quack medicines, and the long catalogue of affectingly fatal consequences that have followed their use, are sufficient grounds for legal interference, and for their general discontinuance.

The majority of patent medicines lay claim to the physically impracticable power of curing all, or a number of diseases. But the existence of an universal remedy is an insult to the understand ing and none but the most ignorant or credulous of mankind will sanction a medicine to which is attributed the power of removing all complaints, or even two dissimilar diseases.

Will any one so impose on his judgment as to deny that the same medicine judiciously and successfully given to a patient of one kind of constitution and habit of body, may not only be useless, but do incalculable mischief to another patient, whose constitution and habit of body are different? or where is the person so profoundly ignorant as not to know that even the same disease in different stages, requires very different remedies?

Besides, mention but the name of a single disease (take cough or head-ache, complaints arising from twenty different and most opposite causes), and it will be found that the most opposite remedies will be required for the same symptoms, or the same disease. Independently of this, so dissimilar are the same diseases, arising from the same causes, in persons of different ages, sex, temperament, constitutional powers and habits of life, that they assume an infinity of modifications of character, and require great variety and discrimination in the employment of means for their removal.

The many well-authenticated instances of death which are daily recorded, and constantly result from the use of patent medicines, would, we should suppose, intimidate the most fearless from perseverance in their employment; but deaths are not the sole items in the balance sheet of quackery: how innumerable are the cases in which they have permanently enfeebled and undermined the powers of life, though they have not been directly fatal!

Nor is this great amount of human infirmity and premature death to be wondered at, when we reflect on the poisonous ingredients of which quack remedies are nearly universally composed; and when it is well known that many of the most popular patent medicines contains, under the disguise of a false name or spurious itle, the most active and dangerous articles of the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, such as arsenic, corrosive sublimate, deadly nightshade, and opium.

The ointments, creams, and lotions puffed off for the removal of eruptions from the faces of children, have for their basis lead and mercury. These articles become introduced into the system by the skin, and often produce, by their deleterious qualities, the most deplorable consequences.

Most of the patent medicines given to children contain the strongest and most heating aromatics in ardent spirits, or opium in different forms, and artfully concealed. Such are the active ingredients in syrup of meconium, or of poppies, Godfrey's Cordial, Dalby's Carminative, Daffy's Elixir, and similar preparations.

It is not intended to affirm that these medicines never do good. Many proofs to the contrary might be adduced; but it is no less true that their habitual and indiscriminate administration kills a vast number of children in this country.

Inflammatory diseases carry off by far the major part of the infants and children that die in the early stages of life; and in these affections the quack medicines advertised for infants and children, from their stimulating and anodyne properties, become poisonous, and in a very short time destroy all hope of recovery. The history of a case may be thus stated:-a child is in great pain, indicated by screaming; this may be a symptom of inflammation of the brain, lungs, or bowels; but to deaden this pain, and to quiet the sufferer, immediate recourse is had to these medicines, and because unnatural sleep and a little temporary

and specious relief are obtained, a parent's fears are lulled, whilst the disease is making irreparable ravages on the constitu

tion.

How common a practice is it, when children are in pain, to refer it to their bowels, and immediately to give stimulants or opiates without any reference to the cause of the pain, though perhaps inflammation may be destroying life, or the griping and purging may be critical, being an effort of nature to carry off some acrid and offending matters from the bowels-an effort which if checked by opiates is productive of alarming and sometimes fatal consequences!

Nurses should never be permitted to have these dangerous and poisonous weapons in their possession; yet it is a fact of lamentably frequent occurrence, that such medicines may often be found concealed in their boxes, and in other places, ready to be given to a child, should the little sufferer's wakefulness or cries interfere with their night's rest.

To conclude:-patent medicines acquire the most unmerited reputation by false and confident assertions that startle the unreflecting mind, and maintain the reputation they have so unjustly obtained by the practice of the most evasive delusions on the unwary. Not one case in a hundred, brought forward in support of their alleged efficacy, ever occurred and were it possible to obtain the evidence of those unfortunate creatures who have trusted to the professions of quacks, they would bear testimony to the dangerous and fatal effects of their remedies.

The insidious manner in which these medicines are advertised, often obtained for them such unlimited and ill-founded confidence, as to induce parents and nurses to postpone recourse to a judicious and rational plan of treatment, till the infallible remedies, in which they have confided, have brought the patient to the brink of the grave, and rendered ineffectual the greatest talents and extensive experience of the most eminent practitioners.

PRESERVATION OF LEECHES.

THE increasing price of leeches, and the great difficulty of procuring them, almost at any price, render it a matter of great importance to discover the best method of preserving them. Leeches kept in the ordinary manner secrete a quantity of gelatinous matter, which becomes attached to their bodies, and soon kills them. M. Dominé has observed that nothing enables leeches better to get rid of this gelatinous matter than moss. This must be selected as green as possible, washed and perfectly cleaned, then placed in a bottle (a quart one for 100 leeches). During the heat of summer it will be well to place a little water in the bottle. During winter they need not be changed often; but in summer the moss must be changed every second day, and the leeches kept in a col cellar. Following these simple rules, M. Dominé has been able to preserve his leeches in perfect vigour, and with very moderate loss, considering the numbers preserved.

A MECHANICAL LEECH.

An important discovery occupies the attention of the French scientific world. It is a mechanical leech, invented by M. Alexandre, a civil engineer, already celebrated for his useful discoveries. All the scientific bodies, after satisfactory trials, have caused this leech to be adopted in all the hospitals; having proved not only the immense economy of its use, but what is better, the always repugnant to the patient, and sometimes dangerous. decided advantage which it has over the natural leech, often so scar e

THE STOMACH.

FIRMLY believe that almost every malady of the human frame is, either high-ways or by-ways, connected with the stomach. The woes of every other member are founded on your belly timber; and I must own I never see a fashionable physician mysteriously consulting the pulse of his patient, but I feel a desire to exclaim, Why not tell the poor gentleman at once, "Sr, you have eaten too much; you've drunk too much; and you have not taken exercise enough!" The human frame was not created imperfect. It is we ourselves who have made it so. There exists no donkey in creation so overloaded as the stomach.-Bubbles from the Brunnens.

DYSPEPSIA-INDIGESTION. NERVOUSNESS, &c.

BY THE EDITOR. No. I.

INDIGESTION is a theme on which volumes have been written-on which volumes will again written. It is a disorder under the thraldom of which a majority of mankind groan and writhe; it spares neither the peer nor the peasant, the luxurious nor the starving, the indolent nor the-yes, the industrious, the toiling, the temperate man, frequently possesses-truly by the sweat of his brow-an immunity from this root of much evil, which the wealth of a millionaire can seldom purchase. Healthful labour is well requited if it disarm such a foe to all ease, comfort, and happiness, as indigestion. Justly does the erudite Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancho'y," exclaim: "If the stomach (which he elsewhere calls the King of the Bellye') be distempered, all the rest suffer with him, as being deprived of their nutriment, or fed by bad nourishment; by means of which come crudities, obstructions, winde, rumbling, griping, &c." A more modern, but equally correct observer, Whytt, says, “When the stomach is in a sound state, and digestion is properly performed, the spirits are good, and the body is light and easy; but when that organ is out of order, a languor, debility, melancholy, watchfulness, or troublesome dreams, the nightmare, &c., are the consequences."

Indigestion must not be considered merely as a solitary disorder or disease of one particular organ-would that it were so; but as one which influences and contro's, to a great degree, every other malady to which the human frame is liable. When the digestion is imperfect, it is impossible that a due supply of pure and nourishing blood can be elaborated in the system for the purpose of carrying on the functions of life, and compensating for the loss of support and strength occasioned by the wear and tear of continued action and sensibility. The stomach is the arch-director of the physical man; it is the electric telegraph from which emanates every mandate for the preservation of health or the induction of discase: an impression on one wire irritates the heart or lungs; on another, the brain and the faculties of the mind; on a third, the joints; on a fourth, the skin; so that each separate organ and tissue, not only owes allegiance, and has to pay tribute, but also has to suffer for the bad policy of its imperious ruler.

Before we can properly understand the alterations and disorders produced by disease, it is requisite that we should know something of the organs of the body, and their functions when in health. I therefore give a short outline of the offices performed by the organs concerned in the process of digestion. The stomach is the receptacle of the food, and the chief organ of digestion. The food, after it has undergone mastication, and admixture with the saliva of the mouth, is carried by the oesophagus into the stomach, where it is acted upon by the gastric juice, and converted into a greyish pulpy mass, named chyme; this passes by the pyloric, or lower end of the stomach, which acts as a sentinel, by rejecting every particle which has not undergone chymification, and enters the first portion of the intestines, called the duodenum; here the chyme is submitted to the action of the bile and pancreatic fluid, and is separated into two parts, the one white, rich, and nutritive, called chyle; the other the bulky, indigestible residuum, which is afterwards excreted. The intestines are studded with innumerable tubes of lymphatics, which cover their inner surface, like the pile of velvet; and having a muscular coat, they are endowed with a longitudinal, or peristaltic motion, and a circular, or vermicular motion, by which their contents are urged forwards, the chyle to be taken up by the open mouths of the lymphatic tubes, and afterwards converted into fresh blood; while the useless mass, which has now acquired its feculent odour and character, is carried on to the termination of the alimentary canal. The liver is the most bulky of all the organs; its functions is to secrete bile, which is carried to its reservoir, the gallbladder, where it is kept until the arrival of chyme in the duodenum, when it ejects a portion of its contents into this part of the intestines, by means of a duct, or tube, common to it and the pancreas. The effect of the bile is to act chemically upon the chyme, by precipitating

the useless matter from that which is nutritive.

THE CAUSES OF INDIGESTION are as numerous-may we not say innumerable ?—as the effects to which it gives rise; in some instances it is purely a local disorder, occasioned by actual disease in the stomach itself; but more frequently it exists without any structural change or disorganisation of the

viscera, and is rather a derangement or irregularity of function than a breaking down of the machinery. When there is disease and disorganisation of the stomach, as inflammation, ulceration, thickening of the coats, cancer, &c., the indigestion thence arising must be considered more as a symptomatic complaint than a malady per se; in the present paper our attention will be confined to indigestion as a derangement of functions-a departure from healthy digestion.

In searching for causes of this complaint, I cannot but place first in the list, a natural predisposition of the body, which persons of certain TEMPERAMENTS unfortunately possess, by which the disorder exists without other adequate cause, or is acquired by such means as to other individuals would prove innocuous. Probably some explanation of the term temperament may not be out of place, as a peculiar condition of the body is thereby indicated, which is of the greatest importance in all me lical investigation. By temperament, then, is meant certain combinations or groups of peculiarities of mind and body, quite compatible with health, but rendering the possessor more liable to some diseases than to others, and imparting to diseases, when present, a pecu. liar character. Temperaments are born with us, but may be modified by circumstances; indeed by early care and cultivation, a peculiar temperament may be, to a certain extent, diverted from its original bias. The meaning popularly attached to the word "constitution" approaches nearly to that which is inferred by medical writers by "temperament."

The temperaments, which, for all useful purposes, may be limited to four, are the sanguine, the lymphatic, the bilious, and the nervous; the following are the chief physical and mental qualities of each.

The sanguine temperament derives its name and character from the preponderance of the vascular system. The pulse is strong, the circulation vigorous, the complexion ruddy, the muscles well developed, the chest large and well formed, the skin fair, the eyes blue, and the hair red or reddish brown. The mental qualities of the man of sanguine teinperament are well known; he is ardent, impetuous, and passionate, but not unforgiving; of high hopes and buoyant spirits, daring and uncalculating; often possessing the highest order of intellect, but not achieving so much as he might for want of steadiness; he is not so delicately sensitive as the nervous, nor so persevering as the bilious; fond of gratifying his senses, he is yet willing to exert himself for the benefit of others. In such persons disease more frequently assumes a high inflammatory character, and goes through its stages rapidly; they are peculiarly liable to inflammation of the lungs, and active diseases of the heart. Indigestion seldom attains the chronic form, and the disordered functions of the stomach depends, in a majority of cases, on some temporary cause.

The lymphatic temperament is marked by a softness and fulness of the system, paleness of the complexion, light-coloured hair and eye-brows, and light blue or grey eyes; the muscles are large, but not firm nor strong, the body is inclined to obesity, and the abdomen, in particular, is corpulent; the circulation is always languid. The mental qualities are remarkable for slowness and indolence; the temper is equal and not easily ruffled; the spirits are regular, not high, nor, on the other hand, readily depressed; the judgment is cool, and frequently correct; works of great enterprise are seldom conceived or achieved, yet, by calmness and steadiness, persons of this constitution often effect much, and that much, well; they are not liable to active or high inflammatory diseases, but rather to those of a chronic character: in them we frequently find diseases of the heart and of the large blood-vessels; they are prone to disorders of the liver and stomach, especially flatulent indigestion, and to dropsy.

The bilions temperament is marked by characteristics which are supposed to depend on an excess of bile in the system; the skin is sallow, or yellow; the complexion dark; the eyes also dark; the hair black and profuse; the chest is not largely developed, and the circulation is not vigorous. In such persons the disposition is serious, grave, often melancholy and desponding ; they are not buoyant or elastic, but possess considerable perseverance; they are hasty and irritable in temper, nevertheless they are constant in love and in hate; continued and enduring bodily and mental exertion can easily be borne, and, by the combination of talent with industry, they are equal to accemplish great object. The diseases to which individuals of this temperament are subject, are in general more inflammatory in their nature than are those of the lymphatic temperament; the liver is frequently deranged, attended with constipation; they are prone to sick head-aches and to indigestion.

The nervous temperament is marked by excitability of the nervous system;

we observe the head well developed, the person not large, and the complexion of every shade; the muscular system is small, but very energetic for a short effort, soon exhausting itself by intensit of action; the circulation is quick but not powerful, easily affected by very slight causes, and like all the other functions, very much influenced by mental emotions. The mental characters are marked by refinement; there is great delicacy of sentiment, nicety of feeling, and quickness of perception. Nervous persons are usually intellectual. There is not, however, so much vigour in their intellectual power as in the sanguineous, nor so much perseverance as in the bilious. Most persons engaged in the learned professions, and artists, acquire a portion of this temperament by their hal its and occupations, in addition to that which they may originally have had. The diseases to which they are liable are what are called nervous; as, hysteria, chorea, spasmodic affections, neuralgia, and very frequently, a bad stomach," attended with intense headache.

It seldom happens that we find any of these temperaments in a pure and genuine form, single and unmixed: they are generally met blended in the same individual; thus we have the sanguino-bilious temperament, which makes a powerful character for good or evil; the nerveo-bilious, which renders the individual rather unhappy, though intellectually eminent; the nerveolymphatic temperament constitutes a character irritable and passionate; in some instances, all the temperaments may be happily and equally blended together, as we see in persons of equal temperament.

As well as temperament, there is another natural cause of disorder which should not be lost sight of in reference to indigestion—that is, IDIOSYNCRACY, or a simple peculiarity, or singularity of constitution, which influences one individual and not another; an example or two will best illustrate the exact meaning of the word, and I have little doubt but that the experience of the reader will furnish many others.

A lady of my acquaintance can detect the smell of onion if placed at a distance remote from where she is a distance from the drawing-room to the kitchen and immediately suffers sickness, and that irritation and discomfort of the stomach which attend an attack of indigestion. An instance has come to my knowledge of a gentleman who is invariably purged by the smell of Russian leather. Some persons cannot be put to sleep by opium, others cannot be salivated by mercury. The occasional effect of ipecacuanha in exciting a spasm or cough-like asthma, is well known to medical men. The poet Pope doubtless alluded to this power in some articles to produce most strange and contradictory effects in certain individuals, when he wrote the line"Die of a rose in aromatic pain,'

Although dyspepsia is not generally considered hereditary, yet I have seen so many instances in which several members of the same family, and in different generations, were afflicted with the disease, that I am inclined to think hereditary predisposition should not be omitted from the list of causes. Gout is decidedly hereditary, and gout and dyspepsia are most intimately connected, if not closely related.

The MIND and the BODY exert a reciprocal sway over each other; and, as the smallest deviation from the standard of high health immediately affects the spirits or the intellect, so does the excess or excitement of one emotion or passion affect the health of the body. What frame is there so hardy as to escape the agitations and afflictions of the mind? And what mind so firm as to remain unharmed amid the infirmities and sufferings of the body.

3

directly affects the whole function of life, but especially that of the stomach and of digestion. We therefore find that those passions or emotions which are in their action depressing, -as grief, anxiety, anger, jealousy, the troubles and cares of business, continued mental labour, heart-ache, occasioned by abɛence from home, or country, or by unrequited love, envy, disappointment, &c., are frequent causes of indigestion. At some period of our lives, we have all experienced mental agony, either at the loss of a beloved relative, pecuniary reverses, the shipwreck of the heart's dearest hopes, or other "sad sorrow' and the memory of the hour is too lasting to require present description. Every sudden grief meets with immediate sympathy in the stomach and interferes with digestion; on the instant an exhausting pain or "sinking," is felt at the pit of the stomach; the mouth becomes parched; a feeling like choking comes on; the idea of food excites loathing, and the attempt to swallow anything solid is unbearable. Suppose an individual in rude, robust health, receives, whilst at dinner, intelligence of some calamity which bankrupts his happiness-with what disgust does he see the savoury dishes which a moment before delighted his palate; the function of the stomach is arrested, almost revulsed, and he quits a scene which adds so much to his mis ry. Shakspere rightly appreciated this property of grief, when he made King Henry say to Cardinal Wolsey,―

Persons of a gloomy disposition, or irritable temper, seldom have a perfect digestion; for "a sour temper makes a sour stomach;" and although low spirits, hypochondriasis, or nervousness, is as frequently an effect as a cause, yet we must all admit that the more cheerful and light-hearted of our acquaintance are generally the most vigorous and healthy. The influence of depressing emotions on the liver is so well marked, that the word "melancholy" is derived from two Greek words, signifying black bile; and our great bard says we may

During the last few years, cases of indigestion, produced by the anxieties of business, fluctuations of profit and loss, have been most rife. I have daily under my care patients troubled in body, because troubled in estate; and, however successfully medicine may palliate their symptoms, their amelioration or total disappearance, is commensurate with resignation of mind or brighter prospects. Men of studious habits, who devote their whole time to severe mental labour, depriving themselves of exercise and natural repose, are generally dyspeptics; the nervous energy is exhausted by the mental application, the stomach becomes torpid, and if the appetite continue, the food "lies heavy" and undigested. The student's midnight lamp is frequently trimmed with gastric juice.

[To be continued in our next.]

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE FINGER-NAILS.

ACCORDING to European fashion, they should be of an oval figure, transparent, without specks or ridges of any kind; the semilunar fold, or white half-circle, should be fully developed, and the pellicle, or cuticle which forms when properly arranged, should represent, as nearly as possible, the shape of the configuration around the root of the nail, thin and well-defined, and a half-filbert. The proper arrangement of the nails is to cut them of an oval shape, corresponding with the form of the fingers; they should not be allowed to grow too long, as it is difficult to keep them clean; nor too short, as it allows the ends of the fingers to become flattened and enlarged, by being pressed upwards against the nails, and gives them a clumsy appearance, The epidermis, which forms the semicircle around, and adheres to the nail, requires particular attention, as it is frequently dragged on with its growth, drawing the skin below the nail so tense as to cause it to crack and separate the skin from the nail by a blunt, half-round instrument. Many persons are into what are called agnails. This is easily remedied by carefully separating in the habit of continually cutting this pellicle, in consequence of which it becomes exceedingly irregular, and often injurious to the growth of the nail. They also frequently pick under the nails with a pin, penknife, or the point of sharp scissors, with the intention of keeping them clean, by doing which they often loosen them, and occasion considerable injury. The nails should be cleansed with a brush not too hard, and the semicircular skin should not be cut. away, but only loosened, without touching the quick, the finger being afterwards dipped in tepid water, and the skin pushed back, with a towel. This method, which should be practised daily, will keep the nails of a proper shape, prevent agnails, and the pellicle from thickening or becoming rugged. When the nails are naturally rugged or ill-formed, the longitudinal ridges or fibres should be scraped and rubbed with lemon, afterwards rinsed in water, and well dried with the towel: but if the nails are very thin, no benefit will be derived by scraping; on the contrary, it might cause them to split. Durlacher,

FAMILY PRESCRIPTIONS AND MEDICAL PRECEPTS.

A WARM MILD APERIENT FOR ELDERLY PERSONS. Take two scruples of compound rhubarb pills, and one scruple of pill aloes with myrrh (London Pharmacopoeia), oil of peppermint, or cloves, two drops. Beat and mix well together; divide into twelve pills. Dose, one, two, or three.

A STRONG CATHARTIC FOR ROBUST ADULTS. Take calomel twelve grains; compound extract of colocynth and extract of jalap, of each one scruple; oil of cloves, two drops. Beat and mix well together; divide into twelve pills. Dose, two or three.

A GENTLE LAXATIVE FOR CHILDREN.-Take tartrate of potash, two scruples; powdered rhubarb, one scruple; manna, one drachm; spirits of nutmeg, half a drachm; cinnamon water, two ounces. Mix. Dose, from a dessert-spoonful to two table-spoonfuls, according to age.

COUGH MIXTURE.-Take ipecacuanha wine, oxymel of squills, tincture of squills, tincture of hops, of each four drachms. Mix. Dose, a tea-spoonful occasionally in half a wine-glassful of water.

COUGH MIXTURE FOR CHILDREN.-Ipecacuanha wine, three drachms; syrup of tolu, five drachms; mucilage of gum arabic, one ounce. Mix. Dose, a tea-spoonful every hour or two. This is very useful for children threatened with Croup or Bronchitis.

CONS

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Price 2s.; by post, 2s. 6d.

YONSUMPTION of the LUNGS, or DECLINE; the Causes, Symptoms, and Rational Treatment, with the means of Prevention. By T. II. YEOMAN, M.D.

"There is so much good sense, scientific knowledge and useful information in this little volume, that we gladly assist in giving it publicity. Dr. YEOMAN discountenances all empirical modes of treatment, at the same time that he suggests some safe and beneficial rules for the cure or amelioration of the disease. The remarks on the healthy discipline of home shew that the author is a sound social philosopher, as well as an experienced physician."The Britannia, Nov. 11, 1848.

"There is no assumption or quackery in this little volume-it is just such a work as might be anticipated from an intelligent and experienced physician. The suggestions and recommendations of Dr. Yeoman are extremely valuable, and may be unhesitatingly and advantageously adopted by all who are interested in the health and well-being of the rising generation.”—Morning Herald, Oct. 23, 1843.

Also by the same Author, price 2s.

the Causes, Symptoms, and Rational Treatment.

"This is an excellent little treatise by a clever and clear-headed practitioner. Dr. YEOMAN is well known by his Work on Consumption, and the present publication will add to his fame."-Weekly Dispatch, Jan. 14, 1819. London: SAMPSON Low, 169, Fleet Street, EFFINGHAM WILSON, 11, Royal Exchange; WEBSTER & Co., 60, Piccadilly; and all Booksellers.

rubbing them with snow water.

DIETARY WHOLESOME AND ECONOMIC.

WE are indebted to M. Soyer for many of the following Receipts; it is not

our intention to publish one that has not been prepared in our own kit

chen, and tested at our own table, or in practice. BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.-Butter a tart dish well, and sprinkle some currants all around it, then lay in a few slices of bread and butter; boil one pint of milk, pour it on two eggs well whipped, and then on the bread and butter; bake it in a hot oven for half an hour. [An excellent pudding for convalescent invalids.]

JOHN

(Late BUTLER & CO.),

tior, Asthma, &c., has separate channels for the inspired and expired air; warms and purifies the atmosphere without becoming clogged; it neither requires cleaning nor repairing, has no unsightly appearance, and may be had resembling a handkerchief held to the mouth. Testimonials to be seen, and descriptions had, on application.-Depot, 183 Strand, near Norfolk Street." OHN MILES DISPENSING CHEMIST, 78, Gracechurch Street, respectfully informs the Public that the most vigilant care and attention is always paid by him to the selection of the purest and best Drugs and Chemicals; the too frequent dangerous adulteration and careless preparation of Medicines, upon the exact action of which depend the health and safety of our fellow creatures, induces J. MILES to pledge himself that every article sold at his Establishment is genuine, and that all Prescriptions are dispensed by well qualified assistants under his own

immediate direction.

SOYER'S BEEF TEA.-Cut a pound of solid beef into very small slices, which put into a stewpan, with a small pat of butter, a clove, two button onions, and a salt-spoonful of salt, stir the meat round over the fire for a few minutes, until it produces a thin gravy, then add a quart of water, and let it

simmer at the corner of the fire for half an hour, skimming off every particle of fat; when done pass through a sieve. The same if wanted plain, is done by merely omitting the vegetables, salt, and clove; the butter cannct be objectionable, as it is taken out in skimming. Pearl barley, vermicelli, rice, &c., may be served in it, if required.

WINE POSSET-Take half a pint of new milk, and some bread crumbs, boil till the bread is quite soft, then add some grated nutmeg and sugar; pour into a basin and add gradually a wine glassful of sherry. The wine must be mixed carefully, otherwise the posset will curdle, and be hard and tough. [This is a capital "night cap"-frequently a cure for a simple cold.]

SAGO GRUEL.-Put two table spoonfuls of sago into a small saucepan, which moisten gradually with a pint of cold water, set it over a slow fire, keeping it stirred until becoming rather thickish and clear, similar to a jelly, then add a little grated nutmeg and sugar according to taste, and serve; half a pat of butter might also be added with the sugar, or it might be made with new milk, and a little salt added; and a glass of wine in either case makes it

more palateable.

A VERY STRENGTHENING DRINK.-Put a tea spoonful of pearl barley into a saucepan, with three pints of cold water, the rind of a lemon, and a small piece of cinnamon; boil the whole very gently until the barley becomes tender, then strain it through a fine sieve, and sweeten with a spoonful of 1reacle if treacle be objectionable, honey or sugar will do.

that TRUSSES can be had at his Establishment, at the following low prices: TRUSSES.-S. SMITH, Truss Maker, 1, High Holborn, three doors from Gray's Inn Lane, respectfully announces to the Public Double Trusses, 16s. each; single ditto, 8s. Manufacturer of Lace Stockings, Knee Caps, Suspensory Bandages, Riding Belts, &c.—Mrs. Smith attends on

Ladies.

THE TEETH.-MR. SMARTT, DENTIST, AND CUPPER, IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL TEETH. They are fixed without extracting 25, Sun Street, Bishopsgate, London, invites attention to his the roots of the previous Teeth, no pain is caused, they defy detection by the most scrutinising observer, and are guaranteed to answer all the purposes of mastication, filling up the void produced by the loss of the natural Teeth, thereby restoring facial beauty, and enabling the patient to speak with fluency and comfort. Irregularities and deformities of the Teeth removed where practicable. Mr. SMART attends at 48, Harmer Street, Gravesend, every Friday.

LAWRENCE & CO'S PATENT IMPROVED FLESH GLOVES and STRAPS, for producing a healthy state of the System by Friction, without the risk of tearing the Skin, as all the ordinary Horsehair Gloves are liable to do.

The great value of the Horse-hair Renovator as a therapeutic agent, when

applied to the human body, is now too well known to every one who has paid the least attention to the importance of a healthy action of the skin, to require further comment.

Manufactured under the sole License of the Patentee, by Messrs. LAWRENCE & Co., Islington Place, Park Road, Islington. Communications will also be received at 74, Fleet Street, Sold at 78, Gracechurch Street, and by Druggists in general.

In the The Deaths registered in the week were 119 below the average. corresponding week of the year 1846, 1276 deaths were returned; in that of 1847, 1946 deaths, when the mortality was increased by Influenza; and in the same week of 1848, the deaths were 1118. But, though still considerably less than usual, the weekly contingent now shews a tendency to rise to the winter rate of mortality, and the present return shews an increase of 41 on the deaths of the previous week. In three successive weeks ending December 15, the deaths from bronchitis were respectively 60, 86, 89; last week they rose to 110, whilst the average is only 68; from asthma there were 21, 16, 26, and 19 in the last four weeks; and from pneumonia (or inflammation of the lungs), 94, 88, 90, and 81. The mortality from pneumonia, which is less than the average, occurs to a much greater extent among children than aged persons; and the latter class are now the chief sufferers, from the increased coldness of the weather. Three men and five women died last week at 90 years and upwards; two of the women had turned 95 years. From diarrhoea and dysentery the deaths were 19; a woman of 70 died on the 16th December, in Great Pulteney-street, from debility which succeeded an attack of cholera. All epidemics are less fatal than usual, except measles, which rather exceed the average.

The mean daily reading of the barometer at Greenwich Observatory was above 30 inches on the last three days of the week; the mean of the week was 20.952. The daily mean temperature, which was 51° on Sunday, gradually fell to 330 on Friday and Saturday; the mean of the week was 420, rather more than the average of the same week in seven years. The daily mean was about 100 above the average on Sunday and Tuesday, and 60 below it on Friday.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

NOTICE. All communications for the Editor must be addressed, pre-paid, to his house, No. 25, LLOYD SQUARE, PENTONVILLE. It is indispensable that letters requiring a private answer contain a postage stamp, or stamped envelope, whereon is written the address of the applicant. Invalids resident in the country, and others desiring the opinion of the Editor, who are unable to consult him personally, can have, on application, a series of questions proposed to them, and by attention on their part, in giving answers thereto, the necessity of a personal interview, in many instances, may be avoided without detriment to the successful issue of the required treatment. Notes of every case submitted to the Editor will be recorded in his private case-book, for the facility of reference at any future period.

THE EDITOR is at home every day until one o'clock; and on the Evenings of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from Seven to Nine. He attends at MR. MILES'S MEDICAL AND SURGICAL ESTABLISHMENT, 78, Gracechurch Street, on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from half-past One until Three o'clock. Surgical advice may be obtained at the above establishment, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings, fron Six till Nine o'clock.

the medical referee of the paper in question.

COD LIVER OIL. Although it is only during late years that the attention of the public has been drawn to this more fashionable than useful remedy, its employment may be traced back to the latter part of the 18th century, at which time it was extensively used in the Manchester Infirmary, and its effects, as there exhibited, have been reported by the late Dr. Bardesley, in his "Medical Reports," published in 1807. The dose is one, two, or three teaspoonfuls taken twice a day, in a small quantity of coffee, milk, beer, infusion of orange-peel, or peppermint water. FIGARO. Collodion is a solution of gun cotton and gutta-percha in sulphuric ether. It may be termed artificial skin; it is most useful in guarding irritated parts, as abrasions of the skin, from all sources of irritation. It may be applied with a camel's-hair paint-brush.

RESPIRATOR. We cannot defer noticing the utility of Respirators until we have occasion to speak of them in the papers on "Diseases of the Chest," as in this season of fog, damp, and sleet, their use becomes imperative to many who suffer from irritability of the air-passages. We have had an opportunity of examining Rooff's Patent Respirator: the principle of its construction is founded on most correct physiological and mechanical knowledge, whilst the delicacy and durability of its manufacture is an exalted example of art ministering with science to the amelioration of bodily infirmity. To those of our readers who may be advised to procure a respirator, we would say, with much sincerity, "Get Rooff's." SALUS. We are not "physic doctors." We would treat disordered health rather by diet and regimen, than by mixtures, pills, potions, and draughts. We shall in an early number give an article on "Training." Accept our thanks for your good wishes.

A

P.

SUFFERER. The law does not forbid a druggist recommending his drugs behind his own counter, and he therefore presumes to p escribe, which, if not illegal, is impolitic and unsafe. We recently saw a druggist examine a diseased eye-and a very diseased one it appeared to beacross his counter, by the aid of a gas-light. A Guthrie or a Lawrence could not, and certainly would not, attempt so much, nor arrive so quickly at the precise character of the disease, and its required treatment, as did our mercantile friend, who in a few minutes sent his customer away r joicing, loaded with lotions, mixtures, pills, and draughts.

C. (Maryhill). Take tincture of sesquichloride of iron, four drachms liquor potassæ, three drachms; spirits of nitric ether, three drachms; tincture of opiuin, two drachms. Mix. Dose, thirty drops three times a day in water. Diet; fresh animal food, few vegetables, and not any spirituous or malt liquors. A warm bath once or twice a week will be of service. Write to us in a fortnight.

DIAGNOSIS, or the discrimination of diseases, is the necessary prelude to the treatment of disease. It is the first duty which the physician has to perform at the bedside, and everything depends on the way in which he discharges it. A correct observation and just appreciation of symptoms are essential to the true diagnosis. Diagnosis, indeed, may be said to be the art of converting symptoms into signs.

PROGNOSIS. The meaning of this term is foreknowledge, and, as used by the physician, it means the anticipation of the course and event of diseases. The power of foretelling the progress and termination of a malady is of the first importance, not only as regards the treatment to be adopted, but as respects the comfort and well-being of the patient and his friends, and the reputation of the physician himself. A correct prognosis implies a just diagnosis, an appreciation of all the peculiarities, original and acquired, which distinguish one man from another, and experience of the power and operation of remedies.

tures as

WE particularly request Correspondents who do not attach their proper names to their communications, to avoid all such cognomens or signa"A Subscriber"-"Constant Reader"-" Wellwisher," &c. Where the correct name is not given, it will ensure the identity of the "answer" to the query proposed to us, if our correspondents add the name of the town or street from which they write: thus-O. P. Q. (Bath) -DELTA (Manchester Square).

SENEX writes: "As I see in your prospectus that you intend to wage war against quackery, will you tell me if you consider the practice of hydropathy to be quackery?" Certainly, it is quackery of the first water. Within the last few months a case came under our notice in which death resulted from "packing in the wet sheet." Collapse came on, the child never rallied, and died in fifteen hours.

wine, two drachms; syrup of red poppies, two drachms; dilute sulphuMix. ric acid, half a draclim; mucilage of gum arabic, six ounces. Dose, two table-spoonfuls when the cough is troublesome.

R.

G. C.-(Sheerness.)-We do not intend to advise for cases similar to yours in this column. Send your address, and you will receive a private

B.

answer.

E.-Look back to your early youth, and you will find a cause adequate to all your present suffering. Your employment is adverse to your recovery. Tonic medicines can be of little avail whilst the stomach is unfit to receive them; stimulants may give you artificial vigour, which, like the "Dutch courage" produced by spirits, soon evaporates, and induces greater subsequent depression. You are "used up," and require to go into moral training. Our best services are at your com. mand.

ADVERTISING "CONSULTING SURGEONS!'

Society will appear in our next number.

An article on these pests of

Printed by CHARLES ADAMS, at his Printing Office, 8, St. James's Walk, in the Parish of St. James's, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex,; and published for the Proprietors, by GEORGE VICKERS, Strand, in the Parish of St. Clement Danes, in the said County of Middlesex.