, and if it does you must either have it chemically purified,
or remove to some other place where the water is more free from
lime. If water is hard, you may be certain, without farther
trial, that it contains too much lime to be safely used by the
gouty, nor is it safe indeed for the most healthy to use much
hard water. Early grey hair will be the least of the evils which

186 Medical Critiques on Old Women's Prescriptions .

it has every chance to occasion. Pump water is, therefore, al¬
ways bad, except in rarer instances, when it is soft. Rain water
which has not come in contact with lime during its fall, is the
safest for tea and other liquids used by the gouty.

Bread will always contain a portion of lime derived both from
the wheat which naturally contains it, and also from the water
used to mix the flour; but it is also well known, that both the
millers and the bakers are in the habit of improving the colour
and increasing the weight of flour by mixing it with whiting,
which is a preparation of lime. Nothing can be worse for a
gouty patient than bread of this description, and it will be ad¬
visable for those who are anxious to prevent the return of their
enemy to ascertain carefully, whether their bread or their flour
is so adulterated. It is of the more importance to have the flour
examined, because it is the common popular opinion that all
the bread adulterations are made by the bakers, and when bread
is made at home, all suspicions of fraudulent mixture are lulled.
The truth is, however, that the miller is much oftener culpable
of such frauds than the baker, and therefore, even home-made
bread is not safe, unless you are certain what sort of flour you
employ.

Lime is also much employed in the refining of wines, the
manufacture of sugar, and other articles of diet, and it is scarcely
possible that no portion of it should remain in the goods when
brought to market. It may seem an over-refinement of advice
to counsel you to be careful in examining those articles ; but if
you have ever suffered from the torture of gout, you will not allow
our hint to be lost. Those who are healthy and have no fear of
gout, require not to be so scrupulous; but no care can be ill-
spent, if it tend to prevent the returns of this tormentor.

The Philosophy of Gout will be continued.

Medical Critiques on Old Women's Prescriptions, No. 3.

An Old Lady’s Specific for Ague.

Take two tea spoonfuls of flour of brimstone,
one gill of port wine.

Mix, and take whenever the fit comes on, going to bed immediately,
and remaining well wrapt up till profuse perspiration is induced.

This has recently been trumpeted through all the public
prints as a sovereign remedy for ague, one dose generally effect¬
ing a cure, and seldom requiring two to complete it. It is also
said that where wine cannot be had, the sulphur may be mixed
with water, and the effect will be nearly as powerful. The old
lady, who now, for the first time, has the goodness to disclose it

How to prepare Sulphate of Quinine. 187

for the public good, learned it thirty years ago from a stranger;
and during that time she has never known it to fail.

We ask this old woman, whether she ever knew live spiders
swallowed — or a dried toad carried in the bosom, fail to cure
ague? We undertake to cure any given case of ague, provided
the patient be ignorant and credulous, by pronouncing a few
unintelligible words, or performing any unmeaning and mys¬
terious-looking ceremony. It must, indeed, have been the most
undoubting credulity in the power of the remedy, that ever
made this effectual — if it really has been so, as we confess we
strongly doubt. It is at all events a medicine of no power, and
as it is expressly intended to promote profuse perspiration, we
put our readers on their guard, and advise them to beware of
tampering with it, as it is a standing rule in medicine that pro¬
fuse sweats must not be promoted in ague, except with great
caution, and under the direction of a skilful medical practi¬
tioner, as by this means the patient may be so much weakened
as to render the disease dangerous, and the cure difficult. If water
be employed instead of wine, the danger will be increased ; for
if it fail to produce perspiration as often happens — the cold
shivering may be prolonged till it prove fatal, as occurred to a
patient mentioned by Ballonius *. Ague is clearly a disease of
debility, and requires strengthening — not weakening remedies,
as all those which promote profuse perspiration must be. The
most effectual strengthening remedy hitherto discovered for
ague, is bark ; and where the stomach cannot bear a sufficient
quantity of it — the chemical preparation from the bark — called
sulphate of quinine.

So much for a newspaper prescription. We shall keep an eye
on the public prints, and guard our readers from following the
foolish and dangerous remedies so often published, we doubt
not, with the best intentions, but too frequently by those who
know nothing of medicine.

HOW TO PREPARE SULPHATE OF QUININE.

We have no share nor interest in the sale of any medicine,
either public or private, and on that ground we claim a superio¬
rity over most other works of a similar kind to our own, in
which the editors or proprietors find it advantageous to puff' off
their nostrums to every description of patients. We, on the
contrary, have no interest in being partial to one medicine
more than another, advantage to our readers being our guiding
principle. It is, no doubt, in a great measure owing to this

* Sec Ballonius Opera, Tom, l. p. 193.

1 8R How to prepare Sulphate oj Quinine.

impartiality and open fair dealing, that our work is daily rising
in character and sale, while others which take an opposite
course, have been caught in the very fact of direct quackery,
have lost, beyond reprieve, the character of honesty, and have,
consequently, diminished in circulation. These remarks we
think called for with respect to the expensive medicine which
we have so often recommended, and in the sale of which, we
might perhaps, by those ignorant of its history, be accused of
having an underhand interest. To keep our fair fame entirely
free from the remotest suspicion of this kind, we shall here
give a plain description of the

French Process. By M. Robert, of Rouen*.

Powder a quantity of yellow Peruvian bark, roughly, and boil
it till the substance is exhausted in water, to which two ounces
of muriatic acid is added for every pound of bark. Throw in
powdered chalk, gradually, so long as the fluid effervesces, in
order to neutralize the excess of acid. The muriate, or hydro¬
chlorate, of quinine remains in solution, and a copious red preci¬
pitate falls down. Decant the transparent liquor and treat it
with lime, but so that it shall not be in excess. Dissolve the
precipitate in very diluted sulphuric acid, and it will throw down
a little sulphate of lime. Treat the liquid again with chalk, and
when the effervescence is over, place the whole on a fire with
animal charcoal, in fine powder, prepared by charring bones in
a strong furnace : the charcoal in the proportion of an ounce to
the pound. Boil this a few minutes and filter. Put the
liquor to cool in a vessel neither too shallow nor too deep, and
while it cools it will deposit sulphate of quinine in crystals.
These are purified by dissolving them in distilled water.

English Process. By J. A. Paris, M.D. F.R.S., &c. &c. &c.

Boil for half an hour two pounds of the yellow Peruvian bark
in powder in sixteen pints of distilled water, acidulated with two
fluid-ounces of sulphuric acid; strain the decoction through a
linen cloth, and submit the residue to a second boiling in a
similar quantity of acidulated water; mix the decoctions, and
add, by small portions at a time, powdered lime, constantly
stirring it to facilitate its action on the acid decoction. (Half a
pound is near the quantity requisite.) When the decoction has
become slightly alkaline it assumes a dark brown colour, and
deposits a reddish-brown flaky precipitate, which is to be sepa¬
rated by passing it through a linen cloth. The precipitate is to

* Sur le Sulphate de Quinine. Par M. Robert, Pharmacien, de l'Hotel Dieu
de Ronen. Mem. Acad, des Sciences.

Mr- Abernathy's Explanation oj an, Irish Bull. 18!)

be washed with a little cold distilled water and dried. When
dry it is to be digested in rectified spirit, with a moderate heat,
for some hours ; the liquid is then to be decanted, and fresh
portions of spirit added till it no longer acquires a bitter taste.
Unite the spirituous tinctures, and distil in a water-bath till three
fourths of the spirit employed has distilled over. Alter this
operation there remains in the vessel a brown viscid substance
covered by a bitter, very alkaline, and milky iluid. The two
products are to be separated and treated as follows. To the
alkaline liquid add a sufficient quantity of sulphuric acid to
saturate it ; reduce it by evaporation to half the quantity ; add
a small portion of charcoal, and after some minutes boiling,
filter it whilst hot, and crystals of sulphate of quinine will
form. The brown mass is to be boiled in a small quantity of
water, slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, which will convert
a large portion of it into sulphate of quinine. The crystals are
to be dried on blotting paper. Two pounds of bark will, it is
said, yield five or six drachms of the sulphate ; of which eight
grains are considered equivalent to an ounce of bark.

Very good sulphate of quinine may be had, we understand,
at Apothecaries’ Hall : we are sorry to say that we cannot affirm
as much of some of their other drugs. The pills, for which we
have given the receipt, Vol. I. p. 280., cost four or five shillings
per dozen, when made up at any respectable shop.

Mr. Abernethy’s Surgical Explanation of an IrIsh

Bull.

In Lieutenant Morgan’s late work, entitled “ the Emigrant’s
Guide,” the following bullish epistle is given, as the genuine
report of an Irish officer to his Colonel, the day after an action : —

“ Dear - ,

“ 1 was shot through the head yesterday morning; hut they
tell me I am doing very well, and I think so myself. A plague on that
villainous salt-petre, I think, will be the death of me at last.

Your’s, &c. - ”

Mr. Abernethy, who is himself an Irishman, gave in his
lectures, a short time ago, a most scientific and satisfactory ex¬
planation of this extraordinary circumstance. 44 When 1 was
an apprentice,” said he, “ I w'as called in great haste to see a
man in Radcliffe Highway, who was reported to have shot him¬
self through the head; and when I arrived and examined the
man, (whom, strange to say, I found alive) I found sure enough
that a pistol bullet had entered atone temple, and came right out
at the other, on the opposite side of the head. But how the

VOL. II. 2 Li

190 Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 3.

bullet could have passed through the man’s head without killing
him on the spot, L could not divine. It was expected, at least,
that 1 should do something for him, and 1 accordingly could
think oi’ nothing better than taking a few ounces of blood from
him, till I had time to consult my master. On examining, how¬
ever, the head more particularly, 1 found that the skull had been
too hard for the bullet, which had only penetrated as far as the
bone, and coursed it over the top of the head under the muscles
to the place where it made its exit.”

So far Mr. Abernethy and Ids very curious case. Similar
cases are told on good surgical authority, of bullets passing
round part of the body without going in a direct course. It is
also no less singular than true, and well known to surgeons, that
a blow on the temple will sometimes fracture the temple on the
other side of the head, while the temple which is struck shall
remain uninjured.

More Curious Cases.

The Irishman’s case may be explained differently from the
account of Mr. Abernethy, for it is quite possibly for a ball to
penetrate into the brain, and even lodge there without causing
death, as many authentic cases on record testify. Dr. IJennen,
in his Military Surgery, gives the case of a soldier, who was shot
in the temple at Waterloo, the ball was extracted from the brain
five days after, and the patient lived and did well. Parvisse tells
us of a man who was shot in the head, and though the ball was
not got out, the man in six months after felt no inconvenience,
but a difficulty of opening his mouth. M. Dupuytren, the most
eminent living surgeon perhaps in the world, had a no less
curious case under his care at the Hotel Dieu, Paris. The pa¬
tient, a young man, had been struck on the side of the head
with a sharp-pointed knife, which broke in the wound. The
wound healed and he was long well, when all at once it swelled,
suppurated, and the knife point was discharged, after it had
been lodged in the brain for two years. The patient died soon
after.

*** In our next, a scientific inquiry by Professor Wade, of
Dublin, whether Whales Teeth are not Petrified Cucumbers.

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 3.

Nature of Sound.

The intimations of the external world which we receive through
the ear, are the result of certain concussions that take place
among the objects around us. When bodies are brought into
sudden contact, or a single body is made to vibrate or expand

191

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 3.

suddenly, It must displace a quantity of the surrounding air.
The air which is thus displaced, in its turn displaces that portion
of air which is next to it, or beyond it, on every side ; above and
below, before and behind, on the right and on the left. This
displaced portion of air displaces again what is beyond it, and so
on, in a manner similar to the circles of water which arise from
throwing a stone into a pond. In the case of sound, however,
the waves are not in superficial circles, but in spheres, like the
coats of an onion. The air besides is elastic, or has the quality
of springing back to its first position like Indian rubber when
stretched out and let go. Therefore the waves of sound are not
regularly progressive like those of water, but vibrate or tremble
forwards and backwards as a musical string is seen to do when
it is struck. The first wave accordingly, when it strikes on the
air around it, drives this air forwards, while it is itself driven
backwards.

This shows that the motion of sound is also very different
from that of wind, and is scarcely, if at all, perceptible to sight
or touch ; for it is well known that sounds which would shatter
windows to pieces will not move a feather, nor the flame of a
candle, so different is the motion from wind. Though, how¬
ever, sound is not usually felt by touch, there are instances in
which it appears to have been thus perceptible.

Curious Cases.

Kersting, who lost both his sight and hearing after manhood,
had his sense of touch so wonderfully improved, that he could
read a book of large print by passing his fingers along the lines.
H e was also a practical florist. But the most wonderful faculty
which he possessed, was that of distinguishing sounds by the
touch, being able to comprehend the greater part of a conver¬
sation when the mouth of the speaker was applied to his hand.
The letter R, however, grated so much on his feelings, that
his friends took care to pronounce it as seldom as possible.
This feeling is distinct from the sympathetic thrilling occasioned
by certain sounds, and felt all over the body. Mr. P. Knight
says, his very limbs were thrilled on hearing the commemoration
of Handel at Westminster. Lackington, the celebrated book¬
seller, in his Memoirs, mentions a lady who, though deaf, took
great delight in music, which she said she felt at her breast, and
in the soles of her feet. Of course we do not rest much on this
instance, though it is not improbable.

Velocity o f Sound.

Sound is in this manner propagated, or travels in all directions
from the place where it is produced. The quickness with which

192

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 3.

sound travels is much inferior to the quickness of light, which
goes 95,000,000 miles, that is, it comes from the sun to the earth,
in eight minutes and a half, while sound only goes 1,142 feet in a
second. By knowing this, we can make near estimates of distances
otherwise inaccessible. A thunder cloud, for example, will be
between six and seven miles distant, if half a minute elapses from
the time we see the lightning to the time we hear the thunder.
The distance of a ship at sea is calculated in the same wav, hv
attending to the difference of time observed in the flash and in
report of her guns.

It is another proof of the difference of wind and sound, that
sound travels very nearly as quick against the wind as with it,
though a contrary wind diminishes, and a fair wind increases,
its loudness. That sounds of different tones travel with the
same velocity, is evident from what we observe on listening to
a peal of bells, or to any instrument of music; for all the tones
come in succession to our ears ; whereas, if they did not travel
at the same rate, they would be heard confusedly jarring with
one another. The lowest whisper, accordingly, travels as rapidly
as the loudest thunder.

It is also to be remarked, that sounds proceed with the same
velocity through a long or a short space — a large or a small
distance. Sounds also travel with the same velocity by night
and by day; in damp and in dry weather. This, however, is not
to be understood as having the same effect on their loudness
and lowness. Like the rays of light, sound is supposed to pro¬
ceed in straight lines; though from its being greatly more re-
flexible than light, it can pass through the winding tube of a
French horn, which light cannot do. Not only so, but the in¬
tensity of sound is much increased in the passage through a
winding tube — a principle on which the speaking trumpet is
constructed.

Echoes.

Like the rays of light also, sound can he reflected from cer-
tain bodies, and when this takes place, it is called an echo , a
word derived from the Greek. By taking advantage of the prin¬
ciple, echoes have been formed by art, as mirrors have been
made for reflecting light. It was once thought that concave bo¬
dies were indispensible to produce echoes. A single flat wall,
however, will produce an echo; and Le Cat says he has even ob¬
served that some convex bodies reflected sound, though a vault,
or a bending wall, is the best form.

A third property, in which sound resembles light, is its power
of penetrating and passing through hard substances. Light
passes through glass and diamonds, and sound in a similar man-

School Diseases Jr 07H School Vices. — No. 2. ] 93

ner passes through iron and other metals, as well as through
wood. It may be also remarked, that other circumstances being
the same, the harder or more dense the substance, sound pene¬
trates it the more easily, and in this respect it bears a strong re¬
semblance to heat.

Experiments.

When the ear is placed close to one end of a log of wood,
however long it may be, and the other end is struck, or a watch
applied to it, we are sensible of the sound of the watch or of
the stroke, though it be too slight to be otherwise perceptible.
When a piece of metal is applied to the bones of the head, or
to the teeth, and struck, we also feel an indistinct sensation of
sound, and this is felt even by those who are deaf to sounds
conveyed through the air. The blind and deaf boy, Mitchell,
found his greatest pleasure in striking his teeth with a key, and
was highly displeased when he was given a piece of wood as a
substitute.

School Diseases from School Vices. — No. 2.

The multiplied remarks which we have made on renewing ex¬
hausted strength, and repairing ruined constitutions, will show
you that though we do not, in some points, agree with Dr. A. P .
Buchan, yet that in the main principles of the treatment we
nearly coincide. We think it advantageous to science, how¬
ever, notwithstanding a slight discordance of opinion, to give
the views of able men who differ from ourselves, that our
readers may weigh the reasonings or try by experiment the
truth of the facts on which these are founded. For these rea¬
sons, we. shall here continue the subject, begun at p. 7b, Vol. II.
of the

Remedies and Treatment. By Dr. A. P. Buchan.

Bathing in the open sea, especially in autumn, when the
heats of summer are over, has beneficial effects in strengthening
the constitution, and is a very useful remedy in this complaint.
Venus herself is feigned by the poets to have sprung from the
sea*: debilitated persons can rarely endure the cold bath; but,
if convenient to repair to the sea, bathing in an open river
may be resorted to with advantage f.

In complaints of this nature, the due regulation of diet is
of great importance ; but is also attended with consider-

* Oita salo, biiftcopfa solo, patre rriifa ecelo.
i See Oracle, V ol. 1 1. pajje 13.

1S4

School Diseases from School J ices. — Ao. 2.

able difficulty. The unnatural and too frequent irritation to
which the organs have been subjected, creates a habit of pro¬
ducing a preternatural flow of blood to the parts. But the
nutritious and succulent food, which the debilitated constitution
seems to require, tends to augment the quantity of this as of
all other materials of the body. The increased introduction
stimulates the parts, and thus multiplies the frequency of the
exhausting cause.

It becomes necessary, therefore, for a time, to abstain from
aliments of too nutritious a nature. Milk, butter, fat, eggs,
soups of all kinds, sago, potatoes, and chocolate, should be ab¬
stained from. Salt also, which acts peculiarly as a stimulant
on the organs, should be sparingly used. But a total absti¬
nence from salt is apt to be attended with indigestion. Sugar, and
all sweet meats, and made wines, are peculiarly injurious; and
their use ought to be wholly given up. The preferable diet, at
the commencement of the treatment of this complaint, should
consist of the flesh of adult animals, plainly roasted or boiled.
Cold meat, for breakfast or luncheon, is preferable to tea or
coffee. Tea should on no account be taken in the evening. If
the appetite requires supper, a little cold meat may be taken.
Port wane with water, or good porter, forms the best beverage.
All drink should be taken cold. The fluid taken into the sto¬
mach should be limited to as small a quantity as the constitu¬
tion requires. The whole daily measure of drink ought not to
exceed a pint and a half. The dry diet of the ancient Ancho¬
rites is peculiarly useful in these complaints, and should be ad¬
hered to as strictly as possible*.

The following are some simple forms of the

Best Tonic Medicines for Ruined Constitutions.

1. Take of powdered Peruvian bark \ one ounce; powdered
cloves a drachm ; infuse in a bottle of port wine for twenty-four
hours, occasionally shaking the mixture : a wine glassful
poured off clear may be taken at noon and at eight at night.
2. An ounce of barkf may, in like manner, be infused in a
quart of distilled water, and a wine glassful, with twenty drops
of diluted sulphuric acid, taken twice a day. 3. The elixir of
vitriol, taken with the mineral waters of Bristol, is useful ; and
if combined with the salubrious air of that delightful watering
place, we have known it frequently to prove invigorating in cases

* These directions, it will be perceived, agree pretty much with our Rules of
Training. Kditou?.

+ The Sulphate of Quinine is the best preparation of the bark. Ibid.

School Diseases from School Vices . — No. 2. 195

of extreme debility. 4 . The water and air of Malvern are also
advantageous. 5. Take of catechu, in powder, two drachms ;
boiling water, seven ounces ; infuse for two hours, strain, and
add of compound tincture of ammonia, half an ounce. Of this,
a wine glass may be taken twice a day. 6*. Tincture of catechu,
two ounces; compound spirit of lavender, two drachms. Take a
tea spoonful, in a little water, twice a day. 7* Of powdered
catechu, two drachms ; cinnamon and myrrh, each one drachm ;
liquor of potass sufficient to form it into a mass for pills.
Divide into sixty-four pills, of which two may be taken twice a
day. 8. Take of powdered myrrh, two drachms ; rhubarb and
carbonate of iron, each one drachm ; liquor of potass a sufficient
quantity. Divide into sixty-four pills, of which two may be
taken twice a day. 9. Infusion of quassia, seven ounces; tinc¬
ture of catechu, half an ounce. A large table spoonful may be
taken twice a day. 10. Pills of powdered rhubarb and Venice
turpentine are frequently useful. 11. The root of the ginseng
may be chewed, and the saliva swallowed with advantage. 12.
Of what used to be termed Hoffman’s anodyne liquor, now the
compound spirit of vitriolic aether, from twenty to thirty drops
may be taken in water at bed time. — These are, perhaps, all
the remedies that a person may venture upon without profes¬
sional superintendance. Purging is improper, and blood-letting
dangerous. Costiveness must, however, be prevented. It is
always possible to regulate the bowels by eating some fruit, a
few French plums, or figs, between breakfast and dinner.

Many persons labouring under this species of debility, enter¬
tain an erroneous opinion, that it is possible by medicine to put
a stop to the enfeebling discharges. Such, however, is not the
case. The only remedies that could produce this effect, are
such as would in the same degree impair or destroy the feeling
altogether. This purpose may, in some measure, be effected
by drinking freely of strong wines or spirits. Even strong coffee,
taken freely, it is said, greatly diminishes the feelings in question.
But these effects are owing to the vigour of the constitution in
general being also diminished.

The introduction of a bougie of elastic gum, of as large a
size as the urinary canal will admit, and keeping it inserted for
ten minutes twice a-day, merely by pressing upon the parts,
will give a temporary tone, as a tight bandage acts when applied
to a dropsical limb.

It is not, however, to obtain the extinction but the renova¬
tion of vigour, that patients in general apply for medical aid.
The sole effectual means which the unfortunate victims have to
recover their health of body and peace of mind, is, a return to

School Diseases from School Vices. — No. 2.

19C>

the paths of nature, from which very many of them have unwit¬
tingly strayed. Endeavours to relieve the feelings by other
means than those appointed by nature, constitute the very essen¬
tial cause of such complaints. In truth, a it is not good for
man to be alone,” as was declared by our Creator, when “ He
made an helpmate for him.” Woman was formed to complete
the well-being of man, and men who abstain from their society,
are rarely either happy or healthy. Marriage constitutes the
bond of society, is the source of all the charities which adorn
human life, forms the security of property, and the respect paid
to its sanctions, affords the best test of the moral condition of a
civilized nation. How debased is that state of society, where a
woman is sold and treated as a slave, compared with that in
which she is placed in her due station, and considered as the
companion and equal of man ? It is uniformly observed in India,
that the Hindoos, who marry early in life, are a far more respect¬
able and moral class of people than the Mahometans, whose
religion permits them to indulge in promiscuous concubinage.

Early marriages are said to be generally the most happy;
and the festivities with which the rites of matrimony arc every
where celebrated, afford proofs of the utility as well as the
sanctity of the institution.

The main intention of cure required for those persons who
suppose themselves debilitated by the practices in question, is
to restore them to such a measure of health as may enable them
to enter upon the state of wedlock, the only natural and real
remedy for such complaints, and the inability to do so depends
much more frequently on the state of the mind than of the body.
But if the patient finds that he cannot marry with propriety, let
him endeavour to find other sources of consolation, and not
augment his own misery by the sacrifice of some, perhaps, wor¬
thy female, upon whose credulity he imposes in the most un¬
manlike manner, by marrying under such circumstances, if he
conceal them, and in whose society he can expect nothing but
dislike, reproach, and contempt. Such cases, we have reason to
believe, are very rare; we have never met with one.

After marriage, the plan of diet formerly recommended is by
no means to be persisted in. The most nutritious food may be
indulged in, not only with safety but advantage. Chocolate*
with biscuit, but no butter, forms the best breakfast. All sorts
of shell and fiat fish, such as lobsters, oysters, skate, turbot,
dories, plaice, that agree with the stomach, may be eaten, also

* The chocolate we should prohibit entirely. Why recommend it, and forbid
butter since both are greasy and indigestible? Editor-'.

Chinese Mode of Preserving the Teeth. 197

game and pigeons, or eels, if they agree. I knew a very old
and respectable physician, who particularly recommended
Windsor beans and bacon *. In short, all food that ageess with
the stomach. Of the quantity proper to be taken, the appetite,
which is always much improved, is the best criterion. Tea and
coffee, and especially gin, are certainly debilitating. The whole
quantity of fluid, consisting of beer, wine, and water, should not,
however, exceed three pints per day.

Those who are desirous of seeing this subject treated in
all its details, and divested of the quackery and puffing of patent
nostrums, so universally attached to it, are referred to our
Medical Secrets for Fashionable Diseases, just published.

Chinese Mode of Preserving the Teeth.

With all their pretensions to superiority, the Chinese know
little or nothing of chemistry, except what they have been taught
by accident and observation. We must, therefore, ascribe to
one of these their method of preserving the teeth, which is
founded on just chemical principles. If you look back to Vol. I.
p. 315, you will see that a great portion of the waste and re¬
fuse of the body passes off by the breath, a considerable part of
which refuse is in the state of carbonic acid gas. Now as this
cannot pass through the mouth without sweeping over the
teeth, it cannot fail to load them with impurities, every breath
you draw through the mouth.

From this principle, the Chinese rule of preserving the teeth
may be readily deduced, namely, keep your mouth shut as much
as possible, particularly during sleep, when the teeth are most
apt to become loaded with sordes, as you may observe on rising
in a morning. You never can expect, indeed, to have fine teeth,
if you sleep with your mouth open ; and you are aware, that if
the teeth are foul, the breath will be bad.

On Mysterious and Equivocal Generation. By Dr. John

Mason Good.

As the paper of our Correspondent on this curious and inter¬
esting subject has attracted much attention, we think it our
duty to give the following opinions of one of our most learned
physicians, which are rather different from our own : —

“ We are,” says Dr. Good, <c at length approaching to more
sobriety in our observation and inquiries; and it is high time
such a period should arrive, for we were in great danger of
running into the wildest fancies of equivocal generation, and of
equally relinquishing all principles, and all limits in natural

* A more absurd advice, we could scarcely conceive.
VOL. II. 2 c

FDrroRS.

198

Dr. Good on Mysterious Generation.

history. We now know that an incipient stage of putrefaction,
or a very short quiescence and exposure of animal fluids to a
warm atmosphere, is sufficient to load them with animalcules
of some kind or other; not, indeed, by fortuitously converting
the constituent and decomposing principles of such fluids into
the simple forms of microscopic life (for of this we have no proof
whatever), but rather, by affording to some few of the myriads
of invisible ovula*, with which the atmosphere swarms, and
which it may convey to them the proper nidus f, or the quick¬
ening stimulus they stand in need of.

That the atmosphere is freighted with myriads of insect-eggs,
which elude our senses, and that such eggs when they meet with
a proper bed, are hatched in a few hours into perfect form, is
clear to every one who has attended to the rapid and wonderful
effects of what in common language is called a blight upon
plantations and gardens. I have seen, as probably many who
may read this work have also, a hop-ground completely over¬
run and desolated by the aphis tumuli, or hop green-louse,
within twelve hours after a mornfng-dew (which is a peculiar
haze or inist loaded with a poisonous miasma J), has slowly
swept through the plantation, and stimulated the leaves of the
hop to the morbid § secretion of a saccharine j| and viscid juice,
while it destroys the young shoots by exhaustion, renders them a
favourite resort for this insect, and a cherishing nidus for the
myriads of little dots that are its egg s. The latter are hatched
within eight and forty hours after their deposit, and are succeeded
by hosts of other eggs of the same kind ; or, if the blight take
place in an early part of the Autumn, by hosts of the young in¬
sects, produced viviparously,** for in different seasons of the year
the aphis breeds both ways.

Now, it is highly probable, that there are minute eggs, or
ovula, of innumerable kinds of animalcules floating in myriads
of myriads through the atmosphere, so diminutive as to bear no
larger proportion to the eggs of the aphis than these bear to those
of the wren, or the hedge-sparrow; protected at the same time
from destruction by the filmy covering that surrounds them, till
they can meet with a proper nest for their reception, and a proper
stimulating power to quicken them into life; and which, with
respect to many of them, are only found obvious to the senses in
different descriptions of animal fluids. The same facts occur in
the mineral kingdom ; stagnant water, though purified by dis¬
tillation, and confined in a marble basin, will in a short time
become loaded on its surface, or about its sides with various

* Ovula is Latin for small eggs. t Nidus is Latin for nest .

t Miasma is medical (Ireek for contagious gas or vapour. ^ Diseased.

|| Sugary. ** Brought forth alive, and not from eggs.

199

Dr. Good on Mysterious Generation.

species of conferva* ; while the interior will be peopled with mi¬
croscopic animalcules. So while damp cellars are covered with
boletuses f, agaric, and other funguses J, the driest brick walls
are often lined with lichens || and mosses. We see nothing, of the
animal and vegetable eggs or seeds by which all this is effected ;
but we know that this is the medium of their circulation. How
far the tales may be true, of living animals found in abscesses in
different parts of the body, and especially in cancerous pimply
eruptions, this is not the place to inquire ; but, conceding the
fact, we can only account for it by supposing their respective
ovula to have been admitted into the system with the air or food
we take in, and have been separated as soon as they acquired
possession of a proper nursery. We have strong reasons to
believe, however, that many of the eggs, or animalcules, that
are traced in animal fluids, occasionally find other receptacles
out of the body that answer their purpose as well, and seem to
keep up their respective species ; and consequently provide a
stock of eggs, caterpillars, or insects prepared to take possession
of any decomposing animal substance as soon as it is ready for
their reception. We are hence able to account for the presence
of animalcules in such situations, without being driven to the
necessity of supposing them to have been generated therein ; and
see how it is possible that they should continue to exist in a
regular chain of succession, instead of being produced anoma¬
lously and equivocally by the bildungstrieb (as the German
physiologists call it), or formative effort of a living principle, in
substances in which life has confessedly ceased to exist.

Thus Rolander, who, like Linnaeus, ascribed dysentery to the
dysentery-tick, or acarus dysenteries , as it is called by natu¬
ralists, and who himself laboured under this disease, while re¬
siding in Linnaeus’s house, contended that he had discovered
the insect in a water vessel, made of juniper wood ; and conceived
that it was conveyed in great numbers into his body by the
water which he drank from the cistern. So Lister affirms, that
he has seen the acaris vermicularis, or thread-worm, which is
usually found burrowing in the lower part of the intestines, in¬
festing the surface as well. In like manner Palmaerus has ren¬
dered it at least probable, that the young, or ova of the fasciola
liepatica, or fluke, found so abundantly in the liver of sheep
that die of the rot, and the origin of which has so much puzzled
the naturalists, are swallowed by the sheep in marshy or stag¬
nant waters ; and Linnaeus himself pointed out, that tcenia

* Conferva; is Latin for Crow-Silk. t Puff-balls.

|| Liver -worts.

f Toad-stools.

200

Dr. Good on Mysterious Generation.

solium, or tape-worm, the cause of whose existence in the alvine
channel * has been a source of equal difficulty to the physiolo¬
gical inquirer, exists, though much smaller, in muddy springs:
the assertion has been since confirmed by satisfactory and addi¬
tional observations.

Nor is it surprizing that doubts should at times exist in
the mind of the precise and cautious inquirer; in many cases of
this kind, which can only be removed by a long and attentive
investigation of the history of the minute animals which give
rise to them; for, first, the very same species assumes so dif¬
ferent an appearance in different stages of its existence, that
nothing but the most patient prosecution of the same individual
through all his metamorphoses f, could induce us to put any
faith in its individuality. Who, for example, if he did not know
it by the repeated experience of himself or others, could believe
that the white and black carrion vulture of America (vultur aura,
Linnaeus), which, when teased, emits a cry like a mouse, are
the same bird, merely changing from black to white, as it grows
old ? Who would divine that the tad-pole, possessing gills and
a fish tail, and without legs, should be the same animal, only
younger, as the four-legged frog, that has neither tail nor gills,
or that a like identity should apply to the caterpillar, the au-
relia % and the winged-moth ?

As animalcules are parasitic to plants, so are plants at times
parasitic to animals. I have seen funguses § spring up night
after night on the sheets of patients with mortifying limbs,
where the corrupt discharge has soaked into the sheets, and ren¬
dered them a quickening nidus. Several species of clavaria ||
grow on the chrysalis of one or two species of cicada**, and
on the perfect insect itself, as others do on the May-fly. ft

Gigantic Plumb-Pudding.

As we have in former pages given the best receipts for exqui¬
site plumb-puddings, such as the Royal Plumb-pudding, and
that by Lord Lyttleton, we shall, as a Christmas treat, present
you with one of plain materials, but of a mountainous dimen¬
sion ; such as is prepared by the good people of Paignton, near
Torbay, according to a very ancient custom, as a fair feast. The
proportions of the ingredients are, 400lbs. of the best Hour;
1 70lbs. of good beef suet ; 140lbs. of raisins ; 20 dozen of eggs,

* Alvine Channel , a learned phrase for the passage, of the bowels. + Changes.

| Aurelia , or Chrysalis, is the caterpillar in its winter shell or sheath.

^ Toad-stools j| A pipe-like toad-stool. ** The balm-cricket.

++ flist.de i’Academie Royale des Sciences, Ail, I76y.

201

Scientific Coffee-Making.

with spices and seasoning to match. The boiling is one of the
principal processes to be attended to, and it requires a copper of
no ordinary dimensions for such a pudding. At Paignton they hire
a brewer’s copper, and continue the boiling for at least three days,
and to ensure the heat penetrating to every part of the mass,
tin pipes are inserted to communicate with the central regions.
When it is thoroughly done, it requires a waggon to convey it
to the place of eating, and eight oxen, decorated with ribbons
and laurel, are employed to draw it through the town, after which
it is cut up, and the whole inhabitants partake of England’s
ancient and glorious fare.

Scientific Coffee-Making.

In an early page of our work, Vol. I. page 26‘, we have given
the art of making coflTee, as introduced in France by M. de
Belloy, and we have, the satisfaction to know that it has been
adopted in consequence by many of our readers. We shall now
take leave to give you the scientific principles upon which that
process, so dear to the gourmand, is founded, and the English
method which we recommend.— If you have ever seen a pot of
coffee boiling over a strong fire, you may recollect what a fine
flavour was sent all over the house, most delightful to the smell,
and giving u note of grateful preparation” to every eye and
palate, which prefer its rich brown colour to the thin watery
appearance of green tea. How woeful then must the disap¬
pointment be, after all this anticipated enjoyment of a delicious
treat, when you find the colfee in your cup, brown enough, in¬
deed, and thick enough — but tasteless, mawkish, and weak ; the
flavour and the spirit all gone, and nothing remaining of the real
stuff, save the shadow, which mocks the lip and the palate with
“ unreal seeming” — a flat, favoarless, “ baseless fabric of a
vision,” — the very corpse of a cup of good coffee.

The coffee, however, is not to blame, if you spoil it in the
making ; and the best coffee that ever grew in Arabia will be
totally spoiled, if you are barbarous enough to boil it. Common
sense, indeed, if you will think a moment, will tell you, that the
fine flavour floating in the air all over the house must have come
from the coffee, and you could not have the conscience to expect
this flavour both in the air and in your cup at the same time. In
one word, the best parts of the coffee, namely, its fine strong
flavour, are so spiritual and airy, that boiling drives them off
instantly, and what remains in the pot is the mere dregs and
refuse — heavy, earthy, and thick, and fit only to be thrown to
the pigs.

202

Cancer Quackery.

We ask you not to take this on trust — we have no wish to
set up our authority in opposition to facts. Try it, and learn
wisdom by experiment and experience. It would be better,
indeed, to give your hard-earned pence to the poor, than thus to
waste them on the thankless air, by fdling it with all the
strongest and best parts of your coffee, and leaving only “ the
ghost of vanished sweets” for your own use.

But if we are not to boil our coffee because it wastes all the
best of it, “ what,” you will ask, “ are we to do r” You recol¬
lect that the doctor who was asked a similar question, replied,
“ take advice.” So say we. Be advised by us, and you shall
have excellent coffee at least for less than one half the expense
of those who foolishly boil it. In the first place then, you must
buy a Rumford coffee-pot with drainers in it, and if you cannot
afford five, six, or ten shillings for this, you must give up the
idea of coffee till you can ; for it cannot be made either good
or cheap without. You will lose more money, indeed, in a few
weeks by boiling your coffee, and wasting it on the air, than
would buy you such a pot, which would last you ten years or
more. Your coffee is to be pi\t into the lowest drainer, boiling
water poured over it, and as soon as it has run through it is
ready. If you do this rightly, it ought to be as clear and high
coloured as brandy, and of a fine strong flavour.

Recollect, we do not say coffee is a cheap article; for manage
it as you will, it must, if you make it good, be much dearer than
tea. If you use roasted corn, it is to be made the same way.
Never boil it if you wish to have it fine. Of course, you will
take care not to poison yourselves with the damaged stuff often
sold by every one of the corn-roasters.

On Cancer Quackery. By Mr. Parkinson, of Hoxton.

Cancer of the breast always begins with an exceedingly small
kernel, which, in that state, may be removed with a degree of
pain infinitely less than is apprehended. Immediately, there¬
fore, on the appearance of such a kernel in the breast, let its
nature be ascertained, by one whose opportunities of informa¬
tion are such as will render you confident in his opinion, and by
that be guided ; considering that it is highly preferable to un¬
dergo a few moments pain, and obtain relief to your mind, than
to suffer the gradual increase of a disease, which must become
daily more painful, and at last must terminate in death.

Be assured that for this disease there is no remedy known.
Medicines, which have been reported to have been used with
success by quacks and others, have had the fairest trial by sur-

Liberty of the Medical Press.

203

geons of the first abilities, but have been found unsuccessful.
Notwithstanding this, cruel, daring, and we may with the
strictest propriety, say murderous quacks, are hourly pretending
to cure this disease. We speak of them in language thus
strong, because the mischief they occasion is not merely by em¬
ploying improper means, but by deluding their unhappy patients
into so firm a reliance on their nostrums, that they are induced
to put aside all ideas of the removal of the diseased part, and to
allow it, whilst deceived into a daily expectation of its cure, to
degenerate into that dreadful state which art possesses no power
to alter, and in which even its removal becomes unsafe to
attempt.

It is true the alternative is dreadful, but wishing not to alarm,
but merely to warn you, believe that we have used no false co¬
louring. We are far from advising you to be always running
to the apothecary’s shop ; but when you are seized by a malady
like cancer, which threatens either the immediate loss of your
life, or the wasting it by a gradual and painful decay, we urge
you to lose not a moment, but to apply directly to the man of
judgment and experience. Avoid, for your life’s sake, the igno¬
rant quack who deals out advertised nostrums, and what is a
bait no less deadly, advertised books.

Liberty of the Medical Press — the College of Sur¬
geons — the Mock-Dignity Association — the Hospitals.

You recollect the sage law, written in bad English, and pro¬
mulgated by the Royal College of Surgeons on the 24th of
March last, with intent to put down, annihilate, and destroy all
upstart lecturers, who were out-shining the college-men in
science and learning. It is one thing to pass a law, however,
and another thing to put it in execution ; and it now turns out,
that however sage Sir Wm. Blizard, Sir Ludford Harvey, and
others, may be, as a legislative body, they have clearly no effi¬
cient executive. This, we think, marvellous enough, considering
the executive powers of some of them in the hospitals. But
so it is ; this law is a dead letter, and every body who has
brass enough to face the College, and ask permission to lec¬
ture, even in the very teeth of their law, obtains the privilege,
and the exceptions now entirely smother the rule, which it
seems is more honoured in the breach than the observance.
One conferring of the privilege of lecturing among others is
on a Mr. Dermott, of whom we know nothing except that he
did what we dare say he is now ashamed of, viz. signed a cer¬
tain petition to Parliament in April or May last, which, like the
College law, makes sad havock of his Majesty’s English, and

204

Liberty of the Medical Press.

lays down very strange and unscientific principles of chemistry.
This young man may be a good anatomist for ought we know;
but as a chemist or a grammarian, we cannot say much for him,
that is, if he read and agreed to the said petition previous to his
signing it, as he ought to have done. Be this as it may, the mo¬
nopolizing law is now a dead letter, and is only fit for Dr. Paris
to lug into his next scheme of book-building, if he can get any
bibliopole to bite, after the bad spec, of his Great Medical
Jurisprudence, which has not yet we are told, returned to the
proprietor, the money paid for copy-right, much less for paper,
printing, and advertising. — All this is owing to the spirited in¬
dependence of the medical press.

The associated physicians of the United Kingdom for keeping
up the mock-dignity of the profession, have been, we understand,
quite put down by the same medical press, the free strictures of
which has caused the insulted surgeons, accoucheurs, and apo¬
thecaries, to cat the mock-dignity men and send them to Co¬
ventry. Their secretary, Roberts, has been defeated hollow at
the election for the Royal Dispensary for Children, Waterloo-
road, though openly supported by another of the learned asso¬
ciates, (of whom we have some good stories in reserve as a
bonne bouche) and privately by the whole gang. Dr. Vetch
had a majority of 240 odd, and succeeds to the place of the late
Dr. J. B. Davis. Birkbeck is getting himself advertised in all
sorts of ways as president to societies, such as the Meteorolo¬
gical, for which Sam Rogers says he is well fitted by his weather¬
cock character. But he flourishes most by his Billingsgate, in
the pages of the Literary Chronicle. Birkbeck, we understand
sets his face against modern improvements, such as the Stetho¬
scope. Dr. Uwins, another of the mock-dignity men, supports
his character admirably by writing in Sir R. Phillip’s Magazine,
about the “ ruffle and rampancy” of the veins, and similar
dignified matters.

The free medical press has also cleared the hospitals of much
bad practice and many inefficient officers, and more of these we
have reason to know, will soon receive unwelcome hints that
their resignation will be acceptable. Such hints to those who
know the secret history of Sir Ludford Harvey, and Mr. Law¬
rence*, will not be thrown away. Why does Dr. Ramadge not
introduce the Stethoscope at his hospital ? Does he not know
how to use it, or is he ignorant of accoustics like Birkbeck ?
• The medical attendance at Waterloo-road requires also to be
inquired into, and the result published, as it would lead we think
to a hint.

*

See Oracle, Vol. !. p. 40P.

January Diseases.

205

Diseases of January, and the best Means of Escaping

THEM.

Winter has stript the summer bow’rs,

But blithesome nights shall now be ours.

When fires are bright and lamps beam gay,

And ladies tune the lovely lay,

Me shall be held a laggard soul,

ho shuns to quaff the sparkling bowl.

Sir Walter Scott.

“ Rules are the tyrants of Genius/’ saith La Harpe *, and
many of our readers, we have no doubt, acquiesce in the opi¬
nion, fancying themselves at the same time endowed with the
brightest gift of heaven, and in consequence thereof, wishing to
“ bilk the grace and fall upon the dinner,” sturdily maintain
that we are not only like

Antiquary Hearne,

Who lov’d to teach what no man lov’d to learn +,

but that we are entirely wrong in asserting the stomach to be
incapable of holding more than three pints ; — and despising,
accordingly, all our forewarnings of death or danger; cancered
livers and the torments of indigestion ; morning headaches and
holiday fevers ; they plunge headlong into the foul stream of
gluttony and dissipation, where they are certain to lose either
their health or their life — perhaps both. Well, we wash our
hands of all such ; but think it our duty to remind them, in the
words of our favourite Butler, that

Obstinacy’s ne'er so stiff,

As when ’t is in a w rong belief.

We have seen more than one instance of very serious conse¬
quences which happened directly under our own eyes, from this
stiff-necked determination to despise the rules of the noble sci¬
ence of Good Living, and to laugh at wise counsel. But as
Sam Rogers says (mortem projoco habent JJ, death is no joker,
and it requires a much stronger stomach than most persons pos¬
sess, to set the laws of gastrology at defiance, and to guzzle and
cram, as if a three pint paunch were an insatiable horse-leech,
crying “ give, give !”

In all our advice, we have a single eye to the comfort and the
pleasures of our readers. We wish, as old Erasmus says, to
admonish, not to chide ; to benefit, not to injure ; and to calcu¬
late the capacity of the senses, that we may not overburden and

* Les regies sont les tyrans du g^nie. Lycic Intro.

f A then.

2 D

+ Mallet.

i

VOL. II.

20 6

January Diseases \

oppress them *. It is a good rule to follow the stomach + ; but
it shows the grossest ignorance of good living, to drive the sto¬
mach, by unscientific cramming ; whets, however, being always
understood to be within the meaning of the statute, and so long
as by their means the appetite can be kept on edge, you are
safe : beyond this we cannot answer for the consequences;
The stomach indeed is precisely like the garden of Venus, as
described by Claudian J, having two fountains, one sweet and
the other bitter. The first, or the gastric juice, will manufac¬
ture the food and drink supplied to it so long as those are good
in quality and moderate in quantity; when they are not so, the
second, or the bile begins to deluge the bowels, and prepares a
rich morsel for the jackal apothecary to hand over to his lord
and master — Death. But — Dens aver tat , or as the Chaplain of
the Punch Club interprets it, the deuce take it — we must pre¬
vent the intrusion of all such fellows among our holyday was-
sailers, and while we give them Barnaby’s advice —

Uvae tinctus sit colore
Si tam vinctus es dolorc
Sperne opes — sperne dapes ^

Merge curas, rectd sapis. Itiner.

We must remind them that in feasting it is not so safe as in
making verses, to “ snatch a grace beyond the reach of art/’
To those who have attempted this and failed — who have in a
word affronted their best friend by ignorance of good living, we
must now address a few hints on the

Stomach Sequels of Feasting.

You did then really enjoy your Christmas dinner, and by
means of our glorious whet-cups the coup d’avant, and the coup
du milieu, and the other scientific methods of comfortable eat¬
ing which we have so often taught, you have contrived to make
the most of every dish, and tickled every taster on the surface
of your tongue, with the most savoury morsels and the nicest
tit-bits — not to death, however, like Kitchiner’s fat oysters, but
into that pleasurable state of .existence in which the whole pa¬
late feels as if “ bathed in delight/’ Notwithstanding all this
mouth-enjoyment, which to our mind is a much superior sort of

* Admoncre voluimus, non raordere : prodesse, non lbedere : consulere moribus
hominum, non officere. Erasmus

+ - Eamus

Quo ducit gula. Horat.

J Labuntur gemini fotites : — hie, dulcis ; — amarus
Alter, et infusis corrumpit mella venenis ;

Unde Cupidineas annavit Fama Sagittas. Claudia v.

^ Dapes is Barnaby’s Latin for nostrums and draughts, and he did well to turn
up his nose at them.

January Diseases.

20 7

tiling to the useless and idle hymn-singing concern, described
by Fletcher as the future reward of promise-breaking, blasphe¬
my, rancour, and revenge; and notwithstanding the pure delight
experienced while you fulfilled your duty through the blessing
of Providence, by eating and drinking the good things of this
life; yet from your being only a novice in good living, you
have been tempted to go beyond the score, and to exceed both
in quantity and quality the proper statute measure. You must
therefore dree the penalty, for thus acting contrary to the sta¬
tute made and provided for the punishment of such offences.
The stomach will be deranged, and very probably for days and
weeks afterwards will turn all you eat into acid, as if it had be¬
come a “ brewery of vinegar. ”

We have made the acidity in the stomach and bowels a stand¬
ing subject in our work, because it is both prevalent among all
ranks, and often baffles the most powerful remedies to correct
it. We have often spoken of it as a cause of headaches, bilious
disorders, scrofula, and gout. This there can be no doubt of.
But as causes and effects are usually linked together, so the
acid of the stomach and bowels, though itself a cause, is also
an effect of some previous disorder, such as ignorant feasting,
which tends to produce acidity. When, therefore, acid is con¬
tinually forming in your stomach, and proving the source of un¬
natural hunger and numerous other troubles, the merely getting
rid of it for the time by means of an alkali will not prevent
its recurrence the very next meal you take. Upon this inte¬
resting subject we can offer you nothing more useful than two
excellent plans of treatment, the one by a celebrated foreign
practitioner, the other by a scientific English physician.

Treatment of Acidities. By Professor Richter, of Gottingen.

When the acid depends on a mere fermentation of the food,
before the organs of digestion can be brought to bear on it, you
may in a great measure prevent it by using such food as is not
easily fermentable, such as beef and biscuit, avoiding vegeta¬
bles, and taking magnesia, liquor of potass, or any of the nu¬
merous alkaline medicines which you will find recommended in
our preceding pages.

But sometimes, says Dr. Richter, you may be tormented
with acid, eat what you will, even though you abstain from vege¬
tables entirely, and live wholly on animal food. Abstaining
from food altogether will not even prevent for an hour the for¬
mation of the acid, and the alkalies only procure a short respite
from the burning or gnawing which it occasions. In this case it
is pretty evident that the acid does not arise from the fermenta-

208

January Diseases.

tion of the food but from a diseased action of the stomach, the
liver, and the bowels, all the fluids of which are acid in con¬
sequence of the disorder. The digestive fluid, and the bile
itself are as sour as vinegar, and as a little leaven will leaven
the whole mass, they soon turn all that is taken into the stomach
to acid. In all such cases Richter thinks that some irritation
or other will be found to be the cause, and if that be removed
a cure will be effected. It very often happens, however, that
we cannot discover what occasions the irritation. In that case
you must palliate the symptoms in the best way you can, by
such medicines as have been found effectual in similar cases.
Among these our celebrated author prescribes a rather singular,
but as we have reason to know, a very powerful remedy. We
shall take the liberty of calling it

Dr. Richter’s Pills for Acidities.

Take thirty grains of fresh ox- gall,
same quantity of asafeetida.

Make into one dozen pills, and take from three to four thrice a day.
Their good effects will appear in a few days. Richter considers them
to be almost a specific.

Remedies for Acidity. By Dr. Pemberton.

When there is a tendency to form an acid in the stomach it
becomes necessary to have a constant recourse to some medi¬
cine, which may counteract its effects upon the nerves. This
acid has the property of causing a sensation of heat about the
pit of the stomach, which sensation will often extend through
the whole length of the gullet, or the “red lane,” as our friend
Kitchiner calls it ; attended with a feeling of rawness on its in¬
ternal surface, and producing at times a very troublesome sort
of sore throat.

The acid may be neutralized by any of the alkaline earths,
and this particular effect will be prevented, as we have so often
directed ; but it requires, as we have before said, a continued
application of such remedies, and you may consume a waggon
load of magnesia without being cured. The patient should
therefore take the following pill, which will have the effect of
not only destroying the acidity, but of strengthening the diges¬
tion. We shall take the liberty of honouring this with the
name of

Dr. Pemberton’s Soda Pills for Acidity.

Take half a drachm of dried sub-carbonate of soda,
same quantity of extract of gentian.

Beat them together, and divide into twelve pills, of which two or
three may he taken tw'ice or thrice a day.

Amateur Salad- Making. 209

This is one method, and much the more common one practised
by doctors, of endeavouring to destroy the abundant quantity of
acid. Sometimes, however, it abounds so much, that a greater
quantity of alkali may be required to render it inert, than can
with propriety be administered internally. In which case, com¬
plete relief is frequently obtained from the very opposite treat¬
ment, namely, by using a more powerful acid, to overcome that
of the disease.

It has been observed by chemists, that the addition of a very
small quantity of any of the mineral acids will immediately put
a stop to the acetous fermentation, or the process of vinegar¬
making. Now, although there is no acid in a healthy stomach ;
yet, when its powers have by any means been debilitated or in¬
jured, a fermentation analogous to the one for producing vine¬
gar may take place, and give rise to all the inconveniences of
acidity in the stomach and bowels.

It is probable that the salutary effect observed from the use
of the mineral acids in this disease of the stomach, may arise
from their property of interrupting fermentation. The acid
which Dr. Pemberton gave with most success, is the nitric,
which not only prevents the acid fermentation, but becomes, at
the same time, an excellent tonic to the stomach and liver.

As the acid, in a stomach predisposed to generate it, is con¬
stantly forming, it is necessary that the remedy should be fre¬
quently applied ; we may, therefore, direct five drops of the
nitric acid to be taken every three or four hours in cold water,
by which the stomach will be kept constantly under its influ¬
ence. When once the habit of forming the acidity has been
checked, which will probably be the case, by a short perseve¬
rance in this plan, we may gradually diminish the quantity of
the nitric acid, to three, two, and at length to one drop every
three or four hours. The strong, not the diluted, acid, is meant.

During the whole of this course, as much Epsom salts should
be taken every morning as will produce one stool daily, for
costiveness increases the acidity. The vegetable acids appear
also to have the power of rendering inert the diseased acid of
the stomach. Dr. Pemberton has often known the juice of
half a dozen lemons taken daily, prevent the return of this dis¬
ease, which has always re-appeared upon this remedy being
omitted.

Amateur Salad-Making. By A Correspondent.

We apologize for the delay in our long promised article on
salads, by introducing the following morqeau , from an amateur
correspondent : —

210

Amateur Salad - Making.

“I have been,” says he, 44 an admirer of the good things of
this life, all my maturer years, and am generally thought not to
be 4 weary of well doing yet/ I have been accustomed to hot
suppers, from the day I was eighteen years of age, and am now
turned half a century, and having lived more upon meat than
drink, I am now an eighteen stone man, under five feet eight
inches, enjoying the most perfect state of health, and the (virtu¬
ous) enjoyment of heaven's best gifts — free from gout, bile, or
any of the consequences of luxurious indulgence. My digestion
is perfect, and my palate not difficult to please, and I never
knew what it was to say £ my head aches' in all my life ! I am
neither a glutton nor an epicure, and am equal to a gentle walk
of nine miles either before breakfast or after dinner. Therefore,
if you please, I esteem myself properly accomplished to give
you some particulars of my mode of living.

44 I observe in Vol. I. page 80, of the Oracle, that you promise
a receipt for a salad, will you have the goodness to see how I
manage that little affair. — You will perhaps scarcely give me
credit when I tell you I shall give you the identical salad, pre¬
pared by the famous dresser of salads at a guinea a head, whom
you allude to — but who by the way, was not a Frenchman, ex¬
cept by the courtesy of England that calls all foreigners, French¬
men. He was an Italian by birth, and I had the receipt from a
particular of his, who served in Buonaparte's Italian guard.

“ En salada ben salata, poc aceto, ben oleata.”

44 The above is a distich in the mouth of every Italian, from the
Pope to the peasant, and maybe Englished, 4 let a salad be
well salted, with much oil and little vinegar.' So that an Italian
has a very different sensation from an Englishman when a salad
is talked of. The latter goes to the garden and selects some
fresh lettuce which he calls salad, or salet, admiring its cool¬
ness and delicacy. The former selects herbs for a salad, and
anticipates a favourite and savoury morsel ; to prepare which for
the table he proceeds thus, according to the following

Receipt for an Italian Salad.

44 Wash an anchovy or two, split and take out the bone, rub it
down with a wooden spoon, and a little made-mustard; add
the yolks of two hard boiled eggs, that is, boiled twenty minutes
and cooled at least twenty minutes more in cold water; add very
gradually four table spoonfuls of oil, and two or three table
spoonfuls of vinegar. And now for the great secret, which
makes these salads so very pleasant, and sit so light on the sto¬
mach, namely, one and a half table spoonfuls of fine good and
sweet cider flower water. Put this mixture in the salad bowl,

Dr. Blundell's Experiments on the Blood.

21 I

make a nice crisp toast of bread, three eighths of an inch' thick,
and large enough to cover the mixture; cut a head of garlick in
two, across all the claws, and rub each half on each side of the
toast, which will absorb all the virtue of the root, and will
supersede entirely the necessity of spring onions. The best
herb to eat with this rich sauce is blanched endive, and blanched
dandelion, with which you may fill the bowl, adding thin slices
of red beet root, either raw, or nicely boiled, but not overdone.
You may either stir up the whole contents of the bowl, until all
the herb is embued with the rich sauce, sprinkling in salt to
your palate as is noticed above, or you may help each person to
some herb, some sauce, and a break of the toast. “ O’che
Boccone !”

Receipts for an English Salad.

“Put a tea spoonful of made-mustard into a tea cup, add by
degrees three table spoonfuls of rich cream, the yolks of three
raw eggs, a wine glass of vinegar, and a table spoonful of fine
powdered sugar ; when all is well mixed, put it into a cruet for
use." The best herbs for this salad are blanched cellery, cut very
small ; horse-radish scraped ; and either spring onions, or fine
large mild white onions shred small ; Portugal whites would be
the best, but with these it would no longer be an English
salad.

“Another way, in which an attention to the proportions is
necessary. Take two or three coss lettuce, or any other nice
cabbaged and crisp lettuce, trim them and cut them so as to fill
a half gallon salad bowl : pour upon them four table spoonfuls
of oil, stirring and slicing until every leaf is nicely covered; then
add the same quantity of vinegar, proceeding in the same way
until the whole present a uniform appearance ; with, or without
salt as may be most agreeable to your palate. Note, the first
salad is excellent to hot roast veal ; the second to hot roast beef;
and the only way in which cold veal is at all a delicacy, is to
have it minced very small, and added in a due proportion to
either of the three mixtures in the bowl, or on the plate, of
course along with the herbs. Mustard and cress, corn salad
sprouted in wet flannel, radishes, chives, chiccory, and various
allaria may be added to the two last salads, but not to the
Italian.’’ XXX.

Dr. Blundelt/s Experiments on Injecting Blood into
the Human Veins by Transfusion.

It is no new proposal to try to save life, cure disease, or even
to restore old age to youth by transfusing young blood into old

212 l)r. Blundell's Experiments on the Blood .

veins. Dr. Blundell, one of the physicians in the Borough
Hospital, has revived this interesting subject in a more scientific
manner than had previously been employed, and has made many
important experiments on the transfusion of blood in both the
inferior animals and in man. The history of his experiments on
the human body we shall here give as the most important.

Experiment 1st. — Dr. Blundell was called by express to a wo¬
man in child-bed, who was dying from loss of blood by excessive
flooding, occasioned by the detachment of the after-birth*. As
I entered the room, says the doctor, thirty or forty minutes after
the messenger had been dispatched from the house to request
my attendance, the patient ceased to breathe; and Jive or six
minutes afterwards, about sixteen ounces of blood, procured with
ease from the arms of two men (relatives of the patient), were
thrown by means of a syringe, into the bleeding vein of the arm ;
but it produced no signs of resuscitation. Had the blood been
pure red blood from an artery instead of dark black blood from
the veins f, it would have given the patient a greater chance of
recovery.

Experiment 2d. — A young man, of a strong make, a patient
in Guy’s Hospital, lost a quantity of blood from the bursting of
an artery, and appeared afterwards, for two or three hours toge¬
ther, to be evidently sinking from the loss. He had ceased to
breathe for three or four minutes before Dr. Blundell could per¬
form the operation. Assisted by Mr. Key, he injected sixteen
ounces of blood into the bleeding vein exposed by the lancet;
but with the exception of one single sigh, no signs of returning
life were perceptible. An esteemed and intelligent pupil (Mr.
Lord) furnished the blood.

Experiment 3d. — Dr. Blundell was called to a patient in
child-bed evidently sinking from loss of blood, which came on
with the delivery of the after-birth, though two or three hours
elapsed before she actually ceased to breathe. Before the
breathing stopt, three or four ounces of blood were injected by
means of the syringe, but without producing any remarkable
effect, the quantity being small, and a larger quantity could not
be obtained from the lady who had submitted to supply it. Wo¬
men, Dr. Blundell remarks, are usually less capable than men of
supplying the requisite quantity.

Experiment 4th. — A lady, who had been very largely bled in
child-bed fever, sank into what surgeons call the state of collapse ,

* See Oracle, Vol. I. p. 82, for the exposure of a dangerous error relative to
this subject.

+ See Oracle, Vol. 1. p. 314.

213

Hooping Cough .

which in such cases is an almost certain sign of approaching
death. At the request of her friends, who were anxious that a
remedy (though it was nearly hopeless) should have a trial,
about six ounces of blood taken from her father were transfused
into the bleeding vein by means of a syringe. No decisive effect
of any kind was produced by the operation, and the lady died
without suffering any' unusual symptoms.

The result of these experiments ought not to make us despair,
for though they all failed; yet, as it is a subject only in its
infancy, improvements may be made, to render future trials
more successful. "What gives us ground also to look forward
with hope to transfusion of blood, as a powerful means of saving
life, is, that Dr. Blundell was more than once successful in his
experiments on dogs. One fact is very curious, that the blood
must be taken from the same kind of animal as the one into
which it is to be transfused, otherwise death will certainly ensue.

Hooping Cough*.

Dr. Webster, we perceive, is still hobbling along on his half-
foundered hobby, and maintaining that hooping-cough arises
from a disorder in the headf ; and another hobby-horsical fellow
has got astraddle upon a Shetland pony, and is preparing to
mystify us by purblind poking all over the chest and belly in
search of inflamed ganglions — the only cure for which he thinks
is flaying alive, first the interior skin of the bowels with but¬
cher-like doses of turpentine ; and secondly, the exterior skin of
the chest and belly by cayenne pepper poultices ! ! This he
calls an original method of treating hooping-cough ! The poor
fellow seems to be quite crazed with his late dignified career, and
his mare’s-nest discoveries, which we intend soon to catalogue in
the due order of their dates. But for the present we must come
to something more useful.

There cannot be a doubt that hooping-cough, like all other
coughs, is occasioned by a natural effort to throw off something
irritative and offensive from the throat, the lungs, or the dia¬
phragm, in the same way as sneezing is an effort to expel what¬
ever irritates the nostrils. The irritating matter in hooping-
cough was very fancifully supposed by Linnaeus to be caused by

* The term Kin-cough , that is, “ Child’s Cough,” so often used, is from the
Saxon or German kind, a child. The French term, la coque luche, is said to be
from coquelicot , an herb used to cure it. The Greeks called it Qrip'u>j^n<;, the
Romans tussis fe.rina , both meaning “ wild or untameable cough the Germans,
Hiihneweh, or, “ Hen-disease,” from the hooping resembling the cackling of a hen.
+ See Oracle, Vol. I. p. 314.

VOL. II.

2 E

214 . .Hooping Cough.

minute insects hatched in the lungs, from eggs taken in with
the breath *. It agrees better with observation to refer it to
some particular infection, like that of measles or small-pox, es¬
pecially as, like those diseases, it rarely attacks an individual
more than once during life, and is much more common in early
than advanced life. But though we do ascribe it to infection, it
is no less true that the weak and sickly are both the most likely
to catch it, and also suffer the most severely, because in them
the lungs and the throat are more irritable than in the strong
and healthy t? and hence it has appeared to some very skilful
doctors, such as Stoll, of Vienna, that deranged stomach and
bowels are the chief cause of hooping-cough J. One thing is
certain, that the dissections after death from hooping-cough,
made by Breschet, Marcus, Watt, Ozanam, and Guersent,
show the wTind-pipe and the air-tubes of the lungs, to be red
and inflamed, and lined with a clear viscid phlegm, like that
brought up by the cough § ; and M. Laennec, the inventor of
the stethoscope, found the air-tubes of the lungs considerably
enlarged ||. This we consider to lead to important knowledge
with respect to the cure.

History and Symptoms oj Hooping Cough.

Professor Waterhouse, of Cambridge, who had hooping-
cough when advanced in life, has given us the most minute his¬
tory of his feelings ^[. To a bystander, he says, the disorder
appears to come on with the ordinary symptoms of cold ; but its
approach is indicated by a universal soreness of the flesh, parti¬
cularly about the belly. This tenderness extends from the pit
of the stomach to the groins, and is accompanied by a sense of
weariness, especially in the loins, with an uneasiness, and feel¬
ing as if the stomach were twisted. Sometimes a disagreeable
sense of heat is felt, extending from the kidneys to the bladder.

While the soreness of the flesh continues, which is usually
three or four days, there is a short, hacking, husky effort,
(which in the North would be expressively called a Croighle )
hardly amounting to a cough — and is evidently an instinctive
endeavour to get rid of the commencing irritation. As yet no
soreness nor painful affection of the chest is felt — no stuffing, as
in common cold — no remarkable difficulty of breathing, nor

* Amaenitates Academ. Vol. V, 82.
t See Dr. Butter’s excellent work on Kin-cough,
t Stoll. Nat. .Med. II. 184, and Algein. Deutsche Bibl. 57. p. 434.
^ M. Guersent, in Diet, de Med. Art. Coqueluche.

|| Laennec, Anscult. H. 147.

H See his Kssav on Whooping-cough, as he spells it.

£l 5

Hooping Cough .

any sensation of membranous tightness during the action of
coughing. The tenderest part is the rim of the belly and in
the groins ; and this, in an advanced stage of the complaint, is
often so great as to threaten rupture.

The symptoms gradually assume a greater resemblance to a
common cold, the soreness of the belly diminishes, and the hic-
cupish convulsive cough, characteristic of the disease, comes
on. At this early stage, also, there is more or less fever, with
occasional headache, especially after exertion or eating too
freely. The patient has a greater disposition to sleep in the
day-time than usual, while the habitual sleep of the night is
disturbed with unpleasant dreams. He feels a chilly shivering
sensation in his back and limbs. Although his appetite is now
and then keen, it fluctuates, and his general condition denotes
a feverish state. The urine is high coloured and small in quan¬
tity ; while the skin is hot, dry, and uncomfortable.

Between the fourteenth and the twentieth day, the disorder
puts on its peculiar symptoms, which is a singular retch, catch,
hiccup, or cough, accompanied by a sort of half-crowing sound,
denominated a hoop or whoop. The fits of hooping recur three,
four, or five times in the twenty-four hours. The severest
of these comes on about two o’clock a.m., usually after the
first sleep, and it is about this hour, we have often observed,
that death usually takes place in fatal cases. The fits may
recur, at any time, from sudden surprise; violent or suddeuly
excited passions ; eating a bit of biscuit or any thing dry; drink¬
ing any thing strong or irritating to the throat; or running or
walking too fast. The fits are most violent in those who are
strong and full of blood. The face swells and becomes livid ;
blood is often discharged from the nose, mouth, or ears; the
eyes inflame and become prominent, and flow with tears ; there
is danger of suffocation ; and grown up patients sometimes
fall down as if struck by apoplexy. The fits generally go off*
after a very copious discharge of clear, tough, phlegm, and leave
the patient in the most perfect ease. Spitting, M. Guersent
remarks, is rare even in adult patients.

Vomiting or retching is a very common occurrence in hooping
cough ; it has led some to refer the seat of the disease to the
stomach — though reflection tells us at once that the vomiting
is caused by the throat being tickled and irritated during the
effort of coughing — precisely as it is when the throat is tickled
with a feather.

The first stage usually continues for a week or ten days,
during the most of which time it is not easy to distinguish
hooping cough from a common cold. The second, or violent

216

Hooping Co ug h .

stage, may last from a few weeks to a few months, though it
seldom exceeds a month or six weeks. The third stage, or
decline, is very indefinite and irregular in duration, and though
a month or two is its common period, it has been known to
hang about a patient for a year or more, returning with every
slight cold.

Marks of Safety and Danger.

The danger of hooping cough is always greater, the younger
the patient happens to be. An infant, therefore, of a few weeks
or months old, has but little chance of escape, because it has
not strength to stand through the fits, nor sense to make efforts
to get rid of the suffocating phlegm ; and convulsions, apoplexy,
ruptures, and inflammation of the brain, often succeed. On the
same principle, it is also more dangerous in weakly children
than in the robust. When there is much feverish heat and diffi¬
culty of breathing, with little discharge of phlegm after the fit;
and when the fit exhausts the patient much, and leaves him
breathless or fatigued, it is a bad sign, and danger may be ap¬
prehended. When death is approaching the feet are observed
to swell.

In stout children, above two or three years of age, there is
seldom much danger, if the appetite continues good. Voracious
appetite, indeed, is one of the symptoms of the disease, and
ought to be but sparingly indulged. When the hands and feet
are not chilly, the skin comfortably warm and moist, the bowels
open, the urine copious, easy and abundant expectoration, and
free vomiting, or moderate bleeding from the nose, at the end of
the fit — the patient may be said to be in a favourable state.
These signs of safety, we may remark, afford good hints for the
proper treatment of the disease. Much discharge of blood or
sulphur-coloured phlegm, is unfavourable, and will require active
measures to prevent danger.

We have not at present room to spare for the treatment of
hooping cough, and must reserve it for a future page. We
shall, therefore, conclude this paper, by exposing the quackery
and nostrums so often and artfully foisted on the public, with
delusive promises of success, and as the disease is very uncer¬
tain in its termination, the cure effected by nature is by the ig¬
norant too frequently attributed to the quack nostrum. Roche’s
embrocation is the most extensively used of all the hooping-
cough nostrums ; and it has one advantage, it is a safe prepa¬
ration. As it is very expensive, we shall put it in the power of such
of our readers as choose to employ it, to make it at an easy
price. But we must tell you, that though safe, it has but small

217

Dr. Kitchiner’* Family Economy.

efficacy, and can do little good beyond making the skin somewhat
red, and that can be done much easier with a little scraped
horse-raddish, or table mustard spread on the chest, and left on
for fifteen or twenty minutes. We do not say it is of no use
to make the skin red ; it is certainly beneficial, by drawing the
inward inflammation to the skin. But if you depend on the
humbug embrocation, the effect of this will be trifling indeed.
The expense, on the contrary, leads you to expect it to prove
quite miraculous, though, like the parents who are at great ex¬
pense in procuring masters to cram and pamper their children
with all sorts of learning, you will find that your money has
been worse than thrown away.

Roche’s Embrocation for Hooping-Cough.

Take one ounce of oil of amber,
two ounces of olive oil.

Mix, and scent it strongly with oil of cloves Keep in a phial for use.
It may be rubbed on the chest, in any quantity, twice or thrice a day.

Dr. Kitchiner’s Family Economy.

We have much pleasure in presenting you with the follow¬
ing paper, by our friend Kitchiner, who, as you may perceive,
is considerably improving under our instructive tuition in the
Oracle, though he is rather averse, in most companies, to avow
it. The “ Economy of the Eyes,” which he adopted from us,
without acknowledgment or permission, is still haunting his
imagination, and he is heartily ashamed of the Tewhadiddle
morality of Croly, &c. — But truce! — Hear Kitchiner himself!

“ All,” says Dr. Johnson, " to whom want is terrible, upon
whatever principle, ought to think themselves obliged to learn
the sage maxims of our parsimonious ancestors, and attain the
salutary arts of contracting expense; for without economy none
can be rich, and with it few will be poor. The mere power of
saving what is already in our hands, must be of easy acquisition
to every mind, and as the example of Lord Bacon may show,
that the highest intellect cannot safely neglect, a thousand in¬
stances every day prove that the humblest may practice it with
success.”

Order is the basis of economy. “ Let all things,” therefore,
as St. Paul says, “ be done in order.” — 1 Cor. xiv. 40. Allow
me, who am no saint, to recommend to you — order in the con¬
duct of your affairs ; order in the distribution of your time ; order
in the management of your fortune ; order in the regulation
of your amusements ; order in the arrangement of your
society.

218

Dr. Kitchiner’s Family Economy.

Make an exact estimate of your net income, after subtracting
all the charges thereon, and all the deductions therefrom, for
repairs, collecting, &c.

Be assured, that so great is the mutability of fortune, and so
great the uncertainty of income, from whatever source it is de¬
rived, that if you hope to enjoy tranquillity of mind, and to be
independent and respectable, you must reserve, at least, two
fifths of what appears to be your net income : — one fifth for
your family, and the other as a reserve against the casual defi-
ciences of income, and unforeseen expenses, which happen in
every station of life.

‘Experience has proved that charges of all kinds seldom fail
to exceed the original computation ; and that new demands, not
foreseen at first, continually occur. Hence, it is the part of
prudence, in every master of a family, rigidly to adjust his ex¬
penditure to such a standard, as may not only provide for defi-
ciences in his estimate — but also an annual fund for his family,
and an annual surplus for unexpected contingences, heavy
losses, burthensome repairs, distressed relations */

To ensure this, compare your weekly expences with a com¬
putation, which you may easily make, of how much your annual
income will afford every week. The following hints may help
a young housekeeper to make a tolerably accurate estimate of
what is likely to be the annual amount of household expense.

The price of many articles is regular and fixed, and by con¬
sulting with experienced persons you may easily learn the rate
of others. The average expenses of moderate persons in a
frugal family, who seldom purchase either fish or poultry, is
per mouth, per week, of

Meatf . . 6 pounds, weight (undressed.)

Bread . 4 pounds, (quartern loaf.)

Butter . \ pound,

Tea . 2 ounces,

Sugar . •§ pound,

Beer (Porter) . 1 pint per day.

Beer. — Beer should be at least a month in your cellar, to get

* Gisborne’s Enquiry, Vo). 11. p.478.

+ Some Housekeepers allow their cooks a certain sum instead of the kitchen
stuff. Give those you are obliged to trust, every inducement to be honest, and no
temptation to play tricks. A kitchen stuff merchant gave us the following anec¬
dote of the history of grease : — “ Some cooks will strip your meat of its fat, crib
your candles, cabbage your potatoes, &c., to increase the contents of their grease
pot ; nay, are so naughty even as to cheat me. Do you know, that after melting
twenty-six pounds of fat, that I have found almost half that weight of potatoes;
which, when nicely mashed, and stirred well into the hot dripping. Alas, worse
luck, I cannot detect till incited !!!”

2 1 9

.Dr. Kitehiner’s Family Economy.

settled and line, belore it is tapped. If you have good and ca¬
pacious cellars, desire your brewer about the months of March
and October, to lay in the quantity of beer that will last the
family for at least six months; or if you have room to con¬
tain enough to carry you through the year, the brewer will en¬
gage that it will keep good and fresh the year round; and if it
does become stale, will take it back and change it for fresh.
This is the best plan for having good table beer.

It is a good rule not to draw more than half a pint per head —
we mean this for the kitchen dinner; for the present fashion has
voted that Sir John Barleycorn’s old English cordials are ex¬
tremely ungenteel in the parlour: however, the saccharine*
and mucilaginous materials of malt, and the astringent and tonic
power of the hop, render good beer a much more nutritive and
strengthening beverage than any wine. If more beer is drawn
than is drunk, put a piece of bread into it, and it will be almost
as pleasant drinking at supper as if it were fresh drawn f. In
very small families, a pint of porter per head is sometimes al¬
lowed instead of table beer, or rather the money which a pint of
porter would cost, which, at the present is, fourpence halfpenny
per pot, is not quite four pounds per annum. Most servants
prefer this to having table beer, the common sort of which is
often so absolutely undrinkable, that Jack Cade would have no
occasion to say, now “I will make it felony to drink small
beer.”

If beer becomes too stale, a few grains of carbonate of potash
added to it, at the time that it is drunk, will correct it, and make
draught beer as brisk as bottled ale J. When beer is tapped
too soon, and is too bitter, the addition of a bit of sugar to
each pint will greatly improve it.

The second sort of beer, which is called table ale, is to be re¬
commended as a good family beverage, and is sold at 22s. for
eighteen gallons.

Bread. — As I have observed the average consumption by
adults, who have plenty of potatoes and vegetables, and other
food, is about a quartern loaf per week. Bread is now sold by the
pound, and the price of the finest wheaten bread is at present
2 jd per pound, about ll id for the quartern loaf. Fresh baked
bread is extremely unwholesome ; a loaf should never be cut
till it has been baked at least twenty-four hours — and be kept

* By (his learned word (he Doctor means sugary,

+ This the Doctor learned from Mrs. Taylor in the last Number of (he Oracle;
but she does not foolishly say the beer will be as good.

f '/'his is also a swagger in borrowed feathers, and quite absurd. “ As brisk ?”
Pagli !

220

Dr. Kitchiner’s Family Economy.

in an earthen pan with a cover; cut the loaf as even as possi¬
ble — pare off all burned and black parts of the crust, and cut no
more bread at a time than will be wanted.

If any pieces are left, let them be eaten before more bread is
cut, or at least put them away carefully in the bread pan ; the
crumbs will be useful for making bread crumbs for fried fish, &c.
The crust will make a save-all-pudding. The pieces should be
thus used twice a week, especially in damp weather, or they
will be in danger of becoming mouldy. One of the surest
tokens of a good housewife is the state of her bread pan.

Meat . — In serving luncheons or suppers, the frugal house¬
wife will forbid all cutting up cold ham, tongue, &c., into slices,
to make what those whose eyes require more pleasing than their
palate does, call pretty dishes*.

Meat should be cut at table as well as bread, if either eco¬
nomy or enjoyment be desired; it not only prevents waste, bpt
preserves the flavour and succulence of it till the moment that
the mouth is ready.

Some cooks, to make cold meat look smart, cut off the outside
slices every time it goes to table. This should never be done,
because the first person helped will expect the ceremony which
lias been performed in the kitchen, should be repeated in the
parlour.

Fish. — Herrings — mackrel — flounders — cod, &c., when in
full season, when they are cheapest and best, may sometimes
be bought at a cheaper rate than butcher’s meat; and the judi¬
cious purchase of fish is one of the main points in domestic
economy, especially of those who can go to Billingsgate market
for it f.

* We marvel much that in the exuberance of his optical imaginings, Kitchiner
has never thought of inventing a Table Kaleidoscope for the delectation of such
apiateurs of pretty dishes. It was but a little step from the Humming-bird spec¬
tacles of his grandmother, to this useful instrument, .which would have immor¬
talized him much more effectually than his establishment of the Tewhadiddle Club,
or his barbarous mode of tickling the existence out of a poor harmless oyster.

What does he mean by prohibiting the cutting up of ham, &c. ? — Are sand¬
wiches to be banished ; — and salads, and salmagundi, cut and sent to Coventry,
merely because his Doctorship has taken a liking to see large, lumpish, pieces
served for luncheon? Can he not be pleased with his spectacles, and fancy a
sandwich to be a Westphalian ham?

+ Dr. Trusler, who was at least as good an economist as Kitchiner, recommends
a dish of sprats, in the season, as a cheap luxury. Why did not Kitchiner, who is
himself fond of small things, not write a crack eulogy upon this little fish in his
own rum style? The magic spectacles of his grandmother, besides, would at once
convert the tiniest sprat into, what Croly would call, a plump, portly, and
portable salmon, of a stone weight or more. By means of (he spectacles, indeed,
Kitchiner would dine most amply on a single sprat!!! Would not that be
economy in style?

Dr. Kitchiner’s Family Economy. 22

Estimate of the Annual Expenses of a Family.

This family consists of two, and occasionally three, in the
parlour, and two maids, and a man servant, who have a dinner
party of a dozen once a month, and where there is always plenty
of good provisions, but no affectation of profusion.

Meat . . ;£ 65

Fish and Poultry . 25

Bread . 18

Butter and Cheese . 25

Milk . 7

Vegetables and Fruit . 20

Tea and Sugar . 15

Table Ale . 25

Washing . . 20

Coals . 30

Candles and Soap . . . 20

,^270

Sundries and Forgets . 50

<£320

Genuine Hospitality .

Nothing is more ridiculous, nothing can be more ruinous
to real comfort, than the vulgar system of setting out a table
with a parade and profusion unsuited not only to the circum¬
stances of the host, but to the number of the guests. Nothing
can be more fatal to true hospitality, by which I mean, the fre¬
quency with which we give our friends a hearty welcome —
than the multiplicity of dishes which luxury has made fashionable
at tables of the great, the wealthy, and the ostentatious, who are
not seldom neither great nor wealthy.

Such prodigious preparations, (as Dominie Sampson would
say) instead of being a compliment to our guests, is really
nothing better than an indirect offence ; is it not a tacit in¬
sinuation, that you think it absolutely necessary to bribe the
depravity of their palates when you desire the pleasure of their
company ? that you think so lightly of them, that you suppose
that savoury sauces on your table are a more inviting attraction
than sensible society around it ! — and that an honest man is to
be caught by a slice of mutton, as easily as a hungry mouse is
with a bit of cheese. When twice as much cooking is under¬
taken as there are servants, or conveniences in the kitchen to
prepare it properly, dishes must be dressed long before the din¬
ner hour, and spoil by standing ; you must compromise your
credit, and your guests get indigestions.

Now is not this quite the silliest thing imaginable ? that a
VOL. II. 2 F

: 222

Dr. Kitchiner’s Family Economy.

whole family should for a foolish fashion submit to suffer fatigue
for several days after a dinner party — for the strange fancy of
contriving a parcel of combustibles, which they know will most
likely make their company sick ! for Addison says, “ When I be¬
hold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy
that I see gouts and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with innu¬
merable other distempers, lying in ambuscade among the dishes/’
Spectator, No. 195*.

If you feed on rich sauces, drink deep of strong wine,

In the morn go to bed, and not till night dine ;

And the order of Nature thus turn topsy-turvy,

You’ll quickly contract palsy, jaundice, and scurvy.

I have sometimes thought to draw up a memorial on behalf
of Supper, against Dinner ; setting forth, that the said dinner
has made several unjustifiable encroachments on the said sup¬
per, and entered very far upon his frontiers — indeed, that he has
banished him entirely out of several families, and in all has
driven him from his head-quarters, and forced him to make
his retreat into the hours of midnight; and in short, that he is
now in danger of losing his character for ever, by being com¬
pelled, in self-defence, to make similar unreasonable encroach¬
ments upon the territories of his ancient neighbour and old
friend breakfast.

“ The gentleman who dines the latest,

Is, in our street, esteemed the greatest;

But surely greater than them all
Is he who never dines at all f !

Why prepare for eight or ten friends more than sufficient for
twenty or thirty visitors ? “ Enough is as good as a feast.”
’Tis better, gentle reader — it is indeed — unless it is better to
be surfeited than it is to be satisfied. A prudent provider, who
sensibly takes measure of the stomach, instead of the ocular ap¬
petites of his guests, may entertain twice as many, twice as
well, and twice as often. It is your silly, senseless, surfeiting far¬
rago of made dishes, and preparations which are provided to pam¬
per vitiated appetites, and to feed the eyes of superannuated epi¬
cures, that overcome the stomach, and paralyze the digestion of
those who eat them, and empty the pockets of those who provide
them. Superfluity and difficulty begin together. To dress food for

* Kitchiner seems to have entirely forgotten the philosophic lesson which we
taught him in ourvery first p;: per, where we squabashcd this ignorant and ungour-
inarnl like stuff of Addison’s. Kitchinr, indeed, pays a very bad compliment
by quoting such trash, to the science, which every eater in England has now
learned from us. He thinks, no doubt, that others are its forgetful and untouch¬
able as himself.

+ A wag, on being told that it was the fashion to dine later and later every day,
-aid he supposed it would end at last in “ not dining till to-morrow.”

Colds, Hoarseness, and, Sore Throat.

223

the stomach is easy enough, great art and expense are only
requisite to irritate the palate when the stomach is satisfied *.

When you invite company that you have any regard for — and
it will actually add to your own happiness to see them as hila¬
rious as possible — endeavour to treat them, after exactly the
same fashion that they treat themselves at home — I do not
mean that you should give Pomposo such a dinner as Pomposo
may give you at a formal grand birth-day banquet, when all the
best China comes out of the cupboard !! and all the family
plate is produced 1! and all their extravagant appurtenances are
exhibited !!! For if by the assistance of the China and Sheffield
plate warehouse (and your own inconsiderate folly in wasting
your independence in procuring it) you are enabled to outshine
his gorgeous parapharnalia — nobody cares about it — except those
silly people who eat with their eye instead of their mouth f.

“ Who by the fashion not the taste approve all,

As geese will sit on chalk, if ’tis but oval.”

Indeed, many folks are more vexed than pleased, if they are
outshone by their neighbours, if they are only merely out-plated
or out-dished — any affectation of opulence excites envy in infe¬
riors, and hatred in equals and superiors.

Colds, Hoarseness, and Sore Throat.

At this season of joyous visiting and feasting, the most an¬
noying disturber of our comforts comes in the form of a cold,
attended by bad headaches, sore throat, or hoarseness. We
mean, therefore, to teach you first, how to prevent this tax upon
holyday visiting; and secondly, how to expel the enemy when
he has the bad manners to force his unwelcome company upon
you. In laying down advice of this kind, we always make a
rule you know to dive a little into the philosophy and science
of the subject; because, when once in this manner we get at
the bottom of the evil, we are better prepared for grappling
with it, than those shallow writers who poke about in the dark,
without rule or compass, as you will find all the pretended au¬
thors on popular or family medicine uniformly do, from their
deficiency both of learning and experienced observation. Com¬
pare any one of them, on similar subjects, with our little works,
and the striking difference will at once be manifest.

* What common places the Doctor does string together, like his friend Croly
and his alliterations. Why the science of this is both old and exploded a century
ago. What a dunce you are, friend Kitchiner.

+ Bravo Kitchiner! have you forgot your own grandmother’s spectacles with
which you dine every day at your humming-bird feast, as we have chronicled the
affair in your own words. See Oracle of Health, Vol. II, page 24.

224

Colds, Hoarseness, and Sore Throat .

Causes and, Preventives.

The nostrils are lined with a fine, delicate, and easily irritated
skin, like that which lines the inside of the cheeks. Now what
happens to the lining of the nostrils in a common cold ? Is
there not a straitening of the passage of the nostrils, if not a
complete stuffing up, rendering it difficult, if not impossible, to
breathe through them ? Whence and how then does this strait¬
ening and stuffing of the nostrils arise ? The answer to these
questions will give you a key to the immediate origin of colds.

in consequence of the contraction of the blood-vessels of
the feet, or of any other part of the body by the application of
cold #, the superabundant blood which cannot find a passage,
where it was wont to flow, is thrown upon some other part, and it
always chooses the weakest or most sensitive organ of the body,
into which it can most easily push its unwelcome way. Now
in the case of a cold in the head, as it is popularly called, the
superabundant deluge of blood is thrown into the sensitive
lining of the nostril, and the first consequence as you know, is
a swelling of the parts, and a narrowing of the passage, with
difficulty of breathing, and a painful feeling of distention or
bursting, which extends over the forehead and causes severe
headache — all from the extra quantity of blood pushed into the
blood-vessels. But you must understand, as we formerly re¬
marked, that the delicate skin goes much farther than the nos¬
trils. The eyebrows are placed over a hollow bone, with a small
cell scooped out in it, which communicates with the nostrils,
and the thin membrane in question lines the whole of the cells
under each eyebrow. The inflammation then of these cells
under the eyebrow explains the severer pain experienced in that
spot. The same lining of delicate skin goes back from the nos¬
trils to the internal ear and upper part of the throat, and the
deluge of blood, driven thither by cold, spreads along the mem¬
brane like water through blotting paper, and the ears are in¬
volved in the pain, while the throat becomes raw and sore, and
the voice rough, husky, and hoarse. This may properly be called
the first stage of inflammation.

The mucus by which the nostril is moistened in a state of
health, is all filtered from the blood, in a similar way with the
bile and the urine, but in order to get into the nostril the little
canals through which it flows must be open and free. The
swelling, however, produced by the overflow of blood, at first
presses upon these canals and obstructs them; and accordingly,
at the beginning of a cold in the head, the nostril is usually drier

* See Philosophy of Gout in (lie Oracle. Vol. II, p. 133.

Colds , Hoarseness , and Sore Throat. 225

than natural, or, from the smaller bore of the canals, allows only
thin watery matter to pass : but in a short time, in consequence
of the universal law of nature, by which an effort towards recovery
is made in all diseases, the little canals exert themselves to over¬
come the pressure of the surrounding blood-vessels, and the
instant they are successful in regaining their proper width, a
quantity of mucus flows into the nostril, proportioned to the
increase of the blood from which it is Altered. Every person
who has ever been affected with a cold can witness to the truth
of this history, though he may not have known the philosophy
of it till lie read our scientific explanation.

A third circumstance of importance occurs as an effect of
this state of the nostril. In consequence of proper remedies,
or by the remedial operations of nature, the rush of blood dimi¬
nishes by degrees, till the parts resume pretty nearly their for¬
mer state. Often, however, a thickening or bump remains in
some particular spot, generally on the outside of the nose or
its neighbourhood, arising from blood or other matter having
oozed out and escaped from the vessels, into which it cannot
again get access. This may continue for a long period without
causing much uneasiness. A still more common circumstance
arises from the blood having been withdrawn from many small
vessels into which it had forced itself, as it is seen to do into
the vessels of the white of the eye when it is bloodshot. Many
of these small blood-vessels run through the outer skin, and
when gorged with blood, this skin is, of course, raised some¬
what from its connections ; consequently, when the tide of
blood subsides and leaves the small vessels of this skin empty,
the skin itself, being in a great measure disunited from the parts
it covers, peels off in the form of thickish scales, precisely in
the same way as a scab is cast off from a healed or healing sore.

Such is the general history of the affections produced in the
nostril by a common cold. An additional flow of blood, or, in
other words, inflammation, more or less violent, changes the
healthy structure of the parts, and gives rise to obstruction.
Inflammation, indeed, changes the structure of all parts of the
body*. The hard bone, by inflammation becomes soft 5 the firm
sinew becomes spongy; the transparent membrane becomes
thick and opaque; and the pliant parts become firm.

The cause of the hard bump remaining after inflammation,
requires farther explanation. If you ever ruffled a bit of skin
on your finger, you must have remarked, after the blood ceased

* La flogosi,” says Professor Tommasini, of Bologna, “ dice egli tende sempre
a d sorganizzare o in una o nello ultra maniera le partiche sono da usa alta-
cate.”

226 Colds, Hoarseness, and Sore Throat.

to ooze out, that the wound was covered with a clear watery-
looking fluid, which thickened on exposure to the air. Now,
in inflammation, even where the skin is not broken, this fluid,
which is drained off from the blood, escapes into every cranny
and interstice between tbe blood-vessels, the skin, the fat, and
the muscles; and it is the accumulation of this which causes
the hardness. It is precisely the same thing which you may
observe in the more external case of the scar left by a cut, which
is always hard, and different in appearance from the surround¬
ing skin*. This explains most satisfactorily the cause of erup¬
tions on the skin, and soreness in the nostrils, which arise dur¬
ing or after a cold.

From this plain sketch you may infer, that the sooner you
can draw off the increased tide of blood from the nostrils, fore¬
head, and throat, the more powerfully you will prevent the cold
from sitting down, as it is called, that is establishing the in¬
flammation and swelling of the blood-vessels, which after a
space will not, even by the withdrawal of the blood, return to
their healthy calibre. This may be accomplished in two ways,
as you may either carry off' the accumulated blood by leeches
applied to the forehead, and roots of the nostrils, or drive it
downwards, by applying cold water to the face and forehead,
and immersing the feet in warm water, into which a handful of
mustard has been thrown. The leeches carry off the blood en¬
tirely, but it will require at least a dozen or twenty to make any
impression. The cold water makes the blood-vessels contract,
and the warm water to the feet makes the blood-vessels there
expand, to receive what has been withdrawn from the head.

When the throat and ears are much affected, it is best to
draw off the blood to the outer skin, by wrapping up the throat
in warm flannel by day, and at night wearing a woollen night¬
cap, with a lamb’s wool or fleecy hosiery stocking, wrapped
round the throat, and pinned to the night-cap. We have our¬
selves employed this with uniform success, in preventing colds,
for. many years. It is necessary, however, that it be done the very
first night you feel a cold coming on ; because, if you delay, you
will find the disease has got too powerful for this simple remedy.

When a cold is once established, it will, in spite of remedies,
run a course of about ten days or a fortnight, and will then usu¬
ally subside, whether remedies be used or not, a circumstance
which often gives the credit to particular medicines, which is in

* At Page 55. of our Medical Secrets, we have applied this philosophic history
of a cold in the nostrils, to explain the origin of Urinary Strictures, of which we
have there given er^ravings.

227

Dissection of the Body oj Lord Byron.

truth due to nature. In Vol. I. page 261, we have mentioned
several other efficacious preventives, and to these we refer you.

Dissection of the Body of Lord Byron.

The public curiosity lias partly subsided with respect to this
extraordinary man ; but it is not a little marvellous to us that
none of the English Medical Journals (so far as we know,)
should have recorded the appearances observed on dissecting
his body. We shall therefore supply the deficiency, and render
the language as intelligible to the general reader as the learned
terms of anatomy will allow. We take the facts from the Bul¬
letin Universel.

The skull was extremely hard, and without the usual saw-like
and indented joinings-of the several bones, resembling in this
respect the skull of an old man of eighty or ninety years *.
The middle substance, called diploe , which is usually between
the outer and inner plates of the bone of the skull was want¬
ing. The membrane, called the dura mater , which lines the
inner part of the skull, adhered strongly to the bone, and re¬
quired much force to detach it. The blood-vessels of this
membrane were distended and gorged with blood. Between
the brain and the fine membrane called pia mater , which is
spread over it, were many small vesicles, like little blisters, con¬
taining air, and drops of a clear watery fluid. The falx which
goes between the two hemispheres of the brain was gorged
with blood, and traversed by numerous thread-looking sub¬
stances. The spinal marrow was full of small vessels much
swelled, gorged with blood, and of a bright red, indicating
acute inflammation ; and the quantity of watery blood, amount¬
ing to about two ounces, found effused into the ventricles of the
brain, confirmed this more strongly. The white or medullary
substance of the brain was much greater in proportion than
usual to the grey or cineritious substance, and was of a very
firm consistence. If we mav trust to this statement, and be-
lieve Dr. Gall, this would partly account for Lord Byron’s su¬
perior powers, it being one of the leading doctrines of phreno¬
logy, that the white substance of the brain is the chief seat and
source of nervous energy and feeling. The furrows of the
blood-vessels usually seen on the inside of the skull, though
small, were more numerous than usual.

The lungs were healthy and very large, a circumstance which
accounts for Lord Byron’s well-known superiority in swim¬
ming — an impossible art to a person of small or weak lungs.

* See Marks of Premature Old Age, in our Medical Secrets, page 38, and
Oracle, Vol. T. p. 474.

Desk Diseases. — No. 8.

228

4

The heart was also larger than ordinary ; but was soft in its
muscular structure. Between it and the pericardium or bag,
which contains it, an ounce of fluid was found, arising probably
from inflammation. The liver and the vessels which convey

w

the bile were much smaller than usual ; so that it would appear
he could not justly be called choleric. The bowels were distend¬
ed with gas, and of a deep yellow colour. The kidneys were
healthy and large ; but the other urinary organs were very small*.

It appears from this, that Lord Byron might have probably
been saved by active blood-letting to unload the gorged vessels
of the brain and the spinal marrow. His excessive labour, the
energy of his passions, and a habitual costiveness, with which
he was affected, all tended to send a deluge of blood to the
head, and consequently to produce inflammation.

Desk Diseases. — No 8.

We cannot resume this popular series of papers at a more im¬
portant season than the present ; when so much extra labour,
both mercantile and literary, is gone through at the desk ; to
make up on the one hand annual balances, and to supply on the
other, the public demand for novelties from the press, when ex¬
ercise out of doors is precluded by short days and gloomy wea¬
ther, not to mention the impassableness of Macadamized streets,
and, in the country, the plashiness of the fields. We shall de¬
vote the present paper to a very formidable disease, to which we
have formerly, more than once alluded, and which its increasing
prevalence forces on our attention, we mean

Strictures of the Urinary Canal.

“ There can be no doubt, that about a third of most urinary
disorders may be contracted quite innocently ; and our family
readers need not be told how deep a wound unfair suspicions
may cause against those who are most free from all stain/’ We
said so six months ago, and we hold it to be a good preface to
what we shall now state. The urinary canal is lined with a fine
skin, precisely similar to that which we have just described as
lining the nostrils, and consequently, is in the same way liable
to be deluged with blood from various causes, and to become
inflamed. When this happens, the passage of the urine will be
obstructed or entirely blocked up, and the most serious and fatal
consequences may ensue, such as bursting of the bladder, bad
fistula, or mortification. Now the point we wish to impress on
your mind is, that the inflammation and the stricture, which so

The probable causes of this may be seen philosophically stated in our Medical
Secrets.

Desk Diseases . — No. 8.

229

usually follows it, may, and very frequently does, arise without the
slightest dereliction of innocence on the part of the patient ;
for whatever may produce inflammation may end in stricture,
and we shall now show you that this may be caused in many
ways, which probably you were not before aware of.

In some of our former papers, we have demonstrated, how
much confinement at the desk or in the library, has a tendency
to produce liver complaints and bilious disorders, and in No. 2.
of our Medical Advice, pages 22 and 30, we have shown
that one of the most common symptoms attending these is 66 a
heat or scalding in making water, occasioned by the acridness of
the bilious urine/’ which frequently, though not always, is high
coloured, small in quantity, and deposits a pink sediment on
the sides or bottom of the pot de chambre. Now if bilious dis¬
orders continue for any length of time, even though of the
slighter kind, or if a violent bilious attack has occurred — do
you not clearly see that the urinary canal may be involved in
the disorder, and first irritation, then inflammation, and thirdly,
stricture may be produced ? The one is a clear natural conse¬
quence of the other ; and we ourselves have no doubt that a
great number of strictures have no other cause than bilious de¬
rangement, though that derangement may arise from irregular
living, dissipation, or sexual indulgence, as well as from too
close confinement at the desk. But the latter of itself will often
be a sufficient cause while the sufferer is innocent of any irregu¬
larity. We therefore caution all those who are disposed to be
bilious to watch narrowly whether any symptoms of stricture
make their appearance, such as twisting or forking of the stream,
frequent calls to make water, particularly in the night, Sec. and
to lose no time in applying the proper remedies.

Another very frequent cause of urinary strictures which
desk business is apt to produce, is gravel and sand in the urine,
the nature and treatment of which we have amply laid down in
Vol. I. p. 220. The way in which gravel produces stricture,
will be easily comprehended when you reflect that the particles
of the gravel or sand are crystals of an acid, with sharp angles,
which cannot fail to cut the tender skin that lines the urinary
canal. The consequence will be that the cut parts will inflame and
swell, and matter will be thrown out as in a cut on the finger,
which will unite the opposite sides of the canal, in the very same
way as the sides of the cut in the finger are united, by a hard,
white, elastic substance, blocking up the passage of the urine, and
forming the most unmanageable and dangerous sort of stricture.
This you will at once perceive is no fanciful or imaginary case,
but what happens every day in those who are afflicted with

VOL. II, 2 G

230

Desk Diseases. — No. 8.

gravel. Wo conjure you, therefore, as you value your life not to
trifle with yourself, if you observe any symptoms of gravel ; but
apply the remedies which we have pointed out in our preceding
pages, and which we shall more amply describe in our Medical
Advice in Gravel and Stone. Those who are much employed
at the desk require, above all others, to be careful in not at any
time neglecting too long the calls of nature to make water, and
in avoiding a stooping position, which presses upon and in¬
jures the kidneys. As indigestion also is one of the chief causes
of this disorder, by its leading to the generation of the acid
which forms the gravel, and crystallizes in the bladder, as you
see water crystallize with frost, deskers ought to attend most
punctually to the rules w7e have so often laid down for scientific
eating and enjoyment; and whenever their stomach is deranged,
training should be had immediate recourse to, with the tonic
prescriptions in our Medical Advice.

We need not muster many facts to prove that desk business,
or literary employment, is a fertile source of all the multifarious
complaints called nervous. The effects on the brain from con¬
stant stooping, and of course overloading it with blood, much
more the constant stretch of the mind in thinking, investigat¬
ing, or calculating, cannot fail to end in debility or derangement
of the nerves. Sometimes this manifests itself by affecting the
whole body, as in shaking palsy and epilepsy, but it more com¬
monly affects only one particular part, as the head in apoplexy,
the calf of the leg in cramp, and the urinary canal in nervous
stricture. Locked-jaw, is another nervous disorder, which in
some degree is analogous to nervous stricture, the jaw being
shut by cramp, in a similar way to the shutting of the urinary
canal. When nervous stricture does occur, it must be treated
instantly and actively, according to the method which we have
described at length in our Medical Secrets ; but which we could
not with propriety introduce in this family work, at least suffi¬
ciently plain to be useful to those who dislike, as we do, appli¬
cation to a surgeon, few of whom know much about strictures,
and often do more harm than good. Another very common
origin of stricture, among those who arc much employed in
literary pursuits, or desk business, is Cold in the Bladder, or as
it is called by the doctors Catarrhus Cesicce. Since this, how¬
ever, is a disease very prevalent, painful, and often dangerous,
and requiring our most careful attention in detailing its symp¬
toms and cure, and in distinguishing it from certain other dis¬
eases ; we shall reserve it for our next.

New Remedies for Unmanageable Diseases.

231

N i i\v Remedies for Unmanageable Diseases.

Sulphate of Quinine for Piles.

We formerly mentioned that two celebrated men are record¬
ed to have fallen victims to loss of blood from bleeding piles 5
Copernicus, the astronomer, and Arias the founder of the Arian
sect. In such cases, as well as in the dangerous flooding of
women in child-bed, &c., it appears from a few trials that the
sulphate of quinine is a powerful remedy, and not only supports
the lost strength, but stops the bleeding. We should imagine
that in spitting of blood, bleeding from the nose, Sec., it must
prove equally valuable. As a proof of our position we shall
translate a striking case from a German Medical Magazine, of
good authority.

Case oj a Lady. — Dr. Klokouw had for a considerable time
attended a lady, aged 50, and who was affected with palsy. Along
with this, bleeding piles came on by gradual steps, till she began
at length to pass so much blood, each time she went to stool,
that she grew pale, feeble, trembling, and giddy, with cold
sweats and chilliness in the hands and feet. Dr. Klokouw in
vain exhausted all the known medicines which he could think
of to stop this threatening loss of blood, and alternately em¬
ployed cold embrocations, injections of alum and bark, plug¬
ging, the internal use of the mineral acids, canella, ipecacuan,
and opium. All failed. He then bethought himself ot the new
medicine, the sulphate of quinine, and at the second dose ot
four grains, the discharge of blood diminished, and the fourth
dose entirely cured it. (Htjfeland’s Journal dev Praktischen
Heilkunde.)

Sal Ammoniac for Scrofula.

Dr. Kuntzmann, another German physician, has published
the results of his experience respecting sal ammoniac, or, as the
chemists call it, muriate of ammonia , in some diseases in which
he gave it with good effect in large doses. We merely mention
that by persevering with it, he cured a very bad case of retention
of urine, stricture, and fistula. In about six weeks, the patient
used a pound and five ounces of the medicine. What we wish
chiefly, however, to impress upon the attention is, that he found
it powerful in diminishing scrofulous swellings of the glands of
the neck, &c. which usually yielded in about six weeks. The
dose which he prescribed for a boy, was two drachms of the sal
ammoniac dissolved in four ounces of water, and sweetened
with liquorice, a table spoonful every two hours. (Kuntz¬
mann, ueber die IVirkung des Salmaiks , fyc.)

232

Royal Circular respecting Hydrophobia.

Costiveness cured by Inflation.

Dr. Maxwell, of Dumfries, informs us that about ten years
ago, he was led to try a new mode of treating obstinate costive-
ness, and since that time he has successfully employed it in a
number of cases. Being baffled in procuring relief even by the
strongest purgatives, aided by the warm bath and injections,
Dr. Maxwell had recourse to the inflation of the bowels, by
means of air blown through a tube, having a flat piece of cork,
about three inches from its point, and fitting over the funda¬
ment, to prevent the return of the air when it has once entered
the lower intestine. The patient must lie on his back, and the
air must be blown in very gently and gradually, pressing it
along the bowels with the hand on the outside of the belly.
Unless this be carefully managed the operation will prove un¬
successful. When the patient experiences much pain, the air
may be allowed to escape, and the operation should be re-com¬
menced when he is in a condition to bear it. In the first case
that Dr. Maxwell tried inflation, in a man aged forty-three, who
had had no stool for three days, and had also rupture, the
bowels were freely opened in an hour after the operation. In
several children, he was equally successful, though some had
had no evacuation for six and even nine days. The remedy, if
cautiously managed, is a very safe one, and might be advantage¬
ously used instead of continual purgatives by those of a costive
habit.

Royal Circular respecting Hydrophobia.

We recollect of hearing Dr. Powel remark in his Lectures,
before the College of Physicians in Warwick Lane, that hydro¬
phobia appears and disappears, at particular periods, influenced
no doubt, by the state of the season. Very hot summers and
very cold winters, are said to be most favourable to it. Be this
as it may, there can be no doubt that it has been very prevalent
'luring the present year, and has led to some discussions which
we anxiously hope may be useful in discovering a method of
cure. We observe that a good many cases have lately occurred
from the bite of cats. The injection of water into the veins,
proposed by M. Magendie, having decidedly failed*, all our
hopes are now directed towards the blisters or pustules under the
tongue, as mentioned by Dr. Marochetti and Dr. Xanthosf.

J he King of Prussia has thought this of so much importance
that lie has^ caused a Circular to be addressed to all the physici-
Dans in his dominions, to ascertain the existence (which is

* See Oracle of Health, Vol. If. pn~c UK).

+ Ibid, page 14.

233

Royal Circular respecting Hydrophobia.

doubted by many) of the little blisters, pimples, or pustules,
under the tongue, on each side of the bridle ; and to open and
cauterize them with a hot needle when they exist, which is
averred to be a certain cure. The pustules are described as
being as small as a lentil or millet seed, and therefore may be
over-looked ; and it is also to be remarked that they contain the
poison which disappears as it spreads through the body, so that it
is important to destroy them with the hot needle, within twenty
four hours or less, after they appear. Indeed they seldom con¬
tinue longer than this.

The Royal Prussian Circular has procured the testimony of
several physicians to the truth of these facts. Dr. Baumbach, of
Erfurt, discovered the pustules in a woman who had been bit
by a rabid cat, and though the difficulty of swallowing, restless
anxiety, and other symptoms had come on, he succeeded in cur¬
ing her by cauterizing them. MM. Etmuller and Ideler, of
Merseburg, found the pustules in a man, aged sixty, who was
seized with hydrophobia ; but they were called too late to save
him, as the poison had been carried from the pustules through
the body. Dr. Rehmann, of St. Petersburgh, relates a similar
case ; and though he found the pustules, he was too late to save
the patient. Professor Koreff, in a letter to Baron Dupuytren,
of Paris, now before us, thinks that the popular superstition of
looking for a wTorm under the tongue of a mad dog refers to
some traditional knowledge of the pustules. In addition, also,
to what Marochetti and Xanthos have stated, Professor Erd¬
mann has discovered that a similar method of cure is success¬
fully employed by the peasants in Esthonia. Such ample testi¬
mony from scientific men ought surely to stimulate our inquiries
upon so important a topic.

Neiv Remedy for Hydrophobia. By Dr. Booth, of Birmingham.

We observe that Dr. John Booth, of Birmingham, in his
Practical Observations on Hydrophobia, page 11, ridicules both
the remedy of cauterizing the pustules, and the Prussian Circu¬
lar. May we ask if this Ex-President of the Royal Medical
Society of Edinburgh, &c. &c. &c., has ever himself personally
investigated any of the facts ? It is much easier indeed, for
Dr. Booth to mark a note of admiration in a sixpenny pamphlet
than to examine the tongue of a hydrophobic patient. Dr.
Booth’s proposal of injecting acetate of morphine into the veins,
in the quantity of twenty-four drops every ten minutes, may be
tried by him — in desperate cases any thing may be tried, but
we should have nothing to do with it, as it is quite certain, we
think, to kill the patient, independent of the disease**

* See Oracle of Health, Vol. 1 1. i>agc 103.

234

Prevalence of Chilblains at Hoarding-Schools.

Prevalence of Chilblains at Boarding-Schools.

We have carefully noted in our preceding remarks on board¬
ing-schools, the prevalence of chilblains*. We know not by
how many mothers, we have been told that their daughters had
no chilblains before they went to school, or that they became
much worse there. According to indubitable information, when
girls of the same family have gone to different schools, this has
happened to them all alike. The following is one of the memo¬
randums, which we have sometimes thought it right to request,
that the deliberation of writing might correct any errors in the
first recollection. u None of my children had chilblains at
home. The eldest first went to school at thirteen ; the second
at eleven, the third at twelve, where she is at present. Each
got chilblains the first winter”

It seems, therefore, safe to assume, that this complaint is
much less prevalent in private families, except among particu¬
larly spirited adventurers in the snow; and that at schools, it
seizes on new-comers, with as much certainty as the ague upon
strangers on their arrival in the fens, or as the yellow fever
upon Europeans, when they set foot in the West Indies. It is
an artificial malady, in general produced by the application of
sudden heat to extreme parts, benumbed with cold. The pre¬
vious coldness is an essential circumstance. In different habits,
different degrees of previous cold and subsequent heat will pro¬
duce chilblains. But where they so frequently occur, the first
indispensible cause must operate severely. The general feel¬
ings corroborate the inference from the effect on the hands and
feet. The fact has been well remembered, whenever we have
made the inquiry. In winter, the nine, ten, or twelve tedious
hours of school and of preparation for school, particularly the
former, were, in a greater or less degree, an uncomfortable,
chilly, shivering season ; leaving upon the memory, a strong,
painful impression, and a worse upon the system.

It is difficult to imagine, that either this gross mismanagement,
or its consequences should not have totally escaped governesses
and parents. But however that may be, they may be sure that
there is not a single species of disease, indisposition, or incapa¬
bility, prevalent among women in this country, which it is not
fully sufficient to induce. Not a constitution but it will help
to undermine. We have heard it related by many mothers,
that after a residence of some months at school, a periodical

*

See Oracle, Vol. II. pages 78, and 100

Treatment of Asthma and Winter Cough. 235

function, peculiar to the female frame, has ceased altogether, or
run into excess. Either of these irregularities will follow the
action of continued cold ; and we will venture to propose the
prevalence of chilblains, as a simple and indubitable criterion of
improper treatment, and of a weakened constitution. In chil¬
dren the most puny, and the most disposed to chilblains, they
may be prevented by a very little care *. They are, it is true,
suffered to take place, to an equal degree, in private families —
sometimes because attention is totally absorbed by vain acquire¬
ments, (though all acquirements are vain, if health be not se¬
cured;) and sometimes because the very desirable quality of
hardiness is sought by a preposterous method. But a large pro¬
portion of young women, who have suffered long from chil¬
blains whether at home or abroad, will always be found to fall
into fatal disorders about the rera of maturity, or to become
miserable invalids for the subsequent part of life.

Preventive of Chilblains.

Take a quantity of alum, make a strong solution of it in cold water,
and bathe the parts with it night and morning. You may make it
still stronger, by using an infusion of galls, or oak bark, instead of
plain water. The mixture, Vol. I. p. 229, is still more powerful, and
if carefully used will, to a certainty, prevent chilblains. The water
caught from oysters, while opening them, is also good.

Remedy for Chilblains.

Dissolve two drachms of acetate of lead,
in half a pint of cold water ; add
a glass of good brandy or rum.

Mix till it becomes of a uniform white, dip linen cloths in it, and
apply them to the parts, renewing them frequently during the day.
This is often sold high, as a quack medicine.

Treatment of Asthma and Winter Cough.

When a patient is attacked by a fit of asthma, he must be
placed upright, with his clothes as loose as possible, and his feet
either immersed in warm water, or warm bricks or bottles of
hot water applied to them, and to the pit of the stomach. It
will also be advantageous to inhale the vapour of a hot infusion
of camomile flowers, to which a little aromatic vinegar will be
a good addition. It will also be useful to unload the bowels,
by giving a lavement prepared with an ounce of castor oil, a
drachm of asafoetida, a drachm of tincture of castor, and two
ounces of infusion of senna.

* See Oracle, Vol. 1. p. 18(5.

23(> Treatment of Asthma and Winter Cough.

Bleeding. — You will find in most of the popular books, that
bleeding is recommended to relieve the fit, when the patient
does not seem weak and emaciated. It is at best, however, a
doubtful, and always a dangerous remedy. Dr. Bree, who is
himself asthmatic, says, “ I have repeatedly directed it ; but I
have never had reason to think that the fit was shortened an
hour by the loss of blood ; and I have often been conji®fed
that the expectoration was delayed, and that greater difficulty of
breathing remained in the intervals than was common after former
fits. In old people, who have been long used to the disorder,
it is certainly injurious*.” After this, we think, few of our
asthmatic readers will be very willing to lose blood. Patients
sometimes insist upon being let blood, contrary to the judg¬
ment of the practitioner !

Smoking. — Some have strongly recommended the inhalation
of the smoke of the hot fumes of tobacco f, and of the British herb
myrrh ; but the stramonium, or thorn apple, is now the favour¬
ite for this purpose. As this, howrever, has sometimes given
rise to difficulty of swallowing, and even palsy J, we do not
think it safe to tamper with, though it certainly has considerable
power in preventing the severity of the fit, when begun an
hour or so before its expected access. Bringing the stramonium
to boil in a close vessel, (an ounce to a pint of water) and
breathing the vapour through a funnel immediately, on taking
it off the fire, is the safest and pleasantest way of using it.

Purgatives. — In debilitated subjects, nothing can be more
hurtful than the continued use of purgatives, so absurdly re¬
commended by some authors, and prescribed by most apothe¬
caries. We admit that if there is costiveness, or evident ob¬
struction of the liver, as is sometimes the case, that it will be
useful to remove this ; but it should never be done by violent
medicine to exhaust the patient’s strength, which it is so im¬
portant to preserve, to enable him to go through the fit.
Besides, a violent purgative always increases the irritation in
the chest, instead of diminishing it §. For this reason, we de¬
cidedly object to the use of hedge-hyssop, or what Botanists call
gratiola officinalis, which has been sometimes recommended in
asthma.

Emetics and Nauseants. — Sir John Floyer, who speaks from

* Bree’s Inquiry into Disordered Respiration, p. 245.

+ Sir John Floyer has observed instances in which smoking brought on asthma
in healthy individuals.

+ See Dr. Good’s Study of Medicine, Vol. I. p. 572.

^ Dr. Good, ut supra.

Treatment of Asthma and Winter Cough. 23f

his own experience, advises an emetic to be given once a month.
Dr. Akenside went farther, (we think very properly) adopting
the plan laid down by us* for preventing consumptive cough,
by giving an emetic of ipecacuanha every other morning f.
Even when this medicine is not carried the length of producing
full vomiting, it will be very useful as a nauseant to throw the
disease to the surface, and relieve the distress by perspiration
and by a flow of bile into the bowels J, which all nauseants do.
It is from this quality chiefly, we are inclined to believe, that
squill has been found so beneficial in asthma, for it is rarely
useful as an expectorant till it produce nausea or vomiting. One
of the best preparations for producing perspiration, is the

Compound Powder of Ipecacuanha.

Take one drachm of powder of ipecacuan,
one drachm of hard opium powdered,
one ounce of sulphate of potass powdered.

Mix, and take from ten to twenty grains as a dose.

Oily mixtures, which are usually given, do much harm by
destroying the stomach and producing indigestion.

Soothing Medicines . — In our former paper, page 173, on
Asthma and Winter Cough, we have given by far the most pow¬
erful prescription of the anodyne species which has hitherto
been tried. Above all other remedies, indeed, according to the
experience of the asthmatics who have tried them, we ought to
place opium and coffee. Sir John Pringle, whose authority as
a medical man stands deservedly high, in a letter to Dr. Percival
says, that coffee 66 is the best abater of the periodic asthma I
have yet seen. The coffee ought to be the best Mocha, newly
burnt, and made very strong immediately after grinding it. I
have commonly ordered an ounce for one cup, which is to be
repeated fresh after the interval of a quarter or half an hour,
and which I direct to be taken without sugar or milk§.” With
all deference to Sir John Pringle, however, we submit that the
sugar and the milk can do no earthly injury to the soothing
effects of the coffee, while they must make it more palatable,
and make it more likely to sit on the stomach, which is often a
point of some moment. The acetate of morphine, or if that
cannot be had, the Lancaster black drop, or Battley’s sedative
liquor of opium, are better than opiate wine or laudanum. The

* See Oracle, Vol. I. p. 335, and Riverius, Praxis Medic. VII. 1.
+ Lond. Phys. Trans. I. 7.

t See Medical Advice in Bilious and Liver Complaints, p. 10.

^ Medical Essays, Vol. ITT.

VOL. II. 2 H

238

Had Effects of Snuff - faking.

belladonna liniment* applied over the chest and pit of the
stomach, is also powerfully soothing.

Acids. — All acid preparations are found beneficial in asth¬
matic cases, and particularly that of oranges, lemons, and vine¬
gar. Sir John Floyer, on this account, recommended a mix¬
ture of vinegar and squills; and in consequence of his authority,
squill vinegar has come into great reputation and popularity.
We think it highly probable that this acts on the principle
above described, page 209, by Dr. Pemberton, and we are chiefly
induced to think so, from the stomach in asthmatic cases being
so usually affected with flatulence, eructations, and heart-burn.
Among the medicines of this kind which are useful, in so far as
they combine the promoting of perspiration with the effect of
the acid, we recommend

Dr. Bree’s Anti- Asthmatic Draught.

Take one ounce of distilled vinegar,

from one to three grains of ipecacuan,
a sufficient quantity of pure water.

Mix, and (after having taken an emetic, as above ordered) repeat it
every four hours till relief be obtained.

*** Training Rules for the Asthmatic, and those subject to
regular or periodical returns of Winter Cough, in our next.

Bad Effects of Snuff-Taking. Bv Dr Kinglake.

Dr. Kinglake, of Taunton, is the most determined scribbler
of all the scrap-contributors to the Medical Journals. Every
month he is ready with his mite, written in a Babylonish jargon,
which we are quite positive nobody (himself perhaps excepted)
can understand. His absurd book on gout, which for a time
led many into a very dangerous practice, was full of similar
nonsense, such as “ admissible significancy,” — “ combustible
state of vital motion,” &c. In Dr. Kinglake’s paper now be¬
fore us, on snuff-taking, we find many rich specimens of medi¬
cal slang, one of which w*e shall extract, to show our readers the
methods taken by the doctors to mystify even so simple a thing
as taking a pinch of snuff.

u As errhines,” says the Taunton scribe of monthly scraps —
i( As errhines, in sternutative intentions, various substances
have been used for the purpose of exciting the minutely rami¬
fied expansion of the olfactory nerves, or the mucous membrane

*

See Oracle. Vol. I. p. 218.

Are the Teeth of Whales petrified Cucumbers ? 239

of the nostrils. In cases of unyielding lethargy and comatose
stupor, arising from cerebral oppression, and other states of dis¬
tempered sensibility ; nasal stimulants may beneficially co¬
operate with suitable depletion in restoring nervous depression
to a condition of natural freedom and energy.”

Besides this mass of bad writing, Kinglake has stumbled
upon some very strange tilings in his paper on snuff. We have
seen before that Mr. Henry Earle has traced cancerous affec¬
tions oi the nose to the use of snuff, and we have ourselves re¬
marked that it may occasionally do injury to the stomach, by
being swallowed unawares. Enlarging on this idea, which he
no doubt derived from our pages, Dr. Kinglake, by winging his
fancy to “ th’ Atlantic Isles afar,” leaps to the conclusion, that
snuff produces cancer in the stomach; for

Snuff-taking was the Cause of the Death of Buonaparte .

“ There is much reason,” says Dr. Kinglake, “ for believing
that the ever-memoruble Napoleon Bonaparte derived the cause
of his protracted suffering, and eventual death, from the large
quantities of snuff, which he lavishly but unconsciously carried
into the stomach through the nostrils, by the habit of strong
and unmeasured inspiration, with which he used that destruc¬
tive agent. The diseased appearances of the stomach on inspec¬
tion after death, termed cancerous, were those of a highly in¬
flamed, much thickened, and extensively ulcerated surface, such
as were very likely to have been induced by the noxious influ¬
ence of tobacco, almost incessantly supplied by the frequent,
abundant, and forcible manner in which that illustrious person¬
age was notoriously known to take that powdered article!!”

If all this be sooth, we think Dr. Kinglake would be more
usefully employed in his day and generation, in petitioning Par¬
liament to prohibit people from caneerizing their stomachs by
snuff, than in scribbling monthly slang for Souter’s Yellow.

Are the Teeth of Whales petrified Cucumbers?

By Professor Wade, of Dublin.

Professor Wade, of Trinity College, Dublin, has been for
many years most anxious to prove tnat there are things in exist¬
ence more rare and curious than has yet been dreamed of in our
philosophy. The extracting of sun-beams from cucumbers is
now an antiquated and stale experiment, and unworthy of the
genius of our now improved and enlightened age. The cucum¬
bers, however, are too philosophical an article to lose sight of,
and accordingly Wade has made them the subject of an ingeni-

240

» N •

Scots Phrenologists and Bachelors.

ous lecture. It would be most absurd in us to suppose, that
the learned professor of Natural History is not well acquainted
with the teetli of the whale, particularly when it is recollected
that the great Linnaeus made the teeth a corner stone ol his
system, and Geoffroi St. Hilaire, and others, are now making
them a separate study. Wade, however, has surpassed all that
has hitherto been devised on this important topic, and annually
exhibits to his pupils, the tooth of a whale, which he avers is
nothing more or less than a petrified cucumber. Where the
whales in the polar regions come by cucumbers to fill their jaws
withal, is a part of the inquiry which we are sorry to say we
must leave in the Dublin darkness, in which we have found it.
We may hint, in conclusion, that the professor is not the first
of the learned who has been deceived about petrifactions. Pray
may we ask if he has ever analysed this said tooth-cucumber ?

Scots Phrenologists and Glasgow Bachelors.

By Nicol Jarvie, M.D. *

When we again take up our series of papers on the Diseases
of the Unmarried State, we shall trace the philosophical causes
of one of the curious facts which we have to record below. In
the mean time we must congratulate our friends on the rapid
progress of Phrenology in the North — that new and noble sci¬
ence which strips the soul of its spiritual mystery, exculpates
man from all responsibility for his evil actions, and, by making
bis appetites his only guides, conforms so admirably with the
Calvinistic doctrine of faith without works, and the infallibility
of the elect saints, such as Fletcher — Dick — and, greater than
them both, our wit-primed Chaplain of the Punch-Club, w ho
washes down his sighs over the lost souls of the West Indian
slaves with a stiff tumbler of Gibb’s best. These comfortable
doctrines, coinciding as they do with the Northern views of re¬
ligion, could not fail to make their way in Scotland. Edinburgh
took the lead in the formation of a Phrenological Society, in
which, as might have been expected, we find the names of
some elect clergymen.

Glasgow is about to follow the worthy example of establish¬
ing a society to uphold the doctrine of the brain-appetites of
theft, lust, murder, and the rest of the rigmarole catalogue
which levels man with the beasts, by taking away the responsi¬
bility of his actions, making him, as Calvin does, the mere tool

* We insert onr contributor. Dr. Jarvie’s paper, without agreeing to all his
opinion^ and our pages shall be open to a reply, if it be short and pithy.

Editors,

Scots Phrenologists and Bachelors. 24 l

of necessity, and rendering our Creator the author of all our
actions, good and evil, inasmuch as he has formed us, according
to Calvin and Combe, with brain-appetites which hunger after
theft, murder, &c., as naturally as the stomach does for food.
Spurzheim tells a story of a girl who swore in a court of justice,
that she had an illegitimate child, purposely to gratify her appe¬
tite for murder, by killing it as soon as it was born.

This is phrenology ; and it is exactly Calvin’s blasphemous
and infernal doctrine of eternal reprobation, and the infallibility
of the elect saints, as explained by himself, and by Swinden, in
that precious humbug work, “ God Glorified in the Damnation
of Sinners ;” and also by Edwards in his book on Necessity, so
far as we can understand that mystical, unintelligible, and ab¬
surd writer. It is this horrible doctrine, and this alone which
has hoodwinked so many in the face of glaring facts, to believe
Dr. Collyer an unspotted and infallible saint; and Fletcher — in
spite of his own express confession to promise-breaking, and
his deliberate blasphemy in making God a party to his bare¬
faced iniquities — to be an elected saint, incapable of falling; —
and Dick, in spite of his unchristian haughtiness and pride, a
holy, humble, heaven-travelling Nathaniel. — But we are for¬
getting our Bachelors.

The Glasgow Phrenologists have all been on the alert re¬
cently, in examining the development of the brain appetite of
amativeness, i.e. sexual love, in certain old bachelors, who have
instituted a society for the sole benefit of their widows * ! This
society is not exclusively composed of bachelors, but we believe
two-thirds or three-fourths of the members are still in a state of
single blessedness. The phrenological point, however, is a
very curious one. It is one of the laws of the society, that if a
member refuse or neglect to pay his annual subscription for
three years, that his right to place his widow on the fund shall
be forfeited, unless he pay a fine of we know not how many
pounds sterling. Now, it is well known that a considerable
number of the bachelor-members , chiefly those above 60, 70?
and 80 years , have actually paid this fine , evidently with the
hopes of leaving a widow to enjoy the benefit of the annuity ! !
The phrenologists are, therefore, most eager to ascertain the
development of the appetite aforesaid, in a few of the oldest of
those who have paid this bachelor fine; and have procured a list
of names, for the express purpose of aiding the philosophical in¬
quiry. The names of the individuals, with their ages, and deve-

* This you may be assured is an undoubted fact, as Mr. A. Mitchell, who is an
office bearer of the Society, will inform you, if you deem it necessary to make fur¬
ther inquiry.

242

Mr. Parkinson on Nostrums.

lopment of this appetite, or, organ as Mr. Combe calls it, shall
be forwarded to London for publication as soon as the investiga¬
tion is completed, which is a very ticklish affair : the phrenolo¬
gist has to steal a march upon the old boys ; as they have no
relish for letting their secrets be known, and are particularly
averse to tell their ages. Were it not, indeed, as a means of for¬
warding science, it would be altogether wrong to intrude in such
a way upon the secrets of private life.

Besides the old bachelors of the Widows’ Fund, some of our
phrenological friends are preparing sketches of the heads of ce¬
lebrated Glasgow characters, intended to be sent to the Oracle,
such as the members of the Punch Club — the Ladies and Gen¬
tlemen of the Bible Society — the Flats, i. e. the Ungodly, who
are deficient in the organ of veneration — the Old Maids — the
Trongate Trotters, & c.

Glasgow, Salt-market , 15 th Dec. 1824.

On Nostrums. By Mr. Parkinson, of Hoxton.

We will not insist on the fact, that most nostrums owe
their celebrity to the arts and tricks of their proprietors ; and
that their virtues are more than equalled by the medicines com¬
monly employed in similar cases; but will observe to you, that
mercury and bark, two medicines which approach the nearest to
what is in general meant by a specific, would often fail in their
curative effects, were they not aided, and indeed even corrected,
by other medicines, according to the circumstances occurring in
different cases. How narrowed then must be the scope of yield¬
ing benefit, of those nostrums which are employed in the same
form, and in the same mode, in all the different stages of a
disease, in every constitution, in all the varying habits of body,
occurring, in the same person, at different times ; and in all
those cases where the intermixture of other diseases, may ren¬
der the greatest caution necessary in the use of any powerful
remedy.

We must also entreat you to attend to the difference of the
principle which actuates the proprietor of nostrums and the fair
professors of the healing art. The former, and we will take for
granted that his nostrum is in itself valuable, acts on this prin¬
ciple, that the public good, which might be augmented by the
divulging of his secret, shall yield to his individual emolument:
the latter, considering it to be their bounden duty to lessen the
sufferings of their fellow-creatures to the utmost of their abili¬
ties, seek every opportunity of making as public as possible,
every discovery in the healing art; being guided by this prin-

Mr. Parkinson on Nostrums.

243

ciple, that the consideration of individual emolument should
never prevent the universal knowledge of any means of lessening
the agonies of suffering humanity. On this principle are the
numerous medical societies and periodical publications esta¬
blished, these having, for their grand object, the immediate
and extensive propagation of every important discovery in the
healing art. Shun then

The potent quack, long vers’d in human ills,

Who tortures first the victim whom he kills:

Whose murd’rous hand a drowsy bench protect,

And whose most tender mercy is neglect. Crabbe.

Not less necessary is it to shun the ignorant empiric who
assumes the character of the regular practitioner, and dares to
sport with the lives of his fellow-creatures, by dispensing me¬
dicines in the most critical cases, without a knowledge of the
first principles of science.

But how, you say, shall you make the distinction between him
who really possesses the requisite knowledge, and him who as¬
sumes the appearance of wisdom. We acknowledge that we
are here at a loss to answer you. But we are satisfied that an
attention to the following advice, will dften yield you a useful
direction for your choice. Avoid the man of coarse, bold, and
assuming manners.

w All pride, and business, bustle, and conceit.”

Not only in such will you be least likely to find sympathizing
tenderness; but, from his vulgarity you may conclude, he has
not had that education which is necessary for the foundation of
true medical knowledge. In a word, seek one who is not
merely termed a regular, but one who has been in fact, regularly
taught the healing art; whose manners promise tenderness, and
whose habits insure you his care and attention.

But we think we hear some say, that through the hardness of
the times we cannot afford to make application to a professional
character of repute. Then, rather than submit to be tortured
by ignorance, make immediate application, in spite of the silly
suggestions of a false delicacy, to one of the numerous hospi¬
tals which the provident benevolence of individuals has pre¬
pared for the mitigation of the sufferings of their fellow-crea¬
tures. Here you will obtain those comforts and that attend¬
ance, which your own family, however great and affectionate
their zeal, may not be able to yield you ; and here the same
judgment may be exercised to procure you relief, as is employed
for the first peer of the realm. But should none of these most
excellent institutions be within your reach, do not suffer delay
to deprive a family of a life which is their’s, but make your case

244

Philosophy oj Hearing . — No. 4.

known, without reserve, to your rich neighbour, and fear not a
repulse — benevolence is the characteristic of Britons.

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 4.

Conductors of Sound. — Wool, down, and feathers are bad
conductors of heat, and also bad conductors of sound; though
perhaps there is no substance whatever through which sound
will not pass more or less. The sound of the grand cataract of
Niagara is found to be sensibly diminished when the ground is
covered with snow — which according to our principle — is a
non-conductor of sound.

Air, when very much rarefied, as in the exhausted receiver of
an air pump, will scarcely transmit sound at all ; and it has
hence been hastily concluded that air is the only medium of
sounds. It would, we think, have been more philosophical to
have inferred that every substance whatever, when rarefied, if
that were possible, as much as the air in the exhausted receiver
would transmit sound with equal indistinctness.

The clearness of sound indeed seems to depend very much on
the density of the vehicle by which it is conveyed. In the cool
of the evening, and still more as the night advances, when the
air is no longer rarefied by the sun ; we hear sounds, that, for
example, of distant waters, which in the day were altogether im¬
perceptible. The circumstance of sounds being more distinctly
transmitted in cool air has not escaped the observation of our
poets.

Who the melodies of morn can tell,

The wild brook babbling down the mountain side.

The lowing herd, the sheep-fold’s simple bell,

The pipe of early shepherd, dim descried
In the lone valley. Echoing far and wide,

The clamorous horn high o’er the cliffs above,

The hollow murmur of the ocean tide,

The sky-lark’s song, the linnet’s lay of love.

And the full choir that wakes the universal grove.

The cottage curs at early travellers bark ;

Crown’d with her pail, the tripping milk-maid sings;

The whistling ploughman stalks a-field; and hark !

Dowrn the rough slope the ponderous waggon rings.

Beattie’s Minstrel.

We have often observed a similar clearness of sounds in frosty
weather. For example, we think we can hear the sound of a
distant carriage much more distinctly in a frosty day than in the
heat of summer. It is evidently the same principle which
causes iron to transmit sounds well, and feathers to transmit
them imperfectly.

February Diseases.

245

Diseases of February and the Means of Escaping them.

If Winter bellow from the North,

Soon the sweet Spring comes dancing forth,

And Nature laughs again. Covvper,

If February, says Leigh Hunt, were not the precursor of
Spring, it would be the least pleasant season of the year,
November not excepted. The thaws now take place; and a
clammy mixture of moisture and cold succeeds, which is the
most disagreeable of wintry sensations. There is nothing soft
in the one, nor grand, and, as it were, manly in the other.
There is a sort of clinging importunity in it, and a petty pee¬
vishness in the needle-like rains that occur on the temporary
returns of frost. The dreary feeling is completed by the hooting
of the wood-owl. Yet now the first announcing voice of Spring
is heard in the delightful note of the woodlark; and we have
only to look about us, and consider a little, to feel almost
assured that

In nature there is nothing melancholy*.

A London February, indeed, as Mr. Haden remarks, is often
a very charming month, at least if a due quantity of frosty
weather have occurred in January: for, though the mornings
are generally overcast, yet a splendid day not unfrequently fol¬
lows, clear, bright, and very warm. If such a day occur on
Sunday, the whole population is out of doors; and, if the trees
were in leaf, the parks would, in some degree, emulate the
May-day joys. If February is often so fine in London, what
must it frequently be in the open country? there the morning,
as well as noon, is often beautiful. Doubtless, the human body
partakes in the vivifying effects of these early anticipations of
Spring. The spirits are more buoyant, and the whole consti¬
tution is more capable of setting at nought the approaches of
disease.

Much variation takes place, this month, in the form of the
prevailing diseases. The intense bilious character of the Janu¬
ary disorders in some degree relaxes, although, in the early part
of the month, less perceptible difference exists ; but, afterwards,
the chest becomes implicated, and somewhat later in February,
the head.

Inflammation of the lungs is usually very common; and
although the complaint is generally in children, an inflam¬
mation of the membrane, which lines the air tubes (because, in-

VOT., II.

* Sybilline leaves, by Mr. Coleridge, p,205,

o i

February Diseases

24(1

deed, it is this par-l of the lungs which is, in almost every instance,
a fleeted in them) yet, in adults, pleurisy is not uncommon, and
is marked by the painful affections of the sides and chest, and
the short cough, or even want of cough, instead of the frequent
hollow cough and abundant secretion of phlegm, which charac¬
terizes the affections of the lungs in the heavy autumnal months.

Although we catch cold at all times of the year, yet with the
changes of the weather, and of the form of common complaints
which are described above, colds become less prevalent, though
such as do appear are more prone to form themselves into
violent disorders, than the affections of the preceding months.
At somewhat a later period of the month, affections of the hfead
become more prevalent. Apoplexy is not uncommon in grown¬
up persons, whilst inflammation of the brain, appears in too
many cases, amongst children.

Coincident with these diseases, every one who is ill complains
more of his head than under ordinary circumstances. This
shows how much the general aspect of disorders is dependant
on the peculiarities of the times and seasons : and to express
accurately this prevailing tendency to head disease, we should
say, that whilst those old persons who are violently predisposed
to apoplexy, fall down, overwhelmed by an attack of tlgat disease,
others, less decidedly prepared for its attack, apply for the relief
of giddiness and rushings of blood to the head, and those af¬
fected by other disorders, or who are in their usual health, com¬
plain more of headache than under ordinary circumstances.

Influence of the Weather on Health.

Nothing can be more interesting than to observe the wide-
spreading effect of the influence of the air on the aspect of dis¬
eases ; because it forms one of the best of the many illustrations
which exist of our bodily health being in so great a degree regu¬
lated by circumstances external to the body itself. The obser¬
vation, indeed, becomes the more important, because it is, per¬
haps equally true, that this susceptibility to the reception of
impressions from peculiar states of the surrounding air is not
natural to the healthy body. Although the climate of England
is more variable than that of many other countries, and there¬
fore, though it is, on that account, marked by a greater variety
of diseases; yet, if you would be careful enough to preserve
your constitution in a state more nearly approaching to that of
health, the climate might be various, it might be cold to-day
and hot to-morrow, and cold again the dav after, but vou would

« • ' cr j ' w

brave it all, and might with safety

IiPl I he* misty mountain wind* bo f rot*,

To blow against you, Wordsworth.

Iso and Abuse of Flannel in Dress. '14 7

Health is seldom destroyed by an attack of disease, unless the
vital actions of the constitution have been previously interfered
with by a disordered state of the general system ; and as this
ailment of the system, which forms the stepping-stone for the
attack ol more serious complaints, is, we believe, entirely pro¬
duced by an erroneous mode of conducting the general health ;
it behoves every one to learn how he may fit himself for braving
the inclemencies of the keen winds of Spring, and its alter¬
nations with almost the heats of Summer. That such an art
may be learned, is most certain, as you may see from our pre¬
ceding articles. On the present occasion, however, we have
only to show how you may best guard your ailing and suscep¬
tible frames from the attack of February disorders.

J

February, however, on the whole, is perhaps a less unhealthy
month than either January or March. It is less cold than the
one; and the equinoctial winds which characterize the other,
and blowing from the east, at once dry up the atmosphere, and
fit the body for its severest inflammatory attacks, have not vet
come on, so that the directions given in our two articles on
January, apply equally well to the whole month of February.
Brisk aperients, on the approach of such diseases as have been
alluded to above; abstinence occasionally from animal food, and
fermented liquors, under similar circumstances, and an early
recourse to bleeding or cupping, in such as are predisposed to
apoplectic attacks, form the outline of our precautionary recom¬
mendations.

To prevent is always better than to cure; but, whilst it is to
do a good work when we prevent the attack of an acute disease,
by warding oft the preliminary symptoms above alluded to, it
would be much better so to fashion our habits as to prevent
them entirely, not by attacking their precursory symptoms
roughly, but by learning to mould our habits into such a gentle
and congenial routine as will secure health, and, in its train, an
almost uninterrupted series of agreeable bodily sensations.

Use and Abuse of Flannel in Dress.

Count Rumford, who was the Kitchiner of his time, and
humbugged the lieges with his oddities and superficialities,
made a number of experiments, by which he proved to his own
satisfaction, that, as wool will absorb, and contain a great quan¬
tity of moisture, and linen only a small quantity — a flannel shirt
must be very much superior to a linen one. Try this in plain
language stript of its imposing logic, and you will find the
meaning to be, that it is better for you to have a wet shirt than

Use and Abase of Flannel in Dress.

‘248

a dry one. If you have tried flannel in this way, you require no
Count Rumford to tell you that the skin is perpetually drenched
in perspiration, and that your flannel shirt always feels more or
less damp. This, indeed, would have prevented flannel from
ever becoming fashionable as an under-dress, did it not possess
another property which in some degree counteracts the evil —
the property we mean, of irritating and stimulating the skin, so
that the pores are not permitted to be palsied or obstructed by
the damp, as they would otherwise infallibly be. Upon this
irritating property of flannel, therefore, we shall now speak.

By the irritation of flannel, worn in contact with the skin, a
perpetual feverishness is produced, both by the preventing the
access of cool air to the skin, and by continually spurring and
goading it with a countless number of hard points on the ends
of the wool. The consequence is, as Dr. Darwin justly remarks,
that when flannel is applied to the tender skins of infants, that
the red gum is frequently produced ; and in grown people a
miliary eruption attended with feverishness* ; although, accord¬
ing to the usual short-sightedness of human nature, this feverish¬
ness is always referred not to the flannel, but to the complaint,
for which it happens to be worn. We could name many drugs
and prescriptions which are in this respect in the same predica¬
ment as flannel.

In irritable constitutions, shirts made of cotton or calico sti¬
mulate the skin too much by the points of the fibres, though
considerably less than flannel. For the same reason, cotton
pocket handkerchiefs, when frequently used, excoriate the nose,
and make it sore. The fibres of cotton are probably ten times
shorter than those of flax, and the number of points on the sur¬
face of the cloth will, of course, be twenty times the number.
These irritating points, indeed, are partly smoothed away by the
manufacturers, who singe their calicoes on a red-hot iron cylin¬
der; and yet instances are not wanting among irritable consti¬
tutions, in which calico acts almost as injuriously as flannel.
Dr. Darwin prevailed with several of his patients, confined to
bed with fevers, to put oflf their flannel shirts, which seemed to
have been partly the cause of their disease, and all of them be¬
came immediately and considerably relieved ; and they found no
inconvenience afterwards by discontinuing an unnecessary sti¬
mulus, which had nothing to recommend it but a frivolous
fashion.

Invalids, and those who have weak constitutions, are more
liable to be troubled with cold feet or hands, than with feelings

Darwin’s Zoonomia, Vol. Ill, j», 30, 3d edition.

Lse and Abuse of Flannel in Dress .

249

of cold on any part of the trunk of the body. This fact would
naturally suggest to a rational observer, an additional pair of
socks or stockings, with warm shoes and gloves, rather than a
flannel shirt, though this glaring absurdity is precisely what has
long been in fashion, and is even prescribed by doctors of dis¬
tinction, who are in other respects well informed, philosophical
practitioners. The consequence, therefore, of wearing flannel
shirts by those whose hands and feet are liable to become cold
from weakness, is, that a greater portion of the blood, that is the
life of the system, is expended on the parts irritated by the flan¬
nel, and of course there must be less to spare for the extremities,
and other parts of the system. In this way it is, that the hands
and feet of the weak become colder by the use of a flannel shirt.
In stronger people, and perhaps in warmer climates, this in¬
creased coldness of the extremities may not be perceptible, as
the strong can better bear some increased expenditure of blood
on the skin, without their extremities suffering from the loss,
and in warmer climates the extremities may not be so liable to
become cold.

Dr. Darwin mentions a very curious fact, which strongly
illustrates these principles. A child, six years old, having been
innoculated for small pox, had its bosom and face, at the begin¬
ning of the fever, covered with a fiery red colour, and exceed¬
ingly hot to the touch, while the feet were cold and pale. On
exposing the bosom and face to colder air, with the feet only
slightly covered, the fiery red colour disappeared in a few mi¬
nutes, and the circulation of the blood being thus equalized, and
a due proportion sent to the feet, they immediately became as
warm as natural *. It may be fairly inferred from the preced¬
ing facts, that all unnecessary increase of irritation from warm
clothing is more injurious to feeble, than to robust constitu¬
tions.

Flannel, as we have seen, increases the perspiration, and
therefore must contribute to weaken and emaciate the body, as
is well known to jockeys, who, when they are too heavy for
riding, find the quickest way to lessen their weight is by sweat¬
ing themselves between blankets in a warm room. This prac¬
tice, as is found by experience, infallibly weakens the system
by the excess of so general a stimulus, brings on a premature
old age, and lessens the span of life. The same thing may be
inferred from the quick maturity and shortness of the lives of
the inhabitants of Hindostan, and other warm climates.

It is also to be remarked, that when the heat of the body in

Dakvvin’s Zoonornia, Vol. III. p. 31..

250 Use and Abuse of Flannel in Dress.

weak persons is increased by the irritation of the points of
flannel, a greater consequent debility succeeds, than when it is
produced by the warmth of fire ; for the flannel produces the
increase of heat by irritating the skin and bringing to it an in¬
creased current of warm blood, while the fire increases it by
actually giving out its own heat without the same increased
expenditure of warm blood. In the same way the warmth pro¬
duced by riding on horseback, or by rubbing the body and
limbs, with the hand or a smooth flesh-brush, or by the oriental
method of shampooing, does not fatigue and weaken an invalid
so much as walking, running, or swimming. It follows, that
the moderate warmth of a fire is to be preferred for weak people
to flannel shirts, and riding on horseback, to exercise on foot.
Those who are unfortunately lost in snow, it should seem,
therefore, will be liable to perish sooner by exhaustion from
walking, and might frequently preserve themselves by lying on
the ground, and covering themselves with snow before their
powers are exhausted by fatigue *.

Curious Experiments. By Count Buffon.

To show the above circumstance, Buffon took a numerous
brood of the butterflies of silk worms, some hundreds of which
left their eggs on the same day and hour. These he divided
into two parcels; and placing one parcel in the south window,
and the other in the north window of his house, he observed
that those in the colder situation lived many days longer than
those in the warmer one.

It would appear from all these observations, that the wearing
of flannel next the skin, now so much in fashion, however use¬
ful it may be in winter to those who have winter coughs, or de¬
ranged liver, it must, in nervous cases, or in hot weather, greatly
weaken them, and produce fevers, eruptions, and premature old
age.

Flannel to be used as a Remedy.

It is the abuse, and not the proper use of flannel, which we
decry. It should never be used next the skin for a continuance,
but ought to be applied for a time precisely like a blister; for
it acts on the very same principle — that of irritating the skin,
bringing to it an increased tide of blood, and consequently giving
the pores or drainers of the skin more abundant material to
supply perspiration. In the case of the blister, this matter is
increased faster than the scarf-skin can discharge through its
minute pipes, and it consequently accumulates behind it, pushes

* I)Auwi\’i Zoonomin, Vol. HI- p. 84.

Servo us Fils of Literary Men. 25 l

it from its connection with the inner skin, and forms a bag
filled with transparent fluid. The skin being thus raised from
its place is deprived of life, and its pores are shut up, the same
as happens to it after the death of the whole body, and which,
has given rise to the absurd notion of the scarf-skin having no
pores — the falsity of which must be obvious to every child who
has ever observed drops of perspiration on his skin. In the case
of the flannel, the fluid of perspiration is not increased so abun¬
dantly as to raise the scarf-skin, but the increase is spread over
a greater surface than in the case of the blister, and therefore,
the wearing of a new flannel shirt, not too fine, for six, eight, or
ten days, may often act as powerfully in drawing off the attacks
of disease from the lungs, the liver, or the bowels, as a couple
of blisters of six inches diameter. This is the mode in which
we should recommend flannel to be used, and not as a garment
for constant wear. We should as soon think of prescribing an
emetic for breakfast, dinner, and supper daily, as a continual
dress of flannel next the skin.

The effects of flannel and its comparison with silk, as a highly
useful outer dress for preserving the electricity of the body, we
have so often stated*, that we shall not at present go farther
into the subject.

Nervous Fits of Literary Men, illustrated by

Anecdotes.

We often feel, in contemplating the works of genius, the
efforts of a superior mind overpowering our conceptions with an
irresistible burst of energy. We admire, we are astonished at
the production, and dazzled with the “ innate flash which such
a soul could mould;” we forget that the producer was a man
of mortal clay like ourselves, and equally fettered to the earth
and its frail humanities. When we begin in our calmer mo¬
ments to reflect on what we had so much admired, and trace
u back to its cloud the lightening of the mind,” we generally
discover that it was produced by an ebullition of the ideas, or a
fit of perturbation, very analogous to what often happens in
nervous diseases; and we cannot relieve ourselves from the me¬
lancholy reflection that the nerves cannot escape serious de¬
rangement, to the inevitable injury of the health and constitu¬
tion. As the subject is curious, we shall mention a few of the
more striking instances of these nervous fits which chiefly occur
to genius in the hour of inspiration.

When Fielding said, “ I do not doubt but the most pathetic

* See Oracle, Vol. L p. lf>8, and VoL 11. p. 129.

2 52 Nervous Fits of Literary Men.

and affecting scenes have been written with tears,” lie probably
drew that discovery from an inverse feeling to his own. Field¬
ing would have been gratified to have confirmed the observation
by facts which never reached him. Metastasio, in writing the
ninth scene of the second act of his Olympiad, found himself
suddenly moved, shedding tears. The imagined sorrows in¬
spired real tears, and they afterwards proved contagious. Had
our poet not perpetuated his surprise by an interesting sonnet,
the circumstances had passed with the sensation, as many have.
Pope could never read Priam’s speech for the loss of his son,
without tears ; and frequently has been observed to weep over
tender and melancholy passages. A1 fieri, the most energetic
poet of modern times, having composed, without a pause, the
whole of an act, noted in the margin, “ written under a pa¬
roxysm of enthusiasm, and while shedding a flood of tears.” The
impressions, which the frame experiences in this state, leave
deeper traces behind them than those of reverie. A circum¬
stance accidentally preserved, has informed us of the tremors of
JDryden, after having written that Ode, which he had pursued
without the power of quitting it, as he confessed; but these
tremors were not unusual with him ; for in the preface to his
Tales, he tells us, that u in translating Homer he found greater
pleasure than in Virgil ; but it was not a pleasure without pain;
the continual agitation of the spirits must needs be a weakener
to any constitution, especially in age, and many pauses are re¬
quired for refreshment betwixt the heats.” We find Metas¬
tasio, like others of the brotherhood, susceptible of this state,
complaining of his suffering during the poetical aestus. tc When
I apply with attention,” says he, u the nerves of my sensorium
are put in a violent tumult; I grow as red as a drunkard, and
am obliged to quit my work.” When Buffon was absorbed on
a subject which presented great objections to his opinions, he
felt his head burn, and saw his countenance flushed ; and this
was a warning for him to suspend his attention. Gray could
never compose voluntarily; his genius resembled the armed
apparition in Shakspeare’s master tragedy; “ She would not be
commanded,” as we are told by Mr. Matthias. When he wished
to compose the Installation Ode, for a considerable time he felt
himself without power to begin it: a friend calling on him,
Gray flung open his door hastily, and in a horrid voice and tone
exclaiming, in the first verse of that Ode —

“ Hence, avaunt ! ’tis holy ground !”
his friend started at the disorderly appearance of the bard, whose
organs had disturbed his very air and countenance, till he reco¬
vered himself. Listen to one labouring with all the magic of

253

Nervous Fits of Literary Men .

the spell. Madame Roland has thus powerfully described the
ideal presence, in her first reading of Telemachus and Tasso : —
“ My respiration rose, I felt a rapid fire colouring my face, and
my voice changing had betrayed my agitation. I was Eucharis
for Telemachus, and Erminia for Tancred. However, during
this perfect transformation, I did not yet think that I myself was
any thing for any one; the whole had no connexion with my¬
self. 1 sought for nothing around me ; I saw only the objects
which existed for them ; it was a dream without being awaken¬
ed.” The description, which so clear and exquisite an investi¬
gator of taste and philosophy, as our sweet and polished Rey¬
nolds has given of himself, at one of these moments, is too rare
to omit recording in his own words.

Alluding to the famous transfiguration, Sir Joshua Reynolds
says — “ When I have stood looking at that picture, from figure
to figure, the eagerness, the spirit, the close unaffected attention
of each figure to the principal action, my thoughts carried me
away, that I forgot myself ; and for that time might be looked
upon as an enthusiastic madman ; for I could really fancy the
whole action was passing before me.” The effect which the
study of Plutarch’s illustrious men produced on the mighty
mind of Alfieri, he wept and raved with grief and indignation,
that he was born under a Government which favoured no Ro¬
man heroes nor sages; as often as he was struck with the great¬
ness of these great men, in his extreme agitation he rose from
his seat as-one possessed. The feeling of genius in Alfieri was
suppressed for more than twenty years, by the discouragement
of his uncle ; but as the natural temperament cannot be crushed
out of the great soul of genius, he was a poet without writing
a single verse; and as a great poet, the ideal presence of things
at times became ungovernable, urging him to madness. In
traversing the wilds of Arragon, his emotions certainly would
have given birth to poetry, could he have expressed himself in
verse : it was a complete state of imaginative existence, or this
ideal presence; for he proceeded along the wilds of Arragon in
a reverie, weeping and laughing by turns. He considered this
as a folly, because it ended in nothing but laughter and tears.
He was not aware that he was then yielding to a demonstration,
could he have judged of himself, that he possessed those dispo¬
sitions of mind and energy of passion, which form the poetical
character.

But this enthusiasm, prolonged as it has often been by the
operation of imaginative existence, becomes a state of perturbed
feeling, and can only be distinguished from disordered intellect
by the power of volition in a sound mind, of withdrawing from

VOL. II. 2 K

2 fa 4 Nervous Fils oj Fiterury Men.

t he ideal world into the world of sense. It is but a step which
may carry us from the wanderings of fancy into the aberrations
of delirium. The endurance of attention, even in minds of the
highest order, is limited by a law of nature; and when thinking
is goaded on to exhaustion, confusion of ideas ensues, as strain¬
ing any one of our limbs by excessive exertion produces tremor
and torpor.

With curious art the brain too finely wrought,

Preys an herself, and is destroyed by thought ;

Constant attention wears the active mind,

Plots out her powers, and leaves a blank behind :

The greatest genius to this fate may bow.

Even minds less susceptible than high genius may become
overpowered by their imagination. Often, in the deep silence
around us, we seek to relieve ourselves by some voluntary noise
or action, which may direct our attention to an exterior object,
and bring us back to the world, which we had as it were left
behind us, the circumstance is sufficiently familiar ; as well as
another, that whenever absorbed in profound contemplation, a
startling noise scatters the spirits, and painfully agitates the
whole frame; the nerves are then in a state of the utmost re¬
laxation.

There may be an agony in thought which only deep thinkers
experience. The terrible effects of metaphysical studies on
Beattie has been told by himself: — “ Since the Essay on Truth
was printed in quarto, I never dared to read it over. 1 durst
not even read the sheets to see whether there were any errors
in the print, and was obliged to get a friend to do that office
for me. These studies came in time to have dreadful effects
upon my nervous system ; and I cannot read what I then wrote
without some degree of horror, because it recalls to my mind
the horrors that i have sometimes felt after passing a long even¬
ing in these severe studies.”

Goldoni, after a rash exertion of writing sixteen plays in a
year, confesses he paid the penalty of the folly ; he flew to
Genoa, leading a life of delicious vacuity; to pass a day with¬
out doing any thing was all the enjoyment he was now capable
of feeling. But long after, he said, “ 1 felt at that time, and have
ever since continued to feel, the consequence of that exhaus¬
tion of spirits 1 sustained in composing my sixteen comedies.”

The enthusiasm of study was experienced by Pope in his self-
education, and once it clouded over his fine intellect; it was
the severity of his application which distorted his body, and be
then partook of a calamity incidental to the family of genius,
for he sunk into that state of exhaustion which Smollet experi-

255

Philosophy o / the Hair . — So. /.

cnced during half a year, called a coma vigil, an affection of the
brain, where the principle of life is so reduced, that all external
objects appear to be a passing dream. Boerhaave has related
of himself, that having imprudently indulged in intense thought
on a particular subject, he did not close his eyes for six weeks
after.

Men of the finest genius have experienced these hallucinations
in society, acting on their moral habits. They have insulated
the mind ; with them ideas have become realities, and suspicions
certainties ; while events have been noted down as seen and
heard which, in truth, had never occurred. Rousseau’s phan
toms scarcely ever quitted him for a day; Barry imagined that
he was invisibly persecuted by the Royal Academy, who had
even spirited up a gang of house-breakers against him; the
vivid memoirs of Alfieri will authenticate what Donne, who
himself had suffered from them, calls 66 the eclipses, sudden
offuscations, and darkening of the senses. ’ Too often this
man of genius, with a vast and solitary power, darkens the
scene of life; he has built a pyramid between himself and the
sun ; mocking at the expedients by which society has contrived
to protect its feebleness, he would break down the institution
from which he has shrunk away in the loneliness of his feelings.
Such is the insulating intellect to which some of the most
elevated spirits have been reduced *.

Philosophy of the Hair. — No. 7*

(hey Hair. — In our former inquiries upon this interesting
subject, we ascertained, on the evidence of facts which could
scarcely be disputed, that grey hair was produced by the colour¬
ing matter being prevented from rising in the tube, in conse¬
quence of the puckering of the skin, either from fever or from
the lack of moisture attendant on old age, or premature ruin of
the constitution. This fact being founded on anatomy, cannot
he well disputed; but there is another cause of grey hair, to
which we have not before alluded; this is worth explaining.

The hair, in a healthy state, is semi-transparent, and partly
varies its colour according to the light in which it is viewed.
The darker it is, also, it may be observed, that it is not only the
more transparent, but also stronger and thicker. On the same
principle, a very thick, transparent, piece of ice, or a thick
piece of glass, appears almost black. A diamond, when finely
polished, always appears, in the centre, of a deep black,

•i

IJ* Israeli on the Literary Character, 11.33.

256

New Method of Preserving the Teeth.

because all the rays of light pass through it, and none can
therefore be returned to the eye. All these substances, how¬
ever, become white whenever you destroy their transparency, as
you can prove by scraping the piece of ice on the surface, or
preparing the glass, as it is done for sinumbra lamps. In the
same way you will find that all white hair is opaque, and does
not permit the light to penetrate it; because, we say, the colour¬
ing matter which also makes it transparent, is prevented from
rising in consequence of the strangling of the root by the
shrunk skin. This, we think, nearly completes our philosophy
of the causes of grey hair.

The chief ingredient in all the hair dyes is nitrate of silver,
which may be dissolved in water, and applied to the hair requir¬
ed to be darkened.

New Method of Preserving the Teeth. By Dr. Koecker,

of Erlangen.

Evils of the Common Methods.

If the nerve of a tooth, and the membrane which lines the
natural internal hollow of a tooth, should happen to be exposed,
either by the parts decaying through disease, or being cut away
in the operations of the dentist — it is the regular practice in all
such cases, to destroy the nerve , as well as the membrane, alto¬
gether; and consequently, to destroy the life of the tooth,
which depends on the nerve. The pain which is caused by the
operation of destroying the nerve, is so violent and protracted,
and the idea so terrible and revolting, that few patients are
willing to submit to it.

The violent irritation which is thus created in the whole ner¬
vous system, but more especially in the adjoining nerves and
parts, occasions, not unfrequently, in irritable or inflammatory
constitutions, in a few days after the operation, an inflamma¬
tion of the whole mouth, which soon fixes upon the parts near
the affected tooth ; swelling and suppuration take place, and the
matter being discharged from the swelled gums, the patient ob¬
tains some relief, but a perfect cure is not accomplished. This
can now be effected only by the extraction of the tooth ; an
operation to which the patient soon flies for relief. In strong
and firm constitutions, when this operation of destroying the
nerve is performed with neatness and delicacy, these evil conse¬
quences sometimes do not show themselves at an early period,
nor with much violence. The swelling, after the matter is dis¬
charged, disappears nearly altogether, and leaves nothing but a
little hardness. Through this hardened spot the matter issues,

25;

New Method of Preserving the -Teeth.

which usually collects at the point of the root, and works its
passage outwards through the thinnest side of the socket. The
irritation of the dead tooth now keeps up a constant, though
scanty, discharge through the opening in the hardened spot just
mentioned. A portion of the matter collected at the root is
absorbed, and destroys the healthy fluids of the mouth, which
of course act both upon the other teeth and upon the stomach,
and through this upon the whole system. In this manner, a
single tooth, which has been treated in this way, has become
the cause of general disorder to the system, and of all the teeth
in the mouth.

A tooth, which has been deprived of its vitality by the de¬
struction of its nerve, acts upon the parts with which it is in
immediate contact as a foreign dead body. It produces all the
evil effects which are usually the consequences of a dead root
of a tooth, but in an infinitely greater degree. From the mo¬
ment a tooth is deprived of life, it becomes a useless and intru¬
sive part in the animal economy, and causes an irritation which
throws the whole constitution into disorder. If a tooth, which
has been treated in this absurd way, be filled up with metal, the
natural opening for the discharge of the matter is thereby ob¬
structed, and the matter being thus confined and accumulated,
works its way through the side of the socket, and produces a
fistulous opening, which can only be remedied by extracting the
tooth.

Dr. Koecker’s Operation , and its Advantages.

In treating a case of the kind under consideration, says Dr.
Koecker, I have always held it a principal object to preserve
the life of the lining membrane, and thus to save the life of the
whole tooth. To put a stop to the caries, and consequently to
prevent the irritation upon the internal membrane of the tooth,
I cut away all the unsound or dead parts of the tooth, so that
every part of the rotten cavity be sound, firm, and white. I give
the cavity the best possible form for the reception of the metal
and its firm retention. I next wash it out with a little lock of
cotton, fastened to a straight elastic probe, dipped in warm water.
The cavity must be very carefully freed from the small pieces of
bone that may stick to it.

If the lining membrane is not wounded, 1 immediately plug
the cavity with metal; but if it bleeds, I endeavour to put an
immediate stop to the bleeding, and to cure the wound. For
this purpose, I was for some time, in the commencement of my
practice, in the habit of employing mild acids and styptics; but
I did not find these applications answer any good purpose. The

258 New Method of Preserving the Teeth.

first act destructively on the surrounding parts, and the second
were not sufficiently certain in their operation. I therefore soon
abandoned such remedies, and resorted to the actual cautery.
By this application I readily effect an artificial cure of the wound,
and a stoppage of the bleeding.

I require for the operation a thin iron wire, fastened to an
ivory handle. The extremity of this wire I file to about the
thickness of the exposed surface of the nerve 3 and bend the
wire in such a manner as to enable me to touch the exposed
part of the membrane, without coming in contact with any
other part of the mouth. I make the wire red hot in the flame
of the candle, and touch the denuded part very rapidly, so that
its surface forms a crust; without, however, suffering it to pe¬
netrate deeply into the substance of the bone or the cavity, for
this would inevitably bring on suppuration and destruction of
the nerve. The nerve must be touched very quickly, and the
wire be perfectly red hot. It is sometimes necessary to apply
it two or three times before the parts are sufficiently cauterised.
When the wire is red hot it acts suddenly, and almost entirely
without pain ; but when it is merely hot, much paiu and inflam¬
mation is generally produced.

This operation is indeed so little painful, that I have been
solicited by my patients to repeat it; although before, they re¬
quired no little persuasion to induce them to suffer its applica¬
tion. When the bleeding is arrested in this way, and an arti¬
ficial scar formed, I then leave the further healing altogether
to nature, and only caution my patient against such things as
might interfere with her salutary operations.

Air is among the most injurious things, when conjoined with
moisture, upon an exposed nerve. If the nerve of the tooth is
long exposed to the influence of these, its inflammation, and
consequent destruction, is almost inevitable. I terminate, there¬
fore, the operation, by filling up the cavity of the tooth with
metal, to protect the nerve against external injurious impres¬
sions. For this purpose I wash the cavity with warm water, as
before; carefully remove every particle of the ashes or matter
that may have been left by the cauterization, taking great care
not to wound the membrane again.

The nerve, which before cauterization had a fleshy appear¬
ance, looks after this operation like a black point. I take care
not to disturb this point; for if the black scar be removed, a
new wound will be formed, and bleeding induced. I now take
a small plate of very thin lead leaf, and lay it upon the denuded
nerve and the immediately surrounding bony parts. 1 next fill
up the whole cavity very carefully with gold. In order that

Neu: Method of Preserving the Teeth. 25<J

success may attend this operation, it is absolutely necessary to
make the proper curative applications with the utmost degree
of exactness and care, since the smallest error in this will ine¬
vitably bring on a destruction of the life of the tooth, and con¬
sequently its loss. Thus, for instance, the whole operation will
prove abortive it the smallest particle of dead matter, or detached
bony substance, is suffered to remain in the cavity. Such foreign
dead matters, left in contact with the living tooth, soon acquire
corrosive qualities, and act destructively upon the contiguous
parts, by irritating and inflaming them. If any particles be al¬
lowed to remain in contact with the nerve, it is impossible that
the operation can succeed properly. Even the smallest quantity
of blood left in the cavity soon becomes corrosive, and prevents
the success of the operation. All kinds of moisture must be re¬
moved before introducing the metals, as the two contiguous
metals might produce galvanic effects if there be any interven¬
ing moisture, and thus create a source of irritation and inflam¬
mation to the nerve.

When, therefore, the cavity is once completely cleared of the
loose particles of matter, and made perfectly dry, the metal
should be quickly introduced, without giving it time to become
moist again from the natural exhalations in the mouth. The
gold should, of course, be pressed as firmly and compactly into
the cavity as possible, in order to prevent the insinuation of any
moisture under it. It is here that the skill of the operator be¬
comes of the highest importance; for, if he has been successful,
in preserving the life of the nerve, the duration of the tooth
depends on the skilful manner in which it is plugged; and this
is one of those operations by which one dentist may have an op¬
portunity of displaying his superiority over another.

In all surgical operations, the ultimate success depends much
upon the sanative powers of nature. After the operator has
performed his duty with skill, he can only watch the efforts of
nature, and assist her in her healing operations by a due regu¬
lation of such circumstances as are calculated to influence her
powers.

It may be asked why I cover the nerve with lead ? I do so,
because l believe that this metal has a cooling and anti-inflam¬
matory effect upon the irritated nerve of the tooth ; at least, I
conceive it possesses these qualities in a greater degree than
gold. When, in the commencement of my practice, I employed
gold exclusively, I was but seldom successful in my labours;
for inflammation, pain, & c. always soon came on, and obliged
me in a short time to remove the tooth entirely. Having been
almost uniformly unsuccessful whilst employing gold alone in

260 Consumption , as influenced by Pregnancy .

this operation, I resorted to the use of tinfoil as an experiment,
and with this metal my success was evidently greater, though
not what I desired it to be; for, even when the operation suc¬
ceeded with this metal, which was not often the case, it did not
remain long a protection to the nerve, because, on account of
its thickness, I could use this metal only. In all cases where
the tinfoil is used, the tooth is only preserved for a few years;
for the saliva dissolves the metal, and, uniting with it, acts as
destructively as the cause itself.

On recollecting the cases so commonly reported of leaden
bullets, even when rough and battered, having remained for
years imbedded in the flesh of soldiers, I was naturally induced
to resort to it in this operation. It does not occur to me that a
case has been reported of any other species of metal remaining
in the body for a long period, without exciting inflammation
and suppuration around it. My experience has ever since
strengthened the opinion I drew from these facts ; and I am
now more confident than ever that this substance is less irritat¬
ing to living parts than any other metal.

I have used the lead under the gold for above eight years, and
I feel warranted in saying, that seven-eighths of the teeth on
which 1 have operated will be preserved alive.

Consumption, as Influenced by Pregnancy.

It has long been understood, among medical men, that there
is a very close companionship between the lungs and most
other important organs of the body, and particularly those of
the female system. For example, it is one of the most certain
marks of confirmed consumption, when complete suppression
takes place ; plainly because the constitution has been so far
reduced, that all the nourishment which the blood can supply is
wanted for the repairs of the body, now fast wasting away
under the progress of the disease. The female suppressions,
therefore, which occur in the progress of consumption, ought
rather to be looked upon as deficiencies in the system, as a con¬
sequence of want of nourishment from the imperfect purifica¬
tion of the blood in the lungs*. All this is now well under¬
stood, and taken into account by practitioners; but we are
not so certain that the influence of pregnancy on consumption,
and other disorders of the lungs, is so well understood, and we
shall accordingly try to give as clear an explanation of it as the
nature of the case will admit.

*

This is fully explained in the Oracle, Vol. I; p.315.

Consumption , as Influenced by Pregnancy . 26 1

We have often told you, that as the midriff, or diaphragm,
which separates the chest from the belly, is a moveable, or
rather a flexible partition, as you may prove to your own satis¬
faction every time you breathe; for when you draw in air into
the lungs it forces down the partition of the midriff, and the
belly, at the same instant, is pressed down by it and bulges out ;
but as soon as you expel the air from the lungs, the midriff
rises into the chest, the belly shrinks, and the lungs are pressed
upwards. Now from this plain statement you may easily infer,
that whatever tends to enlarge the belly will prevent the
midriff from acting so freely downwards, and consequently
prevent the lungs from being filled to their natural extent with
fresh air. Disorders of the lungs, if they be previously weak
or deranged, will consequently ensue from every interruption
of the natural motion of the midriff. The application of these
incontrovertible facts to cases of pregnancy, requires no detail.

Though some authors are disposed to consider pregnancy as
a state of disease, we can only look upon it as natural and
healthful; yet, it cannot be denied, that it often brings with it a
train of disorders, in consequence of the new process going on in
the constitution. We are not precisely certain, nor do we think
it could be easily ascertained, whether a larger quantity of nou¬
rishment be required by the mother (in most cases less is ac¬
tually taken) ; but we are quite sure that the blood is differently
distributed, and if no more is really added to the system, the
supply necessary for the nourishment of the future offspring
must be withdrawn from the rest of the body. Now, in this
view of the case, suppose the lungs to be previously in a weak
state, and to be thus deprived of a portion of the blood neces¬
sary to nourish them, which now goes to supply the future
infant, they must be still farther weakened, and disease of a
very dangerous kind may be produced — for instance, fatal
consumption. On the other hand, it will clearly result from the
same facts, although at first view it may appear strange and pa¬
radoxical, that pregnancy may stop the career of a consumption
in its earlier stages when it is usually accompanied by inflam¬
mation; because the extra blood, producing the inflammation,
is withdrawn from the lungs, according to the principles just
explained. In proof of the correctness of this explanation,
there are numerous cases on record, in which a beginning con¬
sumption has been thus interrupted by the occurrence of preg¬
nancy, and the consequent change in the current of the blood.

Besides those two circumstances, there is a third of some
consequence to attend to, occurring subsequent to delivery.
The moment the child is born, the current of blood which was
VOL. II. 2 L

I

2G2 Stow Inflammation of the Liver.

appropriated to its exclusive nourishment, being no longer
wanted for that purpose, is thrown into the general circulation,
and if any part is weak or disordered, the increase of the tide
will be certain to injure it, and produce inflammation. It is
this which so frequently produces coughs and consumptions in
women just recovering from child-bed; for the lungs being often,
as we have seen, cramped and deranged during pregnancy, they
are in a very bad state to resist the increased current of blood
which follows delivery. It has, accordingly, been long remarked
by medical men, that though pregnancy, during its continuance,
has often the power to interrupt a begun consumption, it com¬
mences again with renewed fury soon after delivery, and often,
in such cases, proves fatal.

The disorder of the lungs, however, which occurs most com¬
monly after delivery, is more a threatening than a genuine
consumption, and may, in most cases, be speedily cured by
proper remedies. The symptoms are, sometimes, alarming
enough; such as a hacking, painful, cough, difficulty of
breathing, expectoration of yellow matter, hectic fever, and ex¬
hausting perspirations. Dr. Darwal, of Birmingham, treats
such cases by mild opening medicine, and compound tincture
of camphor, with infusion of roses. The best opening medicine,
in this case, will be castor oil, taken every two or three days,
so as to keep the bowels open, or if the patient cannot take
this, the pills as prescribed, '*Vol. I. p. 86*. The other remedy
may be taken as we shall now direct.

Dr. Darwai/s Draught for Consumption.

Take from two to three drachms of compound tincture of
camphor,

a few drops of oil of anise seed,

• two ounces of infusion of roses.

Mix for a draught, to be taken twice a day, to ease the cough and
irritation. When there is much pain in the chest, or marks of inflam-
mation, it is improper.

It will be useful to follow up this treatment when the patient
is getting better, by a course of training, according to the mo¬
dified plan adapted to consumptive cases, as laid down above,
Vol. II. p. 159.

Slow Inflammation of the Liver *.

The English word slow, is no less expressive and appropriate
than the Greek word chronic, formed from old Chronos or Time,
one of the Grecian gods, whom the Romans called Saturn; and

* This Paper is fnken from No. 9, of our Mfoical Advice.

Slow Inflammation oj the Liver.

263

as we think none of those old heathen gods have any business
in an English book, we shall pitch this crabbed word chronic to
the doctors, and keep to plain slow. After an attack of acute
inflammation has subsided, there may still remain a few embers
to keep the liver too hot for a state of health ; and this state of
things may continue and increase for years without proving
fatal, or even confining the patient to his room. It is a much
more common case, however, both in this country and in India,
that this disorder steals insidiously on the patient, putting on
the mask of almost every other disease, and changing to infinity
its points of attack, till it gain such vantage ground as makes
it extremely difficult to effect its expulsion.

Symptoms and Termination.

A milder degree of the symptoms which attend the acute, are
generally present in the slow inflammation of the liver. The
pain of the right side which is sharp in the former, is dull ancl
deeper seated in the latter, and there is a fidgetty feeling of
weight and weariness, which runs from the liver to the top of
the shoulder, and down the right arm to the very tips of the
fingers. Watch also in what manner you can lie most easily in
bed. If you are more easy on your left side, and dislike to turn
to the right, though you feel no positive pain, nor can tell why
you prefer the left to the right, you may strongly suspect that
your liver is thus disordered. If, with this preference for lying
on the right side, you have a dry tickling cough, a bad taste in
your mouth on getting out of bed, if you have occasional vomit¬
ing and eructations, if your tongue be foul, with white or brown
fur, if your appetite be impaired or capricious, and you be either
too confined or too open in your bowels, if your skin be sallow,
pale, and bloodless, if your face be pimpled, if you have pains
in various parts of the body, such as about the ribs, in the arms
and legs, or if your stomach is puffy and painful; but above
all, if you are drowsy, listless, languid, spiritless, and careless
about the world and its business, and sleep unsound with bad
dreams, you may be assured that you have got slow inflamma¬
tion of the liver, and you cannot too soon set about restoring it
to health. Dr. Saunders, who had extensive experience in the
complaint, remarks, that every change of posture either relieves
an old pain, or induces a new one, which will often arise from the
mere bending or moving of the body, or even extending the
arms. The uneasy feeling of weight, or as if there were some¬
thing wanting in the liver, is often relieved by the pressure of
the hands *.

Spc Dr. BallingnlTi) work on Tropical D\sienterv.

2 64

Slow Inflammation of the Liver.

Two remarkable symptoms are seldom wanting, namely, an
irregular intermission of the beats of the pulse, and a fluttering
at the pit of the stomach, or at the heart, both of which Dr.
Pemberton ingeniously accounts for from the stoppage of the
blood in its passage into the liver *. Dr. Marshall Hall, of Not¬
tingham, however, has found the fluttering common in indiges¬
tion and nervous diseases f ; and the late Dr. Heberden, who is
a very high authority, says, intermittent pulse may be produced
from the most trifling causes, and ought not of itself to create
alarm J.

Another symptom which Dr. Pemberton traces to the same
interruption of the current of the blood, is often a source of
great alarm to the patient, or the bystanders. We refer to dis¬
charges of blood, or bloody matter by vomiting, by stool, or
from the nose, &c. Those, who in attempting to oppose the
high flying liver doctors, go to the contrary extreme, maintain
that such discharges of blood, as they do not come from the
liver itself, have no connection with its diseases ; but this has
seldom, we believe, been asserted, except perhaps by Dr. Ayre §.
All that is contended for is, that the current of the blood
through the liver being interrupted, an overflow is the conse¬
quence, with a bursting of the overloaded vessels, and a discharge
of their contents, which is the fact, and cannot be denied ||.
The symptom is by no means so dangerous as might be sup¬
posed, and the discharge of blood, particularly by vomiting,
often brings immediate relief. It is the same circumstance of
the stoppage of the current of blood to the liver, that so often
occasions piles f .

The feverish symptoms are so opposite, that they may readily
mislead such as are unacquainted with them. On the one hand,
at times you will feel chilliness and shivering creep all over your
skin, particularly the back, and causing you to crouch yourself
together, with pale bloodless countenance, and a frosty sort of
coldness in your bands and feet. On the other hand, this will
be succeeded at irregular intervals with hot uncomfortable
flushings, more especially in the face and the palms of the hands.

In all cases the skin will either be harsh and dry, or moistened
with cold clammy perspiration; and the urine will be high co-

* See Pemberton on the Abdominal Viscera,
t See Dr. M. Hall’s work on Diagnosis,
i See Heberden, Commentaria Morborum, Edit. Leipzig.
h See Dr. Ayre on the Liver.

jj See Dr. M. Hall on the Mimoses, 2d edit. p. 74 ; — Abernethy on Local
Diseases, p. 40, — Howship on the Intestines, 3d edit. p. 99.

¥ See Oracle of Health, on Piles, Vol, 1. p. 4b0.

Slow Inflammation of the Liver.

265

loured, and deposit a pink sediment, consisting of uric acid, a
circumstance peculiarly characteristic of disordered liver. The
stools are always unnatural, and either darker or lighter in colour
than they ought to be.

As the disease advances great loss of flesh is produced, and
the skin is much more old and withered looking, than in con¬
sumption of the lungs. If it continue long without being
checked, it usually ends in hard cancer of the liver, of which
we shall afterwards treat; dropsy, or hectic fever, any one of
which will prove certainly fatal. There is but little hope of re¬
covery after the legs begin to swell, more especially if the swell¬
ing of the liver has visibly bulged out the ribs.

The chief test of danger is that the disease does not yield to
the remedies employed, but rather advances to a greater severity
of symptoms, swelling of the belly, loss of strength, and ema¬
ciation of the body, particularly of the upper parts, while the
mind becomes daily more dejected and desponding, and some¬
times impels the patient to commit suicide. If the cause is
traceable to intemperate gormandizing or drinking; to sexual
indulgence; or to a residence in a hot climate — the chances of
recovery are very few, though it is not impossible. If the patient
begins to gain flesh, and his urine and stools become natural, it
is the best symptom of recovery. It is wrong to judge from the
appetite.

In this opinion we decidedly differ from Dr. Pemberton, as a
false hunger is a common symptom of the disease, and too often
leads to false hopes. It is also a leading cause of aggravating
the disease, and preventing the cure; for though the appetite
craves, the digestion is never good, and the stomach and bowels
are consequently overloaded.

Treatment and Remedies.

In no disease has medicine more sovereign power than in that
under consideration, provided always that it be resorted to be¬
fore the structure of the liver has been destroyed. Similar treat¬
ment with that recommended in acute inflammation will be
proper, but bleeding need not be carried to the same extent, and
seldom, except at the commencement of the disease, does much
good. Blisters are always of advantage; but in the more ad¬
vanced stages the skin is sometimes so dry that a blister will
not rise at all. '

Our chief reliance for preventing suppuration or hard cancer,
must be on purgatives and mercurials — the first to clear the
bowels and improve digestion, and the second to act on the
liver itself, and restore it to a healthy tone. Dr. Pemberton
recommends the following

Slow Inflammation of the Liver.

Laxative Draught .

Dissolve three drachms of Epsom salts in
a glass of water, add
half a pint of Seidlitz water *.

Mix for a draught, to be taken every morning, or every other morn¬
ing, so as to keep the bowels freely open. Follow this with

Dr. Pemberton's Bitter Draught.

Take an ounce and a half of peppermint water,
half a drachm of extract of taraxacum.

Mix for a draught, to be repeated every day at noon and bed-time.

At the same time about twenty grains of the blue mercurial
ointment should be rubbed in over the liver every night till the
mouth begins to have a perceptible coppery taste, and a very
gentle salivation ensues, when it may be discontinued ; but re¬
peated again if necessary. If the patient dislike the draught, we
strongly recommend

Dr. Johnson's Pills for the Liver.

Take one drachm of compound extract of colocynth,
fifteen grains of submuriate of mercury,
two grains of tartarized antimony,
five drops of oil of carraway.

Make a mass, and divide into two dozen pills, one, two, or three
each night, so as to produce one or two stools daily.

It will be necessary to continue these pills for a considerable
time (say several months), which we may remark patients arc
always willing to do, from the great relief produced by them.
Along with them, Dr. Pemberton's Bitter Draught should be
taken, or the following

Tonic Draught Jor the Bilious.

Dissolve fifteen grains of sub-carbonate of soda in
ten drachms of infusion of quassia, add
two ounces of compound tincture of cardamoms,
two ounces of infusion of dandelion f.

Mix lor a draught, to be taken twice a day, occasionally substitut¬
ing for it half a pint of the compound decoction of sarsaparilla twice a
day, which is also a valuable remedy.

Three grains of blue pill at night, with a glass or two of Har-
rowgate water in the morning, are strongly recommended by
Armstrong and Johnson. An artificial Harrowgate water, ot
similar efficacy, may be made by dissolving in soft water sul-

* A receipt f«»r making cheap Seidlitz powders is given in the Oracle, Vol. I.
p • 290. From these the water is easily made.

+ To make infusion of “ dandelion, add a quart of boiling water to ten fre-h
plants, root, and leaf — strain off the liquor a1- soon as it is cold.” }*i;mdeuton .

Preventives and Remedies for Smoky Chimneys. 26 7

phate ot magnesia, supertartrite of potass, and sulphuret of
potass.

The Training rules for the Bilious * are indispensible, to
establish a cure; and training diet should always accompany
the medicines.

Scots Short-bread, an Exquisite Cake.

Among the good things to which the amateur is indebted to
the ingenuity of the North, and so often recorded and referred
to in our pages, we may reckon the rich cake, called, from its
texture, short-bread, in a great measure unknown beyond the
boundaries of the c< Land o’ Cakes.” We have more than once
promised a receipt for this, and we shall now redeem our pledge,
premising that there are many varieties both as to the ingre¬
dients, the proportions, and the steps of the process. The fol¬
lowing will be found, we hope, to be one of the best of these : —

Put two pounds of butter in some warm place over night,
where it will gradually become soft, and at the same time that
it may not entirely melt; have two quarters of flour, and mix
half a pound of refined sugar, with lemon peel and almonds,
cut very small, according to your taste; add the whole to the
butter, and knead it until it appears like dough; then add a half¬
penny worth of yeast, knead it well again, and then roll it out
into cakes of whatever size or shape you please ; ornament the
edges, and prick it with a fork all over the top ; ornament it
with very small carraway comfits, and bits of candied lemon
stuck in it, and it is ready for the oven.

Preventives and Remedies for Smoky Chimneys.

The plain philosophy of the ascent of smoke is the same as
that of the floating of a feather in the air. Smoke consists of a
portion of water and other substances driven off from fuel by
heat ; that is, the water is expanded into vapour, and carries
off* with it a portion of the coal or wood, reduced to a fine pow¬
der by the expansion, which powder being again condensed by
cold, forms soot. Smoke, then, composed of these materials,
ascends according as it can find a free passage, or, in other
words, according to the briskness of the current of air which
passes up the chimney. These, then, are the principles upon
which our remedies must be founded; but before we notice the
modes of curing smoky chimneys in houses already built, we

* See Medical Advice in Liver and Bilious Complaints for the appropriate
rules in such cases.

268 Preventives and Remedies for Smoky Chimneys.

shall mention some of the cheapest methods of guarding against
such an inconvenience whilst a house is in the progress of erec¬
tion or repair. The common causes of smoky chimneys are
either that the wind is too much let in above at the mouth
of the shaft, or else that the smoke is stifled below ; also they
may proceed from there being too little room in the vent, par¬
ticularly where several open into the same funnel. The situa¬
tion of the house may likewise affect them, especially if backed
by higher ground or higher buildings.

Several artificial modes of regulating these apertures, accord¬
ing to circumstances, have recently been proposed and patented :
one of these plans, as described, consists of two sides or parts,
to form the back coverings of a fire-place, fixed on the top of
the hobs of the grate or stove, at the back part of the same,
extending from about the back of the stove or grate each way
till they reach the chimney jambs. The covings are con¬
nected at bottom and top, behind the back of the grate or stove,
with either a fixed or a moveable bar, in order to admit the
sweeper to pass freely into the chimney, or for any other pur¬
pose. In the covings, about straight with the under side of the
top fixed or moveable bar, is a register, blower, or door, to
serve as a ventilator, if required ; and on the covings are placed
flutes, astragals, or beads, or both, to receive the second part,
consisting of a register, blower, door, or shutter, on both sides,
shutting, when closed, against the top and bottom fixed or
moveable bar. On the top of the covings, and to the top bar,
hang one or more register or blower, extending from wing to
wing of the chimney, against the breast of the chimney, and
from the breast of the chimney, to be raised or elevated by de¬
grees, as may be required, by a screw or otherwise.

The register, thus hung, will, when shut up, square with the
front of the jambs ; and intersecting with, or meeting, or fold¬
ing against the back covings, form a right angle, and a square
hob, and will, when moved forwards towards the fire, or center
of the fire-place, into the grooves, or against the astragals, and
in and on the back covings, contract the opening of the fire¬
place, and constitute a variety of bevel hobs. The front register
being brought forward from its bevel situation, nearly flush with
the stone or other jambs or mantle to which it may be attached,
will close or shut up, and thereby constitute a register, blower,
or fire-screen in the front of the fire-place, from which it may
be affixed or hung to, in front and on each side also.

Another mode has been proposed for the cure of chimneys
already built ; but it is so cheap, and so easily put up whilst
building, that we insert it here as a proper safeguard to be

269

Preventives and Remedies jor Smoky Chimneys.

adopted either then or when repairing. The apparatus is strong
and simple, all of cast iron, and may be used with any grate.
It consists of a long upright back, as high as the mantle-piece,
with open perpendicular ribs behind the fire-place, the height of
the grate. This back divides the vent into two branches, which
are opened or shut at pleasure, by means of a damper in the
throat of the chimney. The damper is enclosed in an iron case
or box, of an oblong square form, and is half the breadth of the
box, having ends the whole height of it, so as to continue the
contraction to the top of the box, whichever branch of the vent
may be open. The box is supported by arms from the back of
the grate, and the damper is worked by a handle, which has a
knee to it, to let it come out under the breast of the chimney,
with a brass nob on the end of it ; and has a neat appearance.
The sides of the chimney are finished in the usual manner, with
cast iron, brass, or steel plates ; and the corners are neatly
built up, so as to leave no access to the air, unless through the
branch of the vent. The back of the chimney, opposite to the
lire, is lined with fire-brick, or fire-tile, to resist and throw
back the heat ; and there is a sliding shutter at the bottom of
the branch of the vent behind the grate, which may be drawn
out when the grate is cleaned, to allow any ashes which may
have got into it through the open ribs to fall down, and be
taken away.

When soot accumulates in a chimney, it contracts the diame¬
ter of the upper portion of the shaft, and prevents the free as¬
cent of the smoke. Besides it is an important point in domes¬
tic cleanliness to guard against the filth produced by chimneys,
which are not often and thoroughly divested of the soot which
lodges near the fire-place, even when the chimney itself is not
absolutely foul, especially in the country, where the attendance
of a chimney-sweeper cannot always be commanded : an inge¬
nious gentleman has recently offered a plan for that purpose,
and has also called the attention of the Society for abolishing
the practice of sweeping chimneys by means of climbing-boys,
to an idea which seems capable of being made subservient to
this benevolent design. He proposes that the top of each chim¬
ney shall be furnished with a pot somewhat in the shape of a
bell, underneath the centre of which shall be fixed a pully, with
a chain of sufficient length for both ends to be fastened, when
not in use, to nails or pins in the chimney, out of sight, but
within reach from below. One or both of these ends should be
adapted to the reception of a brush of an appropriate construc¬
tion ; and thus, by this simple contrivance, masters and mis¬
tresses might have their chimneys swept as often as they pleased
VOL. II. 2 M

*70

Home Brewed Borier.

by their own servants, with very little additional trouble to the
latter.

Consumption Cured by Exercise.

The following case was communicated to Dr. Rush, by the
celebrated Dr. Franklin. In travelling many years ago through
New England, the doctor overtook the post rider ; and after
some enquiries into the history of his life, he informed him that
he was bred a shoemaker ; that his confinement and other cir¬
cumstances, had brought on a consumption, for which he w’as
ordered by a physician to ride on horseback. Finding this mode
of exercise too expensive, he made interest upon the death of
an old post-rider, to succeed to his appointment, in which he
perfectly recovered his health in two years. After this he re¬
turned to his old trade, upon which his consumption returned.
He again mounted his horse, and rode post in all seasons and
weathers, between New York and Connecticut River, (about
140 miles) in which employment he continued upwards of thirty
years, in perfect health.

Home Brewed Porter. By Mr. Child.

We have more than once given receipts for brewing ale and
beer, in an economical manner, and shall now follow these
with directions for porter, a great favourite with many, but sel¬
dom, we believe, if ever, brewed at home, though why it should
not more than table beer and ale, does not appear. The fol¬
lowing calculations made a short time ago by Mr. Child, an
experienced brewer, will startle, we think, many of our econo¬
mical readers.

There are very few families, whose expenses in porter may
not be rated at three pots per day ; three pots per day, allowing
an extra pot every tenth day, will come to very near nine bar¬
rels per year; and, allowing for visitors, christenings, &c. &c.
the usual incidents of a family, it cannot be thought extrava¬
gant to say, that most families consume nine barrels of porter
per year. Nine barrels of porter, paid for at the public house,
cost eighteen guineas, and nine barrels, of exactly the same
quality, strength, & c. as porter, might be produced, excluding
time and trouble, for ^6. /.v. I Id, leaving to the economical
brewer of his own porter, a clear profit of ^12. 105. Id., very
near twelve guineas, and almost two-thirds of the whole ex¬
pense. That this calculation may not be objected to as enor¬
mous, or improbable, the following statement of the ingredients,
and their separate expenses, will convince the most incredulous
and disbelieving : —

Home Brewed Porter.

27 y

Average Expense.

£. S. d.

One quarter malt . 2 2 0

Sib. hops . 0 9 4

6ft. treacle . 0 16

Sib. liquorice root . 0 5 4

Sib. Essentia bina . 0 4 8

8ib. colour . . . 0 4 8

Capsicum, -v oz. . . . 0 0 2

Spanish liquorice .... . 0 0 1

Cocculus ludicus, commonly called Occulus India 7

berries, lOib . J 0 U 2

Salt of tartar, 2 drachms... . 0 0 1

Heading, 4 oz . . . 0 0 1

Ginger, 3 oz . 0 0 3

Lime, 4 oz. slacked, and the rvater, after having re-~]

ceived the spirit of the lime, poured into the > 0 0 1

Essentia bina, or colour, in the making . J

Linseed, 1 oz . < . 0 0 0+

Cinnamon, 2 drachms . 0 0 1-f

Coals . . . . . . 0 2 6

Total, S3 11 1

It must naturally happen, that the foregoing statement will
surprise many unacquainted with the mysteries of porter-brewing,
but some articles demand particular attention. The essentia
bina , which is composed of 8lb. of moist sugar, boiled in an
iron vessel, for no copper one could withstand the heat suffici¬
ently, till it comes to a thick syrupy consistence, perfectly black
and extremely bitter. When making the essentia and colour,
observe when it is boiled as you think sufficiently ; to make it
liquid enough to pour off into your liquor, you must add a little
clear water, or lime-water, as you please, to bring it to a proper
temper, otherwise it will become a hard dry substance, if suf¬
fered to stand till cold, as no water must be put to it till it is
burnt enough.

The ingredient called colour, composed of 8fb. of moist sugar,
boiled till it obtains a middle state between bitter and sweet, is
that which gives to porter the fine mellow colour, usually so
much admired in good porter.

These ingredients, thus prepared, are added to the first wort,
and boiled with it; this is the basis of porter, a truth sufficiently
apparent by reflecting that Gib. of sugar may generally be had
for 3s. 6d. A bushel of malt is seldom so low as 5s. 6d. ; upon
sugar, therefore, variously prepared, does porter depend lor
strength, spirit, and body.

272

Home Brewed Porter.

The heading is a mixture of half alum and half copperas,
ground to a fine powder, and is so called from giving to porter
the beautiful head or froth, which constitutes one of the pecu¬
liar properties of porter, and which landlords are so anxious to
raise to gratify their customers.

The linseed, ginger, lime-water, cinnamon, and several other
small articles, may be added, or withheld, according to the taste,
custom, or practice of the brewer, being merely optional, and
used solely to give a flavour to the beer; hence it is, that so
many flavours are distinguishable in porter, and so very few
breweries are found to resemble each other in their produce.

Of the other articles it is sufficient to observe, however much
they may surprise, however pernicious or disagreeable they may
appear, the author has always found them requisites in the
brewing of porter, and thinks they must invariably be used by
those who wish to continue the taste, flavour, and appearance
which they have been accustomed to.

Barrelling of Malt Liquor.

When the fermentation has entirely ceased, bung up the
cask. The practice of putting a handful of hops, either in its
natural state, or previously scalded, into the cask, with a view
of fining, is a bad one. The hops are liable to stop up the cock,
and besides they do not possess the power of fining the liquor.
If the brewing has been correctly performed, it speedily becomes
clear, and it requires nothing but age to improve in quality.

If the brewing has been properly conducted, the liquor will
be clear at all events in fourteen days. If it be intended to
mantle in the glass, it must be bottled off before the insensible
fermentation in the cask has ceased, or, at all events, imme¬
diately when it is become bright.

The casks should be occasionally examined, especially in
warm weather. If a hissing noise is audible at the bung-hole,
the spile may be left in loosely till the liquor has become quiet,
but it is better to check the fermentation, which may be done
by repeatedly wetting the cask with cold water all over with a
mop.

The liquor being well prepared, and completely wrorked oft',
it will then be proper to remove it to the place where it is to
remain for use. As soon as it is placed in the cellar, the bung
must be drawn and the casks filled up quite full with fine beer,
skimming oft' the head from time to time, that will arise in con¬
sequence of its being rolled over. After being attended in this
manner for two or three days, the casks should be bunged tight,
and a hole bored with a gimlet, near the bung, for the vent peg,
which should be left rather slack a day or two.

Desk Diseases. — No. [).

27 3

Desk Diseases. — No. y.

Before entering upon the diseases of the brain and head, so
often induced by confinement at the desk, we must now, while
the cold weather continues, fulfil our promise of describing a
very common and troublesome disorder of t fie bladder. We re¬
quest especial attention to this, as nothing is more common
than to confound it with disorders still more formidable, and
not so innocently come bv.

The bladder and urinary canal are lined with a soft, mucous,
membrane, precisely similar to that which lines the nostrils, and
like the nostrils, also, it is moistened with a bland mucus, de¬
signed by Providence to sheath the parts from the acrimony of
the urine, that might, otherwise, produce irritation and inflam¬
matory affections. This is the healthy and natural state of the
bladder and the parts connected with it; but we may likewise
remark, that in the healthy state, the sheathing mucus never
superahounds so as to be discharged, no more than it ought
to do in the healthy state of the nostrils, or when they are not
irritated by snuff. We must now revert to the causes and ori¬
gin of the disorder under review.

Confinement at the desk, or in the study, produces, as every
body knows, a great susceptibility of being affected by cold, and
more particularly in young persons, or those advanced in years,
than in middle life. This susceptibility from desk confinement,
however, usually fixes itself in some particular part of the body,
in preference to another, such as in the nostrils and ears; in the
throat and lungs; or in the bladder and its canals. The former
cases we have amply discussed in our preceding pages ; the
latter we shall now attend to as little less important.

Symptoms of Cold in the Bladder.

Cold in the Bladder, or catarrhus vesicce , as the surgeons call
it, begins with a wearied soreness all over the body, and a fever¬
ish state of languor, listlessness, and irritability of temper, pre¬
cisely like the beginning of a cold in the head. Wandering
pains in the back and limbs, with dull headache, are often felt,
likewise, before the peculiar affection is manifested. These
symptoms are quickly succeeded by a disagreeable stiffness and
uncomfortable feeling while making water, but still not amount¬
ing to what could be called pain. A soreness, however, soon
follows of a similar kind to that experienced when the nostrils
are affected by cold, and as this arises from inflammation it
produces an increase of the natural mucus, according to the pro¬
cess minutely explained in our acc ount of colds and sore throat,

Desk Diseases. — So. *.h

2]\

Vol. II. p. 223. At first, this mucus is seen floating in the
water, and rendering it flaky or turbid ; but it not unfrequently
increases so much as to be discharged, involuntarily, in a sepa¬
rate form, and giving great alarm to the patient, who, being
conscious of no irregularity, imagines he is in for something
more serious than a cold. It requires little discrimination,
however, to ascertain the distinction : attention to the preceding
history of the symptoms will, in general, be sufficient.

Preventives and Remedies.

When this complaint has once attacked an individual, he is
afterwards liable, on the slightest exposure to cold, to a relapse
more severe than the first; and as such relapses are almost
certain to end in stricture, it becomes of the greatest moment
to prevent the threatening danger. The best preventive of a
relapse, or a second attack, which we know, is warm small
clothes, well lined with silk, to preserve the electricity, and
keep it from escaping out of the body*. The feet also ought,
above all, to be kept warm, as nothing has a greater tendency to
bring on colds, both of the lungs and the bladder, than cold
feet, to which deskers and literary men are, in most instances,
very subject.

If the disorder has actually made progress, or has, at least,
manifestly begun, you ought to lose no time in trying to check
its advance, or moderate its violence. One of the most power¬
ful means which can be employed for this purpose, is the
warm bath, or what is better, the bidet or hip-bath. Great
care, however, is requisite to prevent this remedy from proving
a source of aggravation, by incautious exposure while the body
is heated. Warm fomentations of the infusion of camomile
flowers are also very useful ; but nothing is of more advantage
than drinking copiously of barley water, linseed tea, or grit
gruel. Strict abstinence from meat, wine, and all liquors
stronger than soda water, or small beer, must be enjoined. The
most appropriate diet will be light bread puddings, or those of
rice or tapioca ; or arrow root, potatoes, &c. The bowels must
also be kept open, with any laxative (except salts) such as
castor oil, or the following

Laxative Powder.

Take six grains of powdered jalap,

half a grain of submuriate of mercury.

M ix with jelly, or pulp of tamarinds, and repeat the same dose every
three or four hours, till the howels are freely opened.

* See Oracle, Vol. I. j». 128; and Vol. II. p. 169.

New Remedies.

2?5

If this treatment is not successful in reducing the irritation,
stronger measures must be pursued ; such as leeching, accord¬
ing to the method described at the bottom of p. 4J9. Vol. I.
The blister, in this case, ought always to be sprinkled with
camphor, in order to prevent the distressing occurrence of
strangury, which effect, the camphor, in most constitutions,
according to Dr. Percival, decidedly produces. A number of
other useful and safe remedies may be found in Vol. I. p. 452,
and 136.

New Remedies.

The progress of discovery appears to be rapidly increasing in
this highly useful branch of human knowledge. The profes¬
sional journals are filled with cures performed frequently in a
manner little short of miraculous, by the trial of recent disco¬
veries in chemistry, and the new application of remedies pre¬
viously known. We shall here — according to an arrangement
which it is intended to keep up in the progress of this work —
catalogue some of those which we think most likely to prove
useful.

Indigestion cared by Mastich.

The saliva, or fluid of the mouth, is so indispensible to
perfect digestion, that when it is not mixed with the food in
sufficient quantity during mastication, disorders of the stomach
usually ensue. On the same principle, it is well known, that
very troublesome and obstinate disorders of the stomach have
been cured by simple attention to eating slowly. Those, how¬
ever, who have acquired the habit of eating fast at meals, find
great difficulty in leaving it off; and yet, as we have seen, this
is indispensable to the cure. Reasoning upon these facts, a
method of a very simple kind has lately been devised for curing
obstinate indigestions and disorders of the stomach, depending
upon this cause.

The glands, or fountains of the mouth, which supply the fluid
so necessary for digestion, are so placed that the motion of the
jaws, in eating, acts upon them and causes a flow of the saliva.
Now all that is requisite, is some safe, innocent, and tasteless,
or nearly tasteless, substance, which may be constantly chewed
between meals to keep up a constant flow of saliva into the
stomach. Among other substances of this kind, which have
been proposed, we may mention mastich , a bit of which may
be kept in the mouth, and occasionally chewed, when heartburn,
flatulence, or other disorder of the stomach, is troublesome.
We should prefer a quid of the inner bark of the elm, or, what

New Remedies.

-27K

might be still more efficacious, the willow, from its analogy to
Peruvian bark. A bit of Peruvian bark would, to a certainty, be
useful, but it is far from pleasant to the taste, and to some, this
would be a formidable objection.

Debility Removed by Balsam of Peru .

Dr. Carter, of the Kent Hospital, Canterbury, informs us
that he has lately used the Balsam of Peru with advantage, in
several cases of debility and nervous weakness of long standing.
He attributes his success with this medicine, chiefly to a steady
perseverance in its use; and indeed there cannot be a more un¬
scientific method of proceeding, than taking a medicine one
day and neglecting it the next.

Hamet Elms, a married woman, aged forty, was affected with
extreme weakness, arising, probably, from low living. Her po¬
verty was, of course, very unfavourable to her recovery ; but
after having taken a pill of Balsam of Peru, three times a day,
for three months, with a draught composed of aromatic con¬
fection, spirit of lavender, and bark, she was greatly benefitted.
That this was owing to the Balsam of Peru, appears from her
having previously taken the bark with little, if any advantage.

Mary London, a married woman, of middle age, was affected
with all the symptoms of indigestion and weakness, was greatly
benefitted by taking six grains of Balsam of Peru, three*4imes a
day, together with

Dr. Carter’s Tonic Powder.

Take four grains of rhubarb,
five grains of calumba,
five grains of dried soda.

Mix, and take in any vehicle most agreeable to the patient, every
day at noon, for several weeks.

Dr. Carter mentions one or two cases besides these, in which
the Balsam of Peru, along with this powder, were successful in
strengthening the weak, and relieving indigestion.

Scrofulous Swellings cured by Iodine.

Iodine is the name of a new chemical substance, discovered
by M. Courtois, in various species of sea-weed ; and as it has
turned out to be a medicine of great power, trials are now mak¬
ing with it in a variety of diseases. It has been found to be most
successful in the tumours and swellings which are supposed to
be scrofulous, such as white swellings of the joints,' goitre of
the neck, and all kinds of glandular affections. One instance of
its power over glands is too remarkable to be omitted : when it
has been given to females, with the intention of reducing scro-

Neu' Remedies.

27 7

fulous swellings, the breasts have been observed to diminish
very considerably in size. It has been inferred from this, that it
will prove a powerful remedy for checking the progress of hard
cancer in the breast. Iodine may be tried in such cases, either
under the form of drops, or as an ointment, or both, according
to the following prescriptions : —

Dr. Magendie's Iodine Drops.

Take thirty-six grains of hydriodate of potass,
one ounce of distilled watrr.

Let the hydriodate dissolve. Begin with ten drops, twice or thrice
a diy, and increase gradually to fifteen or twenty.

Dr. Ure’s Ointment of Iodine.

Take one drachm of iodide of zinc,

one ounce of prepared hog’s lard.

Make an ointment, and rub in twice a day the size of a filbert of the
ointment. This is likewise a good ointment for healing old sores.

Distorted Spine improved by Gymnastics. By P. H. Clias, Esq .

Gymnastic exercises, we have reason to know, are no favour¬
ites with the doctors, because they are not well adapted either
to the draught trade, or the pill trade. They are very power¬
ful remedies notwithstanding in many diseases, as we have had
repeated occasion to demonstrate. The following case, for which
we are indebted to Capt. Clias, the celebrated Professor of Gym¬
nastics, will tend to illustrate our position practically.

M iss A. B., aged sixteen years, had been affected for several
years with a distortion of the spine, from the right to the left
side ; with general weakness, particularly of the arms and
chest ; she was extremely pale and thin ; her sleep much dis¬
turbed, and her appetite nearly gone; she had an obstinate
cough ; her voice was weak, and nearly inaudible. She had a
continued pain in the left side, resulting from the pressure of
stays, which she had worn for some months with the expecta¬
tion of re-establishing the "straight position of her back. Her
head reclined upon her chest; and what are called the false ribs of
the left side were bent one over the other, and forced inwards.
In this condition the young lady was confided to my care, on the
22d of October, 1822, by a physician who had seen and visited
her for some years. I may be allowed to say that it was almost
with repugnance that I engaged to employ my system of exer¬
cise in the ease of a person who appeared to be nearly in a
dying condition, but the entreaties of the relations, and the so¬
licitations of the medical attendant, were so urgent that I could
not forbear making the trial. The table of exercises which I

von. ir. 2 N

\eio Remedies.

27s

employed in this case, will give a just idea, to those persons
who interest themselves in this practice, how far I deserved the
confidence reposed in me. If I have not given my reasons for
adopting each particular exercise, it is because 1 thought the
intelligent reader would easily understand their application in
different cases.

Table of the Gymnastic Exercises.

]. Prolonged inspirations, the patient sitting. 2. Prolonged
inspirations, the patient standing, the arms fixed. 3. The same
exercise, the arms hanging down. 4. The same, the arms ex¬
tended horizontally. 5. The same, the arms fixed to a hori¬
zontal pole. 6. Deep inspiration, and counting a certain num¬
ber without drawing the breath. J. Movement of the feet on

the ground, the patient sitting. 8. Deep inspiration, the pa¬

tient lying on the left side, and leaning on the elbow. 9. In
the same position, to raise and to lower the body. JO. Walk¬
ing slowly, and making deep inspirations. 11. Walking a little
faster, and counting several steps, without drawing breath.

12. Bending without rising, the weak hand fixed above.

13. Piaffer * with both hands fixed to the horizontal pole.

14. Bending the body, bearing a weight in the weak hand.

15. Piaffer, bearing the same weight in the weak hand.

16. Lifting up a small box from the ground with both hands.
1J. The same exercise with the weak hand. 18. To declaim
without moving. 19. The same, walking slowly. 20. Sing¬
ing without drawing breath. 21,22,23. Movements of ba¬
lance simple, in front and on one side. 25, 26, 27. Develope
other motions of the arms, difficult to describe without diagrams.

28. To imitate the motion of sawing, the patient placed below.

29. The same, the patient placed above. 30. The above ex¬
ercises with the weak hand only. 31. To draw upon a spring
with the weak hand only. 32. The same, the arms and body
being fixed. 33. Seated on the ground, to rise with the assistance
of the arms, the feet fixed. 34. Lying down horizontally, to
raise the body without the assistance of the arms. 35. Exer¬
cise of the arm with a pulley, the patient sitting, the body fixed.
36. The same with the weak hand only. 37. The same, the
head fixed in a straight direction. 38. The same, direction of
the head to the weak side. 39. Walking some distance, giving
the weak arm to a tall person. 40. Lying on the chest, to raise
the body backwards. 41. Sitting on the ground, to pull a stick,
first with both hands, then with the weak one. 42. Piaffer,

* Piaffer, is a term in the manege, which can be, perhaps, best understood by
the military phrase t; marking time.”

270

A rt of Medical Training. — No. 5.

leaping up with a weight in the weak hand. 43. The cross
step, ir the same manner. 44 , 45, 4(i. Other movements,
not explainable without diagrams. 4J. To rise and to fall, the
knees fixed to the arms. 48. To bend the lower extremities,
the arms fixed, the weak one higher than the other.

On the 2Jth of November, the cough having entirely ceased,
and the progress of the patient giving me reason to expect the
happiest results, I began to employ frictions during the exer¬
cise on the diseased parts. At this time I also took with her
the first promenade, the weak arm supported, and afterwards in
a carriage. On the 12th of January, 1823, circumstances
obliged me to quit my young patient. At this time she was so
much recovered, that she could without inconvenience resume
her lessons in singing, pla)ing, and drawing, and walk several
miles without fatigue. The cough and pain in the side had
entirely ceased ; she had an appearance of health, and her spirits
were good. All the animal functions were perfectly restored.

Art of Medical Training. — No. 5.

Such of our readers as will take the trouble to examine with
care the several articles which we have given on this novel sub¬
ject, will find a very considerable variety in the modifications
we have proposed, as adapted to the circumstances of different
complaints. We have novv to describe a fifth modification in
our rules for

Training adapted to Asthma and Waiter Cough.

We must commence with a catalogue of things forbidden,
which are pretty nearly the same with those prohibited in rigid
fancy training. Under this head, we agree with Dr. Bree in spe¬
cifying strong liquors, and all such as abound in acids, or such
as easily become acid in the stomach ; among which we may
mention cyder, sweet wines, new beer, and all warm watery
liquids, if indulged in too copiously. Heavy suppers, eating be¬
tween meals, and generally all food of difficult digestion, may
bring on a fit of asthma in those who are subject to it. We may
mention, as difficult of digestion, smoked meats, pastry, fat
pork or beef, water fowl, raw vegetables, salads, and unripe
fruits ; also boiled cabbage and carrots, rich soups, jellies, and
sauces. Food of this sort is not readily governed by the sto¬
mach of an asthmatic, but remains till a fermenting process
takes place; and if purging or vomiting brings on relief, the
fit may come on. The asthmatic, indeed, may be assured that
the fits will be more frequent, or the intermissions longer, ac-

280

Art of Medical Training. — No. 5.

cording as the seductions of the table are too powerful for his
prudence, or are resisted by his care. Intoxication and surfeit
are so conspicuous as causes of asthma, and can have so little
allurement where the habit is infirm, that an asthmatic can sel¬
dom be suspected of suffering from the excitement of such gross
errors of diet. A critical attention is therefore necessary to the
calls of the stomach, and its power to perform digestion. The
former should never be neglected, and the latter never oppres¬
sed. If the stomach is loaded, the fit will be more violent than
after the occasional cause of fasting. The want of food, or a
mistaken neglect of regular meals, will as certainly excite the
fit in many asthmatics, as a moderate and light supper of tender
animal food will alleviate the symptoms in others.

The rules adapted to consumptive cases are almost all appli¬
cable here; but we must insist more particularly in asthmatic
training upon coffee to breakfast, and even upon it being used
as the chief drink, instead of the ale recommended in rigid
training. For this purpose it should be made strong, suffered to
cool, and used without sugar or cream, in the same way as
beer ; when hot, sugar and cream improve it. Liquid, however,
should be abstained from as much as possible, as it distends the
stomach, and confines the lungs. Cocoa is far from being so
good as coffee, though it is preferred by some.

The food, both at breakfast and dinner, should be chiefly
solid animal food, of the lightest sort, such as good mutton,
roasted or in chops, veal, fowl, &c., with biscuit instead of
bread. New bread, in particular, is extremely improper for the
asthmatic, and even stale bread, in many constitutions, is liable
to ferment on the stomach, and give rise to flatulence and eruc¬
tations.

The exercise most beneficial in asthmatic training is mode¬
rate walking or riding, so as not to quicken the breathing, in
dry air; in cold weather, moderate exercise with the dumb bells,
&c. within doors, must be had recourse to. The dress should
be regulated, as in all invalid cases, by the state of the weather.
Cold changeable weather, with east and north-east winds, must
be carefully guarded against by silk and woollen clothing. In
winter, many physicians recommend flannel to be worn next the
skin ; but we cannot admit this as a general rule, for the reasons
assigned in our article on flannel above ; at the same time we
admit, that there are cases in which the continued irritation of
flannel on the skin may be advantageous, on the same principle
that perpetual issues are often requisite to ward off diseases.

Asthma treated with Galvanism. By Dr. W. Philip.

With respect to constitutional asthma and habitual cough, so

281

Art of Medical Training. — No. 5.

frequent among old people, Dr. Wilson Philip has discovered
that the application of galvanism is often of great benefit, and
sometimes effects a complete cure. The Doctor has found, that
from eight to sixteen four- inch plates of zinc and copper, is
sufficient in power with a fluid composed of twenty parts water,
and one part of muriatic acid.

“The galvanism,” he informs us, “was applied in the follow¬
ing manner : — Two thin plates of metal, about two or three
inches in diameter, dipped in water, were applied, one to the
nape of the neck, the other to the lower part of the region of the
stomach The wires from the different ends of the trough, were
brought into contact with these plates, and, moreover as
great a galvanic power maintained, as the patient could bear
without complaint. In this way the galvanic influence was sent
through the lungs, as much as possible, in the direction of their
nerves. It is proper, constantly to move the wires upon the
metal plates, particularly the negative wire, otherwise the cu¬
ticle is injured in the places on which they rest. The relief
seemed much the same, whether the positive wire was applied
to the nape of the neck, or the pit of the stomach. The nega¬
tive wire generally excites the strongest sensation. Some pa¬
tients thought, that the relief was most speedy, when it was ap¬
plied to the region of the stomach.

“ The galvanism was discontinued as soon as the patient said
that his breathing was easy, which has varied from five minutes
to a quarter of an hour. In the first cases in which I used it,
I sometimes prolonged its application for a quarter of an hour,
or twenty minutes, after the patient said he was perfectly re¬
lieved, in the hope of preventing the early recurrence of the
difficulty of breathing; but I did not find that it had this effect.

“ It is remarkable, that in several who had laboured under op¬
pressed breathing for from ten to twenty years, it gave relief
quite as readily as in more recent cases ; which proves, that
this habitual difficulty of breathing, even in the most protracted
cases, is not to be ascribed to any change having taken place in
the more evident mechanism of the lungs.

“ Of the first cases of habitual asthma, which I saw, many oc¬
curred in work-people, who had been obliged to abandon their
employments in consequence of it, and some of them from its
long continuance, without any hope of returning to regular
work. Most of them had tried the usual means in vain. By
the use of galvanism, they were relieved in different degrees,
but all sufficiently to be restored to their employments. I
afterwards saw several of them, who, although they had not
used galvanism for many months, said they had continued to

282

Philosophy of Hew ing. — No. 4.

work without inconvenience. Some, in whom the disease
had been wholly removed, remained quite free from it ; some
had had a return of it, and derived the same advantage from
galvanism as at first.

“ The application of galvanism was confined to asthmatic diffi¬
culty of breathing. In all inflammatory cases it would be inju¬
rious ; and, in cases arising from dropsy, or any other mechani¬
cal impediment, little or nothing, it is evident, is to be expected
from it.” -

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 4.

Water a Medium of Sounds.

Many experiments have been made on the capability of water
to transmit sound. The Abbe Nollet, among others, took
much pains to decide the question. By practice he acquired
such management of himself underwater, that he could hear the
sound of the human voice, and even recognize airs of music.
When he struck together two stones which he held in his hands
his ears were shocked almost beyond bearing, and he even felt
a sensation on all the surface of his body, like that produced
when a piece of metal held in the teeth is struck by another
piece of metal. PJe observed also that the more sonorous
bodies, when struck under water, gave a less vivid impression
than others less sonorous. — These experiments were successfully
repeated by the late Dr. Monro, of Edinburgh.

Sounding Bodies.

All bodies are not equally fitted for producing sound. Those
which have the greatest degree of elasticity appear to be the
most sonorous. It is owing, indeed, to the great expansible
force and elasticity of the air, that gunpowder and the electric
flash, bv rending it and forming a vacuum, occasion the loud
sounds which often strike us with terror. The cracking of a
waggoner’s whip affords a good illustration of the sound of
thunder or any other explosion. The sudden jerk of the end of
the whipcord displaces a portion of air, and forms an empty
space into which the adjacent air violently rushes. The air which
formed the several sides of this empty space, thus collapsing with
a shock, produces the sound.

The changes which take place among the minute particles of
bodies, in consequence of the vibrations from which sounds
arise, are remarkably different in metals, in wood, and in mu¬
sical strings. This can be illustrated in the case of metals, by
repeating the experiments of Dr. Chladni, of Berlin, who took
plates of different metals, and having strewed them with fine
sand, caused them to sound by drawing over their edge the bow

Philosophy of Hearing, — So. 4.

285

of a violin. In these experiments the sand is found to arrange
itself according to the vibrations produced, and it is curious that
the form which the sound takes is different in different metals.
Any body can easily repeat those experiments with sheet lead,
sheet iron, copper-plates, &c.

Musical Strings.

In the case of musical strings, as in other sounding bodies, the
quicker they vibrate the more sharp is the sound, and this does
not depend at all on the slowness or quickness with which you
strike them, but on the tension and thickness of the string.
We are told, but on the authority of what experimental cal¬
culation w?e know not, that the gravest sound which the ear
can perceive is formed of two thousand vibrations in a second;
and the sharpest sound, of twelve thousand.

In the piano forte and the harp, the high treble notes are
produced by short, small, tight strings, and the deep low bass
notes by strings which are long, thick, and little stretched.

On striking a bell or a musical string once, we may hear by
minute attention, first the fundamental sound or note ; secondly,
the octave, or eighth note above; thirdly, the twelfth; and,
lastly, the seventeenth. These are called harmonic notes.

Harmony explained.

It is from the vibrations of several strings taking place in a
certain order, that agreeable or disagreeable feelings are excited.
The sounds producing these opposite feelings are said to be
harmonious or to be discordant. For example, if the vibrations
of tw’o strings are performed in equal times, the same tone is
produced by both, and they are said to be in unison. Again,
if one string vibrate in half the time of another, the first vibra¬
tion of the latter will strike upon the ear at the very same in¬
stant as the second vibration of the former.

These will accordingly agree or harmonize, and their concord
is by musicians termed an octave or eighth, because there are
eight distinct tones inclusive, between the tones of the two
strings. If the second vibration of the first string strike the ear
at the same instant with the third vibration of the second string,
the compound sound or concord is termed a fifth, for a similar
reason.

When the vibrations of tw’o or more strings strike the ear at
different instants, they are said to jar, or to produce discord.
To make this explanation of harmony and discord the more in¬
telligible, the following simple experiment may be made : —

Suspend a ball of thread, and poise it in the air, giving it a
push with your finger. If you wish to carry on the swinging
motion, you must wait till the ball is on the point of turning

2S4

Cosmetics for the Skin.

before you give it another push. If you touch it in the middle
of a swing, you will cause it to stop. This is exactly the case
with the air, which is swung by a harp string, or put in motion by
a flute; for in this respect wind instruments are the same with

the harp. The first case illustrates harmony, the last discord.

< 1 1 ■■ 1

Cosmetics for the Skin.

Oil of Cacao. — This is the best and most natural of all po¬
mades. It is particularly suitable for such ladies as have a dry
skin, rendering it soft and smooth, without giving it the ap¬
pearance of being greasy. It is much used by the Spanish
ladies of Mexico. In France and England it cannot be used
pure because it grows two hard ; it is therefore necessary to mix
it with some other oil, for instance, oil of ben, or oil of sweet
almonds extracted without fire. Oil of ben is likewise used
with success as a lenitive for burns, acrid eruptions, chapped
lips, and sore breasts.

Oil of Ben. — This oil is extracted by expression from the nuts
known by the same name. It possesses the property of never
becoming rancid; it has neither taste nor smell. In conse¬
quence of this latter quality the perfumers make use of it with
advantage to take the scent of flowers, and to make very agree¬
able essences. The ladies also use this oil to soften the skin.
When mixed with vinegar and nitre it is employed for curing
pimples and itchings.

Alum. — Some persons, in order to give lustre to the skin,
make use of water in which alum has been dissolved; but this
practice is pernicious. Alum, which possesses a highly astrin¬
gent property, gives the skin too great a degree of tension. It
becomes brilliant, it is true ; but the tension takes away its elas¬
ticity, and premature wrinkles are the consequence. The astrin¬
gent quality of the alum must, therefore, be attempered. This
is done by means of the following composition, which may be
used without danger: —

Saccharine Alum. — Boil white of eggs and alum in rose¬
water; make them up into a paste, which mould into the form
of small sugar loaves. The ladies use this paste to give greater
firmness to the skin.

Another. — Take two ounces of borax, two ounces of alum,
and two drachms of camphor. Pulverise the whole, and boil it
in a considerable quantity of spring water. Then dilute the
whites of two eggs with a little verjuice, and throw them into
your water when it is taken from the fire. Leave the mixture
exposed to the sun for the space of twenty days. “ This wash,”
says Dr. Le Camus, “ produces wonderful effects, and seems to
restore youth to decayed faces.”

March Diseases.

285

Diseases of March, and the Means of Escaping them.

Though storms may break the primrose on its stalk.

Though frosts may blight the freshne^ of its bloom ;

Yet Spring’s awakening breath will woo the earth.

To feed with kindliest dews its favourite flower,

That blooms in mossy banks and darksome glens.

Lighting the green-wood with its sunny smile.

Shelly.

March is the most invigorating month in the year to those
whose constitutions can bear the bracing of the keen winds
which usually prevail; though it is no less trying and dangerous
to the weakly and the consumptive, the tone of whose system,
being already at its utmost pitch, cannot bear the additional
stretch imposed upon it by dry blowing weather. The renewed
influence of the sun is less obvious indeed in the animal than in
the vegetable kingdom ; yet, as Dr. Roget well remarks, even
before the almond-tree expands its blossoms, or the first note
of the cuckoo is heard in the yet leafless groves, the body begins
to experience a manifest change. The pulse fills and beats
quicker; the skin feels more soft and moist ; while the nervous
system (and we shall anon see the reason) becomes more acutely
sensible. Even the mind is affected; we feel, as it were, an
agreeable tumult in our system ; and, in spite of the pride of
reason, we are forced to confess, that we are merely a part of
that general nature which is under the control of the seasons.
This change, indeed, is more perceptible in a rude, than in a
civilized state of society, in which the artificial means that are
adopted to subdue the rigour of winter, enables the body to
withstand more safely the natural consequences of the returning
warmth of Spring and Summer. But if this advantage be de¬
rived from civilization, it is counterbalanced by the diminished
power of the body, which has been fostered to struggle with the
remote causes of disease, when it is exposed to their influence ;
and thence it is that we find some maladies, such as consump¬
tion and nervous disorders, prevail in proportion to the progress
of refinement. We have for these reasons, only to repeat our
last year’s advice, to wTard off March diseases by exercise and
exposure to the weather, proportioned to the known vigour or
weakness of the constitution. The most prevalent disorders of
this month, and which, for that reason, are most worthy of our
notice, are

Spring Coughs and Consumption.

The lungs have two coverings, an inner and an outer, of very
different textures and properties. The external covering, called

VOL. II. 2 O

March Diseases.

286

by surgeons the pleura , is moistened with a watery fluid, while
the internal covering, called the mucous membrane, is softened
with mucus of a similar character to that of the nostrils. Now,
it is of much moment to bear these circumstances in mind, in
examining into the nature of all disorders of the lungs, as there
is a difference in the danger and in the treatment, according as
the outer or the inner covering is affected. If a redundant
cjuantity of blood is driven to the outer membrane or pleura ,
inflammation comes on, characterized by smart fever, stitch in
the side, and short dry cough, constituting pleurisy ; the treat¬
ment of which we have given in Vol. I. p. 251.

If the inner or mucous covering of the lungs be in a similar
manner overcharged with blood, and inflamed, the quantity of
mucus will be increased, and the irritation thus occasioned will
end in cough, and in many cases will bring on fatal consump¬
tion, by causing the lungs to ulcerate. When cold and mois¬
ture are applied to the skin, these effects take place in conse¬
quence of the innumerable vessels on the surface becoming con¬
stricted, and, of course, emptied of their blood, which is thrown
on such internal parts as are weakest, inevitably occasioning ad¬
ditional injury to those organs which are already diseased, and
unable to bear an increased load. To prevent this, the utmost
care ought to be taken in the choice of the patient’s clothing,
which should be so contrived as to defend the surface from the
action of cold, and, at the same time, support a free circulation
through the extreme vessels. Flannel, worn for a limited time
next the skin, is of the utmost service in these respects, as you
will see by turning back to page 250 ; since by exciting a slight
irritation on the skin, it occasions an increased determination of
blood and heat to the surface, by which, of course, the internal
parts are relieved. Besides this, it allows the accumulation of
heat to take place more abundantly on the surface of the body,
than w'ould be the case if linen or any other substance of closer
texture or more pervious to heat, were worn. In cases where
it creates too much feverishness and irritation, fleecy hosiery
worn over linen should be employed.

It is always right, therefore, to take care of a cold. But so
long as the symptoms are moderate, the fever not high, the
cough not troublesome, and the whole constitution free from
any great oppression, no danger is to be apprehended. In such
cases, attention to the bow-els, taking great care to keep the skin
warm by remaining at home, warm clothing, &c. ; the warm
bath, if possible, or putting the feet into warm water, taking
care to abstain from all irritating or too nourishing food and
drink, will he all the treatment that is required. But if the re-

287

March Diseases.

verse of these symptoms occur; — if the cough be very trouble¬
some ; it the breathing be difficult ; the fever high ; and the
powers of the constitution be much oppressed, then the case
puts on a serious aspect, and requires strict attention.

Causes and Prevention of Danger.

When the irritation attending coughs or the earlier stages of
consumption has produced ulceration in the lungs, and the sore
begins to discharge thick yellow matter which is expectorated by
coughing, the chance of cure is much diminished. Dr. Darwin
accounts for the danger very ingeniously. The difficulty, he
thinks, of healing sores in the lungs may be owing to the in¬
cessant motion of all the parts in breathing, from which cause
no crust nor scab is permitted to form on the surface of the
sore, and so long as it is kept open and moist it can never heal;
for the fresh irritation constantly given by the cold air keeps it
always in an inflamed state, and spurs it on to discharge more
matter. In the case of a sore on the finger, you may have re¬
marked, that if it be allowed to be uncovered, a crust or scab is
soon formed by the matter discharged, and skin is speedily
produced under its protection. If the sore be covered, on the
other hand, by plaster, and by this means defended from the
irritating action of the air, skin will likewise be formed over the
sore. But you will perceive at once, that it is impossible to
protect a sore in the lungs by either of those methods, and if it
is not protected, it will go on spreading till the lungs and the
constitution are destroyed, and death closes the scene. This is
the yearly fate of above eighty thousand persons in the British
Empire, many of them in the flower of youth and beauty. The
case, we need hardly say, is altogether hopeless when consump¬
tive ulcers, as we have described them, are formed in the lungs.
At their first formation, something may be done by the plan of
Dr. Reid, combined with that of Dr. Stewart, which we have
given in detail in our preceding pages ; but in the more advanced
stages, alleviation of the cough and support of the debility, is all
we can do.

Since this is the melancholy state in which, with all our im¬
provements, the art of medicine at present remains, we cannot
too strongly impress upon your mind, the importance of the
tests of danger in consumption, given in our first volume from
Hippocrates, Darwin, Young, and Sir Everard Home; and in
our present volume from M. Laennec. The judicious trial of these
several tests will clearly point out where the danger lies ; and
lead you to adopt, as circumstances dictate, our rules of training
for the consumptive, or the methods of checking or allaying a

288

Effects of Tea upon Health.

consumptive cough. A little care at first may save a world of
future uneasiness and pain, and may even arrest the fatal stroke.

New Remedy for Coughs and Consumption.

Every day at present is producing some novelty ; many un¬
worthy of attention, though experience has proved some late
discoveries, such as the sulphate of quinine, to be highly valu¬
able. When we announced the cubebs as a new remedy for
chronic rheumatism, we had no idea of its ever coming into use
as a medicine in consumptio n; yet it has lately been used in
this fatal disorder with the best effects. Its action is to dimi¬
nish, in a considerable degree, the production of phlegm and
jnucus, and of course, to prevent the irritation caused by their
accumulating in the lungs. We consider it improper, when
any decidedly acute inflammation, characterized by severe stitch,
high pulse, &c., is present ; but when there is a profuse expec¬
toration, with no distressing pain nor inflammatory pulse, we
think it perfectly safe. It may be used three or four times a
day, according to the prescription Vol. I. page 452 j and if it
produce no decided advantage in eight or ten days, it may be
discontinued for a week, and tried again for a similar period ;
for it has often been successful the second time, when it had no
effect during the first two weeks of its trial. We cannot press
the importance of this prescription too strongly on our readers j
we have not ourselves tried it, but we hope it will prove useful.

Effects of Tea upon Health. By Sir Gilbert Blane,
Bart. M. D., Physician to the King, &c. &c.

Tea, says Sir Gilbert Blane, is an article universally grateful
to the British population, and has, to a certain degree, supplant¬
ed intoxicating liquors, in all ranks, to the great advantage of
society. It would therefore be wise, he thinks, to encourage
the farther use of it, particularly in the navy. Those who de¬
claim against its supposed relaxing property, may be answered
by asking, whether British courage and hardihood appear, in the
late exploits by sea and land, less splendid than at Cressy or La
Hogue — whether there is to be found in the results of the
battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo, any proof of British nerves
being unbraced by the habitual use of tea ; and whether the phy¬
sical and moral energies of our officers and men, will not stand
a comparison with those of their forefathers or of their enemies,
neither of whom were drinkers of tea.

Every old gossip, indeed, and every ignorant doctor, are
ready, on all occasions, to preach against tea, as the destroyer

289

Effects of Tea upon Health.

of the nerves, and the grand enemy to health and strength.
We deny it positively. We deny that tea injures either the nerves
or the strength of young or old ; and moreover, we can make
good our denial by substantial proof, which is more, we will be
bound, than the gossips and the doctors can do, though they
put all their wise heads together for the purpose. Tea has un¬
doubtedly a strong effect on the nerves, but it is the very reverse
of what they so ignorantly ascribe to it; for instead of weaken¬
ing and relaxing the nerves, it most powerfully braces them,
and gives them tone and strength.

Recollect you not some time, when you have been fatigued
almost to fainting, the effect which a single cup of tea has
produced on you, rousing your spirits, bracing your nerves, and
banishing your fatigues, as if by magic ? If you have ever felt
such reviving effects from tea, you will be prepared, with us,
to give the lie direct to the vulgar error, that it hurts the nerves
and weakens the body.

Nay, we go farther, and say, that the stronger it is the better
for the nerves, and that it is only weak watery slops that do
harm. To say, with some ill-informed persons, whom we could
name, that tea contains no nourishment, is equally false as to
say that Peruvian bark, or home-brewed ale, is not nourishing.
Tea is a strong astringent, and the longer it is infused in the
tea-pot the more of the astringent matter will be drawn into
the water. Now every body knows, that astringents are the
most powerful tonic or strengthening medicines which we have.
It is, therefore, we maintain, a gross error, both in principle and
practice, to say that tea contains no nourishment. We have a
stronger proof : —

Mary Noble, of Penrith, Cumberland, is now in the 107th
year of her age, and, as the intelligent Dr. Barnes informs us,
tea has been her favourite food for the last sixty-five years ! !
This venerable old woman now resides with a woman aged
sixty-nine, whom she nursed when a child. She is still vigo¬
rous and healthy, and has but lately used a stick to walk with.
Now, what do our slanderers of tea say to this ? The fact is in¬
disputable; let them explain it if they can. On our principles,
jt is plain enough.

It appears from Lord Liverpool’s speech on the agricultural
distresses on the 26th of February, 1822, that the consumption
of tea had greatly increased, in England, during the last thirty
years, for the total in 1787 amounted to sixteen millions ot
pounds; but in 1821 to twenty-two millions. From the po¬
pulation returns, as we shall see in an elaborate paper which w'e

2{) 0 Economy in Tea- Making.

%

*|T '

arc preparing, the health of the people has improved in a pro¬
portional degree.

Economy in Tea-making.

When you have convinced yourself that tea is one of the best
promoters of health and long life, by the preceding observations,
you will be prepared to read with interest, the method proposed
by the great English economist, Dr. Trusler, who, by following
his own maxims of thrift, accumulated, from very small begin¬
nings, a considerable property, and died wealthy.

Dr. Trusler’s method of economizing tea, is pretty well
known to the keepers of small public houses and cheap coffee
shops, where it is to be had as low as two* pence per cup.
Were they to manage their tea in the common way, it would
never pay them. It becomes, then, of great interest to families
who act on the saving plan, to be instructed in the same, which
we have no doubt will henceforth be universally followed.
Attend then to our directions.

In the first place, it is requisite that your tea-pot be a metal
one, and that it be bright and shining. You may think this of
no consequence; but if you try a china or stone-ware pot, ex¬
perimentally, you will lose about a fourth of your tea, which
would be saved by a metal one. Black ware is the worst of
all, and a great waster of tea. Having got your metal pot then,
put in a spoonful of tea for each person, and pour over it one
cupful of boiling water for every spoonful. Let this stand, to
infuse, not less than twenty minutes, when it will be ready in
the form of a strong rich-flavoured tincture.

To Improve the Flavour of Tea.

The cheapest and most expensive teas are all the leaves of
the same tree, at least they should be so, and if there were no
sloe leaves, nor privet leaves, they would be so. The high
flavour, therefore, of some of the sorts of tea, and the want of
flavour in others, must arise from the manner of preparing
them, and must consequently be in some measure artificial. It
follows, that if we can discover any fine flavoured substance, and
add it to the tea in a proper manner, so as to make it agree and
harmonize with the original flavour, we shall be able to improve
low priced and flavourless tea, into a high priced article of fine
flavour.

We have, for this purpose, made some experiments on tea
with various fine flavoured substances. Cinnamon is too rank

Nervous Disorders accounted for Philosophically. 291

if added in any quantity ; but a single drop of the oil, or a pinch
of the powder, to a quarter of a pound of tea, will improve it to
some tastes. Peppermint will not do, nor ginger, except for
particular purposes. Eau de Cologne does better, but it is
too dear. Rejecting, therefore, all these, we come to the
point.

We do not claim the discovery of this, though it is not
generally known, except among some dealers and curious in¬
quirers. The flavouring substance, then, found to agree best
with the flavour of tea, is the essence of bergamot, by the proper
management of which, you may produce from the cheapest teas,
the finest flavoured Bloom, Hyson, Gunpowder, and Cowslip.

There are two ways of managing the bergamot. Purchase at
the perfumers some of the perfumed pieces of wood, which they
call bergamot fruit. Keep one such piece in your canister, and
it will flavour the tea in the same way as a Tonquin bean
flavours snuff. If the canister be a small one, the flavour per¬
haps would be too strong. In that case you may chip the ber¬
gamot fruit in pieces, and put only a little bit among your tea.
Or —

Procure a small phial of the essence of bergamot ; take some
of the smallest of your tea, and add to it a few drops of the
essence till you form a sort of paste, which is to be carefully
mixed with the whole tea, in proportion to its quantity and the
degree of flavour you like best. A few trials will enable you to
hit the proportions better than any directions which we can
give, and if you make the flavour too strong, you have always
an easy remedy, namely, by adding more unflavoured tea,.
When it is thus improved, it has often been sold at 18s1. and a
guinea a pound. Cowslip tea has been as high as 32s.

Nervous Disorders accounted for Philosophically.

The vagueness and mystery which have so long hung over
the nervous system are fast disappearing, in consequence of the
splendid discoveries lately made in physiology ; and the disor¬
ders depending on the nerves will, ere long, we are persuaded,
be looked upon as no less simple than other diseases. Dr. Parry,
of Bath, if not the first, was among the first, to elucidate this
interesting subject, by his scientific experiments and reasonings,
on the redundant flow of blood to particular parts, and its de¬
ficient supply in others. One of his first experiments went to
prove that on partly intercepting the flow of blood to the brain,
by pressing strongly on the blood-vessels in the neck, known
by the name of the carotid arteries , it was possible to remove,

292 Nervous Disorders accounted for Philosophically.

or greatly diminish, violent headache* giddiness, convulsions,'
delirium, and excessive sensibility.

It proves the same doctrine of redundancy of blood to the
brain and nerves causing these disorders, that in persons of
nervous constitution, and particularly during nervous attacks,
the increased flow of blood is shown by the increased beat of
the carotid arteries, which give greater resistance to the finger,
and are fuller and harder in such cases than in robust persons
of the same sex, size, and general formation. In nervous dis¬
orders, also, the head is usually much hotter than in a state of
health, and there are frequent flushings of the face.

Sleeplessness.

In our articles on the Philosophy of Sleep, we have shown that
it is a consequence of a stagnation of blood in the brain ; and
in concordance with this, we may now mention that in nervous
constitutions, there often occurs a state of the system, in which,
without any bodily uneasiness, ideas pass quickly through the
mind, and compel a degree of attention quite prohibitory of sleep.
Such a state, even in the more robust, is apt to be brought on
by excessive bodily or mental exertion, by anxiety, by late
hours, hot rooms, and by spectacles, attended with long conti¬
nued attention, much sitting in a confined place, and a frequent
succession of objects which dazzle the eyes. In such cases the
heart beats more quickly, the feet are often cold, and what is
more in point for our present inquiry, the pulse in the blood¬
vessels leading directly to the brain, is preternaturally strong.
Now mark the important experiment of Dr. Parry : —

Under such circumstances sleep was, on numerous occasions,
induced by lying on one side, and making firm pressure with
the thumb on the carotid artery.

Noises in the Head and Ringing in the Ears.

The state of the system just described is frequently accom¬
panied, more particularly during the day, with a noise in the
head or ears of different kinds and degrees, often extremely
distressing and very difficult of relief. The most usual phenome¬
non of this state is that of a rushing sound, in one or both ears,
which persons compare to that of wind, or the tide; as it often
resembles the wind, by having gradually increasing and de¬
creasing gusts, and the tide, by consisting of alternate waves.
The sensation generally increases towards night, and is often
perceived only on lying down. On some occasions, it is said
to resemble music, more particularly the ringing of bells ; and
has also been compared to the squeaking of rats or mice, and
to the sound of human voices.

Nervous Disorders accounted for Philosophically. 293

These noises often occur in the same patient, with various
other disorders termed nervous* They not only sometimes
overpower the accurate perception of other sounds, but accom¬
pany the commencement of occasional or permanent deafness,
such as has been said to arise from preternatural fulness of
blood in the organ of hearing. Hence, in common with deaf¬
ness, the noises are often a mere temporary effect of cold in the
head. If, therefore, the theory of that species of deafness, and
of other disorders, of which these noises in the ears make a part,
and which will hereafter be mentioned, be well founded, these
circumstances might be considered as sufficient to prove, that
such noises depend on the rush of blood through some part of
the ear.

This conclusion will derive additional force from the follow¬
ing circumstances, which shew the relation of the malady in
question to other excessive determinations of blood to the head.
These noises are apt to be produced by whatever increases the
action of the heart, as hot rooms, late hours, long watching,
strong drink, violent muscular exertion, long or excessive men¬
tal attention, and whatever agitates the mind ; and they are di¬
minished by all the causes which have a contrary operation, such
as cool air, temperate living, adequate rest, and every thing
which quiets the action of the heart.

When the rushing sound is waving or alternate, as it usually
is, each rush is exactly in time with the beats of the heart ; and
when the disorder has been more or less constant, and has af¬
fected one ear only, it has often been, for the time, entirely re¬
moved, and always alleviated, by pressing upon the carotid artery
on the side affected.

Many persons, though free from pain or mental anxiety, are
apt to have their sleep disturbed by dreaming ; and as this ma¬
lady occurs especially to those persons who are subject to the
two former modifications, as well as to those who are labouring
under that affection of the brain which accompanies fever, we
have no reason to doubt, that in these cases, dreaming is owing
to the same increased tide of blood to the brain.

Nervous Headache.

Headache, whether affecting the external or internal part of
the head, is owing to corresponding conditions of circulation in
the external or internal carotid artery. That which occurs’from
indigestion, or disorder of the stomach and bowels, is usually of
the first kind. It often extends itself to the muscles of the
neck, and is accompanied with flushing of the face, and a strong
beating of the blood-vessels going to the brain, and their

VOL. ii. 2p

234 A1 tn'vous Disorders accounted Jur Philosophically.

branches, which go to the (ace and temples. It may be gene¬
rally relieved by strong* pressure on the first of these vessels, in
consequence of which the movement of the stomach and bowels
is often increased, the heat of the head is diminished, and the
feet, if previously cold, become more warm.

Of headache arising from an excessive current of blood through
the branches of the internal blood-vessels which go to the brain,
we may here particularly specify that which is usually called the
Sick Headache, so well described by Dr. Fothergill. This dis¬
order is generally conceived to originate from some derange¬
ment either of the liver, or of the stomach and bowels. The
state of the stomach is, however, the effect and not the cause of
the malady of the head, which it never precedes; just as sick¬
ness and vomiting are the consequences, and not the cause, of
the affection of the head produced by a blow on the skull. Ac¬
cordingly, the sick headache may be cured or relieved by sponta¬
neous bleeding from the nose, or other similar remedies applied
to the head ; but is not alleviated by purging, and is always ag¬
gravated by the stimulants which relieve indigestion. This
kind of headache not uncommonly occurs as a vicarious affection
with epilepsy.

Of the same nature is the common headache which afflicts
nervous patients, without sickness ; and which, also, is usually
and erroneously attributed to the stomach and bowels, and
therefore aggravated almost to madness by the improper means,
whether of regimen or medicine, which are generally ordered
for its relief.

It may, lunvever, without hazard be asserted, that indigestion
is so far from being usually a cause of headache, and other affec¬
tions which pass under the name of nervous, that they rarely
accompany each other.

But whatever be the more remote cause, this pain, whether
affecting the outer or inner part of the head, is usually accom¬
panied w7ith such a current of blood towards the brain, heat of
the head, coldness of the feet, and other circumstances, as indi¬
cate plainly its more immediate cause to be this excessive flow
of blood to that part. Thus, it is usually increased by heat,
stimulating food and drink, by exercise, and by every other
cause which excites additional force or quickness in the beating
of the heart. When, also, it is of a throbbing kind, as is very
frequently the case, each throb, or aggravation of pain, is in
exact time with the beats of the heart, and therefore, with a
fresh jet of blood in the vessels of the head.

On the other hand, the headache is diminished by whatever
diminishes the beats of the heart, changes the current of blood

295

Impediments of Speech , and their Cure.

to some other part, or directly diminishes it to the head. Hence
it is relieved by cold applied to the head, and, when external,
by a firm bandage round the brow; by rest; by blood-letting,
under certain modifications ; sometimes by warmth applied to
the feet ; by pressing upon one or both carotids, and, as appears
by the publications of Sir Astley Cooper and Mr. Travers, by
actually cutting down upon, and tying, the carotid artery on the
side affected with pain.

Swimming of the Head, and Giddiness.

The term giddiness, or, as surgeons call it, Vertigo, is certain¬
ly applied to at least two different species of sensation in the
head. The first, and proper, species is characterized by a feel¬
ing of quick rotation in the inside of the head ; and it is this
species which precedes epileptic, paralytic, and apoplectic at¬
tacks. In a moment after its commencement, the patient is
often seized with nausea, and sometimes with vomiting ; and, at
other times, almost immediately falls senseless.

Another species is distinguished by a feeling, as if objects
were approaching to, or more usually receding from, the patient
and becoming dark. This is the feeling which frequently oc¬
curs, when, after stooping, the patient suddenly rises up into
the erect posture. In its symptoms it is very different from the
former ; is rarely, if ever, accompanied with sickness, and ought
rather to be called swimming than giddiness. It is probable,
also, that it arises from a state of circulation totally opposite to
that in the former case ; for while, in giddiness, there is a greater
jet of blood to the brain than is natural, the sensation in
swimming arises from the want of a due current of blood in the
brain. This difference is proved by these farther circumstances,
that true giddiness may be relieved by blood-letting and pres¬
sure upon the blood-vessel, while swimming is increased by the
compression, and is actually similar to the feeling which pre¬
cedes fainting from blood-letting.

That giddiness is only another modification of that state of
excessive flow of blood, which produces headache, is evident from
its often alternating with the affection, and forming with it a
part of the series, which occurs in other excessive flows of
blood to the brain.

Impediments of Speech, and their Cure.

In some of the periodicals of last month, an account is given
of certain miraculous cures lately performed in the North, upon
-persons who had long been considered incurable stammerers in

296 Impediments of Speech , and their Care .

speaking. The method of cure is not mentioned, but there
cannot be a rational doubt that its effects have bfeen exaggerated
beyond calculation. We shall, therefore, till we learn this mi¬
raculous secret, take a more humble course in discussing the
impediments of speech, and particularly hesitation and stam¬
mering. Whether persons, who are subject in any great de¬
gree to this defect, can ever conquer it, may strongly be doubted ;
but supposing success possible, the constant vigilance, and the
incessant efforts necessary, in difficult cases, are such as must
effectually overcome the vigour of ordinary minds, and deter¬
mine them rather to submit to their deficiency, than to the
labour of correcting it. In cases where a small degree of hesi¬
tation occasionally breaks the fluent tenor of discourse, much
may be done by due attention. If, in order to seek a remedy,
we might presume to offer an opinion upon this distressing
defect, we should say, that as persons of delicate habits are
more generally subject to it, it proceeds from a constitutional
trepidation of the nerves : and we should, therefore, recommend,
as the foundation of every hope of cure, such care of the health
as may tend to strengthen the whole system.

All excess should be avoided, particularly in the use of wine,
and strong liquors which give a momentary stimulus, and leave
behind increased debility. All personal irregularity ought to
be still more carefully guarded against ; and then it may be
hoped, that with the growing strength of the constitution, the
defect may gradually diminish. That it is sometimes removed,
we may judge from the fact, that though we frequently meet
with young persons subject to hesitations, we do not, in pro¬
portionable numbers, meet grown people who labour under it
in any great degree; and that owing principally to some ner¬
vous affection, may be selected from observing that whatever
agitates the nerves either increases or diminishes the complaint.
The defect is aggravated by the fear of strangers, by surprise,
by impatience, by anxiety ; it is moderated by familiar society,
by indulgence, and by tranquillity. Since, therefore, in its dis¬
tressing effects, it is subject to all the variations of bodily health,
it may also be presumed to be capable of being relieved by those
means which contribute to establish the general health and
vigour.

But much of the success in the combat against this defect
will depend on the exertions made by the mind, and on the es¬
tablishment of such habits as tend to counteract the weakness.
A young person should, therefore, practice to speak with more
than usual deliberation, and to practise frequently, when alone,
those wrords and letters which he finds most difficult to enounce.

297

Impediments of Speech, and their Cure.

He should also furnish his mind with a copious vocabulary of
language; and make himself as familiar as possible with all
the synonymes, so that if he finds himself unable to utter a
particular word, he may readily substitute in its place some
other of nearly the same import. The habit of running over
synonymes will associate them in such a manner, that the idea
of one word will readily bring the other into recollection. It is
one character of this impediment, that it is obstinate, in strug¬
gling with the particular word which stops the current of dis¬
course. But in such cases, it appears to be the most advisable
method to divert it, if it can be done, into some other channel.
Above all, a young person should be encouraged to exert the
energy of his own mind, to assume a courageous command over
himself, to check his trepidation with determined deliberation,
and should he even fail, not to suffer himself to be disturbed,
or to lose his temper, even when laughed at by his thoughtless
young companions. If his hesitation be not extreme, these di¬
rections may be of some use, and palliate the evil in some
degree, till time and strength shall, perhaps, nearly remove it.

The celebrated Dr. Darwin classes impediment of speech,
under diseases of associations. Impediment of speech is owing
to the associations of the organ of speech, being interrupted or
dissevered by ill employed sensations, or sensitive motions, as
by awe, bashfulness, ambition of shining, or fear of not suc¬
ceeding; and the person uses voluntary efforts in vain, to
regain the broken associations.

The broken association is generally between the first conso¬
nant, and the succeeding vowel; as in endeavouring to pro¬
nounce the word Parable, the P is voluntarily repeated again
and again, but the remainder of the word does not follow,
because the association between it and the next vowel is dis¬
severed.

The art of curing this defect is, to cause the stammerer to
repeat the word which he finds difficult to speak, eight or ten
times without the initial letter, in a strong voice, or with an
aspirate before it, as arable, /^arable, and at length to speak it
very softly with the initial letter P, parable. This should be
practised for weeks or months, upon every word which the stam¬
merer hesitates in pronouncing. To this should be added much
commerce with mankind, in order to acquire a carelessness
about the opinion of others.

Hippocrates seems to consider this defect to arise from im¬
patience of the organs, and fulness of the mind, when the ideas
crowd upon each other without due arrangement.

“ The indistinctness/’ says he, of utterance (or impedi-

29 8

Impediments oj Speech, and their Cure.

ment of speech) arises either from affections of the mind, or
from the hearing of external sounds. In the one case, before
the sentence which should precede is completed, words foreign
from it are introduced ; in the other, before that which is con¬
ceived is fully expressed, intervening thoughts are charged
upon it.

Another very disagreeable imperfection is the guttural sound
of the letter R ; an imperfection which it was formerly the
fashion in France for petit maitres to affect, and which they
called parler gras. Such an affectation has never, we believe,
disgraced our taste. The imperfection is best overcome by re¬
moving the articulation from the improper seat, the throat, to
the proper organs, the tongue and the palate : and by practising
to continue the sound of the letter in the proper place, or
rather nearer to the teeth. This may be effected by forcing
the breath between the palate and the tip of the tongue, and
by causing the tongue to vibrate rapidly : although this effort
will produce an inarticulate sound, it will be a useful exercise.
Words may then be practised, in which this letter occurs in
various combinations, slowly at first, till the proper method is
acquired, and it should be a principal care to prevent the
throat from interfering, or being at all concerned in the articu¬
lation. In this, as in every other successful effort of persevering
labour, the example of Demosthenes is encouraging, as he
completely conquered the defect in his utterance.

The hissing of the letter S, that reproach to our language,
is as far as possible to be moderated, both by attention to
composition and enunciation, and should not be exaggerated,
as some are found to do.

The letters M and N are also subject to be imperfectly
sounded. Instead of passing the sound of M, when produced
by closing the lips, entirely through the nose, it is stopped or
resisted apparently between the bony and cartilaginous part of
the nose, and does not issue freely. This may be proved by
holding the nose in the fingers, and endeavouring to pronounce
words in which those letters require to be sounded; such as
hummums (a German word), ninny, singing, ringing, be.,
when the sound will appear to be violently impeded in the place
mentioned. This defect is called, by a contradictory appella¬
tion, “ speaking through the nose,5’ and is seldom difficult to
remove. The sound of the letter N, whenformed by pressing
the upper part of the tongue against the palate, should also
pass entirely through the nose, but more gently than that of M.
In its general combinations, imperfect articulation is not so
■disagreeable as when combined with the letter G ; a combitia-

2 99

Treatment of Hooping Cough.

tion very frequent in our language, and altogether offensive to
the ear, when not perfectly enounced. The words ringing,
singing, sound as if the N was omitted, and are uttered most
disagreeably, as if they were riggig, siggig. The defective ar¬
ticulation of both these letters may be successfully got over by
attention and practice, except in cases where nature or accident
may have denied the sounds a passage through the proper
organ.

Treatment of Hooping Cough.

As one of the most dangerous attendants of hooping cough
is an inflammatory affection of the chest, and as the whole dis¬
order appears to depend on an increased flow of blood to the
membrane which lines the windpipe — one of the most powerful
remedies is the loss of blood, by leeches or by the lancet.
When the child has permanent difficulty of breathing between
the fits, unless blood be taken, it will in most cases fall a vic¬
tim to inflammation of the lungs, in two, three, or four days.
During this permanent difficulty of breathing, the cough abates,
or quite ceases, often deluding the fond parent with fallacious
hope ; but if the cough return after once or twice bleeding, it
is a good symptom, as the child, now possessing power to cough,
shews that the difficulty of breathing is abated. We insist the
more strongly on this, that many lives are lost from the diffi¬
culty of bleeding young children, particularly when the apo¬
thecary is ignorant or clumsy, or has a bad lancet. In these
critical circumstances, the application of six or eight leeches to
one of the legs, allowing the wounds to bleed for an hour or
two, ought never to be omitted, as one or two repetitions, ac¬
cording to the emergency, will often save the little sufferer.
After the first week or two, in order to diminish the tough
phlegm which collects in the throat, and obstructs the breath¬
ing, we should recommend

Dr. D arwin’s Pills for Hooping Cough.

Take twelve grains of rhubarb,
one grain of opium,
one grain of submuriate of mercury.

Mix well, and divide into six pills, and take one twice a day. This
is the dose for a child about three years old. If it cannot take the pill,
break it down among jelly.

It is by no means safe to blister young children, as, in bad
cases where the constitution is exhausted, the blister often in¬
flames, mortifies, and proves fatal. The warm bath, however,
ought to be frequently used as a substitute; and it is useful to

300 Treatment of Hooping Cough.

inhale twice a day, or oftener, the steam of warm water, or warm
water and vinegar. Another substitute is

Struve’s Lotion for Hooping Cough.

Take two ounces of distilled water,

twenty grains of tartarized antimony,
one ounce of tincture of cantliarides.

Mix, and rub frequently on the region of the stomach.

We should prefer the ointment prescribed for hooping cough,
by the venerable Dr. Jenner, for which see above, Vol. 1. p. 151.

Young children should lie with their heads and shoulders
raised, and should be constantly watched night and day, that
when the fit of coughing comes on, they may be easily held up,
so as to stand on their feet, bending a little forwards, or nicely
supported in the posture in which they appear to feel most ease.
A bow of whalebone, about the size of the bow of a key, is very
useful to extract phlegm out of the mouths of infants at the
time of coughing; a handkerchief, which is in general used,
if applied at the time of their quick inspirations, after long
holding in their breath, is dangerous, and may suffocate the
little patient in an instant, as has sometimes happened. When
ulcers of the lungs seem to have supervened, with hectic fever,
and threaten consumption, change of air for a week or a fort¬
night often acts like a charm, and restores the patient, fre¬
quently to the surprise of the physician.

There is not, however, a greater popular delusion than with
regard to the effects of change of air. In all stages of the hoop¬
ing cough, as well as other disorders attended with cough,
'change of air ought always to be tried, if possible ; but the
patient must continue for a considerable time in the new air
before any benefit can be expected. The common people, who
are always under the influence of mystery and superstition,
think that by taking a child with hooping cough for a few mi¬
nutes into a cavern, a mine, or a coal pit, a great charm will
be wrought; but nothing can be more preposterous. If the
child were kept in any of those places for a week or ten days,
it might indeed be benefited; for it is remarkable that it is not
so much a change into better air, as a change , whether for better
or worse, which is required. The greater the difference is in
the air the better, as from the interior to the sea-coast. Dr.
Hamilton says, it may be known when the air disagrees, by ob¬
serving that the child is gradually more and more restless dur¬
ing the night ; and on this account, in many cases, it is found
necessary to change the residence weekly. He also is a strong
advocate for vomits, and in many cases we should agree with

301

Effects of Gormandizing on the Liver .

him in this. The younger the child is the more are vomits re¬
quired, so that it is often necessary to give one, evening and
morning, for weeks together. After the violence of the disorder
has abated, strengthening diet, with exercise in the open air
in dry weather, is requisite to confirm the health.

Effects of Gormandizing, and of Drinking, on the Liver.

The stomach, undoubtedly, is the first to suffer from an un¬
due importation of the good things of this life, as it may thus
be distended and prevented from digesting. You give it too
much to do, and like an overburdened horse it becomes restive,
and will do nothing. But if the stomach suffers first, the liver
soon comes in for a share, and this may arise in persons with
the very best constitutions, who live chiefly on substantial roast
beef, provided they eat more of this than nature requires to
repair the wear and tear of their system. This will follow clearly
from the philosophy we have laid down in every page of this
work ; for if your stomach manufacture from highly nutritious
food a greater quantity of blood than your system requires, an
increased tide will, by necessity, be poured into the liver, which
must be injured in proportion to the violence and continuance
of the current. If, for example, the vessels of the liver be over
distended by this stream of blood, inflammation will either fol¬
low, or if the liver be strong enough to withstand this, an over¬
flowing deluge of bile will be poured into the bowels and the
gall-bladder, which is always a certain and serious cause of
disease. So much for giving the liver too much to do, by eat¬
ing more than enough of plain food, and deluging it with blood.

There is, however, a much more common error into which
those who have not studied our art of good living, in a philo¬
sophic and scientific manner, are almost certain to fall, namely,
by using more condiments, pickles, and piquant sauces, than
the stomach can relish, or the liver can welcome. Just try the
effect of a little table mustard or pepper, by itself, on your
tongue, without the addition of any food, and you will soon
perceive that it would blister the part. Now this effect of the
mustard, you are to remark, is not confined to the delicate skin
of the lips, the mouth, or the tongue; for, in a little time, it
would blister the thick hard skin on the tread of the heel, if
applied to it. What then its effects must be on the delicate
organs of the stomach and bowels, when eaten in such quantities
as it is by the ignorant, we leave you to judge. It must, to a
certainty, inflame them, and produce the burning heat so often
experienced after dinner, by those who are ignorant of the arts
we are now teaching.

VOL. II. 2 Q

Effects of ( gormandizing on the Liver.

Now mark what we are going to tell you : when the mustard,
the pepper, the pickles, or the cayenne, get out of the stomach,
and reach the mouth of the canal which brings the bile from the
liver, they immediately attack it with violent demands for more
bile, and the demand is instantly conveyed to the liver, which is
thrown into agitation to manufacture a supply, and if there is
not a sufficient quantity of proper blood to make the bile from,
the liver, you must perceive, will be thrown into the same un¬
comfortable state as the fountains of the mouth are in cases ot
thirst. The liver, in short, will thirst for blood, and if this is
not speedily forthcoming it will become dry and hard, and a
foundation will be laid for what the doctors call schirrus , and
which we may call hard cancer. It is a much more dangerous
thing, therefore, to indulge, unscientifically, in spices, condi¬
ments, and pickles, than you might have imagined, as it may end
in an incurable hard cancer of the liver, a disease which is be¬
coming daily more prevalent. We should be under the mark
in reckoning the yearly cases of it, in these islands, at several
thousands.

The best rule of science for regulating the use of spices,
pickles, and condiments, is to take them only occasionally, on
grand feast days ; and we can assure those who may have self-com¬
mand enough to try it, that the enjoyment of their feast will be
increased beyond all belief, while they will be comparatively
secure with regard to the health of the liver. If they should
have any fears, however, in consequence of an extra-indulgence
at a feast, after a week, or so, of banyan days, or of an un¬
peppered and unpickled Lent — a sovereign cure may be found
in our Royal Digestive for Mulligatawny, & c. Vol. I. page 182.,
the discovery of which was made by Mr. Wallace, one of the
Editors of this work. We must warn you, however, that you
will do wrong to use, every day, this excellent shield of the
stomach and liver against the irritation from hot spices, as you
may be led to rely too much on its security, and indulge beyond
the limits of the protection it can afford.

What we have said of eating applies still more forcibly to
drinking, and for a reason which is only of recent discovery, and
for which we are indebted to Sir Everard Home, confirmed by
the experiments of Magendie, of Paris, and Dr. W. Philip. If
you will take the trouble to turn to page 10 of our Medical
Advice on Indigestion, you will find that all, or nearly all, the
liquid taken into the stomach passes through its coats, and is
not like the food passed into the bowels. Now where, you will
ask’ does this liquid go ? We answer, that it goes directly into
the veins, which carry it into t^e spleen and the liver. This

303

Effects of Gormandizing on the Liver.

being the fact then, ascertained by experiment, you will see at
once how the liver may be deluged and gorged by copious
drinking, and how it will also be influenced by the mildness or
the piquancy of the liquor drunk. This is the genuine philo¬
sophy of the matter, and that it agrees with facts, the pro¬
verbial language of those who indulge in the bottle sufficiently
testifies.

You will understand better the effects of drinking strong li¬
quors on the liver, from the well known fact, that in distilleries
and breweries, where hogs and fowls are fed on the grain's left
after distillation and fermentation, that their livers are hardened,
and enlarged, that is, they are in the state of hard cancer. If this
effect, therefore, arise from the use of grains much exhausted of
their substance, what must be the effect on the livers of those
who drink the very essence and strength of the malt ? You cannot,
surely, be surprised if it should be gorged, inflamed, or affected
with hard cancer, which is beyond the cure of the most potent
remedies.

Be not deceived by the very common delusion, that many of
your acquaintance drink deep, and at the same time seem to
enjoy good health ; for sooner or later they must pay the dread¬
ful penalty, and come to a reckoning for their imprudence ; and
if you will look around you with a common share of observation,
you will see in a few years that the dram-drinker, the wine-
bibber, the beer-swiller, the swallower of strong punch or grog,
becomes, as Dr. Johnson says, heavy and awkward in his gait;
bloated in his countenance ; his eyes and eye-lids are inflamed ;
he falters in his speech ; his head shakes and his hands tremble;
his nose is red ; his complexion bilious and sallow ; his face
covered with eruptions ; his belly swelled ; his breath bad ; his
stools diseased and offensive; and finally he is overtaken with
premature old age, and losing his memory and his judgment, is
irresolute, timid, and cowardly ; till at length he falls a victim
to cancered liver, black jaundice, dropsy, palsy, apoplexy, or
madness.

One of the most distressing circumstances which follows un¬
scientific drinking arises from the liver and the bile ; we refer
to the despondency and low spirits on the day after a debauch.
This alwavs arises from

V

- the yellow fiend,

Ting’d with his own accumulated gall ;

and would be more properly called “ bilious devils’' than “ blue
devils.” We can give no rule which would apply to all cases
for avoiding this effect. Every one must measure his capa¬
city bv his constitution ; but whenever the succeeding day is

304

Philosophy of Gout. — No. 3.

ushered in by gloomy and desponding thoughts, it is certain that
injurious excess has taken place, and from this a measure may
be deduced for your future guidance. We will give no quarter
to the objection, that when the spirit of hilarity is in full flow,
it is next to impossible to refrain and keep to measures and pro¬
portions; for we are teaching our science and our art to those
only who are willing and eager to learn, and not to those who
read not to practice ; or him who

Resolves, and re-resolves, and dies the same.

*• * * * \ * *

Ah, sly deceiver, branded o’er and o’er,

Yet still believ’d! exulting o’er the wreck
Of sober vows.

When, however, at any time you may have exceeded the due
measure which your system has been found to bear comfortably,
and are awakened with severe bilious headache, and the sinking
and despondency which always attend bilious derangement, par¬
ticularly when induced by drinking, you cannot do better than
follow the prescriptions given by us in our Medical Advice
on Indigestion, page 26.

Philosophy of Gout. — No. 3.

We shall here put it partly in your own power to prove the
truth of our principles, by an easily performed experiment.
You may recollect that we referred the immediate cause of gout
to an obstruction of the current of the blood, through the small¬
er blood-vessels, and to the swelling of the larger vessels, which
naturally followed. If this change in the circulation of the parts
affected be objected to as doubtful, you may convince yourself
of its truth, by plunging one arm into a vessel of hot water, and
the other into a vessel of cold water at the same time. On
again withdrawing the arms, you will find one somewhat larger
than the other, from the effect of distended blood-vessels, with
the external veins swollen, and the pulse at the wrist stronger
and fuller than in the arm which has been immersed in the
cold water.

We admit that this experiment is through the operation of an
external agent, so that the case is not quite parallel with the one
in which the determination arises from internal causes. It
proves, however, the structure of the blood-vessels is such as to
admit of local and partial variation, with regard to calibre ; and
we have other examples to prove, that similar effects are pro¬
duced by operations beginning in the constitution. The change
produced in the current of blood in the extremities of the body,

305

Philosophy of Gout . — No. 3.

by the action of cold applied externally, is precisely similar to
the effect of the shivering fit of fever upon the same part of the
system. The results of the external application of heat, also, is
almost exactly the same with what takes place in an inflamed
part, such as the great toe in a fit of gout.

Jt will follow from these principles, which we have so amply
supported by incontrovertible facts, that the cure of gout will
depend on the removal of the obstruction, and the establishing
of the healthy flow of blood through the parts affected, and it
will also give us a key to the

Effects of Cold, and of Warm Applications.

If you follow the practice once so strenuously advocated by
Dr. Kinglake, and plunge your foot, while it is under a fit of
violent gout, in ice-cold water, it will immediately act on the
blood-vessels, and cause them to contract in the manner so fully
explained in our former paper. This, of course, will affect both
the large and small vessels, but more especially the large ones,
for the small ones are, during the fit, either greatly contracted,
or entirely impervious to red blood. If the larger blood-vessels,
therefore, are contracted by the application of cold, a revulsion
will take place, and the redundant blood will be thrown upon
the adjacent parts. If these are healthy and vigorous enough to
sustain this, it will be all very well, and the fit will, in all proba¬
bility, be removed ; but if there is any part of the system, such
as the liver, the stomach, or the heart, weak or disordered, the
increased current of blood, driven by the cold water from the part
suffering under gout, will instantly overpower and injure the
wreak or diseased part, in proportion to its inability to support
the increase. Accordingly, we find, that when Dr. Kinglake’s
practice was in vogue, many patients either suffered most se¬
verely, or actually fell victims to the remedy. In some consti¬
tutions it answered, and may answer very well ; but in the
greater number of gouty cases, it must be considered as dangerous.

Warm fomentations and warm poultices have, of course, an
action quite opposite to the application of cold water. Heat
expands the blood-vessels, and gives the blood room to flow ;
and this must more particularly affect the smaller ones, which
the causes of the disorder have narrowed, or altogether shut.
The worst effect attending warm applications is, that in propor¬
tion to the enlargement of the vessels, the current of the blood
increases, being attracted, as it always is, by stimulants. The
pain and inflammation, therefore, do not so certainly and readily
yield to external heat as to external cold ; but heat is by much
the safest application, and from the time of the great Lord Bacon,

306

Anatomy of l he Flair.

if not before, to the present period, warm fomentations and
poultices, have always been more or less used, and frequently
with very considerable advantage.

We shall not, for the present, enter into the wide field of the
use of purgatives and opiates in gout; but shall conclude this
paper with the genuine receipt for preparing the celebrated
French nostrum for gout, the JEau Medicinale, as discovered by
Dr. Wilson, of Yoxford, and published in the last edition of his
Treatise on Gout. The reader is aware, that much uncertainty
hung over this nostrum for many years, though near guesses
were made at its composition, by those who traced in it helle¬
bore, elaterium, and lastly, the bulb of the meadow saffron. It
is, in fact, the flower of the meadow saffron ; or, as botanists
call it, the coichicum autumnale. Accordingto Dr. Wilson, the
following is the receipt for preparing the

Eau Medicinale.

Take two parts of the expressed juice of the flowers of the
meadow saffron, or coichicum autumnale,
one part of brandv.

M ix them, and in order to allow the impurities to subside, set apart
the mixture for a few days in a vessel, and then decant off the clear
liquor, and keep it in bottles closely stopped for use.

The action of thisnostrum we shall afterwards discuss.

Anatomy of the Hair. By Professor Blainville, of Paris.

A hair is composed of two parts, perfectly distinct, namely,
the root, which is essential, living, productive, and internal ;
and the stem, which is accidental, without life, produced and
external.

The roots of the hair are always situated more or less deep,
being sometimes fixed in the inner skin, and sometimes even
below it. These roots are of a semi-oval, or bulbous form, and
maybe considered as chiefly made up of three parts. 1 . An
outer membrane, or envelope of a fibrous texture, which gives
form to the bulb, and is pierced at both extremities. By the
internal orifice, the nerves and blood-vessels which give it life
and nourishment, enter in a variable proportion, according to
the strength of the hair, and the age or vigour of the individual.
2. Within this exterior covering of the root of the hair, is a se¬
cond envelope or tissue, formed by the branching and inter¬
weaving of the vessels which have entered by the internal ori¬
fice. 3. The nerves which enter the bulb, and traverse these
two membranes, are sometimes interwoven into another mem¬
branous envelope.

307

Anatomy of the Hair .

The inner part of the root of the hair is filled by a matter
more or less pulpy in consistence, and manifestly produced by
the vessels of the bulb. It appears that this pulpy matter is
living and sensible, insomuch as it receives the vessels and
nerves, and is, consequently, a continuation of the organization.
It is this pulp which produces, or gives off from its superficies,
the external and insensible part of the hair.

The stem of the hair is manifestly without life, or at least
without sensibility, the moment it is produced, and as to its che¬
mical composition, it is very different from the pulp, or the en¬
velopes of the bulb, from one or other of which it originates.
It is, in fact, composed of these two substances, whence it is
produced ; that which arises from the pulp being usually more
tender, soft, and in greater quantity than the other. The par¬
ticles of this part are generally arranged in a thread-like or
fibrous manner, forming a sort of filaments, which, being ce¬
mented together in the length by glutinous matter, produce a
sort of cones that are jointed into one another. Of these joints,
the oldest formed is always the smallest, and is situated at the
point of the hair. The part of the stem, again, which originates
from the vascular tissue of the envelope of the bulb, is more
hard, of a denser structure, and is always exterior to that pro¬
duced from the pulp, for which indeed it forms a sort of sheath.
This part of the hair is so manifestly without life, that it can
always be reproduced so long as the bulb or root, and particu¬
larly the pulp, exists, and receives vessels and nerves.

It appears from this account of the hair, that it is very ana¬
logous in structure to the skin, the external layer of which is
without life or sensibility, while the internal layer is softer,
more tender, and in greater proportion. The colouring matter
of the hair is also very similar to the colouring matter of the
skin.

Professor Blainville, however, carries this analogy much far¬
ther than what we have just recorded; for according to him,
the whole of the skin is nothing more than a tissue of very
short closely set hairs, with bulbs and stems. The hair, he
considers, indeed, as the elements or rudiments of all the con¬
stituent parts of the skin, and even of all the organs of sense,
how complex soever they may be. The little glands, for ex¬
ample, under the skin, which supply the delicate oil that keeps
it soft and moist, he considers to be nothing more than a fibrous
bag, analogous to the bulb of the hair, and differing from it
only because the gland manufactures or filters from the blood an
oily matter, and the bulb of the hair a horny substance. The
scarf skin again appears to the learned Professor to be only

;H)8 Belching and Eructation , with the Causes and Cure .

# M.

an assemblage of analogous bulbs, arranged side by side, and
allowing to rise through their external openings the terminating
branches of the nerves of touch, and of the exhalant and ab¬
sorbent vessels ot the skin.

VVe should consider this to be almost as far as speculative
analogy could carry M. Blain ville ; but he stops not here. Every
inquirer previous to him had remarked the similarity in struc¬
ture and composition, between the hair and feathers, nails,
hoofs, and horns; and it would not have procured him any
praise for originality to expatiate upon this theme. He, there¬
fore, carries the idea farther, and keeping close to the principle
that the skin is the only organ of sense, and that all the senses
must accordingly be referred to it, lie hesitates not to affirm that
he looks upon the eye, and even the ear, as bulbs precisely ana¬
logous to the roots of the hair, with the difference of being con¬
siderably modified for the purpose of exercising their peculiar
functions.

The teeth also, it appears from this very strange and fanciful
analogy, are nothing else than hairs, whose bulbs, instead of
being placed in the skin of the mouth, as might have been ex¬
pected on the analogies of the system, have accidentally been
fixed in the bones of the jaw. Pursuing a similar fancy, M.
Geoffroi St. Hilaire, has discovered that the shells of crabs and
lobsters are nothing else than the bones of the spine, which
have been placed on the outside of the animals instead of the
inside, as in men and quadrupeds ! !

Belching and Eructation, with the Causes and Cure.

According to the ingenious experiments of Dr. Hales, an
apple will give off during fermentation above six hundred times
its own bulk of elastic air or gas; and the same holds good of
many other kinds of aliment. When, therefore, such kinds of
food are taken into the stomach, and fermentation arises and
proceeds more rapidly than the power of digestion can subdue
and keep under, the accumulated gas distends the stomach, and
though during the process of digestion, the upper entrance of
the stomach is always closely shut, yet the gas frequently forces
its way through the opening with a disagreeable noise, is dis¬
charged by the mouth, and for a time relieves the distention of
the stomach, and the pain which is thence often produced in
the chest by the midriff being forced up, and pressing upon and
confining the motion of the lungs and heart.

By attending closely to the chemistry of fermentation, you
will be better able to understand the nature of this production
of gas in the stomach. It is one of the laws of fermentation

309

Diseases. — Apoplexy .

then, that by permitting the escape of the gas, you hasten the
process, and augment the quantity of the gas ; for it is well
known that by stopping the vessels which contain new wines,
their fermentation is retarded, whereas it can be speedily acce¬
lerated by re-opening them. We would hence infer a most
useful remedy for those who are much troubled with flatulence,
namely, to refrain from belching as much as is in their power;
for every discharge of the gas will only quicken its production
in the stomach, and increase the malady. It is upon this prin¬
ciple, indeed, that we must explain the habit which some people
acquire of being able to belch up gas as long as they please.
We may add, however, that all movements of this kind may be
increased by habit, as is wrell known to be the case with nervous,
and what are called winter, coughs; many of which have been
cured, or at least greatly alleviated, by repressing the cough as
much as possible, and by that means subduing the habit.

In the case of cattle — young clover and other fermentable
food, often runs so rapidly into fermentation and distends the
stomach, that the animal has not power to expel it, and falls a
victim to its effects. The farmers, in such cases, sometimes
make an opening into the stomach to allow the gas to escape.
Dr. Whytt, of Edinburgh, in such cases, gave a pint of whiskey,
or gin, mixed with an equal quantity of water, the stimulus of
which gave the animal power to expel the gas, and was the
means of recovery in eighteen cases. Would not a glass of
good wine, or strong ale, or brandy and water, tend, for the
time, to check the production of gas at dinner?

Desk Diseases. — No. 10.

We shall now proceed to a class of diseases which are pecu¬
liarly prevalent among those who spend the best part of their
lives in the counting-house or the library — we mean diseases
which chiefly affect the head, and frequently also make inroads
on the intellect, from its close connexion with the brain. We
take the liberty of classing those affections under our series of
Desk Diseases, from their prevailing so much among mercantile
and literary men ; but the discussions relative to them, and
their mode of treatment, will be, with a little variation, univer¬
sally applicable. We have much pleasure in presenting our
readers, in commencing the history of disorders affecting the
head, with a paper by a well informed and skilful physician, as
well as an excellent writer.

Apoplexy. By Dr. Roget.

The attack of apoplexy is usually so very obvious, that the
disease can scarcely be mistaken ; but we have, nevertheless,

VOL. n. 2 R

3-1.0

Dissaves. — Apoplexy .

seen it regarded as epilepsy, and fatal effects result from the
delay in the employment of means proper for its relief; and
from the use of improper applications. We shall, therefore, as
briefly as possible, describe the disease as it usually occurs,
under two distinct forms, both of which, however, are often
modified by the habit of body of the individual who is attacked.
In the first, a person apparently in full glow of health, whilst
walking in the street, or enjoying himself at the social board,
suddenly drops down or falls from his chair, and lies as if over¬
come with a heavy sleep, which is accompanied with snorting,
or, as medical men call it, stertorous breathing. The counte¬
nance is turgid with blood, and of a reddish purple hue ; the
eyes are blood-shot, and seem as if starting from their sockets,
and their pupils are either greatly dilated or very much con¬
tracted, whilst foam or frothy saliva is blown from the mouth
with every expiration. If the finger be now placed on the wrist,
the pulse will be found hard, full, and bounding; and the skin
covered with a clammy perspiration.

In the second form, the attack is preceded by pain in the
head, sickness, sometimes arising to vomiting and faintness, and
the person falls down, as in a swoon, in which state he dies :
or, he recovers his sensibility for a short time, but complains of
intense headache, and gradually sinks into a state of lethargy,
from which he never awakes. In this form of the attack, the
pulse is small, the face pale and shrunk ; there is often a slight
degree of convulsion ; and if the individual survive, one side of
the body generally becomes paralytic. It is this form which is
most likely to be mistaken for simple fainting, or for epilepsy;
and in which stimulants, such as wine, hartshorn, and aroma¬
tics, are frequently given to the injury of the patient. It is dis¬
tinguished from fainting by the previous headache ; and from
epilepsy, by the absence of violent struggling, convulsions, and
rigidity of the limbs.

Treatment oj the Fit.

In both of these forms of apoplexy, the attack is so sudden,
that those who witness it almost invariably lose their presence
of mind; and many modes of relief, which can be applied by
any one, and are of the first importance, if instantly resorted
to, are neglected or overlooked. The first thing which should
be done is to untie the neckcloth, and to remove every source
of pressure from the throat of the sufferer; the next, to carry
him into the open air, or a cool spacious room, and to place
him in a sitting position, so as to favour the return of the blood
from the head; taking care, however, that the head neither falls

Desk Diseases. — Apoplexy . 311

upon the breast nor is thrown backwards, either of which posi¬
tions is apt to place the muscles in such a state as to present an
obstacle to the descent of the blood. To divert the blood still
more to the lower extremities, and restore its balance over the
body, the feet and legs should be placed in very hot water, and
rubbed with mustard. As soon as a medical practitioner arrives,
the case should be given up to his management, and his direc¬
tions implicitly obeyed ; but if professional assistance cannot be
very quickly procured, the life of the patient may sometimes be
preserved by making an incision with a sharp pen-knife, on the
temple, immediately before the upper part of the ear, on a line
with the outer angle of the ear, where a pulsation will be readily
felt by a finger placed upon the spot. The cut should be made
down to the bone, so as to divide the temporal artery; and there
need be no fear of too great a loss of blood taking place; for,
should the flow of blood be very considerable, it can be easily
commanded by pressure on the part, until professional assistance
be obtained. No appearances, although they may indicate that
death has already taken place, can authorize the not sending for
medical aid ; for we should never forget, that

“ Death may usurp on nature many hours,

And yet the fire of life kindle again
The overpressed spirits;”

Shakspeare — Pericles.

We have been led, as we have already stated, to make these
remarks, by reflecting on the generally increasing frequency of
this appalling disease. To be satisfied that it has been more
common for several years past than it was formerly, we have
only to examine the bills of mortality of the metropolis ; and
that numbers have fallen victims to it this season, is not only
within the knowledge of every well employed medical practi¬
tioner, but is apparent on looking over the deaths detailed in the
public journals. Were the sufferers the short- necked and the
corpulent, the citizen gorged with turtle, the wine-bibber, and
the libertine only, we might find a cause for this in the increase
of luxury, sloth, over-indulgence, and sensuality ; but when we
perceive the pale, the spare, the temperate, even the emaciated,
among them, w*e cannot avoid inquiring — To what cause is this
augmentation of so alarming an evil to be imputed? This is a
question of great importance ; and we conceive that we are doing
a public benefit in directing to it the attention of our readers.

Causes of Apoplexy.

In endeavouring to explain the frequency of this formidable
disease, let us examine whether there be any increase of that
state of habit, which has been generally regarded as predisposing

312 Desk Diseases. — Apoplexy.

to apoplexy. Short-necked, plethoric individuals have died of
apoplexy, in every period of society; but in the present age, it is
as common to see the meagre and the pallid struck by the dis¬
ease, and sink instantly from a state of apparent health into the
arms of death, as the gross and the plethoric. In the external
condition of the body, therefore, we can perceive no reason for
the increase of the disease, and must, consequently, look for it
in the internal state of the brain. Anatomy throws little light
upon this inquiry, for in many fatal cases of apoplexy, no ap¬
pearances of disease are discovered, either in the mass of the
brain itself, or in its membranes. The histories of the disease,
however, authorize us to suppose, that some kinds of intellectual
excitement produce a peculiar alteration in the functional state
of the brain, in which it is more susceptible of injury, from any
sudden irregularity of the circulation within the head, than in
its ordinary condition ; and that this is the state which predis¬
poses to apoplexy. The irregularity to which we allude is in
that balance, or due adjustment of the arterial and venous cir¬
culation within the head, which is essential for maintaining the
healthy condition of the brain. Many, for example, are the
cases of apoplexy which have followed severe or long continued
grief, anxiety arising from pecuniary embarrassments, and the
mind being over exerted in business or study ; and as these ex¬
citing causes, in many individuals, are those also of insanity, so
we may observe, that the changes which have necessarily oc¬
curred in the structure of society, from the advancement of re¬
finement, and even education itself (blessing as it is), have been
accompanied by an increase of both these diseases.

But admitting that such a state of the brain may be produced
by mental excitement, we have still to inquire, what are the re¬
mote causes which produce that irregularity of the circulation
of the blood within the head, which, acting on this state of brain,
causes apoplexy ? We answer, these are whatever occasions a
sudden increased flow of blood to- the head ; and nothing is
more likely to produce this effect, than a hearty meal on an
empty stomach, at a late hour of the day ; which brings us to
the conclusion, that one cause, at least, of the increase of apo¬
plexy in the present period, is the very late hour of dining, after
fasting from an early breakfast hour, the mind being kept, dur¬
ing the whole time, in a state of over-excitement. It is not ne¬
cessary, in proof of this, that the attack should occur at the mo¬
ment in which the diseased effect on the brain is produced, for
many hours will intervene after an obvious injury has been sus¬
tained by that organ, before its effects are felt. Thus, a woman
ruptured a blood-vessel in the brain by a sudden jar, in running

Punch Exquisite. * 313

down stairs in the middle of the day, but experienced no incon¬
venience from it until night, when, finding herself a little fever¬
ish, she rose to get a glass of water, and fell down in a fit of
apoplexy, which terminated fatally before morning.

Intemperance, also, will produce apoplexy, by the alcohol of
the wine or spirits being absorbed into the circulation, and di¬
rectly applied to the brain* ; and although the present race of
men be certainly more temperate than their forefathers, yet after
long fasting, as the increased excitability of the stomach pro¬
duces a more powerful action of the absorbents, a comparatively
small quantity of wine may furnish acohol sufficient, when ap¬
plied to a brain predisposed to diseased excitement, to produce
a very injurious effect on that organ.

If our reasoning be admitted, the necessity of a change in the
habits of our men of business, who have been of late the most
numerous victims of apoplexy, is evident. Let them eat a
hearty lunch at mid-day, and a very sparing dinner in the even¬
ing; and ever bear in remembrance the words of the poet —

“ Oppress not nature sinking down to rest,

With feasts too late, too solid, or too full.”

Punch Exquisite. By Alderman - .

As the Glasgow punch, which is so ambrosial in its flavour,
and cooling to the blood in Summer, is rather too cold during
the cold gales of the vernal equinox, now is the time for the
lovers of good liquor to indulge in a warming glass of punch
exquisite, according to the method first devised by a late Aider-
man of punchable notoriety in the metropolis. Spurious copies
of the receipt, we may tell you, have got abroad, and even found
their way into books; but none of these will produce the fine,
rich, soul-stirring flavour of the genuine original.

You are aware that the ambrosial essence of the lemon and
orange, resides wholly in the little vessels or bags, which so nu¬
merously stud their yellow rind, the white part of the rind
being bitter without flavour, and the juice and pulp being simply
acid. It is on this account, that some cut off' thin slices of the
yellow part of the rind, to flavour their punch ; but this is both
clumsy and not effectual, as it is only from the cut edges of the
slice that any flavour can be given out, and all the ambrosial

* In the ventricles of the brain of a man, who died after having drank a quart
of gin for a wager, and was opened at the Westminster Hospital a few year ago,
a considerable quantity of limpid fluid was found, which was “ distinctly impreg¬
nated with gin, both to the sense of smell and taste, and even to the test of in-
flammability* '* — Vide Cooke on Nervous Diseases, Vol. I. p. 221.

314

Nervous Pregnancy.

essence of the central parts of the slice is entirely lost. As the
flavour of punch, therefore, depends so much upon this essence,
it is indispensible to obtain a considerable quantity of it.

The best, and indeed, the only effectual way of procuring as
much as you please of the ambrosial essence of lemons, limes,
or oranges, is to break all the delicate little bags which contain
it, on the surface of the yellow rind, and if you do this with a
bit of lump sugar, it will, at the same time, take up and preserve
whatever quantity you choose of the essence. The first part,
then, of the process of exquisite punch-making is, to prepare as
many pieces of sugar in this way, as may appear to be wanted,
which being according to the taste of those who are to drink the
punch, cannot be laid down by rule. We apply the same re¬
mark to the proportion of the juice or acid of the lemons or
limes, which is to be squeezed through a silver strainer, over
the prepared pieces of sugar, after they are put into the punch¬
bowl ; the sugar is then to be thoroughly broken, and well mixed
with the lemon-juice. This is the first part of the process, and
on the care with which it is performed, the fine flavour of the
punch mainly depends.

Boiling water, or boiling tea, in the proportion of four to one
of the spirit you intend to use, is next poured over the mixture
in the bowl, and well stirred with the punch-ladle. The spirit
best fitted for the punch, is equal quantities of brandy and rum,
though rum itself, with a glass of porter added to it, is much
relished by punch amateurs.

We can assure our readers, in the words of the celebrated M.
Grimod de la Reyniere, that this punch taken immediately be¬
fore going to bed, will induce sweet and tranquil repose, dreams
according with their very wishes, and will preserve them from
the malign influence of cold and moisture, the inexhaustible
source of coughs and catarrhs, and the grand support of apothe¬
caries and physicians *.

Nervous Pregnancy. By Mr. Russel.

Accoucheurs of experience often meet with, and arc well ac¬
quainted with, a singular nervous affection, prevalent among
married females, which puts on the appearances of pregnancy so
closely, as often to deceive. M. Baudelocque, of Paris, men¬
tions no fewer than twenty cases of the affection ; but perhaps
the most remarkable case hitherto recorded, occurred in theprac-

* Ce punch, pris quelques instans avant de se coucher, Jeur procurera un som-
mcil doux ct tranquille. des songes selon leu rs desirs, et les preserver^ desmalignes
influences, &c. (kc, — Almanac h dcs Gourmands.

Beards , Mustackios, and Whiskers. 315

tice of Mr. Russel, of Vars, in the Department of Charente, as
follows : —

Mary Gibaud had enjoyed good health previous to her mar¬
riage, and shortly after she became apparently pregnant. In a
word, all the usual symptoms made their appearance in the com¬
mon way, and continued for nine months ; at the end of which
period she was taken in labour, and the pains went on increasing
for thirty-six hours. The midwife, unable to make out the case,
called in a surgeon. At the moment of his arrival, the patient
had fainted from loss of blood, and he quickly proceeded to de¬
liver, but was not a little surprised to discover no trace whatever
of real pregnancy. She recovered, and the pains, after a time,
ceased ; though her size continued as before. In about a month,
the symptoms of commencing pregnancy again appeared, and
went on for other nine months, as before, when the labour pains
recurred the same as in the first instance, and went off after a
considerable loss of blood.

The same symptoms of pregnancy and labour recurred every
nine months for twenty years, during all of which time her
breasts were gorged with milk. She died in the fifty-first year
of her age, from an inflammation of the ear, spreading to the
brain. Mr. Russel, and another medical gentleman, dissected
the body, but found nothing unhealthy or unnatural, though
there was a considerable quantity of fat about the intestines.

Beards, Mustachios, and Whiskers.

“ Henry VIII.,” says Puttenham in his rare work, entitled the
Art of Poesie, cc caused his own hair, and all his courtiers to
be polled, and his beard to be cut short. Before that time, it
was thought to be more decent, both for old men and young, to
be all shaven, and wear long hair, either rounded or square.
Now, again, at this time, (reign of Elizabeth) the young gentle¬
men of the Court have taken up the long hair, trayling on their
shoulders, and think this more decent ; for what respect I would
be glad to know.”

When ladies were accustomed to behold their lovers with
beards, the sight of a shaved chin excited feelings of horror and
aversion ; as much, indeed, as in this less heroic age, would a
gallant, whose luxuriant beard should

“ Stream like a meteor to the troubled air.”

When Louis VII., to obey the injunctions of his bishops,
cropped his hair and shaved his beard, Eleanor, his consort,
found him, with this unusual appearance, very ridiculous, and
soon very contemptible. She revenged herself as she thought

316 Curious Experiments on Animal Ingrafting.

proper, and the poor shaved king obtained a divorce. She then
married the Count of Anjou, afterwards our Henry II. She
had, for her marriage dower, the rich provinces of Poitou and
Guyenne ; and this was the origin of those wars which, for
three hundred years, ravaged France, and cost the French three
millions of men, all which would, probably, never have occurred,
had Louis VII. not been so rash as to crop Ids head and shave
his beard, by which he became so disgustful to the eyes of our
Queen Eleanor.

We cannot, perhaps, sympathize with the feelings of Her
Majesty, though, at Constantinople, she might not have been
considered quite unreasonable. There must be something more
powerful in beards and mustachios than we are quite aware of ;
for, when these were in fashion, with what enthusiasm were
they not contemplated ! When mustachios were in general use,
an author, in his Elements of Education, published in 1640,
thinks, that “ hairy excrement/’ as Armada calls it, in “ Love’s
Labour Lost,” contributed to make men valorous. He says,
“ I have a favourable opinion of that young gentleman, who is
curious in fine mustachios. The time he employs in adjusting,
dressing, and curling them, is no lost time ; for, the more he
contemplates his mustachios, the more his mind will cherish,
and be animated by, masculine and courageous notions.” The
best reason that could be given, for wearing the longest and
largest beard of any Englishman, was that of a worthy clergy¬
man in Elizabeth’s reign, “ that no act of his life might be un¬
worthy of the gravity of his appearance.”

The grandfather of Mrs. Thomas, the Corinna of Cromwell,
the literary friend of Pope, by her account, “ was very nice in
the mode of that age, his valet being some hours every morning
in starching his beard, and curling Ids whiskers, during which
time he was always read to.” Taylor, the water poet, humour¬
ously describes the great variety of beards in his time, which ex¬
tract may be found in Grey’s Hudibras, Vol. I. p. 300. The
beard, says Granger, dwindled gradually under the two Charles’,
till it was reduced to whiskers, and became extinct in the reign
of James II., as if its fatality had been connected with that of
the house of Stuart.

Curious Experiments on Animal Ingrafting. By Dr.

D IEFFENBACK, OF BERLIN.

The satirical humour of Butler threw an air of disbelief over
the operation of ingrafting noses, said to be performed by Talia-
cotius ; but the perseverance of modern experimenters, has esta-

Curious Experiments on Animal Ingrafting. 317

blished the fact beyond all contradiction. It lias been proved,
indeed, not only with regard to noses, but in numerous other
instances; the celebrated John Hunter, for example, ingrafted
the spurs of a young cock upon the comb of another, into which
they grew and remained *. A similar series of experiments, very
curious, if not useful, has lately been performed at Berlin, by
Dr. Dieffenback, who is the most dextrous animal-ingrafter we
have met with in our reading, and gives us some hopes that he
may soon be able to prove experimentally some of the strangest
transformations in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The following spe¬
cimens of his art, we abstract from the German Journal of
Grtife and Von Walther:

Dr. Dieffenback ingrafted the feathers of a black chicken into
the neck, back, and tail of a white pigeon ; while he transferred
the white plumes of the pigeon to the black chicken. He next
took feathers of various sorts, from chickens, pigeons, and spar¬
rows, and dibbled them with a trocar, into the skins of rabbits,
puppies, and kittens, where they took root and grew. He then
dibbled, in the same manner, the long bristles of the whiskers
of cats, &e. into the skin of the stript pigeons, with the same
success. He next cut a bunch of feathers from the back of a
pigeon, within an inch of the skin, pushed a needle down each
stump, till the bird showed symptoms of pain, and on withdraw¬
ing the needle, he pushed the bristles of a kitten’s whiskers into
the hole, where they took root and grew well. Not contented
with this, the learned doctor ingrafted successfully, upon his own
arm, the hairs of a friend’s eyebrow. A claw was next detached
from the toe of a pigeon, and ingrafted upon its tail. This was the
most wonderful experiment of all ; for, though the claw did not
itself take root in the tail, it seems to have deposited there the egg
of a claw; at least, a very line new claw sprouted out from the same
place. Some time afterwards, the feather which had been
plucked out to make room for the claw, grew again ; and an ob
stinate contest between the claw and the feather, took place, for
priority of occupancy, but the feather at last succeeded in expel¬
ling the intruder. The doctor, in his next experiment, scalped
the head of a pigeon, and having cut a flap from the pigeon’s
thigh, he fitted it to the first wound, and sewed the edges toge¬
ther. It united and made an excellent scalp, and was soon
covered with a fine grove of bristles. He next cut off the nose
of a wild rabbit, sewed it on again, and it grew as well as ever.

It is impossible, says our friend Dr Johnson, in his humorous
way, to say what may not be the stupendous results, to which

* Set* Treatise on the Blood. By John Hunter, page 208.
VOL. I*, 2 S

AVh; Remedies.

318

such experiments may lead. We shall expect to see the green
fat of the turtle transplanted to the thorny back of the skate,
and the humble rumps of our barn-door fowls, sending forth
the elegant plumage of the bird of paradise. The scalping
knife of the Indian has lost its terrors. New scalps of any size
or colour, may be readily procured and fitted on, at the nearest
friendly wigwam. By a very trifling operation, also, to which
the ladies will readily submit, Circassian eyebrows, Grecian
noses, and ruby lips, will be as easily and effectually supplied
by the experimental ingrafter, as any article of head-dress by
the milliner.

New Remedies.

In a preceding page, we have mentioned a new remedy for
diminishing or preventing expectoration in consumption, being
much more powerful, as it should seem, in this respect, than the
balsam of Tolu, formerly tried for this purpose. We shall here
mention another remedy for the same complaint, which has
lately been tried to some extent, we mean

Vapour of Tar, for Coughs and Consumption.

By Sir A. Crichton.

Our author, who is no less a personage than physician extra¬
ordinary to the Emperor of all the Russias, does not appear to be
the first who has thought of tar vapour for the cure of consump¬
tion. Mudge, in his work, intitled “ A Radical Cure,” pub¬
lished in 1782, is of opinion, that it is the smell of the tar which
is so efficacious to the consumptive in sea voyages ; and Dr.
Gilchrist, before this period, mentions a case which recovered
under the use of tar pills, and “ the steam of tar dropped upon
hot water.” The following case, published by Dr. Beddoes in
179.5, was cured by similar means: — A young lady labouring
under every symptom of confirmed consumption, and daily sink¬
ing under the disease, happened to be residing at the house of an
eminent tar-merchant, to whom she was related. No remedy
seeming in the least degree efficacious, it wras proposed that she
should walk in one of his warehouses, where a large quantity of
plantation tar was kept. The first time she was introduced into
it, was on a Monday morning, when it was imagined, in conse¬
quence of the warehouse having been shut up since the Saturday
afternoon, the air would be the most fully impregnated with the
effluvia. She walked a considerable time through the different
ranges of barrels, and bore the experiment very well. This
practice was persisted in several mornings with advantage; and
finding the cough and other symptoms gradually decrease, she

New Remedies.

319

persevered till she was restored to perfect health. The cele¬
brated I)r. Rush also says, he has seen the pain in the breast re¬
lieved by the vapour of equal parts of tar, bran, and boiling water,
taken into the lunsrs.

Sir A. Crichton has the merit oi carrying those ideas farther
than had previously been done, and employs a regular apparatus
lor preparing and conveying the tar vapour to the lungs. It is
not, we conceive, necessary lor us to describe his inventions for
this purpose, as the ingenuity of those who wish to try the re¬
medy, will readily suggest the best means within their reach.
A tea-pot, or a kettle with a funnel adapted to it, will answer
every purpose required.

Carbonate oj Iron for Tic Douloureux , or Nerve-ache.

Mr. Hutch in son, of Southwell, Notts, has lately obtained extra¬
ordinary success in the treatment of Tic Douloureux, or Nerve-
ache, one of the most excruciating diseases that afflict humanity,
by giving a regular course of carbonate of iron. The medicine
may be mixed with gruel or panado, or made into pills, or a
bolus with conserve oi orange peel, in the dose of from twenty
or thirty grains to a drachm, twice or three times a-day. This
is a much safer and easier remedy, than the old one of cutting
down upon the nerve and dividing it, frequently at the risk (as in
the case of the late Dr. Pemberton) of aggravating the pain.

It is much in favour of the carbonate of iron, that it has been
no less successful in the hands of others, than of Mr. Hutchin¬
son, a circumstance which (unfortunately) does not always attend
new remedies. In proof of this, we may mention several cases.
Dr. Crawford, of Bath, attended a lady aged 69, whose face had
been affected at intervals, for several years, and the remedy (ar¬
senic) which had at first given relief, ultimately failed. The
carbonate oi iron cured her in three weeks, and she had no re¬
lapse. Di . Davis, of Bath, was equally successful in curing a
lady aged sixty-five, of Tic Douloureux of the face. She took
forty grains night and morning, and was well in a fortnight.
Dr. Borthwick, of George-street, Edinburgh, attended a gentle¬
man aged forty-six, with severe Tic Douloureux of the left side
of the lace. He commenced with half drachm doses of the
carbonate of iron, increasing to a drachm and a half, three times
a day. He was cured in about ten days. Dr. Evans, of Magher-
afelt, Ireland, gives several cases, both male and female, which
he cured with the same remedy; and it has also succeeded with
Mr. I homson, of Sloane-street, Chelsea. In a word, we may
consider that, so far as respectable testimony can go, the remedy
is established.

320

New Remedies.

Uva Ursi in Disorders of the Spleen. By Dr. Vetch.

Some years airo, the various disorders now referred to the
nerves and liver, were ascribed to the spleen, which has lately
fallen into the shade as a seat of disease. The fact is, however,
that the spleen is very frequently alfccted by its fellowship with
the li er, and suffers inflammation, enlargement, &c. Dr. Vetch,
of Charterhouse-square, the able author of a Treatise on the
Eye, and physician to the Royal Infirmary for Children, informs
us, that in enlargement of the spleen, the patient seldom com¬
plains of much pain in the situation where it might be expected ;
his appetite is generally good, yet his powers of assimilation are
obviously deficient ; he loses flesh, and is incapable of any mus¬
cular exertion ; his features have a peculiar dark, bilious, or ma¬
hogany hue, but the white of the eye remains clear and healthy;
perspiration is, in time, wholly suspended, and the skin acquires
the appearance and feel of satin ; the lips are pale, and there is
generally much wasting of the gums ; the urine is clear and
limpid, and produced very rapidly. The patient’s mind is gene¬
rally morose and desponding. An attack of bleeding at the nose,
or the appearance of moisture on the skin, are generally return¬
ing signs of health.

When the symptoms run high, cupping, leeching, or blisters
over the spleen, are useful ; but what Dr. Vetch found of great
benefit as a tonic, was a weak infusion of the leaves of uva ursi,
which has, at the same time, a salutary diuretic power. If the
powder of the leaves be used, Dr. Vetch found it too hitter and
strong for the effect intended. This tonic may be used in other
cases of debility with similar benefit.

White Swelling cured with Iodine Ointment. By M. Zink, of

Lausanne.*

A female child, aged five years, was brought to M. Zink with
a white swelling of the left ancle joint, or rather two swellings,
for there was one on the outside, and another on the inside of
the ancle, quite distinct. The skin was not discoloured, but
white and shining. The doctor, to be certain of the power of
the ointment, applied it only to the swelling on the one side, rub¬
bing it in, as directed by us, page 277 above. In a month, the
swelling, on the side where it was applied, had disappeared. In
three months, the whole swelling was quite cured. Dr. John¬
son, in , relating this case, mentions the case of a young lady,
who had a hard swelling or tumour in her breast, that resisted
every remedy ; but was quite cured by three boxes of the oint¬
ment.

* We take ihis from a paper “ Snr l'Emploi de l’iode en Medicine. Par M.
Z iff*- Journ. Comp. Fev.

321

Hie Manikin Physicians.

Indigestion and Debility cured by Hydrocyanate of Potass.

The powerful influence of the prussic acid, when used as a
tonic in debility, indigestion, and the first stages of consumption,
has induced the French chemists to discover the safest and best
modes of combining it with other chemical substances. The
inquiry has led MM. Robiquet, Ybllerme, and Magendie, to re¬
commend the hydrocyanate of potass, according to the following
form.

Powerful Tonic for the Weak and Nervous.

Take eighteen grains of cyanuret of potassium,
two drachms of distilled water.

This being mixed, will give you the hydrocyanate of potass,
of which take one drachm, and mix with
one ounce of sugar
one tea-spoonful of strong vinegar.

Take a dessert spoonful of this every morning and evening, shaking
the bottle well each time. You may increase the dose to several spoon¬
fuls, as you find it answer. It is also good for allaying pain, the irri¬
tation of coughing, and for washing cancerous sores.

The Manikin Physicians versus Surgeons and Apothe¬
caries.

The little manikins, who clubbed together like so many tailors,
for the purpose of adding, if possible, a cubit to their defi¬
cient statures of mind and body, by tbeir membership in the
mock-dignity “ Society of Physicians,” have now the consola¬
tion — (the most miserable wretch has always some comfort to
cling to) that they will henceforth take a high classical station
beside the frog in Esop’s Fables, celebrated for its abortive at¬
tempts to equal the magnitude of the ox. Their first effort at
overstraining, indeed, had nearly proved fatal to the whole posse;
but, by means of a large dose of mechanic’s pills, turpentine,
and cayenne-pepper poultices, the u ruffle and rampancy,” of
their veins, as Dr. Uwins would say, have survived the stage of
collapse, and they now begin to ruminate on another effort to
stand on tiptoe, and hold their heads as high as their betters.
Mr. Bampfield would teach them a more effectual method of
adding to their stature, by stretching their spines with a wind¬
lass* ; but as Bampfield is a surgeon, he is, of course, too low
and vulgar for their lofty connection, and we must, therefore,
recommend them to Dr. Harrison, who is well known as a first
rate spine-stretcher f. The symptoms of the ruminations and
efforts of the manikins are the following : —

* See Bampfield on the Spine, page 147.
t See Med. and Physical Journal, No. 289, &c.

322 Philosophy of Hearing.

One of their number has had the u rampancy” to publish an
attack on the respectability of the surgical branch of the profes¬
sion, sneering at “ the blood and filth of the dissecting room,”
and at the tradesman and mechanic-like nature of surgery;
while he chuckles with manikin complacency over “ the large
grasp of mind, and philosophical acumen” of the “ real physi¬
cian,” such as himself and his associates. The great eye-sore of
the squad is, that surgeons make more money by u mechanical
dexterity,” than they can do with their “ large grasp of mind,”
which lias often to abandon experiment and discovery for for¬
tune-hunting after old dowagers, or perhaps for forced voyages
to an ungenial clime, and drudgery among “ blood and filth,” like
the despised class of general practitioners. It is well to recol¬
lect such circumstances, and to couple them with the envy which
leers in despair from the foot-way, at the handsome coach of
some surgeon or general practitioner, who is not endowed with
the power of ruminating, nor with the “ large grasp of mind,”
nor with the art of coaxing an old cat-fancier into the bonds of
matrimony, and, for the sake of her cash, becoming her warm¬
ing-pan. The coached-surgeon and the uncoached-physician
cannot, of course, meet in civil consultation on the case of a
patient ; because the surgeon like a tradesman, sends in his bill,
and the physician, like a mendicant, holds out his hand for his
fee.

The second symptom is, that the manikins have actually com¬
menced meeting, (where, is not said) elected members, (who, is
not said), and read papers and letters from members residing in
the country!!! All this looks like determined “ rampancy,”
and wTe put our surgical readers on their guard, lest the flatulent
frogs do blow themselves up to a size, approaching to that of
a goodly ox. We shall watch the progress of the fungus,
and if mechanic’s pills and turpentine fail, we should prescribe
a voyage to Cape Coast, for a crusade against the Bulam fever.

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 5.

Sounds of Insects and Plants.

The sounds produced by insects arc not the least observable
among those which attract our attention in our walks.

Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum,

To him who muses through the woods at noon.

Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclin'd.

Thomson.

Insects, however, have no organs similar to those of the voice
in other animals, that is, they never use their voice for the pur-

Philosophy of Hearing. 323

pose of making sounds. Accordingly, the buz of flies, the hum
of bees, the chirp of crickets, the crink of grasshoppers, the
drone of beetles, the whiz of dragon-flies, the song of the cica-
dae, and the ominous click of the death-watch, are all produced
by the wings, or other parts of the insect, either rapidly beating
the air, or striking against the parts near them, or on wood,
stones, and other sonorous substances. Some of the cicadae have
a finely contrived drum, whose beating, in the Brazils, may be
heard at a mile’s distance.

The variety of sounds produced by plants, are also worthy of
observation. The wind, as St. Pierre remarks, produces a dif¬
ferent sound, according to the form of the leaves. It whistles
in the pine, trembles in the poplar, like the babbling of a brook,
sounds hollow in the oak, in the bamboo like the working of a
ship, and in the cinnamon, when full of pods, like the clack of
a mill.

Mr. White, in his very interesting history of Selborne, men¬
tions a singular sound, which cannot be well referred either to
plants or animals. It is like the loud, audible humming of bees
in the air, though not an insect is to be seen. In walking over
the highest part of the Downs, he says, on a hot summer day,
it would make a person suppose, that a large swarm of bees was
in motion, * and playing about over his head. In wandering
among the Swiss Alps, Saussure says, he was often awakened
from a sublime reverie, by loud sounds similar to thunder, fol¬
lowed by long continued roulemens and echoes. These, proba¬
bly proceed from the falling of fragments of rock, and the des¬
cent of small avalanches, as the humming mentioned by Mr.
White, probably arose either from flights of aerial insects, or
from some electrical or unknown commotion in the atmosphere.

Sounds Inaudible to certain Ears .

With the acuteness and caution which distinguish all his in¬
vestigations, Dr. Wollaston has lately discovered the very singu¬
lar fact, that there are many persons who never felt any defect
in their hearing, and who yet cannot hear certain sounds, which
others perceive distinctly. It is well known, that persons affect¬
ed with slight deafness, hear sharp sounds much better than
those which are grave and low. They distinguish the voices of
women and children, from their acuteness, much better than the
lower tones of men’s voices. This fact is acted upon practically,
as it may be remarked that those accustomed to speak to deaf
people, use a shriller tone of voice, rather than merely a louder
tone than common.

32 4

Philosophy of Hearing.

This partial deafness maybe artificially produced, by shutting
the mouth and nose, and exhausting the air in the Eustachian
tube, by forcible attempts to take breath, in expanding the chest.
When this is carefully done, so that the exhaustion of the air
behind the drum of the ear, is as complete as possible, the ex¬
ternal air is felt strongly, and even painfully, pressing on the
drum ; and the ear becomes insensible to low sounds, though
shrill sounds are as readily perceived as before.

After the ear is brought into this state, it will remain so for
some time, without continuing the painful effort to take breath,
and even without stopping the breath, for, by suddenly disconti¬
nuing the effort, the end of the tube will close like a valve,
and prevent the air from getting into the drum. The act of
swallowing will open the closed tube, and restore the ear to its
wonted feeling.

When the ear is thus exhausted, if we attempt to listen to the
sound of a carriage passing in the street, the rumbling noise
cannot be heard, though the rattle of a chain or a loose screw,
remains as easily heard as before. At a concert, the experiment
has a singular effect. As none of the sharper sounds are lost,
and the great mass of the louder sounds are suppressed, the
shriller ones are so much the more distinctly heard, even to the
rattling of the keys of a bad instrument, or the scraping of cat¬
gut, unskilfully touched.

In the natural healthy state of the ear, there does not seem to
be any strict limit to our power of perceiving grave sounds. On
the contrary, if we turn our attention to the opposite extremity
of the scale, and, with a series of pipes exceeding each other in
sharpness, if we examine the effects of them, in succession, upon
the ears of any considerable number of persons, wTe shall find a
very distinct and striking difference between the hearing of dif¬
ferent individuals, whose ears are, in other respects, perfect.

The suddenness of the transition from perfect hearing to total
want of perception, occasions a degree of surprise, which ren¬
ders an experiment on this subject, with a series of small pipes,
among several persons, rather amusing. Those who enjoy a
temporary triumph, from hearing notes inaudible to others, are
often compelled, in their turn, to acknowledge how short a dis¬
tance their superiority extends.

Dr. Wollaston found, that one of his friends was quite insen¬
sible to the sound of a small organ-pipe, which was far within
the limits of his own hearing. He also remembers a relation to
have said, that she never could hear the chirping of the hedge-
cricket.

April Diseases.

325

Diseases of April, and the Means of Escaping them,

— Winking marybuds begin
- To ope their golden eyes ;

And every thing that pretty bin,

My Lady, sweet, arise. Shakspeare..

April is the moist and budding month, nourished with alter¬
nate rains and sunshine, and the season of increased life to the
young, and of renewed vigour to the old or feeble. Nature, as
Leigh Hunt observes, after the less unequivocal rigour of Win¬
ter, seems to take delight in rendering herself more evident in
these operations than in any other. Winter rains and Summer
suns, may appear to the superficial observer, to bring him no¬
thing but cold and heat ; but the watering the vegetation with
light showers, then warming it, and then watering it again —
seem to show to our very eyes, her “ own sweet hand” divested
of its “ cunning.” She dresses her plants visibly like a lady at
her window. This is, indeed, the spring and youthfulness of
the year. March was like an honest blustering servant, bring¬
ing home buds and flowers for his young mistress; the chaste
snow-drop, the rath primrose, the little yellow celandine, and
“violets dim taking the winds of Spring with beauty.” To these
she adds of her own rearing, columbines, jonquils, lilies of the
valley, and lady-smocks, (e all silver white.”

If the season is fine, all nature seems full of life and joy; and
on a sunny holiday, every individual appears desirous of show¬
ing a degree of gladness above his fellows. Girls prankt in
their finest dresses, youths and old men look as if they should
never tire of skipping along the green fields, and enjoying the
warm sunshine, as it falls with Summer beauty on the early
flowers. The restless spirit of frolic which chases the lambs in
the meadow, and sports with the insects that dance in the even¬
ing air, comes now abroad to revive the youth of the aged, and
to laugh away sorrow from the young.

April, however, is proverbial for its fickleness. All its pro¬
mises, may sometimes be retarded — sometimes blighted by the
return of frosty winds; and the very revival of increased life
and vigour may become the source of dangerous or fatal inflam¬
matory disorders. This is, perhaps, even a more trying month
than March, for the consumptive, and for children with measles
or hooping cough. The utmost attention will, therefore, be re¬
quired to. the rules which we have so often laid down for the
successful treatment of these complaints. Among other com¬
plaints prevalent at this season, particularly in the case of those
who frequent drinking parties, or are involved in all the dissi¬
pation of a town life, we shall here take particular notice of

VOL. u. 2 T

m

April Diseases.

Acute Inflammation of the Liver.

This disease confines itself chiefly to those who arc of a full
habit of body, after an imprudent exposure to cold has checked
the perspiration, and consequently obstructed through the influ¬
ence of companionship, the manufacture of the bile. The same
may occur from gormandizing or drinking unscientifically, from
sexual indulgence, or from any of the other causes which we
have so often mentioned as influencing the liver. It usually
commences with depression of mind, disturbed sleep, frightful
dreams, and irritation of temper, succeeded by cold shiverings,
dull wearied pain in the small of the back, and frequently head¬
ache, giddiness, and stiffness of the eyes. These cold shiver¬
ings are succeeded by disagreeably hot flushings, the tongue
dry, white and furred, and the mouth clammy, attended with
great thirst and a dry skin. The breathing and the pulse are
quickened and irregular, and there is general weakness, loss of
strength, and uneasiness all over the body: the breath may be
observed to be offensive and very hot. Under the margin of
the ribs, on the right side where the liver lies, there is tension
and a sharp pain, usually increased on pressure ; but never
going off like the pain from flatulence, and often shooting back¬
wards to the spine., and upwards to the shoulder blade and col¬
lar bone, and rendering it uneasy or painful for the patient to
lie on the left side. Restlessness, low spirits, excessive irrita¬
bility, and disinclination to motion or exertion, are strongly
marked in this case. There is also an aversion to bend the
body forward, and pain in the liver is felt when the patient
stumbles or makes a false step. Yawning, drowsiness, biccup,
and vomiting, are often distressing symptoms. Jaundice, with
great costiveness, and high coloured urine in small quantity, is
occasionally present. Dr. Johnson mentions a heat or scalding
in making water, occasioned by the acridness of the bilious urine,
which deposits a pink sediment. There is always more or less
sallowness of the skin, and often a yellowish discoloration of the
white of the eyes*. Sometimes, instead of being costive, the
bowels are loose, bordering on flux. This is almost uniformly
the case in hot climates. Cough is generally troublesome, hut
Dr. Pemberton f acutely remarks, that he never knew cough
take place till after the pain had seized the patient at least forty-
eight hours, after which period it is almost a constant symptom,
and is loose or dry, according as the disorder has extended its

* It is important to state that the yellowness of the skin and eyes, the pale stools
and high coloured urine, may arise from the pressure on an enlarged sweet-bread;
incases of pregnancy , &e. when the liver is not inflamed. — Dr, Latham.

t See Pemberton on the Abdominal Viscera, p. 20.

327

Jprii Diseases.

influence to the lungs, or the contrary. The dry cough is the
most common. It may be proper to mention, that when the
substance of the liver or its lower and concave part is inflamed,
the pain is more dull, and the other symptoms less severe than
when the covering membrane is affected.

Inflammation of the liver may be distinguished from pleurisy;
according to Dr. Baillie, that in pleurisy there will be no pain
on pressure with the fingers under the margin of the ribs*; and
according to Dr. Pemberton, arguing from the same principle,
that in pleurisy, when the patient gradually draws in a deep
breath, it both increases the pain and causes cough, while, in in¬
flammation ot the liver, though it may sometimes increase the
pain, it does not produce cough. If a cough be present, it will
have either gone before or come on with the attack if the disease
be pleurisy, and not followed some days after the pain. In in¬
flammation ot the stomach, the fever is low and nervous, and
there is great irritability and burning pain of the stomach, which
are not present in affections of the liver. In spasm of the gall-
ducts there is nausea, profuse perspiration, remitting pain, and
desire to bend the body forward on the knees, and often a high
fever, which are never observed in inflamed liver f. In the ad¬
vanced stages it is readily distinguished from consumption of
the lungs, by the depression of the spirits and despondency,
which are never present in real declines.

Tests of Danger and usual Termination.

It is seldom so fatal in this country as in India, and sudden
death is not uncommon from it. When the symptoms are most
acute and severe, it is in general most manageable, and of
shortest duration if properly managed at its first appearance ; in
which case the favourable result will appear from the pain and
feverishness gradually abating and going off in about eight or
ten days; but the best sign of recovery is, that the skin begins
to feel moist and comfortable, and the patient does not appear
materially exhausted in his strength from the remedies em¬
ployed J. If the patient again is much reduced in strength by
the remedies, while the pain and fever do not abate; or if, when
the pain abates, the pulse increases in frequency and becomes
softer, with frequent chills and shivering all over the body, and
melting sweats breaking out upon the face, followed by a sensa¬
tion as if a heavy substance had been added to the liver _ all

these arc \cry unfavourable, and indicate suppuration and the
foiming ot an abscess, or gathering , as it is popularly called.
1 he only chance of lecovery in this case is when the abscess
points externally by bulging out the ribs, or the appearance of

hiiillie s Morbid Anatomy, Chap. IX. Symptoms.
+ Pemberton on the Abdominal Viscera, p. 21.

f Pemberton, p. 25.

328

April Diseases.

a tumour, in which case the cough and difficulty of breathing
will be increased. In this case the surgeon will open the part,
if he can feel an evident fluctuation, in order to discharge the
matter, and the patient may recover if it be opened in time ;
but it much more commonly bursts into the lungs and destroys
life instantly, or filters gradually into them, and is spit up for
many days, and wastes the strength of the patient, till he sinks
and dies. Sometimes the matter bursts into the bile ducts, or
into the stomach, or intestines, and is discharged by stool a few
hours before death. Sometimes mortification of the liver comes
on, accompanied with cessation of the pain, great loss of
strength, cold extremities, convulsions, and death. It is also
favourable, if the disease has come on suddenly, without pre¬
vious illness in a healthy patient, and if the blood taken coagu¬
late in a firm, opaque mass. It is unfavourable, if it have crept
on gradually in an emaciated person, and the coagulated part of
the blood taken be jelly-like, semi-transparent, and greenish *.
Sometimes the inflammation terminates in hard cancer, which
the doctors cull scirrkus , and when it does so, the hardness can
be felt externally. Dropsy, or swelling of the legs, occurring
during the disease, is always considered extremely dangerous
and hopeless.

Treatment and Remedies.

The sheet anchor of hope, at the commencement of inflam¬
mation of the liver, as of all other acute inflammations, is co¬
pious bleeding, which ought to be done on the instant, or at
least before the fifth day, and repeated as often as the severity of
the symptoms indicates. Sixteen ounces of blood should be
taken from the arm of a grown person, (the larger the lancet
wound, the greater the benefit,) and as much from the liver itself
by two dozen leeches, or still better by cupping; and if these do
not relieve the pain, they must be repeated twelve hours after.
Immediately upon the bleeding, a large blister should be placed
over the liver, in order to draw off the inflammation to the sur¬
face ; and to make another diversion in favour of the assailed
liver, by drawing off some matter by the bowels, it will be good
generalship to give

Dr. Pemberton’s Draught for Inflammations.

Take ten drachms of infusion of senna,

three drachms of sulphate of magnesia,
one drachm of tincture of senna,
same quantity of syrup of mulberries.

Mix for a purgative draught ; to be repeated every four hours, till
it operate.

#

1* ember ton, page 34.

Loss of Appetite, with Remedies . 32!)

If the patient object to a draught, and can take pills better,
we recommend

Sir Astley Cooper’s Pills for the Bilious.

Take five grains of sub>-muriate of mercury,
ten grains of cathartic extract,
a sufficient quantity of syrup of buckthorn.

Make into a mass, and divide into three pills j the whole to be taken
for a dose.

When the stomach or the bowels are very irritable, and flux
apt to arise, it may be advisable, if the pain has distinctly sub¬
sided, to give

Dr. Johnson’s Soothing Pill.

Take eighteen grains of submuriate of mercury,
three grains of extract of white poppy,
a sufficient quantity of syrup of buckthorn.

Make into a mass, and divide into six pills j one for a dose. This
will ease the cough.

It will also be of advantage, after the pain has abated, to ruj)
in over the liver every night a drachm of strong mercurial oint¬
ment, taking care to stop it the moment it appears to re-produce
the pain and the fever ; but if the pain gradually goes off, it
ought to be continued till the mouth becomes a little sore, and
then be left off by degrees, rubbing in at first every other night,
and then twice or once a week. The treatment during reco¬
very will be by the rules of Training adapted for the Bilious, as
given in a preceding page. Should suppuration take place, and
an abscess be formed, nourishing diet, as in Training for the
Consumptive*, and the treatment which we have recommended
for Consumption will be proper, with cooling mixtures. The
suppuration of the abscess may be promoted by warm fomenta¬
tions of flannel wrung out of hot water, and by softening poul¬
tices.

Loss of Appetite, with Remedies.

Some elderly people, and even the young who are feeble, or
are affected with premature old age, are liable to lose all relish
for particular sorts of diet, such as animal food, &c., which is
probably owing to a deficiency of the gastric fluid in the stomach.
Elderly people, however, will go on for years pretty comfortably
without animal food ; but the young, who have lost their appe¬
tites from imprudence, soon sink when their digestion becomes
so far impaired. Want of appetite is sometimes produced by

*

See Oracle, Vol. II. §>. 151).

330

Professor Duncan on Fisk.

the putrid matter from decaying teeth, being perpetually mixed
with the saliva, and carried into the stomach. In this case we
should recommend the mouth to be washed frequently during
the day with alum water, or with water mixed with finely pow¬
dered charcoal.

All the strength which we possess, being always derived from
the food which we are able to digest ; it follows that a total de¬
bility of the system must sooner or later follow the want of ap¬
petite, and of the power of digestion. We have remarked that
young ladies are often liable to fall into this general debility,
so as but just to be able to walk about; and we have some¬
times ascribed this to their voluntary fasting, when they ima¬
gined themselves too plump ; and thus have they lost both
their health and beauty, by too great abstinence, often beyond
the power of medicine to restore. Sometimes this terminates

in epilepsy. Miss B - , a girl about eighteen, and rather

plump, and apparently healthy, was seized with fits, which were
at first thought hysterical, and returned very frequently with
total loss of appetite. She obtained some relief from bleeding,
blistering, and opiates, but her strength diminished, and after
some returns of the fits she took to her bed, and has lived fifteen
or twenty years, and has generally eaten half a potatoe a day,
and seldom speaks, though she retains her senses.

In loss of appetite from ruined constitution, or the approach
of old age, one of the best things for sharpening the appetite is
to take elixir of vitriol in water for the usual drink ; or,

Dr. Darwin’s Pills for Want of Appetite,

Take sixty grains of thickened ox-gall,
ten grains of conserve of roses.

Mix, and divide into twelve pills, four of which may be taken half
an hour before dinner and supper.

On Fish. By Professor Andrew Duncan, Jun. M.D., &c.

of Edinburgh.

In some places, fish constitutes the sole or chief food of the
people, hence called Ichthyophagi, and almost every where it is
in request. In Siberia, fish is used instead of bread. The
Laplanders make a bread of fish bones, and the Negroes of the
West Coast of Africa dry a species of sprat, and beat it in
wooden mortars to a paste, which keeps all the year, and is eaten
with rice or corn. Putrid fish is even the favourite, and ordi¬
nary food of some tribes. Fish, however, is not so universally
a safe aliment as the flesh of quadrupeds or fowls ; for although
no species is generally unwholesome, yet, in some situations,

Professor Duncan on Fish .

.333

individuals of many different species are absolutely poisonous,
while others of the same species, and not to be distinguished by
any certain external characters, at the same place and in the
same season, are innocent and nutritious, which render the eat¬
ing of fish in such countries not free of danger.

Poisonous Fish.

The subject of poisonous fishes is still involved in great ob¬
scurity, although so important to those exposed to suffer from
them. It is not peculiar to any genus, species, or distinct vari¬
ety, but occurs in individuals only, and those of several genera
of very different classes. Except the Boymarus Islandicus,
which is reputed poisonous by the Icelanders, because the crows
refuse to eat it, poisonous fish occur only in the tropical seas.
It is only at certain seasons, however, that any poisonous fish
occur; as in the Caribbean Sea, in May, June, and July, after
having spawned. Their deleterious effects are ascribed by some to
the fish feeding on poisonous substances, as on copper banks,
medusae, and holothuriae, or on the manchineel apple. The poi¬
son is supposed to exist in the gall; and it is said, that if the
peritoneum and all the entrails be speedily and dexterously re¬
moved, the fish may always be eaten without danger. A fish is
suspected when it is unusually large in size, or is destitute of
the natural fishy smell, or has black teeth ; or when silver or
an onion boiled along with it becomes black. But all these
tests are uncertain. The poisonous quality is also said to
be destroyed by salting the fish, or drinking along with it
sea-water, or the ripe juice of the lime, sugar-cane, or sweet
potatoe.

Some ancient, as well as modern, naturalists and physicians,
consider the roe of the barbel as unwholesome when eaten ;
others think it is hurtful only at certain seasons, to certain indi¬
viduals, and when eaten in excess; and lastly, some declare the
whole allegations to be erroneous and unfounded. Bloch, the
great ichthyologist, and Bose, both assert that they and others
have eaten it without inconvenience. But Dr. Crevelt, of
Bonn, has published cases which leave little doubt, that, in
some instances, the roe is actually injurious, although the fish
of the same individual was eaten with impunity.

The ancients had many prejudices in regard to the whole¬
someness or unwholesomeness of certain fishes. The Egyp¬
tian priests were forbidden to eat fish of any kind, under the
idea that it increased the sexual appetite, or that it was the
cause of leprosy. For the latter reason, the people were forbid
to eat any fish not covered with scales. Moses adopted the
same principle : c< Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the

332

Professor Duncan on Fish.

waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.”
“ Whatsoever hath no fins or scales in the waters, that shall be
an abomination unto you.” ( Levit . xi. ver. 9, 12.) Numa made
a law for the Romans, much to the same effect ; but it did not
continue in force, as we find the lamprey and sturgeon, among
the luxuries of the Emperors ; and such fish now form the chief
support of the people in some districts, without being followed
by any bad effects.

Fishes, however, present an infinite variety in regard to their
fitness as articles of food, in the colour and texture of their
muscles, and in being more or less gelatinous, fibrous, or oily.
The muscles of many fish, with the exception of the heart, are
quite white; and, in general, when the fish is good, they become
opake when cooked. When they remain semi-transparent and
bluish, after sufficient boiling, they are not in season. Of some
fishes, the muscles are a pale red, at certain seasons, and the
higher the colour of these, the more they are esteemed. Of
most fishes, the muscles are disposed in flakes; and, when in
perfection, there is, when cooked, a layer of white curdy matter
between them, resembling coagulated albumen. Some other
fishes, chiefly those that are flat or eel-shaped, or without scales,
have a fibrous flesh not divisable into flakes. The liver of the
fish tribe abounds in oil, and of many species, the fish is mixed
or covered with oil or fat, as the eel and salmon ; but of many
others, the fish seems to be totally free from it, as in all the va¬
rieties of the cod, haddock, whiting, and the flat fish.

Almost every soft part of fishes is nutritious, and occasion¬
ally eaten. The great bulk of the animal consists of the muscles
of voluntary motion, covering the spine and its appendages.
Butrof some fishes, as turbot, ling, &c. the pulpy gelatinous
skin is esteemed. Cod sounds are the swimming bladders of
the large cod; and they are preserved separately, and transmit¬
ted to the Capital, for the gratification of our epicures. In the
fresh fish, the tongue, palate, and lips, although too soft for
most people, are preferred by some. The roe of most fishes is
eaten, and that of some, constitutes a principal article of national
food. Caviare is the preserved roe of the sturgeon. The melt
or soft roe of the herring is eaten by many. The liver of the
turbot is very large, and is much esteemed. The enormous vas
deferens of the male cod, fried, is one of the best garnishes for
that fish ; and some of the smaller and more delicate fishes are
eaten whole with the exception of the head.

Seasons of Fish.

The season of the year has the most marked effect upon the
quality ol fish, as connected with their spawning. In general

Professor Duncan on Fish.

333

fish of every kind, are best some time before they begin to
spawn, and are unfit for food for some time after they have
spawned. This, however, is not sufficient to prevent those who
have an easy opportunity of catching and eating fish in this
state, and the Legislature has found it necessary to fix the pe¬
riods during which salmon fishing is legal. When the salmon
is in the sea, and about to enter the rivers for the purpose of
spawning, it is infested with a parasitical insect, which adheres
to every part of the body, and dies and drops off a short time
after the fish has been in fresh water. In this state it is in the
highest perfection, the flesh is firm, red, and delicious, and the
form elegant, and the colours beautiful. On first entering the
river, the silvery colour of the sides is very slightly marked with
spots ; but when it has remained long in fresh water, this colour
decays, and the spots become much larger, darker coloured, and
more obvious. At the time of spawning, the sides of the fish
get of a very red colour, and when the spawning is over, the
white colour entirely disappears, the belly becomes livid, and
the sides are streaked all over with a sooty or black colour ;
and in this state, the salmon are termed, in Acts of Parliament,
red and black fish. The rays of their fins are all at this time
jagged or torn, a great part of their scales rubbed off, and their
gills infested with parasitical worms. In Ireland, where great
freedom is used in destroying salmon, during and after the
spawning season, the eating of fish at that time has been often,
in many places, found to be productive of much disease and
mortality ; and the same is probably sometimes the case in
Scotland, although not so much observed as to be generally
known. Other fish, besides salmon, are probably unwholesome
after spawning ; but they are seldom caught in that state.
Young fish, not come to the age of spawning, are in season all
the year.

Crimping of Fish.

To improve the quality of fish, they are sometimes subjected
to the process called crimping. It has been examined by
Sir A. Carlisle, to whom we are indebted for the following
facts : — “ Whenever the rigid contractions of death have not
taken place, this process may be practised with success. The
sea fish destined for crimping are usually struck on the head
when caught, which it is said protracts the term of this capabi¬
lity, and the muscles which retain this property longest are
those about the head. Manv transverse sections of the muscles

j

being made, and the fish immersed in cold water, the con¬
tractions called crimping take place, in about five minutes; but
if the mass be large, it often requires thirty minutes to complete

VOL. 11, 2 u

^34 White (' Lathes warmer than Black.

the process.” The crimping of fresh water fish is said to re¬
quire hard water, and the London fishmongers usually employ
it. Sir A. Carlisle found, that, by being crimped, the muscles
subjected to that process have both their absolute weight and
their specific gravity increased ; so that it appears that water is
absorbed, and condensation takes place. It was also observed
that the effect was greater in proportion to the liveliness of the
fish. From these observations, it appears that the object of
crimping is first to retard the natural stiffening of the muscles,
and then, by the sudden application of cold water, to excite it
in the greatest possible degree, by which means it both acquires
the desired firmness and keeps longer. We may also here
observe, that rigidity is a certain mark that the fish is perfectly
fresh, and has not begun to spoil.

Castration, or Spaying of Fish.

This operation was first performed by Mr. Tull, of Edmon¬
ton, who seems to have been a fishmonger. The earliest notice
of his discovery, is in the History of the Royal Academy of Sci¬
ences of Paris, for 1742. Mr. Tull’s first object was to prevent
the excessive increase of fish in some of his ponds, where the
numbers did not permit any of them to grow to an advanta¬
geous size. But, from castration, the increase was not only pre¬
vented, but the castrated fish grew much larger than their usual
size, were more fat, and, what was no trifling consideration,
were always in season. The operation was performed by mak¬
ing a cut from between the two fore fins to the fundament or
anus, laying aside the intestines, first on one side, and then on
the other, and dividing transversely the oviduct, or vas deferens.
The wound was then stitched up ; and without farther atten¬
tion, few fish died of the operation. It is most easily per¬
formed in May, when the ovaries and spermatic vessels are full.
In France, the Baron de la Tour operated so successfully, that
out of two hundred carp, he did not lose four. It was also tried
in Germany, and it was observed that those fish castrated in
Spring, were in Autumn still smaller than others; but that in
the following Spring, they were large and fat ; but some people
thought not so well tasted *.

White Clothes Warmer than Black.

It has been believed, ever since the experiments of Sir Isaac
Newton, in analyzing light and colours, that black must be
warmer than white stuffs of the same thickness and texture ;
because black absorbs all the light which falls upon it, while

* S<*<* Krnnitz Oekonnmisch-technicolo^ischc Encyrlopedie, Berlin, 1786.

335

Death , in Consequence of a Sn atch.

white reflects it all ; and it was inferred, of course, that black is
the best colour to wear in cold weather, when the body is ex¬
posed to be robbed of its electricity — the grand cordial of the
spirits, without which we must submit to moping melancholy
and blue devils, as we have fully proved at page 128, Vol. I.

An ingenious French physician, M. David, has carried his
inquiries into the effects of other colours of dress in preserving
or dissipating the heat of the body, and published the results in
the Reports of the Medical Society of Emulation. He concludes,
in direct opposition to the generally received opinion of philo¬
sophers, that black clothes are the coldest, and white the
warmest, a doctrine which has long been the established creed
of our peasants, whose experience, it turns" out, has been more
correct than the Newtonian experiments.

M. David’s arguments are quite conclusive ; and as they were
supported by direct experiment, we must conclude that he is
right. It appears obvious enough, indeed, on reflection, that if
black absorb all the light and heat which falls upon it, that it
will have little power of retaining it, and if the body accordingly
be warmer than the air, black clothes will readily absorb its heat
and dissipate it. White, on the other hand, from reflecting all the
light and heat which fall upon it, will not readily allow the escape
of heat from the body, and as it is a standing maxim of economy,
that to save is to gain, white clothes must be warmer than black.
After this notice, none of our readers will, we think, adhere to
the old doctrine ; for M. David proved the fact beyond dispute
bv accurate examination with the thermometer.

M. David turned his attention to the examination of other
colours of dress, and by repeated trials he established the fol¬
lowing results, which agree exactly with the experiments of
Herschel, on the calorific rays. The absorbing powers, and
consequently the effects of various colours in transmitting heat,
are in these proportions : — Violet, 7 j Indigo, 12 ; Blue, 16 ;
Green, 22 ; Yellow, 32 ; Orange, \ 1 ; Red, 55 parts in a
hundred *.

Death, in Consequence of a Scratch.

How frail is human nature ! A bruise of the toe, or a needle-
prick of the finger may, and frequently does, produce fatal lock¬
jaw ; and a scratch near any of the larger joints has been
often known to lead to incurable white-swelling. A scratch, also,
from a cat, if she be much irritated and angry, has been known,

f)e I’ Influence de la Couleur dcs V6t«mens sur la Temperature du Corps de
I 'Homme. Par M. David, M.D.

336

Scurvy, aud its Treatment.

more than once, to produce hydrophobia, as severe as the bite of
a mad-dog. The following is a recent case of a rather different,
but no less melancholy kind, by Mr. Anderson, of Fleet-street.

Mrs. C., aged forty, of strong and healthy constitution, had
scratched her finger slightly while in the daily practice of
dressing a sore in the neck of one of her children. She soon
began to complain of pain and tenderness in the joint of the
right middle finger nearest the scratch, and the finger swelled
and inflamed. In spite of sugar of lead water, which at first
relieved the pain and swelling, the diseased finger affected the
shoulder by sympathy, or what we call companionship, and the
pain extending to the ear, she became feverish, and subsequently
delirious. Dr. Babington, who was called in, recommended
Mr. Travers to be sent for, who opened the joint of the finger
where the disorder had commenced, and a small quantity of
matter was discharged from under the tendon. But in spite of
the best advice, and the most active treatment, she could procure
no sleep, had incessant delirium, and becoming gradually
weaker, she died in about three weeks from her first complain¬
ing. After death, a collection of matter was found deep in the
wrist.

The servant also, who had dressed Mrs. C’s hand, was at¬
tacked with violent inflammation and swelling of the hands and
fingers, which afterwards extended to the arm ; and her health
suffered so severely that her life was considered in danger.

Too much caution cannot be taken in similar cases, and we
hope that our readers will be on their guard even in the case of
pricks and scratches, which though they may appear trifling,
may produce the most serious effects.

Scurvy, and its Treatment.

The word scurvy, has of late years been scouted by the
doctors, who never use it at present except when they are at sea.
The reason of this is, that the word had become a standingjoke
among the people; for when an apothecary sent in to a patient
two or three gallons of draughts, and as many pounds of oint¬
ment, with a bill to match, of some yards in length — it was
usual (and very properly we think) to say that he had done a
.scurvy trick, and was a scurvy fellow. This sounded so very
harshly to their Drugships, the worshipful Company of Apothe¬
caries, that it was resolved to lay aside the term scurvy for the
more genteel words, eruption, cutaneous affection, and the like,
which could not, they imagined, be scurvily joined in any way
with the sacred titles of doctor or surgeon. So the matter

337

Scurvy, and its Treatment.

stands. But the people have not yet laid aside the word, nor
seem inclined to do so ; and the quacks, who care not what
you call them, so that you give them money, still continue to
poach about as scurvy doctors, and find the disease as prevalent
as worms, bile, or any other disorder.

As we do not consider ourselves at all bound by the paction of
the doctors, to send the word scurvy to sea, as we would do an
unmanageable lad, and as we are certain that the disease
abounds in the country, we shall endeavour to tell you all that
we consider useful to know concerning it.

Causes of Scurvy.

It is always important to know the cause of a disease, as you
may, by this means, not only remove it, but may, by avoiding
it, prevent a relapse after you are cured. Scurvy then, is uni¬
formly caused by whatever tends to weaken the body; such as
damp or cold, which prevents healthy perspiration ; salted or
smoked provisions, which contain little nourishment, and what
they do contain being bad ; and bad air, and want of exercise
and cleanliness, which also operate in preventing healthy per¬
spiration. Too much animal food of any kind, without a due
proportion of vegetable food, has also a strong tendency to
generate scurvy, showing that we are not destined by nature to
live on food wholly animal, but must, while we eat, according
to scripture permission, of every clean beast; we must also eat
of the fruits and herbs of the field, of milk, honey, and wine.
Much want of sleep, fear, grief, or longing for home, were like¬
wise found by Capt. Cook to produce scurvy ; for the same
reason, namely, that it weakened the body, and of course de¬
ranged the health. You will easily discover how scurvy so
often shows itself upon the skin ; if you reflect, that the perspi¬
ration which should escape is confined, in consequence of the
vessels being too weak and exhausted to push it outwards, and
of course it corrupts, and appears in the form of blotches,
ulcers, scabs, &c.

Symptoms and Cure of Scurvy.

The first intimation of scurvy, is a kind of disagreeable
weight or heaviness, arising from the confinement of the cor¬
rupted matter, and causing a disinclination to walk or move, and
a feeling of weariness, though you have done nothing to cause
it. The same corrupted matter falls upon the lungs, and not
only oppresses your breathing, but infects the breath with a
disagreeable smell. These symptoms, if not removed by clear¬
ing the skin and lungs of this corrupted matter, will go on till
your skin is more or less affected, cither with hot flushes or un-

338 Scurvy, and it* Treatment .

usual paleness, or breaks out into pimples, dry scales, blotches,
or sores. The pimples appear particularly on the face and
neck, and the other affections on the hands, arms, and legs,
though they may attack any part of the body. The head often
becomes unusually itchy, without any evident cause ; this is
produced by the irritation of the corrupted matter under the
skin.

The first thing necessary for the cure, is to carry off the
stagnant corrupted matter; and you cannot, in that case, do
better than take a few doses of Sir Astley Cooper’s pills, page
32t), above; or you may try the following

Cooling Purgative for the Blood.

Dissolve two drachms of Epsom salts in

A

two ounces of senna tea, add
ten drops of laudanum, and

Mix with a little sugar, honey, or molasses. To he taken and
repeated every morning, an hour before breakfast, till effectual.

When you have got clear of the weariness and heaviness, by
the removal of the corrupted matter, you must then take to
nourishing diet, such as good beef steaks, or mutton chops,
without fat, and plenty of fresh vegetables and salads, particu¬
larly cresses, mustard, and lettuce. If the ulcers, pimples, or
blotches, still continue troublesome, you may anoint the parts
every night, with the following

Scorbutic Ointment.

Dissolve one ounce of pure quicksilver, in

two ounces of nitric acid; then melt
four ounces of purified lard in
twelve ounces of olive oil, and

When nearly cold, mix the whole in a glass mortar, with an ivory or
bone knife.

You may procure this ointment ready made at the chemists,
under the name of the Nitrated Ointment of Quicksilver. It
will improve it, if you add to it, before using, an equal quantity
of spermaceti ointment. You must not touch the ointment with
any thing made of metal, or you will spoil it.

Besides the scurvy now described, arising from low diet, cold,
damp, and other things which weaken and reduce the consti¬
tution, there are several sorts of scurvy produced by things
which only fret the skin. The outer skin of the human body is
very fine and thin, and of course easily fretted and destroyed.
This outer skin has no more feeling than the nails or the hair,
and it therefore serves to protect the inner skin, which is highly
sensible, from external injury and irritation. This being the

Adulteration of Syrup of Buckthorn. .339

case, it follows, that if you expose the outer skin to substances
that will now and again fret and ruffle it, you will produce a
disease in the inner sensitive skin ; such, for example, as the

Sugar Scurvy of Grocers.

If you eat a portion of sugar by itself, you may observe that it
produces a kind of smarting roughness in the back part of the
mouth, and top of the throat. This is in consequence of its
action on the skin, which it frets and ruffles by the sharp
corners of the little shining particles you see in the sugar.
Now these same little needlepoints, if we may call them so, act
in the very same way on the hands of grocers, who are obliged to
handle sugars, as they do upon the skin of the mouth and
throat, and produce a kind of scurvy, which is very difficult to
cure. It is sometimes scaly and dry, and at other times rising
into little watery pimples, intolerably itchy and painful, which
end in sores, that often baffle the best remedies. It is some¬
times called the grocer’s itch ; but it is not catching like the
common itch, and is only produced by the sugar fretting the skin.

Remedies,.

Here we are at a great loss, for the remedies useful in the
common scurvy, and the common itch, for the most part do
harm. Sulphur ointment, citron ointment, sugar of lead water,
mercury, purgatives, & c., always prove injurious, and aggravate
the complaint. When the itching and pain are intolerable,
the best things to relieve them are a little fresh cream, or milk
and water, rather less than skin warm, the steam of hot
camomile tea, or a wash made by the decoction of bran. The
cure has sometimes been effected by sea-bathing, though in
other cases this also has proved injurious. It is obvious that it
cannot be cured while the cause continues, and the person who
has had the misfortune to be attacked with this distressing and
inveterate complaint, must either avoid handling sugar, or
protect his hands from it by gloves. For an account of the
Soap Scurvy, see Oracle , Vol. I. page 201.

Adulteration of Syrup of Buckthorn. By Professor

Hamilton, of Edinburgh.

Professor Hamilton, of Edinburgh, so well and deservedly
known for his very useful family work on the Management of
Infants, was placed, he informs us, by his father in a retail shop,
for the purpose of becoming acquainted with drugs — where, also,
he was instructed in many of the regular tricks of the trade.
Among others, we shall here mention his account of the prepa-

."540 Diseases Cured by Mus*ic.

ration of syrup of buckthorn ; which, though seldom used by
professional men, except as a horse medicine, is often given by
mothers to their children. As the buckthorn is but rarely met
with in Scotland, at least north of Dumfries, the berries cannot
be procured in quantity to make the syrup ; but apothecaries
being seldom at a loss for an expedient, make very good syrup
of buckthorn with treacle and aloes! It is fortunate, however,
for the purchasers of this adulterated syrup, that it is perhaps
even superior, as a purgative, to the genuine, which is apt to
cause great nausea, sickness, and griping. We cannot, indeed,
recommend either to be given to infants or children, unless
under very urgent circumstances of costiveness, &c., and by
good professional advice. In England, buckthorn grows com¬
mon in Shropshire and about Norwich.

Diseases Cured by Music.

Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney, in a very singular concern of his,
which he calls Lectures on Chemistry, delivered at several of
the Institutions in London, proposes to apply the Pythagorean
harmony of numbers to the cure of diseases, particularly fevers,
and even asserts that he has succeeded in curing patients by
this means, who had resisted every other. He illustrates the
whole doctrine by organ pipes and musical proportions.
Now it occurs to us, that as drugs are usually a very dis¬
agreeable and nauseous affair, Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney deserves
to be well encouraged in his scheme of substituting pleasant
music for salts, jalap, ipecacuanha, and other nauseous drugs! !
In order to support his gold-worthy endeavours, therefore, of
curing diseases by music, we shall look back a little in the
history of man, and see what has been hitherto done in the
same field of inquiry.

Among the moderns we find, by a notice in the Philosophical
Magazine, that so late as 1806, several of the medical literati
on the Continent, engaged in making inquiries and experiments
upon the influence ofmusicinthe cure of diseases. The learned
M. Dusaux was at the head of this new tribe of amateurs and
cognoscenti.

There is a curious article in Dr. Burney’s History of Music,
“ On the Medicinal Powers attributed to Music by the An¬
cients,” which he derived from the learned labours of a modern
physician, M. Burette. He conceives that music can relieve
the pains of the sciatica, and that independent of the greater or
less skill of the musician; by flattering the ear and diverting

Diseases Cured by Music . 2 4 !

the attention, and occasioning certain vibrations of the nerves,
it can remove those obstructions which occasion this disorder.
M. Burette, and many modern physicians and philosophers,
have believed that music has the power of affecting the mind,
and the whole nervous system, so as to give a temporary relief
In certain diseases and even a radical cure. M. de Mairan, Bian-
chini, and other respectable inquirers, have pursued the same
career.

Some years ago, the Rev. Dr. Mitchell, of Brighton, wrote a
dissertation, “ De Arte Medendi, apud Priscos Musices ope atque
Carminum,” He writes under the assumed name of Michael
Caspar ; but whether this learned dissertator be grave or jocular,
more than one critic has not been able to resolve us. We sus¬
pect it to be a satire on the parade of learning of certain Ger¬
man eruditi , who prove any point by the weakest analysis, and
the most fanciful conceits. We shall translate and abridge the
following remarks from this curious work.

Amongst barbarous or half civilized nations, diseases have
been generally attributed to the influence of evil spirits. The
depression of mind which is commonly attendant on sickness,
and the delirium accompanying certain stages of disease, seem
to have been considered as especially denoting the immediate
influence of a demon. The effect of music in raising the ener¬
gies of the mind, or what we commonly call animal spirits, was
obvious to early observation. Its power of attracting strong atten¬
tion, may in some cases have appeared to affect even those who
laboured under a considerable degree of mental disorder. The
accompanying depression of mind was considered as a part of
the disease, perhaps rightly enough, and music was prescribed
as a remedy to remove the symptom ; when experience had not
ascertained the probable cause.

Homer, whose heroes exhibit high passions, but not refined
manners, represents the Grecian army as employing music to
stay the raging of the plague. The Jewish nation, in the time
of King David, appear not to have been much further advanced
in civilization ; accordingly, we find David employed in his
youth to remove the mental derangement of Saul, by his harp.
I he method of cure was suggested as a common one in those
days, by Saul’s servants ; and the success is not mentioned as a
miracle. Pindar, with poetic licence, speaks of iEsculapius
healing acute disorders with soothing songs ; but iEsculapius,
whether man or deity, or between both, is a physician of the
days of barbarism and fable. Pliny scouts the idea that music
should affect real bodily injury, but quotes Homer on the sub¬
ject ; mentions Theophrastus as 'suggesting a tune for the cure

VOL. II. 2 X

/

242 Diseases Cured by Music.

of the hip gout ; and Cato, as entertaining a fancy that it had a
good effect when limbs were out of joint; and that \ arro
thought it good for the gout. Aulus Gellius cites a work ot
'Theophrastus, which recommends music as a specific tor the
bite of a viper. Boyle and Shakspeare mention the effects of
music upon the bladder; Kircher’s “ Misurgia,” and Swin¬
burne’s Travels, relate the effects of music on those who are
bitten by the tarantula. Sir W. Temple seems to have given
credit to the stories of the power of music over diseases.

'The ancients, indeed, record miracles, at least none in the
“ Golden Legend” appear to be more so than the tales they re¬
late of the medicinal powers of music. A fever is removed by
a song, and deafness is cured by a trumpet, and the pestilence is
chased away by the sweetness of an harmonious lyre. That
deaf people can hear best in a great noise is a fact alleged by
some moderns in favour of the ancient story of curing deafness
by a trumpet. Dr. Willis tells us, says Dr. Burney, of a lady
who could hear only while a drum was beating, insomuch that
her husband, the account says, hired a drummer as her servant,
in order to enjoy the pleasure of her conversation.

Music, and the sounds of instruments, says the lively M.
Vigneuil de Marville, contribute to the health of the body and
the mind, they assist the circulation of the blood, they dissipate
vapours, and open the vessels, so that the perspiration is freer.
He tells a story of a person of distinction, who assured him that
once being suddenly seized by violent illness, instead of con¬
sulting a physician, lie immediately called a band of musicians,
and their violins played so well in his inside, that his bowels
became perfectly in tune, and in a few hours were harmoniously
becalmed. We once heard a story of Farinelli, the famous
singer, who was sent for to Madrid, to try the effect of his ma¬
gical voice on the king of Spain. His majesty was buried in
the profoundest melancholy, nothing could raise an emotion in
bin), he lived in a total oblivion of life ; he sat in a darkened
chamber, entirely given up to the most distressing kind of
madness. The physician ordered Farinelli at first to sing in an
outer room, and for the first day or two this was done without
any effect on the royal patient. At length it was observed, the
king, awakening from his stupor, seemed to listen ; on the next
day, tears were seen starting in his eyes ; the day after he or¬
dered the door of his chamber to be left open, and at length the
perturbed spirit entirely left our modern Saul, and the medicinal
voice of Farinelli effected what no other medicine could.

M. Marville has given us the following curious anecdote on
this subject. lie tells us, that doubting the truth of those who

24.1

Diseases Cured by Music,

say it is natural for us to love music, especially the sound of in¬
struments, and that beasts themselves are touched with it, being
one day in the country he inquired into the truth ; and while a
man was playing on the trump marine, made his observations
on a cat, a dog, a horse, an ass, a hind, cows, and small birds,
and a cock and hens, which were in a yard under a window, on
which he was leaning. He did not perceive that the cat was
the least affected, and he even judged by her air, that she would
have given all the instruments in the world for a mouse, sleep¬
ing in the sun all the time ; the horse stopped short from time
to time before the window, raising his head up now and then,
as he wras feeding on the grass ; the dog continued for above ar»
hour seated on his hind legs, looking steadfastly at the player ;
and the ass did not discover the least indication of his being
touched, eating his thistles very peaceably ; the hind lifted up
her large wide ears, and seemed very attentive ; the cows slept
a little, and after gazing, as though they had been acquainted
with us, went forward ; some little birds which were in an avi¬
ary, and others on the trees and bushes, almost tore their little
throats with singing ; but the cock, who minded his hens, and
the hens who were solely employed in scraping a neighbouring
dunghill, did not show in any manner that they took. the least
pleasure in hearing the trump marine.

These anecdotes, which may startle some, seem to be fully
confirmed by Sir William Jones, in his curious dissertation on
the musical modes of the Hindoos.

“ After food, when the operations of digestion and absorption
give so much employment to the vessels, that a temporary state
of mental repose must be found, especially in hot climates,
essential to health, it seems reasonable to believe that a few
agreeable airs, either heard or played without effort, must have
all the good effects of sleep, and none of its disadvantages ;
putting the soul in tune, as Milton says, for any subsequent
exertion; an experiment often successfully made by myself. I
have been assured by a credible eye-witness, that two wild ante¬
lopes used often to come from their woods to the place where
a more savage beast, Sirajuddaulah, entertained himself with
concerts, and that they listened to the strains, with an appear¬
ance of pleasure, till the monster, in whose soul there was no
music, shot one of them to display his archery. A learned na¬
tive told me, t hat he had frequently seen the most venomous and
malignant snakes leave their holes upon hearing tunes on a flute,
which, as he supposed, gave them peculiar delight. An intelligent
Persian declared he had more than once been present, when a
celebrated lutanist, surnamed Bulbul, that is, Nightingale, was

Desk Diseases . — So. It.

344

playing to a large company in a grove near Shiraz, where he
distinctly saw the nightingales trying to vie with the musician,
sometimes warbling on the trees, sometimes fluttering from
branch to branch, as if they wished to approach the instru¬
ment, and at length dropping on the ground in a kind of
ecstasy, from which they were soon raised, he assured me, by a
change in the mode.”

Jackson, of Exeter, in reply to the question of Dryden,
“ What passion cannot music raise or quell ? sarcastically re¬
turns, “ what passion can music raise or quell ? Would not a
savage, who had never listened to a musical instrument, feel
certain emotions at listening to one for the first time ? But
civilized man is, no doubt, particularly affected by association of
ideas, as all pieces of national music evidently prove.

The Ran des Vaches, mentioned by Rousseau in his Diction¬
ary of Music, though without any thing striking in the composi¬
tion, has such a powerful influence over the Swiss, and im¬
presses them with so violent a desire to return to their own
country, that it is forbidden to be played in the Swiss regiments
in the French Service, on pain of death.

Desk Diseases. — No. 11.

In our last paper of this useful series, we gave an excellent
article on Apoplexy, by Dr. Roget, the eloquent and scientific
lecturer at the Royal Institution, Albemarle Street. We shall
revert to apoplexy on another occasion more minutely, as it is
becoming very prevalent among those who have much desk
business ; but in the mean time we shall go on to another,
which we believe is still more prevalent, and though not usually
so alarming or fatal as apoplexy, is very distressing to those who
are affected with it — we allude to

Low Spirits and Melancholy.

Study, it has been well said, weakens the body, dulls the
spirits, abates the strength and courage, and often ends in me¬
lancholy and madness. Desk employment of any kind, tends
much to the same effect, both in consequence of the position of
the body, and the too great, or long continued exercise of the
head. One of the many causes which have been assigned for
this, is negligence. Other men, says an old author, look to
their tools ; a painter will wash his pencils ; a smith will look
to his hammer, anvil, and forge; a husbandman will mend his
plough irons, and grind his hatchet if its edge be dull ; a hunts¬
man will have especial care of his hounds and horses ; a musi¬
cian will string and unstring his lute — only scholars neglect the

Desk Diseases. — No. 11.

215

instrument, the head, which they daily use. Take heed, says
Lucian, that you twist not the rope too hard, till at length it
break.

Contemplation and desk business, are also said to dry the
brain and extinguish natural heat ; for whilst the animal spirits
are intent on meditation in the head, the stomach and liver are
left destitute of their due support, and thence comes crude and
half-prepared blood, according to the principles so often esta¬
blished in this work. Hence it is that deskers are the victims
of gout, stone, colic, flatulence, heartburn, bad eyes, giddiness,
apoplexy, and consumption, and all such diseases as come by
over much sitting. Deskers are therefore often lean, dry, ill-
coloured, lose their wits, and many times their lives, and all
through immoderate study. Such were the studies of Seneca
the moralist, who tells us that he never spent an idle day; part
of the night, though tired with working, he kept his eves open
to their continual task : and Cicero, in bis oration for Archius,
says, that whilst others loitered, he was continually at his book.

As study and sedentary employment are subject to such in¬
conveniences and disorders, those who pursue these ought, in
the right order of things, to be well rewarded ; yet so it is, that
after all their pains taken in Universities, expences, irksome
hours, laborious tasks, wearisome days, and barred in the inte¬
rim from all the social pleasures of life, if they chance to wade
through all this hardship, they are very frequently in the end
rejected, contemned, and driven to their shifts. Now if there
were nothing more than this, it would be a fertile source of low
spirits and melancholy. Men of most other trades and profes¬
sions, after some years apprenticeship, are enabled to live by
their craft, to live of themselves. A merchant adventures his
goods to sea, and though his hazard be great, yet if one ship re¬
turn out of four, he likely makes a profitable voyage; scholars,
on the other hand, are most uncertain, and subject to casualties
and hazards almost unavoidable. For first, the closest study
may not make a scholar — every kind of marble is not fit for
making a statue of Apollo ; and again, if the capacity be good,
how many diseases both of the body and mind must be encoun¬
tered through life. Among other causes of low spirits, besides
those we have just hinted at, we shall now touch upon certain
articles of food, which are considered in proportion to their
quantity and mode of cooking, prominent causes of the com¬
plaint among the sedentary.

Low Spirits and Melancholy, from Diet.

Bread. — Bread that is made of what the old writers call the
baser grains, such as peas, beans, and rye; or when it is over

Desk Diseases. — So. 1 1 .

'24G

baked, crusty, and black, is not easily digested by the sedentary.
John Major, in bis History of Scotland, contends strenuously
for the wholesomeness of oaten-bread ; which Dr. Johnson, on
the contrary, considers as only fit for horses, as Galen, Wecker,
and others, had done before him. One thing is dear, that many
healthy men, not only in Scotland, but all over the North of
England, Wales, and Ireland, use oaten bread as a staple article
of food. The best bread, however, for deskers, is plain well-
baked biscuit. Nothing can be worse than new bread or hot
rolls.

Beef. — Aubanus and Sabellicus commend the beef qf Por¬
tugal as the best, most savoury, and easiest of digestion, and
M. Gimrod de la Reynidre, that of Paris. None of these sages,
however, we are persuaded, ever tasted London beef. Galen,
the celebrated Greek physician, forbids beef to those who have
not much exercise, or who are troubled with low spirits, though
it is excellent for such as are of a sound constitution, and for
labouring men.

Pork. — Though to those who have much exercise, pork can¬
not be denied to be highly nutritive; yet is it altogether unfit
for such as live at ease, or sit much, or are weakly, nervous, and
subject to low spirits. If we may credit Savonarola, it has a
tendency to produce ague.

Venison. — All venison, says old Burton, is melancholy, and
begets bad blood, though a pleasant meat, in great esteem with
us in our solemn feasts, and we have more parks in England
than there are in all Europe besides. It is always best when
hunted. The hart, and red deer, have an evil name, as yielding
gross nutriment, being strong and great grained meats, next
unto a horse. Goat’s flesh is not good, being rank and ram¬
mish, but kid is tender and good.

Hare and Rabbit. — Mizaldus, and some others, say that hare
is a merry meat ; and that it tends to make the complexion fair,
we have the poetical testimony of Martial in his epigram to
Gellia. It is only however of the merry company at the eating
it, that the former can be understood ; for a jury of physicians
have pronounced it to be a melancholy black meat, hard of di¬
gestion, and causing fearful dreams.

Fowl. — The best fowls, and those of easiest digestion, are
chickens, capons, and turkeys, particularly turkey poults. But
to the sedentary, are strictly forbidden ducks, geese, swans,
peacocks, and pigeons; and all w'ater and fen birds, such as
herons, cranes, snipes, teals, coots, water hens, &c. ; for though
these, as old Burton says, be fair in feathers, pleasant in taste,
and have a good outside, (like hypocrites) white in plumes, and

apoplexy from Eating Cheese. 2 iJ

soft, their flesh is a hard, black, unwholesome, melancholy, meat,
which oppresses and fouls the stomach.

Fish. — The nature of fish is often determined by the waters
they live in. The eel, for example, from living in muddy waters,
and feedingon garbage and carrion, is rank, fat, and indigestible.
It was remarked of the Carthusian friars, whose chief diet was fish,
that they were much given to melancholy. But we should think
that lobster and other shell-fish, are light and wholesome. Trout
and salmon are much more digestible than turbot or sturgeon ;
and sole, skate, thorn-back, and other flat fish, from their habits
of life, are not fit for the diet of the sedentary : much less dried
or salted fish.

The Treatment of Low Spirits will be given at full
length in a subsequent page.

Apoplexy from Eating Cheese.

The most frequent immediate cause of apoplexy is, overload¬
ing the stomach, particularly at late dinners, or at suppers, with
heavy indigestible food, or with what is cold, as cucumber.
Among the kinds of food likely to cause apoplexy, we may
reckon cheese, particularly if it is toasted, which in large quan¬
tities is very dangerous in persons who are of a full habit of
body, or have been subject to the gout, or threatened with
apoplexy.

b A medical gentleman informs us, that he was lately called to
a lady who was wrell and cheerful in the evening — ate a hearty
supper of toasted cheese — was seized soon after with a fit — called
for assistance — became violently convulsed, and spoke no more.

Instances like this are by no means unfrequent. A person
goes to bed after a hearty meal, and is found in the morning
dead or paralytic. The hearers are surprised and affected at the
tale — moralize on the uncertainty of life and health ; but rarely
inquire into the cause — or the course of life which gave rise,
in the first instance, to the liability, or into what was the imme¬
diate cause of the oppression of stomach which proved fatal.

We have often remarked that apoplexy and palsy arise
among mercantile men, and those much employed in business
through the day, from neglecting to take a hearty lunch about,
one or two o’clock, which is the natural hour of dinner; and
after fasting from eight or nine o’clock in the morning (with
the exception perhaps of a meagre sandwich) they sit down to
dinner at five, six, or seven, and though their stomach is much
exhausted with long fasting, they scruple not to overload it un¬
mercifully. The consequences of this unwise practice we have

Dr. Scud- Amour.

MS

already mentioned. It would be more rational, and it would
tend more to real enjoyment, to have a hot lunch and a glass of
wine or ale in the forenoon, and to dine moderately, or sup if
vou will, when the hours of business are over.

Gout and Dr. Scud-Amour.

Our readers are well acquainted with this fashionable gout
doctor and cunning book maker, who, like many others of the
craft, makes his books excellent pegs on which to hang the
advertisements of his urban existence, to all that may wish to
honour him with a guinea for his advice. The doctor made the
discovery a year or two ago, that a great book is a great evil,
and accordingly he sat himself down to devise a cure for the
overgrowth, or as he would call it hypertrophia of his Tome on
Gout and Rheumatism. He first bethought him of colchicum
vinegar, but disliking its slow and uncertain effects, he had at
once recourse to direct amputation, and with knife and scissors,
began most resolutely to dissect away the hypertrophical parts
of his volume.

We had first then his work on Gout, cut away from his work
on Rheumatism, which has since disappeared ; second, his Ex¬
periments on the Blood; third, his Physician’s Advice on Diet,
which was so notoriously an amputated limb, that he was
ashamed to own it; and fourth, we have now his Pamphlet on
Colchicum, containing all the clippings and parings which he
could scrape together from the membra diyecta of his various
book dissections.

We do pity this poor fellow Scud-Amour, from our souls, in
respect of this same colchicum, which is a sad thorn to his
flesh, and no less so are Wilson’s Tincture, and Reynold’s Spe¬
cific ; because he is forced to confess that all these have more
or less power in curing a fit of gout or rheumatism, which he
owns witli great reluctance, is beyond his own skill to do, not¬
withstanding his writing so many hundred pages on the subject.
It is a strange world ! And the gouty seem to be the most gul-
lable of the lieges ; for in the very teeth of the doctor’s express
declaration that he cannot cure gout, is he the chief man in
London consulted on gouty cases, and pockets about 5000/. per
arm. for his knowledge of what he himself affirms, in good legi¬
ble print, that he is entirely ignorant. We recollect that Hazlitt,
in his Lectures at the Surrey, boasted of his ignorance; and it
went down perhaps, as a piece of naive modesty; and so it is no
doubt with our friend Scud-Amour.

Dr. Seud-Jmoilr.

319

The principle upon which he goes in the examination of gout
remedies, is an admirable one for the fraternity of ignorant
doctors. For if, by colchicum,or Wilson’s Tincture, you effect
a cure— what then ? — “ not any permanent advantage can be
effected/’ Aye — but if present pain is diminished — if the fit is
dismissed in one day, which would otherwise have lasted a
month, or perhaps three months — is no advantage gained ?
Answer that Dr. Scud-Amour. Suppose that eolchicum would
relieve a fit of apoplexy, as it will relieve a fit of gout, ought
we to hesitate in giving it, to save the patient’s life, because it
will not prevent his having another fit next year, or even next
month? Ah ! doctor, it will never do. You must confess tha*
if you can and will not cure your patient, the penchant fov
guineas is the basis of your argument, and the basis of your
book, else why do you publish these pamphleteering extracts
from your great work ? If this, indeed, had been a bond fide
inquiry into the effects of colchieum, we should have Said
nothing ; but it appears to be only a cheaper treatise on gout,
for the use of those who could not spare a sovereign for the
mother of this bantling. So far from it being a jnore full
inquiry on the subject, the Doctor more than once says, “ I beg
to refer the reader to my Treatise on the Gout for the more
extended details of my investigation.”

We shall conclude our admonitions to this book-making
doctor, by introducing to our readers the

Mildest Preparation of Colchieum for Gout and Rheumatism.

Take from one to two drachms of colchieum vinegar,
one to two drachms of Epsom salts,
fifteen to twenty grains of magnesia,
enough of pure water to dissolve the whole.

Sweeten with refined liquorice, and make a draught to be repeated
every four, six, or eight hours, according to the urgency of the case.

Scudamore has the credit of inventing this draught, which he
very frequently prescribes, though he says that colchicum lias a
fearful influence on the nerves.

New Remedies.

Nothwithst Riding the catalogues of new medicines which we
have lately published in this work — some of them we believe of
great efficacy ; wTe have still an increasing list to add to the
number, both from Foreign physicians, and from our own doc¬
tors. The remedies, indeed, are not all new, considered as
medicines ; but the application of the old simples in a novel
VOL. II, 2 Y

New Remedies.

350

wav, we consider as no less worthy of notice. In the latter
point of view, we must consider the first on our list.

Indigestion, with Costiveness, cured by Castor Oil .

It is by no means uncommon to give castor oil as a mild
opening medicine, in many slight ailments ; but it is somewhat
new to give it often, and in small doses, in obstinate disorders
of the stomach and bowels. M. Holmer has published a paper
in the Danish Medical Journal, entitled Ribliothek Jdr linger,
stating that it is very efficacious in such cases, in doses of a tea-
spoonful, from twice a day to every three hours, according to
the urgency of the indigestion, and bowel affections. He found
it to be quite a specific where the liver was affected, particularly
in c^ses caused by the heat of the West Indies, and drinking.

Tea a Remedy for Indigestion.

M. Zinc, an able surgeon of Lausanne, Switzerland, has dis¬
covered that tea is one of the best medicines for the first stage
of indigestion v. Those who are prejudiced against genuine tea
(and the prejudice, we are sorry to say, is preposterously com¬
mon) may try sage-tea as a substitute, though this, like all other
substitutes, is much inferior to the principal. Indigestion, he
thinks, is owing, in most cases, to an indolent state or inertia
of the stomach, which a mild astringent stimulus, such as tea,
is the best thing to rectify • while, at the same time, it puts a
step to the fermentation of such food as may be undigested.
When the disorder has proceeded to the second stage, or has
been of long continuance, the best thing that can be done is to
apply two dozen leeches over the stomach, and take small doses
of acetate of morphine, (see Oracle, Vol. 11. page 17 3.) from ten
to fifteen drops in a cup of tea or coffee, once or twice a day,
with any simple opening medicine, to keep the bowels legular.
If this is unsuccessful, M. Zinc lias then recourse to hydrocy-
anate of potass, (see our last Number.)

*** Extraordinary effects of tea on the Princess de Tarent,
and on the Landgrave of Hesse -Cassel, in our next.

Coffee as an Opiate for Relieving Severe Pain.

Having so highly and deservedly eulogized tea, in opposition
to the doctors, who know nothing about it — we must not forget
our favourite coffee, the greatest luxury, when properly prepared,
which the amateurs of good-living can enjoy. Coffee then, it

* M. Zinc has published his remarks in the Annalen tin- Altg^m ine Schtpei-
rischm Gtsella haft. 1. 2.

I

New Remedies. 35.1

appears, is much more powerful than tea in cases of distressing
pain, and may be advantageously employed by those who are
afraid of opium, or who have become addicted to opium, and
wish to leave it off. We state this broadly, both from our own
experience, and from that of many physicians of the first cha¬
racter, such as Dr. Mason Good, &c. Professor Chapman, of
Philadelphia, informs us, that u coffee made strong, without
cream or sugar, and drank pretty freely, he has found lately, in
two instances, to remove the pain and other distresses of in¬
flammation of the kidneys, arising from stone, as promptly as
opium, and where the ordinary remedies had failed to give
relief.” “ By our medical friends,” the Professor adds, “ se¬
veral other instances have been mentioned to us of its striking
utility.” We may mention violent headache, toothache/ and
lumbago, as cases in which very strong coffee, that is an ounce
to a cup, will always do good. It is the very best thing hitherto
discovered for allaying the irritation and feverish heat which so
often follow a dose of opium or laudanum.

Worms expelled by Oil of Cypress.

M. Lichenstein, the Prussian Consul at Montpellier, (we
copy from the Ci Nye Hygaea,” a Copenhagen Journal,) having
remarked that the people in the South of France preserved their
clothes from moths, &c., by putting cypress leaves between the
folds, shrewdly inferred that the cypress might be turned to
account in medicine, for destroying worms. He accordingly
had some cypress leaves distilled, from which he procured a
quantity of volatile oil — found to be a mortal poison for insects,
and proved effectual in preserving stuffed birds, &c., in the
Museum at Berlin. M. Hufeland, the Editor of the Berlin
Journal of Health, also discovered that it was very powerful
against several species of worms, that infest the stomach and
bowels. M. Otto, ol Copenhagen, to whom we are indebted for
this history, also succeeded with it in curing some obstinate
cases ol worms; and from this respectable testimony in its
favour, vvc think it likely to turn out a powerful remedy. It
would also appear to be excellent for preserving furs, woollen
stuffs, &c., from mothing.

Gout and Rheumatism Cured by Hot Water.

Two Frenchmen have just commenced a paper war, each claim¬
ing the priority of the discovery of water as a powerful remedy in
gout and rheumatism. Their practice, however, it turns out,
is very different ; M. Cadet de Vaux gives the water hot, and
M. Pomme gives it cold. The first, we think, is the preferable

352

New Remedies.

mode, and is administered as follows : The water must be
drunk as hot as possible, but is to be taken at a draught, and not
by mouthfuls; a glassful every quarter of an hour during the
accession of the fit. During the drinking of the hot water, the
patient must be wrapt up warm in bed. If the patient find
any difficulty of drinking a sufficient quantity, (forty-eight
glasses are prescribed !!) he may reduce it to three quarts, con¬
tinuing the same every day till the fit be subdued ! We know
not what Dr. Scudamore will say to this: at ail events he
cannot say it is a dangerous remedy, though we confess it
must be very unpleasant. We refer for further details to
M. Cadet de Vaux’s “Precis d’Experience de la Goutte et du
Rheumatisme.” Those who wish to see M. Pomme’s cold

t * _ _

water plan, will find an ample account of it in his “ Traits sur
les Affections Vaporeuses des deux Sexes.” M. Pomme does
not, like our friend Kinglake, the Taunton Snuff-doctor, apply
the cold water externally.

Remedy for Scrofula and Old Sores. By A. Rennie, Esq.,
Surgeon, &c., of Hertford-street, May-Fair, London.

This is the same enterprising and clever young man whom
we mentioned, Vol. I. page 322, as having castigated Quack
Whitlaw, of Bayswater. He informs us that he has found tar
and pitch of extraordinary efficacy in healing scrofulous and
other sores of an obstinate kind; and as it is a remedy easily
come by, and safe withal, we cannot press it too earnestly on
the attention of our readers, as likely to prove of extensive be¬
nefit in numerous cases in which all the old plans have failed.
The mode of preparing the remedy, as recommended by
Mr. Rennie, for open sores, is the following, as prepared by
Messrs. Waugh, chemists, Regent-street, where it may be pro¬
cured excellent.

Pitch Ointment.

Take one part of pitch,

one part ant! a half of tar,
one part of resin.

Mix, and make an ointment. To be moderately heated when applied
over the sore, which is to be dressed every fourth day.

In the case of scrofulous glands, tumours, and swellings, the
quantity of the resin may be increased, and the pitch left out.
“ One great advantage,” says Mr. Rennie, “derived from these
plasters, is the prevention of deformity after the parts are healed.
In most cases where the plasters have been applied with care

353

Medical Religion.

and assiduity, the scars are very trivial. ” — We shall keep the
remedy in view, and record cases of its success.

Consumption treated by cutting into the Lungs.

There is no end, to what is called the boldness, but which we
call the rashness of modern surgeons, Dr. Carson, of Liverpool,
the well known theoretical speculator, who compares, as we
are informed, the motion of the heart to Barker’s Mill!! &c. & c.
lately cut into the chest of a consumptive patient by way of ex¬
periment. The event was as might have been expected. This
hopeless and hazardous plan of operating has come to be talked
of with great confidence by some of tb4e more ignorant profes¬
sional men of the metropolis, against whose ruffian experiments,
we cannot warn our readers too strongly. We should look upon
the operation as direct butchery. We have now before us * a
melancholy case of a similar kind, operated upon by Dr. Wede-
meyer, a German physician, but we think it unnecessary to
detail it.

Medical Religion.

Lawrence — the Glasgow Pharisee — Sutleffe — Johnson
— Paris — Abernethy — and the Three Young Men.

Wherever there are three Doctors, there are two Atheists —
“ubi ires medici, duo athei” says an old author; and, in our
own times, though a show of religion has begun to prevail in the
profession, yet we much fear that it is often put on as a bait to
catch patients. Indeed we know positive instances of the fact,
of young men in particular who become “ outrageously Chris¬
tian,” to use the words of Robertson the historian, in order to
gain a connexion- This we look upon to be the most degrad¬
ing and contemptible of all tricks ; and the man who for the
sake of a few fees, or of a paltry office in an Institution, will
belie his conscience, and solemnly profess what he does not be¬
lieve — is the last person to whom we would intrust our health
and our lives. What are we to think then of a man who first
publishes, like Mr. Lawrence, the most heretical principles,
such as grave arguments to disprove the immortality of the
soul, and then to come forward when his place was in danger,
with a canting eulogium on the “ Pure Religion of the New
Testament ?” That we do not exaggerate, we prove by a refer¬
ence to Mr. Lawrence’s own letter to the President of Bethlem
Hospital, published by us in No. 10, of this work.

Magazin fur die Gesammtc Heilkunde.

35 4

Medical Religion.

If true religion be, as we apprehend it is, a matter which rests
solely between an individual and his God, no man truly religi¬
ous will make a show of it, nor adopt a long face and a whining
mode of speech to attract notice; and you will find it to be a
rule without exception, that whoever does so is either a knave
or a ninny. If you hear a man then, and particularly a medical
man, making a show of his religion, or speaking with a sickly
whine — beware of him — he has a deep design in it.

A correspondent informs us, that a Glasgow doctor, who is
so consummately ignorant, as to have prescribed rum and milk
for a violent inflammation of the brain — has got into large
practice by praying, or pretending to pray, for his patients; and
that in the case of accouchements he regularly asks for a closet
to put up a private prayer for the lady before he delivers her. We
have seen letters written by this contemptible Pharisee, shew¬
ing equal ignorance of grammar, spelling, and medicine ; and
yet he thrives on his religion — because the truly religious are
simple, honest, and easily gulled.

Mr. Sutleffe, of Queen-street, London, is a religious surgeon
of a very different class ; and being well known to be a 44 scriptu-
rally pious” man, we think our friend Dr. Johnson has not done
well in burlesqueing his very curious book. For example, Dr.
Johnson has printed the following article : —

44 Horehound Tea keeps a Saint out of Heaven upwards of
twenty-four years. — 4 In the Autumn of J800, (says Mr. Sut¬
leffe) 4 1 was asked if I wished to see a triumphant saint expire.
Much more, I replied, than to see Rome in all her pristine and
present glory.’ 1 was accordingly directed to call on Mrs. W — ,
of the Surrey-road, which 1 did, in whom I beheld the nearest
approach to an animated skeleton, I ever expected to see. She
instantly recognized me (having often met me at the Sanctuary)
and shook hands feebly. She was on the mount of God’s un¬
changing love.’ page 242.

44 Mr. Sutleffe,” says Johnson, 44 had the cruelty to adminis¬
ter horehound tea, which prevented the saint from 44 going
home.” When informed that she was out of danger, she shed
tears of grief. She has retired to Warwickshire instead of Pa¬
radise, and is got quite lusty. What a misfortune?”

In a case of puerperal fever, which Mr. Sutleffe and Dr. Sims
pronounced hopeless, and 44 committed to God, with whom all
things are possible,” Dr. Johnson very irreverently— not to say
blasphemously, remarks, that 44 it does not appear that the
Deity undertook this case of puerperal fever, for the lady died.”
Oh fie, Dr. Johnson !

Mr. Sutleffe is, we should say, very much to blame, as many

Great Discoveries.

355

of the saints are, in judging of the future state of deceased indi¬
viduals. It is very common to say Mr. Such-a-one “ now in
glory.” This is most blasphemous presumption. Mr. Sutleffe
says, “ the Rev. John Wesley’s reward in heaven, I presume , is
far superior to that assigned to the Rev. John Toplady.” We
could not have supposed Mr. Sutleffe would presume' any thing
of this kind. “ Judge not lest ye be judged,” saith the scrip¬
tures.

Dr. Johnson’s burlesque of Sutleffe’s medico-religion, ap¬
pears singularly consistent with his sneer at Dr. Paris, for min¬
cing materialism, and talking as Paris has had the ignorance to
do of the “organization of the mind.” Now, argues Johnson,
“if the mind be organized, it must be composed of maitei' —
and such doctrine must be the doctrine of materialism,” though
maintained by the orthodox Dr. Paris, the puffer also of a nos¬
trum called the Essence of Senna, &e. &c.

This hit at Dr. Paris, combined with Johnson’s manifest
irreverence for religion above displayed, puts us much in mind
of Abernethy’s attack upon Lawrence for his materialism ;
though Abernethy was himself at the very time, confessedly by
ids own words, arguing more strenuously than Lawrence for the
same absurd doctrine, and making the soul (so far as we can
understand him) to consist in some sui generis play of chemico-
electric agency !

The three young men, at the West end, will, we hope, pre¬
serve more consistency after writing their pious pamphlets on
Medical Religion. After this public confession of their faith,
let us hear no more private acknowledgments from them, that
religion is better than a wig to make a young man look old,
sedate, and experienced. Such acknowledgments we know
have been made. Let them beware lest more things of the
same kind reach us, through channels that it is impossible to
close against us.

Great Discoveries. By Mr. Bew, of Brighton — Dr.

Balfour, of Edinburgh — Dr. Venables, of Henley, &e.

As the day has gone by — except among good Catholics — for
trusting in miracles and relics, credulity has now betaken itself
to quacks, and doctors, and receipts; and the money which was
given three centuries ago for the health of the soul, is now
given for the health of the body, and by the same sort of people,
women and half-witted men. Even at this day, medical quacks
do not flourish in catholic countries, as the business of supersti¬
tion is there entirely in the hands of priests, who cure all dis-

356

Great Discoveries.

eases by means of their saints and relics. In such countries we
wonder what would be thought of a book, just published by Mr,
Bew, of Brighton, Surgeon-dentist to his Majesty, and the
Royal Household, and to the Duke and Duchess of Clarence.
This person has actually made the discovery that there are
nerves in the teeth ! that these nerves are the cause of tic dou¬
loureux, and that the sovereign cure for this dreadful malady is
tooth-drawing. Extracting sun-beams from cucumbers, would
probably have a similar effect on the disorder, but as Mr. Bew
is not, we believe, in that particular line of business, it would
not pay , which is the evident ground-work of this tooth- draw¬
ing remedy. If the thing takes, Mr. Bew, we have no doubt,
will next propose tooth-drawing as a cure for hydrophobia,
plague, &c. !!!

Dr. Balfour, the striking physician of Edinburgh, has made a
most extraordinary Irish discovery, namely, that the best way of
pushing up a rupture is to pull it down , a discovery at which
Liston and all the Edinburgh surgeons stared, as they well
might at the striking originality of the idea. We think, indeed,
that Balfour must be a genuine Irishman rather than a descendant
of the famous Balfour of Burley, for we find him making seve¬
ral very original and striking bulls. For instance, he explained
the principles of his pummelling practice to an old lady, who
“ could neither lie, sit, stand, speak, or listen to others ,” though
he says, “she readily comprehended him, and was strikingly re¬
lieved l!!’’

The third great discoverer whom we shall introduce to our
readers, is Robert Venables, B.M. Physician to the Henley
Dispensary, who has discovered in his vicinity, the unique phe¬
nomenon of a 16 wiry-looking old woman and what is more,
he has found out that Dr. Wilson Philip wrote a book on Indi¬
gestion, and Dr. Blackall, of Exeter, a book on Dropsy, which
books being so common that nobody thinks of reading them,
he has been therefore induced to publish a Henley version of
both in one volume, translated into the vulgar tongue, for the
behoof of apprentice boys, and his brother Bachelors in Medi¬
cine. The wags of Henley, maliciously call him Dr. BuM,
from his always bumming and bravadoing about his discove¬
ries. He has got, we are sorry to sav, a very dangerous pro¬
pensity to bleed most of his patients. We refer him for a cau¬
tion to the lancet-murders, chronicled by us, Vol. I. page 348.

Our discoveries cannot, for the present, be better concluded
than by the following account just sent us by a correspondent,
of a foreign instrument for cutting off limbs instantaneously
without pain.

357

The Confessions , fyc. of Dr. Uwins.

“ Un m^decin de Hamburg nommd Buller vient d’inventer
un nouvel instrument de Chirurgie, a l’aide duquel on peut
couper une jambe dans une seconde, et qui engourdit la dou-
leur du patient par une pression simultande qui accompagne
l’amputation !!!,,

The Con fessions, Insinuations, and Attacks of the

Celebrated Dr. Uwins.

VVe hinted in our last at some of the very strange things
which this Star of the Manikin Association had published, to
uphold the dignity of physicians, at the expence of surgeons,
accoucheurs, and apothecaries ; but we were not then aware of
the no less strange confessions which he has made respecting
the usefulness and the knowledge of his own dignified fraternity.
These are too good to be lost ; and we shall, therefore, record them
for the benefit of the 44 artisans of the profession*/' as Dr. Uwins
contemptuously calls all those who cannot write M.D. to their
name, like himself; and to whose prejudice he insinuates that
notwithstanding all their improvements in mechanical inge¬
nuity, and manual dexterity in operating, surgical accidents and
ailments are rather on the increase than the decline; while
physicians have been triumphant in diminishing the ravages of
infectious and epidemic diseases. If you ask him how he ac¬
counts for this superiority of success, (of which by the way he
offers no proof, and cannot) he tells you plump, without minc¬
ing or reservation, that it is by rational quackery, or 44 empirical
good sense f !!! ” Of this the poor working surgeons, the 44 arti¬
sans of the profession/’ are of course altogether destitute, and
therefore they cannot pretend to 44 dignity” and 44 large grasp of
mind,” like those who boast of 44 empirical,” that is, quackish
44 good sense.” It is well, however, that Dr. Uwins allows the
44 artisans” some good qualities, when they have the horrid
crime of the prevalence of accidents and ailments to answer for.
Accordingly he gives us the following precious morsel of digni¬
fied and 14 empirical good sense.” — 44 Before the ink is dry with
which l pen the present page, I may shake hands in cordial
friendship with one or more eminent surgeons [why not arti -
sons ?] whom I would, and do refuse to meet in sick rooms,
although they would readily obey the call to medical consulta¬
tion. But this practice is only partial ; it was but yesterday I
heard of a surgeon [Sir A. Cooper] refusing advice to a wealthy
applicant, on the ground of its being a medical case %** This,

* See Uwins’ Compendium, page 3. f Ibidem, page 363.

t Uwins’ Compendium, page xii. Note.

VOL. 11. 2 z

358 Phrenological Organ of Time.

then, it would appear, is the highest virtue of a surgeon-arti¬
san, according to Dr. Uwins — to leave him and his fraternity,
the manikins, the exclusive monopoly of “ dignity” and “empi¬
rical good sense,” and to leave to “ the artisans,” “ the blood
and filth of the dissecting room,” and the “ drudgery” of work¬
ing, while they look on as task-masters to direct what they do
not, and cannot understand. We know one of this dignified class,
for example, who entitles himself physician to a lying-in institu¬
tion, and who, by his own confession, never delivered more than
one or two cases in his life. Yet will this fellow pretend to direct
experienced and practical men, in midwifery cases, and swagger
it over them with all the airs of an ignorant braggadocio. We
leave such to sink to their level as they assuredly will, and in a
very short time too ; we leave Dr. Uwins to boast of his “ large
grasp of mind,” and his u empirical good sense,” while we are
certain that he will be visited by the deserved contempt of the
respectable part of the profession, together with all who aid and
abet this puny and despicable frogging for a monopoly of guinea
fees, and hungering after distinctions for ever beyond their
reach.

Phrenological Organ of Time, with a Singular Case.

About an inch or less above the middle of the eye-brow, on
each side, lies a small round space, said by phrenologists to
contain that organ of the brain which takes cognizance of time.
The best judges, however, are not certain of the place of this
organ, and only state it as probable. We would suggest that a
committee of sages be forthwith appointed to ascertain this
point, by examining the head of Chevalley, the most extraordi¬
nary person ever known, wre believe for his sensations of time.
We translate the following account of him from a respectable
Foreign Journal, the Biblotheque Universel, published at
Geneva,

M. Chavannes, whilst residing, during last Summer, at Wuar-
rens near Eelmllens, had occasion to hear some account of a
man who, without any uncertainty or mistake, could indicate
the precise hour by day or night, and even the minutes and se¬
conds ; and this, it was said, he did by consulting the pulse.
Induced by these reports to make close inquiry as to their
foundation, he visited the man, and obtained the following
results : — *

His name is Jean Daniel Chevalley, aged sixty-nine years.
In his youth, the ringing of bells, and vibrations of pendulums,
constantly attracted his attention ; and he gradually contracted

Phrenological Organ of Time. 359

a habit of counting isochronous vibrations, and displayed con¬
siderable ability in calculation. When strong enough, he took
pleasure in sounding the bells at school and church; and in his
attention to town and church clocks, observed that the heats
were twenty or twenty-three per minute, but more particularly
twenty, counting from the moment of departure, to that ot
return. After this, he endeavoured to force his attention to the
preservation, as long as possible, of an internal movement, simi¬
lar as to the extent of time and number of vibrations. “At
first,5' savs he, “by adding twenty vibrations to other twenty, or
minute, I could easily arrive at the conclusion of an hour; and
mark all the subdivisions which I wished, and that without
confusion ; but the thoughts and corporeal occupations suffered
by this attention. By degrees I was able to count whilst think¬
ing and acting ; but I could not proceed far, because my mind,
making a certain effort for a length of time, though but slightly
sensible to myself, became fatigued, and dropped the chain of
calculation. Nevertheless, in 1789, I succeeded in acquiring
the invariable possession of this faculty, which has never since
left me.5'

He was then twenty-two years of age, and occupied at a
school ; but in consequence of some singular habits, as that of
sounding bells, and of some mystical notions he had acquired, and
also certain disputes about the correction of the village clock,
he was dismissed and went to his mill, where, continuing
to sound his bells and make his clocks strike, he was nick¬
named the mummy of the mill.

Being in the steam-boat on the lake of Geneva, (July 14,
1823,) he soon attracted attention by his remarks, that so many
minutes and seconds had passed since she left Geneva, or
passed other places ; and after a while, he engaged to indicate
to the crowd about him, the passing of a quarter of an hour ; or
as many minutes or seconds, as any one chose, and that during
a conversation, the most diversified with those standing by;
and farther to indicate by the voice, the moment when the
hand passed over the quarter minutes, or half minutes, or any
other subdivision previously stipulated, during the whole course
of the experiment. This he did without mistake, notwithstand¬
ing the exertions of those about him to distract his attention,
and clapped his hands at the conclusion of the time fixed.

JV1. Chavanr.es -then reverts to his own observations. The
man said, “ I have acquired by imitation, labour, and patience,
an internal movement, which neither thoughts nor labour, nor
anything can stop ; it is similar to that of a pendulum, which,
at each motion of going and returning, gives me the space of

3 GO

On the Crying of Infants. »

three seconds; so that twenty of them make a minute, and these
I add to others continually ;” the calculations by which he ob¬
tained subdivisions of the second, were not clearly understood
by M. Chavannes, but the man offered freely to give proof of
his power. On trying him for a number of minutes, he shook
his head at the time appointed, altered his voice at the quarter,
half, and three quarter minutes, and arrived accurately at the
end of the period named. He seemed to assist himself in a
slight degree by an application of mnemonics, and sometimes
in idea, applied religious names to his minutes up to the fifth ;
when he recommenced this he carried through the hour and
commenced again. On being told that the country people said
he made use of his pulse as an indicator, he laughed at the
notion, and said it was far too irregular for any such purpose.

He admitted that his internal movement was not so sure and
constant during the night, “ nevertheless it is easy to compre¬
hend,” he said, 46 that when I have not been much fatigued in
the evening, and my sleep soft, if, after having awaked me
without haste, you ask me what the hour is, I shall reflect a
second or two, and my answer will not be ten minutes in error.
The approach of day renews the movement if it has been stop¬
ped, or rectifies it if it has been deranged, for the rest of the
day.” When asked how he could renew the movement when it
had ceased, and was very indistinct, he said, “ Sir, I am only a
poor man, it is not a gift of heaven ; I obtained this faculty as
the reward of labour and calculation too long to be dissembled ;
the experiment has been made at night many times, and I will
make it for you when you please.” M. Chavannes had not, how¬
ever, the opportunity of making this experiment, but he felt
quite convinced of the man’s powers. He states that the man
is deaf, and cannot hear at present the sound of his clock or his
watch ; and further, that neither of these vibrate twenty times
in a minute, which is always the number indicated by Chevalley
when he wishes to illustrate his internal movement ; and he is
convinced, according to what he has seen, that this man pos¬
sesses a kind of internal movement, which indicates minutes
and seconds with the utmost exactness.

On the Crying of Infants. By Professor John Burns,
C.M. Glasgow; Dr. Kennedy, &c.

In a former page, we laid it down both from extensive expe¬
rience and from most respectable testimony, as well as from the
common sense of the thing, that no child will squall when
dressed, unless it be tossed and rolled about as if it were a

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 6. 36T

bundle of rags, and had no feeling, while its little limbs, as well
as its body, are often twisted and pulled till the joints crack again.
No child, indeed, will cry unless it is in pain or uneasy. It
will not cry without some motive or other ; for it needs no proof
we think, that a child acts according to its feelings, as much as
a grown person, or as any of the inferior animals, if we may be
allowed the comparison.

This is the doctrine we have always maintained ; but what
was our surprise to be informed by such high authority as that
of Mr. Burns, the author of the most popular work on Mid¬
wifery and the Management of Children, that our opinions on
this subject are entirely wrong. The professor lays down the
law most peremptorily, and admits of no appeal that “ all chil¬
dren cry when shifted and dressed •” but he tells us not why,
nor proposes in the exuberance of his learning and ingenuity,
to devise any remedy for the daily suffering of many millions of
innocent and helpless squallers. This, we think, to say the
least of it, was rather thoughtless, and to make up for the defici¬
ency, we shall refer him to the management, which we recom¬
mend to prevent crying, Oracle , Vol. I. pages 35, and 304.

We do not observe that Dr. Kennedy, in his late book on
the Management of Children, has said anything on this import¬
ant subject. The style of that work indeed, is so Druidized and
Glen-Ochilized — so full of strange phrases — black strokes in
imitation of Tristram Shandy — poetical figures of the Ossian
school of fustian — and digressions without end on all kinds of
subjects and diseases — old age included ! that he seems not to
have had time nor space for the circumstances more peculiar to
children. We never looked into a book pretending to be plainly
popular, so full of unintelligible jargon. We regret this the
more, that the parts of the book, which mothers may, by a little
care, come to understand, appear to be judicious and sensible.
Dr. Kennedy, indeed, is a scientific and well informed physician,
but a very, very bad writer, if plainness, simplicity, and pers¬
picuity be taken as the tests of excellence.

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 6.

The range of human hearing comprised between the lowest
notes of the organ and the highest known sound of insects, in¬
cludes more than nine octaves, the whole of which are dis¬
tinctly perceptible by most ears. It may be inferred from these
facts without indulging in improbable conjecture, that insects,
such as flies and crickets, whose powers appear to commence
where ours end, may have the faculty of hearing sharper sounds,

362

Philosophy oj' Hearing. — No. 6.

than any which we know to exist ; and that there may be other
insects which may produce and hear sounds so sharp as to be
beyond our conception.

Laennec' s Experiments.

It may not be out of place, nor uninteresting to notice here,
another order of sounds “ inaudible to certain ears,” and lately
rendered famous by M. Laennec. So long ago as the time of
Hippocrates, the ear was applied to the chest to discover the ex¬
tent of certain diseases of its cavity : this, however, M. Laennec
says is a very imperfect and objectionable method. Awenbrugger
proposed percussion of the chest, as an improvement, and in
cases where there is little plumpness, it is useful, though it re¬
quires expertness, to put it in practice. (See Oracle , Vol. II.
page 85.)

M. Laennec’s method consists in applying to the armpits,
and other parts around the upper portion of the breast and
back, a hollow cylinder of wood or cane, and approaching
the ear to it while the person speaks or breathes forcibly.
When the lungs are sound, the voice extending through the air
contained in the lungs, is distinctly heard through the cylinder ;
when the lungs are obstructed it is heard feebly, and sometimes
not at all; when there is a cavity formed by an ulcer or other¬
wise, the voice is only heard when the instrument is applied
near this cavity of the ulcer, and in no other place.

Hearing hut one Sound with two Ears.

It has long been a question why we see but one object with
two eyes. The same question may be put with respect to hear¬
ing, why we hear only one sound with two ears. It will not do
to say, it is because the two waves or pulses of sound, arrive
at each ear at the same instant; for this is seldom the case.

It was erroneously explained in the case of the eyes, that the
two nerves met previously to their arriving at the brain. In
the case of the ears, there is no circumstance of this kind to lay
hold of, for the nerves of hearing go out from the brain consi¬
derably asunder.

This then is one of the circumstances which our present
limited knowledge does not enable us to explain, and it is per¬
haps better to rest contented with knowing the fact, than to go
into conjecture, and offer to God the folly of our own imagina¬
tions, instead of a history of his all-wise Providence.

We k now, however, farther with regard to this phenomenon,
that it close to the one ear a person sings an air, and close to
the other ear, another person sings a bass or a treble to that air,
the two sounds will not be heard separately, but combined in

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. 6. 3G3

harmony. This is an experiment which it is very easy to verify.
These facts are also illustrated by what may be observed con¬
cerning the double organs of taste and smell, the nerves of the
tongue being separated by the middle furrow, and those of the
nose by the partition of gristle dividing the nostrils.

Di stance of Sounds.

Another inquiry is how we come to know the distance and
direction whence sounds come to our ears. This has lately
been most ingeniously explained by Mr. Gough, in a paper pub¬
lished in the Manchester Transactions, who clearly demon¬
strates the use of two ears, though he does not determine the
problem of single hearing.

The judgment which we form of the distance of sounds, pro¬
ceeds, according to him, not from the loudness or lowness, but
from what (for want of more explicit terms) he calls the rough¬
ness or smoothness of sounds.

Mr. Gough illustrates in what sense he uses these terms,
from a person mistaking the sound caused by running the fin¬
ger round the edge of a glass vessel near him for that of a dis¬
tant trumpet. The roughness of a sound is accordingly in pro¬
portion to its nearness, that is, its undiminished raciness of
tone : a distant sound in its passage through the air, loses this
raciness which characterizes its recent production.

This doctrine of Mr. Gough’s is well and poetically illustra¬
ted by Sir Walter Scott.

Ever, as on they bore, more loud
And louder rung the pibroch proud.

At first the sound, by distance tamey
Mellowed along the waters came,

And lingering long by cape and bay ;

W ailed every harsher note away.

Then bursting bolder on the ear,

The clans shrill gathering they could hear;

Those thrilling sounds, that call the might,

Of old Clan-Alpine to the fight.

Lady of the Lake, Canto II.

All this, however, is learned by experience in the same way
as we learn the distance of objects of vision by touch. The
first time a child hears a drum or a clap of thunder, he cannot
discover from what the sound proceeds, nor can he discover that
the sound is without his own ear, where alone he can feel the
sound.

The D irection of Sounds.

As the distance of sound seems thus to be learned by ex¬
perience from its clearness and raciness, in a similar way as
the distance of visional objects is determined by their distinct-

SG4

Philosophy of Hearing. — No. G.

ness or their haziness ; so the direction of sounds seems to be
discovered by the equality or inequality of tone with which they
strike both ears.

A sound, for example, on the right side, will strike most for¬
cibly on the right ear ; and we will turn to that side to look for
the sounding object.

This may be illustrated bv the experiment of completely
stopping up one ear, and listening to a sound made in a dark
place at some distance. In this case wre will find it impossible
to judge of the direction of the sound. With both ears we will
easily determine this in most circumstances ; though the sight
is of great use in assisting us to decide.

Ven triloquism Explain ed.

Mr. Gough ascribes this art to an acquired method of inter¬
cepting the direct sound of the performer’s voice, and causing only
its echo to be perceived. Every body, of course, would be a ven¬
triloquist, if he could in this manner intercept his direct voice.

By very careful attention we may easily recognize the echo of
our own voice, as distinct from its direct sound when uttered in
a room or other confined place, though this reflected sound is
seldom attended to, because it is drowned by the direct one
being much louder. The reflected sound is always produced.

In such exhibitions of ventriloquism as we have ourselves wit¬
nessed, we remarked that the performer seldom used words in
which the labial letters occurred, lest the audience should per¬
ceive his lips move. When he could not avoid such words he
always dextrously concealed his mouth from the audience. We
also remarked that the feigned voice was so modified as to re¬
move the raciness which would indicate that it had a near
origin. ; .

We say feigned voice, for we are quite incredulous as to the
asserted faculty of speaking from the belly ; and think that all
ventriloquists perform in the same manner as falsetto singers.
The great caution with which they evidently speak, proves our
explanation to be near the truth ; for it is to be remarked that
they seldom or never attempt a continued conversation ; but
confine themselves to exclamations and short questions and an¬
swers, very much in the manner of the exhibitions of puppet
shows.

If this is a correct view of what is called ventriloquism, we
must also reject the account given by some authors, that the
sound of the voree is articulated in the back part of the mouth
and upper part of the throat without employing the lips, teeth,
tongue, or palate.

365

May Diseases.

Diseases ok May, and the Means of Escaping them.

Then came faire May, (he fayrest mayd on ground,

Deck’t all with dainties of her season’s pride,

And throwing (low res out of her lap around : -

Lord ! how all creatures laugh t when her they spied,

And leapt and danc’d as they had ravish’d beene.

And Cupid’s self about her llutter’d all in greene.

Spenser.

In the times of old, this had indeed a right to be called the
merry month of May, when our ancestors gave themselves up
to all the healthy intoxication of the season ; and there was
nothing from the Court to the cottage but mirth and masquer¬
ading, dancing round the May-pole, and playing Robin Hood.
The cordial spirits of all ran up like the sap in the boughs, and
blossomed into love and joy. Many of our old rural sports,
however, are now dying away, or only followed by the labori¬
ous classes, who, so far as health is concerned, need them not;
and the sedentary and luxurious amusements of reading, music,
and drawing, are the substitutes. That nervous and bilious af¬
fections prevail, and that digestion is so frequently deranged,
no one can wonder, when natural, healthful, rural exercise, and
early rising are almost unknown. We may complain of all this,
however, as we may; for our strongest forewarnings are in vain,
when opposed by fashion and habit. Pleasure for the moment
banishes all fear of future evil ; and the gratification of appetite
predominates over every alarm which may be sounded, an¬
nouncing the approach of gout, bile, inflammation, consump¬
tion, or the numerous tribe of nervous disorders, which haunt
the steps of modern pleasure.

In our last May-day proem, we said that this is a healthy
month, and we repeat the observation ; but it scarcely will ap¬
ply to many classes of invalids, though it is a cheering season
for convalescents. The opening leaves, and the brightening
sun-shine; the bright green of the fields, and the deep azure
of the Summer sky, give a new zest to life, and promise a
renewal of health. The convalescent, after long confinement,
feels that

The meanest flow ’ret of the vale,

The simplest note that swells the gale,

The common sun, the air, the skies,

To him are opening paradise.

Gray.

To the young and growing we also Remarked that it brings,
together with an increased tide of blood', a numerous train of

vol. ir. 3 a

3 GG . May Disc uses.

accompanying pains and disorders, arising from the changes
thence produced cn the body. As this increase of blood, like
the increase of the sap of trees and plants, is the most promi¬
nent circumstance in the constitution at this season, and as we
have already taken ample notice of its effects on the young, we
shall at present attend more particularly to its effects on those of
middle age, or who are growing old, whether this be caused by
their number of years, or by improper indulgence.

Among the disorders then to which the usual increase of blood
at the beginning of Summer gives rise in middle life and old
age, we may mention apoplexy, epilepsy, gout, bilious and liver
complaints, piles, costiveness, indigestion, asthma, and angina
pectoris , or breast-pang — a very dreadful and increasing disor¬
der. In the preceding pages of this work, many of these dis¬
orders are discussed at length, and the proper remedies advised;
and we shall now proceed to some of the others, which still re¬
quire elucidation. We know none of greater prevalence, nor
more importance than

Nervous Consu n ip tion.

This may arise from any debilitating cause, but it originates
in by far the greater number of instances from the improper
practices alluded to at page 73, above; though it may also
arise from unscientific feasting, excessive drinking, late hours,
&c. The ravages of a particular disorder, and of its specific re¬
medy, amount but to a trifle in comparison with that misery,
for which no advice is sought, except when it arises to visible
disability — though in much inferior degrees, it extinguishes all
present pleasure, and all hope as to the remainder of life. Into
whichever habit any one falls or is misled through ignorance,
its baneful effects will, we apprehend, be in proportion to his
youth, to his sensibility, and the rate at which his excesses are
carried on. In either case, there are certain signs which do not
indeed occur universally, nor early enough to prevent much
damage, but which ought to raise suspicion in those who have
the care of persons, almost ever so young.

The eye loses its lustre, and no longer sparkles with the fire
of youth. Vision, in process of time, becomes dim. The eye¬
balls sink, and the sockets grow hollow, as in genuine consump¬
tion. The features acquire a flabby appearance. A look of age
supervenes. The complexion sometimes changes from a clear
to a muddy paleness; and frequently an eruption of a livid hue
breaks out. Briskness of motion and vivacity are lost. A morn¬
ing heaviness (almost a sleepiness), after dead sleep in the latter
part of the night, comes on; and there are great complaints of

May Diseases. 307

being relaxed or .overpowered in warm weather, and of being
proportionably chilled in cold. Imagination and memory decay.
No continued effort of mind or body can be borne. The ears
incessantly ring; deafness ensues; and epileptic fits or great
nervous weakness. Suicide is a common subject of meditation,
and is sometimes actually perpetrated. The sensibility grows
excessive, but the feelings are all of the painful kind; and mo¬
roseness and habitual dejection follow in due gradation. The
nerves are perpetually a-jar. There is within, an incessant dis¬
cord of flats and sharps, of which, without having seen and
heard persons tormented by it, no adequate conception can be
formed.

Such is, for the most part, the state of those who have fallen
into nervous consumption, whatever may have been the pro¬
ducing cause — whether the blood be too scanty to supply the
ordinary wants of the system; or whether some part of the
body may be in a state of inordinate wear and waste, as in very
severe and protracted labour, in which the supply is rapidly
carried off by profuse perspiration, or by profuse bleeding. Any
other extreme, or long continued evacuation, may prove equally
mischievous ; such as an excessive discharge from the bowels,
or from the breasts, as when a delicate wet nurse suckles two
strong infants, or when suckling is too long continued.

In all these cases, wherever the system is in an ordinary state
of health, there is a strong effort made by the digestive powers
to recruit the excessive expenditure, by the additional manu¬
facture of nourishment. Hence the stomach is always in a state
of hunger, as in the case of famine, profuse loss of blood, or
recovery from fever; all the organs of digestion are greatly in¬
creased in activity, and an incredible quantity of food is de¬
manded. The heart also beats quicker, the flow of the blood
is increased, and the new and half-made blood is hurried for¬
ward to the lungs, which are thence more rapidly expanded.
Such is the wonderful sympathy that pervades the entire frame,
and that runs more particularly through the extensive chain of
action, which commences with the organs of digestion, and ends
in the conversion of the blood into bone and muscle. So long
as the surplus of supply is equal to the surplus of expenditure,
no perceptible degree of waste ensues; but the greater the de¬
mand, the greater the labour; and the turmoil is too violent to
be long persevered in. The excited organs must have rest, or
their action will by degrees become feeble and inefficient; and
if this take place while the waste is still continuing, emaciation
will be a necessary consequence, even in the midst of the great¬
est abundance.

568 May Diseases.

Prevention and Treatment.

The first thing that can be clone to prevent the advance of
nervous consumption is to discover, if possible, the cause, and
endeavour to put a stop to it; for it must be obvious that no
medicine will have any effect so long as the causes are in ope¬
ration. We cannot press too strongly on the sufferer, the abso¬
lute necessity of relinquishing indulgences which may diminish
the surplus quantity of blood prepared by the stomach and liver,
and consequently give these organs more labour to perform in
making up the deficiency, than they can undergo without fa¬
tigue and consequent exhaustion.

When the cause has been thus discovered and obviated, the
next step is to discover whether any of the organs — particularly
the stomach, the liver, or the bowels, has suffered any material
injury from over-exertion, and to repair this by the proper re¬
medies. We cannot, in tins short paper, go into all the parti¬
culars of the injuries of this kind which may occur in particular
cases, but must refer the reader for full information to our
Medical Advice, where numerous prescriptions are given suit¬
able to the disorders in question. If that little work is not at
hand, we advise you first to clear out the bowels by an ordinary
dose of Epsom salts, with senna, and then to sooth the irrita¬
tion which may exist by Dr. Johnson’s soothing pill, ( Oracle ,
Vol. II. page 329). When the bowels are brought into a re¬
gular state, you may then commence a course of tonic treat¬
ment ; and we can recommend for this purpose nothing better
than

Mr. Abernethy’s Tonic Fills.

Take half a drachm of powdered rhubarb,
same quantity of powdered ginger,
one drachm of extract of chamomile.

Make a mass and divide into thirty pills ; two or three to be taken
before dinner every day.

If you cannot take pills, and prefer a mixture, we can strongly
recommend as a powerful and efficient tonic,

Sir W. Knighton’s Tonic Mixture.

Take half an ounce of tincture of cascarilla,
seven ounces of decoction of bark,
three drachms of powdered bark,
half an ounce of tincture of cardamoms,
forty drops of sulphuric acid.

Mix, and take two or three table spoonfuls thrice a day.

The most effectual cure and restorative, however, will be a
course of Training, as laid down in this work — which never

On Leaving off Flannel. 3t>9

fails, when all medical means are baffled — to invigorate the
system and renew the health and strength of those who may be
aflected, as we have just described.

On Leaving off Flannel.

Now when the Summer begins to smile, and the air feels soft,
and the sun-shine warm and pleasant, it is time to think of lay¬
ing aside the dress of Winter, and of enjoying the hot weather
in cooler clothing. It is a good rule indeed, for the weak and
for invalids to dress by the thermometer, though it may be re¬
marked that habit goes a great way in reconciling us to degrees
of cold, and to modes of dress. You may have remarked this
very strikingly at the turn of the year, when, after having been
accustomed to the warm weather of Summer, the slightest in¬
crease of cold will feel like a severe frost ; but when once you
are accustomed for some wreeks to Winter weather, even a severe
frost will not feel so very cold, as a chill night in the preceding
October.

This is one point of view in which the wearing of flannel
may be considered, so far as habit is concerned; but there is
another circumstance depending in a similar manner on habit,
which it will be necessary to take under more particular consi¬
deration. The human body is so constituted, that when it has
been for several weeks or months subject to an unusual, or
extraordinary drain, or expenditure of its fluids, that any sud¬
den interruption of this expenditure, is generally followed by
some serious derangement of the health. Even independent of
any actual loss or expenditure of its fluids, if there has been any
irritation continued for a length of time, its sudden interruption
will often occasion disorder or inconvenience ; for though the
blood or the fluids derived from it, be not in that case actually
expended, yet the irritation attracts a greater flow to the parts,
and consequently an undue balance of the quantity of the
blood.

In our former paper, on the use and abuse of flannel in dress,
we explained its effects in irritating the skin in a similar man¬
ner to a blister, though not so violently. This irritation pro¬
duces an increased flow of blood, and as the perspiration of the
skin is all derived from the blood, it is also increased at the
same time, and consequently there is a greater expenditure of
blood than when flannel is not worn. It was upon these prin¬
ciples that we laid down what we considered to be the true
principles upon which flannel may be worn with advantage next
to the skin ; and according to the same doctrine we shall now

370

On Leaving off ' Flannel.

point out the manner in which the wearing of flannel may be
discontinued without danger.

It is a well known principle of the human system, that when
cold is applied to the skin, the small blood-vessels contract, and
of course are incapable of containing so much blood as they
previously did. Under these circumstances, the blood, which is
no longer admitted into the contracted vessels, must flow some¬
where or stagnate. In either case, its redundance is extremely
apt to produce disorder, and when it overflows upon the lungs
or the bowels, it gives rise to inflammation; and when it stag¬
nates in the feet or about the joints, it produces gout or rheu¬
matism.

Now what we have here said of the application of cold to the
skin, will apply most exactly to leaving off a flannel dress, which
has for some time been worn next to the skin ; for as soon as
the irritation of the flannel is removed, the increased flow of
blood to the skin which it had occasioned will cease, and tire
redundant portion will fall back upon the chest, the liver, or the
bowels, or on any other part which is weak and unable to re¬
sist its current, and disorder of some kind or ether will be the
consequence. If the membrane which lines the nostrils and
throat be the weakest part, the disorder will be a sneezing cold
or a sore throat, one of the most common effects, indeed, of
rashly leaving off an under-dress of flannel, the cause of which
is now most clear, we should hope, to all who peruse this
article.

The principles being thus evident, it will not be difficult to
advise those who wish to lay aside their flannel under-dress, as
to the least inconvenient mode of proceeding ; for it will plainly
consist in the management of the superabundant quantity of
blood, and in bringing the system again to a due balance.

The most direct method of doing this, would be on the day
after leaving off' the flannel, to have ten, twelve, or sixteen
ounces of blood taken from the arm ; but as many invalids
might object to the lancet, a smart purgative, repeated once or
twice according to circumstances, will carry off’ by the bowels,
the redundant fluid thrown inwards from the skin. It will not
be amiss also, to keep the skin as active as possible by the
warm bath and the flesh brush, to prevent in some measure the
sudden revulsion of blood from its accustomed channel, and its
flow upon some weak part.

From these principles, we think, any body may derive all the
instruction which will be necessary for them in leaving off’ flan-
nel for the Summer; and we refer to our former paper for ad¬
vice as to the circumstances under which it is proper or impro-

37 i

Causes and Cure of Piles.

per to continue its use, a subject of more importance, than it is
usually considered bv those who trust more to fashion or to the
theoretical prejudices of doctors, than to plain common sense
and genuine experience.

Causes and Cure of Piles.

As this disorder is very prevalent, we shall make no apology
lor extending our former practical remarks, from which many
of our correspondents inform us they have derived much be¬
nefit. We shall follow the more recent discoveries and publi¬
cations which have lately appeared on the subject, both in
England, and in France and Germany. We shall begin with a
description of the

Nature of Piles.

In consequence of the causes formerly mentioned and such
as we shall again advert to, there is established in the system a
determination or flow of blood to the lower part of the bowels
and fundament, which at first does not produce what can be
called actual pain, but a kind of fulness, weight and distention
about the small of the back and the lower intestines, which often
affects the bladder and adjacent parts with increase of sensibility
or rather irritability. These feelings of weight and fulness con¬
tinue for a few days, but are often so slight as to attract little
notice, though in many cases a little blood is discharged with
the stools, not mixed with them, but tinging the surface of a
bright red colour. In many cases, however, there is no dis¬
charge, and the affection soon goes off'; but returns at longer or
shorter intervals, according to the causes. If blood, however,
is discharged, even in small quantity, it always gives speedier
relief than when it is not.

By the recurrence of such symptoms at intervals, the disease
is increased, seeming to acquire strength by repetition. The
feelings of weight and fulness become more evident, blood is
discharged in greater quantity, and small tumours, which are
for the most part painful, begin to appear on the inside of the
fundament, or around its termination. Previous to the appear¬
ance of the tumours, the patient usually feels a stinging, or
pricking pain, which is much increased by going to stool, at
which time also blood is squeezed from their surface, or jetted
out through holes, so very small, that the surgeon cannot after¬
wards detect them even with the aid of a magnifying glass. In
other cases, there is no discharge of blood, but the tumours are
moistened with a whitish fluid, which is produced on their sur¬
face. The discharge either of this fluid or of blood, soon causes

.3/2

Causes and Cure of Piles.

the tumours to decrease in size, till at length nothing remains
but empty flaps of skin around the margin of the fundament.
Such is the early local appearance of piles.

That piles, however, are not merely a local affection, is now
considered by our most experienced surgeons to be quite esta¬
blished; for along with the symptoms of weight, &c., just enu¬
merated, there are generally a slight shivering and sensation of
cold in the back and loins, occasional numbness of the lower
extremities, hardness and contraction of the pulse, dul ness of
expression in the eyes, dryness of the mouth, scantiness and
high colour of the urine, weakness of the stomach, flatulence
and belching, frequency of inclination to stool and urine, sense
of bearing down about the lower parts, and occasional discharge
of mucus by stool. The countenance also is paler than usual,
the eye appears sunk, and a dark circle beneath it, and the
belly and the feet swell. All of which symptoms tend, in a
great measure, to confirm what we have said of piles depending
on disordered liver, or on a preternatural flow or obstruction of
blood in the bowels.

The Tumours. — There are two sorts of tumours in piles,
which differ very considerably both in structure and appearance.
One sort of these, for the most part, more strictly called piles,
is in the form of small fleshy tubercles, usually of a brownish
or pale red colour, and situated within the fundament. When
examined by the finger, these tubercles feel solid and spongy,
and when cut into, they present a surface more or less compact
and bloody, from which blood oozes out, leaving the texture
relaxed and pale. When they are situated more externally they
are paler, and for the most part more clastic and transparent.
This sort is more rapid both in appearing and disappearing than
the former. They often contain a central cavity, filled with fluid
or coagulated blood, which is of a brighter or darker red, ac¬
cording to the length of time it has been contained in the tu¬
mour. The cavity is commonly about the size of a pea; but is
sometimes found large enough to contain several tea spoonfuls
of blood. Frequently, however, there is no regular cavity, but
the whole substance of the tumour is soaked with blood, which
in time becomes dark and coagulated. The increase of the tu¬
mours, when they have once established themselves, does not
take place in every direction, as they rather become lengthened
than expanded, the body being in form of a cone, with the neck
considerably narrower.

Varices , or swelled Veins. — It is of some importance to dis¬
tinguish the turgid veins about the fundament, called by sur¬
geons variees , from true piles ; and this, it is fortunate, is not

3/3

Causes and Cure of Piles.

difficult. They are rare compared with the others, and form
more slowly and gradually without any of the feelings of weight
and other symptoms which we have mentioned, as attendant on
the former; nor have they that tendency to enlarge and de¬
crease periodically ; and they seldom inflame unless from ex¬
ternal injury. They are of a dark or bluish colour, soft and
elastic to the touch, and very much in this respect resembling
a ripe grape. They are elastic, and when compressed by the
finger become sensibly less, but return to their former size
when the pressure is removed. They are broader also than true
piles, rounder at the base, and show no disposition to bleed,
unless ruptured or cut into. They usually remain of nearly the
same size for life.

Pains arising from Piles.

As we have already stated, the tumours when once formed
go on increasing, till at length there is much pain and inconve¬
nience occasioned by their size, more particularly when the
patient goes to stool. They become highly inflamed, and are
accompanied with darting sensations, as if pricked with a lancet,
and frequently the torture while at stool is excruciating, and
beyond description. Besides these pains from active inflamma¬
tion, there are others, no less afflicting, of a nervous kind, which
are not dependent on either inflammation nor chapping of the
skin, and what is curious, they are somewhat relieved by pressure.
This nervous pain comes on at intervals, and it fluctuates very
rapidly from comparative ease to great severity. Like most
nervous affections, it leaves the patient in the most extreme
state of inquietude and depression. Although they do not arise
immediately from inflammation, they often succeed it, and will
remain long after the producing cause has ceased to operate ;
sometimes even for months and years, and occasionally they
become permanent, and embitter the remainder of the sufferer's
flfe.

When the parts within are fissured or severely chapped, as
we may say, the patient feels, on going to stool, a slight pain,
the seat of which is always the same. This pain is at first so
slight as to be scarcely perceptible; but after an interval vary¬
ing from a few minutes to an hour or more, it assumes an in¬
tensity that is compared by the patient to what might be ex¬
pected from the introduction of a red hot iron into the funda¬
ment. This torture generally continues till the patient falls ex¬
hausted into a sound and prolonged sleep, from which he
awakens free from pain. The state of tranquillity continues till
he next has a stool, when he is destined again to go through
the same train of sufferings. When this complaint has conti-

vol. n.

3/4 Causes and Cure of Piles.

liueri for a considerable time, the patient becomes affected with
an habitual despondency, which is strongly depicted in his
countenance. He loses flesh, and becomes rapidly emaciated,
and often avoids eating from the fear of having a stool in con¬
sequence. The fissures, or chaps, which cause these excruci¬
ating pains sometimes heal spontaneously, after becoming
acutely inflamed.

Case by Dr. Johnson. — A medical gentleman, of London,
suffered nearly two years from this complaint, with symptoms
precisely similar to those just described. The fissure, or rather
a small ulcer, with a smooth surface, and hard edges, was dis¬
covered, by an eminent surgeon, between two tumours, which
always came down on going to stool. The fissure was cut away
by an exceedingly painful operation; it was not at that time
deemed advisable to remove the tumours ; but inflammation
followed, and the tumours sloughed from strangulation. The
patient’s sufferings were indescribable during the sloughing,
which occupied five or six days, and left a large raw surface ancl
two fistulas in the gut, which bad to be twice operated upon
afterwards. These all healed at length, and a complete cure
was effected, after he had been harassed for many years by the
affection, and during the last two his life bad become a burthen
to him, as, for all That time lie never passed a stool larger than
a finger, without exquisite torture.

Treatment of Piles.

We have formerly given some of the best known remedies
for this distressing complaint ; and we shall now confine our¬
selves more particularly to the means of soothing the pains
which are so excruciating, as we have seen in the cases just
mentioned. M. Montegre, a French author, who has written
an excellent Treatise on Piles, was led to the discovery of the
efficacy of cold water in allaying the pain, by observing that
when patients afflicted with the complaint, happened to have a
stool while bathing in a river or in the sea, they sometimes
escaped their usual torture. He recommends cold water to be
used either as a lotion, or by squirting the water from a syringe
as an injection against the fundament. The following two
eases will go further to prove the effects of this remedy, than
any eulogium we could bestow on it.

A man, aged 34, of good constitution, but afflicted with
piles from an early period of bis life, bad, during the last few
years, experienced long and painful attacks of pain. The last
attack had continued three months without the least relief, and
all remedies had proved useless. Every stool was followed by
the excruciating pains above described, so that the poor man

Constitutions at I he Turn of Life.

OJD

was often deprived of sleep for whole nights together, lie was
reduced to despair, and had almost entirely abandoned food for
fear of the sufferings which always came on when he went
to stool. In this state he commenced throwing cold water
against the fundament, from a syringe with a pipe bent up¬
wards. The first effect of this application was a diminution of
the pains ; — the diminution of the tumours followed, and in
three or four days the pains entirely ceased. He has now' been
entirely free from the complaint for five years.

In another instance, a man aged 40, of a full habit of body,
had been afflicted with internal or blind piles, without any dis¬
charge. A sedentary life, without any regular rest for some
months, had caused a swelling of the parts, attended by inflam¬
mation, and followed by ulcers, and the excruciating pains so of¬
ten mentioned. Having a water closet, he had it so constructed
as to throw ud a jet of water when he went to stool, and expe¬
rienced from it immediate relief for the time. He renewed the
application every time the pain came on, which was sometimes
very often in the course of the day. By persevering in this
plan for a month or six weeks, the ulcers healed, the pains went
off^ and the piles disappeared.

We shall take notice of other remedies and preventives
of piles in an early page.

Consolations at the Turn of Life.

Many are the imaginary evils which haunt the imagination of
some persons at the period called the “turn of life f which is
usually reckoned from the age of forty-five to fifty. Women in
particular, who have been hysterical or subject to any other
complaint of long standing, look forward to the cessation of their
periodical affections with much anxiety and dread, and in these
fears they are not without the support of medical authority of
considerable weight. We are happy to inform our readers that
a French author, M. de Chateauneuf, has investigated this sub¬
ject with great industry and learning, and has come to the con¬
clusion that the common opinion is little better than a mere
prejudice.

Our philosopher, for such he must be called, has'gone upon
the most authentic documents, namely, the bills of mortality of
various countries and climates. From these documents it ap¬
pears, that between the forty-third and sixtieth degrees of north
latitude, extending from Marseilles to St. Petersburg!), no in¬
crease of mortality appears to take place among females, from
the age of thirty to seventy, farther than what arises from the

3/6 Grand Secret for attaining Long Life.

natural progress of life, independent of any change which might
be supposed to occur at the particular period in question ; and
therefore there can be no cause for alarm at its approach — at
least arising from the periodical suppression or stoppage. At
all periods within the ages of thirty and seventy, there appears
to be a greater mortality among men than among women, and
especially between the age of forty and fifty, according accu¬
rately with the principles so repeatedly laid down in this work,
respecting the obstruction and obliteration of the smaller blood
vessels.

We may remark, however, with regard to the calculations
made from the tables of mortality by M. de Chateauneuf, that
although they prove that the general proportion of mortality
among women is not increased by the turn of life, yet they do
not prove that the stoppage of their periodical affections is un¬
productive of danger, and in some instances of death itself. It
ought to be recollected that the turn of life brings with it to
women an immunity from some dangers, such as child-bear¬
ing, and therefore although the general rate of mortality may
not be influenced by this period, the kind of death may vary. If,
for example, as many women die after the age of forty in conse¬
quence of the turn of life as there died before that age of child¬
bearing, the proportion of mortality would not be altered, and
yet it would be quite certain that the critical period was a pe¬
riod of danger.

Grand Secret for attaining Long Life.

We have always been, from the commencement of this work,
strenuous advocates for good living, meaning thereby, meats
pleasant to the taste, and liquor that goeth down sweetly, such
as prime venison and braised turkey, or above all, rich juicy
beef, in the form of a rump steak or a smoking sirloin, with
good old Edinburgh ale, champaigne, and Glasgow punch.
The starving doctors, and those who enjoin eating by weight or
measure, we therefore disclaim as brethren, and set our faces
against all meagre fare, water drinking, and spare commons.
Few, however, we believe have hitherto discovered the grand
secret of attaining long life and good health, which, though it
has been long published in a very popular book, has seldom
been understood and much seldomer practised.

Not to keep you in suspense, the secret is cheerfulness, good
humour, and equanimity of temper; and the popular book which
we allude to, is Cornaro’s Method of attaining a Long and
Healthful Life ; though, what is strange enough, the author

377

Grand Secret far attaining Long Life .

docs not seem to have known his own secret, but ascribes to Ii is
measured diet what was plainly the result of his cheerful and
unruffled disposition of mind, which could not wholly arise
from his abstemious diet, though it may have been partly pro¬
moted by it. We think it equally strange that we should here
have to expose a similar

M is ta Ice of Mr. Abernet hy ’$ .

We shall therefore quote what he says respecting Cornaro’s re¬
gimen. “ If a man,” says Mr. Abernethy, “ were to do as Cor-
naro did, he would be rewarded for it by a long and happy life.
Cornaro was given over by his physicians at the age of thirty-
five ; he saw that there was not the least chance of recovery if
he continued to swallow the trash they were in the habit of giv¬
ing him ; and that there was no good in putting food into his sto¬
mach, if his stomach could not digest it ; what did it do there ?
why, it played the very devil with Cornaro’s bowels. So, said he,
“ I dropped the plan pursued by my physicians, and adopted a
regimen of my own.” The principal beauty of Cornaro’s life
was the happy state of mind in which his continued temperance
preserved him. He limited himself to twelve ounces of food
for each day ; this was of a nutritious kind, and no inducement
could prevail on him to exceed it. He enjoyed the simplest food
with the greatest relish, for Cornaro’s appetite was rather keen,
so that he used to say when eating a dry crust of bread, 44 O !
how delicious it is ; it is so delicious, that I am almost tempted
to exceed my allowance,” yet he never did. He writes, between
eighty and ninety, “ the society of my friends is delightful,
and even the company of children is amusing to me; and when
not otherwise engaged, I read godly books. But the infirmi¬
ties of age increasing upon me, and becoming more feeble, my
friends advised me to increase my diet, which I did to fourteen
ounces. But, from the time I began to increase it, I was dissa¬
tisfied with myself, and felt that it was producing mischief in
my stomach, and I had not continued it long before I was
obliged to return to my former allowance.” Cornaro, however,
could not live for ever; and we find that, to the time of his
death, he might be said to have enjoyed perfect health. He
went down to the grave at the advanced age of one hundred
and five; as the account is given by his niece, who was a nun
at Padua. Now, what I propose as a diet, is Cornaro’s diet, and
it is no fanciful system. The diet should always be of a mode¬
rate quantity; it should not be wholly vegetable nor animal, but
it should be of a nutritious kind. The diet I have taken the
liberty to recommend to the public is Cornaro’s, with a few co¬
nundrums of my own, as Dr. Franklin says.”

378

Grand Secret for attaining Long Life.

Now we altogether dissent from this opinion of Mr. Abernc-
thy’s, about restraining the appetite, and keeping corners in the
stomach unfilled with good things, which arc certain to gene¬
rate wind, and every kind of crude humour and bad blood.
We prove our position that Cornaro’s secret was cheerfulness
more than meagre diet, from his own shewing.

“ I will give an account,” says he, a of my recreations, and
the relish which I find at this stage of life, in order to convince
the public, which may likewise be done by all those who know
me, that the state I have now attained is by no means death,
but real life ; such a life as by many is deemed happy, since it
abounds with all the felicity that can be enjoyed in this world.
And this testimony they will give, in the first place, because
they see, and not without the greatest amazement, the good
state of health I enjoy : howT I mount my horse without any as¬
sistance, or advantage of situation ; and how I not only ascend
a single flight of stairs, but climb up hill from bottom to top
afoot, and with the greatest ease and unconcern ; then how gay,
pleasant , and good-humoured [ am ; how free from every per¬
turbation of mind, and every disagreeable thought ; in lieu of
which, joy and peace have so firmly fixed their residence in my
bosom, as never to depart from it. Moreover, they know in
what manner I pass my time, so as not to find life a burden ;
seeing I can contrive to spend every hour of it with the greatest
delight and pleasure, having frequent opportunities of convers¬
ing with many honourable gentlemen ; men valuable for their
good sense and manners, their acquaintance with letters, and
every other good quality. Then, when 1 cannot enjoy their
conversation, I betake myself to the reading of some good book.
When I have read as much as I like, 1 write; endeavouring in
this, as in every thing else, to be of service to others, to the ut¬
most of my power.

“I have another way of diverting myself, which is, goingevery
April and May, and likewise every September and October, for
some days, to enjoy an eminence belonging to me in the most
beautiful part of the Euganian hills, adorned with fountains and
gardens ; and, above all, a convenient and handsome lodge, in
which place I likewise now and then make one in some hunting
party, suitable to my taste and age.

“ At the same seasons every year, I revisit some of the neigh¬
bouring cities, and enjoy such of my friends as live there, tak¬
ing the greatest pleasure in their company and conversation ;
and by their means, I also enjoy the conversation of other men
of parts, who live in the same places ; such as architects, paint¬
ers, sculptors, musicians, and husbandmen, with whom this age

Grand Secret for attaining Long Life.

most certainly abounds. I visit their now works 5 I revisit their
former ones 3 and always learn something which gives me satis¬
faction. I see the palaces, gardens, antiquities ; and with these,
the squares and other public places, the churches, the fortifica¬
tions, leaving nothing unobserved from whence 1 may reap
either entertainment or instruction. JBut what delights me
most is, in my journeys backwards and forwards, to contemplate
the situation and other beauties of the places I pass through ;
some in the plain, others on hills, adjoining to rivers or foun¬
tains ; with a great many fine houses and gardens.

“ Nor are my recreations rendered less agreeable and entertain¬
ing by my not seeing well, or not hearing readily every thing
that is said to me ; or by any other of my senses not being per¬
fect ; for they are all, thank God, in the highest perfection, par¬
ticularly my palate, which now relishes better the simple fare I
meet, wherever 1 happen to be, than it formerly did the most
delicate dishes, when I led an irregular life. Nor does the
changes of bed give me any uneasiness, so that I sleep every¬
where soundly and quietly, without experiencing the least dis¬
turbance ; and all my dreams are pleasant and delightful.

“ Such are my genuine and no trifling satisfactions; such are
the recreations and diversions of my old age, which is so much
the more to be valued than the old age, or even youth of other
men, as being freed by God’s grace from the perturbations of
the mind, and the infirmities of the body, it no longer experiences
any of those contrary emotions, which rack such a number of
young men, and as many old ones destitute of strength and
health, and every other blessing.

66 And if it is lawful to compare little matters to affairs of im¬
portance, I will further venture to say, that such aie the effects
of this sober life, that at my present age of eighty-three, I have
been able to write a very entertaining comedy, abounding with
innocent mirth and pleasant jests. This kind of poem is gene¬
rally the child and offspring of youth, as tragedy is of old age;
the former being, by its facetious and sprightly turn, suited to
the bloom of life, and the latter, by its gravity, adapted to riper

years.

u Now if that good old man, a Grecian by birth, and a poet,
was so much extolled for having written a tragedy at the age of
seventy- three, and on that account alone, reputed of sound me¬
mory and understanding, though tragedy be a grave and melan¬
choly poem ; why should i be deemed less happy and of sound
memory and understanding, who have, at an age ten years more
advanced than his, written a comedy, which, as every one knows,
is a merry and pleasant kind of composition ? And indeed, if I

380 (hand Secret for attaining Long Life.

may be considered .an impartial judge in my own cause, I can¬
not help thinking that I am now of sounder memory and under¬
standing, and heartier , than he was when ten years younger.

“ That no comfort might be wanting to the fulness of my years,
whereby my great age may be rendered less irksome, or rather
the number of my enjoyments increased, I have the additional
comfort of seeing a kind of immortality in a succession of des¬
cendants. For, as often as I return home, I find before me,
not one or two, but eleven grandchildren, the oldest of them
eighteen, and the youngest two years old ; all the offspring of
one father and one mother; all blessed with the best health;
and, by what as yet appears, fond of learning, and of good parts
and morals. Some of the youngest I always play with ; and
indeed children from three to five are only fit for play. Those
above that age I make companions of ; and as nature has be¬
stowed very fine voices upon them, I amuse mvself, besides,
with seeing and hearing them sing and play on various instru¬
ments. Nay, I sing myself, as I have a better voice now, and
a clearer and louder pipe, than at any other period of life.
Such are the recreations of my old age.

“ Whence it appears, that the life I lead is cheerful and not
gloomy, as some persons pretend who know no better; to whom,
in order that it may appear what value I set on every other kind
of life, I must declare that I would not exchange my manner of
living, or my grey hairs, with any of those young men even of
the best constitution, who give way to their appetites; know¬
ing, as I do, that such are daily, nay hourly, subject as I have
already observed, to a thousand kinds of ailments and death/’

Let us not be understood, however, from what we have here
said of cheerfulness that we undervalue a proper regimen of
food and drink. We disapprove indeed of Cornaro’s plan as
too spare and meagre, except for a person who is a martyr to
gout, or to disordered liver or cancered stomach. In corrobo¬
ration of our remarks, we may mention the fact that persons
who live upon annuities, and who are not involved in the bustle
of life, have been observed to live longer in equal circumstances
than other people. Life-rents have been supposed to have the
same influence in prolonging life, by exempting the renters
from the fears of want, which so frequently distract the minds
of old people unprovided for. Perhaps the desire of life, in
order to enjoy for as long a time as possible, that property
which cannot be enjoyed a second time by a child or a relation,
may be another cause of the long life of persons who live on
settled incomes. It is a fact that the desire of life is a very

No. 3.

381

Philosophy of Bathing. —

powerful stimulant in prolonging it, especially when that desire
is supported by hope. This is obvious to physicians every day.

Extraordinary Effects of Tea.

■ i

We promised in our last to give two instances of the extraor¬
dinary effects of tea in corroboration of the many eulogiums
which we have so often been led to make on it, in opposition to
ti e groundless clamour raised against it by the ignorant. That
it affects the nerves we do not deny ; but we do deny that it in¬
jures them. Its soothing effects have been experienced by all ;
and if there be an individual, as will now and then occur, who
feels the worse for drinking tea, we must pronounce that the
case is peculiar and an exception to the general rule ; in the
same way as individuals are to be found who cannot eat cheese
without violence to their feelings : Dr. Gall, the founder of the
system of Phrenology, is thrown into convulsions if he eats
mutton, though no other meat produces that effect. In the
same way we know a man whose nerves are similarly affected
by drinking tea ; but this case, and even twenty cases of the
same kind, would no more deter us from drinking tea than the
instance of Dr. Gall would deter us from eating mutton.

“ I have seen”, says Madame de Sevignd, “ the Princess de
Tarente, who takes every day twelve cups of tea, infusing it in
the usual way, but always adding more than a half of boiling
water to it. It has cured her, she affirms, of all her evils ; and
she assures me that her nephew, the Landgrave of Hesse Cas-
sel, took forty cups every morning ! ‘ So many ?’ said Ma¬

dame Sevigne, ‘ I should have thought thirty more than
enough.’ ‘ No,’ said the Princess, 6 forty, I assure you : he
was dying — given up — and the tea has restored him under my
very eyes’.”

Before tea became so commonly used, while it was sold only
by the apothecaries as a medicine, it performed many cures no
less wonderful, particularly in cases of nervous headache, and
other nervous affections, which it is now falsely said to aggra¬
vate or produce. In cases of gout and rheumatism, wre think
that the Landgrave’s system, a little modified, would frequently
be of the greatest benefit.

Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 3.

The approach of the warm season reminds us of the in¬
teresting subject of baths, on which wre have already given two
practical papers, to shew the abuse and danger of improper
VOL. II. 3 c

8S2 Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 3.

bathing* particularly to those who are much reduced by debility,
or are threatened with consumption and decline. We shall
now continue our remarks, and go more into the detail respect¬
ing the effects of cold bathing.

These baths, indeed, forming an important resource of the
healing art, and so much used for their preventive and pleasur¬
able effects, ought to be subjected to a rigorous analysis, since
the abuses of them from ignorance and false theories, have
often converted a most useful remedy into causes of dangerous
and even deadly diseases. Forgetting the different action ex¬
erted by warm and cold baths, many writers have freely recom¬
mended the one in the same diseases, in which the other was
found useful ; and by a fallacy of observation and indication by
no means uncommon, symptoms of an apparently similar cha¬
racter, but occurring in diseases of an opposite nature, have
been treated by the same remedy — the cold bath. We shall
therefore commence the present branch of inquiry, by an exa¬
mination of the various opinions of the most distinguished phy¬
sicians, on the use of the cold bath — viewing the sea bath as a
variety of the first.

That we may be guided to a correct view of this remedy,
we shall sum up for a moment the immediate effects of cold
baths on our systems, and can thence establish the manner and
circumstances in which they may be adopted with safety as well
as advantage. Immediately on the immersion of the body in a
cold bath, there follows shivering and tremor, and a general
constriction occupying the surface of the skin, draws it in such
a manner as to make it assume that appearance known under
the name of goose-skin. Breathing is in the mean time more
or less hurried and irregular, the constriction of the small
blood-vessels of the lungs producing nearly the same effect on
the lungs, as that just spoken of on the nervous and cellular
tissue of the external surface — the pulse is for some moments
irregularly quickened. All these effects gradually subside, except
the breathing, in which there is still some irregularity. The
universal and consentaneous torpor of small blood-vessels ail
over the body, and the diminished action of the heart and larger
vessels, are phenomena in direct opposition to the common and
erroneous opinion of their being a greater afflux of blood to the
bowels, and of the consequent danger of cold immersion or affu¬
sion in spitting of blood. Buchan, Odier, and Giannini have
shewn that the application of cold, so far from being injurious
in such cases, is an excellent remedy, and Dr. Chapman, in his
lectures, urges similar experience. We have directed the use
of the remedy during the last Spring, with decidedly good

Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 3. 383

effecls in spitting of blood, as well in checking the discharge,
as in relieving the accompanying pain and stitches.

When the use of the cold bath is prolonged, the parts become
torpid, are seized with a genuine stupor, and the desire for
making water is from the beginning very urgent. On coming
out into a warmer atmosphere, the circulation becomes freer,
and a pleasing sensation of heat is diffused over the whole sur¬
face — the effect of that mild excitement produced by heat on
the skin, become now more excitable by the sudden abstraction
of this stimulus. Here we may repeat the observation of Mar-
card, concurred in by every person of any experience on the
subject, that cold bathing is only suitable to those in whom
such a phenomenon takes place, and that it is entirely contra¬
indicated in those persons who are slow in becoming warm after
it. Galen had early remarked that such baths either strengthen
or obstruct and cause torpor, from all which we may conclude
that cold bathing, habitually used, can only be adapted to ro¬
bust habits. Another remarkable symptom is that momentary
fulness, or rather sensation of fulness of the head, and an
almost invincible propensity to sleep, which has been noticed by
Buchan in his treatise on sea bathing. This torpor is evidently
not the consequence of engorgement, or fulness of blood in the
head, but rather of slower and diminished circulation, causing a
similar state in the brain to that which is met with in a limb
benumbed with cold. All the effects then of the cold bath may
be safely referred to a counter-stimulant, or sedative action, in
part, but not entirely, owing to the abstraction of heat. The
primary impression, which may be called cutaneous, is rapidly
communicated to the internal parts which make a tribute of
their heat, and there results what Athil calls the tranquilizing
property of the cold bath , which is in fact nothing else but a
diminution of motion and sensation — attributes that cannot in
any manner exist without heat. The augmented density, the
hardness and rigidity of the skin which covers the parts most
exposed to the cold, ought all to be considered as so many
effects which serve to guard the system against its injurious
influence.

Cold Bath and effusion in Fevers.

We may now with some confidence make the practical appli¬
cation of the principles laid down above, in proceeding to a con¬
sideration of the circumstances under which the cold bath may
be safely and successfully used. The cold bath will succeed
very well in simple fever, by tempering the excessive excite¬
ment of the system ; provided, however, that such a bath be

381

Philosophy of Put king. — No, 3.

not temporary, as we shall see is necessary in typhus, and the
hot stage of intermittents from debility: for in the first case,
the bath will cure the disease almost radically, and can only act
palliatively in the second. Celsus directed that those having the
plague should enter the cold bath when the heat appears the
greatest. The same practice was recommended by Archigenes
anti /Etius. Galen even knew the necessity of a continued ap¬
plication of cold water in inflammation of the brain, and in all
those cases in which it is required to abstract a large quantity of
heat. Willis speaks of a robust lady attacked with furious deli¬
rium, which was cured by t lie cold bath, after two bleedings
had been tried in vain — and a very remarkable case is related by
Noguez, of two men travelling on horseback, in the great heats
of Summer — one of them fell down dead, and the other, after
having also fallen from his horse, was restored by throwing him
into a rivulet of cold water. The good effects of ice held to the
head in cases of inflammation of the brain, or delirium with
strong local determination, is fully recognized in modern prac¬
tice bv intelligent physicians. Huxham cured obstinate quar¬
tans, by temporary immersions in cold water, and found it
the most efficacious remedy in convalescence from this dis¬
ease, provided their existed a rigid and contracted fibre — and
Giannini has found that the most obstinate intermittent fevers
will yield to affusions of cold water during the hot stage, and
bark in the intermission, when neither of these singly was
sufficiently powerful to overcome the disease. The same en¬
lightened physician has used the affusions with success in
miliary, petechial, and typhus fevers. In corroboration of the
benefits of this remedy in the above fevers, and in the yellow
fever and the plague, we may cite the names of De Haen, Gre¬
gory, Gerard, Brandreith, Wright, Jackson, Currie, M‘Lean,
Dimsdale, Selden, Whitehead, Samoilowitz, and Desgenettes.

“ Affusions of cold water/’ says Hegewisch, “ may be used
when the heat surpasses the standard temperature of the body —
then only in the highest state of the febrile heat, never during
the cold stage ; the skin should be dry, not moist, much less
covered with sweat; there must be no chills, no excessive sensi¬
bility, or exaltation of the senses. The remedy is best adapted to
fevers arising from contagion, should be used as soon as possible
after their invasion, and best of all in the first hot stage succeed¬
ing the infection — then may the disease be extinguished in the
three first days — and even when it cannot be applied so soon, it
contributes greatly to alleviate the symptoms, and accelerate
the cure. The cold bath by affusion must not be used when a
local inflammatory affection prevails, as in peripneumonv and

/

Desk Diseases. — Nu. 12. 385

dysentery. The greater the heat the colder should be the water,
in those fevers properly called typhoid. In the last stage of
typhus, when the so called paralytic state has appeared, it is not
only useless, but even often fatal/’ Not less interesting are
the observations of Currie on cold affusions, especially in a
variety of scarlet fever. He makes the same exceptions to the
use of the remedy where there is local determination and in¬
flammation — yet more recently Giannini assures us of his
having advantageously prescribed it in dysentery and erysipelas.
Cold affusions contribute wonderfully to allaying the pain in an
attack of gout, as was first noticed by Hippocrates, and in later
times confirmed by Homberg, Floyer, Retschen, Giannini, and
Franceschi*.

In diseases arising from defective nutrition, and accompanied
by a slow irritative fever, as in rickets, and tabes dorsalis , the
affusions of cold water is an excellent remedy and restorative f.
The same remark applies to those derangements of the cuta¬
neous surface, having their origin in a diseased sensibility of the
system, by which it is affected by the slightest alteration in the
atmosphere. Continued for some time, this application will
assist in warding off giddiness and apoplexy, and in overcoming
obstinate constipation of the bowels. In dropsy, we have the
authority of the ancients, and the experience of Frank, for re¬
commending the cold bath, which has, we are informed, in con¬
junction with cold injections, been found highly serviceable in
tympany. We learn from the Transactions of the Medical
Society at Paris, that tympanitic horses have been cured by
simple clysters of cold water.

We reserve the rest of this useful subject for a future

page.

Desk Diseases. — No. 12.

The unusual activity which is now in operation in every line
of business, from the increase of trade, has augmented, in many
instances, the hours of conti nement to the desk, and brought
with it an aggravation of the complaints incident to sedentary
occupations. It behoves us, therefore, as guardians of the
public health, to bring the more important and prevalent of
these diseases under review, and to place in a prominent light,
the best means hitherto discovered as preventives and remedies.
Among very common disorders of those who are confined to

* Wo ^fiall advert to this again in our Philosophy of Gout.
t Sec Medical Secrets, No. I.

Desk Diseases. — So. 1 1.

38 G

the desk, or lead a literary or sedentary life, we know none
which more eminently requires our attention than

Costiveness.

It is not always in the invalid or the feeble that costivencss
is found to prevail, as it often afflicts persons of a compact and
robust habit, with hearty appetite and strong digestive powers,
or who use violent exercise, which heats the blood and throws
off an excess of perspiration from the surface. In both the
strong and the feeble, however, costiveness may arise from a
too stimulant diet, particularly rough port wine, porter, or beer,
which is either hard, or very bitter from hops or quassia, but
particularly from the bread, which is rendered unnaturally
white by alum, in order to please the eye. Salted and high
seasoned meats have the same effect. Although, also, violent
exercise may be a cause of costiveness, such as too much
walking or riding, by carrying off the fluids from the bowels
through the skin; yet costiveness will be no less caused by
want of exercise, which renders the bowels sluggish and torpid.
The absurd custom, also, of wearing flannel, so prevalent
among many, to their decided injury, is a very common cause
of costiveness, by acting in the same way on the skin as too
much exercise, and carrying off more moisture from the body
than can be comfortably spared. Nothing, however, tends
more to confirm a costive habit than torpor of the liver, and a
deficiency of bile, as you may see more at large in our Medical
Advice to the Bilious. Such being a few of the more common
causes of the disorder, wre shall next mention some of the at¬
tendant symptoms.

A person who is costive feels always uncomfortable and
uneasy, not only in his bowels but in his whole system.
There are pains of a wearied or nervous kind in the back or
limbs — distressing attacks of what we have called fidgets,

( Oracle , Vol. I. page 338.) with violent headaches, flatulence,
belching, heartburn, and most troublesome indigestions, every
thing which is taken into the stomach being instantly corrupted
or converted into vinegar. Palpitations of the heart are also com¬
mon attendants on costiveness, with fretful temper, low spirits,
and all the disorders of hypochondriasis and melancholy. We
need scarcely remark that cholic, lumbago, and sciatica, are
likewise frequent concomitants of costiveness, and sometimes
it leads to epilepsy, apoplexy, and convulsions.

The best remedies for costiveness will next demand our atten¬
tion, and that we may give our readers all the information we
can procure, we shall state at length the treatment of several
eminent physicians, beginning with

Desk Diseases. — No. 12.

38/

Dr. Johnson’s Remedies for Costiveness,

As it is certain that every tiling which increases the perspi¬
ration of the skin, and the action of the numerous absorbent
vessels of the bowels, has a strong tendency to produce cos¬
tiveness, those who are apt to be so affected ought to be cau¬
tioned against all violent exercise, and other causes of sweat.
The passive exercise of a carriage, gentle though it be, is well
known to be a predisposing cause of confinement of the bowels,
and even riding on horseback is not quite free from the same
objection, but it possesses many counterbalancing good qualities.
A warm soft bed is objectionable for the same reason. Much
depends on diet in obviating costiveness ; but it is impossible
to lay down any general rule in this respect, on account of the
various and conflicting constitutions of individuals. It is certain,
however, that generally speaking, a rather stimulating food is
proper in a tendency to costiveness. But every person can
judge of the kind of food that suits his constitution. Of laxa¬
tive medicines, one of the best is sulphur, about a tea spoonful
ns a dose, especially in form of electuary, with cream of tartar
and honey, or molasses ; and when a purgative is required, none
answers so well as the common seidlitz powder, taken early in
the morning, and some warm tea an hour afterwards. It gene¬
rally produces one loose, watery, and easy motion, with great
relief to the bowels, particularly where piles, as they often do,
accompany costiveness. A still better remedy for costiveness is
obtained by keeping up a regular and due secretion from the
liver and other glandular organs in the interior of the body.
For this purpose, the infusion or decoction of dandelion, ren¬
dered acid with cream of tartar, and taken in the quantity of
three or four tea cupfuls a day, is an excellent medicine when
continued for a sufficient length of time. Small doses of the
blue pill with a quarter of a grain of ipecacuanha, or an
eighth of a grain of tartrite of antimony at bed-time, may be
at first necessary when commencing the dandelion and cream
of tartar.

Dr. Good's T? • eatment .

The best opening medicines in costiveness are those which
promote the motion of the bowels with the least irritation,
such as diluent drinks sweetened with manna, sugar, or honey,
the expressed oils of mild vegetables, as the pistachio, olive,,
and almond; the oily farina of the cocoa nut in the common
form of chocolate; also figs, tamarinds, the pulp of cassia alone,
or the compound lenitive electuary ; and likewise neutral salts.

On Uniter in tin Head.

388

Dr. Arbuthnot advised the use of butler, marrow, and fat *
and it is probable these may have some effect. Dr. Cullen found
four ounces of fresh butter, taken in the morning, produce a
stool or two more than usual in the day. Nauseating doses of
calomel with ipecacuanha, or of calomel and antimonials, will
also frequently be found of use.

Abuse of Purgatives.

Those whose bowels are irregular ought to be dissuaded from
an habitual use of purgatives. When persons have too frequent
recourse to medicines for preventing costiveness, they seldom
fail to ruin their constitution. Purging medicines, too often
repeated, weaken the bowels, hurt the digestion, and every
dose makes way for another, till at length they become as ne¬
cessary as daily bread : hence a relaxation of the bowels, loss of
appetite, wasting of the strength, and death. Those who are
troubled with costiveness ought rather, if possible, to remove it
by diet than by drugs.

This interesting subject will be continued.

On Water in the Head. By Dr. Yeats.

Water in the head usually makes its attack at three import¬
ant periods of life — during teething, at the time of weaning, in
girls about the age of 13, and in boys about the age of 14 or 15,
when the voice changes. During teething, the pain produced
about the head weakens it, and disposes the watery parts of the
blood to escape from the blood-vessels of the brain. At the
time of weaning, the infant has its stomach deranged by change
of diet, by cramming with sweet things and dainties, and by
fretting ; by all which the brain is equally weakened, as in the
case of teething. The change produced in the whole body,
and particularly in the circulation of the blood at the age of pu¬
berty, when girls first become unwell, and boys lose their shrill¬
ness of voice, has a similar effect on the head, and may give
rise to water in the head. These periods, therefore, should be
carefully watched. We do not mean to say, however, that
water in the head may not arise at any other period, from causes
affecting the head and weakening it, though these are the most
usual and most dangerous periods of its attack. It is not com¬
mon after the age of 15.

Parly and curable Symptoms.

At the commencement, Dr. Yeats informs us, of water in the
head, before any body but an experienced physician can take
alarm, or possibly imagine that such a disease is approaching.

On Water in the Head.

389

you may observe an occasional languor or weakness, as if arising
from fatigue, though at intervals this goes off, and is succeeded
by spirit and activity. But this glimpse of sunshine is of short
continuance, and is soon again overclouded with gloomy le¬
thargy. The healthy look of the countenance is often at this
stage of the disease, succeeded at intervals with paleness, while
the features lose their firmness, and become loose, toneless,
and flabby.

Under the eyes, a line of a dark leaden hue begins to appear,
while the brightness of the eye itself becomes dull. The skin
loses its softness and natural moisture, and becomes harsh,
parched, and hot. The appetite is inconstant and capricious,
sometimes refusing every thing, and sometimes voracious and
keen. The increased heat naturally gives rise to thirst, and the
tongue, from the same cause, is dryish and white, particularly
in the morning. The bowels are always uncommonly costive ;
and when the costiveness does not yield readily, this is one of
the unfailing, and most alarming marks of the disease. There
is often a cough of a most teasing kind. The urine becomes at
times high coloured.

The head itself is not usually at first affected with any pain,
but with a very disagreeable and stupifying noise and confusion,
often accompanied with giddiness and painful sensibility of the
eyes, when they are exposed to a bright light. The outside of
the head, however, is sometimes painful, or sore upon being
touched or rubbed, and there is often some stiffness of the neck.
The sleep is often disturbed by restlessness, tossing and tum¬
bling in bed, and by grinding the teeth. If you examine the
stomach at this time, vou will now and then observe it and the
belly as far as the navel, to be too full, and feeling puffy to the
touch, while the child complains of pain when you press on
these parts with your finger.

Treatment of approaching Water in the Head.

The first thing to be done when you observe a child to be¬
come costive, accompanied with harsh dry skin, and with fret¬
ting, languor, or low spirits, is to remove these (if possible) as,
we shall direct you, by powerful and proper remedies. One of
the safest and easiest is to open the pores of the skin by warm
bathing, and afterwards rubbing the skin dry with a piece of
soft calico. This will give vent to a great quantity of water by
perspiration, which will consequently be thus prevented from
collecting in the head. This should be persevered in at least
every other night, and the child be put to bed immediately af¬
terwards, having first given the

VOL. II. 3 D

3<X)

(ioo<l Living at the Universities.

Sweating Mixture fur IFater in the Head.

Take five drops of ipecacuan rune,
a tea spoonful of diacodium,
a sufficient quantity of sugar to sweeten it.

M ix, and take immediately. This dose to be doubled in older pati¬
ents, and to be repeated as occasion may require along with the bathing,
every, or every other night, till perspiration is freely produced.

'The next thing of the utmost importance to stop water in
the head, is to carry off as much water from the bowels as you
conveniently can, by purgatives and keeping the bowels steadily
and constantly open. For this purpose, if you dislike calomel,
which is the most powerful remedy in such complaints, you may
try with safety the

Mild Purgative for Children.

Take two drachms of Kochelle salts,

one ounce of infusion of senna with tamarinds,
five drops of ipecacuan wine.

Mix for a draught, to be given in the morning.

As you are not likely, however, to find this answer if the dis¬
ease has set fairly in, you must try calomel ; for nothing else is
so trust-worthy. The best form to take the calomel, is to mix
it with some other purgative, and when the patient can be got
to take a pill, the blue pill will answer the purpose, if repeated
every second night ; but as few children can swallow pills, you
may try the

Radical Remedy for Pater in the Head.

Take one grain of calomel,

eight grains of rhubarb powder.

Mix, and give the powder at night in a little treacle or honey, with
a small dose of Epsom salts on the following morning.

In the mean time the patient should have light nourishing
diet, and be as much abroad in the open air as possible.

Good Living at the Universities.

Learning among our young gentlemen at the Universities is
now very generally voted a bore, according to the vulgar slang,
which has usurped the place of classical propriety. We rejoice,
however, that the baby studies of longs and shorts, and the
nursery gimcrack of nonsense verses, are fast giving place to
something more rational. In a word, the crack men are leaving
off the old fashioned studies of Greek chorusses, Aristotelian
syllogizing, and differential calculus, and betaking themselves,
heart and hand, to the more substantial studies of eating, drink¬
ing, and enjoying the good things of this life. Oxford is, ac-

Good Living at the Universities. 391

cordingly, becoming as celebrated for its knowledge of good
living as it hitherto has been for the profound erudition of the
long and short syllables of Greek; and Cambridge — beginning’
to see the supreme trifling of her mathematicians, who spend
their lives in making algebraic conundrums, — is also making
rapid progress in the only science worth knowing. Leslie and
Wilson are setting an excellent example to Edinburgh — the
only place by the way in this poor world of ours where you can
get oysters — genuine pandores, of unrivalled flavour, and ale
altogether matchless. Glasgow, we fear, will learn little from
their sallow and bilious Lord Rector, except, perhaps, a relish
for the black rve-bread of Cumberland. Sir Walter was their

J

man, undoubtedly; he would have stood by the good old
dishes, and sung the praises of their unrivalled punch. But it
could not be : Sir James was in a quandary at'the very idea of a
prime haggis, flanked with cock-a-leeky and crappit heads, and
to be washed down with a reaming bowl of genuine Glasgow.
He trembled at the approach of Sir Walter, as much as at Dr.
Parr’s history of his rare honesty and uprightness in the manag-
ment of Gerald’s subscription ; while Brougham, he was certain,
would stand by him by inches. Sir James, indeed, is a true
Celt; for a just character of which race, we refer with pleasure
to Pinkerton, and to Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh. One
thing is certain, that the same Celts prefer brochan to all other
dishes; and when we tell you that this brochan is thick oat gruel,
seasoned with onions, you will have some notion of the progress
in civilization of that race who have been for ages, and will be
for ages more, the hewers of wood and drawers of water to the
noble and manly Piets and Saxons. In Trinity College, Dublin,
matters are much at a stand, and few devote themselves entirely
to the study of Good Living, though the Oracle is coming into
great repute there, and giving a relish to what is comfortable to
the stomach and pleasing to the palate. It is only the Celtic
race in Ireland who live on potatoes and buttermilk ; their supe¬
riors have a better notion of existence, and wash down their
turkey and salmon with claret and Burgundy. We shall here
teach them, and all whom it may concern, an English Univer¬
sity secret worth knowing in our noble science, namely, the

Genuine Receipt for Oxford Bishop.

Into a cask which has been previously well seasoned by contain¬
ing brandy or white wine, put as much bitter orange peel as it wil
hold, and fill up with Muscadine or Malaga wine. Let it stan
for a few months to imbibe the proper bitter of the orange pec
then draw off three-fourths, and let it stand to clarify; when you

3 92

Venlilatwn of Bed- Chambers.

may bottle it, taking care that for this operation the weather be
rather mild. In the mean time, till up the cask again with fresh
' wine, and proceed as before. The peel will be strong enough
for two or three drawings, provided about a fourth of the li¬
quor is always left in previous to the addition of fresh wine.
The cask, however, must always be quite full when it is set
aside.

Ventilation of Bed-Ch ameers.

As more depends on our condition during sleep than most
people are aware of, we shall devote this article to some practi¬
cal principles which will be found of the greatest utility to inva¬
lids, and to those who value their health. A bed-chamber
ought not to be situated on the ground floor; and an elevated
apartment is particularly recommended, by Tissot, to literary
arid sedentary people. Some recommend lor the sake of cool¬
ness its fronting the north ; but others think it better, that it
should be exposed to the early rays of the sun. Our sleeping
apartments should be airy, large, and lofty, and not small rooms.
Nothing can be more imprudent or absurd than the conduct of
those who have splendid houses, preferring to sleep in small apart¬
ments. The more airy a bed-room is, it is certainly the better
that it should be exposed to the sun. A bed-room ought to be
well ventilated in the day-time, as it is principally occupied in
the night, when all doors and windows are shut. The windows
should be kept open as much as the season will admit of during
the day ; and sleep will probably be more beneficial, in propor¬
tion as this rule is practised. Indeed, nothing is more material,
not only for invalids, but for persons in health, than the admis¬
sion of pure air into their bed-rooms by various ways, in diffe¬
rent degrees, according to circumstances.

Impure air is peculiarly injurious to the nervous system; it
relaxes and enfeebles the general habit, and increases the irrita¬
bility of the body; whereas, there is no means so likely to re¬
move every complaint of that nature, as to pay the greatest
possible attention to the quality of the air wre breathe, both in
the day-time and at night. One of the best means of introduc¬
ing fresh air into a house, or purifying any particular apartment,
is by means of ventilators. These were invented by the cele¬
brated Dr. Hales. This excellent contrivance consists of nothing
but small moveable wheels, made of brass or sheet iron, which
are applied to some part of the window panes, and set in motion
by the pressure of the external air. But instead of using ven¬
tilators, Dr. Adair recommends that the casement of all public

393

Ventilation of Bed-Chambers.

t/

rooms, and indeed of private houses, shall be constructed so,
that the upper division shall slide down, and that a certain por¬
tion of them, according as the room is more or less crowded, be
occasionally kept open. By thus promoting a free and constant
circulation of air in every apartment, whether occupied or not,
the internal and external air comes nearly to the same tempera¬
ture ; the foul air, which is generated in close unoccupied cham¬
bers, and which adheres to the walls and furniture, will be
carried off before it is accumulated ; and the usual practice of
airing rooms, by warming them with fires, and opening the
windows, will be less, if at all, necessary.

It is proper, however, to observe, that though pure air is so
necessary to health, yet, that great and sudden ventilation is
dangerous. Keeping open, therefore, the windows of any bed¬
room during night ought never to be attempted, but with the
greatest caution. A gentleman, active and hardy, and accus¬
tomed to a country life, accidentally slept in a room where the
servants neglected to shut one of the windows, the consequence
of which was, his being seized with a serious illness, from which
he recovered with difficulty.

It is imprudent to sleep in a very warm room, as it makes one
faint, and relaxes too much the whole system. In such a case,
the person lies in a bath of vapours, which the great heat causes
to exhale from his own body. In regard to warmth, the tempe¬
rature of a sitting-room should not exceed 60° of Fahrenheit’s
thermometer ; but that of a bed-room ought to be about 50°,
as the medium temperature of our climate is between 50° and
55°.

Unless there is any apprehension of damp, a bed-room should
rarely have a fire in it, as it has a tendency to vitiate the air,
often fills the air with dust and ashes, and sometimes may be
the means of setting the room on tire. If a fire is kept in a
-bed-chamber, the danger arising from a small room becomes
still more so ; and numbers have been stifled when asleep, by
having a fire in a small apartment. Those who live in hot coun¬
tries ought to be very particular regarding the place they sleep
in. The apartment should be dark, shaded from the rays of the
sun and moon ; temperate as to heat and cold, and rather in¬
clined to coolness than heat.

It is a good rule for those who are obliged, on account of
business, to spend the day in close towns, to sleep, if possible,
in the country. Breathing free air in the night-time will, in
some measure, make up for the want of it through the day.
This practice would have a greater effect in preserving the health
of those who reside in cities, than is commonly imagined. It

334

M. Magendie’s Barbarous Experiments.

is hardly necessary to observe, that damp bed-rooms ought to
be particularly avoided, and that the putrid air, which they very
often contain, may be in the highest degree noxious.

M. Magendie’s Barbarous Experiments.

If the reader will do us the honour to look back to page 104
of this volume, he will find that we there exposed the very cruel
and absurd method of experimenting on living animals, at pre¬
sent so much in vogue, particularly in France. The public no¬
tice which this has attracted, will tend, we hope, to check the
growing cruelty of experimenters, and teach them something
like humanity to the inferior animals. M. Magendie’s friends
have come boldly forward to deny the accusation of cruelty, so
far as he is concerned. How far they are to be credited in their
explanations and excuses we shall now proceed to prove from
M. Magendie’s own showing. We shall keep to the medical
terms used by him, departing in this from our usual rule, be-
eause it does not seem of much moment to the general reader.

“ When we w holly remove the hemispheres of the brain,”
says M. Magendie, “ an effusion of blood immediately takes
place, and a coagulum is formed, which fills the cavity of the
cranium, compresses the medulla oblongata, and produces the
state of somnolency (assoupissement) observed by M. Rolando.
But if we prevent the formation of this coagulum, the symp¬
toms are quite different ; the animals are in continual agitation;
they run or fly with remarkable agility, provided they are not
too much weakened by the loss of blood. The animals on
which this experiment succeeds the best, are small rabbits, a
month or six w’eeks old, and young jackdaws, or magpies, just
beginning to feed alone. It is singular to see them run, leap,
&c. of their own accord, after the complete removal of every
part of the brain, situated a little before the optic tubercles.
But if the section be made immediately before these last eminen¬
ces every thing is arrested ; the animal falls upon the side, the
head is thrown backwards, the paws entirely stiff', and directed
forwards. I have seen young rabbits remain several hours in this
position. In order to put an end to it, it is sufficient to make
a section behind the optic tubercles. Immediately the ante¬
rior paws lose their stiffness, and, most commonly, become bent
as well as the posterior, and the head is again brought forw’ards.
It seems to me to be evident from these facts, that the optic
thalami, the crura cerebri, and the tubercula quadrigemina have
functions relative to motion, and these parts should be ex¬
amined under this new point of view’.

M. Mage n die’s Barbarous Experiments. 395

“The effects of a partial or total removal of the inferior part
of the brain, arc much more difficult to observe, by reason of the
great bleeding, which always accompanies a wound of that or¬
gan, of the effusion which is the inevitable result of it, and of
the compression of the spinal marrow. 1 have not yet been able
to assign to each of these effects the part it takes in the pheno¬
mena which occur at the time of wounds or removal of the ce¬
rebellum ; it is easy, however, to prove that profound wTounds of
the cerebellum, and total removal of it, do not cause the loss of
sensation. The experiments of Larry, Legalois, &c., have, be¬
sides, demonstrated that this quality is inherent in the spinal
marrow. It is to be hoped that this difficulty will be soon re¬
moved, for several zealous individuals are occupying themselves
with researches on this point; and I am myself using all my en¬
deavours to arrive at something satisfactory on this important
question.

“What I have hitherto remarked most constantly is, that the
inferior part of the brain seems necessary for the integrity of the
forward motion. Every triflingly severe wound of the cerebel¬
lum totally prevents progression, and most commonly develops,
on the contrary, a set of movements which belong to the action
of retrogression. A duck, from which I removed a great part
of the inferior part of the brain could swim backwards, and made
no progressive movement for eight days.”

This is one of the every-day specimens of the experiments of
M. Magendie. We shall give another from the absurd paper,
which was intended to prove, that the olfactory nerves are not
the nerves of smell. “ I first endeavoured,” says M. Magen¬
die, “ to shew by direct proof, that the olfactory nerve was the
agent of smell, an attempt which, to my knowledge, had not
been made. My first experiment consisted in laying bare the
olfactory nerves of a dog, twelve months old. I did not expect
to find them sensible to the contact of foreign bodies, nor even
to punctures ; the greater part of the hemispheres of the brain
was insensible to these excitements ; indeed, neither pressure,
nor deep punctures, nor extensive laceration, were followed by
any symptom which indicated sensibility of these nerves. I w7as
curious to see if the direct contact of a very fragrant substance
would be attended witli a similar result : with this view, I placed
a few drops of ammonia on the nerve ; the animal at first did
not appear to take any notice of it, but it soon gave proofs that
it felt very acutely. I perceived this as soon as the liquid
touched the sides of the nerve, and reached its inferior surface,
and consequently, the ethmoidal fossae ; I therefore believe that
the ammonia had acted on the medullary part of the nerve,

3% M. Magendie’s Baibarous Experiments,

which, as is known, lies on the cribriform plate of the ethmoid
bone, and that superiorly the grey substance had no sensibility.
Interiorly, the white matter was endowed with this property.

“ After having made these observations, I took the means for
entirely destroying the olfactory nerves, being firmly persuaded
that the power of smell would be entirely annihilated. What
was my surprise to find the animal on the following day sensible
to the powerful odours I put before it (ammonia, acetic acid, es¬
sential oil of lavender) ! The sensibility of the interior of the
nasal cavity had lost nothing of its energy; the introduction of
the stilet was followed by the same result as on a dog, whose ol¬
factory nerves were entire. This strange phenomenon recalled
to my recollection a fact to which I had paid little attention the
preceding year, because it was in such direct opposition to the
recognized opinions, that 1 attributed it, I know not why, to
some fault in the experiment. 1 allude to a duck from which I
had removed the hemispheres of the brain, and which survived
eight days, presenting, during this period, different curious phe¬
nomena. It had, among other strange things, preserved the
power of distinguishing strong smells. I shewed this animal,
and submitted it to these various tests in my course at that
time.”

Again, “ I endeavoured to cut upon the fifth pair of nerves of
a rabbit, before it passed over the petrous portion of the tem¬
poral bone, to effect which I perforated the skull just oppo¬
site its origin. By this opening I introduced a needle upon the
posterior surface, and endeavoured, by various movements, to
touch the trunk of this pair of nerves. In making this delicate,
and to me entirely new experiment, 1 happened, unknowingly,
to wound and even to cut transversely, the crura cerebelli.
Scarcely had 1 inflicted this accidental wound, than I saw the
animal turn suddenly on its back, without making the least
effort to occasion this singular movement ; and whatever posi¬
tion I gave the animal, it rolled incessantly until some physical
body arrested it. This phenomenon continued for more than
two hours, at w hich time I put it in a basket with some hay,
and placed some food near it. On visiting it the next morning,

I found it still rolling, with the hay twisted around its body, as
a bottle is when packed. It appeared quite well, and ate the
food whilst lying on its back. 1 then noticed what had escaped
me the day before, that the eyes had lost their ordinary move¬
ment — had become inverted. The rabbit lived eight days and
then died.

“On dissection I found I had divided, in great part, the crus

M. Magemlie’s Barbarous Experiments. 31)7

cerebelli, corresponding to that side toward which the animal
had a tendency to turn.

“ On repeating this experiment on another rabbit, I produced
exactly the same results ; but on cutting the left crus, the rota¬
tion reverted from left to right. It struck me as being pro¬
bable that the one transmitted a force which was equally coun¬
terbalanced by the other, and that it was the equilibrium of
these two forces that regulated the position, repose, and divers
voluntary and involuntary movements. Subsequent experi¬
ments convinced me such was the case, for on cutting both the
crura the animal became quite immoveable and showed not the
least sign of animation.

“If I admitted the opinion of Professor Rolando upon the
functions of the cerebellum, which he regards as the organ pro¬
ducing movement, I must have hesitated; but having, in the
course of my researches, observed some animals completely de¬
prived of the cerebellum and yet execute some regular move¬
ments, I considered it necessary to make further inquiry. In¬
stead of commencing above , as I had previously done, I began
on the lower part of the cerebellum, for then I could divide the
semicircle which it forms above the spinal marrow. I therefore
opened the spine between the occiput and the first vertebrae,
and also uncovered the fourth ventricle ; by this means I could
touch such part of the cerebellum as I wanted. The first step
I took was to partially cut it, from the bottom upwards, in such
a manner as to leave three-fourths to the left and one-fourth to
the right ; the animal rolled to the right, and its eyes were
placed as if I had cut the left peduncle. I then made a section
of the same extent on the left side ; the rotation immediately
ceased, and the eyes resumed their natural position. At another
time, after making a partial division as before, I cut the left
crus; the animal, in place of remaining still, as in the former
case, revolved to the left, and its eyes likewise changed.

“ It is evident from this last experiment, that the division of
the crura has more influence upon the lateral rotation of the
body and inverted eyes, than the union of the cerebellum itself,
and this induces me to think that the impulsive force comes not
from this organ, but elsewhere.

“An experiment, it struck me, would throw some light on this
subject — it was to separate vertically the cerebellum in two
equal parts. Several ineffectual attempts were made before I
could completely succeed, the section either verging a little too
much to the right or to the left, when the phenomena already
described were produced, but in a less degree. But on eventu¬
ally succeeding, the most curious phenomena were observable ;

VOL. II. 3 K

308

Professor Beck on Insanity and Madness.

the eyes were, to an extraordinary degree, agitated, they seemed
to jump in their orbits, and the animal itself appeared placed
between two repelling powers; on its inclination on one side it
was instantly repelled by the other, and it remained balanced in
this wonderful manner for several hours. I have met with the
same results on various mammiferous animals of different ages ;
the revolutions varied much in the different species. The ani¬
mal in which I found it the most rapid, was the guinea-pig ;
the revolutions were as many as sixty a minute. From what
lias been said, it is not improbable that the same occurrences
would happen if the crus cerebelli was wounded in man ! ! i”
These shocking, and so far as we can perceive, wanton, and
aimless experiments, are faithfully taken from the Journal de
Physiologic, edited by M. Magendic. We are sorry to say that
lie is not alone. These and the poison experiments of M. Or-
fila, which has acquired him in Paris, the expressive name of
dog-killer, have rendered the practice fashionable even among
the youngest students.

Professor Beck on Insanity and Madness.

We are indebted to this celebrated writer on Medical Juris¬
prudence, for the following important paper on a dreadful, and
we are sorry to say increasing, malady. — In many instances,
though it is far from being general, pain in the head and throb¬
bing of its arteries precede an attack of insanity ; and sometimes
giddiness is complained of, as a precursory symptom. The ap¬
pearance of the eye is, however, the circumstance most readily
to be noticed, and the change in it from a state of health, even
precedes incoherence of language. Recovered patients have
described a peculiar sensation connected with this appearance,
as though the eye flashed fire from being stricken smartly with
an open hand, and this increased in proportion as the ideas be¬
came more and more confused. There is a peculiar muscular
action of these organs, a protrusion of the eyes, a wandering
motion in every possible direction, and in a manner peculiarly
tiresome to the beholder. During a paroxysm they appear as if
stiffly and firmly pushed forward, and the pupils are contracted*.
And yet with all these appearances of excitement, it has rather
a dull than a fierce character.

The muscles of the face also partake in the change, and the
rapidity of tire alterations they undergo, depends on the succes¬
sion of ideas which pass with such velocity through the mind of
the sufferer.

* j i ;u, |>.

Professor Beck on Insanity and Madness. 39})

unable to confine his attention, walks with a quick and hurried
step, and while doing so, suddenly stops. Men of the most re¬
gular and established habits, will suddenly become active, jea¬
lous, and restless ; they abandon their business and enter into
the most extravagant undertakings, while, on the other hand,
some who are naturally of a lively disposition, become indo¬
lent and indifferent, fancy themselves sick, or have a presenti¬
ment of severe disease. Persons subject to severe indisposition,
which has disappeared suddenly, fancy themselves in high health,
and are greatly elated. A very vigorous action of body and mind
soon takes place, and particularly the exertion of great muscu¬
lar strength. And here, it is impossible to present any thing
like a description that shall be generally applicable. The lan¬
guage is totally different, both in tone and manner from the
usual habits of the maniac. He becomes angry without any
assignable cause — attempts to perform feats of strength, or
efforts of agility, which shall strike the beholder with astonish¬
ment at his great powers. Many talk incessantly, sometimes in
the most boisterous manner, then suddenly lowering the tone,
speak softly and whisper. The subjects vary equally. They
are never confined long to one point, but, voluble and incohe¬
rent, run rapidly from one point to another, totally discon¬
nected with it. The same phrase is sometimes repeated for a
length of time, or conversation is maintained with themselves
as with a third person, with all the variations of violent and
ridiculous gestures. In females, there is frequently a complica¬
tion as it were, of hysteria, with general madness, and laughing
or weeping is a common attendant *.

The food necessary for the sustenance of life is often neglect¬
ed, and fasting is endured for a length of time without any
apparent inconvenience, yet with some, there is an unusual and
indiscriminate voraciousness, and they swallow every thing that
may come in their way.

The stomach and bowels are unusually torpid — costiveness
prevails, and the stools are white, small, and hard. Looseness
rarely occurs except towards the termination of the disease.
The urine is scanty in quantity, and for the most part of a high
colour.

The pulse is very various, sometimes full and laboured, and
sometimes natural. But little dependance can be placed on it
as an indication. The tongue is usually moist, and sometimes
has a whitish appearance, and there is often a preternatural

* Rush. p. 1 15.

400

Professor Beck on Insanity and Madness.

secretion of saliva and mucus in the mouth and throat, which
is of a viscid nature, and discharged with difficulty by spitting.
There is also generally a stoppage of the secretion of mucus in
the nose. Dr. Rush mentions, that Dr. Moore, at his request,
examined the maniacs in the Pennsylvania Hospital, with refer¬
ence to this symptom, and found it present in two-thirds of
them. Where this secretion was not suspended, he found the

mucus of the nose dry and hard *.

*

Maniacs also endure a degree of heat and cold, which to a
sane person would be inconvenient and even distressing. Has-
lam, indeed, objects to the correctness of this, as illustrated by
his own experience, and states that the patients in Bethlem
Hospital enjoy no exemption from the effects of severe cold f-
They are particularly subject to mortifications of the feet, and
such of them as are permitted to go about, are always to be
found near the fire in the Winter season. Notwithstanding
these facts are adverse to the generally received opinion, yet I
apprehend it is for the most part found to be correct, at least
during the paroxysm. The high degree of mental excitement
that then prevails, creates an insensibility to external impres¬
sions, and although their effects may be afterwards experienced,
as in Mr. Haslam’s cases, yet for the present they are unheeded
and unfelt. The same operating cause that endows the maniac
with excessive strength, doubtless also conduces to produce the
state under consideration.

The senses are often perverted, and of these the car more
particularly suffers. Haslam observes, that he scarcely recol¬
lects an instance of a lunatic becoming blind, but numbers are
deaf, and those who are troubled with difficulty of hearing,
and tinnitus aurium J. It is from the disorder of this organ,
and which is referable to the original diseased action of the
functions of the brain, that many maniacs derive the delusion
under which they labour. The commission which they sup¬
pose themselves to receive from some superior being, is given
by the ear — they imagine it is constantly repeated. They are
thus, they imagine, ur^ed to its performance, and in too many
cases, murder or self-destruction is the unhappy result. “ In
consequence of some affection of the ear, the insane some¬
times insist that malicious agents contrive to blow streams
of infected air into this organ. Others have conceived, by means
of what they term hearkening wires and whizz-pipes, that va¬
rious obscenities and blasphemies are forced into their minds ;

Rush, p. 146. + Iiarlam on Madness, p. 84.

Ilaslara on Madness, p. 67.

101

Professor Beck on Insanity (Did Madness.

and it is not unusual for those who are in a desponding con¬
dition, to assert that they distinctly hear the devil tempting
them to self-destruction *.

The eye is also diseased. Objects appear bright or fiery, and
the organ itself is sparkling and protruded. At other times it is
sunken and dull, and external appearances produce but little im¬
pression.

The smell does not escape these perversions, although this is
by no means so common as with the other senses. A lady,
twenty-seven years of age, in the last stage of decline, perceived
in her room an odour of charcoal. She immediately conceived
that there was a design against her life. She left her lodgings,
but the fumes of charcoal incessantly pursued her till her death.
So also with the taste and the touch. The former derives its
disorder from the derangement of the stomach; and the latter
in many instances has lost its peculiar power of correcting the
other senses. Hence the insane frequently deceive themselves
in respect to the size, form, and weight of things around them,
and the greater number become unhandy in all mechanical oc¬
cupations, music, writing, &c. This, however, is far from
being universal, as some speak and write with ease, and are re¬
markable for striking expressions, deep thoughts, and ingenious
associations.

Wakefulness is another symptom, which sometimes pre¬
cedes all others, and is coeval with pain or uneasiness of the
head, or of some other diseased organ ; and its degree is de¬
termined by the age, habits, situation, and original vigorous or
feeble constitution of the patient. From its being always fol¬
lowed in the morning by the peculiar appearance of the eye,
already described, it may sometimes lead to a proper suspicion,
as well as attention to the diseased person. This watchfulness
is attended with an irresistible impulse to rise early, go abroad,
and ramble about ; or if remaining in the house, to be inces¬
santly employed in arranging, re-arranging articles of furniture,

* Haslam on Madness, p. 69. A curious case is mentioned by the author,
(p, 71,) of a patient, who was a well educated man of middle age. He always
stopped his ears closely with wool, and in addition to a flannel nightcap, usually
slept with his head in a tin sauce-pan. Being asked the reason why he so forti¬
fied his head, he replied, ‘fc to prevent the intrusion of the sprites,” He was ap¬
prehensive that his head would become the receptacle of these imaginary forma¬
tions ; that they would penetrate into the interior of his brain, become acquainted
w ith his hidden thoughts and intellectual observations, and then depart and com¬
municate to others the ideas they had thus derived. “ In this manner,” said he,
“ f have been defrauded of discoveries that would have entitled me to opulence
and distinction, and have lived To see oihers reap honours and emoluments for
: peculations which were the ofl-pring of my own brain.”

JO >

Professor Beck on insanity and Madness .

dress, books or papers ; and by thus placing, displacing, and
confounding every tiling, their ideas become more confused, and
they soon give rise to actions of the wild and outrageous nature
which we have already described.

The memory is early affected in maniacs. After a time, it
seems to be almost destroyed. Some, according to Haslam, lose
in a wonderful degree, their former correctness of orthography.

Pusillanimity is also a remarkable trait in the character of the

J

insane. Though occasionally boisterous and fierce, yet they
are readily overcome by a person of decision. Their leading
characteristics are timidity, distrustfulness, suspicion — never
contented with their present condition, but always desirous of
some change. It is this discontent of mind that detaches them
from their parents and friends, and causes them to hate most
those whom they previously cherished with the fondest affection.
The exceptions to this are few, and even if they retain the sem¬
blance of affection, still they will bestow no confidence on the
objects of it, nor pay any respect to their solicitations or advice.
This alienation from friends is, therefore, one of the most con¬
stant traits of the malady*.

The duration of a paroxysm is various. It continues for
days, weeks, months, and even years, and ends in death — a re¬
mission — or a perfect and duralde recovery. Dr. Rush state?
that in one case that came under his notice, the disease con¬
tinued from June, 1810, until April, 1811, with scarcely any
abatement in the excitement of the body and mind, notwith¬
standing the patient was under the operation of depleting reme¬
dies. He also witnessed another instance, in which the same
remedies were insufficient to produce an interruption for five
minutes, of speech or vociferations, except during a few short
intervals of sleep, for five months f. Others, again, have pa¬
roxysms with chronic but moderate derangement in their inter¬
vals ; and in these intervals the recovery is sometimes so great
as to indicate insanity upon a particular subject only. But
a reference to this will readily excite a return of general mad¬
ness.

If the paroxysm ceases suddenly, we have reason to dread the
return of another. On its cessation the patient seems waked
from a dream, be is exhausted, speaks or moves but little, and
seeks solitude; and if there is an approach to reason, he states
what he has seen, heard, or felt — his motives and his deter¬
minations J.

Medico Chiruigical Review, Vol. I, p. 247,

| Parkman,

t It lull, p. 162.

On Washing Glasses. 40.*

On Washing Glasses. By Mr. Uatchard's Footman.

Pat a sufficient quantity of clean cold water into a wooden
bowl or tub, to cover your glasses with, and take care not to
strike them against the side of the bowl, as they are easily
broken ; never use any thing of earthenware to wash glasses in,
on this account, for if you do but just touch the side of an
earthen pan or basin, it is almost sure to break the glass. If
the glasses have been used with any kind of mixture which
sticks hard on, you must carefully rub it off, before you turn
them down to drain ; if you cannot get it off with cold water
have some hot to wash them in, but dip them into cold water
afterwards, or they will dry too soon, and will look smeary ;
nor should you let them drain longer than ten or fifteen minutes
before you wipe them, for if they do, it will be impossible to
make them look well, as they will show where the spots of
water have dried on. Have two cloths to wipe them with ; let
the one which is the dirtiest be used just to wipe off the drops of
wet with, the other to finish them with. Keep the cloths
which you wipe the glasses with entirely for them, and in wiping
them let one end of the cloth be in the left hand, let it be open,
not twisted ; put the foot of the glass into the left band, and
take the other part of the cloth in the right, you will then be
able to do them properly, without fear of breaking; but let them
be very lightly handled, particularly the small and thin ones ;
have the softest cloths to wipe those with, and never let them
get too wet, as they are apt in that case to twist and stick
round the glass, which will cause you to break them, therefore
dry your cloths, or have fresh ones when wanted. Never let
the glasses stand about when dirty, but let them be washed,
and putin their proper places immediately.

Decanters.

In cleaning decanters the greatest care is necessary, both as
to what you clean them with, and likewise that you do not
break them, as they are very expensive, yet easily broken. Va¬
rious arc the ways of different persons in cleaning them ; some
recommend sand, cinders, coals ; others, egg shells, wood ashes,
scouring paper, and I know not what. I have tried most of
those things, but 1 could not find them answer my expectations
so well as I could wish. In sand, dirt, coals, cinders, egg¬
shells, &c. See. there is a rough scratching quality which must
make them improper for use : you will find it much better to
have some thick brown paper cut into very small bits, so as to
go with ease into the decanters, then cut a few pieces of soap
very small, and put some water milkwarm into the decanters,

404

On Washing Glasses.

upon the soap and paper ; but be very particular not to put it
in too hot, as that will crack them : you may also put a little
pearl-ash in ; by well working this about in the decanters, it
will take off the crust of the wine, if it has not been standing a
great while, and give the glass a fine polish ; where the de¬
canters have been scratched, and the wine left to stand in them a
long time, you perhaps will find it difficult to get it off. To effect
this, have a small cane with a bit of sponge tied tight to one
end ; this you can easily do with some strong thread, if you
make a few notches near the end of the cane, that the thread
may not slip ofi'. By putting this into the decanter you will be
able to remove any crust of the wine ; but take care not to
have the cane and sponge too large, so as to hurt the neck of
the decanter ; have corks to put into them while cleaning, as
the stoppers are apt to slick very hard ; this will endanger
breaking the decanters, and likewise the stoppers : let the cane
be long enough to reach to the bottom of the decanter ; a
strong wire or small iron rod, which you can easily bend, is
very useful, with a bit of sponge or rag tied to the end of it, to
rub the crust from the bottom of the decanter with \ this is
sure not to scratch it, and I have got off the fur on the bed¬
room water bottle with it, though it had been on a long time.

When the decanters have been properly washed let them be
thoroughly dried, particularly if they are not going to be used
again for some time, for if they are put away damp with spots of
water on them, it will be sure to mildew them, which will spoil
the look of them for ever after: let them be turned down to dry
in a proper rack for that purpose ; if there should not be one,
turn them down in a jug, but do not put them on their necks
without support, for any little thing may, in that case, knock
them down, and break them.

The stoppers are liable to stick in the neck of the decanters,
which often causes the breaking of both ; to prevent this, when
the decanters are clean and empty, wrap a piece of paper round
each stopper before you put it into the neck of the decanter ;
this will keep the dust out and prevent it from sticking ; they
will then likewise always be ready when wranted, as it too often
happens that when they are left out of the decanters they are
lost or mismatched. 11 the decanters have wine in them when
put by, you should have some good corks always at hand to put
in instead of the stoppers ; this will keep the wine much better
and prevent the stoppers sticking in, which they will very soon
do if wine be suffered to stand in them. This is so common a
thing, that I have scarce ever been to a house but what there
have been broken necked or cracked decanters, owing to it.

Ju lie Diseases.

*105

June Diseases, and the best Means of Escaping them.

- - In Jovial June,

How sweet the merry linnet’s tune,

How blythe the blackbird’s lay ;

* * ' * * *

The saddest heart make pleasure take,

To sec all nature gay.

MAtmiON.

A scat against a haycock, on the side farthest from the sun,
with the odour of the new mown grass perfuming all the air,
and beauty breathing from the warm sky above, and the green
earth below, is a luxury which the lover of fields will not fail to
enjoy, when June, like a sparkling mistress, is waiting to bless
and encourage him who journeys to see her. 66 But,” exclaims
some grumbler in the language of Shakspeare —

“ Is not our climate foggy, raw, and dull?

On which, as in despite, the sun looks pale,

Killing our fruit with frowns;” Henry V.

and if a coldish morning occur, as sometimes happens even “ in
the leafy month of June,” he will go on to complain of the de¬
terioration of our Summers, and infer perhaps the ruin of the
world. u Everything,” (the old curmudgeon will say) — a every
thing is altered since my time; even the weather is not Eng¬
lish weather. Your April temperature — but why should I em¬
ploy a term of yesterday’s growth ? Your April warmth, such
as it is, we have in December; and now in June, at the ap¬
proach of Midsummer, I am obliged to toast my toes at the
fire.”

An old gentleman of this grumbling school, who sometimes
drops in upon our Committee, having lately got upon his favou¬
rite theme, went on to say to his younger friend — “ I remember
when a boy, being obliged, in playing Englishmen and Scots,
always to pull off my coat on account of the heat in June; but
every thing is changed, and I do not believe that the youngsters
of the present day even know the game which I have just men¬
tioned. Yes, Sir (continued he), even in matters connected
with the preservation of health, England is no longer the same
country. Instead of seeing mothers and nurses mixing up the
salutary doses of sulphur, cream of tartar, and treacle, which
were given to sweeten the blood, expel crudities, and clear the
cutaneous pores, in Spring, we find them poisoning their chil¬
dren with calomel, and swilling their stomachs with as much
sarsaparilla decoction, as would surfeit a hog. Depend upon

VOL. n. 3 F

June Diseases.

40 G

it, Sir, these innovations are all injurious. They are as detri¬
mental to the body as your premature instructions are to the
mind. The former make spindle shanks and pale faces; the
latter, puppies and minxes. Depend upon it, Sir, these innova¬
tions will ruin England.”

Now, in spite of the testy manner in which the old gentle¬
man spoke, we must confess that he was not so very far from
the truth ; and it made us consider whether in spurning the
trammels of prejudice, which certainly too much regulated the
customs of our forefathers, many excellent things have not also
been rejected, from an erroneous idea that they were connected
with the links of the broken chain which we had wisely shaken
off. Among these, it is questionable whether we have not in¬
judiciously discontinued the habit of taking physic in the Spring;
and whether the now despised sulphur and treacle of our grand¬
mothers might not ward off many of those diseases of the skin,
which of late years have so extensively increased.

Diseases of the Skin. By Dr. Roget.

The cold and damp of the Spring, and the premature warm
days of Summer, may partly contribute to the production of
the skin diseases which so much prevail about this season ; for,
in addition to the other complaints incident to such weather,
cutaneous affections are unusually numerous, though we do not
conceive that this should be regarded as the sole cause. The
animal body, as we have repeatedly mentioned, as well as the
vegetable, receives an impulse on the approach of Spring, which
renders it more susceptible of every impression ; and under
these circumstances, an irregular and unhealthy state of the
juices of the stomach and bowels is likely to be felt by the skin,
from its well known companionship with these; and to make
its appearance in the altered look of health, softness, and beauty,
which naturally characterizes the complexion. If this be the
fact, as we think it appears, we can readily understand why a
little physic in the Spring should prevent many skin diseases ;
for by clearing the stomach and bowels effectually, not only
will the functions of these parts go on more regularly, but by
the blood-vessels also being unloaded, the excitability will be
less acted upon, and the whole habit being freer from fever, the
functions of the skin will consequently be carried on in a more
natural manner.

In the skin, the blood-vessels of which are either too turgid
from general fulness of habit, or too empty from deficiency of
power in the heart and larger vessels, to propel the blood
through the small hair-like vessels, obstructions will result from

June Diseases.

407

their defect of energy to carry forward the blood. In the former
case, the turgidity of the vessels weakens their coats, by dis¬
tending them beyond their natural diameters; in the latter,
the power of contraction in their coats is diminished by the de¬
ficient supply of that nutriment which, in common with the rest
of the body, they receive from the blood, for the support of
their tone and vigour. Such obstruction may indeed be re¬
garded as the predisposing cause of almost all disorders of the
skin ; and in this state of the skin, whatever increases the irri¬
tability of the stomach and bowels, is felt on the surface; the
circulation then becomes irregular, the irritability of the nerves
of the skin is augmented by companionship; and what was at
first a temporary obstruction of the current of the blood, be¬
comes permanently a diseased action, by which a habit is in¬
duced, to speak technically, which cannot be removed without
■both time and skill.

It may however be urged, even by those who admit the neces¬
sity and advantage of clearing the stomach and bowels in Spring,
that, although physic be requisite, yet it is not obvious that
sulphur is essentially preferable for that purpose, to any other
kind of opening medicine. We reply, that it is preferable, not
from its acting as a stimulant to the bowels, and increasing their
natural operation in the same manner as any other physic; but
from its property of pervading the whole system, and promoting
especially the insensible perspiration and other functions of the
skin; and that it does so, is rendered evident by the odour
which exhales from the skin of those who have taken sulphur;
and by the well known fact, that silver kept in their pockets is
quickly tarnished, in the same manner as if it had been exposed
to a stream of sulphureted hydrogen gas. We apprehend also,
that this effect, so incompatible with the delicacy of modern
refinement, is the chief cause of the disuse of the salutary cus¬
tom of our grandmothers, which has led to the present dis^
cussion.

An objection might be urged to the remarks which have been
hazarded, arising from the idea that the same predisposing
cause must necessarily always be productive of the same effect;
and therefore, that it is not probable the obstructions of the
current of the blood through the skin, can be the predisposing
cause of the numerous and diversified species of skin diseases,
which every day present themselves to our observation. This
argument, however, is more specious than correct; and we an¬
swer it by remarking, that in this respect skin diseases are not
peculiar ; for other complaints, apparently the most distinct,
often arise from the application of different exciting causes in

408

June Diseases.

the same state of predisposition of the body. Thus, in that
condition of the frame which is termed inflammatory, sudden
alternations of temperature excite very different diseases. In
one case the complaint may be a cold, in another rheumatism,
and in a third pleurisy. We shall here take up a single disease
of the skin, which is peculiarly annoying to two descriptions of
individuals, in whom we feel deeply interested — the fair sex,
and those who are much employed in study or in desk business.
We allude to

Pimples ,

and to what is popularly called a scorbutic humour in the face.
The disorder generally makes its first appearance in the form of
a small, hard, red pimple; which gradually becomes larger,
acquires an inflamed base, and having slowly changed into a
little boil, breaks and discharges its matter, leaving a mark
which does not hastily disappear. The forehead, the sides of the
nose, the chin, the throat, a little below the angle of the jaw,
and the back of the neck, are most commonly the parts on
which these inflamed tubercles show themselves. In those who
are very liable to the disorder, the skin frequently appears
greasy; and numerous black points are seen scattered over the
forehead, the nose, and the back of the neck, which are pro¬
duced by the ordinary excretion of the skin hardening and dis¬
tending the ducts through which it should escape. By the
mechanical irritation of this hardened matter, the part where it
forms, inflames, and the suppurating tubercle, which is the re¬
sult, seems to be a salutary effort of nature to discharge it from
the skin. The stomach in such cases is greatly disordered ; the
appetite is precarious and fickle; almost every meal is followed
either by sour belching, or an uneasy distention of the stomach
with wind ; the bowels are very irregular, being at one time
confined, at another too open ; the spirits are depressed, and
the individual becomes irritable in temper, fanciful, and hypo¬
chondriacal.

The predisposing cause of this disorder is that state of the
skin, which has just been described above, and the immediate or
exciting cause is whatever tends to produce an irritable state of
the coats of the stomach, and a hasty or imperfect manufacture
of the juices, which are requisite for carrying on the process of
digestion. Tims it follows an intemperate indulgence in wine
and spirits; the use of too ascescent diet; severe, and espe¬
cially sedentary, studious application ; mental anxieties, and the
depressing passions.

No disease has afforded more encouragement to the preten¬
sions of quackery than that we have just described ; and hence

June Diseases.

405

infallible washes, ointments, and cosmetics, have been too fre¬
quently resorted to, often with little benefit to the complexion,
and frequently with much injury to the general health of the pa¬
tient. Although our object is to combat quackery, not to ad¬
vance it, yet we must, in justice to the quacks, say what is the
truth, that the disorder has not hitherto attracted due attention
from the regular practitioner. ,

In detailing our method of treatment, we must premise, that
the chief object is to correct the state of the stomach; but, in
addition to this, the local management of the skin is essential.
The first object is effected by adopting animal food for diet, or
at least such food as will not easily ferment or become sour on
‘the stomach; taking sufficient daily exercise in the open air,
either on horseback or on foot; and following such a course of
medicine as will diminish the irritability of the stomach, and
consequently promote the manufacture of more healthy gastric
juice. Nothing answers this purpose better than small doses
of mercurial preparations, combined with still smaller doses of
tartarized antimony and opium, taken at bed-time; and tonics
combined with very large doses of the mineral alkalies, particu¬
larly of soda, taken several times during the day. Soda, per¬
haps, is preferable to potass, because the natural acid of the
stomach being the muriatic, its chemical combination with it,
forms common salt, which is a healthy stimulus at all times to
the stomach when in moderate quantity. But, nevertheless, we
must acknowledge that it is on the sedative effect, not the che¬
mical action of the soda or potass, that we must rely. The
principle of the local treatment is to stimulate the skin in such
a manner, that the obstructed ducts may be all quickly brought
to suppurate; and by diminishing its irritability, induce sub¬
sequently a more healthy action of the skin. Both of these in¬
tentions are effected by brisk rubbing of the disordered parts,
with a coarse towel twice a day — washing the skin regularly
with warm water and soap, and afterwards bathing it with the
following

Lotion for Pimples and Scurvy of the Face .

Take two drachms of hydrocyanic acid,

six grains of the oxymuriate of mercury,
half a pint of emulsion of bitter almonds.

Mix, and make a lotion, to be used as occasion requires.

By the steady use of these means, the disease gradually yields,
and the healthy action of the skin is restored.

410

Frauds and Tricks of Bakers and Millers.

Frauds and Tricks of Bakers and Millers. By a

Journeyman.

From the information of a person who was a journeyman
baker, we are enabled to get a peep behind the door of the
bake-house, and see the numerous tricks and frauds practised
on the public by some, though we should be sorry to think by
all, of that indispensible and important trade. This journey¬
man, we must confess however, was in his time as great a
rogue as the masters who employed him. In his first place in
London he tells us — as I was the under-man, it became my
duty to take the meat which was brought by the customers to
be baked, from the shop into the bake-house. The second¬
hand, as the cant phrase is, shaves the meat ; that is, he cuts ♦
off* as much "from each joint as he thinks will not be missed.
The foreman again drains off’ the water, and puts the dishes
in the oven, till they require to be turned. After this the melt¬
ed fat is drained off from each dish, and the deficiency is sup¬
plied with water. This drained off fat is the master’s perqui¬
site. It may be plainly seen, therefore, that between master
and man — by shaving and draining, the public loses about two
ounces or one-eighth part of each pound of meat sent to be
baked ; and as there is a mutual understanding between master
and man, there is little fear of detection.

The cant term for loaves charged to customers, which were
never delivered to them, is (C dead men.” Now our journey¬
man’s master had the conscience to claim all such for himself.

I mention this circumstance, he says, because some other jour¬
neymen told me the dead men ought to be my perquisite; and
finding the customers did not detect the imposition, or have
their bills examined, I determined henceforth to deal in “ dead
men” myself — determining never to bury any after Wednesday,
for fear they should rise in judgment against me at the weekly
settlements; and when my master attempted to bury his “ dead
men” in the same ground, I took care to detect him, and tell
him of it before the bills were carried to the customers, when
he would say it was a mistake. I soon became master of kill¬
ing and burying, but wanted an undertaker, being a simple
countryman. He soon, however, gained more experience, simple
as he was, and could cheat and trick with any master in the
trade.

I frequently, he says, detected my master in his deficient
weighings of flour: when ordered to take a peck of flour to a
gentleman’s house, the quantity seldom exceeded ten pounds,
instead of fourteen ; and if a half peek, five instead of seven

t

AM

Frauds and Tricks of Bakers and Millers.

pounds. The servants never thought about the weight, it being
immediately emptied into the flour tub ; and if any fault was af¬
terwards found, it was attributed to a mistake.

From every pudding which is sent to bake, the master cribs
his share; but the journeyman improved upon this plan of rob¬
bing by halves. On New Year’s Day (or it might be Twelfth
Day), he informs us, we had about a dozen good plum puddings
to bake, and I thought I had a right, equal to my master’s, of
making a parish-puddmg for myself and the maid. There was
one pudding of a superior kind, which smelt strong of brandy,
I therefore thought I would improve on mv master’s plan; for
his method was to take a little out of each dish; but my pre¬
sent method was to take all the best into my dish, and to give
the customers the mixtures instead.

On his return to London, after some absence, our journey¬
man engaged with a master baker, who changed all his men
very often, except his second-hand — the most profitable situa¬
tion, because the master serving good families (in the neigh¬
bourhood of Portman-square), his journeyman could make as
many “ dead men” as he pleased, without fear of detection,
through the carelessness of servants. The man whom I suc¬
ceeded, he tells us, put me up to every move that could be made
on my master, as well as those customers on whom I could
pass u dead men.” I adopted my old system, when carrying
out the bread, of keeping a check on my master. At one house
in Hill-street, Berkeley-square, I could bury six “ dead men,”
and half a peck of flour weekly, as the cook and myself divided
the profits. She told me my master used to overcharge her
mistress a peck of flour and six or eight loaves weekly, and never
would give her more than half a crown at a time ; adding, c< I
should not have put you up to it, but your master told me he
served many families the same.” Now, whenever I detected
my master in these malpractices, I was admitted to a share of
the plunder.

I afterwards engaged myself, he continues, with a master
baker and miller at Wandsworth, who carried on a very exten¬
sive business. The foreman, whom I succeeded, had worked
for his employer eight years, and had accumulated some hun¬
dreds of pounds, whether right or wrong I leave to his con¬
science, for his honest wages, if all saved, would not have
amounted to half the sum, for these were only twenty-three
shillings per week, and he quitted his employ without giving
the customary notice. My master ranked amongst the first
rate millers. His flour fetched the best price, but he made use
of a great quantity of potatoes ; and there were so many tricks

412 Frauds and Tricks of Bakers and Millers .

played with the flour, that it would puzzle the most able chemist
to enumerate its component parts. In the Autumn mv master
bought all the potatoes which were to be disposed of in the vi¬
cinity, to the amount of two hundred tons, under the pretence
that he expected potatoes to be dear, and made the speculation
to accommodate his customers at small profit. To screen his
design also, he sold them by retail to his neighbours; but it was
our constant practice, as much to take a load of potatoes to
each baker as it was to take a load of flour. Alum also, ground
and unground, is sold to the bakers at fourpence a pound. Upon
a moderate calculation, there are upwards of 700,000tbs of alum
used annually by the London bakers ! !

Our journeyman was also in the employ of army contractors,
who are, if possible, worse than the specimen which we have
already given. In the Isle of Wight, the bread was often re¬
jected by some regiments, but served to others more easily im¬
posed upon. It was a very indifferent article, and instead of
being made from flour, sound and sweet, produced from good
English or foreign wheat, the mixture of which the bread was
made consisted of wheat, barley, beans, peas, rye, and caravan-
seras, worked with yeast made from potatoes, and blended with
sea water instead of salt. The stratagem used by the contractor
to make his bread retain its weight is this : as the bread is
drawn out of the oven, a man is employed with a hand-brush,
which he dips in a pail of water, and washes the tops and bot¬
toms of the loaves. After this process, the store-room, or bread
magazine, is made ready by placing small pebble stones about
an inch asunder, so as to retain small puddles of water, on a
gradual descent, that the overplus water might run off, after
filling the spaces between these pebbles. Before the bread is
put into the store-room, a sufficient quantity of water is thrown
on the floor ; and after the bread has been laid on the wet floor,
it is covered with a tarpaulin, to confine the steam. 'Thus the
bread by imbibing water retains its weight, but is rendered un¬
wholesome for the consumer, and often occasioned flux among
the poor soldiers.

At Guernsey, the soldiers were frequently put in confine¬
ment as disorderly, for finding fault with bread made of mate¬
rials not to be digested, as we took good care to exhibit whole¬
some loaves to the officers. It we allow in time of war the mi¬
litary forces to amount to 200,000 ; the head contractors, who
re-let their contracts to sub-agents, retaining a penny per loaf
as their perquisite, and the loaf being the portion of four sol¬
diers, it makes the enormous profit to these idle contractors of
€225 per day. or .€81,900 a year. But this is not the only

On Improving the Shape , with the Causes of Deformity. 4 13

fraud practised on the soldier. The second class of contractors
re-let the contracts ; and sometimes these are again re-let from
one sub-agent to another, each of whom makes a profit ; and
the baker being the last, purchases a mixture of all kinds of
grain. But after all, the wickedness of the baker’s profit is
often encroached upon by the sub-contractors compelling him
to have from them what they call flour, and they screw him
down as low as possible.

On improving the Shape, with the Causes of

Deformities.

At the time (and the period has but just gone by) when trees
were transformed by the taste of the age into crosses, pyramids,
and peacocks — the children of the rich were distorted, and at¬
tained premature old age by the use of swaddling clothes and
stomachers, and other more powerful engines of folly, of which
we still retain but too many relics. Whoever has seen portraits
of the babes of the last century, can never forget the appearance
of these little old men, tight buttoned, tight laced, and encum¬
bered with every restraint which absurdity could devise. When
we read of the way of training up children but a few years
back, we can almost pardon all the mischievous doctrines of
J. J. Rousseau, who, by his powerful eloquence, restored to
those of his time, the freedom of their limbs, and the enjoy¬
ment of their natural food — the mother’s breast.

In the mean time, we may turn to another point, which by
perpetuating a sad error in youthful up-bringing, must have
struck every observant person to be one of the most fatal mis¬
takes which still, and to a very considerable extent, exists. We
allude to the usual treatment of those very common affections
which attack the spine. It is almost obvious to the least con¬
siderate, that the deformity so often observed in young people,
and above all in the more delicate female part of the community,
is produced by making them adopt the artificial habit of keeping
themselves in a stiff, erect position, with their shoulders unnatu¬
rally forced back either by scolding or by straps and braces.

In a state of such constant effort as this unnatural position
requires, the muscles of the back get no rest, are strained, and
therefore weakened. We know’ that by exercise all our muscles
are strengthened ; but for this purpose the action must be alter¬
nate, and it must not be confined to a single set of muscles.
For example, we perceive that the arms of blacksmiths, row¬
ers, and washerwomen, become uncommonly vigorous and
muscular, but in these exercises the hammer, the oar, &c., are

VOL. ii. 3 g

4 1 4 On Improving the Shape, with the Causes of Deformity.

brought to the body or raised ; and each set of muscles, both
those that stretch and those that bend the arm, are brought
into play. Thus each set of muscles alternately acts and rests,
whilst in the continued erect posture of the spine, the stretch¬
ing muscles act alone ; and young people of a weak habit,
grow crooked by this means, while the tumbler, who turns his
spine in every direction but the straight one, acquires a firm
and erect form.

Our conclusion, therefore, is, that young people may be
taught to hold themselves erect in company and in walking,
but not be kept all day perpendicular to their writing-table or
other avocations : and when the spine is disposed to distortion,
that they should not be laid on a stretching-bed like that of
Procrustes ; but adopt some simple method to exercise the
spine alternately forwards and backwards.

Effects o f Stays.

Another legacy of the absurdity of the past age, are stays,
which have recently been lengthened by the fashion of the pre¬
sent day. No rational person can reflect, without concern,
upon the influence of this tyrant of the female form, encom¬
passed by whose baneful pressure, young girls reach woman¬
hood. At least whilst they were of shorter proportions, they
pressed on the more resisting bony case of the chest ; and
though they impeded the action of the muscles round the ribs
in respiration, they left the midriff or diaphragm free. But
lengthened as they now are, they oppress the organs of diges¬
tion continually, and by pushing the bowels upwards against
the diaphragm, render the breathing short and imperfect, and
promote that scourge of the fair sex in England — consumption.
We will not expatiate on the evil effects of their pressure on
the married lady of fashion, who figures in the quadrilles, from
which her future hopes ought in prudence to exclude her.
Without this appendage, the form would still have the grace
nature lias imparted, and the chaste beauty of the Grecian mo¬
del. But if stays must be preserved, let them be shortened,
and above all let them not be rendered more destructive by
bone and steel. On this subject infinitely more might be
urged ; but here we stop, not to tire the patience of our fair
readers, and hoping that if what we have said is not consonant
with their feelings, they will remember that unpleasant advice
is in general the best, since none but a friend will venture to
impart it.

Effects of Exercise.

The fondness for pugilistic contention appears of late to
have very much increased in brutality, till in many instances

On Improving the Shape , with the Causes of Deformity 2 1 5

the results have been fatal to the parties. The admirers of the
<c science, ” as it is called, may conceive its encouragement ne¬
cessary to preserve and cherish a spirit of bravery and heroism ;
but true Englishmen are proud to know, that their martial and
generous character was formed and maintained for centuries
before such fighting became a trade. We should be sorry to
believe the love of pugilism arose from a degeneration of cha¬
racter. The chief reason is, perhaps, the small attention now
paid to popular sports, and the want of facilities for practising
those manly amusements in which the people were formerly so
skilful. The increase of the metropolis has tended materially
to the decay of gymnastic exercises, from the loss of such
places as were appropriated to the purpose. Stowe laments
this consequence of the extension of London ; and later writers
have found more cause to regret these retrenchments. The im¬
portance of proper exercises for the people was well appreciated
by the ancients, and provided for by public institutions.

There is no disinclination among the people of this country
to the spirited and martial amusements of their ancestors, but
“ the age of chivalry” has gone by, and there are now no tour¬
naments, no tilts and joustings, to gratify the u Fancy,” who are
led to engage in diversions, neither so healthful nor innocent.
The game of cricket is almost the only one that maintains in
some degree its place. Skittles, it is true, are still played, but
the grounds are in general attached to public houses ; and
hence, by inducing tippling, or leading to intemperance, the
game becomes objectionable in a moral point of view. In some
places, the motive for providing such accommodation is openly
explained by the intimation that “ no dry play is allowed.”

Many of the old sports and pastimes, described by Strutt,
have, from the change of manners, fallen into disuse, and an
improved police has suppressed others, but it is to be regretted
that the poor are gradually losing their wonted privileges, even
that of meeting at fairs. Formerly our kings and queens en¬
couraged popular amusements by express acts ; but a few
honest countrymen who might now-a-days in their jollity form a
morris dance on a village green, would do it at the peril of being
dispersed, or put into the cage for annoying the neighbour¬
hood. Horse-racing, indeed, stands deservedly high in public
estimation, and although it must be acknowledged there is cru¬
elty in running horses almost to death, and starving grooms
almost to annihilation, these amusements are of a higher order.

Might it not, under these circumstances and in these times,
when people are so anxious to employ their money, be a profit¬
able speculation, to erect, by subscription or otherwise, some-

Toothache.

41(5

thing in imitation of the ancient ambulac&ums and hippodromes ,
for admittance to which a small sum would be cheerfully paid?
And would it not, were these revivals objected to, be at least
expedient to encourage our old games of foot-ball, hand-ball,
leaping, throwing the sledge hammer, racing, and other rustic
sports? Not the gambling of trained pedestrians, but the
honest, spontaneous exercises of the general population.

Toothache.

Those who are martyrs to this and other tortures, usually
console themselves that the disease is common, and that they
are not solitary victims to its sufferings. But be this as it may,
we are certain of the truth of the poet’s remark

- There was never yet philosopher,

That could endure the toothache patiently.

Shakspeare.

Toothache does not always arise from a decayed tooth ; and
we can assure our readers, that many a serviceable grinder has
been extracted without affording any relief to the sufferer.
The truth is, that this species of toothache is a variety of rheu¬
matism, and, like all cases of rheumatism, is an affection of the
nerves of the affected part, totally unconnected with any decay
or injury of the teeth. Its remote causes are, alternations of
heat and cold, particularly when the latter is accompanied by
damp. It is distinguished from the toothache which proceeds
from a decayed tooth by the periodical nature of the attack,
which generally occurs nearly at the same hour of each day, or
each alternate day ; by a slight degree of chilliness, preced¬
ing the paroxysms, which are followed by perspiration ; by
the pain being more extended along the jaw than in common
toothache ; and by two, three, or more of the teeth, on the
affected side, feeling longer than the others, as if they were
raised from their sockets. It was evidently this form of tooth¬
ache which was successfully charmed away by our forefa¬
thers ; and which may always be cured in the same manner
as long as credulity continues to influence the bulk of mankind.
Even such pretenders as the Doctor Pinch of our immortal
bard : —

- A hungry lean-faced villain,

A mere anatomy, a mountebank,

A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune teller,

A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp looking wretch ; —

as well as by the rubicund-faced, chariot-riding, odontalgic
quacks of our own day. Indeed, if wc weigh modern against
ancient credulity, we shall have little to boast of, notwith-

Toothache.

417

standing the evident march of intellect in the last fifty years ;
for if the seventeenth century had its magnetic tooth picks and
ear pickers, which removed the pain merely by touching the
affected parts ; the eighteenth witnessed the trial of animal
magnetism ; the beginning of the nineteenth, that of the me¬
tallic tractors ; and, in the present day, we have a society of
nobles, statesmen, and divines, embodied to diffuse the benefit
of Whitlaw’s pretended specific for scrofula!! But as those of
stubborn imaginations, and of little faith, not less than the
credulous, must be relieved from toothache, the torture of
which, as the bard justly remarks, in the lines quoted above,
not even the philosopher can patiently endure; we would recom¬
mend to these that plan of treatment and those remedies which
we know from experience have proved the most efficacious.

Remedies for Toothache.

When the pain first darts, as it were, into the jaw, as soon
as it is ascertained that it does not arise from a decayed tooth,
the feet should be bathed in very hot water, the bowels tho¬
roughly emptied, and a pill containing calomel, tartar emetic,
and opium, exhibited at bed-time in such proportions as the
strength and the habit of the patient admit of and require. A
grain of each will be near a medium. As soon as the pain regu¬
larly intermits, the Peruvian bark should be administered during
the intervals of ease, in as large doses, and as frequently repeated,
as it can be taken ; either alone or combined with spirit of turpen¬
tine. But if the bark in substance or in decoction nauseate the
stomach, the sulphate of quinine, which is the true essence of
the bark, may be substituted for it. Bark in every form, how¬
ever, sometimes proves unavailing; in which cases arsenic has
been successfully administered, but as this remedy requires a
degree of caution which few are disposed to bestow, we would
suggest a trial of the sub-carbonate of iron, from the powerful
influence it has displayed in tic doloureux — a nervous affection,
to which rheumatic toothache bears some resemblance.

Whatever may be the remedy, it should be exhibited with
proper care and caution. The strictest attention ought to be
paid to the diet and regimen. Night air, exposure to dew, or
to easterly winds ought to be avoided ; and when the attack is
removed, the use of the head-bath, that is, cold water poured
over the head every morning, will be the most effectual means
of preventing its recurrence. Its attacks are most prevalent at
the season when evening parties commence ; and, as it is most
common in young females in the better ranks of life, we must
ascribe it to the exposure of the unshawled shoulders to cur¬
rents of air on staircases and landing places, in those gregarious

418

Worms.

assemblages of fashion, in which, to use the words of a drama
list whose merits are now before the public, our countrywomen
“ turn their skins to parchment.”

Worms.

It is a vulgar error, adopted too hastily, from Hippocrates,
the father of Physic, that infants and young people are more
affected with worms than grown persons. This error has
lately been completely exposed both in England and on the
Continent, experience having demonstrated that as many
grown persons are affected with worms as children, particularly
females, and men whose employment requires constant sitting ;
very extensive observation, indeed, has taught us that worms
chiefly affect those who are subject to indigestion, nervous
ailments, and disordered bowels, whatever be the age or sex.

Nobody can tell how worms are produced and propagated
in the bowels. Some maintain that they are hatched from
eggs taken in with the food and drink, or by insects getting
into the bowels and laying their eggs. Others say, that they
are produced spontaneously from the slime or corrupted matter
in the bowels. You may adopt either of these views, accord¬
ing as you think it the most rational : we profess no opinion
on the subject. It is too dark for us: we cannot comprehend
it, and it is not of much importance to speculate upon it.

As worms are of many species, and as we cannot now des¬
cribe all these, we shall content ourselves with the small
thread- worms of the lower bowels*, which crowd together in
thousands, to feed upon the slime and corrupted matter of the
intestines.

Symptoms of Thread - Worms.

The most certain sign of the thread-worm is an itching of
the fundament and lower intestine, which is often distressing
and almost intolerable. The disturbance produced here is
communicated by the nerves to all parts of the body, occa¬
sioning a crowd of disorders of the bowels, the stomach, and
the head, as enumerated in the following description, which
we translate into plain English, from the Latin of the celebra¬
ted Dr. Heberden.

The evils arising from worms, says the Doctor, are head¬
aches, giddiness, loss of activity, frightful dreams, sleep broken
oft by terror and screaming, convulsions, feverishness, thirst,
sickly paleness of the countenance, bad taste in the mouth,

* The thread-worms are usually called yfscarides, by medical men. By those
who affect a sort of trumpery learning, this sort of worm is called Oxyurit Vermi -
cularis HI

Worms .

419

offensive breath, cough, oppressed breathing, itching of the
nostrils, pains in the stomach, sickness, nausea, squeamishness,
voracious appetite, wasting of the flesh, frequent desire to go
to stool, and itching of the fundament, particularly towards
night. The Doctor observed several instances in which worms
produced epileptic fits, madness, and idiotism.

We may add to this excellent description the grinding of
the teeth in sleep, the flushing of one cheek while the other
is pale, nervous trembling of the lips, a lead colour under the
eyes, redness of the nostrils and a propensity to pick them;
pimples or scabby eruptions about the mouth and face, and
particularly oppressive weakness of the legs and arms. All
these symptoms are seldom found in one patient; but when
there is the itching of the fundament at night, you may dread
many of the rest, as they will certainly follow.

Remedies for Thread- Worms.

As we approve not of the strong purgatives, now so fashion¬
able and so destructive to health, we bid you beware of all the
quack trash called worm cakes, worm nuts, worm lozenges, &c.,
whether these be prepared by Gardner, Ching, Story, or any
other pretender of the same stamp. Your first aim must be to
get rid of the slime of the bowels on which the worms feed;
for if you deprive them of their food, they must inevitably die.
It is natural enough for the half-educated apothecary to think
that he can carry away this slime by purging; but any body
who thinks a moment must see that purgatives, as they make
the stools more watery, only increase the slime, and of course
supply the worms with more food. Though the apothecary
therefore, or the quack, may carry off a great number of worms
by a purge of his calomel, or of his cakes, he provides so much
food for those which remain, that they soon multiply faster than
ever; and he is again ready to pocket your cash for a fresh
dose, which continues the evil; yet all the while you think he
is doing wonders, because his poisonous purgatives bring away
a parcel of worms. He is too deep for you : be advised, take
counsel of us, and try our

Excellent Worm Medicine.

Take one ounce of good quick-lime,
a pint and a half of rain water;

Pour the water over the lime, cover it up for an hour in a pipkin,
then pour off the water into a bottle, and keep it corked for use. For
a child, a wine glassful is to be taken thrice a-day, in a cup of camo¬
mile tea ; or, to make it more palatable, in beef tea or other soup.
Double this dose, or more, for a grown person. An over dose will do
no harm.

420

Causes of Scrofula.

If you continue this for a month or six weeks, you will find
the worms will disappear, and the health and strength will be
rapidly improved. It may be necessary, perhaps, to give a little
Epsom salts and senna, once or twice a-week, though this de¬
pends upon the state of the bowels. If the itching of the fun¬
dament is very troublesome, inject in the usual way a little of
the lime water mixed with beef tea, which will kill every worm
it touches. Even cold water will be effectual if thus injected.
Professor Brera recommends introducing a bit of fat bacon tied
to a string, and withdrawing it again from the fundament with
the worms adhering to it. We think this very clumsy, and not
at all so effectual as the injection of lime water.

Rue, tansy, worm-seed, angelica, and all bitter herbs, are
good against worms, but only because they strengthen the
bowels. None of them are so effectual as our draught; but any
of them you please may be taken with advantage in the form of
tea, along with it. The old herbalists, who prescribed these,
were much wiser and more successful than our present fashion¬
able calomel doctors ; for the latter much oftener kill than cure
their patients.

; Causes of Scrofula.

There are few individuals in these islands, who are altogether
free from, or have not at least some predisposition to scrofula ;
and experience has proved, that the doctrine which affirms it to
be confined to those of a peculiar temperament or habit of
body, is partly erroneous. Consumption, mesenteric affections,
and even insanity, may in many instances be regarded as differ¬
ent modifications of this disease, although the term scrofula is
usually confined to express its effects upon those glands which
come more directly within the scope of our sense of vision, from
their situation on the surface of the body.

Scrofula is said to be hereditary, but this expression is for the
most part improperly supposed to imply that the children of
scrofulous parents have in their habits some matter or humour,
fitted to engender the disease at birth ; instead of which it
simply means that they are born with such a texture of parts,
and such a structure of organs, as renders them, when exposed
to certain external causes, more likely to be attacked with this
disease than with any other. It is, however, on this account
possible to prevent its approach by avoiding the exciting causes;
and thus to wear out in a few generations, the predisposition
which had been stamped on these individuals by their primo-

Causes of Scrofula. 42 1

genitures — a fact of immense importance in a prospective point
of view.

The predisposition to which we have just alluded, admits of
the disease being produced by almost every debilitating cause
which can reduce the tone of the living fibre ; such-as imper¬
fect nutriment of the body, either from too scanty a diet or that
which is gross, indigestible, and unwholesome in its nature;
deficient clothing, and consequent exposure of the surface of
the body, to cold and moisture ; uncleanliness ; the want of
proper and regular exercise in the open air ; sedentary occupa¬
tions in close and confined situations ; over-exertion, particu¬
larly in study, or in watchings at night; grief, anxiety, and all
the depressing passions.

We are sorry to remark also, notwithstanding all we have so
often said in favour of tea, that the use of it with bread and
butter, as the almost sole food of the working classes in manu¬
facturing towns, is a leading cause of the extension of scrofula
among the mass of their population ; and it hence becomes a
question whether sobriety, which the introduction of tea has
promoted, compensates for the loss of vigour of constitution
and power of body, which have followed its use, by that class of
the community. What a contrast, for example, is displayed
between the rosy children of the peasant, nurtured upon milk
and bread, or beer and bacon, and the squalid progeny of the
manufacturing classes, scantily fed, as we have already said,
upon tea and bread and butter ! The former, rosy, vigorous,
and alert; the latter, pale, emaciated, rickety, with tumid sto¬
machs, red, swollen, and inflamed eyelids, and deformed with
enlarged scrofulous glands.

In the middling and higher ranks of society, the remote
causes of scrofula are to be found in the plans of education, un¬
reflectingly adopted for producing a precocity of intellectual ac¬
quirements; and, as far as regards females, in the restraints
imposed in boarding-schools, and the too early period of life at
which young ladies are now permitted to mingle in the noctur¬
nal dissipations of modish life. One Winter in the metropolis,
after u coming out,5' as an introduction into its fashionable
circles is termed, is sufficient to blight the roses on the health¬
iest cheek, and to impress on the maiden form the decrepi¬
tude of years, long before it has acquired the graceful charac¬
ters of puberty.

Preventives and Remedies.

It will appear from the preceding principles that the best pre¬
ventives of scrofula, consist of that description of diet and regi-

vol. n. 3 H

422

Rheumatism.

men which is calculated to give firmness, elasticity, and vigour
to the system, and to promote its nervous energies. But when
the complaint has already appeared, we have then farther to
think of attempting a cure. As it is a disease of debility, pur¬
gatives and all evacuants, which are generally administered un¬
der the idea of the existence of some acrimonious humour,
which ought to be expelled, are detrimental. On the contrary,
whatever medicines are employed should be of a stimulant and
tonic description ; such as the several preparations of iron, Pe¬
ruvian bark, coltsfoot, and such like. But much skill and ex¬
perience are requisite in the prescribing of these, so as to accord
with the habit, the temperament, age, and even the occupations
of the patient.

In the earlier stage of the disease, before the obstructed glands
have begun to suppurate, the vessels connected with them should
be locally stimulated, so as to clear the glands from the viscid
fluids lodged in them, which are the cause of obstruction.
Bathing the swellings with warm sea-wrater, or with fomenta¬
tions of sea-wrack, or tangle, has been found useful ; but per¬
haps nothing ever introduced into medicinal use is so likely to
effect this intention as the ointment of iodine, mentioned in a
former page of this volume; the strength of which must be
proportioned to the irritability of the skin of the individual.
Iodine, as we have also seen in a former page, has been admi¬
nistered as an internal remedy in scrofula, with considerable
success ; but no medicine is so effectual as sea-air, sea-bathing,
exercise out of doors, and distant from towms, with a generous
nutritious diet. One circumstance ought ever to be kept in
view: the curative plan should not be relaxed until the cure is
completed ; for to reside a few months on the coast, and then
return to mingle in the visitings, dissipation, and crowded as¬
semblies of the Winter in the metropolis; or, in the case of
children, to the confinement and restraint of schools, can be
productive only of disappointment.

Rheumatism.

There is not a more common nor a more distressing disease
than rheumatism. It spares neither sex nor age, and makes
its attacks at all seasons of the year. Like ague, it appears to be
the result of some specific effect of cold or moisture on the skin.
The action of the external vessels is checked, and that portion of
the blood which requires to be carried off by perspiration being
retained, and a congestion of the blood on the internal organs —
the brain, liver, lungs, and bowels also taking place, a fever is
begun and carried on in successive paroxysms, accompanied

Rheumatism.

423

with acute inflammation in the larger joints. There is no part
of the body exempt from its assailment, though it usually pre¬
fers the joints, or some of the more fleshy or moveable parts of
the body, such as the muscles about the back and loins, and
frequently the heart itself. The cure of rheumatism is often
difficult and baffling, a fact not very favourable to the vulgar
idea, of experience being the test of a doctor’s skill ; for here is
this plain disease, rheumatism, occurring every day, and giving
them the best opportunities of observing it, and still they are
little less ignorant of its cure, than they were two thousand
years ago. Something, however, can be done to relieve, if not
to cure, and we shall do our best to put you in the way to do
this for yourselves. But we must first tell you the

Symptoms of Rheumatism.

The first hints of an attack of rheumatism are very like
those which we have so often mentioned in many other ail¬
ments, namely, weariness, languor, a cold feeling about the
small of the back, succeeded by, at first, shifting pains in the
limbs and joints, which afterwards fix in the knee, the ancle,
the shoulder, or any of the larger joints, and rarely, if ever, in
the toes or fingers, as gout does, by which it is for the most part,
easy to distinguish the two disorders. The joint attacked be¬
comes distressingly painful, swollen, and red, and the warmer
it is kept it grows the worse, the heat of the bed usually in¬
creasing the pain. From this fact, you will at once see the
absurdity of wrapping up the parts with flannel on all occa¬
sions, as is usually done. The pains, indeed, are always more
severe during the night than in the morning, when a clammy
disagreeable sweat for the most part comes on, very weakening
to the patient, though what is remarkable, it does not tend
to soften the skin, which still feels tense and harsh, and ac¬
companied with a creeping cold and chillness all over the body.
The feverishness and thirst seldom continue violent above two
or three weeks, and often not so long.

Treatment of Rheumatism.

As rheumatism is a sort of inflammation always brought on
by cold, there can be no doubt that our best plan of cure is to
take a course which will oppose that cause and its effects. Pers¬
piration, which has been confined by shutting up the pores of
the skin, must be restored to its healthy state; for the clammy
and partial perspiration just described, does little service so
long as the skin is tense and harsh, and will not let the sweat
escape through it freely. Our first object then must be to
open the pores of the skin, and for this purpose we know no-

4*4

Rheumatism.

thing superior to the warm bath, or the vapour bath, followed
up by the

Sweating Bolus for Rheumatism.

Take 15 or 20 grains of the compound powder of ipecacuan,
one small tea spoonful of flowers of sulphur,
treacle, or moistened sugar enough to

Make a bolus, to be taken at bed-time, and no drink for two hours
after.

If a bolus is disliked from difficulty of swallowing, you may
make it into pills, with crumb of bread, without the treacle
or you may try the following

Draught for Rheumatism.

Take an ounce of camphorated julap,
fifteen drops of laudanum,
thirty drops of antimonial wine.

Mix for a d raught, to be taken at bed-time, to be followed in an
hour alter with a basin of warm gruel, or warm whey.

This draught will tend to relieve the pain, when it is se¬
vere. The wild or meadow saffron — (not the common saffron,
mark you,) has also great power over rheumatism, as well as
gout, and constitutes the basis of all the extortionable quack
medicines — for instance, Reynolds’ Specific ; Want’s Powder,
&c. It is known to apothecaries by the name of colchicum .

Early attention to the symptoms cannot be too urgently re¬
commended, as no disease is so likely to fix itself upon the con¬
stitution, if neglected in the first instance. It is good practice
to allay the pain by proper combinations of calomel, tartarized
antimony, and opium ; and to clear away the redundant secre¬
tion of bile, which always accompanies acute rheumatism, by
the most active purgatives, into the composition of which the
wine or the vinegar of colchicum is introduced.

There are many reasons against applying embrocations and
external remedies, which tend only to make the inflammation
shift its place; and in such translations, as they are called, of
the disorder, some of the vital organs, as, for example, the
brain, the heart, the stomach, are as likely to be affected as the
limbs, or other less important parts of the body. The cure of
rheumatism also is much facilitated by means which are alto¬
gether under the control of the patient. Thus, an individual,
of a temper of mind not easily ruffled, who can bear pain pa¬
tiently, who can conform to deprivations in respect of diet, live
on vegetable and farinaceous food, and drink only toast and water
or rennet whey — who can bear to sleep on a mattress, instead
of a feather or a down bed — and who will be careful to avoid

Consumption. 4 2 5

currents of air, sudden alterations of temperature, and over¬
heated rooms — has a much better chance of being quickly and
elfectually cured of rheumatism, than another person of oppo¬
site habits.

In order to ward off’ the future attacks of the disorder, and
jog on without the aid of the doctors, it will be necessary that
the insensible perspiration, and the due action of the skin be
maintained by flannel worn next the body, over which, how¬
ever, the other parts of the dress should be light; every excess
in diet and in the use of wine and spirits, should be avoided ;
regular exercise on foot or on horseback, should be taken ; and
the vigour and tone of the body restored and preserved by the
daily use of the shower bath, which may be regarded as an al¬
most certain preventive of acute rheumatism.

Consumption.

Just as the writer of this article had begun to muse on the
subject that has so frequently occupied the pages of the Oracle,
his attention was roused by a gentle tap on the door ; and tc come
in,” was scarcely uttered, when a thin, sallow, hollow-eyed figure,
breathing short, and leaning upon a stick, entered the library.
We give the history of this visit as a strong illustration of the

Common Delusions in Consumption.

In uttering the assent for admission, says our author, I still
retained my seat and position, though my eye was turned upon
the spectral individual, who was advancing towards me with a
smile, which threw a hectic flush upon his hollow cheek, and
as he extended his hand, as he addressed me in a hoarse, muffled
tone, which sounded as if it came from the grave: “ How d’ye
do my worthy friend !” 1, of course, rose; but the faint pres¬
sure of his bony fingers was felt some moments upon my palm
before 1 recognized, in the emaciated figure whose hand was in
mine, the remains of my once gay, vigorous, and rosy acquain¬
tance Oliver B — . Too much shocked with the alteration in
the appearance of my friend to return his salutation, I handed
him an elbow chair, and waited for some minutes till his
breathing was recovered, and a cough had cleared his obstructed
chest, before I would venture to express my regret at his altered
aspect.

His acute observation perceived my embarrassment; and,
anticipating the inquiry — “ Yes,” said he, “ I am indeed much
changed in my looks since we last met; but I am getting better ;
and were it not for this teazing cough, and my morning perspi¬
rations, and a distressing looseness, I would soon gain flesh;

426

Consumption.

for my appetite is good, and my spirit is unbroken. It has ne¬
vertheless been a great effort for me to come this distance ; for
I have not left my apartment during the last four months; but
the sun shone cheerfully, and the weather was so inviting, that
1 could not resist the desire of crawling out, to shew you that I
am still alive. I have cheated the doctor; and, notwithstanding
my spindle shanks and swelled ancles, you shall see that I can
still march, as my uncle Toby would say.”

He made an effort to rise, but another fit of coughing inter¬
rupted his intention ; his breathing seemed to be more affected
than it even was from the fatigue of ascending the staircase; he
turned his eye with a full and imploring stare upon me, and
catching my hand as I advanced towards him, his hat and stick
dropped on the floor — his jaw fell — and, sinking back in the
chair, he uttered scarcely an audible moan, and expired in a
moment.

It is unnecessary to proceed with the sequel of this distress¬
ing scene, which we have presented to our readers, merely as
a precautionary illustration of the delusions and danger of fancy¬
ing themselves convalescent, and thence undertaking any un¬
usual exertion in the advanced stage of the disease, under which
poor Oliver B — sunk. While the deluded patient, indeed, is
cherishing the most delusive hopes of recovery that usually cha¬
racterize the disease, the physician contemplates the approach¬
ing catastrophe, and feels conscious that he can do nothing to
avert the threatened blow, and stands an idle spectator, lament¬
ing the inefficiency of his art. But although consumption be
rarely cured, yet, even in those who are evidently predisposed to
the disease, its attack may be parried; and we will be satisfied
if our suggestions for accomplishing so desirable an event, shall
save one of the many thousands who every year are usually cut
off by its relentless power.

Marks of a Consumptive Constitution.

In noticing a malady which destroys nearly one fourth part
of the population of this country, and among them the most
interesting and amiable part of our species, the physiognomy,
if we may use the expression, of the habits most liable to its
attack cannot be too generally known. We have formerly
sketched the outlines of this picture, but we think it cannot be
too strongly impressed upon the public attention. It may be
objected that it is cruel in this case to withdraw the curtain
which conceals danger that inevitably threatens the predis¬
posed ; but we reply, it is only when danger is obvious that it
can be evaded ; and an attention to it, in this case, may snatch

Consumption.

from this inexorable foe of Immunity, a large proportion of vic¬
tims. How often have we seen most beautiful young women,
the pride of their parents, and the admiration of all their ac¬
quaintance, after dancing in a crowded ball room, retire warm
with their exertions, and with uncovered necks and shoulders,
to the landing place of the staircase, or to an adjoining room, in
which they have thrown open the window, to feel the refresh¬
ing breeze upon their flushed cheeks ; and what, we would
inquire, has been the result of this imprudence ? In less than
six months afterwards we have beheld the same youthful forms,
which were such models of beauty and elegance, and buoyant
and vigorous with health — shrivelled, languid, and bent, as if
beneath the weight of years ; the full eye sunk, and its fine blue
changed to the pearly white of disease ; the delicate vermeil of
the cheek circumscribed and deepened to a spot of hectic red ;
and although a smile still lighted up the countenance, yet it
was only

The lovely, but delusive ray
Of nature sinking to decay,

Dale.

faintly expressive of hope — a momentary gleam of sunshine
amidst a threatening sky, which could not conceal the truth,
that the amiable sufferer was perfectly alive to the danger of
her situation.

And could this have been averted ? Certainly, we reply: for
however great may be the predisposition to disease, if the excit¬
ing causes be not present to call it into action, it is harmless ;
and a long life of apparent health may close, merely because
the latent demon had not been roused from his innocent sleep.
In diffusing, therefore, a knowledge of the external characteris¬
tics of the consumptive constitution, so that due caution may be
taken to avoid the exciting causes of the disease, we feel that
we shall have performed a great public duty.

Those predisposed to consumption then, have usually some
of the following features: — light or reddish hair; a smooth,
fair, thin skin ; a very clear ruddy complexion ; large bright
eyes; very white teeth ; a long neck ; narrow chest; and high
shoulders. They are almost always of a sanguine temperament,
keenly alive to all the more amiable feelings of our nature,
acute, generally quick, and lively in their mental conceptions,
and very irritable in temper and disposition.

Preventives of Consumption .

When any of these features and marks appear in a young per¬
son of either sex, in good health, the greatest care should be
taken to preserve them in that state of health which they enjoy.

42? Consumption.

Sadden changes of- temperature, especially when the body is
heated, should be guarded against, by avoiding currents of air,
and by covering the surface with warm clothing, particularly
upon the chest; crowded assemblies, the routs, and the “at
homes,” as they are termed, of a London season, should be
shunned as a pestilence ; and waiting in the lobby of the the~
atre, or the Opera-house, or even in that of a private house,
after quitting a hot room, until a carriage draw up, unless the
head, chest, and every part of the body be muffled up, must be
regarded as treading upon the confines of the grave. Young
persons with such habits should, also, be led to adopt early
hours, both for retiring to rest, and of rising in the morning;
to take daily exercise ; and their diet should be of a mild, but
nutritious, and invigorating quality.

But besides sudden alternations of temperature, other causes
concur to excite consumption in the predisposed. Thus, it is
induced in those whose employments lead them to be frequently
in situations where the air is loaded with dust ; and thence we
may infer, that dancing on a carpet and on chalked floors is more
injurious than on a clean boarded floor. It is a curious fact
that before the streets of London were paved and watered, the
number of consumptive cases was as five to four compared with
those of the present period. How far the new system of
MeAdamizing may cause a retrogression in this respect, if
great care be not taken to water the roads in Summer, time must
determine.

Even the most enviable accomplishments kindle the latent
flame of consumption in the predisposed, when the frame of the
body is delicate. Hence a young girl, with the physiognomical
characteristics of the consumptive habit should not be permitted
to use great exertion in singing, however flattering her talents
in this delightful art may be to her own vanity, and the pride
of a doating parent. The mind, finally, should be so regulated
as to be kept in an equable and sober tone; for experience has
demonstrated that much mental excitement, particularly when
that is connected with the passions of love and of ambition,
has been productive of consumption; and from this cause we
have to lament the loss of some of those individuals, who, for
splendour of talents and extraordinary acquisitions, at a very
early period of life, have occasionally appeared like comets in
the intel leetual world, to display the extent of the capacity and
the powtir of the human mind.

Early Treatment .

If, in s pite of these precautions, the disease make its attack,

429

Consumption,

the appearance of the first symptoms should be the signal for
alarm ; for it is in this stage only that a cure can be confidently
anticipated ; but too often from the slight degree of languor,
and almost imperceptible change in the breathing, which attend
it, and from the cough occurring but seldom, and without ex¬
pectoration, the malady runs on to its second stage, and is esta¬
blished in the system before its existence is even suspected.

We cannot too strongly urge patients who are in this state,
to shun quackery in all its forms of balms, balsams, and lozenges;
for much more will depend on themselves and on their friends
than on medicines, particularly in this dangerous form. The
most judicious plan of cure may be rendered abortive by inat¬
tention to the regulations prescribed by the physician, and by
improprieties or irregularities of diet or regimen. We should
recommend, that, as in the commencement of the disease, the
symptoms are of an inflammatory nature, the diet should be mild,
and ought chiefly to consist of milk and well boiled vegetables,
or farinaceous matters, such as sago, arrow-root, and the pre¬
parations of Iceland liverwort, from which the greater part of
the bitter principle has been extracted.

When asses’ milk can be obtained, it is to be preferred to
every other kind of milk ; but if this cannot be readily procured,
a good substitute for it is an admixture of soda water and hot cow’s
milk, moderately sweetened. The periods of taking food should
not be so distant as in a state of health ; but the quantity taken
at one time should not be oppressive to the stomach. As the
disease advances, and the debility increases, the diet is required
to be of a more generous kind; and it is in this stage that the
beef-steaks, the porter, and the gymnastic exercises, which are
prescribed by Dr. Stewart, as we have seen in a former page,
are likely to prove serviceable, particularly if the disease be con¬
nected, as occasionally occurs, with disease of the digestive
organs.

The atmosphere, in which a consumptive person resides,
should be, in all the stages of the disease, mild, dry, and equable,
in respect of temperature ; and if this cannot be secured in the
country of his residence, it should either be sought for early
abroad, or produced artificially at home. In the latter case, the
patient should be confined to one suite of apartments, during
the last of the Autumnal months, the whole of the Winter, and
the first of the Spring months. He should, in truth, appear and
disappear with the swallows. The exercise of the consumptive
should be moderate and regular; and be taken in the morning
when the strength is most capable of being exerted without ex¬
haustion. Carriage exercise, riding on horseback, sailing, and

VOL. II. 3 I

130

Maxims of a Gourmand.

swinging, are the kinds of exercise best adapted for the con¬
sumptive. These hints, we trust, will not be neglected. They
are intended to rouse the predisposed to a sense of the danger
which hangs over them from imprudence; and to warn those
on whom it has already fallen, of the folly of trifling with so
insidious a malady ; for it is truly melancholy to observe the
self-deception which prevails among the consumptive, and the
fondness with which they cling to hope, until the last sparks
are extinguished.

Maxims of a Gourmand.

The road along which a law travels from its origin and
successive formation, up to the time of its promulgation, is
(so to speak) watered with champagne, bordered with Stras-
burgh pies, and turkeys stuffed with truffles ; and in fairly
considering the influence which these delicious viands have ex¬
ercised over every stage of a Parliamentary Bill, we arrive at
the inevitable conclusion, that they are, in fact, the first, the
most eloquent, and almost the sole legislators. Every thing is,
has been, or is to be, epicurean in a constitutional state.

Most men live exclusively for the stomach, and not a fewT
die in its cause. Gourmanderie and good-living seem to con¬
stitute the great leading objects of modern occupation and in¬
quiry. It is the great universal source of corruption, moral as
well as material. Since the whole business of the nation is
carried on by dinners, from the highest to the low’est sphere,
what could ministers accomplish were it not for their cabinet
dinners ?

To the romantic and the amorous, the month of June is the
finest of the year; but, alas', it is negative for the epicure.
Nature, it is true, displays her odoriferous treasures ; but the
poultry-yard, the plains, and the preserves, are desolate. The
founder of the feast must almost restrict his guests to vegetable
diet, the only product that is then savoury and abundant. A
single friend appears in this moment of affliction to dry up the
tears of the epicure; — it is the turkey poult. Amiable creature!
He advances with candour to make an offer of his innocent
head ; he is young and stately; and at that happy age, when his
flesh, without possessing the flatness of the fowl, lias not yet
acquired that mature savour which will hereafter fill the mouth
with delight. The gourmand must indeed be half famished be¬
fore he can resolve thus to depopulate a poultry-yard, the de¬
pository of so many sweet hopes. But who calculates with the
appetite? A new Ugolino, the epicure places this dear child
upon the spit, and greases his chin with the remains.

Maxims of a Gourmand.

431

When Henri Quatre went to look at a magnificent house,
built by one of his nobles, he objected to the kitchen as being
too small. u Sire,” said the owner, ce it is by always having
a small kitchen, that I have been enabled to build so large a
house.” This man was incapable of understanding the merits
of turkey or venison. Bccuf au naturel or soup maigre was too
good for him.

To eat things hot is a principle of good living as well as of
health. Let the dishes, therefore, be served in succession, so
that they may never be deficient in the beauties of smoking
perfumes.

It is a bad dinner where there are not at least five varieties:
a substantial dish of fish, one of meat, one of game, one of
poultry, and, above all, a ragout with truffles. These are as
necessary for a dinner, as the three unities to a tragedy. They
form the absolute minimum and sine qua non of a dinner for
one person.

“ Rien ne doit deranger l’honn£te hornme qui dine.” The
door ought to be inflexibly shut at this period. The king him¬
self ought to be refused admittance were he to knock. Dinner
may last from three to four hours when the gourmand is alone,
six or more when the Committee dine scientifically.

Dining reconciles all parties, religious and political. Glass
in hand, they deposit their animosities upon the sideboard — the
altar of Comus. Example, indeed, gives birth to a new kind of
emulation in the assembly of gourmands, converting it, it we
may thus speak, into a vast stomach, and changing the cham¬
ber of deliberation into an immense dining-room, wherein the
present eloquent but useless discussions shall be succeeded by
jovial conversation, bacchanalian songs, the tinkling of glasses,
and that sweet and glorious fraternity which knows no other
rivalrv than the stomach — no other distinctions than those of

t/

the appetite, and which shall finally propagate throughout
Europe this salutary maxim — that there is nothing true in the
world but the kitchen — nothing really useful but mastication.

Representation is the best mode of government, simply be¬
cause it is founded on the science of good living. Read the
history of such governments, and say whether there was ever
an insurrection without a dinner, or such a thing as a dry con¬
spiracy. Not to feast one’s accomplices has been always
deemed the height of imprudence ; fidelity wavers when the
gullet is dry. If, finally, we may compare the state to a great
car, we should say that the kitchen artist is its driver, and good
living the shafts.

As it is in the very nature of mankind to abuse the best

H32 Dr. Kitchiner’s Advantages of Early Rising.

things, they have even dared to attack the noble and philanthro¬
pic institution of the dejeuner d la fourchette. Horrible here¬
sies have been uttered upon this subject by melancholy sto¬
machs, caco-chymical doctors, and literati without conscience,
who pretend that solid nourishment paralyzes the imagina¬
tion, clogs the senses, and beclouds the intellect. A man
who has substantially breakfasted, is worth two drinkers of tea
and coffee. He has more shrewdness, activity, energy, and in¬
dustry. His perceptions have greater clearness and audacity,
and many a speculator, whom a single operation at the stock
exchange has enriched, has only owed his fortune to his bold¬
ness, and his boldness to his breakfast.

Dr. Kitchiner on the Advantages of Early Rising.

Those who lose an hour in the morning, may fidget after it
all the following day, but never overtake it — the very attempt
to do so, inevitably produces an imperfect performance of every
duty and operation, which it is their business to have completed
by a certain hour. Be assured my good friends of the second
table, that if you do not arise till the last minute, that your
employers will interpret such indolence to be indisputable evi¬
dence, that you will give them as little of your time, and do as
little work, and that little as badly as possible.

Persons who are actually industrious, are always early risers:
idle lye-a-beds may pretend that they cannot awake without
being called, but we say to such gentry, “ who wakes the
caller ?” Somebody must wake uncalled, and do’nt flatter
yourself, Lucy Lazybones, that anybody is so silly as not to
know, that early rising is one of those good habits, which every¬
body can easily acquire who is willing.

Pliant Nature more or less demand*

As custom forms her.

It is sometimes acknowledged, that young people are heavy
to sleep ; yet there has been known those who could always
wake at any hour, when they were going for a holiday ; but
who never could when their business required it, though it was
ever so urgent ; it is vain, however, for people to rise early, un¬
less when they are up, they make the most of their hours, and do
not idle away their time in the midst of their business. Would
they, for once, take an account of what such five minutes and
quarters of an hour amount to in the course of a day, they
would perceive the occasion of their being so behind hand.

We awake and become sleepy at certain hours, just as regu-

433

Danger of Spectacles to the Eyes.

larly as we are hungry and dry at certain times at which we
have been accustomed to eat and drink. All these things are
mere matters of habit; industrious habits are as easily acquired,
and when acquired, are as agreeable as idle ones.

if you wish to make a favourable impression on your employ¬
ers, you may depend upon it, that no cleverness that you can
display, no exertions that you can make, will be half so prepos¬
sessing as rising at the hour you are desired, or rather a quarter
before.

This was the maxim of that active naval officer, the brave
old x\dmiral Everready — and most emphatically did that disci¬
plinarian insist upon the universal observance of it.

The first time I received orders to attend his honour on a
cruise, Tom Thrifty, said the gallant veteran, be sure to order
everything to be ready for action to morrow morning before
eight o’clock — “ getting out well is a quarter of a journey.”

I will take care your honour, not to be later than eight.

Not later, sir, pipe all hands a quarter before if you please,
sir!! a quarter before, sir!! — to start quarters of an hour I
owe all my success in life!!! do not think that old Everready
would have won every battle he has fought, if he had not always
had a broadside ready to pour into the enemy, before it was
suspected that any engagement could possibly take place ! Oh
that precious quarter of an hour— it has been as a body may
say, the guardian spirit which has gained me all my laurels. —
Now boy, I’ll heave a bit of advice to you. If you wish to keep
clear of the shoals of disappointment, take preparation for your
purser, and punctuality for your pilot, they will put you into
the track of preferment ; and if you mind that your vessel is
well ballasted with integrity, you may soon hope to cast an¬
chor for life in the bay of independence.

We shall soon resume our papers on the Philosophy of

Sleep.

Danger and Inconvenience of Spectacles to the Eyes.

By Professor Beer, of Vienna.

We have more than once been indebted for excellent practi¬
cal remarks which have appeared in our pages to this great ocu¬
list, who is the Newton of eye- surgeons, or as they now barba¬
rously term themselves ophthalmologists. Common spectacles,
says the professor, made as it were hy chance, and, as is vul¬
garly termed, though truly, ce manufactured by wholesale,”
from all sorts of defective materials, even sometimes from the
common window glass, are much to be complained of; and if

434

Danger of Spectacles to the Eyes.

the public could be brought to reflect seriously upon the dan¬
gerous effects which result from their use, the whole tribe of
Jew opticians, as dangerous to the full as the quacking oculist,
would soon be deprived of a venal gain, founded on the igno¬
rance and inattention of their customers.

The points of complaint respecting the common spectacles,
in general, are, that their assortment of the lenses is irregular,
one of the glasses having generally a different focus from the
other; that they are badly polished, which affects their transpa¬
rency; that the two glasses, or lenses, are never of an equal
thickness ; that the glass is often full of specks and imperfec¬
tions, which being partly ground down, are not easily observ¬
able; and, finally, that the convexity is not regular, the sides
not only differing, but different degrees of convexity being abso¬
lutely on the same side of the lens.

One great cause of all these evils is in the mode of grinding
them, one person attending to several at a time, although good
opticians will agree with us, that one lens at a time is sufficient
for a workman’s attention, if it is to be properly ground. It is
indeed, a general principle with honest opticians, that the ut¬
most attention of the workman ought to be paid to the preser¬
vation of a regular sphericity in each lens, whether convex or
concave; for which reason each must be kept perpendicular to
the plane of the machine, a thing which cannot be done if two
are ground at once, for neither of them can be perfect, on ac¬
count of being obliged to change them from hand to hand alter¬
nately.

It may also be observed, that if so much attention is requisite
to form one good glass, it is easy to conceive that an infinity of
defects must exist in those which are made from two to six at
a time; if, indeed, any good lenses should be found in the latter
case, which no doubt sometimes happens, it is merely a matter
of chance. The cheapness of these glasses, unfortunately, is a
bait to many; but we cannot sufficiently deplore the ignorance
of those who are so inattentive to the preservation of their
most precious faculty, and whose wants are essentially different
from any others to which the human frame is subject.

We have known several persons, who, for the space of ten,
nay, even twenty years, have preserved the same degree of
power and extent in sight ; an advantage which the use of t he
common spectacles would never have procured for them.

As the common glasses have different degrees of convexity or
of concavity, it of course happens, that they never represent
objects correctly, or of their natural colour, but make them ap¬
pear crooked, and tinged with refracted rays along their out-

435

Danger of Spectacles to the Eyes.

lines, which produces in the eyes a kind of attraction, or draw¬
ing forward, the oblique muscles of the eye being thus obliged
to lengthen, in order to see the object distinctly.

The inequality of foci also produces strange confusion; a
common glass will sometimes have a focal distance of twelve
inches at the centre, and only ten at the circumference ; be¬
sides which, it may be often found assorted with another lens,
whose central focus is only ten inches, and at the circumference,
perhaps fourteen.

From this it is easy to imagine what injury must be done to
weak eyes, but whose powers are equal, when thus obliged to
change the diameter of the pupil every instant. These defec¬
tive glasses sometimes produce a kind of sparkling, in conse¬
quence of the rays of light being irregularly broken ; indeed
this inconvenience cannot be guarded against in the best lenses,
unless they are made of tinged glass, either green, yellow, or
blue, so as to preserve the equality of one predominant colour.

Independent of the false tints, these lenses hurt the sight, in
consequence of their accustoming the eye to see objects differ¬
ently from the rest of the world ; and their use, even where
they do render some little service, is but falling into Charybdis
whilst avoiding Scylla.

We must confess that there are instances in which we are
obliged not only to tolerate, but even to recommend, such irre¬
gular spectacles, in consequence of some eyes being so morbidly
affected, that the worst glasses are for them the best. In truth,
it would be a good thing, in such cases, where the disorder has
arisen at first from the use of irregular lenses, if we could apply
dissimilar ones for the cure, that is to say, of a contrary degree
of irregularity to those which have been used. But this is at¬
tended with great difficulty ; for, though these irregular lenses
are very common, it is still next to impossible to find two which
shall be directly the reverse of each other in their optical quali¬
ties ; for which reason ail care and attention, and all medical
science, are completely at a stand in most of such cases.

Another effect of the common spectacles is that of producing,
in time, spots and callosities in the cornea ; and crystalline. In
that state, people imagine, when they look towards the sky,
that they perceive minute bodies floating in the air ; they endea¬
vour to drive them away, but their efforts are vain, for these are
nothing more than minute parts of the cornea , or crystalline ,
which are dried up, or hardened by the too great quantity of
light which bad spectacles have permitted to pass into the eye.
On this subject much has been written by De la Hire, a French
optician, who observed that when a candle, situated beyond the

436 Philosophy of Bathing,— -No. 4.

limits of distinct vision, is viewed through a very narrow chink
in a card, in that case a considerable number of candles, some¬
times so many as six, will be seen along the chink. This
appearance he supposes to arise from small irregularities in the
surface of the humours of the eye, the effect of which is not
sensible when rays are admitted into the eye through the whole
extent of the pupil, and consequently one principal image
effaces a number of small ones; whereas, in this case, each of
them is formed separately, and no one of them is so consider¬
able as to prevent the others from being perceived at the same
time.

The same philosopher, in endeavouring to explain the cause
of the dark spots alluded to, observed, that they were most
visible when the eyes were turned towards a uniform white ob¬
ject, such as the snow in the open fields. If, in that case, the
spots appeared fixed whilst the eye was at rest, he supposed
them to be occasioned by extravasated blood upon the retina ;
but when they were moveable, he considered them as proceed¬
ing from opaque matter floating in the aqueous humour of the
eye, considering that the vitreous humour was not sufficiently
limpid for that purpose.

These callosities prevent one portion of the rays of light from
falling upon the retina, whilst other rays mark the image of the
objects thus apparently spotted with dark points ; when, at the
same time, the rapid vascillation of the axis of the eye produces
an appearance of numberless quick moving objects.

As the most usual defect in common spectacles is that of
the irregularity of their curvature or sphericity, it may be proper
to state an easy mode of ascertaining this.

We know that every convex and accurate lens, if exposed to
the sun’s rays, describes a correct luminous circle at its proper
focus. If this experiment is made with a defective lens, then
this circle will neither be so perfectly round, so small, nor so
bright as that of a good lens of similar size and power. This
experiment also shews us, at the same time, how the luminous
irregularity of common glasses forces the pupil either to con¬
tract or enlarge beyond the regular process prescribed by nature.

Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 4.

Sea Bathing.

We shall next cursorily notice sea-bathing as a preventive
and curative agent. Its extensive, and we might almost add,
general use, entitle our medical writers to speak more confi¬
dently than others of the range of diseases in which it may be

437

Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 4.

beneficially employed. According to Kirwan, the mean tem¬
perature of the English coast in the month of August is 64° F.
whilst the sea water never descends below 59° F. Yet notwith¬
standing this small difference, the sea water feels considerably
colder than the atmosphere, owing to the diversity of media.
On immersion, a shock or a strong sensation of cold is felt on
coming out of the water, the cold is greater even than when in
the bath, and which may be attributed to evaporation. This,
however, is soon followed by a feeling of pleasing warmth, learn¬
edly called by Buchan the re-action of the vital principle. The
same rule applies here as in the use of the cold bath, namely,
to suspend its use if the genial glow above mentioned does not
soon come on.

The principal advantage derived from the constant use of the
cold bath, is to lessen very considerably morbid sensibility to
changes of weather — to accustom the body gradually to every
species of temperature — and to procure, in this respect, for the
rich, the benefits of an active and laborious life, without an
abandonment of the pleasures of luxury. On this principle it
is that they who bathe in the sea during the Autumn, are ob¬
served to be less liable to rheumatism and catarrhal affections
during the following Winter.

Time of Bathing.

It is an opinion very generally diffused, that the period best
adapted to sea-bathing is before dinner, or early in the morn¬
ing, when the stomach is empty — since it has been found, that
persons who bathe immediately after dinner, experience flatu¬
lencies and eructations, a sense of heaviness at the stomach,
and other symptoms of indigestion. It is very proper to rise
early in the morning, as the longer sleep is prolonged beyond
its natural and necessary duration, the more is the body debili¬
tated and rendered torpid. But persons of a delicate constitu¬
tion are commonly too much disordered by the morning cold,
and diminished temperature of the water, at such an hour, for
re-action to be effected as it ought, and for producing the glow
of warmth on coming out of the sea; and without this, the
cold bath is always injurious. Such persons ought to begin by
taking a walk in the open air before breakfast, without, how¬
ever, prolonging the exercise so far as to produce fatigue, and
not to use the bath until some time after having taken food, and
then repeat a short walk before bathing, so as not to enter the
water with the slightest sense of coldness.

The strong and robust, who bathe for pleasure, may choose
their own time, but to the infirm we must hold a different lan¬
guage. These ought to wait for that season in which the water
von. n. 3 k

438 Philosophy oj Bathing. — No. 4.

is warmest, which in England is in the month of August. The
medium temperature of the water of the English coast is at this
time 6*1° F. though sometimes it is elevated to 70° F., but on
the approach of rain and stormy weather is much diminished.
The best time for bathing is at high tide, when this happens
from noon to one o’clock. It was once the custom to bathe in
the evening, and this is the period still chosen by those, especi¬
ally the youthful, who do it simply for pleasure. A bath in the
evening usually procures tranquil sleep, a property well known
to the Romans. But the selection of this time is only fitted lor
those who are accustomed to eat temperately at an early hour,
who are not weakened by the fatigues of the day, and who per¬
spire with difficulty. It would therefore be the height of im¬
prudence for those to bathe in the evening, who are fatigued
and exhausted with the exertions of the day, who dine late and
banquet sumptuously, and who are prone to perspire when
asleep; since the bath generally augments such a disposition,
and under these circumstances cannot but be pernicious.

Bathing while the Body is heated.

There is no opinion more generally diffused, and at the same
time more erroneous, than that which forbids the use of the
cold bath when the system is heated. Dr. Currie has clearly
proved, that all the inconveniences adduced to show the bad
effects of immersion in cold water, after the body l.as been
heated by violent exercise, depends, not on the preceding heat,
but on the debility and exhaustion of the bather at the time.
In such cases, the salutary re-action and glow that ought always
to succeed the bath cannot be produced, owing to the loss of that
vigour and energy which should arouse it. The most favourable
moment indeed, for the use of the cold bath, is during the greatest
heat produced by moderate exercise, and when the body is vet
in its full strength. Immediately after running, wrestling, or
other gymnastic exercises, by which the Roman youth were in¬
ured to the fatigues of war, they darted from the Campus Mar-
tius into the Tiber, and swam across it once or twice. The
Russians and Finlanders, on issuing out from their sudatories,
in which the thermometer rises to 167° F. roll themselves in
the snow at a temperature of 13° to 35° below zero F. — and
so far from this transition rendering the impression of cold
more hurtful, they are, on the contrary, thereby insured the
good effects of it. We cannot, in fact, too strongly urge on
bathers the propriety of taking exercise before cold affusion or
immersion.

Another consequence of this theory is not to undress until
the moment of immersion, or when undressed it is proper to

Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 4. -439

throw over the body a flannel gown, which may be laid to one
side at the time of going into the water, and resumed immedi¬
ately on coming out. Immersion in the water during the whole
time of bathing, is far preferable to the person’s coming out
and plunging in again at intervals, which last practice is apt to
produce debility, and prevent the glow from following. The
prevalent fashion of dipping the head first in water is also re¬
prehensible, as unnatural and hurtful, often occasioning head¬
aches, and in one case related by Mr. Odier, water in the head
followed the plunging head foremost into the water.

Dressing.

Immediately on coming out of the bath it is proper for the
person to dress himself quickly, and it is of the greatest advan¬
tage for him to wrap himself up in a flannel gown destined for
the purpose. After this a short walk may be recommended —
keeping within that exertion which would produce perspiration
or fatigue. If the heat be slow in returning, a bowl of warm
soup, or a weak infusion of orange peel, ginger or mace, may
be taken, or if fasting it will be well to take food. It is a bad
custom to go to bed after the bath, unless the sensation of cold
amount to shivering, and be accompanied with great weakness,
in which case the person may be put to bed, and a bladder filled
with warm water applied to the stomach.

The frequency of the repetition of the baths and their dura¬
tion, must be regulated by the temperament of the patient.
Weak habits should be limited to a bath every second day. In
taking it daily, it often happens that they experience fatigue
and become reduced, effects which do not follow if a day inter¬
vene between the baths.

Headaches from Bathbig.

The pain of the head occasionally supervening on sea-bathing
is of two kinds : the first and most dangerous proceeds from a
congestion or fulness of the blood-vessels, and is manifested by
a sense of heaviness in the head, accompanied with a flushed
face, and red and sparkling eyes, and is most apt to occur in
persons of a sanguine temperament and robust habit. In such
cases the bathing ought to be preceded by cupping; and if this
be useless, it ought to be discontinued. The other kind is of a
very different description ; it is announced by an external pain,
accompanied by a sensation of cold in the back part of the head,
and is analogous to what is felt in intermittent fever and hys¬
terics. This is obviated by covering the head after bathing with
a woollen cap, or by taking some cordial, or tincture of iron.
To prevent both kinds of pains, it is necessary always to dip or
wet the head as well as the rest of the body. Cullen and Buchan,

440 Medico- Religious and Philosophic Fancies.

both relate cases of a violent pain in the head after bathing,
owing to the persons covering the head with a cap, and care¬
fully avoiding to wet this part.

Though we may not prohibit the pleasures of the table, or
dancing, to those whose situation does not contra-indicate these
indulgences, yet we are bound to observe that nothing is more
dangerous than bathing in cold water in the morning, after
having eaten or drunk too much the preceding evening, or
danced too long in a room in which the temperature was above
that of the atmosphere; or finally, when still under the feeling
of fatigue from walking or other exercises on the preceding day.
Instances are on record, of the most alarming consequences
from a neglect of these precautions.

In cases where the cold sea- bath cannot be borne, or where
it is of doubtful efficacy at first, it is better to substitute water
of a rather more elevated temperature, or sponging the surface
for several times prior to the use of immersion.

*** In our next paper on this subject, we shall mention the
diseases in which sea-bathing is proper.

Medico-Religious and Philosophic Fancies.

Our late notice of the Religious vagaries of certain medical
men, who have stepped out of their province to write and talk
about what they neither know nor can know, prompts us to make
a little note en passant of some of the odd fancies — (we can
call them nothing else) which are connected with these — we
refer to the

Doctrine of Materialism ,

And what is called matter by the schoolmen, and also by the
disciples of Bacon and Newton. At the dreams of the school¬
men we do not wonder; for all their philosophy was a dream,
and at constant variance with observed realities. The accounts
given of matter by the experimental philosophers are more sur¬
prising, as they pretend to go upon nothing but proved facts,
and plain observation — were it not an instance among a thousand
more that philosophical errors when once promulgated can
scarcely be afterwards eradicated. Like weeds with numerous
roots, though we imagine they had been completely destroyed,
we have the disappointment of seeing them shoot up fresh and
vigor us, at the return of every Spring.

We esteem the doctrines usually held concerning matter, as
well as concerning spirit, to be mere fancies, incapable of the
slightest proof ; and we hazard this declaration at the risk of
being esteemed sceptical and heretical. We only beg our rea¬
ders not to rank us as disciples of Berkeley or Hume, whose

441

Medico- Religious and Philosophic Fancies.

speculations were no doubt highly ingenious, but, like most
metaphysical inquiries, were not only destitute of utility, but
fraught with error and with mental poison.

Berkeley and Hume denied the evidence of the senses, and
believed that nothing exists which seems to exist, and that every
thing around us is an empty, non-existent illusion. This was
certainly the very summit of ingenious folly, — 'a clear demon¬
stration of the absurdity of metaphysics, whose only aim seems
to be to trump up useless profundities. All merit however is
due to the genius and talents of these philosophers, in despite
of Dr. Beattie’s contempt and scurrility, which, with his very silly
book on Truth, are now almost in deserved oblivion, while his
Minstrel has been deservedly enwreathed with fresh laurels by
furnishing the plan of Childe Harold.

What is Matter ?

All things which we can touch or taste are, according to the
philosophical creed, made up of inconceivably small atoms, of
particles, or grains, so hard as to be unchangeable, and all of
the same substance; these atoms or grains are called matter , and
on their supposed properties many of the doctrines of philosophy
are founded. Now we do not presume to say there are no such
particles, or no such thing as this matter : all we require is that
before we can believe in its existence we must see it, touch it,
taste it, smell it, or hear it; and until one or more of these un¬
changeable and indestructible grains or atoms be made evident
to one or more of our senses, we must be excused from believ¬
ing that there is any such thing, and also from believing any
of the doctrines (not otherwise proved^ which are founded on
this supposed thing, matter.

We can very well understand what is meant by flour, or
sea-sand, or saw dust, or globules of quicksilver, or iron filings,
or dew-drops; and we can examine by the help of glasses a
single grain or atom of any of these, and determine its colour
and figure. But when we are desired to believe that each of
these dew-drops, for example, is composed of an invisible grain
or atom, so hard as to be unchangeable and indestructible, we
must demur, and demand the proof. This whole doctrine of
matter indeed appears to be, for any thing that can be shown to
the contrary, a mere unmeaning and useless generality, formed
from the qualities of hard and solid and extended, which are
observable in the greater number of the things around us. The
term matter , in common discourse, is well understood to mean
a thing from which something else can be made : and material
to mean what can be touched, or felt, or weighed, and in this
way the words may be safely used. But the philosophical ac-

4 i>

Medico- Religious and Philosophic Fancies.

count of matter which we have now examined, has, on the other
hand, led to endless discussions and impertinences, in optics,
electricity, and astronomy, as wTell as in morals and other
branches of philosophy, and cannot too soon be exploded,
though this from the persisting and ineradicable nature ot
human opinion can scarcely be expected.

Following the same erroneous system of generalizing, without
a sufficient induction of facts, philosophers have been bold to
say that every thing that exists is either matter or spirit. Where
is the proof of this? if we were to deny it and assert the con¬
trary, how could we be refuted ? But why divide all exist¬
ences — all being, into matter and spirit, when there may exist,
for any thing that can be proved to the contrary, ten thousand
and ten thousand more existences, while every one of them may
be altogether distinct from every other? It is said that whatever
is not matter must be spirit. But may there not be ten thou¬
sand things which are not matter, and yet cannot he called
spirit ? Truth, for example, is not matter, and religion is not
matter, and heat and light seem not to be matter; yet nobody
will say that truth is a spirit ; or that religion is a spirit ; or that
light and heat are spirits. Give up, however, the assumed and
unproved division of all things into matter and spirit, and these
discrepancies and absurdities will vanish, and our philosophy will
be stript of its visions, and become plain, rational, and useful.

What is Spirit?

The philosophical creed concerning spirit, is equally objec¬
tionable and unproved with that concerning matter. Spirit is
said to be that which has no parts and cannot be divided, which
has no length, breadth, nor thickness ; which has no existence
in place, and is not like matter, impenetrable. Spirit, therefore,
we infer, can have no colour, no form, no smell, no taste, no
sound, and cannot be either hard or soft. This only tells us
what spirit is not. The single positive attribute usually allowed
to it is thought, or thinking.

Now, at the very outset, we ask your profound philosopher,
who squares his brow, and looks grave and wise in these an¬
nouncements, whence he obtained all this deep knowledge of
the nature of spirit ? But he deigns us no answer, and calls us
sceptics and materialists, for refusing to bow submissively to
his authority. On coolly and candidly examining his boasted
definition, however, we find it made up of the most bare-faced
assumptions which were ever broached ; assumptions which we
have no doubt first gave rise to the equally unfounded doctrines
of materialism, in the same way as had defences of Christianity
often lead to deism. All false philosophy, though well intended,
leads to dangerous error, and ought to be checked in the bud.

443

Medico- Religious and Philosophic Fancies.

We ask then, how is it proved that spirit has no parts and no
existence in place? and we are told that the unity of God, and
the indivisibleness of consciousness and of thinking, are proofs
of the first. But we ask again, on what authority it is asserted
that, as a spirit, God is without parts — indivisible, and not exist¬
ing in place? Have we not equal authority to assert the con¬
trary? And if we did assert the contrary, how could we be re¬
futed? Yet it is upon this baseless doctrine that the grand phi¬
losophical argument for the immortality of the soul is founded;
it being asserted, though upon no evidence or proof, that what
is indivisible is indestructible; and the soul being a spirit is in¬
divisible, and consequently indestructible: such is this boasted
argument. Grant your philosophers their premises, and they
will prove any thing whatever most logically. No argument in¬
deed, for the soul’s immortality, amounts to more than a slight
conjecture and probability, except that from the authority of
H im who brought “ life and immortality to light by the gospel.”
As to the unity of consciousness, we deny that also; for in every
new sensation we have a different consciousness from any former
consciousness. The philosophical definition of spirit, indeed, is
a close description of nothing; for nothing is indivisible, has no
parts, and exists not in place: are we thence to conclude that
nothing is a spirit?

Some philsophers, again, say that thinking is the essence of
spirit: an assumption as gratuitous and unproved as the former.
For how can we tell whether every spirit thinks or not? May
there not be millions of spirits in the universe which think no
more than a stone thinks? To say that the spirit of man thinks,
will not prove that the spirit of an angel, or the spirit of a devil,
thinks. To say that the spirit of God thinks is another assump¬
tion ; for we cannot tell. All our human thinking consists in
feeling, remembering, comparing, and deciding; and we dare
say no such thing of God, nor dare we say the contrary. We
have, therefore, no sure foundation to go upon from reason, and
our Saviour’s account of spirit is, that “ a spirit hath not flesh
and bones, as you see me have.” He says nothing of its being
indivisible — of its not existing in place — or of thinking being its
essence. Would it not be wise in us to rest satisfied with His
brief account, and not to bewilder ourselves with unproved,
and useless profundities ?

Materialism Refuted.

The preceding reasonings are the very reverse of materialism;
for that the spirit of man and the spirit of God are not material,
is evident from the fact that in speaking of them we are in every
instance forced to use material language, not directly but meta -

444 Medico- Religious and Philosophic Fancies.

phorically . All that we can know of God, indeed, is through
the medium of material metaphors. We say that he hears, that
he sees, that he is pleased, that he is displeased; that he makes
bare his arm against the wicked — which are all metaphors, as
well as infinity and eternity, the short expressions used for
greater, and greater, and greater; and longer, and longer, and
longer. If the authority of a great man he wanting to confirm
a doctrine so incontestible as this, take that of the greatest in
philosophy — Newton. “ All language/’ says he, u as applied
to God, is taken from the affairs of men by some semblance —
not indeed a perfect one, but yet existing to a certain degree/’
( Newton’s Works by Horsley . Vol. IV. 430.)

This view of the subject gives us the most sublime notions of
God, while it refutes, without the possibility of reply, the infidel
objection to the Scripture account, that human passions and
human feelings are ascribed to his divine nature. The truth
is, that it is utterly impossible to give any account of God which
is not, by a metaphor, derived from man, as no other could be
understood; and in this respect the attributes ascribed to God
by the infidel must be the same as those to which he rashly and
unthinkingly objects. Of the spirituality of God we can know
nothing, and dare assert nothing farther than what is above
given from the Bible. From all this we infer that God may
have, and without doubt really has, ten thousand attributes and
perfections of which we never heard, nor could hear, as we have
no language to describe them.

Were we not aware of the fallacies of reasoning, we could
scarcely imagine that this very view of the subject should be
that adopted by Atheists, as you may see in the defence of
Paine by Dr. Francis, and in Sir Wm. Drummond’s Academical
questions. But they give a very different turn to the facts; for
as we can form no ideas of God except such as we derive from
human nature, they conclude that the notion of God is altoge¬
ther a dream, or at best that God must be similar to a human
being in nature and in attributes. They do not perceive, that by
the same illogical mode of reasoning, the memory of man may
be proved to be a storehouse, and the judgment of man to be
one of his Majesty’s justices, and feeling to be the human skin
(as the word originally signifies), and all figurative language to
be nothing more than plain literality. In this way, there will
be no end of absurdity ; for beauty will at once be stript of hu¬
manity, and turned into a rose, or a lily, or perchance into a
star; and all Homer’s heroes will appear to be nothing more
than so many lions, tigers, and strong bulls, according to the
figure employed by the poet.

July Diseases.

445

July Diseases, and the best Means of Escaping them.

Now let me careless and unthoughtful lying,

Hear the soft winds above me flying,

With all their wanton boughs dispute,

And the more tuneful birds to both replying.

Cgwley.

It is now that our really hot weather commences. In the two
previous months the sunshine has usually too much the chilly
look of a March morning to feel like Summer. May and June,
however, are, for the most part, the healthiest months in the
year, and the increasing heats of July and August, like the in¬
creasing colds of January and February, bring with them a
pestilential breath, that never fails to scatter disease and death
through the land. There is now a sense of heat and of quiet
all over nature. The buoyancy of the Spring has exhausted
itself and comes to a pause. The birds intermit their Summer
song, and u hide in cooling trees/’ and the May dances of the
young villagers are suspended for a retreat under the shadiest
trees, to seek shelter from the hot sun. It was thus that
Cowley wished to enjoy himself, and muse the hours away ;
listening to the soft whisper of the Summer leaves, and the
fresh air on his face, with the buzzing insects around him, and
the hidden brook murmuring its sweet music among the leafy
woods. This indeed is rural bliss, which in this varying climate
cannot be enjoyed many times in a single year; but it enhances
the pleasure when the u soft season” returns, with its “ mild
illuminate air,” as old Gawin Douglas so expressively de¬
scribes it.

It is now the weather for bathing, a refreshment too little
taken in this country, either in Summer or Winter. We say in
Winter, because with very little care in placing the bath near
a cistern, and having a leathern pipe for it, it may be easily
filled once or twice a-week with warm water ; and it is a vulgar
error that the warm bath relaxes or weakens when not used in
excess. An excess, either in the warm or cold bath will relax;
and so will any other excess ; but the sole effect of the warm
bath, moderately taken, is, that it throws off the bad humours of
the body by opening and clearing the pores. As to Summer
bathing, a father may soon teach his children to swim, and
thus perhaps may be the means of saving their lives some time
or other, as well as of preserving their health. Ladies also,
though they cannot bathe in the open air, as they do in some ol
the West Indian Islands, and in other countries, by means of na'

VOL. II. 3 L

4 16

July Diseases.

tural basins among the rocks, might oftencr make a substitute
for it at home in tepid baths. The most beautiful aspects un¬
der which Venus has been painted or sculptured, have been
connected with bathing ; and indeed there is perhaps no one
thing that so equally contributes to the three graces, of health,
beauty, and good temper; to health, in putting the body into
its best state ; to beauty, in clearing and tinting the skin ; and
to good temper, in rescuing the spirits from the irritability oc¬
casioned by those formidable personages <c the nerves,” which
nothing else allays in so quick and entire a manner. You may
see a lovely passage on the subject of bathing in Sir Philip
Sydney's Arcadia, where u Philoclea, blushing, and withal
smiling, making shamefastnesse pleasant, and pleasure shame-
fast, tenderly moved her feet, unwonted to feel the naked
ground, until the touch of the cold water made a pretty kind
of shrugging come over her body, like the twinkling of the
fairest among the fixed stars.”

In our article on the philosophy of bathing we shall be more
particular in our remarks on this important subject, but in the
mean time we must attend to the diseases incident to July.
These are for the most part of a bilious and nervous character,
as we remarked last year ; but the most dreadful of all the
nervous disorders, and indeed of all other disorders, is hydro¬
phobia ; and as we are still, unfortunately, much in the dark
about the nature of the complaint, and the means of cure, we
shall give you the most recent information on the subject. We
have much pleasure in presenting you in the first place with
Sir A. Cooper’s Account of Hydrophobia.

This disease is so different in its character, so opposed to
those arising from any of the other poisons, so marked in its
nature, so horrid in its effects, that upon seeing it you could
not hesitate to form a correct opinion as to the nature of the
malady. The first symptom a person experiences who has been
bitten by a mad animal, is pain in the injured part, and this is
usually felt from the third to the fifth week, the next symptom
is a sense of chilliness succeeded by rigor and heat, then a diffi¬
culty of swallowing is felt, not of liquid in particular, but of
any substance; this arises from the constitution of the muscles
of the pharynx, and so violent are the spasms of the throat,
that upon producing the patient any thing to swallow, you
would think it would directly occasion suffocation ; he will de¬
sist from the attempt, and tell you he will try again by and
bve ; upon again applying the cup to his lips he will be seized
with the most horrid shuddering, turn away to. avoid the sight
of what he was about to take, and sit down in a state of ex-

417

July Diseases,

haustion. It has been said, that persons having this disease,
bark like a dog ; this is not true, as the noise is occasioned by
violent inspirations, whereas the barking of a dog is the effect
of expiration.

In Hydrophobia there is generally extraordinary irritability.
I have seen two or three examples where the slightest touch of
the bed-clothes would produce a sudden impetuous passion : and
in two children whom 1 have seen, they would beat away the bed¬
clothes, and could not suffeT them to cover their bodies. If you
direct a patient having hydrophobia to go into a warm bath, he
does not object, but will tell you he will try ; upon approaching
the water, however, and putting in his foot, he will immediately
jump, and tell you he cannot enter the bath. By persuasion,
they have afterwards plunged in, when the violence of the con¬
vulsions were such, that if not immediately removed, they would
have been drowned. When in the bath, even the slight waves
striking against the neck, gave rise to the most dreadful
spasms ; and in one case, when the patient was in the bath,
and the medical attendant dashed some of the water against his
face, he exclaimed in great agony, u Oh don’t; that is cruel,
that is too bad, I cannot bear it.” I mention these circum¬
stances for the purpose of shewing you that in hydrophobia
there is a great excitement of the nervous system, and it is
quite erroneous to suppose that all the symptoms of the disease
are produced by inflammation. In hydrophobia and lock-jaw,
the symptoms very nearly approach, yet in the two diseases
there is a very great difference.

On the dissection of those who have died of the hydrophobia
there has been found inflammation of the internal surface of the
gullet; the mucous and muscular coats of the stomach similarly
inflamed, and the muscular fibres of the latter in a state of vio¬
lent contraction, the contents of the stomach not digested. Now
these appearances are not sufficient to account for the symp¬
toms, and the cause certainly resides in the nervous system :
he who supposes, therefore, that the disease depends upon in¬
flammation, and treats it by bleeding, does not entertain correct
views of the disease ; he is quite mistaken in its character.
Two or three cases were treated by copious blood-letting some
years ago in the East Indies; the symptoms, however, were not
those of hydrophobia, but of inflammation of the gullet. A
man some years ago, in the other hospital, had symptoms re¬
sembling hydrophobia; be never had received a bite, and upon
examination after death, the gullet situated behind the heart
was found to be greatly inflamed, the symptoms were not
those of hydrophobia, but of inflammation of the gullet.

448

July Diseases.

The loss of blood does not tend, in the slightest degree, to
relieve the malady. The two first cases that I saw were treated
by bleeding ; the loss of blood reduced the strength, but did
not mitigate the symptoms: on the contrary, 1 think the irrita¬
bility was increased from the weakness which the loss of blood
occasioned.

Marks of Madness in a Dog .

A mad animal will at first lap fluids, but cannot take solids ;
will throw his meat among the straw, and bite at every thing near
him ; his master will take his food to him, who will be treated
by the animal at first in the customary manner ; as the disease
advances, however, the respect and attachment to the master
becomes lost, and the animal will bite him likewise. After lap¬
ping a little water, the dog will take hold of the vessel between
its teeth and then dash it to the ground; thus it will be observed
that the natural character of the animal remains for a long time
unchanged. A gentleman living in a village had a pointer with
this disease ; he behaved as well as usual in the field — would
stand, bark, and bring the game ; but after the sporting was
over, he would bite any animal that came near him, and at
length ran entirely away. Upon examining dogs that died of
this disease, there has been a slight inflammation observed
upon the internal surface of the stomach and gullet, a sort of
blush, and all human beings who have died with this disease,
have been said to have had more or less a similar appearance.

More than one half, we are convinced, of the dogs which be¬
come mad, are rendered so by wantonly hunting and abusing
them during the hot season. Whenever a dog is perceived to
be ailing in any way, suspicion is roused, and he is persecuted
till he is, in all probability, driven mad. The best preventive
of this terrible disease in dogs, would be mild treatment, attend¬
ing to the state of their bowels to prevent costiveness, and hav¬
ing them regularly washed in cold water once a week at least.

Treatment of Hydrophobia.

The best mode that can be adopted is, immediately after the
part has been bitten, to cut it out; it should first be ascertained
to what depth the teeth have entered, by means of a probe, and
then take care to excise a sufficient quantity, and leave no part
of the injured skin or flesh to remain. If persons should ob¬
ject to the use of the knife — foolishly object to have the poi¬
soned part cut away, I advise you in such cases to let sink into
the wound, a small piece of the caustic potass; this will readily
dissolve, and becoming fluid, its cauterizing influence will be
communicated to each part of the wound, and thus destroy the

449

July Diseases.

influence of the poison ; the best plan decidedly is the immedi¬
ate cutting out of the part, and where it has been done directly
after the injury, it has, I believe, in every instance, been suc¬
cessful in preventing the disease ; if this practice should be
opposed, the next best plan is the employment of the caustic
potass. I am speaking of these means, you will observe, as
preventives, and as for medical remedies, when the symptoms
of hydrophobia have once appeared, I am not acquainted with
any. Every medicine, I believe, has been tried over and over
again, and all have been found alike ineffectual ; the only thing
in the way of medicine that I think calculated to do good is
that which has lately been adopted in France, viz., the injection
of warm water into the veins. To make the employment of
the remedy safe, however, and to prevent pressure upon the
brain, the same quantity of blood should be previously abstract¬
ed, as it is intended there should be water injected; with this
precaution, I think the remedy a very proper and feasible one.
I may here remark, that the blood need not be abstracted be¬
fore the injection of the water, but may be let flow from one
vein while the water is thrown in at another, and this probably
would be the better plan. — So far Sir Astley.

New Experiment of Injecting Warm Water into the Veins

By Dr. Walsh, of Louvain.

We have already more than once stated the failure of the ex¬
periment proposed by M. Magendie, of injecting warm water
into the veins, as a cure for hydrophobia ; but we think it of
importance and fair to the proposer, to mention another experi¬
ment of this kind made at Louvain, in France, by Dr. Walsh,
an Irish physician, resident there. Dr. Walsh had assisted M.
Magendie in his first experiments at the Hotel Dieu in 1823,
but was not deterred by the failure from repeating it in a case
which came under his care — that of a girl aged thirteen, who
was seized with the symptoms of hydrophobia, forty days after
she had been bit in the hand by a young cat which she was car¬
rying to drown. Having no assistance, and not being provided
with the proper instruments, Dr. Walsh made use of a lancet
and a small ordinary syringe, terminated by the tube of a quill.
First of all, by a puncture of the jugular vein, he took away
twelve ounces of blood; then, by the syringe, which was of a
capacity to contain one ounce, he introduced into the vessel,
after several repetitions, eight ounces of water, at the tempera¬
ture of about 80° Fahrenheit. In proportion as the water made
its way into the system of the veins, the breathing became
quick, and the saliva became liquid, and flowed in streams, so

450 July Diseases .

as to besmear the clothes of the patient. Being put to bed im¬
mediately after the operation, she found herself able to appease
the thirst which exhausted her by drinking a pint of whey.
She afterwards slept soundly for two hours; then drank at in¬
tervals about two pints more, and again fell asleep. On awak¬
ing, however, three hours after, the difficulty of swallowing re¬
turned. Dr. Walsh, seeing all the symptoms increase rapidly,
wished to repeat the injection ; but that, the relations at the
urgent intreaties of the patient, refused to consent to it. The
girl sunk under the malady, in full possession of her under¬
standing, twelve hours after the injection, and seventy hours
after the commencement of the svmptoms of hydrophobia.

Notwithstanding, says M. De Kergaradec, the fatal termina¬
tion of the disease, Dr. Walsh’s experiment is still highly inter¬
esting, inasmuch as the spasms all of a sudden, completely
ceased at the moment of the injection. The symptoms, no
doubt, speedily returned ; but may it not be hoped, that the
means which have been used with such wonderful success to
combat them once, may on their return be used with advan¬
tage ? The fact ascertained, seems of a nature to encourage
more trials — trials so much the more allowable, that the formi¬
dable malady against which they are employed, has hitherto
baffled all the efforts of medical art. — For reasons which we
have more than once stated, we cannot agree to any repetition
of this hopeless experiment.

Case of Hydrophobia cured by Cold Water. By Dr. Arnell.

We have ourselves seen a severe case of lock-jaw immediate¬
ly relieved, so as to astonish the by-standers, by dashing buck¬
ets of cold water over the body — we say relieved, not cured ; for
this disease, which, is so like hydrophobia in some of its symp¬
toms, has seldom or ever been cured when arising in consequence
of wounds and injuries. From analogy, accordingly, we should
imagine, that cold water might in the same way relieve hydro¬
phobia. It is indeed one of the oldest remedies on record, as
we have mentioned, page 13, Vol. II. to throw the patient un¬
expectedly head-foremost into a pond. This method, Dr. Ar¬
nell informs us, he found successful in the case of a blacksmith’s
apprentice, aged seventeen, who was bit on the leg by a strange
dog, not however suspected to be hydrophobic.

Nine days after he was bit, on Sunday the ljth November,
it was observed that the boy looked very dull and stupid, fre¬
quently starting, but taking little notice of any cue around him.
Early in the evening he was requested to go to bed, which he
did in an upper room. He had been in bed about an hour?

451

July Diseases.

when lie arose, got out of an upper window on the roof of the
kitchen, where he was discovered frequently making a noise
like the barking or growling of a dog, which first led the family
to suppose he was labouring under hydrophobia. I was called,
says Dr. Arnell, to see him about eleven o’clock at night; I
found him sitting in a chair with two men behind him, holding
him fast in such a position as to prevent him from biting them;
as by this time they were convinced he was labouring under all
the symptoms of hydrophobic derangement. His pulse was
very little, if any, altered from natural ; his eyes were dull, and
showed very little expression ; about once in six minutes he ap¬
peared to have convulsions in his throat and jaws ; made a
hoarse croaking noise, somewhat resembling the growl of a dog,
very frequently ; and the by-standers said that his breath resem¬
bled the smell of a dog, which, however, I could not discover.
I procured a large pitcher of water, and urged him to drink
some from a tumbler, which produced the same convulsive
action of his throat as had previously occurred at regular inter¬
vals ; the same effects were produced by bringing water in his
sight ; he refused to drink, but after repeated solicitations and
trials, which produced the same results, he attempted to drink,
but did not succeed. The dread of water was very evident in
his case, and the other symptoms, connected with having re¬
ceived a bite from an animal which had the appearance of being
mad, were such as to convince me, that he was undoubtedly la¬
bouring under the hydrophobic disease,

I had seen the disease twice before in the human species,
both of whom perished under all its horrors ; and I had no con¬
fidence in any mode of treatment that had been laid down by
authors. Following, therefore, though without hope, the prin¬
ciples of Boerhaave and Rush, I bled him to about twenty-four
ounces. When the blood began to flow the symptoms in¬
creased, and continued to do so until it stopped. The blood
had no unusual appearance, neither did the bleeding make any
alteration in his complaint. The neighbours who were present
then advised to tie him with a rope, in order to prevent him
from biting any one, to do which he made frequent attempts,
when the convulsions were on him. He understood well what
was said to him, and showed a determination to resist, if any
attempts were made for that purpose. He endeavoured to get
away from those who held him, and in their attempts to secure
him, they threw him on the floor directly on his back. The
pitcher of water was standing on the table, which immediately
suggested to my mind the propriety of applying this remedy,
until the diseased action of the svstem should be destroved, or

452 Accidents b\j Lightning and Thunder.

the diseased action should overcome the system, which would
either cure him or put a period to his sufferings, as I considered
that death was to be the inevitable consequence.

Accordingly, 1 began to pour the cold water in a small and
constant stream into his face; his whole system was immediate¬
ly very much convulsed ; more water was procured, and the
stream continued about two hours and a half; during all which
period the convulsions were continued ; but at this time every
convulsive action ceased ; he was perfectly calm, and had no
dread of water, as he was nearly covered with it; in a few mi¬
nutes he got up himself, walked to the fire, and has had no
symptoms of the disease since.

I am confident that this was a case of real hydrophobia, and
that it was cured by the long and continued use of cold water ;
though it might have been assisted by the large bleeding, which
he had a short time before the application of the water. If I
were called to another patient labouring under hydrophobia, I
would pursue the course which I have detailed above.

*** We shall attend to this disorder again in an early page.

Accidents by Lightning and Thunder.

We have repeatedly said and proved, that electricity is the
grand elixir of life ; but though it is undoubtedly a good and
indispensible thing, yet there may at times be too much of this,
as of some other good things : — the poor fly that was smothered
in the honey-pot, found it was quite possible to have too much
honey, and in hot weather it is no less possible to have too
much electricity, which is best removed, as we have shewn in
our Philosophy of Bathing, by cold water either poured over the
head, or by the entire cold bath. But it is very different from
this overcharge of electricity in the body caused by heat, when
a large quantity of it is suddenly thrown into it, as happens
when a person is said to be struck with lightning, or with a
thunder-bolt, which is nothing more than a great quantity of
electricity condensed into a small compass.

Cautions during Thunder Storms.

It is only certain substances which lightning will strike, and
if you know these, which it cannot pass through, you may ren¬
der yourself, during a thunder-storm, secure from danger. Silk,
for example, is a non-conductor of electricity, and, as we have
said before, “ the thunder-bolt or the forked lightning itself,
cannot pass through the thinnest silk handkerchief, provided al¬
ways that it be quite dry,” for water is a good conductor. All

453

Accidents by Lightning and Thunder.

metals being good conductors, should be taken care of, particu¬
larly when pointed, and therefore it is very dangerous to use an
umbrella with any metal about it during a thunder-storm. If
the metal be quite covered with silk, no accident will happen.
Going near beds, bell-wires, or fire-irons in a house, or near
trees or cattle in the fields, is also dangerous. We shall illus¬
trate these principles by translating from a respectable German
Magazine*, the following account by Dr. Tilesius, of Mulhau-
sen, of a

Singular Accident by Lightning .

Two carriages were passing along a narrow road in a forest;
in the first were two brothers of the name of Teele, one aged
thirty-three years, the other twenty-nine. In the second rode
M. Teele, the nephew, aged twenty years, and M. Decker.
The lightning struck successively the first horse, the two bro¬
thers, M. Decker, and his companion ; the last of whom did
not survive. The horse remained dead on the spot; the skin
on the lower part of its belly was torn, the mouth was open,
and the teeth were black.

I he two brothers were sitting side by side when struck; the
lightning first reached the head of the elder brother, tore his
velvet cap into several pieces, glanced over the bone of the
temples about an inch above the left ear, then passing behind
that ear, and flaying the skin slightly, it descended to the
neck ; it traversed the nape of the neck obliquely, and ascended
to the right ear, the interior of which was as if scratched ; it
then went by the right shoulder, beneath the chin, over the
right breast, along the arm, and returning to the back, descend¬
ed along the spine. In this last part of its course, the skin was
not torn, but only slightly raised, and much reddened; across
the arms were marks of the same kind, which marks, with the
torn clothes, shewed the zig-zig path of the lightning, as it had
passed alternately from the right side of the younger brother,
to the left side of the elder. It continued its course on the for¬
mer, from the path where it had come in contact with some
pieces of metal contained in his pocket, and at which place it
had raised the skin of the side, for a space as large as a hand ;
it then crossed the stomach to the left side, and passed over the
internal surface of the thigh, knee, and calf of the leg. The
width of the trace marked by the lightning, was generally about
two inches; the wounds were most extensive and deep at the
intersections of this trace; many of them were very painful, and
suppurated abundantly; the skin had been closely rolled up on

* Schweigger’s Journal.

3 M

VOL. II.

4f>4 Contagion communicated by Insects.

the right and left by the rapid passage of the lightning. The
wounds did not bleed ; and on healing, those appearances only
took place, which accompanied the simple formation of skin.
Nothing indicated a destruction of the organs, such as would
have arisen from tire or heat, but the effect was similar to that
which would have been produced by the passage of a bullet over
the surface. On becoming sensible, both persons felt exces¬
sively sick, and after drinking some tea, vomited several times,
throwing out a little blood.

M. Decker, who was in the second carriage, as we have said,
received a blow on the stomach, so violent that he was thrown
out, and remained insensible for half an hour. When examined,
the place on which he felt the blow was found very red but not
wounded: he very speedily recovered.

The lightning passed to the younger Teele by his umbrella ,
which, with his watch, was thrown twenty-four steps off : the
carriage had a hole made in it six inches in diameter. The body
being carried to the nearest village was put into a warm bath,
and rubbed ; blood flowed from the nose, mouth, and ears, but
no signs of life appeared. The mouth and nose were black,
the arms and hands, both of which had held the umbrella, were
furrowed to the bone; the sleeves of his clothes were torn ; the
injuries of the skin were not like those produced in burns; the
skin appeared as if it had been raised by rapid rubbing, and the
clothes bore no trace of burning, but seemed as if torn by a
sharp point.

The eldest brother was quite deaf on the day of the accident,
but recovered his hearing, in part, on the morrow. No palsy
in the limbs struck by the lightning followed, and the wounds
healed in a few weeks. Twelve months after the accident, the
elder brother remained affected by deafness, which varied with
the weather; he had a strong tendency to sleep, and sometimes
slept twenty-four hours together if not awakened. The younger
ultimately had an inflammatory fever, and was subject to a pe¬
riodical depression, of which he had previously felt nothing ; and,
on the whole, a much stronger impression had been made on
the system of both, than from the vigour of their constitutions
might have been expected.

Contagion Communicated by Insects.

Scepticism is now assuming very high ground, and boldly de¬
nying facts which have been established by the most unequivo¬
cal testimony of ocular demonstration in millions of instances.
We have seen, for example, the sceptical M. Majendie, on the
faith of a very barbarous and absurd experiment, denying the

Contagion communicated by Insects. 4 55

olfactory nerves to have any tiling to do with the sense of smell¬
ing* but this was soon refuted and quashed. We now have
Dr. M’Lean, and some few medical followers, blinded by a
similar scepticism, and denying that plague is contagious. In¬
fection nobody has yet had presumption enough to call in ques¬
tion, with respect either to plague, small pox, itch, and many
other similar disorders, and as it is likely to keep its ground,
secure from all attack, we shall assume it as a fact, proved be¬
yond dispute, that the matter of plague, hydrophobia, &c., will
infect, (or if we may use the term) will innoculate a healthy in¬
dividual when brought into actual contact with any part of his
body, provided that the skin be either broken or moist. We
shall also assume, as proved by experiment in the case of vac¬
cination, that a very minute portion of the contagious matter is
sufficient to produce infection.

From these two facts taken in conjunction, we are authorized,
we think, to infer that infection, if not contagious, may be
communicated by flies and other insects, and we are of opinion
that this is one of the leading causes of the spread of destructive
epidemics, such as plague, small-pox, and perhaps typhus fever.
It would be absurd indeed to say it is the only cause, but in
support of our opinion we shall mention one or two facts that
we have met with in our reading.

In a late publication on certain diseases of the eye, it is stated
that, in the city of Florence, ophthalmia was communicated by
flies to above dOO patients, in the months of May and June,
1823. Mrs. Baillie, in her u Lisbon/’ lately published, men¬
tions a fact which is well known in warm countries, that flies
always crowd to the apartments of the dying, led probably by the
smell, or from a natural presentiment, perhaps, of what is about
to happen. Now, in cases of plague, small-pox, or leprosy,
when the patient is either dead or dying, may not flies, we ask,
carry away to the next house, or the next dozen houses, enough
of the poison to infect a healthy individual with the peculiar
disorder with which this patient was affected ? We think there
can be but one answer to the question.

As tending strongly to confirm this view of contagion, the fol¬
lowing facts are also worthy of attention. Diemerbroek, a cele¬
brated medical writer, mentions, from many authorities which
he had consulted, that t4 an uncommon abundance of insects
has been noticed for many ages to precede and portend pesti¬
lence and he relates in particular, that in the plague of 16(53,
and in that of Holland, in 1(535, <c gnats, butterflies, beetles,
grasshoppers, hornets, and especially flies, existed in incredible

* See Diemerbroek de Peste.

456 Sir Gilbert Blame's Explanation of Bad Breath.

quantities.” Lord Bacon also remarks that those years have
been noticed for pestilence, u wherein there were great num¬
bers of frogs, flies, locusts, &c.” During the yellow fever in
Philadelphia, in 1 7D3, we are informed by the celebrated Dr.
Rush, that a prodigious number of flies and mosquitoes were
observed. The year 1663, says Professor Chapman, which
produced a pestilential fever among the settlers at Plymouth,
New England, was also remarkable for swarms of large flies,
filling the woods with their hum. The same author informs us,
that during the prevalence of a recent epidemic in America,
which continued for three seasons, mosquitoes abounded be¬
yond all former example, and on its cessation, scarcely one was
to be seen. In some recent investigations, also, of the yellow
fever, the black vomit was found, during the life of the patient,
so filled with animalcules, as to compose the chief part of it.
Though the Professor, however, states these facts, he will not
admit that there is any foundation for the opinion which we
have attempted to advocate, but he adduces no reason whatever
except that he considers it “ a much more rational conclusion”
that the unusual number of insects “ is owing to the state of
things of which epidemics are the effect.” This position we
would at once grant ; but we think it extremely probable that a
number of flies, mosquitoes, or other insects, after alighting on
a diseased or a dead body, and afterwards alighting on a person
in good health, may infect the latter. We should like much to
see this subject farther investigated by those who have more
learning and more time than we can bring to bear on the
inquiry.

Sir Gilbert Blane’s Explanation of the Cause of

Bad Breath.

In our Philosophy of the Breath, Vol. I. p. 355, we have
shown how all the waste and materials of the body are taken off
by the absorbents, and thrown into the blood-vessels, and are,
in part, exhaled again from the blood by the agency of the lungs,
and carried off into the air by the breath. It follows that the
breath will be bad in proportion to the rubbish with which it
is loaded from the lungs.

Sir Gilbert Blane, the eminent Naval physician, to whose

philosophical genius our sailors owe so many of their comforts,

reminds us of one cause of bad breath, which escaped our notice

in our former papers on this subject. He argues, most justly,

that in certain diseases and states of the system, the numerous

* '

little vessels which open on the inner surface of the intestines to
take up the digested food in order to manufacture it into blood,

457

Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 5.

may have their mouths relaxed and too wide, so that not only
the purer parts of the digested food is admitted, but also part
of the refuse and half digested portions. This refuse will of
course pass into the lungs, and will, as in the former case, be
carried off by the breath, to which it cannot fail to impart a
disagreeable foetor ; for example, in the case of those who are
undergoing a course of mercury, the smell of the breath is ex¬
tremely disagreeable, because, says Sir Gilbert, the mercury
tends to affect the little vessels of the intestines, and allows them
to admit both nutritive and excrementitious matter.

The remedy in such cases will be some tonic purgative, such
as rhubarb, or the muriatic acid, or elixir of vitriol conjoined with
aloetic pills. The aromatics which we have formerly prescribed
will also be of temporary advantage, till a radical cure is effected,
which perseverance in the use of these means will, in most cases,
accomplish.

The Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 5.

We shall now, according to our promise, mention a few of
the diseases which are usually relieved by sea bathing. Of
these, such as are of considerable standing in the constitution
are the most likely to be benefited, when the remedy is properly
persevered in. We shall begin with

Sea Bathing for Scrofula.

This disease is often the consequence of a hereditary taint,
and seems to depend on an irritation and slow inflammation of
the white or lymphatic vessels of the glands, ending in ulcera¬
tion. Cold has a powerful contributing agency in this disease,
as we learn that Creoles and Africans, who come from America,
suffer much from it. Even in animals from warm climates, as
in monkeys and parrots, the lymphatic glands of the mesentery
and lungs in the former, and under the bill of the latter, are
very generally inflamed.

In some varieties of scrofula, such as scrofulous inflammation
of the eyes and in glandular engorgements of the neck, topical
bathing with salt water, or the simple application of strips of
cloth kept constantly moist with the same fluid, have been at¬
tended with a very good effect. In white swellings, a roller,
drawn pretty tight on the tumour should be kept constantly
moist with salt water. In scald head and ringworm the hair
should be cut, as the great profusion of it, very common in
scrofulous children, and looked upon as an ornament, is one
cause of their pallid colour, languor, and weakness. The sea
water ought in these cases to be somewhat warm before the

458

Philosophy of Bathing. — No. 5.

head is washed with it. Whenever the glands of the mesentery
are engorged to such a degree as to cause decline, baths will be
more disadvantageous than useful, and under such circumstances
we must restrict ourselves to the internal use of sea water.
Buchan speaks in very favourable terms of the expressed juice
of the water parsnip as a remedy, which in doses of two tea¬
spoonfuls every day, has healed scrofulous ulcers of considerable
extent.

Rickets. — This disease, generally believed to have been un¬
known in England until after the middle of the sixteenth cen¬
tury, is now evidently on the decline. Sea bathing is recom¬
mended as the most efficacious remedy that can be used.

Nervous Disorders. — In the diseases termed nervous , Dr.
Whytt thinks sea bathing is the most active and safe application.
The greatest benefits have been experienced from it in cases of
palpitation, indigestion, hypochondriasis, headache, constipation,
in fine, of all those diseases which depend on debility of the
stomach and alimentary canal, or the system at large. Epi¬
lepsy and St. Vitus’s dance have yielded to this remedy, which
M. Dupuytren, of Paris, thinks most decidedly efficacious in the
latter disease. Sea air accelerates very much the convalescence
from hooping-cough, when it degenerates into a chronic disease,
and is accompanied by decline and when the cough has ceased,
bathing may be employed with the same intention.

Sore Throat and loss of Voice. — Persons of a delicate tempe¬
rament, who live in large cities, are subject to a species of sore
throat, characterized by heat in the uvula, roughness of the sur¬
face of the tonsils, and often loss of voice. To these symptoms
are usually joined a livid colour and great loss of strength. This
disease, sometimes mistaken for a venereal affection, to the de¬
triment of the patient, whose situation becomes greatly aggra¬
vated by the use of mercury, is materially benefited, and occa¬
sionally cured, by sea air and sea bathing. M. Odier relates a
very interesting case of this description, in which relief was
only obtained by frictions alternately with warm flannel and ice.
The loss of voice, depending exclusively on some affection of the
nervous system, is cured by the cold bath.

Desk Diseases. — There is a disease very well described by
Sanders, to which those persons are peculiarly liable who lead a
sedentary life, or devote themselves to excessive study, or any
other labour of the desk which demands great application. The
pulse is constantly frequent — the hands hot — restless nights —
and an impaired appetite, but without any considerable derange¬
ment in the digestive organs. In such a state, which often lasts
for years, and frequently degenerates into confirmed hypochon-

Philosophy of Bathing . — No. 5.

45y

driasis, there is no remedy more efficacious than the cold bath,
and sea bathing has in such cases the peculiar advantage of in¬
terrupting the dull routine of business, and affording diversion
of the mind from its ordinary train of thinking.

Sea bathing is not less useful in all cases of increased evacua¬
tions from the perspirable or any other secretory organ, in con¬
sequence of a* state of debility and relaxation. Redundant dis¬
charges from the nose and throat are cheeked speedily and ef¬
fectually by this means, or even by immersing the head in cold
water every day.

Palsy, Decline, Gout, fyc. — In fine, sea bathing, performed
with the proper precautions, is usefully adapted to all chronic
ailments, to palsy unconnected with apoplectic symptoms, and
green sickness. Obstinate intermittent fevers are overcome by
breathing sea air and making use of the baths — but this must be
understood of those cases in which the fever does not result
from an obstruction of some of the organs of digestion. In
confirmed consumption no practitioner would hazard the advisal
of cold baths, though their use might be serviceable in warding
off this complaint when there exists simply a predisposition to it.
In gout, provided the disease be not irregular, nor of long stand¬
ing, sea bathing, in the intervals of the fits, may be of some ad¬
vantage in accelerating the return of health and strength — but if
the constitution of the patient have been for some time debili¬
tated by frequent irregular attacks of the gout, cold and sea
baths may be fatal. They are very useful in nervous asthma,
chronic diseases of the eyes, the pains and tumefaction of the
limbs, which are often left behind by rheumatism — and also in
those cases of great irritability and feebleness which often result
from a prolonged use of mercury. We have well attested cases
of the detergent power of salt water in encysted or steatomous
tumours, when the patient has not the courage to risk a surgi-
gical operation, or when their situation will not admit of the
attempt. The tumour ought to be bathed ten or twelve
times a day with the water heated.

All the authors who have spoken of sea bathing, recommend
it in cutaneous diseases — though in general, says Buchan, it ap¬
pears rather to aggravate them. Females who take sea baths
are often subject to a swelling of the legs, especially towards
evening. A few warm baths, (a remedy proposed by Dr. Dar-
wdn, and afterwards highly recommended by Reid, in his direc¬
tions for sea bathing,) will suffice to dispel this symptom.

Persons who have passed the prime of life, when the venous
succeeds to the arterial fulness of the habit, and in whom there
is a dilatation of the cutaneous veins, which sometimes in the

460

Experiments on a Criminal.

legs become varicose, should not expose themselves to the cold
bath.

For Infants. — Finally, as respects the cold bath viewed as an
agent of prevention — as a means of preserving health, and in-
creasing strength — we cannot indulge in the extravagance of
eulogium lavished on it by many physicians, philosophers, and
others, who have written on physical education. The practice
of plunging the new born infant into cold water, may be at
once pronounced as unnatural, unsafe, and often dangerous and
even fatal, neither justified by physiological reasoning nor expe¬
rience. The course attended by the least risk, and productive
often of decidedly beneficial results, is to commence by spong¬
ing or washing the body of the child with warm water, and
after the first two weeks gradually to diminish the temperature,
until it is tepid or cool — ranging from 7$ to 60 — below which
it should seldom go. Then it may be continued as a bath by
immersion, through the years of infancy and childhood, on to
puberty, with the effect of strengthening the system, inuring it
to vicissitudes of weather, and rendering it comparatively in¬
sensible to the variety of morbid agents to which it is exposed.

Curious Experiments on the Body of a Criminal after
his Execution, by Means of Galvanism.

Our readers may recollect the experiments of Dr. IJre, of
Glasgow, made a few years ago, on the body of a criminal after
execution. The following experiments were made in a similar
case at New York, in presence of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, by Professor Macneven, and Drs. Mott and Stevens,
on the body of Johnson, a murderer, a strong, well built man,
who was suspended about fifty minutes, and the body brought
into the operation room precisely an hour and a half from the fall
of the drop. The body was stript and placed on the table.
The limbs, though not so warm as the trunk, which was of its
natural temperature, were not stiff. The following experiments
were instituted, the account of which we give from the informa¬
tion of Dr. F. G. King, who was present : —

Exp. 1. An incision was made at the ancles, under the ten-
do achillis of each side, which being armed with tinfoil, were
connected together by means of a copper wire, having com¬
munication with the negative pole of the battery, whilst the
positive pole, attached to a brass ball, was introduced into the
mouth, previously moistened with a saturated solution of sal
ammoniac. The whole body was immediately thrown into con¬
vulsive agitation, his limbs lashing the table at every successive

Expei'iments on a Criminal 46 i

shock, and his jaws closing spasmodically, champed along the
wire as a restless steed upon his bit. Satisfied by this of the
energy of the agent, it was deemed proper immediately to make
attempts to restore his breathing.

Exp. 2. The phrenic nerve was laid bare by an incision on
the outside of the sterno-cleido mastoideus muscle, midway be¬
tween the angle of the jaw and collar bone, and a blunt probe
passed beneath it, whilst another incision was made under the
cartilage of the seventh rib of the same side, in order that the
animal arc might be completed by a communication of the ne¬
gative pole with the great head of the diaphragm, the positive
wire being applied to the phrenic nerve. The chest immedi¬
ately was thrown into action by the contraction of the dia¬
phragm ; but it was not sufficiently marked to warrant the asser¬
tion that it resembled full respiration, which was perhaps at¬
tributable to this circumstance, that the cavity of the chest had
been opened, by which the action of the diaphragm must neces¬
sarily have been much impeded.

Exp. 3. The supra and infra orbital nerves were exposed,
directly where the trunks make their exit from the bones of the
skull and face, and being armed with the positive wire, whilst
the negative was applied to the connexion already mentioned
between the tendines achillis, at the ancles, the muscles of the
face instantly commenced the most varying and frightful play
of expression possible. The eyelids were raised and lowered,
the mouth contorted in every direction, the lips at times writh¬
ing in agony, and then again subsiding into a fearful hurried
smile, momentarily broken in upon by anxious quiverings and
twitchings, as the shocks passed successively over them.

Exp. 4. The positive wire being applied to the brachial
plexus of nerves in the arm- pit, and the negative to the radial
nerve at the wrist of the same side, as also to the ulnar nerve,
the arm was thrown with violent extension in different directions;
the fingers coiled in, and clenched the hand with so much force,
that the finger of a gentleman present having been placed with¬
in the hand, he was enabled to raise the arm from the table by
its grasp alone. A small incision having been made at the end
of the fore finger, and the wire applied, it was suddenly extended
as in the act of pointing.

Exp. 5. The thorax was now opened, and the positive wire
applied to the great sympathetic nerve and par vagum, whilst
the negative was placed upon their filaments about the heart,
when the right auricle and ventricle of the heart were seen to
act, the former more distinctly than the latter: and it was not
a little singular to observe the effect of- the same agent on mus-

VOL. II. 3 N

A62 Experiment s on a Oiminal.

cular fibres of different arrangement ; for in the flexors and ex¬
tensors of the limbs it had produced sudden and violent spasmo¬
dic action, but on the circular and irregularly radiated fibres of
the heart the action appeared more natural, and there was a gen¬
tle worm-like motion, or rather a rising and falling of its fibres,
as if they did not all act at once, but rather separately and in¬
dividually, as one ceased the other taking up its action.

Exp. 6. The radial nerves being connected, the one to the
positve, the other to the negative wire, the hands were violently
clenched, and the heart also was observed to act slightly, but
not so distinctly as in Exp. 5.

Exp. 7* A metallic instrument was thrust through the cer¬
vical vertebrae, or bones of the neck, between the second and
third, and was connected to the positive wire, the negative pole
being directed to the communication between the tendines
achillis, at the ancles. The whole body was violently agitated by
constant tremor, and on the legs being flexed, they were thrown
out with great violence ; but the energy of action was much
diminished from the rapidity with which the body was now
cooling.

Exp. 8. The anterior crural nerves were exposed, as they
pass out from the pelvis, and connected with the positive wire,
the negative remaining as before: the limbs were much agitated,
and on being bent, were thrown out with violence, the first
effect being to bring them into powerful adduction.

Exp. 9. The two poles were connected to the two ulnar
nerves, and the effects were nearly the same as in Exp. 6., the
heart also acting, but with less energy.

Exp. 10. The positive wire was applied to the par vagum,
in the neck, and to the left phrenic as it crosses the pericardium,
when the heart was thrown into distinct action, which was in¬
creased by adopting Dr. lire’s expedient of passing the negative
wire over the plates of the battery.

Many other minor experiments were attempted, but as the
body was nearly cold, for above two hours had been consumed,
their effects were too slight to notice.

Blood Stains on Iron Instruments and on Clothes,
DETECTED CHEMICALLY. By M. LaSSAIGNE, OF PARIS.

For the purposes of criminal jurisprudence, it may often be
important to determine whether a spot of rust on iron or steel,
or a stain on a garment has been produced by blood. M. Las-
saigne, an eminent chemist at Paris, has tried many experi¬
ments with the view of resolving this question, and has, he in¬
forms us, been successfcfl in detecting blood in so small a quan-

463

New Remedies fur Diseases difficult to Care.

tity as one or two grains of rust of iron taken from cutting
instruments which had been used in surgical operations, &c.
He incloses the portion of rust to be examined in a small glass
tube, with a quantity of distilled water, sufficient to dissolve by
agitation the animal matters which may have remained after the
evaporation of the fluid parts. These are albumen, colouring
matter, the chloruret and subcarbonate of soda, and the phos¬
phate of lime. When none of these can be discovered, it may
be clearly inferred that the rust on the iron or steel instrument
has not been caused by blood.

The examination of stains, caused, or supposed to have been
caused, by blood upon different sorts of stuff, is still more easy
than in the case of rust, because there is no chemical alteration
produced in the different parts of the substances to be examin¬
ed. The only change, besides that of dryness from evaporation
of the fluid parts, is the brownish tint which the colouring prin¬
ciple acquires. Whatever the time may be, therefore, which
the blood stain has remained in either white or coloured stuff, it
is always possible to extract the chief materials of it. M. Las-
saigne discovered the principles of human blood four months
after the stain in linen, cotton, and woollen stuffs. His method
was to cut out the part stained and steep it in a very small quan¬
tity of distilled water, till the albumen and other substances
were dissolved, and could be detected in the water by chemical
tests.

The water containing the dissolved parts of the blood be¬
comes thick by agitation in the air ; it reconverts reddened
turnsole to a blue colour; it is coagulated by heat and acids,
and by evaporating and calcining the residue in a platina spoon,
chloride of sodium, subcarbonate of soda, and phosphate of lime
are obtained. When the water gives none of those indications
it is to be presumed that no blood has ever been present in the
rust or the stain under examination.

New Remedies for Diseases difficult to Cure.

In this article, we shall arrange a few of the most striking of
the recent improvements in the healing art, as a supplement to
our former papers of the same title. We cannot commence
more favourably we think than with

FattorPs New Cure for Toothache.

Signor L. Fattori, surgeon at Pontedera, informs us, that he
has discovered a method entirely new, of curing toothache, found¬
ed upon the principle of destroying the sensibility of the nerve
of the affected tooth. This, our readers are aware, has been hi-

464 New Remedies for Diseases difficult to Cure.

therto done by introducing a red hot wire into the hole of the
decayed tooth ; but independent of the natural fear which most
patients have of red hot iron, this can only be had recourse to
when there is a hole in the tooth. M. Fattori bores into the
tooth with an ingenious instrument of his own invention, till
he has cut the nerve across, which he does easily in a short
time; and what is of great importance in such an operation, he
affirms that it is not painful. Dr. Balbiani, of Pontedera, testi¬
fies to the benefit derived from the practice, having seen many
patients cured by Fattori.

Dr. James’ New Cure for Indigestion and Costiveness.

The proposer of this very excellent plan, which we are about
to record, is an American physician of talent and reputation. He
informs us, that he has often succeeded in removing the pains
and colic, which so frequently attend indigestion, by giving im¬
mediately after meals a pill, composed of one, two, or three
grains of ipecacuan made up with castile soap. A continued use
of the same simple remedy always succeeds in relieving obsti¬
nate costiveness of long standing. He says he is quite assured
that the pills increase the power of digestion very considerably,
and always clear out the bowels without producing a distinct
purgative effect, or leaving behind (as is usually the case) a ten¬
dency to increased costiveness. In using these pills, they ought to
be well dried, to ensure their slow dissolution, and it will be best
to make them with one grain of ipecacuan, and four grains of
soap, taking one after each meal, and two or three on going to
bed every day, or every other day. In the course of three or
four days their effect will begin to be perceived on the appetite
and on the spirits, while the bowels will become easy and com¬
fortable.

Dr. Dewes’ Cure for Acidity of the Stomach.

Another American physician and distinguished accoucheur,
who informs us that he has delivered above 9000 women with
his own hand, without a single failure — having been often con¬
sulted in cases of acidity, and in bad cases being often baffled
in his expectations from alkalies — tried the plan of giving acids,
according to what we have stated in a preceding page. After
trying all the various medical acids, both mineral and vegetable,
he found that lemon juice with water was the most successful.
The quantity may be regulated almost at the option of the pa¬
tient ; but we should say that a tea-cupful of water rendered
pretty strong with the lemon juice, three or four times a-dav,
would be a very proper method of taking it.

46*5

New Remedies for Diseases difficult to Cure.

Iodine in Cancer of the Womb.

This medicine is coming daily into more extensive use, and
has lately in Germany, as we learn from the Eilster Jahresve-
richt des Kon. Polikl. Inst., been successfully tried in that most

' w

dreadful and excruciating complaint — cancer of the womb. The
iodine was used both internally in the form of tincture, and ex¬
ternally in the form of ointment. One case of the disorder was
not only relieved but cured by taking the tincture, and injecting
infusions of hemlock and laurel leaves.

Dr. Burdach’ s New Remedy jor Epilepsy.

The falling sickness, or epilepsy, has always been considered
a very unmanageable disorder, and in most cases incapable of
cure. The misletoe has for centuries been tried without effect:
it is this which is the basis of Dr. Graham’s nostrum, upon
which he has put forth a puff-book. A new remedy has lately
been tried on the Continent, by Dr. Burdach, of Wiebal, and
Professor Hufeland, of Berlin, consisting of the roots of the
common mug-wort, dried in the shade, and a short time before
it is used, powdered. The dose is from 50 to 70 grains, or
a large tea spoonful of the powder in a little warm beer about
half an hour before the expected attack. The patient should
then be placed in bed, well covered, and drink warm beer.
The first dose generally gives some relief, and sometimes per¬
forms a complete cure ; but the dose should be repeated every
other day. Out of ten cases treated by Professor Hufeland,
three were perfectly cured, and three greatly relieved. The
other four did not experience much benefit. One of Hufeland’s
cases is very striking : a girl, aged 17? had had a fit every day
for ten or twelve years, in consequence of a blow on the head :
she was quite cured by a single dose. A man, aged 29, who
had had fits for four years, was quite cured by two doses.

Mr. Henry’s Cases of Tic Douloureux , cured by Belladonna.

We have in a former page adverted to the power of this me¬
dicine over external pains, such as those of tic douloureux and
rheumatism. Mr. Henry, assistant-surgeon to the 66th regi¬
ment, has succeeded in two cases in curing with it the violent
pains of tic douloureux. The first case in which Mr. Henry
tried it was that of a serjeant, aged 39, who was seized with the
pain of tic douloureux over the right eye-brow, leaving the
parts, after the fit was over, numb, and tender to the touch. As
the patient’s face was florid and flushed, he was, by order of Dr.
Burton, bled largely, had blisters to the temples, was dosed with
purgatives, confined to bed, and kept on spare diet, but without

46f> Gourmanderie for July.

the least effect. Mr. Henry, as a dernier resort, moistened about
ten grains of the extract of belladonna with a few drops of
water, rubbed it over the eye-brow during the violence of the
pain, and the result was that it was instantly relieved. By re¬
peating this at the return of the fits of pain, the man was cured
in three weeks. He has had occasional returns of the pain,
but they always yield to the belladonna. Mrs. M‘Kim, of Bal-
limar, near Sligo, had been unable to sleep for seven nights,
with excruciating fits of tic douloureux, which returned every
quarter of an hour. A single application of the size of a pea of
the extract of belladonna, rubbed in for about five minutes over
the seat of pain, relieved, her, and she has had no return of the
fits since. Mr. Henry supposes, that where belladonna cannot
be had, that the extract of stramonium or thorn apple might
have a similar effect.

Gourmanderie for July. By M. Grimod de la Reynierk,

of Paris.

The farther we advance in the year, the more adverse to good
cheer does the season prove ; for a genuine gourmand cares but
little for herbs and fruits, except as the means of restoring the
teeth to a sound state, and refreshing the mouth. He also takes
less interest in the advancement of kitchen gardens, and orchards,
as they begin to be covered with their treasures, than in the rapid
growth of young rabbits, young partridges, and other juicy game.
He has more pleasure still, in seeing the veal of Pointoise ac¬
quiring in this month the good qualities which he derives from
our verdant meadows by means of his mother’s milk. He re¬
joices on the arrival of the quails, birds of passage which come
with the hot winds in the end of Spring, and which are not to
be found after the beginning of November. It is not the moral
qualities ascribed to the quails by the ancients that will detain
us here. It is of little importance for us to learn that they at¬
tributed great virtues to this lascivious bird ; so far as to imagine
that the presence of a quail in a chamber would procure for the
happy sleeper dreams of love. Our readers, if they are in the
humour, may, at a vacant moment, make the innocent trial ;
but as for us, who in this work are occupied with more solid
enjoyments, we will tell them that a quail well plumped up with
fat, a la broche , and covered with pieces of bacon, and the whole
surmounted with vine leaves, is a most exquisite roast at this sea¬
son, and by its delicacy worthy of the tables of the gods. Besides,
this lovely little bird is always very dear at Paris, although ar¬
riving at a season when the heat of the atmosphere might force
the dames of Vallde, who supply the market, to reason, if it were

Moles and Birth Marks.

467

not that there are always more buyers than sellers. The rarity,
which is the necessary consequence of this, of course maintains
the quail at so high a price, that the use of it is confined to op-
pulent families. A fine roasted quail costs as much as two pul¬
lets. But it is not of the spit alone that this bird of luxury
avails itself, and although this be its noblest and best destina¬
tion, knowing cooks prepare it also on the coals, in the frying
pan, and, above all, with cabbage, jelly of lentils, &c. ; and
in the happy countries, where its abundance makes it accessible,
(as at Marseilles, where the quails of Montredon are so much
and so deservedly in request,) they are used for example, in
making pies, which by means of sweet-bread, mushrooms, grated
bacon, beef marrow, pepper, &c. are made in no respect inferior
to the best pat 6s de godiveau. In the season of larks, a more
common bird than the quails, they are sometimes prepared, to
impose on our appetite. But there is not even need of the eyes
to perceive the difference ; a blind person would be sensible of
it on the first application of the teeth, and although the lark has
very valuable qualities, it differs as far from the quail, as, in the
estimation of the public, the great Racine does from the other
tragical writers of our day, though as we intend no disrespect
to any one, we forbear to name them.

Moles and Birth Marks*.

The common brown mole, which the Greeks called spilos , ap¬
pears to be much of the same nature with freckles, and to be situ¬
ated in the middle layer of the skin, or the membrane of colour.
Moles are, sometimes, so well placed, as to set off, rather than
injure, a fine face ; serving as a contrast to the delicacy of the
skin, and giving an archness of expression to the countenance.
They are most becoming, and they are also most commonly met
with, in women of dark complexion. It is not unusual, how¬
ever, to find them on the fairest and most delicate skin. The
colouring matter, as in the case of freckles and sunburn, is
probably, some chemical combination of iron *. Be this as it
may, moles have evidently a superabundant vitality, and a ten¬
dency to increased action, in consequence, perhaps, of the sti¬
mulus of the iron; and hence they are often slightly elevated
above the surface, and the natural down of the skin is changed
into a tuft of hair. They usually originate before birth, and

* We take this article from a little work just published, under the title of the
“ Art of Beauty,” which we recommend to our readers as both a useful aud a
curious book.

+ Dr. Goon’s Study of Medicine , Vol. iv. p. 682^

4(j8 Moles and Birth Marks.

sometimes disappear at the age of puberty ; but they have also
been known to appear at different ages*. The same cosmetic
applications may be tried as for freckles, with gentle friction;
but they are seldom successful. Care must be taken, however,
not to produce much irritation, as it may lead to dangerous
consequences, such as a foul, suppurating, foetid sore, or even
to cancer or mortification, followed by sudden fatality. The
less they are tampered with the better : and we must particularly
denounce, as very dangerous, the application of depilatories for
eradicating the tufts of hair on moles; cancer is a common
consequence of such empirical applications. None of our rea¬
ders, we presume, are tinged with the vulgar folly of supposing
that moles have any influence on the fortune of individuals, or
that this can be interpreted by the jugglery of gypsies.

Influence of a Mother s Imagination. — We believe, to a certain
extent, in the influence which a mother's imagination may have
over the form and features of her offspring ; but we can do this,
and reject, with perfect consistency of principle, the absurd stories
told of the origin f of wine-spots, cherry-spots, currant-spots,
mulberry-spots, grape-spots, strawberry-spots, raspberry-spots,
leaf-spots, bacon-spots, and spider-spots, often found on the skins
of children at birth J. Such spots are more commonly found on
the face, neck, head, and upper extremities, than on the trunk,
or lower parts of the body, and they all consist of a thick clus¬
ter of blood-vessels — arteries, when the spots are of a bright
red ; and veins , when purple or any other colour predominates.
The brightness or deepness of the colour is caused by the
crowding of the vessels, and the extreme thinness of the skin
which covers them. The common vulgar origin of birth-marks
is supported by observing, that they become brighter at the sea¬
son the fruit is ripe, which they are supposed to resemble. If
this observation had been more accurate, it would have disco¬
vered that the colour of the mark increases with the stimulus
of the Summer heat; and if the general health be at any time
deranged, or if the current of the blood be increased by hot
rooms, high-seasoned dishes, or wine, the same increase of co¬
lour will appear on the birth-mark, as during the season of
grapes, currants, cherries, or strawberries.

Removal of Birth-Marks. — It is still more dangerous to tam¬
per with red or purple birth-marks, than wflth moles ; for the

* See Bateman on Cutaneous Diseases , p. 336.

+ Surgeons call a spot of this kind a Nccvus mat emus.

+ See Sutleffe's Medical and Surgical Cases , p. 337, for a very singular ex¬
planation of their origin.

46<J

Qualities of Fruits, Nutritive and Medicinal.

t

clustering of the blood-vessels sometimes extends to a greater
depth than may be imagined, and if the mark is bruised or
wounded, a dangerous bleeding may follow, or an unsightly
tumour. Mr. Abernethy has been sometimes successful in re¬
moving them by continued pressure*; and Mr. LangstafF by
caustic f; while Mr. Wardrop, and others, fairly cut out the
parts with the knife, — the best and safest method, where all the
affected parts can be easily reached. The late Mr. Alan Burns
successfully cut out a mark of this kind, which covered part of
the right eye and cheek, like the wattles of a turkey cock J.
Mr. LangstafF was successful in cutting away the greater part of
the upper lip of a child, three months old, who was hideously
disfigured in a similar way. In all such cases, we strongly
recommend applying to a skilful surgeon, as, otherwise, dan¬
gerous consequences may follow.

Qualities of Fruits, Nutritive and Medicinal.

In some former pages we have adverted to the qualities of
fruits with respect to their effects on health, as deduced from
chemical analysis. We now resume the subject, and shall be¬
gin with the

Qualities of Strawberries and Raspberries.

The strawberry is probably the most wholesome of all fruits ;
It is both balsamic and refreshing, and one of the most precious
of the gifts of Providence §, It is mildly acid, contains a me¬
dium proportion of sugar and mucilage, and the seeds act on the
the bowels similarly to those of the fig, which we have so often
recommended for costiveness. In some cases, however, these
seeds have, it is said, accumulated in the bowels, and produced
alarming disease. This, however, is so rare, that it need no more
deter us from eating strawberries, than the instance of a person's
being choaked with a fish-bone should deter us from eating fish.
Linnaeus avers, from his own experience, that strawberries are
an excellent preventive of gout and gravel, but we should much
doubt both the authority of the great naturalist and the fact, as
it is quite contrary to all we know of these diseases; which are
chiefly induced by acid food and drink || and corrected by alka¬
line remedies. Wine, which is much used on the Continent as
an accompaniment to strawberries, is injurious to their beneficial

* Abernethifs Surgical Works, Vol. II p. 284.

+ Quart. Jour. For. Med. Vol. IV. p. 304.

;£ Alan Burns' Surgical Anatomy of the Head and Neck.
^ Carlisle on Old Age.
j] Almanach dos Gourmands, III. 26.

170

Qualities of Fruits, Sutritive (tad Medicinal.

qualities. Cream and sugar, as used in this country, are not well
adapted to weak stomachs, though they are highly nourishing to
the robust, in whom nothing will sooner induce corpulency. It
is very bad to indulge much in strawberries, particularly after din¬
ner*. Contrary to the general rule, the wild strawberry is su¬
perior in flavour, though not in size, to the cultivated varieties.
Some gardeners form beds from roots taken up in the woods,
and for some years the produce is similar to the wild plants,
and would be always, were the beds left alone, and not manured
too highly. Raspberries resemble strawberries in most of their
qualities, but their flavour is too strong to be agreeable when
they are eaten freshf ; and they are more used in preserves, &c.

Qualities of Gooseberries.

Next to strawberries in wholesomeness and digestibility, we may
rank another native fruit ; the gooseberry, which is similar in
possessing a good mixture of sugar and acid, but abounds more
in mucilage and hard seeds. The skin, besides, is astringent,
acid, fibry, and indigestible ; from the latter of which qualities,
it acts upon the bowels by irritation and proves laxative, whence
some have recommended the skins to be always eaten; but of
this we cannot approve, as the seeds will answer this purpose
sufficiently well, without loading the bowels with amass of indi¬
gestible and irritating substances. Gooseberries have been re¬
commended in cutaneous diseases and deficiency of bile J .
Stewing and baking prove excellent correctors of the crude juices
of unripe gooseberries; and the green shoots of rhubarb, which
are likewise sub- acid and saccharine, make a wholesome addi¬
tion to pies of this sort in the earlier part of Summer.

It would not be difficult to give the results of the minute che¬
mical analyses of most of our fruits, were it not that it is ra¬
ther foreign to our purpose. It is only the general and useful
results which we are anxious to collect. We shall, however, as
a specimen of the minute, mention the substances found by Dr.
John, an eminent Continental chemist, in analysing the goose¬
berry ; namely, water, sugar, citrate. of lime, citrate of potash,
malate of lime, malate of potash, resin, gum, fibrin, ammonia,
phosphate of lime, and phosphate of magnesia. The propor¬
tions of these are not stated by Dr. John.

Qualities of Currants.

There is in currants, particularly black currants, a much
stronger principle of astringency than in any of the preceding
truits ; and of course, though they contain sugar and much :ge,

* Alixun teb de^ Gourmands, III. 2C.

+ Id. pa^e 32.

+ Id. page 32.

471

Qualities of Fruits, Nutritive and Medicinal .

they prove less laxative than strawberries or gooseberries. The
seeds and skin are in a great measure indigestible, and as these
form a very large proportion of the foreign preserved currants*,
of which so enormous a quantity is used in England, in pud¬
dings and cakes — they must, more or less, irritate the bowels.
We do not say that such irritation, when moderate, may not be
beneficial by its laxative effect — we merely wish to state the
fact, that the seeds and skins of currants are nearly indigestible,
which should at least teach us moderation in their use. Those
that are plumpest and sweetest should always be preferred.

Qualities of Grapes and Raisins.

The same chemical principles are contained in grapes as in
the preceding fruits, with the addition of super tartrate of potass,
the substance which appears to make the chief difference be¬
tween grape wines and ail othersf. Grapes also appear to
contain less of the malic acid than our native fruits, while they
possess a pleasant and wholesome aromatic flavour, and many
of them a principle of astringency which counteracts, in some
degree, their laxative tendency. The stones or seeds possess this
astringent principle very strongly ; but it is to be recollected, that
so long as they are unbroken, they are like most other seeds
indigestible. The large portion of sugar in grapes renders them
nutritive, while their acidity makes them easily digested. They
are recommended in the Almanach dcs Gourmands for bilious
complaints, and in dry temperaments.

Raisins partake of the nourishing and wholesome qualities of

the grapes from which they are prepared ; but their skins are

toughened by drying, and become more indigestible, and the

acid which would have promoted digestion is partly dissipated

or neutralized, which either increases the quantity of sugar, or

renders it more perceptible. The more purple and the less

brown there "is in the colour of raisins the better thev are.

*

Wh en eaten in quantity, they produce flatulence.

Qualities of Cherries.

Of these, as of all cultivated fruits, there are numerous spe¬
cies, which differ in quality according to the general principles
which have been so often illustrated. Some cherries, for ex¬
ample, contain much water and sugar, which, from being easily
fermented, occasions colic and flatulence. Another sort con¬
tain a large proportion of water and acid, which, from slightly
stimulating the stomach, are digestible and wholesome.

* Macculloch on Wine, p. 20.
i 7'hose are properly a sort of Grape.

47- Qualities oj 'Fruits, Nutritive ami Medicinal.

The pulpy mucilaginous sort again are the most nutritive. The
stones of cherries when incautiously swallowed, sometimes
lodge in the bowels and become dangerous. The kernels con¬
tain a portion of that deadly poison, the prussic acid. When
cherries are quite ripe, any quantity may be eaten without
danger*.

Qualities of Plumbs , Peaches , and Apricots.

The chemical elements found in varying proportions in the
different sorts of stone fruits, are sugar, water, mucilage, acids,
and woody fibre. Unless fully ripe and mellow, which is best
known by the pulp being easily separated from the stone, they
are injurious to the stomach, in consequence of their acerb
juices acting as astringents, and producing colic and griping.
When ripe, however, or when plainly cooked, no fruit is more
easily digested and more wholesome. They generally act on
the bowels as a mild laxative. In France, it is observed, that a
plentiful year of plumbs is rife in fevers and dysenteries. The
kernels, particularly those of peaches, recommended by Dr.
Willich as containing a wholesome bitter, are strongly impreg¬
nated with prussic acid, and though a few of them may prove
salutary, as the prussic acid itself does when cautiously adminis¬
tered, a quantity might prove deleterious. Ripe apricots are re¬
freshing and laxative; but when only one half is ripe and the
other not, the delicate should only eat the ripe side without the
skin. Peaches are best eaten fresh with sugar. When too
heavy for cold stomachs, they may be stewed f.

Qualities of the Pine Apple.

As this fruit is difficult to rear, it is considered as a rarity, and
is seldom met with except at the highest tables. Its flavour,
it must be confessed, is exquisite, but its acidity and astringent
qualities make it unfit for the delicate. When eaten fresh, it is
seasoned with the finest sugar, en poudre. The more acrid juices
of the pine apple are mellowed by dipping the slices in wine or
brandy, saturated with sugar§.

Qualities of Olives.

Many can never relish olives, and it is no matter, for their
crude juice and heavy oil make them of very difficult digestion,
while they contain but little nourishment. To those who are
partial to olives, we recommend the Italian as the lightest, and
the least objectionable as regards digestion.

* Lectures on Diet, p. 375.

+ Almnnach des Gourmands, III. 27.

£ Id, 30, ^ Id. 80.

Remedies for Drunkenness.

473

Remedies for Drunkenness.

We do not advocate tippling, God forbid ! but as there is
nobody who may not some time or other take an extra glass, or
who from weakness may be made tipsy by a single glass of
wine, or other liquor, we think it important to give an effectual
cure. This will be useful also in many cases where tipsyness
is not so much caused by excess, as by the deleterious drugs
employed hy the brewers of malt liquor, and the distillers of
spirits and strong waters, to adulterate their goods and give
them false strength. In pity, moreover, to those whom mis¬
fortunes, or, what is worse, bad habits, have prompted to drown
their cares by the tankard or the bottle, we think we shall do
some good by publishing the

New French Remedy for Tipsyness .

Take twelve drops of liquor of ammonia,

a large wine glassful of milk, or of water.

Mix and give immediately, and if not effectual give the same quan¬
tity in ten minutes after, and repeat the same in half an hour.

We would do wrong to affirm that this cure will never fail ;
there never was any remedy always successful ; but experience
warrants us to say, that it will, in nine cases in ten, instantly re¬
move the feelings of tipsyness. Read the following instances: —

Case 1. — When Mr. G — - — was canvassing hard for his elec¬
tion, for be had been prevailed upon to take an

extra glass of wine (and somebody had put brandy in it) to
brush up his courage before he appeared on the hustings to
make his speech ; but he soon became too tipsy either to walk
steadily or speak plainly. What was to be done ! if he went to
the hustings drunk, he was done for. He seized the moment —
procured the above medicine — and the second glassful made
him as fresh as if nothing had happened, and he got through
his speech in great style.

Case 2. — Mr. John Clough, master Carpenter and Joiner,
was enjoying himself with a few friends, when he was sent for
by Mr. Telfer, the Engineer, to undertake some extensive jobs.
But unfortunately he had made too free with his glass — though
this was very rare with him. A person present had heard of

the case of Mr. G - above, and of the remedy used, which

was procured accordingly, and Mr. Clough was fit to go out,
well, after a single dose.

Case 3. — Miss L - a young delicate lady, exhausted by

walking too fast, was persuaded, somewhat against her will, to

4 74 Remedies for Drunkenness.

take a glass of wine. We cannot say whether the wine had
been drugged or not by the wine merchant or his cooper ; but
she became very soon so tipsy, that her tongue faltered, and her

eyes rolled wildly. Mrs. G - , the lady of our hero of the

hustings chanced to be in the house, instantly procured the
medicine, and Miss L - was restored by taking two doses.

Case 4. — Dr. Piet relates the case of J. V - , a young man

of nervous and irritable constitution, who on the 15th January,
1822, became so violently drunk, that he did the most indecent
things, and broke every thing he could get at. When Dr. Piet
saw him, he was armed with a knife, and running at his parents,
with his eyes glaring, and his mouth foaming. Twelve drops
of the liquor of ammonia were given him in a glass of sugared
water, and he wTas calmed in an instant, ashamed and confused
at his conduct.

You have heard the story of the Highland chieftain who was
advised to put small shot in his bumper-glass to diminish by
degrees its capacity for holding whiskey*, and thus to wean
himself from drinking. We shall teach you a trick worth two
of this, for though it was ingenious enough for the last century,
it showed great ignorance of chemistry, and we have improved
in this department as well as in making steam engines, gas
lamps, and water-proof great coats. We think it was Dr. Pit¬
cairn who advised the small shot remedy ; the name of our mo¬
dern discoverer is Baron Briilh Cramer, a celebrated German,
who has found out a method of making the most confirmed
tipler, have the greatest loathing and repugnance to all sorts of
spirits and strong liquor.

The small shot remedy of Dr. Pitcairn, had some chance of
poisoning the drinker, or at least of giving him a horrible fit of
the lead-colic ; for the acid contained in the spirits (and every
spirit contains an acid) would dissolve some of the lead as soon
as it touched it, and this dangerous poison the drinker would,
of course, unthinkingly swallow with his liquor. The Baron’s
remedy, on the other hand, is not only safe, but powerfully
strengthening to the whole body, and the drinker will have the
great satisfaction that while he is acquiring a loathing for strong
liquor, he is at the same time improving his health, and adding
to his bodily strength. To keep you no longer in suspense, we
shall now give you the receipt of the

New German Remedy for Tippling.

Take one tea-spoonful of the tincture of calumha,

* The word “ whiskey,” is a corruption of the Gaelic word uisge, which simply
tneans water; whence uisge bbagh, the water of life; in Latin, \qua vilae; and in
French. Lau-de-vie.

Effects of Di hiking o» the Liver. 4] 5

one tea -spoon ful of the tincture of cascarilla,
one tea-spoonful of the compound tincture of gentian,
a wine glassful of infusion of quassia,
twenty drops of elixir of vitriol.

Mix, and take twice or thrice a day, and have a jug of cold water
dashed over the head every morning on coming out of bed, and the feet
bathed in warm water every night. Continue this for six or eight
weeks.

Dr. Roth, of Swinmiinde, has succeeded with this remedy in
completely curing many poor creatures, both men and women,
who were actually killing themselves by continual tippling and
drunkenness. YVe hope it may be equally successful in this
country. YVe have not yet had an opportunity of trying it, as
we only received the account of it a few days ago as contained
in a Berlin magazine*. We shall be glad to hear from any of
our readers how it answers.

Effects of Drinking on the Liver.

Prometheus, says Dr. Darwin, was reported by the ancient
mythologists, to have stolen fire from heaven, which might
well represent the inflammable spirit produced by fermentation,
and which may in one sense, be said to animate or enliven the
clay of man, whence the conquests of Bacchus, as well as the
temporary mirth and noise of his devotees. But the after¬
punishment of those who steal this accursed fire, is a vulture
gnawing the liver; and well allegorizes the poor inebriate, lin¬
gering for years under painful bilious diseases.

The efFect of fermented liquors on the liver, is strongly illus¬
trated in the case of Cooke, the celebrated actor, who was
much given to drinking. He died in America of dropsy, which
is a very common termination of liver disorders. On dissec¬
tion, we are informed by Dr. Hosack, that his liver was asto¬
nishingly hard, and of a much lighter colour than natural, evi¬
dently because the blood-vessels had been parched up and
obliterated. The texture of it was also so dense as to make it
ofFer considerable resistance to the knife in cutting, and was
very hard and unyielding, while few blood-vessels could be
traced in its substance.

Such is a very common efFect of indulgence in fermented
liquors on the liver, and we hope it will prove a warning and a
beacon for our readers to avoid the quicksands into which they
may unwarily be plunged.

* Magazin der gey 'am rate Heilkunde. Von Tlufeland, page

Effects of Drinking on the Teeth.

47 (>

Effects of Drinking on the Teeth.

Fermented liquors are injurious to the teeth, in proportion to
the quantity and quality of the liquor which is used. Persons
who are in the daily practice of drinking a quantity of wine, are
rendered more subject to the accumulation of that earthy sub¬
stance, which by the dentists is called tartar.

The formation of substance upon the teeth, destroys that
agreeable expression of the countenance which proceeds from
clean teeth, it renders the breath tainted, and as the constant
effect of its accumulation is to detach the gums from the roots
of the teeth, they become weakened in the sockets, they get
loose, and eventually drop out.

When people have habituated themselves to the use of spiri¬
tuous liquors, the injurious effects upon the teeth are more appa¬
rent. The teeth acquire a very stained and foul appearance ;
the gums being more or less inflamed, are covered with a slimy
mucus, and are often liable to bleed : the breath also becomes
very offensive ; and as the regular passing of the spirituous

liquors over the tender skin of the mouth creates a constant

degree of inflammation, the heat of the mouth is greatly in¬
creased. This state of the mouth is also kept up by the in¬

creased heat of the stomach, and when, by the debilitating
effects of the spirits upon that organ, indigestion is produced,
the teeth very rapidly fall into a state of decay, they are acted
upon constantly in the same manner as in the course of a fever,
when the heat of the constitution is greatly increased. Thus
by the baneful influence of intemperance, similar mischief to
the teeth is induced, as might only be expected from a malady
which threatens life.

General Norton, the Mohawk chief, who was in this country
a few years ago, was asked by a professional gentleman concern¬
ing the state of the teeth amongst the Indians. His reply was
decisive upon this subject. “ When the Indians are in their
own settlements, living upon the produce of the chase, and
drinking water, their teeth always look clean and white ; but
when they go into the United States, and get spirituous liquors,
their teeth look dirty and yellow ; and I have often heard that
they were frequently afflicted with the toothache, and obliged to
have their teeth drawn.

Case of Poisoning by Saltpetre. By Dr. Smith.

M iss H - , designing to take a large dose of common salts,

swallowed instead, in a state of solution, between two and three

47 7

Effects of Habit in Producing Disease .

ounces of saltpetre. She was immediately made sensible of
the mistake by an excruciating pain and distress at the pit of
the stomach. Her mother called on an apothecary, living next
door, to inquire her danger and what was to be done. He ad¬
vised to send instantly for a physician, and administered ten
grains of tartar emetic. Dr. Smith soon came, and considering
her agony, and that the emetic was little disposed, or likely to
occasion an ejection, he promptly applied the excellent appara¬
tus, consisting of a gum elastic tube and exhausting syringe \ the
former of which he passed through the mouth into the stomach,
and with the latter, soon introduced a considerable quantity of
tepid water, which, together with the solution of saltpetre, and
tartar emetic, he again extracted. This process was continued
till the fluid drawn from the stomach was as tasteless as when
thrown into it. The whole quantity of water employed, within
a few minutes, amounted to about four gallons. After the sto¬
mach was thoroughly cleansed and emptied, he introduced three
or four ounces of sweet oil, and withdrew the tube.

The operation was less painful than the effects of an active
emetic, and proved completely successful. We have related
the above case, with the double object of inciting people gene¬
rally to more caution, and also to recommend the remedy
employed.

Saltpetre is an article in such common use, and so nearly
resembles Glauber’s salts in its appearance, that instances simi¬
lar in kind, though happily not in degree, often occur. A small
quantity is generally followed by a long continued disorder of
the stomach, and is frequently fatal. It should never be laid
by without the paper enclosing it being marked, in legible cha¬
racters, saltpetre.

*

Effects of Habit in Producing Disease. By Dr. Parry,

of Bath.

It is unnecessary to particularize all the circumstances by
which, in consequence of the modes of civilized society, man is
rendered liable to diseases, from which, in a state of more un¬
cultivated nature, he is, in a great measure, exempt.

Since, however, these habits form the chief predisposition to
the diseases with which we are concerned, it is essential to the
preventive part of this work, that the more important of them
should be here considered.

Early Indulgence .

We first advert to that disposition, which is observable from
almost the earliest periods of infancy, to attempt by all possible

vol. it. 3 p

47& Effects of Habit in Producing Disease.

means, the gratification of every want, and the removal of every
present suffering. Although this principle, which is inherent in
our very nature, and is in the beginning provided for by in¬
stinctive motions, is evidently intended for the preservation of
life, yet, under the want, or perversion of the means of practical
instruction, it becomes the source of the greater number of
physical evils which affect mankind. Attentive observation
will also shew that the usual modes of early education among
civilized nations are more instrumental in the production of
moral evil, than even a state of ruder nature.

In the former state, the wants of infancy and childhood are
satisfied as soon as expressed, and even anticipated and prevented.
A similar conduct is observed with regard to those slight suffer¬
ings which are incidental to the frail state of humanity. Under
both these situations, instead of being taught patience by rea¬
sonable denial, it usually happens that the child is gratified
precisely in proportion to the violence of its importunity; or
else bribed into acquiescence by some compromise of sensual
indulgence. Thus he learns to consider present enjoyment as
the end of his existence ; and concluding that the world was
made for his pleasure, is averse to the torture of instruction,
and hates those who contradict or oppose him.

To this criminal indulgence of innate propensities during
childhood, may chiefly be traced those vicious habits which af¬
terwards 66 grow with our growth, and strengthen with our
strength,” are the bane of all social virtues, and unfit us alike
for present and future happiness. Among the lower orders of
society, although the general principles are precisely similar to
those which have been thus described, these processes in some
degree differ, conformably to the difference of the conditions
of life. The child is indeed brought up more hardily, but he
soon discovers that he can disobey with impunity, and that, in
spite of repeated positive denials, he can always, by querelous-
ness, passion, or persevering importunity, ultimately gain his
purpose. In no rank of life is there, in general, much choice as
to the means, provided the end be obtained. If the child cry,
it must be quieted. If benefit be to be procured at the expense
of inconvenience, however trifling, either the good must be ab¬
solutely relinquished, or acquiescence must be gained by some
assurance or promise, which the very next moment the child
discovers to be a falsehood.

Ignorant Nursing.

From this representation, which the nature of the medical
profession affords a thousand opportunities of verifying, it ap¬
pears, that the usual habits of civilized society place the earliest

Effects of Habit in Producing Disease. 47^

period of human life in a worse situation with regard to the
common principles of virtue, than those of the untutored sa¬
vage. The immediate cause of these errors is obvious. The
parent and nurse act with regard to the child precisely in con¬
formity to their own habits. Accustomed rarely to look for the
regulation of their conduct beyond the feelings of the present
moment, they apply the same rule to that being, whom Provi¬
dence has trusted to their care. They perceive that he is
afflicted, by the exertions of due authority; and the expressions
of his afflictions are intolerable to them. All therefore which
they are anxious to accomplish is their own immediate ease ;
and it is not till too late that they discover — if their ignorance
or selfishness will permit them ever to discover — that by their
conduct they have defeated their own purpose, and rendered in¬
veterate those very evils which they strove to shun.

Influence on Health .

Farther to pursue this important subject in its moral rela¬
tions, would be inconsistent with the object of the present
work. We have here only to shew the influence which this early
practical encouragement of weakness and vice has on the health
of mankind. In this light, its consequences will appear from
the following considerations : Human life consists of a series
of irritations, and Providence has so ordered, that scarcely any
earthly good is to be acquired without labour and suffering. As
also, on one hand, the good itself is enhanced by the difficulty
with which it is attained ; so, on the other hand, there are few
pains, whether of body or mind, which are not, within certain
limits, alleviated by continuance and repetitions. Hence, no one,
probably, enjoys true pleasure, ffiut he who has experienced
pain ; and moderate evils are scarcely felt by those who have
been habituated to greater. On the contrary, men who are nur¬
tured in habits of self indulgence, not only bear with impatience
those inconveniences which are common to the rest of mankind,
but possess an acuteness of perception, which converts indif¬
ferent impressions into actual suffering. But even in those
cases in which indolence and an assiduous escape from the com¬
mon pains and irritations of life, have been carried to a much
less extent than that just mentioned, they naturally lead to a
state of the system incompatible with happiness or comfort,

• Want of Exercise.

The predisposition being thus created, every thing that can
concur to the eventual torment of the unhappy being through
the greater part of the course of life, is, on principle, carefully
superadded. Towards this end the first step is the dereliction of

480 Effects of Habit in Producing Disease.

bodily exercise ; so that when the youth, who during boyhood
had derived his chief pleasure from every variety of muscular
exertion, commences that occupation which is to form the busi¬
ness of his future life, the exercise of his body, by means of its
own muscles, almost wholly ceases.

Hence, at the commencement of adult age, occur in males
indigestion, headache, and various affections of the brain; and
at a more advanced period, gout, dropsy, and all those com¬
plaints which are called bilious. These maladies, with the ex¬
ception of gout, fall still more heavily on the female sex, who,
from the reputed diseases of civilized society, are at an earlier
period of life subjected to physical restraint. Hence, even while
children, they are confined to long sitting in schools, or under
governesses, and during the intervals of study, are relinquishing
all those exercises in which boys for a considerable time after¬
wards freely indulge.

Evil Effects oj Stays.

Nay, there are certain muscles, the use of which fashion im¬
periously commands females to forego through life. Under the
pretext of obtaining a shape to the trunk of the body, they are
from their childhood cased up in stays, which prevent any
flexion of the back bone. They can bend themselves only by
the neck and hip-joint, while the whole spine, from the neck
downwards, is rigid and immoveable. Hence, the muscles of
the trunk from disuse become weak; and the ignorant parent
or governess, finding herself at adult age incapable of keeping
her own body erect without stays, fancies that this machinery
is absolutely necessary to supply the defective work of Provi¬
dence, in the construction of the child. Such folly is visited
with its proper punishment. To this cause, and the general
want of other bodily exertion, is attributable that disposition to
crookedness which is so common among European females of a
certain rank in life, but which is almost wholly wanting among
Negroes, or other uncultivated nations, and rarely occurs to Eu¬
ropean males, unless their early habits have resembled those of
females. Of this mechanical durance there is also another effect,
hitherto, we believe, overlooked by physicians. The chief muscle
employed in breathing is the diaphragm or midriff, which, in
healthy men, is alone used during rest, especially in the hori¬
zontal posture. In women, on the contrary, the stays, com¬
pressing the upper part of the belly, prevent the descent of the
diaphragm, and therefore compel them to inspire by the muscles
of the chest only. Hence, while females sit or stand, even at
rest, the breasts rise and fall in the act of breathing; and such
is their habitual disuse of the diaphragm, that even when unre-

4S1

Philosophy of Vision . — No. 1.

strained by clothing, and in the horizontal posture, they still
breathe chiefly by the muscles of the chest.

The absolute necessity of free breathing to the growth, health,
and strength, of the animal frame, is well known to physiolo¬
gists ; and we can therefore readily understand how much the
want of exercise, aided by the mechanical restraint and impedi¬
ment, thus wilfully contributed by fashion and ignorance, must
tend to counteract those blessings, and to prevent or destroy
that beauty which, without them, cannot exist.

Another consequence, not peculiar to females, though more
common with them than males, which seems very immediately
connected with this defect of respiration, is green sickness, or
what medical men call chlorosis. This condition may occur at
all ages, but is most usual about that of puberty. It has been
supposed, and to all appearance justly, to arise from the want
of a proper purification of the blood, as it circulates chiefly
through the lungs, and it may, almost with absolute certainty,
and without the aid of medicine, be cured with a due degree of
muscular exercise in the open air.

Another, and still more important effect of disuse of exercise,
is scrofula; that malady which, in form of pulmonary consump¬
tion, is so destructive to the young, the delicate, and the lovely,
among the human race. Like chlorosis, it is not peculiar to fe¬
males; but it chiefly occurs among them, and among those
males who live in similar habits of indolence, confinement, and
delicacy.

Philosophy of Vision. — No. 1.

Light and its Properties.

In order to understand what is known of vision, it is neces¬
sary to be acquainted with some of the properties of light, though
we have not room, nor would it be in place, to go very minutely
into the subject. Light has been described as consisting of
particles — as a fluid inconceivably thin — and as a substance
which can neither be felt by the touch, nor weighed in scales.

All these descriptions appear to be exceedingly inaccurate;
for the words particle, fluid, and substance, have a meaning al¬
together different in their usual applications from what is here
given them. If light be called a fluid, it is surely but reason¬
able that we should expect it to be like water or oil, or some
other fluid with which we are acquainted, at least in having this
property of fluidity. Light does not appear to have any such
property. If it be said that by a fluid is meant a vapour or gas,
light is also deficient in the essential properties of these ; as they

4S2

Philosophy of Vision . — No. 1.

can be kept in vessels, and light cannot; for though light has
been beaming into a room during the whole of a bright Sum¬
mer’s day, the instant the window shutters are closed the light
disappears. Besides, gas or vapour can be weighed, and can by
particular management be perceived by touch, when it is, for
example, forced through a pair of bellows. It is not so with
light.

That light is composed of particles, is an assumption for
which we have not a shadow of proof, and not even an analogy
to adduce in its support, though Niewentyt undertook to com¬
pute the number of these given out by a candle in a given time.
That it is a material substance, meaning by that a thing which
can be weighed or touched, or its bulk measured, is equally un¬
proved, and is indeed directly contrary to the universal experi¬
ence of mankind.

To say that light is a material fluid, composed of particles, is
not only giving us a string of meaningless words, which is too
often done in books of philosophy ; it is actually giving us erro¬
neous notions, and substituting fiction and falsehood for ascer¬
tained facts.

In what class then, of the things which be, must light be
ranked, since it is not a fluid, nor a vapour, nor a gas, nor com¬
posed of material particles ? Evidently, as we think, it must be
classed with heat, electricity, galvanism, and magnetism, which
though they agree in some properties, are as different in species
from one another, as iron, wood, and water.

Light penetrates Glass.

Light has the property, in common with other things of the
same class, of penetrating very hard bodies : hence called trans¬
parent, such as glass, and the diamond, the hardest of all known
bodies. The assumed notion that light was made up of par¬
ticles, led consequently to the assertion that there are innume¬
rable small holes in glass and diamonds, through which the par¬
ticles of light pass. Nobody of course ever saw 'these holes or
pores, and their existence remains to be proved.

Another assertion concerning the supposed particles of light
is that they have no force, or as it is called in the books, momen¬
tum, that is, when light strikes the face it is not felt as the wind
is felt, nor does it pain the eyes as sand thrown into them would.
This assertion, though perhaps it is a little better founded than
some of the preceding, is not quite correct. For the eye really
does feel pain, and very similar to pain arising from pressure,
when it is exposed to a strong beam of light, as in looking at
the sun ; in which case not only the curtain of the eyelids is
let down to protect it, but the iris also contracts so much that

481

Philosophy of Vision . — No. 1.

the pupil almost disappears, in order to protect the retina. What
is remarkable is that the iris does not thus contract in any other
case when the eyelids are shut as a protection against injury, in
such cases, on the contrary, the iris expands. This any one
may prove by the simple experiment of threatening to injure
another’s eye, and observing the state of the iris before and
after.

Of the several colours, red seems to have the strongest effect
upon the eye, if we may judge from the eagerness of children
and savages for stuffs of this colour. It is the most brilliant and
splendid of all the colours, and has in almost all countries been
chosen for the robes of princes. Among the ancients, the statues
of Jupiter, on festivals, were painted red. In diseased states of
the nerves, it seems to pain the eyes. M. Richerand says he
has seen maniacs thrown into a rage, and others, thought to
have been long cured, whose madness came afresh at the sight
of scarlet cloth. Bulls, turkeys, and other animals are also
enraged at the sight of scarlet. Green is opposite to red in this
respect, being the softest and least vivid of the colours.

This conjectural view of what may be called the pressure or
inpingement of light is somewhat countenanced by the coloured
rings, produced by external pressure, on the closed eyelids.
The strongest pressure produces red or luminous flashes and
halos; the slightest pressure produces violet, indigo, and blue;
exactly in the order of the refrangibility of colours. When the
pressure, however, is made on the centre of the ball, or on two
corners of the eye at once, no flash nor colour is seen, perhaps
because the retina is not then pressed in the point of vision.

Velocity of Light.

The velocity of light is so great, that it takes only eight mi¬
nutes and a half to come to us from the sun, a distance of ninety
five millions of miles. This fact was first ascertained by observ¬
ing the eclipses of Jupiter’s moons. It follows clearly, that we
never see the sun exactly where he is, but where he was eight
minutes and a half before. We cannot tell how far the fixed
stars may have receded from the place where we apparently see
them, for we know not their distance. Astronomers have even
supposed that there may be some stars so distant, that their
light has been travelling to the earth from the creation itself,
for these six thousand years, and has not yet come into view.

White and Coloured Light .

The investigation of colour is important in our inquiry ; for
we can only see colour. It was proved by Sir Isaac Newton,
that the white light of the sun is composed of a number of

484

Philosophy of Vision . — No. 1.

colours, such as we see in the rainbow or in dew-drops. He
arranged these colours in seven divisions, violet, indigo, blue,
green, yellow, orange, and red.

All of these, however, in the rainbow, shade imperceptibly
into one another, so that instead of seven, we may make four¬
teen, or any other number. Some have reduced them to three,
blue, yellow, and red. But though a mixture of red and blue
will produce a violet; yet that the violet in the rainbow is not
a mixture of red light with blue light, is evident from the red
being on the opposite side of the circle from the blue.

The proof, by experiment, that white is composed of the
rainbow colours, is by causing them to pass through a piece of
square glass, called a prism, when white light will be re-pro¬
duced. Or by painting a paste-board circle with the rainbow
colours, and whirling it rapidly round, when it does not appear
coloured but white.

From observing that a dewdrop appeared green, or red, or
orange according to some, change in its thickness, it was has¬
tily concluded that it was the thickness or thinness of their
outer surface or skin which gave roses and grass and oranges,
their different colours. That is, a particular thickness of cover¬
ing reflected red or green light, and absorbed all the rays of
other colours.

Absorption of Light.

Now, by the theory of those who advocate this doctrine, light
is a divisible substance. Some very singular consequences may,
we think, be deduced from their suppositions. The flower leaf of
a crimson rose accordingly, reflects all the red light which falls
upon it, but retains all the blue, green, and yellow light. How
comes it then that the leaf does not increase in bulk from the
absorption of a continued stream of light? And ought not this
effect to be very apparent in the dark flower leaves of the night¬
shade, which by this theory reflect almost none of the light ?

If it be said that plants have a particular set of organs which
decompose the absorbed light, and carry it into the sap vessels,
how will this apply to inorganic substances, coloured wafers for
example, and coloured paper, which are not found to increase
from this absorption of light?

Delaval went deeper into the subject, as he conceived, than
Newton had done; and roundly asserts in his Experimental In¬
quiry, that all substances are naturally white, and that it is only
by means of a thin translucent coating which covers them, and
transmits the light, that they appear of different colours. Scrape,
says he, a dyed feather, and you will find it white below this
coating.

INDEX TO VOL. II.

A.

Abernethy, (Mr.) his explanation

of an Irish bull . . 189

Absorption of light . 484

Acidities, various medicines for... 38

. 93-464

Acidifies, diet in . 92

Acid in the stomach and bowels... 90
Accidents by lightning and thun¬
der . 452

Ague, an old lady’s specific for... 186

Adulteration of medicines . 95

A ppetite, loss of, cured . 329

April diseases . 325

Apoplexy causes of . 311

A poplexy from eating cheese.. ... 347

Asthma and Winter Cough . 170

Asthma and Winter Cough, train¬
ing for . 279

August diseases . 7

B.

Bachelor, humorous prescriptions

by . 145

Barrelling of malt liquor . 272

Bathing, philosophy of ... 1 5-381-436

. 457

Bathing, tests of dangers and ad¬
vantages in . 17

Bathing while the body is heated 438

Bathing (cold), dangers of . . 16

Beards, Mustachios, and W hiskers 315

Bear’s Grease puffing . 118

Beau tv trainin'?: . 28

Beauty of the eye-brows . 180

Beauty Wash for the skin and eyes 60
Bed-chambers, ventilation of . 392

Beef-steak Gourmand, sketch of a 98
Belching, its causes and cure.. .. 308
Bengal Gourmand, sketch of a.. 396

Bilious and Liver cough . 69

Bile-flux, treatment of . 8

Bishop, receipt for making . 391

Blood stains, chemically detected 462
Blundell, (Dr.) his experiments on
injecting blood into the human

veins . 212

Boarding school evils . 98

Boarding school evils exposed . 77

Boarding schools, chilblains at... 234
Bowel complaints of hot weather 7
Bowels, disorders of, in infancy... 135
Brain slicing, a philosophic hum¬
bug . 103

Breakfast in beauty training . 29

Breath, causes of its being bad... 450
Byron, (Lord) dissection of his
body . 227

C^-

Cancer quackery . 202

Cancer cured by masterwort plas¬
ter and by Iodine . 178-465

Causes and remedies of deformity 413
Cautions, adapted to infancy and

childhood . 141

Chalk stones in the joints of gouty

persons, how formed . 133

Chilblains prevented and cured... 235
Children, rules for, by Dr. Davis... 139

Cholera morbus . 8

Cooling purgative for the blood... 338
Colds, Hoarseness, and Sore Throat 223

Cold in the bladder . 273

Colchicum, mildest preparation of

for gout . 349

Cold bath and affusion in fevers... 383

Coffee-making, scientific . 201

Coffee relieves severe pain . 350

Consumption or decline . 87

Consumption, common delusions in 425
Consumption treated by cutting

open the chest . 353

Consumptive constitution, its marks 426
Consumptive, training for the...... 159

Conductors of sound . 244

Consolations at the turn of life... 375
Contagion communicated by in¬
sects . 454

Crimping of fish . ?. 333

Cock-a-Leeky , a Scots national

dish . 38

Cooper, (Sir A.) his account of hy¬
drophobia . 446

Cooper, (Sir A.) his pills for the
bilious . 329

VI

INDEX.

Costiveness . 386-464

Costiveness cured by inflation . 232

Coughs (stomach), plaster for . 150

Coughs, new French test of dan¬
ger in . 88

Coughs and Consumption, new cure

for . 288

Curious cases . 190

Curious experiments on a criminal 460

D.

Danger in coughs, &c. new French

test of . 60

December diseases . 165

Desk diseases ...228-273-309-344-385

Diet, causing low spirits . 345

Disorders cured by music . 340

Diseases of the skin, by Dr. Roget 406
Dressing of infants and children... 137

Dressing after bathing . 439

Drinking, its effects . 116-301-461

Drugging, its effects on beauty... 58

Drum of the ear . 84

Drum of the ear, springs of the... 121

E.

Generation, mysteries of . 51-179

Glasses, washing of, by Mr. Hatch-

ard’s Footman . 403

Good living at the Universities.. 390

Gourmand, maxims of a . 430

Gourmanderie for July . 466

Gout, the philosophy of. . 1 31-1 85-304
Gout, effects of warm and cold

applications on . 305

Gout and Rheumatism cured by

hot water . „ . . . . 351

Gormandizing and Drinking, their

effects on the liver . 301

Great discoveries . 355

Gymnastics, a cure for distorted

spine . 277

H.

Habit, its effects on disease . 477

Hair, philosophy of the . 42-1 17

Hair, anatomy of the . 306

Hale (Dr.), his heroic experiments 100

Harmony explained . 283

Hearing, philosophy of . . . . 82- 1 90-244
. 382-322-361

Ear, funnel of the . 82

Ear, the labyrinth of the . . 122

Early rising, pleasures of, by Dr.

Kitchiner . 432

Early indulgence, its effects on the

Healfh . 477

Eau medicinale, French nostrum

for gout . 306

Economy in tea-making . 290

Economy in the kitchen . 177

Economy of Mr. Langton . 128

Echoes . 192

Edinburgh phrenologists, and Glas¬
gow bachelors . 240

Elder wine, excellent and econo¬
mical. . 81

Eye-brows, wash and paste for the 180
Fancies, religious and philosophic 440

F.

Fever (fruit) treatment of. .... 49

Fish, Professor Duncan on . 330

Fish, seasons of . 332

Food proper for infants and chil¬
dren . . 136

Frauds of bakeis and millers ... . 410
Frost, effects of on health .... 167

Fruit fever, symptoms of . 47

Furniture, method of cleaning and
polishing . Ill

G.

Gastaldy, (Dr.) his preparatory
whet . 126

Hearing but one sound with two

ears . 362

Headaches from bathing . 439

Heartburn, treatment of . 207

Hereditary dunces and borough

jobbery . 43

Hooping cough . 214

Hooping cough, treatment of. . . . 299
Hospitality, Dr. Kitchiner on ... . 221
Hotch Potch, Meg Dods’ Critique

on . 41

Hydrophobia, symptoms and cure

of . 10-448

Hydrophobia, new remedy for.. 233
Hydrophobia cured hy cold water 450
I. “

Impediments of speech, and their

cure . 295

Indigestion cured by castor oil. . 350

Indigestions, autumnal . 46

Indigestion, mercantile . 55

Indigestion, new plan of treat¬
ing . 33-275

Ingrafting, curious experiments of

animal . . .

Injecting water into the veins. . . . 449

Infants, bathing of . 460

Infants, on the crying of,.. 1393-60
Infants, treatment of, by Dr. Davis 138

Inflammation, draught for . 328

Iodine in cancer of the womb .... 465
January diseases . 205

INDEX.

Vll.

John Bull in India, oriental good

living . 95

July diseases . 445

June diseases . 405

K

Kennedy, (Dr.) on children, &c... 360
Kitchen economy, by Mrs. Taylor 177
Kitchiner, (Dr.) his family eco¬

nomy . 217

Kitchiner, (Dr.) his humming

bird feast . 23

Kitchiner, (Dr.) on sheep’s head

broth . . . 109

L

Nervous weakness . 85

New remedies 93, 178, 231, 318, 349
New test of recovery from disease 182

Noises in the head and ears . 292

November diseases . 125

Nursery experience in health and

disease . 134

Nursing, ignorant, its influence on

health . 479

O.

October ale . 124

October diseases . 85

Old womens’ prescriptions 114, 161,
. 186

Laennec’s (M.) experiments . 362

Lavagna, (Dr.) his improver of

beauty . 30-38

Light, its colours . 484

Light penetrates glass . 482

Lightning, singular accident by... 453

Liberty of the medical press . 162

Lime, a cause of gout . 185

Liver, nerves of the . 182

Liver, acute inflammation of the 326

Liver cough, opiate pill for . 70

Liver and Bile, effects of training

on the . . 67

Lock-jaw cured by tobacco . 178

Long Life, secret for attaining... 376

Low spirits and melancholy . 344

M.

Majendie, (M.) his cruel experi¬
ments . 294

Maccassar-oil, cheap receipt for 117

Mad dog, description of a . 14

Madness in a dog, marks of . 448

Madness, Professor Beck on . 398

March diseases . 285

Market secrets for poultry . 19

Materialism, doctrine of . 440

May diseases . 365

Medical press, liberty of . 203

Medical counsellors . 145

Medical religion . 353

Memory, medicine for improving the 63
Melancholy and madness, religious 127
Mercantile indigestion, with Dr.

Gregory’s prescriptions . 55

Moles and birth marks . 467

Monopoly of mock dignity . 1 19

Musical strings explained . 283

N

Nervous consumption . 366

Nervous disorders accounted for... 291

Nervous headache . 293

Nervous pregnancy, by Mr. Russel 314

Organ of time, with a singular case 358

P.

Pains arising from piles . 373

Philosophy of hearing.. . . 120

Philosophy of silk and woollen

clothing . 109

Phlegm, draught for . 50

Piles, causes and cure of . 371

Piles, sulphate of quinine, a re¬
medy for . 231

Pimples . 408

Pimples, S. Plumbe, Esq., his re •

medies for . 25

Preservation of health in frost... 168

Preventives of consumption . 427

Preventives and remedies in scro¬
fula . 421

Physicians, versus surgeons and

apothecaries . 321

Plumb-pudding, gigantic . . 200

Poisonous fish . 331

Polish for mahogany furniture... 114
Potheen Club, Dublin, discussion

at the . . . 151

Porter, home brewed, by Mr. Child 270
Punch exquisite, by Alderman B. 313
Purgatives abuse of . 388

Q.

Quinine, how' to prepare sulphate
of . 187

R.

Remedies for toothache . 417

Rennie, (Mr. A.) his cure for scro¬
fula and old sores. . 352

Rickets, sea-bathing, a cure for.. 458

Rheumatism . 422

Roche’s embrocation for hooping

cough . 217

Ruined constitutions restored . 30

S.

Salad-making, amateur . 209

Sleeplessness . 292

INDEX.

tin.

Scarlet fever, treatment of . 145

Sea bathing for scrofula . 457

Scrofula, causes of . 420

Scrofulous swellings cyred by

Iodine.... . 276

Scrofula, sal ammoniac a remedy

for . i . . . . 231

Scrofula, preventives and remedies

for . 421

Scorbutic ointment . 338

School diseases from school

vices . 73, 193

Scurvy, and its treatment . 336

Shape, effects of exercise on the... 414

Sound, nature and velocity of . 192

Sounding bodies . 282

Sounds, distance, and direction

of.... . 363

Sounds inaudible to certain ears . . 323
Spectacles, hurtful to the eyes, and
hints for choosing them.. 71, 432

September diseases . 45

Spirit — What is it? . 442

8pring coughs and consumption . . 285
Stays, their effects on the shape

. 414-480

Stomach coughs, and how to detect

them . 149

Stomach — sequels of feasting ... 206
Stricture from bile, gravel, &c.. 229

Swimming of the head . 295

T

Tar vapour for coughs, &c . 318

Tea, a remedy for indigestion..., 350
Tea, how to improve its flavour. . 290
Tea, its effects upon health, by Sir

Gilbert Blane . 288-301

Teeth, Chinese mode of preserving 197

Tewhadiddle morality . 1G4

Tic Douloureux, cured by Bella¬
donna . . . 465

Tic Douloureux, carbonate of iron

for . 319

Thunder storms, cautions during . . 452
Training, medical art of .. 27-67-104

. 159-279

Toothache . 416

Typhus Fever, influence of fear in
the spread of . 61

U.

Uwins, (Dr.) confessions of . 355

Unmarried state, diseases of ... . 36

Urinary strictures . , . 228

Uva Ursi in disorders of the
spleen . 320

V.

Ventriloquism explained . 364

Venison and game, how fo choose 64

Vision, Philosophy of . 481

Voice, organs of the . 284

W.

Water, a medium of sounds.. .. 282
Water in the head, curable symp¬
toms of . 388

Washing of decanters . 403

Winter dress for invalids . 168

Wines, on the flavour and strength

of . 173

Whales — are their teeth petrified

cucumbers? . 239

White-swelling cured with Iodine

oiutment . 320

WMiite clothes warmer than black 334

W'orins, new medicines for . 107

Worms expelled by oil of cypress 351
Worms, remedies for . 418

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