NERVOUSNESS. NERVOUSNESS-What is nervousness?

Ask an irritable, disappointed, speculating adventurer, and he will reply-“ 'Tis H· upon earth!" Ask a struggling tradesman, and he will sigh-" "Tis a bill to take up." Ask a drivelling, ale-swilling, gin-drinking tippler, and he will tell you ""Tis the want of a 'drain'." Ask the " Young man about town,"the frequenter of night houses, the man who spends his employers' money, not his own; he will groan, "'Tis funk'-the dread of being diskivered." Ask the over-worked, pale-faced shopman; he will tell you, ""Tis the effect of standing for sixteen hours in every twenty-four, breathing impure air and coal-gas." Ask the indolent, idle flaneur, or lounger, and he will drawl, ""Tis the mithery of lolling at th' window on a thainy day." Ask a young girl of twenty, and she will lisp-" Moping at home, after being, for four nights at four delightful balls." Ask Mrs. Theophilus Soft, and she will pout-" "Tis the fear that she will not 'look well' in that green satin frock." Ask Absolon Stiff, esq., and he will mutter, ""Tis the dread of Mister Levy and a writ." Ask Mr. Orange Flower, and he will sigh-"I am going to be married!" Ask Arabella Poodle, and she will groan, "Oh that perfidious Wretch!" Ask a Jew advertising quack, and he will boldly tell you: "I don't know what nervousness means,but I know what it does it brings me post-office orders; it enables me to extort five pounds, ten pounds, aye, and fifty pounds from silly fools; it enables me to sell my Balm of Zazezizozu; it enables me to ride in my own blue and yellow coach; to dress Mistress Curtis Perry Jordan Brodie Smouchee, like a duchess; and it pays the barber for oiling my beard." Ask the Reverend Dr. Willis Mosely, and he will meekly tell you that you may learn what it is by paying "three guineas per week for extra means of cure."

Ask a hardworking, temperate, intelligent artisan, and he will say, "I don't know what it is." Ask your grandmother, a dear old lady of eighty, and she will say, "Thank God, my dear child, that disease wasn't fashionable in my days."

Now really, retorts the reader, this is very provoking: how am I to know what Nervousness is, from this vague asking and answering. All the answers are so opposite; some ridiculous; others-I imagine perfectly impossible.

You are correct, dear reader-so are the answers.

of these particulars, but they are so intimately connected with the horrible malady under which I am suffering, and which is slowly consuming my life, that I must relate them. The next day I had a little sleep, but disturbed and feverish; and on the second night I sat again by the coffin of my beloved wife. I am of a religious turn of mind, although not a member of the Episcopalian Church; and I had brought with me into the chamber of death Jeremy Taylor's devout and eloquent work, "The Holy Living and Holy Dying." You, sir, are doubtless acquainted with the ardent zeal of that pious man, it wrought in me a fervour of religious excitement, and, leaning over the coffin, 1 mingled my half-articulate prayers with suppressed sobs. At length, raising my head, (for I felt cold, and was about to rise and stir the fire,) I beheld,-standing a few paces from me, and regarding me with a fixed and melancholy look,-my Wife! She was attired in a white night-dress, such as she usually wore during life, there was nothing unusual in her appearance, but the marble whiteness of her face, and the steady immoveable gaze of her eyes. I tried to speak, but I felt a suffocation in my throat, and could not. The silence of the room was so appalling, that I heard most distinctly the violent and rapid beatings of my heart. This might have lasted about three minutes, when I rose and endeavoured to approach her, my eyes were weary with watching, and misty with tears; I could not see distinctly; the room reeled around me she was gone; I staggered back to the coffin, and raised the covering, my departed angel was there, calm and still as before. It was past three o'clock and very cold; I cowered over the fire until daylight, and then went to bed, to which I was confined for several days, from a slight attack of fever.

And now, sir, I will relate what I suffer. Ever since that period I have been afflicted with constant spectral appearances: sometimes I see a coffin laid upon the rug before the fire in my solitary parlour; sometimes at night hideous faces glare at me out of the darkness; at others, a wrinkled, evil-looking man, bent and grey with age, sits by my bedside, and even takes his place at table during my meals. Latterly he has been my constant companion. I have been into society; but although unperceived by every one else, he is there also. When I go to chapel I see him, and even at the theatre (where I have been, thinking that the light and music would banish him) have his strange Sataniclooking eyes been fixed upon me. Oh, sir, is there no remedy for this horrible and fearful visitation; I try to persuade myself

SPECTRE-STRUCK.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL.

January 26th, 1851. SIR, I am induced by the kindly tone in which you answer your correspondents, and by the feeling that probably the particulars of my remarkable and unhappy case may be, to some extent, interesting, if not useful, to the medical profession, to communicate to you the history of the strange and horrible delusion, (if, indeed, it is delusion,) under which I suffer.

Although not yet thirty, I am a widower; my wife, to whom I had been married about three years, and whom I tenderly loved, died ten months ago in childbed. Her decease was sudden, indeed altogether unexpected, for she was supposed to be doing well. I was utterly prostrated by so severe an affliction; no inducement could make me leave the chamber in which my dear saint had breathed her last. I sat by her pallid corpse the whole night; I trust I am not wearying you by the detail

portable terrors, profuse perspirations and tremblings come upon me, to allay which I have lately taken large doses of laudanum; but the respite thus produced is short, the terror returns in an aggravated condition. I am reduced to a state of nervous irritation bordering upon madness, but do not think I am mad, I almost wish I was; I can reason calmly enough upon the ordinary business of life, but these horrible appearances drive me to desperation.

In my misery I applied to a person who advertises under the name of the Rev. Dr. and who promises to cure all nervous and mental diseases; but I spent my money in vain―I left him worse, if possible, than before. Heaven help me! even now, while I write, that aged fiend is glaring at me across the table.

I have been to the minister of the chapel to which I belong, who tells me to trust in prayer; but even that brings me no relief. I am literally spectre-struck, and I feel myself gradually sinking under constant nervous terrors: Can medical science do anything to diminish or remove my sad affliction?

You are perfectly at liberty to publish my extraordinary case, if you think it interesting or useful to scientific men; but I

suppress my name and address, as I have no wish to be exposed to the prying curiosity of the idle, or those who might be disposed to scoff at my fearful distress. If you can do anything to relieve my sufferings, I should be truly grateful."-I remain yours obediently D. H. S.

[We publish the foregoing letter just as we received it. We confess we have a doubt of its bona fide character. If the writer really be in the condition he so fearfully depicts, he will obtain our sincere sympathy and our best consideration for his case; if he be an amateur romancer, we congratulate him on his ability to interweave a physical and medical possibility with fiction. In "The Diary of a Late Physician," written by Samuel Warren, there is a similar history related.]

STATE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

(From the Quarterly Return of the Registrar-General.)

THAT the health of the country is in a state not so unsatisfactory as it has been is evident from the reduced mortality. 92,023 deaths were registered; and allowing for the probable increase of population, the rate of mortality is lower than it has been in any of the last quarters of the years 1839-50, except 1845. The rate has been such that 1 in 197 of the population died in the quarter. The chances were 196 to 1 in this quarter that a person would live through the three months; the average chance of living through the three months in England is 184 to 1.

London has suffered less than usual from zymotic diseases, and the deaths from all causes have been 12,544. Of this number 1,946 took place in public institutions-namely, 114 in the military hospitals and asylums, 1,070 in workhouses, 636 in hospitals (exclusive of nine deaths in hospitals for foreigners,) 108 in lunatic asylums, and 9 in prisons so that 1 in 12 who died in London ended his days in workhouses, 1 in 20 in hospitals, 1 in 115 in lunatic asylums, and 1 in 1,381 in prisons. The deaths from small-pox and hooping-cough are increasing; of scarlatina, 429 persons, chiefly children, died; diarrhoea declined; influenza, which destroyed more than 1,161 lives three years ago, was fatal only in 26 cases; of typhus 619 persons died; of childbirth, including metria, 117 women died. The deaths from bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs together amounted to 1868, these diseases being fatal both in infancy and advanced age. Consumption was fatal to 1,455 persons of all ranks; it is the great constant inexorable destroyer of men and women in the prime of life; and notwithstanding the efforts and researches of the most eminent inquirers, has not yet been disarmed of its fatal powers. 17 deaths were due to intemperance, 9 to privation; 51 were ascribed to the want of breast-milk, 2 to neglect, 1 to cold, 22 to poisoning, 49 to burns and scalds, 54 to hanging and strangling, 59 to drowning, 142 to fractures and contusions, 20 to wounds, 11 to other violence.

In every division of England the mortality has declined, and been lower than in the corresponding quarters of 1846, 1847, and 1849. Lancashire and Cheshire present the greatest fluc

tuations.

The mortality in the south-eastern division has been generally low. In Kent scarlatina was epidemic at Gillingham, near the Medway, where cholera was prevalent last year; in Sussex, at Lewis; in Hampshire, at New-Forest, Southampton, and Basingstoke. At Southampton the deaths (300) nearly equalled the births. In Oxford and other parts of the South Midland counties scarlatina prevailed. At Harpenden, St. Albans, four deaths from fever occurred in one house, and three other members of the family were attacked. The house stands in an open situation, but has only one bedroom.

A very accurate and interesting account of the health and diseases of Oxford has been given by Dr. Greenhill; who has for some time prepared for that city tables of mortality which other cities and large towns would do well to imitate.

Measles

Norfolk, Yarmouth, Norwich, and the neighbouring districts suffered severely from scarlatina. Scarlatina and smallpox prevailed in the south-western counties. Plymouth has been exceedingly unhealthy; in Exeter and Bath the mortality has been low; Bristol and Clifton about the average. was epidemic at Gloucester; small pox at Hereford; scarlatina, at Kingsland, Leominster, and at Shrewsbury. In Staffordshire, at Cheadle, a striking instance of immunity from mortality was noticed; out of a population of 7,000 only two deaths occurred in the month of November, and one of these was in a child prematurely born. Small-pox has been fatal at Wolverhampton, and has raged six months at Bilston; where in the last quarter it destroyed 69 persons, 50 of whom had never been vaccinated. Birmingham and Coventry enjoyed an average degree of health. The mortality of Leicester, Lincoln, and Nottingham was about the average; Derby was visited by a virulent kind of measles which raised the deaths above the average. Liverpool has been less unhealthy than usual; of Manchester the mortality is much below the average, although small-pox has been prevalent. The mortality at Leeds has been low; at Sheffield near the average, although there scarlatina, measles, and hooping-cough prevailed. Scarborough, Whitby, and Durham were healthy. The mortality in Newcastle-on-Tyne and Carlisle does not differ much from the average.

The comparatively good health of several districts is ascribed by the registrars to the employment and the improved condition of the people.

Hull was the only town in which any appearance of epidemie cholera was observed. In that district and Sculcoates, so fatally visited by cholera last year, several persons died of cholera in the quarter; 10 at Sutton, 1 at Drypool, 15 in East Sculcoates, 9 in West Sculcoates, 19 in Humber, and 20 in Myton. At present the district may be considered healthy. After the great epidemic of cholera in 1832, a second outbreak followed in 1833, and was fatal in towns that had been before spared. It is a subject of congratulation, and is perhaps ascribable to the better circumstances of the people, and to some of the sanitary mea sures in progress, that the country escaped a second visitation in 1850.

The mortality in the autumn quarter was at the rate of 2,323 per cent. per annum in 117 town districts; and 1,824 per cent. per annum in 506 districts, comprising small towns and country parishes. By causes still in operation, the towns to every four deaths from what may be called natural causes lost, in a favourable season, one life by the poisons generated in crowded, dirty houses, in the churchyards, slaughter-houses, in undrained streets, and sewers.

HINTS FOR HEALTH.

THE EYES.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Dr. Yeoman's Medical Publications. Vols. I. & II., price 4s. each, in strong and elegant cloth,

tinued space of time, will soon be convinced, by painful experience, of the truth of this remark. Besides the daily injury thus done to the eyes, it sometimes also happens that hairs and other foreign matters are forced into them by their being violently rubbed, which may occasion inflammation, and are frequently very troublesome to dislodge. The inflamed and weak eyes of many persons are likewise in a great measure to be attributed primarily to this most imprudent habit. Should, however, the eyelids be so fixed that a difficulty in opening them is felt, let them be moistened with a little warm milk and water for a few minutes, which, in all cases where the organ is healthy, will be found to answer the purpose in a manner such as they can have no idea of who have never tried this simple remedy.

THE BATH.

When the cold bath is disagreeable to the sensations or to the constitution of the bather, it may be raised in temperature to suit his feelings. It then changes its designation, and, according to its heat, is termed temperate, tepid, warm, or hot. A temperate bath ranges from 75 to 85°; a tepid bath from 85% to 959; a warm bath, from 959 to 989; and a hot bath, from 989 to 105%. In other words, the warm bath comes up to the elevation of the warmest parts of the exterior of the body, the hot bath to that of the interior, and a little beyond; the temperature of the blood on the left side of the breast being 101°. To those who are past the meridian of life, have dry skins, and begin to be emaciated," writes Darwin, "the warm bath, for half an hour, twice a week, I believe to be eminently serviceable in retarding the advances of age."

MALT LIQUORS.

Home brewed ale, clear and pale, and thin and mild, and not new, is preferable to porter, however good; for porter contains a large quantity of extraneous matters, The dyspeptic, the valetudinarian, and the sedentary, ought, however, to view malt liquors with much suspicion, and more particularly in the evening, when their use is more usually indulged in. But if a man has once warning given to him of a seriously disordered stomach; if, day after day, some slight uneasiness is experienced; if the smallest excess is followed by the slighter or more severe fit of dyspepsia, or if gouty pains have begun "to fly about," let him look to it, and make up his mind to abjure the tankard, or the bottle, or the glass, diminish his daily dose as quickly as possible, and content himself with Nature's beverage, water.

66
THE FIRST STEPS" OF INFANCY.

It is never prudent to anticipate the time at which a child acquires the art of walking. When the bones of the legs have acquired sufficient firmness, instinct will teach the child to "find its feet." It will raise and support itself by means of chairs, or any convenient article of furniture, and soon acquire the power of moving about. When infants are placed upon their legs too soon, they become "bandy-legged ;" and even if they escape this infirmity, they are more timid and less secure from falling than those children who have been left to their own natural and instinctive efforts. A child may be reckoned healthy and strong when it can walk alone between the ages of twelve and sixteen months.

PHYSICIAN.

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

ASTHMA, BRONCHITIS, INFLUENZA, and CATARRH;

the Causes, Symptoms, and Rational Treatment. "Dr. Yeoman, in his admirable little treatise on Consumption, has already very satisfactorily proved that in certain cases medical knowledge may be popularised with safety. This is an excellent sequel to the former work."Weekly Times, January 19, 1848. Price 2s., by post 2s. 6d.

CONSUMPTION of the LUNGS, or DECLINE; the

Causes, Symptoms, & Rational Treatment; with the Means of Prevention. "There is so much good sense, scientific knowledge, and useful informa

tion in this little volume, that we gladly assist in giving it publicity.—The Britannia, November 11, 1848.

"These little manuals contain the best and most common-sense account

2nd, 1849.

of diseases of the Chest that has ever been published."-The Sun, April Second Edition, price 4d., by post 6d. NDIGESTION, CONSTIPATION, NERVOUSNESS, AND LOW SPIRITS.

INDI

"The author of the above little work has given the causes of headaches and their means of cure so plainly, that he who runs may read.' The advice offered can be easily followed, and the list of prescriptions in Englisha most important innovation upon the old mysterious medical Latin-will be found useful. The style of writing is familiar, and the advice giver in the most popular form; it justifies the title, 'People's Edition.' "... Portsmouth Guardian.

Now Ready, price 4d.; by post 6d., the

DISEASES

Preface.

OF ERROR. Their Symptoms, Varieties, Effects, and Rational Treatment. "It is with much reluctance I publish this little book. My position, however, as editor of the PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL, renders the sufferers who seek for such counsel as I have endeavoured to give in the task imperative. The world can form no conception of the thousands of following pages: the world can form no conception of the thousands who, lured by the specious advertisements of empirics who profess to make certain infirmities their special study, have been wrecked in health, peace, and purse. The daily receipt of letters, addressed to me in my Editorial capacity, from victims to this heartless assumption and robbery, convinced me that I might do 'the state some service' by giving a plain exposition of those diseases which have hitherto been a golden harvest to ignorant empirics." London published by GEORGE VICKERS, Strand; and sold by all Booksellers and Newsvendors.

TRU

RUSSES.-S. SMITH, Truss Maker, 1, High Holborn, three doors from Gray's Inn Lane, respectfully announces to the Public that TRUSSES can be had at his Establishment at the following Low Prices:-Double Trusses, from 8s.; Single Ditto, from 3s.

Manufacturer of Lace Stockings, Knee-caps, Suspensory Bandages, Riding Belts, Back-boards, Dumb-bells, Wooden Legs, Crutches, Supports for Weakened Legs, and all Instruments and Apparatus for the Cure of Deformities. Mrs. Smith attends on Ladies.

MEDICAL LABEL and GENERAL LETTER-PRESS, C. ADAMS, (Printer of the " People's Medical Journal,") begs to present his Establishment to the notice of the Medical Profession and the Public cheapest house in London for Surgeon's and Chemist's gummed and cut Labels. in general, for correctness, economy, and neatness of execution, and as the Estimates forwarded free of expense.

COPPER-PLATE, and LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTING OFFICE.

Address,-8, St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

NOTICE. All communications for the Editor must be addressed, pre-paid, to his house, No. 25, LLOYD-SQUARE.

VOLS. I. and II. are now ready, price 4s. each, bound in strong and elegant cloth, gilt lettered. CASES for binding Vols. I. and II. may be obtained of all news-agents, price 1s. 3d. each, in strong and elegant cloth, gilt lettered, BACK NUMBERS.-There should not be any difficulty in procuring back numbers to complete volumes, or numbers containing certain articles. They are always on sale by our publisher, and any delay that arises must be consequent on some forgetfulness on the part of the local bookseller or his town-agent.

:

THE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL AND FAMILY PHYSICIAN has been reviewed by at least fifty of the leading Newspapers and Magazines in the three Kingdoms. In fact we have now in our possession upwards of 200 critiques (some papers honouring our periodical with a notice monthly, others every two or three months, others on the completion of each volume.) The kind, and we believe just, temper in which ALL the reviews have been written, prove, if proof be required, that the Editor occupies a position capable of influencing and IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE, and that he fulfils the responsible duty he has taken upon himself to the advantage of his generation, without lessening the dignity of the profession to which he has the happiness to belong.

GRATITUDE (Newcastle).-Your annoyance is of a veneral origin, and as a "constant reader" you will know that it is all we intend saying to you in this column.

M. R. STAMMERS (Exeter).-Order Vols. I. and II. through Mr. Fitze, in your city.

S. L. L. (Whitehall).-The early mortality of a heavy per-centage of our population may be traced to the cause you refer to.

M. L.-See answer to MARIA R. in No. 58.

L. A. STANLEY.-As your letter is posted at "Bethnal Green," we imagine you reside within a distance that should not prevent you calling personally for that advice which you write for.

KATE T. H. C. (Bethnal Green.)-We must see you before advising. K. O. R. (Eaton Square).-Refer to No. 39, page 103, Vol II; PILULE SEX (Dublin).-There is not any such person described as a qualified medical practitioner. We never heard of the man or his book before, but from the title of the latter we imagine it be a quack production.

CLUMSY SKULL (159 Cheapside).-See answer to J. H. (Somers Town) in 58.

R.D. (Charlotte Street, Great Yarmouth).-The "sore" depends on the child's general health. In all probability scrofula is the cause: until this taint be subdued, (supposing it to exist) all local treatment will be nearly useless. S.R.CRISPIN (Edinburgh).-See YEOMAN ON INDIGESTION; read carefully pages 40, 41, 42, "on the Influence of Indigestion on other Diseases." A WORKING MAN.-It is not Medicine by itself that will cure you; so do not grumble at your "club doctor" for not giving you enough "physic." See answer to THOMAS HIGGINBOTHAM, in No. 13. R. H. G. (Wellington).-First they are most injurious. Second: The habit of taking physic" periodically is hurtful. Third. The man is a fearful quack. The name he advertises is an assumed one-his pills are quack pills. Fourth: Any Jew or journeyman baker may put M.D. after his name, and unfortunately there is no law to prevent him. A SUBSCRIBER.(Merthyr Tydvil).-Some females suffer so little inconvenience from the disease, that they may be tainted with it for months without knowing it: at last some irritability of the system may make the symptoms more apparent. It may also remain dormant in the system for six or eight weeks-the average period is eight or ten days. The man cannot possibly be convicted of the capital offence. You will find some information bearing on the case in "Ryan's Medical Jurisprudence." We should like to know the result of the trial. J. G. (Stock Exchange).-Yours' is a case of Urethritis; as such we can only give our advice privately.

ANXIOUS.-Your complaint is one of the few excluded from notice in this Journal.

DYSPEPSIA (Camden Town).-You do not describe your case with suf

ficient accuracy. We can do nothing for you without examining you. D. D. (Lampter).-See answer to R. S. T. (Walsall). in No. 57. FRED. (Houndsditch).—Take three drops of "Fowler's solution of arsenic" in a small quantity of water three times a day; always on a “full stomach"-i. e. after a meal. Take a hot bath, at 100 degrees, twice

a week.

A MATRON.-With you we are disgusted at the purpose of the book. A qualified physician who places on his title-page" Practical Observations on Diseases of Women, showing the Necessity of Physical Examinations, and the Use and Application of the Speculum," can have very little knowledge of the native delicacy of Englishwomen. cine. To the convalescent requiring such "physic," we beg to recommend this amusing periodical. In the words of the great Sir Walter Scott, it will succeed in amusing hours of relaxation, or relieving those of languor, pain, or anxiety.' The Magazine is now conducted by a scholar and a gentleman, whose delicate health has compelled him to forsake the "boards;" and thus to lessen the press at the pit, to add to the intelligence of THE PRESS in dramatic literature. We wish a long life to the Editor and the journal he conducts.

DELIRIUM TREMENS:-In No. 21 of this Journal, page 162, Vol. L, we inserted an autobiography of a lunatic, written by himself. The writer was examined, on Friday last, as a witness at the Central Criminal Court, on the trial of Samuel Hill for the manslaughter of Moses James Barnes. The same hallucination still clings to him, and altogether the case, as regards his evidence, is most interesting. The admission of a lunatic as a legal witness is a novelty in jurisprudence, and this instance will be handed down as a precedent. CHARLES M'NEILL (Glasgow).—Why should we make you an exception RICHARD DAWSON (Bocking).-Wash the mouth night and morning with a solution of the chloride of soda-not sodium-one part solution, four parts water. Get the decayed stumps extracted.

F.

A

to our well-known rule?

D. S. (Croydon).-One visit, three guineas; two visits, five guineas; four visits, seven guineas. Our visit must always be made between three and four o'clock, P.M.

WEST INDIAN (Cotton Street, Poplar).-Call in Lloyd Square. We ourselves were laid on a sick bed, on shipboard, in the Gulf of Mexico, for thirteen days, in yellow fever, and on our return to England suffered from the consequent dysentery for weeks. Therefore depend on our sympathy.

WILLIAM HARRISON (Dale End, Birmingham).—What can we do for you? Take a day-ticket, and come up to Lloyd Square.

AMELIA ANN (Clifton, Bristol).-We suppose we must give an article on LEUCORRHEA (the whites-" weakness"), but really it is a delicate subject to insert in a family journal. In the meantime, send your address.

JOHANNES (Cambrensis).-First: You have been imposed upon. The genuine Flour of Lentils is manufactured by Nevill and Co., and each packet is signed by the patentee, "A. H. Nevill." To prevent a repetition of the imposition, ask for "Nevill's Arabica Food." Second: See the article on GRAVEL in No. 46. Third: Refer to the advertisements in the "Gentleman's Magazine." Do you mean private collectors of old books, or dealers in them?

H.

A

JONES (Bristol).-For your child: Two grains of Hydr. cum Creta, three of rhubarb, made into a powder; one to be given, in preserve, daily, for eight doses.

YOUNG HUSBAND.-A correspondent at Woodford, who on several occasions has addressed us under this signature, requests we will say, he is not the "old woman" whom we "snubbed" in our last number. The handwriting of the different letters confirms his statement. JAMES MONKMAN (York).-The symptoms you describe resemble those of erysipelas: your letter, however, is too indefinite in detail to enable us to form a correct diagnosis and point out the required treatment. RICHARD SHORTER (Clifton, by Bristol).-The "lobelia and cayennepepper" treatment is fearful. At least fifty persons have been committed for manslaughter for administering this quack poison. ELLEN (Oxford Street, Mile End).-Take a five-grain pill of the pil aloes cum myrrh every night. Use a hot hip-bath frequently.

A TALLOW CHANDLER. In a future number containing the DISEASES OF ARTISANS. ROBINA (Perth).-See the articles on INFLUENZA in Nos. 5 and 6. S. G. E. (Pentonville).-" Dr." Coffin's treatment is well adapted for the increase of business with those tradesmen whose employment is to make the wood resting-place of us all. "Coffinism" leads to a coffin. Second: The price of each volume is four shillings.

FLORENCE (Reading).-Grey hair is frequently apparent in persons of the age of thirty. It is a most absurd notion to suppose that the bait once dyed" will grow for ever after of that colour. If you will take our advice, let Nature have her own way: we love to see grey hair; 'tis certainly as beautiful as the powdered toques of our grandmothers. HEALTH OF LONDON.-Deaths, 1041 Measles fatal in 30 cases; scarlatina, 16; small pox, 19; hooping cough, 51; typhus, 48. Births: 773 boys; 764 girls.

London: Printed by CHARLES ADAMS, at his Printing Office, 8 St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell, for the proprietor, T. H. YEOMAN, Lloyd Square; and published by GEORGE VICKERS, 28 and 29 Holywell Street, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, Strand.

IN no class of created beings, except in animals, do we find a system appointed for the perception of external impressions, and the communication, to certain instruments of motion, of an internal impulse to action. Such a system is the nervous system. By it we gain all our knowledge of the world that surrounds us; by it, through the medium of the nerves of special sensation, we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel; by it we are made aware of the presence of such objects as are useful and agreeable, or, on the contrary, injurious and destructive; and finally, by it we so direct our motive powers, consisting of muscles, tendons, bones, &c., that we may approach the one or avoid the other. It is thus in direct and necessary connexion with the development of the muscular system. To what use the power of seeing the approach of danger, if we are unable to fly from it? to what use the power of flying, if not directed by a perception of what was to be avoided? It is thus that the power of changing place becomes less and less in the lower orders of animals; the nervous system becomes more and more imperfect, till in the zoophytes-which stand, as it were, on the verge of the vegetable kingdom, and spend their lives attached to the spot where they had their origin-the body presents an uniform pulpy appearance, from which muscles and nerves seem equally

banished.

There is no animal whose brain is an exact counterpart to that of man; and hence it has been conceived that, by attending to the distinctions between the human brain and that of other animals, we might be able to unfold a still more mysterious part of the animal economy than that of sensation or motion, and thereby account for the superior intellect with which man is endowed.

FIGURE XIII.

FIGURE XIV.

Aristotle endeavoured to establish a distinction, by laying it down as a maxim that man has the largest brain of all animals, in proportion to the size of his body; a maxim which has been almost universally received from his own time to the present period. But it has of late years, and upon a more extensive cultivation of comparative anatomy, been found to fail in many instances; for, while the brain of several species of the ape kind bears as large a proportion to the body as that of man, the brain of several kinds of birds bears a proportion still larger. Sömmering has carried the comparison through a great diversity of genera and species, which the following brief table may serve to illustrate. He found that the weight of the brain to that of the body forms :

Sömmering has hence endeavoured to correct the rule of Aristotle by a modification, under which it appears to hold universally; and thus corrected, it runs as follows:-Man has the largest brain of all animals, in proportion to the general mass of nerves that issue from it: thus the brain of a horse gives only half the weight of that of a man, but the nerves it sends forth are ten times as bulky. The largest brain which Sömmering ever dissected, in the horse kind, weighed only 1 lb. 4 oz., while the smallest he met with in an adult man was 2 lb. 5 oz.