srr ^ 1 '~^ it IMI I * ^ 'I I ^ O Q - ^ I I i? ^ ^ O f < - Ul ' ^ ^ -^ - ^ ' 5? v *> < 5 =o ^ c^-\ * r*i . C I ft U o= i-s ^ < V iJfrr ^ $ \ 3> -MINIVERS'//, =: V / V S pepper. Their healthful properties consist in their being nutritious, easily digested, and promotive of that daily, regular action of the system, without which health is impos- sible. Their anti-constipating quality is in the seeds : on the same principle that grapes, raisins, and white mustard-seed have stood high in this respect, the attrition of the seeds on the mucous surface of the alimentary canal exciting its peri- staltic motion, thus causing regular daily action. As to watermelons, they are the only things we know which can be eaten with impunity, until we cannot swallow any more. The best time for taking them is about eleven o'clock in the morning, and about four in the afternoon. They are not safe for very young children; the seeds are especially injurious to them. FRUIT SEASON. 295 FRUIT SEASON. As we are writing, lovely June has come, and the delicious strawberry will soon be here, to be followed in succession by other berries and fruits, until the fall, showing at once the wisdom and beneficence of our common Father. How to use them wisely, and thus derive the fullest advantage from that wise beneficence, it is worth while to know. The earlier in the day fruits are eaten the better : they should be ripe, fresh, and perfect, and eaten in their natural state, with the impor- tant advantage of its being almost impossible to take too many ; their healthful qualities depend on their ripe acidity ; but if sweetened with sugar, the acidity is not only neutral- ized, but the stomach is tempted to receive more than it is possible to digest, and if cream is taken with them, the labor of digestion is increased : hence the fearful attacks of cholera morbus, which sometimes follow the free use of fruits and berries with sugar and cream. No liquid of any description should be drank within an hour after eating fruits, nor should anything else be eaten within two or three hours after; thus, time being allowed for them to pass out of the stomach, the system derives from them all their enlivening, cooling, and opening influences. The great rule is, eat fruits and berries while fresh, ripe, and perfect, in their natural state, without eating or drinking any- thing for at least two hours afterwards. With these restric- tions, fruits and berries may be eaten in moderation during any hour of the day, and without getting tired of them, or ceasing to be benefited by them during the whole season. It is a great waste of lusciousness that fruits and berries, in their natural state, are not made the sole dessert at our meals for three fourths of the year ; human enjoyment and health, and even life, would be promoted by it. 296 SPRAINS. SPRAINS. SPRAINS or strains of the joints are very painful, and more tedious of recovery than a broken bone. What we call flesh, is muscle; every muscle tapers down to a kind of string, which we call cord or sinew. The muscle is above the joint, and the sinewy part is below it, or vice versa,' and the action is much like that of a string over a pulley. When the ankle, for example, is " sprained," the cord, tendon, or ligament (all mean the same thing) is torn, in part or whole, either in its body, or from its attachment to the bone, and inflamma- tion that is, a rush of blood to the spot takes place as instantly as in case of a cut on the finger. Why ? For two reasons. Some blood-vessels are ruptured, and very natural- ly pour out their contents ; and second, by an infallible phys- iological law, an additional supply of blood is sent to the part, to repair the damages, to glue, to make grow togeth- er, the torn parts. From this double supply of blood, the parts are overflowed, as it were, and push out, causing what we call "swelling," an accumulation of dead blood, so to speak. But dead blood cannot repair an injury. Two things, then, are to be done, to get rid of it, and to allow the parts to grow together. But if the finger be cut, it never will heal as long as the wound is pressed apart every half hour, nor will a torn tendon grow together, if it is stretched upon by the ceaseless movement of a joint ; therefore, the first and indispensable step, in every case of sprain, is perfect quietude of the part ; a single bend of the joint will retard what nature has been hours in mending. It is in this way that persons with sprained ankles are many months in getting well. In cases of sprain, then, children who cannot be kept still, should be kept in bed, and so with many grown persons. The swelling can be got rid of in several ways ; by a bandage, which, in all cases of sprain, should be applied by a skilful physician. otherwise, mortification and loss of limb may result. A bandage thus applied keeps the joint still, keeps an excess of blood from coming to the part, and by its pressure, causes an absorption of extra blood or other extra- neous matter. PATENT MEDICINES. 297 Another mode of getting rid of the swelling is, to let cold water run on the part injured for hours ; this carries away the heat, and the more volatile parts of extraneous matter already there, and, by cooling the parts, prevents an excess of blood being attracted to the place : so that, in reality, a bandage and a stream of cold water cure sprains in the same manner essentially, by a beautifully acting physiological law. The knowledge of these principles should be treasured up in every mind, as, in cases where a physician cannot be prompt- ly had, incalculable pain and permanent damage may be hap- pily avoided. PATENT MEDICINES. THE editor of the "Letter Box" says, that within a year he " has taken pains to count the different medicinal prepara- tions offered for sale for the cure of human ailments, and that they number over fifteen hundred; and that, among all that are liquid, there is not one which does not contain either opium or alcohol." Still newspapers, secular and religious, advertise these without compunction, when they would be horrified to see in their columns, even by mistake, an adver- tisement to sell "pure liquors " by the glass or barrel. Per- haps conscience is quieted in this way : " Pure liquors are certainly mischievous ; but if they are rendered impure by putting medicine into them, they may do some good." But yet these hair-splitting gentlemen launch out their severest anathemas against the " unprincipled men who fabricate wines, and brandies, beers, and other forms of alcohol." Every liquid patent medicine is nothing more or less than disguised alcohol or opium. Fanatical men exclude wine from the communion-table ; so teetotal are they, that a drop is not admissible under any ordinary circumstances ; and yet they advertise, and purchase, and swallow, and commend what is essentially alcohol, only it is called medicine somebody's "bitters " or "tonic." If alcohol is essentially pernicious, poisonous, as is claimed by temperance men, it is not the less so for being simply disguised by some other name or ingredient. If we hope for victory we must be consistent ; 298 LEAD POISON. and it is naturally considered that consistency a firm ad- herence to solid principles should commence with the reli- gious press, and with the respectable secular newspapers, and let tonics, bitters, renovators, schnapps, made brandy, beastly beers, and rot-gut whiskey be considered as in the same category. LEAD POISON. ALL who use water, conducted into their dwellings by leaden pipes, are interested in the question, whether the lead, under any circumstances, can impregnate the water with poison? It is certainly so. No argument, beyond that of often-ascertained facts, is necessary to prove this. But the water delivered to one family will cause a slow, wasting, and fatal disease, while the water from the same sources, intro- duced into the next house, is used for years without any ap- preciable ill results. The simple reason is, that in the fatal case, the flow of water is obstructed, either by a too sudden bend in the pipe, or by a pebble or other indestructible im- pediment. Standing water will corrode" lead. Simple damp- ness will corrode lead, and bring out its poisonous qualities. Obstructions to a flowing stream of water will arrest any par- ticles in that water which are not the pure water itself: those particles are usually of vegetable origin ; and as soon as a small portion of them are collected in any part of the pipe, or rather arrested by the obstacle, destructive de- composition begins ; and the gases escaping in consequence of this process act upon the lead, and make it poisonous. Every man, therefore, who builds a home for himself, should understand that, if it is to be supplied with water by leaden pipes, his life, and that of all his, depends on the fidelity of the plumber ; and as plumbers trust their work to apprentice- boys and uninterested journeymen, the owner should watch the laying of every foot of pipe, and not allow an inch of it to be put down during his absence ; the points to which he should bend his most fixed attention are, First. Let the pipe be laid as straight as possible. Second. Let every joint be made perfectly smooth. WEAK EYES. 299 Third. See to it that not an atom of anything be left inside the pipe which would obstruct the smallest particle of any substance, whether it be leaf, or wood, or grass, or hair, or string, or worm, or insect, or anything else. We believe the only thing in nature which does not cor- rode, or diminish in bulk or lustre, by exposure to dampness or earth, is glass. It is the most durable thing in the uni- verse ; itr'can be manufactured into any shape, and is perfect as a water conduit ; the insuperable obstacle being, that it cannot be spliced or joined perfectly. We notice, in that invaluable paper, the Scientific American, that this difficulty is at last claimed, by patent, to be overcome. If so, another foot of lead pipe should never be laid for the purpose of giving water to be drunk or used for cooking. Meanwhile, as long as it is certain that still water corrodes lead, the most unthinking person will draw the practical inference, that the water from the hydrant should be allowed to run off for the first five or ten seconds after turning the faucet to get a supply for drinking or eating. WEAK EYES. SOME persons are unable to read much, because there is a constant effort to clear away something by winking the eyes ; at other times they water, and thus interfere with their use- ful employment. Under such circumstances, do not hurry off to an oculist, nor go to poulticing your eyes, nor use any of the hundred and one cures which reckless and presumptu- ous ignorance will advise with wonderful volubility and confi- dence. In many instances, the difficulty may be controlled by darkening the room, letting only a small amount of light fall upon the page or sewing, just enough to enable you to see distinctly without straining. Let the light come in rather from behind, and to one side. The habit of reading and sewing by artificial light is ruin- ous to many eyes, and those who persist in it will bitterly re- gret it in after years. 300 DIGESTION. DIGESTION. DIGESTION is that process which extracts from our food the elements of growth, repair, and sustenance. If the digestion is imperfect, the health of the body becomes imperfect in a few hours ; and if by any means digestion ceases altogether soon after a hearty meal, a man will certainly die within a few hours, and sometimes almost as suddenly as if a bullet were shot through his heart. Any great emotion of passion or pleasure, soon after eating, causes death ; hence, no highly exciting or momentous news should be communicated, even to the healthiest, let alone the sick and the feeble, immediately after a full repast. Sometimes the wisest of us will eat too much ; for an occa- sional indiscretion of this kind, two or three teaspoonfuls of strong vinegar afford relief to some persons, but aggravate the evil in a few. The better plan is, to take a long leisure walk in the open air, with a pleasant associate. Keep on walking until entire relief is experienced, and eat no more of anything until next morning, so as to allow the overtaxed stomach to recover its tone, vigor, and elasticity. If we become conscious of a surfeit after night, and from that or any other cause a walk is impracticable, a good sub- stitute is found in standing erect with the clothing removed, except the stockings, mouth closed, and rubbing the region of the stomach, and for a foot around it, with the open hand. Very great relief is often afforded, even in serious cases, within half an hour, by a vigorous manipulation of this sort, taking for breakfast, next morning, a cup of some kind of hot drink and a single piece of dry bread ; and for dinner, a bowl of soup with bread-crust, and nothing else for that day. The stomach should always be allowed extra rest after over- work. PERFUMING SICK ROOMS. 301 PERFUMING SICK ROOMS. VARIOUS things have been recommended : such as the sprinkling of sugar on burning coals, the odor of roasted coffee, sliced onions, and the like. These things are worse than useless. The odor of the sick-chamber is merely over- powered, it is neither removed nor destroyed ; and, by the additional odor of the sugar or coffee, each breath of air becomes more solid, by the displacement of its more yielding, vital qualities as the same point of space cannot be oc- cupied by a particle of odor and a particle of oxygen at the same time. The odoriferous atom being more material than an atom of oxygen, the latter yields, gives way to the former, so that the expedient is only apparently beneficial ; it may be grateful to a visitor, but it is positively hurtful to the invalid. There are some articles which, if dampened with water, absolutely absorb bad odors, such as unslacked lime, or pulverized charcoal. Half a pound or less of copperas, dissolved in water, and thrown in a privy, absorbs the odors in a few moments, by its strong attractive affinity for the sulphuretted Irydrogen. Still the only safe, certain, and absolutely perfect deodorizer, is a thorough ventilation of the chamber of the sick, and it is a humanity to accomplish it. It should be the study of every nurse and every physician, during every hour of attendance, to promote, in all possible ways, a constant moderate change of atmosphere. This is easily done in fire-time of the year, by keeping the grate or fireplace open, and occasionally opening a window or door opposite. In the summer-time, the most simple and effectual method is to build a fire of light materials in the fireplace, several times during the day, oftener during the night hours, with the door open all the time ; this will inevitably give a gentle circulation, by which sick odors will be driven up the chimney, to be replaced by the fresh out-door air. It is not meant that a fire should be kept burning all the time, of a hot summer's day ; but to have a small blaze from very light materials, which \vill burn out in half an hour. The reason for this is, that in the whole circuit of nature the most 302 HAIR SPECIFICS. efficient of all remedial means, in every disease, and without which there can be no perfect recovery, is an abundant and constant supply of a pure, fresh air from without. HAIR SPECIFICS. LET them alone. The whole of them are a cheat. There is not one single exception under the sun. A " specific " in medicine, is a term which implies certainty of effect. Hair falls out from the want of nutriment. It dies, just as a blade of grass dies in a soil where there is no moisture. This want of nutriment is functional or organic. The mechanism which supplies it, the apparatus, is there to make it ; but it is out of order, and makes it imperfectly : so the hair being imperfectly nourished, is dry, scant, or a mere furze, according to the degree of the defective nourishment that is "functional" baldness, and can be remedied radically and permanently in only one way, and that is, by taking means to improve the general health. " Organic " baldness is when the detect of nutriment arises from the destruction of the apparatus which made it : there is no machine there. Under such circumstances, nothing short of the power which made man first, can make that hair grow again. When the scalp is in any part bare of hair, and shiny, or glistening, that is organic baldness, and there is no remedy. If there is not that shining glistening appearance, but a multi- tude of very small hairs, causing a " furziness " over the scalp, that is functional baldness ; and two things are to be done. Keep the scalp clean with soap-suds that is a " balm of a thousand flowers," flavored ; and more specially, and prin- cipally, seek to improve your general health, by eating plain, substantial food, at three regular times a day, and b}' spending three or four hours, between meals, in moderate exercise in the open air, in some engrossing employment. As to men, we say, when the hair begins to fall out, the best plan is, to have it cut short, give it a good brushing with a moderately stiff brush while the hair is dry, then wash it COMFORT. 303 well with warm soap-suds, then rub into the scalp, about the roots of the hair, a little bay rum, or brandy, or camphor- water. Do thes'e things twice a month ; but the brushing of the scalp may be profitably done twice a week. Dampen the hair with water every time the toilet is made. Nothing ever made is better for the hair than pure soft water, if the scalp is kept clean in the way we have named. The use of oils, or pomatums, or grease of bears, pigs, geese, or anything else, is ruinous to the hair of man or woman. We consider it a filthy practice, almost universal though it be, for it gathers dust and dirt, and soils whatever it touches. Nothing but pure soft water should ever be allowed on the heads of our children. It is a different practice that robs our women of their most beautiful ornament, long before their prime. The hair of our daughters should be kept within two inches, until their twelfth year. COMFORT. THE great end and aim of the mass of mankind is, to get money enough ahead to make them " comfortable ; " and yet a moment's reflection will convince us that money can never purchase " comfort " only the means of it. A irian may be " comfortable " without a dollar ; but to be so, he must have the right disposition, that is, a heart and a mind in the right place. There are some persons who are lively, and cheerful, and good-natured, kind and forbearing, in a state of poverty which leans upon the toil of to-day for to-night's supper and the morning's breakfast. Such a disposition would exhibit the same loving qualities in a palace or on a throne. Every day we meet with persons, who in their families are cross, ill-natured, dissatisfied, finding fault with everybody and everything, whose first greeting in the breakfast-room is a complaint, whose conversation seldom fails to end in an enumeration of difficulties and hardships, whose last word at night is an angry growl. If you can get such persons to rea- son on the subject, they will acknowledge that there is some " want " at the bottom of it ; the " want " of a better house, a 304 COMFORT. finer dress, a more handsome equipage, a more dutiful child, a more provident husband, a more cleanly, or systematic, or domestic wife. At one time it is a "wretcned cook" which stands between them and the sun ; or a lazy house-servant, or an impertinent carriage-driver. The " want " of more money than Providence has thought proper to bestow, will be found to embrace all these things. Such persons may feel assured that people who cannot make themselves really comfortable in any one set of ordinary circumstances, would not be so under any other. A man who has a canker eating out his heart, will carry it with him wherever he goes ; and if it be a spiritual canker, whether of envy, habitual discontent, un- bridled ill-nature, it would go with the gold, and rust out all its brightness. Whatever a man is to-day with a last dollar, he will be radically, essentially, to-morrow with millions, un- less the heart is changed. Stop, reader ; that is not the whole truth, for the whole truth has something of the terrible in it. Whatever of an undesirable disposition a man has to-day without money, he will have to-morrow to an exaggerated extent, unless the heart be changed : the miser will become more miserly; the drunkard, more drunken; the debauchee, more debauched ; the fretful, still more complaining. Hence, the striking wisdom of the Scripture injunction, that all our ambitions should begin with this : " Seek first the kingdom of God and *his righteousness ; " that is to say, if you are not comfortable, not happy now, under the circumstances which surround you, and wish to be more comfortable, more happy, your first step should be to seek a change of heart, of disposi- tion, and then the other things will follow without the greater wealth ! And having the moral comfort, bodily com- fort, bodily health will follow apace, to the extent of your using rational means. Bodily comfort, or health, and mental comfort, have on one another the most powerful reactions ; neither can be perfect without the other, at least, approx- imates to it ; in short, cultivate health and a good heart ; for with these you may be " comfortable " without a farthing ; without them, never ! although you may possess millions 1 EATING BY RULE. 305 EATING BY RULE. SCIENTIFIC investigation assures us, that "the amount of nourishment required by an animal for its support must be in a direct ratio with the quantity of oxygen taken into the system ; " which, being put into homely English, means, that as our supply of oxygen comes from the air we breathe, it fol- lows, that the more pure air we inhale, the more oxygen we consume ; it then follows, necessarily, as out-door air is the purest, that is, has most oxygen in it, the more we breathe of that out-door air, the more nourishment do we require ; and the more nourishment a man requires, the better appetite he has : hence, to get a natural appetite, a man must go out of doors ; and as it is very tiresome to be out of doors, unless one is doing something, and, as if we do something, it had better be of some account, therefore, whoever wants to whet up his appetite, had better spend his time out of doors, doing something useful. A very perspicacious ratiocination I All this seems very rational and very right. Then why do we not act up to it? Why pursue the very opposite course, and instead of going out of doors when we feel dull, and stupid, and cross, and desponding, loll about the house, as blue as indigo, with not a word or smile for anybody? Having no appetite, we bethink ourselves of " tonics." The reckless take wine, or brandy, or vulgar beer ; the con- scientious do worse, and take physic, calling it " bitters," tansy, dogwood, quinine, and such " simple things," especially the quinine, which has helped to invalid and kill more people than would make a monument sky high. Well, what is the result of these " tonics "? They make us feel better for a while give us an appetite for more than we can digest, and being imperfectly digested, the blood which it makes is not only imperfect as to quality, it is too great in quantity ; but it is in the body, and must crowd itself somewhere, always selecting the weaker part, which, in most cases, is the head ! very natural that ; and there is head- ache, dulness never was much brightness in that head any- how in fact, it amounts to stupidity, and such persons 306 DISINFECTANTS. being naturally stupid, aud making themselves artificially so, they have a double right to the title : as the youth had to a diploma, who graduated at two colleges, and became, as the calf did which sucked two cows, a very great calf! Therefore, never eat by rule. Never eat at one meal as much as you did at the corresponding one the day before, simply because that was your usual quantity ; but eat accord- ing to your appetite. If you have no appetite, eat nothing until you do. If you are in a hurry for that appetite, and time is valuable to you, do not attempt to whet it up by stimulating food, by exciting drinks, or forcing tonics ; but bring it about in a natural way, by moderate and continuous exercise in the open air, in something that is interesting, exciting, and, in itself, useful. Violent spasmodic exercise is injurious, and even dangerous to sedentary persons ; hence we are opposed to gymnasiums, unless superintended by intelligent men, practical physiologists. Let it be remem- bered, as a truth which cannot be denied, that a given amount of violent exercise, taken within an hour, will do many times the good if scattered continuously over a space of five hours, without any of the danger that pertains to the former, es- pecially as to feeble persons. All exercise carried to severe fatigue is an injury ; better have taken none. DISINFECTANTS. SOME one says that noxious effluvia are absorbed in an in- credibly short space of time, if two or three onions are cut in thin slices and put on a plate, to be renewed every six hours. This is just as true as that the smarting from the scratch of a pin becomes instantaneously unfelt if the person is knocked down. The only safe, healthful, and effectual method of keeping a sick-room " sweet " is, to keep everything scrupu- lously dry and clean. Instantly remove every article of clothing or bedding which has an atom of dampness or moisture upon it ; do not allow even pure water to stand a moment in the apartment ; let the fireplace be always kept open, with a frequent and free admission of the pure and the EARLY BISINO. 307 fresh air from out-doors. This should be done every two or three hours during the twenty-four. It is the pure air that sick people want, not an atmosphere loaded with the fumes of onions ; for in a pint of air they displace just as many par- ticles of fresh air as would burnt sugar, cologne-water, or the sulphuretted hydrogen of the privy ; for, be it remembered, it is not the odor which does the mischief, so much as the deficiency of nutritious particles of the atmosphere which it takes the place of. We should rather think that every addi- tional odoriferous article introduced into a sick-room only added to the difficulty, even though it were the perfumes from " Araby the blest." The greatest humanity we can show to the sick is, to secure to them the most important remedies ever known, to wit, quietness, cleanliness, and pure air. These alone would cure three fourths of all our diseases ; but we will not use them ; yet they are everywhere attain- able, and cost nothing but a little trouble. With the same physicians and the same medicines, the mortality of the British army in the Crimea was diminished one half, through the influence of Florence Nightingale in the procurement of greater comfort and cleanliness among the sick. EARLY RISING. HEALTH and long life are almost universally associated with early rising ; and we are pointed to countless old people, as evidence of its good effects on the general system. Can any of our readers, on the spur of the moment, give a good and conclusive reason why health should be attributed to this habit ? We know that old people get up early ; but it is simply because they can't sleep. Moderate old age does not require much sleep ; hence, in the aged, early rising is a necessity, or a convenience, and is not a cause of health in itself. There is a large class of early risers; very early risers who may be truly said not to have a day's health in a year, the thirsty folk, for example, who drink liquor until midnight, and rise early to get more. One of our earliest recollections is that of "old soakers" making their 308 EABLY RISING. "devious way" to the grog-shop or the tavern bar-room, before sunrise, for their morning grog. Early rising, to be beneficial, must have two concomitants, to retire early, and, on rising, to be properly employed. One of the most eminent divines in this country rose by daylight for many years, and at the end of that time became an invalid ; has travelled the world over for health, and has never regained it, nor ever will. It is rather an early retiring that does the good, by keeping people out of those mischievous prac- tices which darkness favors, and which need not here be more particularly referred to. Another important advantage of retiring early is, that the intense stillness of midnight and the early morning hours favors that unbroken repose which is the all-powerful reno- vator of the tired system. Without, then, the accompaniment of retiring early, "early rising" is worse than useless, and is positively mischievous. Every person should be allowed to " have his sleep out," otherwise the duties of the day cannot be properly performed, Avill be necessarily slighted, even by the most conscientious. To all young persons, to students, to the sedentary, and to invalids, the fullest sleep that the system will take, without artificial means, is the balm of life ; without it there can be no restoration to health and activity again. Never wake up the sick or infirm, or young children, of a morning. It is a barbarity. Let them wake of themselves ; let the care rather be to establish an hour for retiring, so early, that their fullest sleep may be out before sunrise. Another item of very great importance is, do not hurry up the young and the weakly. It is no advantage to pull them out of bed as soon as their eyes are open ; nor is it best for the studious, or even for the well, who have passed an unusually fatiguing day, to jump out of bed the moment they wake up : let them remain, without going to sleep again, until the sense of weariness passes from the limbs. Nature abhors two things, violence and a vacuum. The sun does not break out at once into the glare of the meridian. The diurnal flowers unfold themselves by slow degrees ; nor fleet- est beast nor sprightliest bird leaps at once from its resting- place. By all of which we mean to say that, as no physio- STAMMERING. 309 logical truth is more demonstrable than that the brain, and with it the whole nervous system, is recuperated by sleep, it is of the first importance, as to the well-being of the human system, that it have its fullest measure of it; and to that end, the habit of retiring to bed early should be made imperative on all children, and no ordinary event should be allowed to interfere with it. Its moral healthfulness is not less impor- tant than its physical. Many a young man, many a young woman, has made the first step towards degradation, and crime, and disease after ten o'clock at night : at which hour, the year round, the old, the middle-aged, and the young should be in bed; and then the "early rising" will take care of itself, with the incalculable accompaniment of a fully-rested body and a renovated brain. We repeat it, there is neither wisdom, nor safety, nor health in early rising, in itself; but there is all of them in the persistent practice of retiring to bed at an early hour, winter and summer. STAMMERING. STAMMERING is sometimes the result of habit or careless- ness ; at others it succeeds a long attack of sickness. It is a kind of St. Vitus's Dance of the tongue. Not unfrequently it is brought on by the harsh treatment or inveterate ill-nature of parents, teachers, or superiors, in habitually meeting those under them with threatenings, scolding, or fault-finding. We have met before now with a miserable class of human, or rather inhuman, beings, who scarcely ever enter a room, where are children, or servants, or dependants, without the expression of some disapprobation or complaint. This has very naturally the effect to confuse and intimidate a child, especially one of a highly nervous or excitable temperament ; while steadiness and composure are the very antipodes of stuttering, which is essentially the throwing out too much nervous power, sending too much nervous influence to the muscles which are employed in speaking ; the result is, a want of proper control of those muscles. Hence, whatever diminishes the nervous supply to those parts, whatever directs 310 STAMMERING. the nervous flow to some other part of the body, diminishes the stammering in the same proportion. This is the princi- ple of cure in all cases, although we have never seen a refer- ence to it by any writer. Some twenty years ago the New York world was struck with dumb amazement at the instan- taneous remedy for stammering, which was, thrusting a knitting-needle through the tongue. But it cured only until the tongue got well, because, while the tongue was sore from the barbarous operation, the extra nervous energy was ex- pended in the instinctive effort to refrain from any other than a careful movement of the tongue. The expedient of Demosthenes, in speakiug with little pebbles in his mouth, was in the same direction. One of the most inveterate stammerers in London became possessed with a fancy that he would make a good actor. On his first appearance the theatre was crowded, in curiosity. During the whole play he did not mispronounce a single word, did not fail to utter distinctly a single syllable ; because the mind was engaged in another effort, was excited in another direction, the extra nervous power found vent in another outlet ; precisely as in the more recently alleged accidental discovery of a lady, that reading or speaking in a whisper is an instantaneous remedy ; because it requires an effort to whisper, the mind's attention is directed to the act of whispering, and not to the distinct- ness of utterance. We will venture the assertion that no man ever stammered in "popping the question," nor a young lady halt out " Y-ye-ye-yes." Instinct itself prompts a cure. After a long illness from an accident, our Robert, aged three years, suddenly began to stammer most vexatiously. His whole system was in a debilitated and irritable condition. He had never come in contact with a stammerer ; and be- lieving that scolding, or threats, or ridicule, would only serve to fix the habit for life, which would have been a great misfortune, we made an effort, without apparent effort, to divert his attention to some other thing than the stammering. For example, when he asked for anything, he was told, "Now, if you ask for it plainly, you shall have it; " and, before we were aware of it, we found him, whenever he attempted to ask for anything, striking his little hand against his thigh, as he stood before us, at the enunciation of every NIGHT AIR. 311 syllable ; and, by encouragement, we found the habit broken up in a few months. As it is a lifelong calamity to have a son or daughter grow up a stutterer, we trust these hints may be turned to practical account by those whom it may concern. Anything else done at the time of uttering each syllable divides the attention, gives two outlets to the extra nervous flow, and the remedy is complete ; make a mark, pull a string, turn a leaf, stamp the foot any one of them will effect a cure in a reasonable time. NIGHT AIR. DURING the months of September and October, throughout the United States, wherever there are chills, and fever and ague, intermittents, or the more deadly forms of fever, it is a pernicious, and even dangerous practice, to sleep with the outer doors or windows open ; because miasm, marsh ema- nations, the product of decaying vegetation, all of which are different terms expressing the same thing, is made so light by heat, that it ascends at once towards the upper por- tion of atmospheric space, and is not breathed during the heat of the day ; but the cool nights of the fall of the year condense it, make it heavy, and it settles on the ground, is breathed into the lungs, incorporated into the blood ; and if in its concentrated form, as in certain localities near Rome, it causes sickness and death within a few hours. The plagues which devastated eastern countries, in earlier ages, were caused by the concentrated emanations from marshy locali- ties, or districts of decaying vegetation ; and the common observation of the higher class of people was, that those who occupied the upper stories, not even coming down stairs for market supplies, but drew them up by ropes attached to bas- kets, had entire immunity from disease, for two reasons : the higher the abode, the less compact is the deadly atmosphere ; besides, the higher rooms in a house, in summer, are the warmer ones, and the miasm less concentrated. The lower rooms are colder, making the air more dense. So, by keep- ing all outer doors and windows closed, especially the lower 312 STUDENT LONGEVITY. ones, the building is less cool and comfortable, but it ex- cludes the infectious air, while its warmth sends what enters through the crevices immediately to the ceilings of the rooms, where it congregates, and is not breathed ; hence is it that men who entered the bar-room and dining-saloons of the National Hotel, remaining but a few brief hours, were at- tacked with the National Hotel disease, while ladies who occupied . upper rooms, where constant fires were burning, escaped attack, although remaining in the house for weeks at a time. It was for the same reason that Dr. Rush was accus- tomed to advise families, in the summer time, not being able to leave the city, to cause their younger children especially to spend their time above stairs. We have spent a lifetime ourselves in the West and extreme South, and know in our own person, and as to those who had firmness to follow our recommendation, that whole families will escape all the forms of fall fevers who will have bright fires kindled at sunrise and sunset in the family room. But it is too plain a prescrip- tion to secure observance in more than one family in ten thousand. After the third frost, and until the fall of the next year, it is an important means of health for persons to sleep with an outer door or window partly open, having the bed in such a position as to be protected from a draught of air. We advise that no person should go to work or take exercise in the morning on an empty stomach ; but if it is stimulated to action by a cup of coffee, or a crust of bread, or apple, or orange, exercise can be taken, not only with impunity, but to high advantage in all chill and fever localities. STUDENT LONGEVITY. STUDENTS are not necessarily short-lived. There is nothing in the active exercise of the brain which impairs the constitu- tion, or lessens the duration of existence. Newton died at the age of eighty-five ; Roger Bacon reached his eightieth year; and his namesake, the Lord High Chancellor of Eng- land, of whom it was said that, " as a man of genius and a philosopher, no language can be too lofty for his praise," was STUDENT LONGEVITY. 313 in his sixty-sixth year when he closed his eyes ; and but for his extravagant habits, might easily have lived a quarter of a century longer ; Copernicus was seventy. These are among the very greatest names in science, philosophy, and law, of the era preceding our own ; and of the great in im Is of the present generation which dazzle the eye by the splendor of their shining, by the extent of their attainments, or the beauty of their characters, and often both, we might name, in medicine, Charles Caldwell, of Kentucky, aged eighty-one ; in genius and learning, Eliphalet Nott, now in his eighty-sixth year ; in natural philosophy, Professor Silliman, but six years younger. In his ninetieth year, the great Humboldt was not conscious of any abatement of mental power, and his splendid mind still commanded the veneration of two hemispheres. The greatest students among our political men were Benton, at seventy-five ; and John Quincy Adams, who died with his harness on, at the age of fourscore years. Hamel, one of the greatest scientific minds of Russia, visited Valentia, " not far from ninety," to wonder and admire, as he gazed at the ac- complishment of the age, the Atlantic Cable. Then com- ing down to a broad fact, here at home among ourselves, within one year, of thirty graduates of Harvard College dying, more than one half were over seventy years ; nearly a quarter were over eighty ; and one died at the age of ninety- three. During the same year, of one half the graduates of old Yale who have passed to fields of exploration beyond the River of Death, and to them all new, one half had passed the limits of threescore years and ten. When it is taken into account, that of all the modern names given, it is known that a temperate life has been a peculiarity, almost to a proverb, temperate as to drinking, and as to eating almost abste- mious, we are impelled to the conclusion, that a man who is temperate as to the habits of his life, may study never so hard, and not only " endure to the end " of the usual limit of "threescore years and ten," but even at that age may possess a mind " undimmed by the flight of years." On the other hand, when we see a great mind go out in the njght of the grave at forty or fifty, or any short of threescore, that mind should at least inquire, and leave an answer as a beacon-light for after voyagers, Do I die thus earl}' " in the course of 314 MEDICAL PRINCIPLES. nature," or has it come thus by mine own hand, in that I have not, as I ought to have done, striven against the pas- sions and appetites of a lower nature? To die at the maturi- ty of a great intellect, upon the very entrance of fields of view, just expanding to the enraptured gaze of the beholder, the loss to himself of a pure delight how immeasurable ! and to the world, figures may not compute it. Doubtless the dial of " progress " has been put back many a degree in just such a way as this. Reader, health is a duty to yourself and the age you live in. The greater your intelligence, the greater your dereliction ; and for which you will have to ac- count at the Judgment. To know what health is, and how to preserve it, is the great object of our writings ; and the regret is, that it is a kind of knowledge almost entirely neglected by high and low, rich and poor together, until a time in life too late to make its acquisition of any great practical advantage a knowledge which the fewest of the few are wise enough to acquire in early life. None but an Adams, a Nott, a Benton, a Humboldt in embryo, is com- petent to a wisdom like this. MEDICAL PRINCIPLES. THERE are certain general principles in medicine, few and simple, easily understood, and remembered without difficul- ty; but instead of mastering these, the masses prefer to lum- ber up their memories with innumerable, and often ridiculous applications of them. We name one at this time. Poultices are of very extended application ; that of a live chicken cut open and applied instantly, is believed by some to possess extraordinary virtue ; the entrails of a frog are in great esteem by others ; but how a frog is to be obtained in winter, is not explained ; while a live chicken would be rath- er an expensive application in a city. Scraped potatoes are advised by some as possessing very great "drawing" powers. Dogs get well of their wounds without poultices. Dogs were the doctors who attended Lazarus ; and what is more than can be said of some modern doctors, they treated him as they MEDICAL PRINCIPLES 315 \ did themselves, and, no doubt, with advantage. Dogs lick their sores. It is the instinct of nature. Now let us not run off in the manner of the ignorant and superstitious, and imagine there is some mysterious virtue in a dog's tongue, some mag- netic agency passing back and forth ; but let us look with our eyes open, and in the light of a few well-known facts. Take a common boil, about which most of us have had a feeling 7 O experience : the surrounding skin is dry, hot, and hard ; in its natural state it is moist and soft. To bring it to its natural state again, we have only to remove the dryness, and reduce it to its natural temperature ; and what more appropriate than simple soft water, rained or distilled? But to get the full virtue of the application, it should be kept moist all the time ; this would require constant attention, the incessant applying of water, which is in a measure impracticable, except to the unfortunate few who have nothing to do. The humane sur- geon is often called to the exercise of a considerateness, which a large heart soon learns in its frequent contact Avith poverty, misfortune, and disease, it is in adapting his pre- scriptions to the means of the invalid, as far as possible ; he never advises the worn and wan sewing -girl to visit Saratoga, nor the consumptive day-laborer to go to the south, or spend a winter in Cuba ! So in the case of one suffering great pain, which can be best cured by keeping it constantly moist, he does not order a nurse who shall stand by and apply water from morning until night ; but he bethinks him, that some substances do not dry up as soon as water (and which is, out of large towns, almost as easily had) ; one of these he kuows to be milk ; but even milk will require too steady an attend- ance, so he adds stale bread to it, which would retain the moisture still a longer time ; and experience has found, that under all ordinary circumstances, a poultice of sweet milk and stale " light bread " answers a larger number of condi- tions than any other, with the advantage of being always at hand in ordinary households. The softest fluid in nature is the saliva ; and it is in this property we find the virtue of the dog's licking. But should the moistening quality be applied cold or warm? We must inquire of science. All know that the virtue of a cold or shower bath is in the reaction, the " glow," as it is called, which is nothing more than the 316 MEDICAL PRINCIPLES. rushing of blood to the surface in unnatural quantity and force ; but the trouble in a boil or other sore is, that there is too much blood there already ; instead of bringing more there, it is important to relieve it of its present load. So, if a cold poultice is applied to a painful sore, besides the un- pleasantness of the shock , there is the reaction inevitable as a consequence of that shock ; therefore, nature seems to teach us that all applications to painful sores should be moist and soft, and warm and constant ; the dog's tongue answers all these requirements ; and so does a warm milk-and-bread poultice. But there is another beautiful physiological truth in warm applications, wherever there is inflammatory action, which it will be instructive to look at. It is evaporation which cools. But heat must precede evaporation. Ice-cold water does not evaporate, until warmth is applied ; this requires time : hence, if warm water is applied to an inflamed surface, evap- oration commences instantly, and proceeds rapidly. But in the case of a boil, what is evaporated? what is carried away? Two things. First, the heat. If the hand is put in warm water, and then exposed to the atmosphere, a sense of cold- ness is present ; it is because the hand is parting with its warmth, giving it up to the vapor of water which is rising from the hand and passing upwards. But another effect is produced. A dry, hot skin retains all beneath it, because the pores are closed ; but as soon as it is moistened the pores open, and at once the more gaseous and watery portions of the blood escape thus reducing the bulk of the blood, reducing the distention, and thus reducing the pain. In eastern countries, and in earlier ages, where water in many places and under many circumstances was not very accessible, another substance was used ; and its employment became almost universal for wounds and bruises and putrefy- ing sores and that was oil. For aught we know, the whole Materia Medica of ancient surgery was wine and oil wine to sustain, and oil to soften, and moisten, and lubricate, and cool. The great practical truth in all this is : the first neces- sity of a boil, or sore, or wound, is to keep it moist ; that keeps down inflammation, pain, mortification, and death. To do this, a plain milk-and-bread poultice is the best, being accessible, INSTINCT OF APPETITE. 317 simple, and safe to say nothing of the advantage it has over many others, that it may be so readily remoistened, and thus cleaned off. INSTINCT OF APPETITE. OBSERVANT farmers know that one kind of grain or seed, or plant, will flourish luxuriantly in a particular field, while another in that same field will grow feebly, and fail to arrive at perfection ; it is because the soil in the former instance contains an element which nourishes the thriving plant, and in the latter case it is deficient in that element which is the life of the sickly growth, and yet there is nothing amiss in the soil or in the seed simply a want of adaptation. So, in the case of a mother and her new-born child ; both may be in ordinary good health, and yet the child dwindles and dies, not because there is essential disease in either, but because there is want of mutual adaptation. In a few days there may be a change, and all is right. But it is interesting to remark the wisdom of Omnipotence in implanting an instinct for the child's safety, and it refuses to take the breast; or, if intense hunger impels it, it is done unwillingly, and nature may, to some extent, be conquered, and the infant may come to toler- ate what it could not welcome ; but it will die, for all that. Another parallel in agriculture is, that for a number of years a field will give abundant crops of a particular grain, but after a while they become less and less bountiful under the same culture, and finally there is a total failure. In like manner, many of us have observed in our own persons, that for a long time we had a hearty relish for a particular kind of food ; it almost seemed that we could never eat enough of it ; but in process of time the expression escapes us, "I don't care anything about it now ; " in some instances there is a positive aversion. We constantly notice, at our own table, that a child will be ravenousl}' fond of a particular dish, and after a while turns from it. The reason is, that there was a constituent in the uiuch-loved food which the system required, and which it 318 INSTINCT OF APPETITE. drank up greedily until it was fully supplied, and then in- stinct would receive no more. A thirsty man, like the arid soil, drinks in the water until the one is full and the other is saturated, and then the water is refused or rejected. The soil will not receive it, and it flows off: and when a man has enough, he becomes nauseated if he tries to drink more. To most persons, water has a very disagreeable taste, if it is at- tempted to be forced. The practical conclusion to be drawn from these facts is simply this : Do not force your children or yourselves to take one single mouthful of any food or drink which they do not like. In sickness or health, consult the instincts of the appetite, and yield to them implicit and instant obedience. There is sometimes a morbid appetite, and if indulged in freely, injurious, if not fatal effects may follow ; but in the most of these cases even, we prefer to believe that it is the quantity which does the harm, and not the quality : so that we are in the habit of saying to some classes of dyspeptics, " Eat what you most crave ; but if you find that it is uniform- ly followed by some disagreeable feeling, instead of discard- ing that article of food, take half as much next time, and con- tinue to diminish the quantity until it is found out how much of its favorite dish nature can take with perfect impunity ; if a spoonful only can be taken with perfect impunity, give nature that spoonful as long as she craves it." Most of us can call to mind cases where a craved dish or drink was most imperatively forbidden, under fear of death, if indulged in ; and yet the patient, in desperation, has gotten up in the night, satisfied the appetite, and recovered from that hour. We advise the safer plan : take a very little at a time of what is so earnestly craved, and gradually feel the way along to an amount which nature will bear. Physicians may rest assured that if the instincts of the invalid and the convalescent were more closely observed and studied, they would be more successful, with less medicine. SELF-DESTROYERS. 319 SELF-DESTROYERS. WE do not hold the drunkard guiltless, who by his infirmi- ty has disabled himself, disgraced his friends, and beggared his family. The convict who cut off his right hand in order to avoid work, is not excused from labor, but receives our reprobation ; and if, by any form of inconsideration or reck- lessness, we bring on ourselves an incapacity for performing the duties of life which devolve upon us, we are responsible for their discharge towards the party to whom those duties belong. A clergyman of talent and culture, in the very prime of life, advertises that being by ill health incapable of perform- ing ministerial duty, he is willing to do almost anything for a moderate compensation ; he is ready to preach an occasional sermon, prepare an essay, write an editorial, copy papers, read proof, prepare manuscripts for the press, keep books, deliver lectures, teach school, give lessons in elocution, read- ing, or speaking in any of which ways he hopes he might give satisfaction, and would do his best to please. We have no reason to question this gentleman's ability for any of these offices, and do certainly regret, when in our own country there are thousands of persons, singly and in whole commu- nities, who do not hear a gospel sermon in a year, that one so competent should be disabled. But to use a common phrase, he has no business to be sick. In other words, his being a sick man is not a necessity, most likely. People do not get sick without a cause, except in rare cases ; and that cause is, very generally, within themselves, resulting from inattention, igno- rance, or recklessness, either on the part of parents, teachers, or themselves. It is a very poor excuse for a man to say that he cannot pay a debt the declaration becomes insulting to the creditor when that inability is the result of improvi- dence or actual extravagance. When any man is disabled by sickness from discharging his duty to himself, his family, or society, the question should at once be, is it from Heaven or of men? Not of the former ; for it is said, He does not will- ingly afflict the children of men : consequently sickness is not 320 SOW MUCH TO SLEEP. of His sending. It is the result of causes within ourselves. In a literal sense, as well as a moral, it is true : W O Israel ! thou hast destroyed thyself!" In plainer terms, disease is not sent upon us ; we bring it on ourselves and health is a duty. HOW MUCH TO SLEEP. THE amount of sleep which persons require varies with the age, habits, and conditions of men. If we will yield to nature's guidance, instinct wilt desig- nate the exact quantity required for each, with promptitude and accuracy. All know that a night's full natural sleep gives an awaking of freshness and vigor, which insures bodily enjoy- ment for a whole day; but if sleep is broken and disturbed, it is certainly followed by lassitude of body and mind : this palpable fact demonstrates that body and brain, flesh and spirit, are recuperated by sleep ; it then follows that the more we work, the more we study, the more sleep we require. To ascertain how much sleep each one needs, we will give a rule presently ; but it is useful to know that nature will not take too much sleep, except by violent and artificial means : if forced upon her long, obesity, or other form of destructive disease, is inevitable ; but if we attempt to rob the body of its requisite amount, debility of body, madness of mind, or premature death will always result if this violence is perse- vered in. There are persons whose voraciousness of time is such, that they consider that the hours spent in sleep, beyond the briefest number, are hours lost ; that if they can go to bed very late and get up very early, it is so much added to life. We once heard a man say that no time should be lost ; that a book should be always at hand, so that in waiting for dinner or a friend we might read, even if it were but a line. He practised this. His was accounted one of the greatest minds in the nation ; his writings, will live when the names of Presidents will be repeated but once in an age. He lost his mind, and died in his prime ! The truly wise will, therefore, yield themselves to nature's apportionment. It is a law of SCHOOL DANGERS. 321 our being, as beneficent as it is wise, that if we are let alone we wake up of ourselves, as soon as the system has taken an amount of repose proportioned to the exertions of the pre- vious day, and the usual ones of the day following. All that remains, therefore, for us to do, is to aid nature in the outset, or rather avoid acting in such a way as to interfere with her operations, by simply going to bed at a regular hour, with a mind, and body, and stomach unoppressed with the cares and labors and food of the preceding day, and to arise in the morning as soon as we wake up of ourselves, not sleeping a moment in the daytime. It is scarcely possible for any one to pursue this course rigidly, if in moderate health, without in a week or two usually securing the following delightful results : an ability to go to sleep within a few moments of laying the head upon the pillow ; of sleeping soundly all night and of waking up refreshed, within a very few minutes of the same time for weeks together, giving us perhaps an hour more in midwinter than in summer time, because the mind and body, and digestion are more vigorous in winter, when nature favors us by giving longer nights. SCHOOL DANGERS. MANY girls and boys of promise, the great hope of life to yearning parents, are sacrificed every year to the cu- pidity of sordid, stupid, or reckless school-teachers, aided and abetted by the contemptible vanity of the thoughtless parents themselves. We regard public examinations and school exhibitions a cheat and a sham in three cases out of four. It is done for the benefit and behoof of the teacher, and to the irreparable injury of the schoolar ; while the poor dolt of a parent has not sense enough to see through it. We hope never to see a child of ours competitor for any prize or station at school. Not long since a gentleman of wealth, from the east, con- sulted us in behalf of an only child, a daughter of seventeen, at school. She was expected to complete her studies at an academy in two months. Already she had been preparing for 322 SCHOOL DANGERS. an examination for some weeks. The report was, that she was so much " interested " in her studies that she barely al- lowed herself necessary sleep ; that she always ate in haste, and went to her books immediately after her meals. She had all the symptoms of a commencing decliue, and she was de- termined to " keep up " until the close of the session. Those two months seemed to us an interminable age ahead. We felt as if she ought to have been hurried out of the school- room without an hour's delay, and driven out among the beautiful hills of her own New England, and scarcely allowed time out of the saddle to take her meals ; we felt as if she ought to have been compelled to eat most of her meals on horseback. But the gratification which was to result to her from a successful examination outweighed all considerations of the happiness of healthful youth. We declined giving special advice while she was at school. We have no doubt that the reaction which will take place after the examination will, with her previous condition, send her to an early grave as it has done in multitudes of similar cases before. Par- ents ought to remember that reviewing studies for an exami- nation is for the glorification of the teacher, without any com- mensurate advantage to the scholar. A young lady, the hope of a widowed mother, and both poor, wrote only in June last, that she was at school prepar- ing herself as a teacher, with a view to support herself and mother, by obtaining a position in the school of which she was then only a scholar ; but, in order to do that, it was ne- cessary that her examination should entitle her to a diploma. How long and how hard she had been striving, we do not know ; but the struggle had been so severe, the tension so great and continued, that she writes, " A weakness and drowsiness has come over me, from which I cannot arouse myself, and causes me almost to despair of recovery. Mere talking is a weariness. It seems as if I shall never feel wide awake again. I feel as if I could sleep forever. This sleepi- ness is experienced, not only at noon and at night, but also in the early morning. Having always ranked first in my classes at school, I have endeavored, the present year, to maintain my position ; but I feel that my health is not equal to the task. It seems that the faculties of my mind are not HYDROPHOBIA. 323 what they once were, especially my memory. The time is drawing near when the diplomas will be awarded to our class. The apprehension of a failure, on my part, weighs heavily on my mind ; and fail I must, unless I can be aroused from my stupid state. The very efforts I make to keep my- self awake in the daytime often makes me sick at heart." Here is a case of a young brain stimulated to sheer ex- haustion, while all the powers of life were failing with it. Out upon it, we say. Let the barbarous customs of the school-room be abolished ; and let parents and teachers un- derstand, that education can be so conducted as to make it a self-buoyant process, from the commencement of the alphabet to its successful close. Really competent teachers can make it a delight, instead of a burden and a bore can make it the meat and drink of those who learn. These are practical teachers, and deserve treble salaries, with the respect and thanks of all the humane. HYDROPHOBIA. HYDROPHOBIA follows the bite of various animals, but more frequently that of a dog. There are two errors generally prevalent in reference to this most fearful of all diseases, which merit correction. Hydrophobia is almost as frequent an occurrence outside of the " dog-days," as during that period ; and second, mad dogs are not always afraid of the water, nor do they always exhibit a furious manner. The more certain signs of their being rabid are an unsteady walk, a haggard appearance, and an extraordinary and striking wildness in the expression of the eye. We, therefore, most earnestly advise that when- ever a person is bitten by any dog, even to the extent of the smallest scratch, whether in summer or winter, to saturate a rag instantly with common spirits of hartshorn and sop it on the wound for at least half an hour, on the principle that all bites and stings owe their injurious effects to their acid nature, and hartshorn, being one of the strongest, simplest, and most accessible alkalies, is the most practicable auti- 324 THE STOMACH. ' dote in Nature ; the sooner it is applied, the more certain will be the success. The next most accessible thing to the same nature is the liquor resulting from a cup of hot water poured on a handful of fresh ashes of wood. THE STOMACH. THE stomach is the source of a very large share of our animal enjoyment, if treated properly ; but if allowed to fall into disease, life is rendered miserable, in spite of all the advantages that wealth or station can bestow. Eating largely and late, is the most common cause of the long catalogue of neuralgias and dyspepsias which everywhere prevail, more or less, and are increasing in frequency. As the day closes, we all become weary, and the body yearns for the repose and rest which only the quiet chamber can fully give. The whole system is weak, feet, fingers, arms, every- thing. There is not a muscle in the body which does not participate in that tiredness. The stomach is a collection of muscles, and these are called to work at each meal ; and to dispose of that meal is a work of four or five hours. The more that is eaten, the more work has to be performed. Any one can see, then, the striking absurdity of giving an already weak stomach four or five hours' work to do at the close of the day of giving rest to the body by sleep, and yet keep- ing the stomach hard at work until nearly daylight. Its repose then is the repose of exhaustion, and it does not wake up for breakfast, any more than the body would, if kept out of bed long past midnight. Not being waked up, it does not call for food, and there is no appetite (no " seekiug," as the word literally means) for food. But another result follows from a hearty supper, or a very late dinner : the digestion of the food requires a large amount of nervous power, leaving the other parts of the system to the same extent deficient of their natural supply, the brain in com- mon with the others ; hence, no one can sleep soundly and refreshingly after a hearty meal. More than this, if a large meal be taken at the close of the TEA AND COFFEE. 325 day, when the body is weary, tired out, the stomach not only requires an extra amount of nervous power, which must be supplied at the expense of the other parts of the system, but it requires, also, an extra supply of heat, which must be sup- plied in the same way and the stomach will have it, what- ever mischief may result to other parts of the body leaving the body chilly ; which, in its severest forms, is called in the south a congestive chill, where the engorgement of blood is so great as to oppress the powers of life, and a stupor pervades the whole frame, out of which it never fully wakes up again, except, perhaps, for a single gleam at a time of partial con- sciousness. Hence the impropriety, at all times, of going out into the cold air, or taking a cold bath immediately after a hearty meal, if the person is at all weakly, or is in a tired condition ; for the chilliness is only increased thereby, and a fatal result is the more likely to ensue. A thousand times better would it be for this whole land, if not an atom of food was ever allowed to pass adult lips at a later hour than five o'clock in the after- noon. Such a practice, habitually and literally adhered to, would save more lives every year than are destroyed by steam, and sea, and all wars together. TEA AND COFFEE. TAKING into account the habits of the people, tea and coffee, for supper and breakfast, add to human health and life, if a single cup be taken at either meal, and is never increased in strength, frequency, or quantity. If they were mere stim- ulants, and were taken thus in moderation and with uniformity, they would, in time, become either inert, or the system would become so habituated to their employment, as to remain in the same relative position to them as if they had never been used ; and, consequently, as to themselves, they had better never have been used, as they are so liable to abuse. But science and fact unite in declaring them to be nutritious, as well as stimulant; hence, they will do a new good to the system every day, to the end of life, just as bread and fruits 326 TEA AND COFFEE. do ; hence, we never get tired of either. But the use of bread and fruits are daily abused by multitudes, and dyspepsia and cholera morbus result ; yet we ought not to forego their em- ployment on that account, nor should we forego the use of tea and coffee because their inordinate use gives neuralgias and other ailments. But the habitual use of tea and coffee, at the last and first meals of the day, has another high advantage, is productive of incalculable good in the way of averting evils. We will drink at our meals, and if we do not drink these, we will drink what is worse cold water, milk, or alcoholic mixtures. The regular use of these last will lead the young to drunkenness ; the considerable employment of simple milk, at meals, by sedentary people, by all, except the robust, will either constipate, or render bilious ; while cold water largely used, that is, to the extent of a glass or two at a meal, especially in cold weather, attracts to itself so much of the heat of the system, in raising said water to the temperature of the body about one hundred degrees that the process of digestion is arrested ; in the mean while giving rise to a deathly sickness of stomach, to twisting pains, to vomitings, purgings, and even to cramps, to fearful contortions, and sud- den death ; which things would have been averted, had even the same amount of liquid, in the shape of simple hot water, been used. But any one knowing these things, and being prejudiced against the use of tea and coffee, would subject himself to be most unpleasantly stared at and questioned, if not ridiculed, were he to ask for a cup or glass of hot water. But, as tea and coffee are now universal beverages, are on every table, and everybody is expected to take one or the other as a matter of course, they are unwittingly the means of safety and of life to multitudes. They save life, where a glass of cold water would have destroyed it. So that the use of these beverages is not merely allowable, it is politic, it is a necessity. VEGETARIANISM AND ILL-TEMPER 327 VEGETARIANISM AND ILL-TEMPER. SOLOMON was a great lover of beefsteak ; and when he wanted a fit comparison with one of the meanest and lowest traits of our nature, to wit, a bad temper, he compares it to a vegetable dinner ! saying, that even a " dinner of herbs," with love and affection, was preferable to the most splendid table, marred with the presence of ill-nature. As writers of note are found, sooner or later, to have treated of things coming under their own experience and observation, we can- not resist the conclusion that Solomon had a n tartar " in his household. Other Solomons have the same. Steele had some experiences of a growling, grumbling ill-nature, and seems to have had a woman in his eye, when he declared, " A bad temper is a cur^^to the possessor. To hear one eternal round of complaint and murmuring, to have every pleasant thought scared away by this evil spirit, is a sore trial. It is like the sting of a scorpion, a perpetual nettle, destroying your peace, rendering life a burden. Its influence is deadly. The purest and sweetest atmosphere is converted into a deadly miasm wherever this evil genius prevails. It is allied to martyrdom, to be obliged to live with one of a com- plaining temper. One string out of tune Avill destroy the music of an instrument otherwise perfect. So if all the mem- bers of a family do not cultivate a kind and affectionate temper, there will be discord, and every evil work." Solomon and Steele evidently had their eye on the family relation. O, the curse, the living martyrdom of having one member in a household, whose low-bred nature, exhibiting itself in every hour of waking existence, clouds the brow of the parent, petrifies the glad smile of childhood, fixes a stern hatred on the heart of the servant, and fills the breast of the guest, or stranger, with sadness and inexpressible contempt ! In the estimation of the wisest of men, the distance between a dinner of beefsteak and vegetables was almost immeasurable ; but, between vegetables with loviugness, and a splendid repast with a carping grumbling nature, there could be no comparison, and he gladly chose the former. Let, then, the 328 FOOD CURE. snarling curs, fortunately met with only here and there, make a note of this, if they can but know their picture ; and remem- ber, that to see no beauty in any flower, to feel no warmth in any sunshine, to draw no lovingness from any smile, is, of all temperaments, the most to be pitied, the worst to be feared. FOOD CUKE. THIS book aims to show how to maintain health by natural agencies, and by the same means to restore it if lost. It is not pretended that all diseases are cured in this way ; but it is very certain that quite a number of ordinary ailments may be removed by the judicious employment of the contents of a well-furnished larder ; and with this great advantage, the cures are more permanent, and less liable to return, ac- complishing their object without any shock to the system, and without the danger of killing the patient, by mistaking the quantity, or quality, or name of the dose. Ripe fruits and berries, slightly acid, will remove the ordi- nary diarrhoeas of early summer. Common rice, parched brown like coffee, and then boiled and eaten in the ordinary way, without any other food, is, with perfect quietude of body, one of the most effective rem- edies for troublesome looseness of bowels. Some of the severest forms of that distressing ailment called dysentery, that is, when the bowels pass blood, with constant desire, yet vain efforts to stool, are sometimes entirely cured by, the patient eating a heaping tablespoon, at a time, of rav beef, cut up very fine, and repeated at intervals of four houfts, until cured, eating and drinking nothing else in the meanwhile. . If a person swallows any poison whatever, or has fallen into convulsions ftt>m Saving overloaded the stomach, an instanta- neous remedy, more efficient and applicable in a larger num- ber of cases than any half a dozen medicines we can now think of, is a heaping teaspoon of common salt and as much ground mustard, stirred rapidly in a teacup of water, warm or cold, and swallowed instantly. It is scarcely down before it begins : FOOD CUBE. 329 to come up, bringing with it the remaining contents of the stomach ; and lest there be any remnant of a poison, however small, let the white of an egg, or a teacup of strong coffee, be swallowed as soon as the stomach is quiet ; because these very common articles nullify a larger number of virulent poisons than any medicines in the shops. In case of scalding or burning the body, immersing the part in cold water gives entire relief, as instantaneously as the lightning. Meanwhile get some common dry flour, and ap- ply it an inch or two thick on the injured part the moment it emerges from the water, and keep sprinkling on the flour through anything like a pepper-box cover, so as to put it on evenly. Do nothing else, drink nothing but water, eat noth- ing, until improvement commences, except some dry bread softened in very weak tea of some kind. Cures of frightful burnings have been performed in this way, as wonderful as they are painless. Erysipelas, a disease often coming without premonition, and ending fatally in three or four days, is sometimes promptly cured by applying a poultice of raw cranberries, pounded, and placed on the part over night. Insect bites, and even that of a rattlesnake, have passed harmless, by stirring enough of common salt in the yolk of a good egg to make it sufficiently thin for a plaster, to be kept on the bitten parts. Neuralgia and toothache are sometimes speedily relieved by applying to the wrist a quantity of bruised or grated horse- radish. Costive bowels have an agreeable remedy in the free use of tomatoes at meals their seeds acting in the way of the seeds of white mustard or figs, by stimulating the coats of the bowels over which they pass, in their whole state, to increased action. A remedy of equal efficiency, in the same direction, is cracked wheat that is, common white wheat grains, broken into two or three pieces, and then boiled until it is as soft as rice, and eaten mainly at two meals of the day, with butter or molasses. Common sweet cider, boiled down to one half, makes a most excellent syrup for coughs and colds for children is 330 MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL. pleasant to the taste, and will keep throughout the year in a cool cellar. In recovering from an illness, the system has a craving for some pleasant acid drink. This is found in cider which is placed on the fire as soon as made, and allowed to come to a boil, then cooled, put in casks, and kept in a cool cellar. Treated thus, it remains for many months as good as the day it was made. We once saved the life of an infant which had been inad- vertently drugged with laudanum, and was fast sinking into the sleep which has no awaking, by giving it strong coffee, cleared with the white of an egg, a teaspoonful every five minutes, until it ceased to seem drowsy. Our book on " Health and Disease " was written with a view to introduce people to the knowledge of items like these, in the hope of doing something towards abolishing the ruinous and almost universal habit of purchasing patent medicines, which, in so many instances, are either inapplicable, hurtful, or utterly useless, and, in this latter case, are indirectly the means of death, by the loss of time in obtaining the services of a competent physician to apply the proper means with a wise discrimination. MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL. THIS is the standing injunction to a large family of steady and affectionate children, of a "Friend" mother, whom we know, and we regard it as one of the most important les- sons which childhood can learn. Many a young man would have been saved from the halter, had he learned in his father's house how to " make himself useful " under all the circum- stances of life. And well do we know, that many a girl with a good heart has gone down to an early grave of infamy, from being brought up, by a false kindness, without the knowledge of how she was to " make herself useful " in the various changes and adversities of life. Very many girls, in this drear winter weather, go to bed hungry, and rise to hover around stinted fires, and shiver all day in scanty cloth- TOMBOYS. 331 ing, wearing the wrinkles of sadness and care on faces yet in their teens, willing enough to work and abundant work to do, with liberal pay, in luxurious mansions, whose rich oc- cupants would count it a " fortunate thing " to find a person suited to the place. Why, then, are the doors of all our charities besieged and daily thronged? and why does the pitiful appeal strike the ear of the pedestrian in his early walk, or noonday promenade, or nightly visit to the party, the lecture, the concert, or the opera ? It is simply because these starving, freezing girls were not brought up to be useful, were not taught, by careless or over- indulgent mothers, how they might command situations. The incessant and earnest cry of thousands of almost despair- ing housekeepers, is for competent "help," to cook, to nurse, to sew, for chamber work, or for waiting. Within any twenty- four hours, two thousand, may we not say ten thousand, such girls could find welcome homes, in the very best families in New York, at high wages. But American girls think it degrading to cook, and nurse, and wash, and wait on the table, and their more inexcusable and short-sighted parents confirm them in their views ; and the next we hear of them is " starvation," " suicide," prema- ture disease^ or a dishonored grave. Let all these, especially those who can leave their families nothing, impress on the minds of their children, day by day, that it is more dishonor- able to beg than to work ; that it is more criminal to do noth- ing than to be industrious ; that no employment is dishonor- able which is useful ; and that it is not only a disgrace, but a crime to be idle, from feelings of a despicable false pride. TOMBOYS. How we love the phrase ! How it carries us back to the good old times when girls were not afraid to laugh out a whole heart at once, and never knew anything of modern " pro- priety ; " sanctity before folks, satanity behind ; angelic in the street, animal in the pantry, and in the study asinine 1 332 TOMBOYS. " Tomboys " is associated in our mind with saleratus. Sal- eratus rises, and helps to rise ; so does a tomboy, for she is so full of romping and of fun, that, with her joyous nature and her unsuspicious abandon, she fires up every young heart around her, and makes the saddened faces of the old beam with the subdued but sweet smiles of the memories of Auld Lang Syne, when they too were young. The first time we ever saw that household word, " Saleratus," was when we were just beginning to take lessons in " Cor- derii," the first Latin primer. There was the picture of an angel broke loose. It was a young girl, with her long hair floating back in the breeze, an uncontrollable joyousuess in her face, and, withal, a most unsuspicious, don't-care look about her; she was not on earth or in heaven, but between the two, in mid-air like, as if she had taken a spring, which was to end in a somerset, landing her right side up ; and under this pic- ture was, in large letters, Sal Eratus. Our first impulse was to "translate that." "Sal," we confidently believed, meant Sal, and " Eratus " had something to do with erring ; so we concluded that if Sal and Erring were put together, it would make, in plain English, " Erring Sal ; " and that somebody's daughter, named Sal, would very probably, if she " cut up so," in the end " put her foot in it," that is, " spoil the broth ;" or, in other words, make a fool of herself; which means, to take her pigs to a poor market ; that is to say, would come out at the little end of the horn. Will any spirit about us vouchsafe an ability to express our idea in more courtly phrase, and better adapted to the modern market? For we ran back a moment to old times ; and their associations so enveloped us, that we were " possessed " of old words, phrases, comparisons, old everything ; specially did it bring to our mind, of how we went a mqonshiny night to a prayer-meeting in the country, with Dr. Clelland's daughter, and how, when an essay was made to help her over the fence, with the tip end of a gloved finger, she exclaimed, "O, get out!" and laying one hand on the top rail, she cleared the panel at a bound I We felt mean for a whole year. How sigh we for the times to come again, when for a girl to laugh outright, to clear a fence, to reach the saddle at a bound, or row on a river, or gallop alone to a neighbor's, five DISEASE AND CRIME. 333 miles and back, shall be considered nothing remarkable, its "symptom" being, an index to physical health, to joyous good-nature, and possession of high moral and physical abil- ities. How would a regiment of the true "tomboys" of olden times, quartered on Gotham, work a revolution for the better in mind and morals, in physical elevation and mental power, whose influences for good would be felt for generations ! DISEASE AND CRIME. LIGHT is daily coming in upon the world of mind, and by the help of clearly established facts, arguments may be ad- duced, which will have a stronger tendency to compel men to take care of their health than any which have arisen from conscience, money, or duty ; that is, the argument of Shame. Let men fully understand that certain bodily affections tend to crime, and that crime thus committed confines to the peni- tentiary, then may the community wake up more fully to the sentiment, " Health is a duty ; " and, therefore, the neglect of its preservation a sin, which, in the natural progress of things, leads to loss of health, and life, and honor. In a recent trial of a forger, who handled millions of dol- lars in a year's business, the defence was that he was insane. Among the evidence offered was, that he could sleep only three or four hours out of the twenty-four. In a previous article we stated that a growing inability to sleep was a clear indication of approaching insanity, and on the return of sleepfulness the intellect became clear. There were other symptoms. There was the sound of trip-hammers in his ears ; blacksmiths' sparks floated before his eyes, and there was pain in the head a large portion of the time. These symptoms, lasting so long, had at length so affected the brain as to de- stroy all perception, or comprehension of the effects of crime ; and when the organ of a man's perception is destroyed, he will plunge headlong, and with utter recklessness, into any kind of wrong-doing which circumstances throw in his way arson, robbery, murder, anything; and, if not detected or prevented, the crime, whatever it may be, will grow into a 334 DISEASE AND CRIME. habit, and habit is second nature ; consequently he will revel in it ; it becomes his meat and drink, and he would rather do it than not. Hence the prisoner declared, without hesitation, that if he were released he would do it again ; that he rather liked it, and nothing would prevent him but cutting off his hand, if it came in the way, to forge paper. It was shown on the trial that there was insanity on the father's and mother's side, but no indication of it on the part of either father or mother. It is well known, however, that insanity, as well as personal features, overleaps a generation or two. Often a child bears a striking resemblance to a grandparent, without a lineament of parental feature. The acts of the prisoner were admitted by his counsel, and the question of guilt or innocence rested on this : Was he in- sane or not? The use which we wish to make of these developments is practical, and is of high importance. A wise and stern med- ical treatment would have deferred, if not prevented, the combination of events. And how? The prisoner was under the habitual influence of constipa- tion, and an anodyne which intensified this constipation every hour ; while the principle of the medical practice, in this case, was to let the bowels take care of themselves which they did not do. This individual was never seen by his business associates without a cigar in his mouth ; he smoked fifteen or twenty a day. The immediate effect of smoking tobacco falls on the brain, excites it ; during that excitement he could not sleep, and the reaction went so low that he could not sleep ; only a troubled repose was possible during the brief transition from one to the other. During the excitement, the brain ran riot in the direction of the opportunity, and expended its en- ergies in that direction ; but during the reaction, power was not left to carry on the bodily functions. The effect of constipation is to thicken the blood, to make it more impure ; hence more unfit for healthful purposes. The more impure the blood is, the thicker does it become, the slower is its progress, and if nothing is done to alter this state of things, stagnation and death take place. Stagnation means accumulation ; for the moment the blood stops in any part of the body, the coming current, flowing in, causes an DISEASE AND CHIME. 335 accumulation, precisely as in the closing of a canal gate, or the damming up of a stream. This accumulation in the blood- vessels distends them, causes them to occupy more room than nature designed ; consequently they must encroach on their neighbors. The neighbors of the blood-vessels are the nerves ; hence the nerves are pressed against ; that pressure gives what we call " pain." As there are nerves everywhere, a point of a needle cannot be placed against the surface of the body without some pain, which shows the universality of nerve presence ; hence we may have pain anywhere, and will have pain if there is pressure. This accounts for the steady pain in the head. The excitement of the day sent the blood to the brain too fast, the repose of the night was too short to allow of its removal ; besides, the energies of the system had been overtaxed, and there was not power enough left to re- move a natural accumulation, let alone the extraordinary. But there is a law of our body, whereby pressure from any cause not only gives pain, but may destroy the part pressed against, and consume it, by dissolving it into a gaseous and fluid substance, which in this condition is conveyed out of the body. A band put around an arm of a foot in circumference, will, if tightened every day, in a time not long, reduce the circumference to six inches. Constant pressure cannot be exerted against any portion of the human body without im- pairing its structure, or causing its diminution and final destruction. These are principles of universal admission. They are first truths in medicine. From some unknown cause, this accumulation and pressure was determined to a particular portion of the brain, where fearlessness of conse- quences are situated ; and we believe, if the prisoner's brain could be examined this day, that portion of it, most probably small in the beginning, would be found almost wholly want- ing, having been destroyed by long-continued pressure, or to be of abnormal structure. We believe that a medical treatment which would have sternly interdicted the use of the cigar, materially at first, and gradually thereafter until its final extinction, together with securing a natural condition of daily acting bowels, with a plain and substantial diet, and kept him there, would have saved him and all his from the subsequent calamities. 336 DISEASE AND CRIME. Artificial excitements, whether from tobacco, opium, or alco- hol, if largely persevered in, will work ruin to mind, body, and soul. It is right that it should be so. Omnipotence has ordained it. If a man is in a physical condition which impels him to do what is illegal, or if he be in a mental condition which impels him to do what is illegal, the question whether he is to be punished or not, depends upon the manner in which he became subjected to that condition. If such condi- tion be the result of birth, or by a fall, or stroke, or other occurrence out of his control, he should go free of penal suf- fering ; but if he placed himself in that condition by the un- bridled indulgence of his appetites or his passions, he ought to be made to suffer a just penalty, whether he knew that such indulgences tended to such a result or not. It is a man's duty to inform himself of physiological as well as civil law. Ignorance of the former ought not to work his escape, any more than ignorance of the latter does ; otherwise, a man has only to get drunk, to secure impunity from any crime which may be committed in that condition ; thus all penal statutes become a farce, and anarchy rides rampant through the land. So, also, if a man perverts his moral sense, and by a course of vicious reasoning persuades himself that he ought to com- mit murder, and thinks of it so much as to feel impelled to murder some one, he is properly amenable to the law of the land. It is no very difficult matter for ordinary minds to persuade themselves, as to any desired course, that it is right ; that there is no harm in it ; and that, if they meant no harm by it, no blame could be attached. But if, for such flimsy consider- ations, men aVe to be excused from penalties, there is an end at once to all law and to all government. The conclusion of the whole matter is this. Every man should be held responsible for his deeds, unless they are clearly proved to be the result of a physical, mental, or moral condition, which he had no agency in originating or exagger- ating to the criminal point. Hence the prisoner was con- victed. BODILY CARRIAGE. 337 BODILY CARRIAGE. " A DYING man can do nothing easy," as he spilled some- thing which was given him to swallow, were the last recorded words of him who in life had " tamed the lightning's wins:," O O O " and "bottled the thunders of Omnipotence." But it would seem an easy matter for a sane man or woman in good health to sit down properly. And yet not one in a multitude does it. Far-seeing mothers sometimes succeed in beating it into the heads of thoughtless daughters, by virtue of extraordinary perseverance, as a means of getting a husband, for who ever married a stoop-shoulderd or humpbacked girl? As for the sous, they are left to take their chances, and assume any shape which circumstances may determine. But it helps vastly in our efforts to accomplish laudable objects to have a clear and adequate reason to second our endeavors. Who does not dread and hate the very name of " Consump- tion"? It does not come suddenly. It begins in remote months and years agone by imperfect breathing; by want of frequent and full breaths, to keep the lungs in active oper- ation. In time the lungs swell out a quarter or one third less than they ought to do ; consequently the breast flattens, the arms bend forwards and inwards, and we have the round or high shoulder so ominous in a doctor's eye. As consump- tives always bend forward, and as men in high health, candi- dates for aldermanic honors, sit, and walk, and stand erect, physically! the erect position must be antagonistic of consumption, and consequently should be cultivated, sedu- lously cultivated, in every manner practicable cultivated by all, men, women, and children. If we can promote this culture without interfering with the ordinary business of life, and without its costing a dollar, a valuable point is gained ; and, considering the importance of the subject, we shall not think ourselves to have lived in vain, if this article shall be practically adopted by any considerable number of our readers. No place is so well adapted to secure an erect locomotion as a large city ; the necessity is ever present for holding up 338 BODILY CARRIAGE. the head ; if a man does not do it, he will, in any walk along a principal street, knock his brains out ; or, if he be unusu- ally hard-headed, knock out the brains of some less gifted pedestrian. Instead of giving all sorts of rules about turning out the toes, and straightening up the body, and holding the shoulders back, all of which are impracticable to the many, because soon forgotten, or of a feeling of awkwardness and dis- comfort which procures a'willing omission, all that is neces- sary to secure the object is to hold up the head and move on! letting the toes and shoulders take care of themselves. Walk with the chin but slightly above a horizontal line, or with your eye directed to things a little higher than your own head. In this way you walk properly, pleasurably, and with- out any feeling of restraint or awkwardness. If any one wishes to be aided in securing this habitual carriage of body, accustom yourself to carry the hands behind you, one hand grasping the opposite wrist. Englishmen are admired the world over for their full chests, and broad shoulders, and sturdy frames, and manly bearing. This position of body is a favorite with them, in the simple promenade in the garden or gallery, in attending ladies along a crowded street, in stand- ing on the street, or in public worship. Our young men seem to be in Elysium when they can walk arm in arm with their divinities. Now, young gentlemen, you will be hooked on soon enough without anticipating your captivity. While you are free, walk right, in all ways; and when you are able, get a manly carriage ; and take our word for it, it is the best way to secure the affectionate re- spect of the woman you marry. Did you ever know any girl worth having who could wed a man who mopes about with his eyes on the ground, making of his whole body the seg- ment of a circle, bent on the wrong side? Assuredly, a ' woman of strong points, of striking characteristics, admires, beyond a handsome face, the whole carriage o a man. Erectness being the representative of courage and daring, it is this which makes a man of " presence." Many persons spend a large part of their waking existence in the sitting position. A single rule, well attended to in this connection, would be of incalculable value to multitudes : - Uxe chairs with (he old-fashioned straight backs, a little BODILY CARRIAGE. 339 inclining backwards! and sit with the lower portion of the body close against the back of the chair at the seat ; any one who tries it will observe in a moment a grateful support to the whole spine. And we see no reason why children should not be taught, from the beginning, to write, and sew, and knit, in a position requiring the lower portion of the body and the shoulders to touch the back of the chair all the time. A very common position in sitting, especially among men, is with the shoulders against the chair-back, with a space of several inches between the chair-back and the lower portion of the spine, giving the body the shape of a half-hoop ; it is the instantaneous, instinctive, and almost universal position assumed by any consumptive on sitting down, unless counter- acted by an effort of the will ; hence parents should regard such a position in their children with apprehension, and should rectify it at once. The best position after eating a regular meal is, to have the hands behind the back, the head erect, in moderate locomo- tion, and in the open air, if the weather is not chilly. Half an hour spent in this way after meals, at least after breakfast and dinner, would add health and length of days to women in easy life, and to alj sedentary men. It is a thought which richly merits attention. As to the habit which many men have, of sitting during prayer, in forms of worship not requir- ing it, with the elbows extended along the back of the pew, and forehead resting on the arms, w r e will only say, in passing, that besides being physiologically unwise and hurtful, it is socially an uncourteous and indelicate position, w r hile in a religious point of view it is an unpardonable irreverence ; a position which no man with the feelings of a gentleman, unless an invalid, can possibly assume, and we wonder that it is a practice of such general prevalence. It is a position which, we venture to affirm, is in almost every instance the dictate of bodily laziness, or religious sleepiness or indifference. Women are not required to stand in prayer ; it is physiologi- cally hurtful ; they should sit or kneel. 340 COMMON SENSE. COMMON SENSE. NOT one in a multitude has it. Not one in a multitude of those who make use of the expression knows what it means. Let the reader try this moment to define it in concise lan- guage, and in a moment he will find himself "in endless mazes lost." Yet it is a correct and appropriate phrase, if we can but distinguish between the possession and the exercise ; the ownership and use of our senses. The word " common " qualifies as to the amount of sense, but does not apply to its use. The exact meaning to be attached to the expression is the use of an amount of intelligence which the mass of per- sons possess. Common sense is the use of experience and observation. It is the practical employment of an ordinary amount of intelligence. Most persons have it few use it. Its possession is common its practice uncommon ; hence the literal correctness of the expression, " Very few people have common sense." It would be plainer to say, "Very few people make use of their common sense." For example. Ask the first man you meet if he has not pushed up his wristbands in washing his hands, with a view to their remaining up, to prevent wetting them, until the operation is over. Ask him, further, if he has not done the same thing a hundred times, and if, in a single instance, he ever knew them to stay up until he was done. And yet that man, until the day of his death, will attempt that same use- less thing: as often as he has occasion to wash his hands with O his coat on, or without the trouble of unbuttoning the wrist- bands. He has, in common with the multitude, sense enough to know that the wristbands will not stay up, but yet he does not use his intelligence. Hence it is appropriately said of that man, " He has not common sense," that is, he does not exercise common sense. A man knows how to be polite. He may be in a company which does not merit its exercise, in his opinion, still the omission of it lays him liable to the charge, " He has no po- liteness," that is, he does not practise it. The mass of people know that jumping out of a vehicle SLANDERING DOCTORS. 341 when the horses are running away, is very certain to be fol- lowed with loss of limb or life ; they know, too, that drop- ping one's self out from behind is attended with comparatively little danger, and yet nine out of ten will jump out at the side not one in a million will spill himself out from behind. Thus every one of the million has sense enough to know the fact, yet only one in the million is found to use it, to practise his knowledge. Anybody has sense enough to know that, if additions are daily made to any vessel, and nothing be taken from it, day after day, the vessel will soon overflow, and there will be mis- chief and loss ; and yet there are multitudes in every com- munity who ruin their health in early life, preparatory to a premature death or an age of suffering, by eating heartily two or three times a day, for days together, without heeding the necessity of a daily action of the bowels as a preventive of irretrievable mischief. Countless numbers of literary men, students, lawyers, clergymen, lose their health, and are laid aside from usefulness and duty, by failing to recognize practi- cally a principle so self-evident, that daily additions to the contents of the body, without a proportionate outlet, must result disastrously. Thus it is we say of many great men, men of extraordinary acquirements all their talents cannot preserve them from poverty. They have the sense but do not use it. They know better, but do not act out their knowledge. The different results from the possession and use of sense and money are striking. The less a man uses (spends) the money he accumulates, the richer he becomes ; the less a student uses his daily accumulation of knowledge, the bigger bore he is. Therefore, save your money us your sense. SLANDERING DOCTORS. A GREAT many jokes are cracked at the expense of the doc- tors, and at the expense of the reputation of intellect of those who crack them; for a moment's consideration, which, by the way, in this fast age is not given to anything of true importance, except by the few a moment's consideration 342 SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. would teach any one that it is to the doctor's interest to keep the patient alive as long as possible, for as long as the patient lives he pays. Witness the desperate efforts made to protract life for a few hours in the last extremity ; how the medicine is poured down every five minutes as long as the dying man can swallow ; how the blister-plaster encases ankle, wrist, and waist, to kindle up again the powers of life, for with return- ing life returns the prospect of dollars. For our part we could never appreciate the philosophy of torturing the poor dying body in the ways just alluded to, to the last moment of existence. The great Washington prayed to be allowed to die in peace. When our last hour comes, hoist the window, throw the door wide open, without a draught ; moisten the lips ; clear the room of all but one or two ; let all the pure air possible get to the laboring lungs. Just imagine, reader, what would be your feelings for relief, if a pillow were pressed over your face for a minute, and you may have some idea of the desire a dying man has for all the air he can get. But as an evi- dence that doctors are not such a murderous class as repre- sented sometimes, the last census shows that it requires eighty doctors to keep one undertaker, there being forty thousand doctors in the United States, while there are only five hun- dred professed undertakers, the irregulars of both not included. SUEGICAL INSTRUMENTS. SURGICAL instruments are quite the rage nowadays. Men and women, as " flat as a flounder," patronize abdominal sup- porters, when the great mischief is, they haven't anything to support. Deaf women, the dumb ones having all died off before the flood, are provided with patent " auricles," which stick out on each side of the head like two great rams' horns, all re- gardless of the fact whether there is any hearing to be aided or not. Then there are shoulder-braces and back-straps, respirators, inhnlers, et id omne, ad infinitum; so that there is scarcely a member of the human body that is not provided with an " aid." The stomach has a million ; amonij the worst GLOVED TO DEATH. 343 are German gin and British beer, made out of worse than bilge-water. Now, any intelligent physician knows that the vast mass of persons who patronize these great variety of supporters, need aids of a very different kind. The best respirator in the world is, to shut your mouth and go ahead ; the most efficient " shoulder-brace" is, to hold up your head and march on ; while the most valuable general " supporter," and the only one needed in nine cases out of ten, is, to make the patient go to work, and compel him to live on his daily earnings. GLOVED TO DEATH. THERE are many almost inappreciable sappers of our life, any one of which might be in operation for a long time with- out causing any alarming condition of the system ; but when a multitude of these are at work, critical symptoms appear with alarming rapidity. The purest water will become putrid if allowed to stagnate. The purest air from the ocean or the poles, if kept still, becomes corrupt in the cleanliest habita- tion in the land ; and the healthiest blood in the systetn be- gins in a moment to die, if for a moment it is arrested in its progress through the system. In either of these cases of fresh water, of pure air, and healthy blood, corruption is the inevitable result of stagnation. To keep them all pure and life-giving, activity of motion is a physical necessity. What- ever tends to arrest or impede the flow of blood through the body, does in that same proportion inevitably engender dis- ease ; any other result is physically impossible, because im- pure blood is the foundation or an attendant of all sickness. Very recently a New Yorker purchased a pair of boots, but they fitted so tightly that he was compelled to take them off before night, but they caused his death within forty-eight hours. The most unobservant know that cold feet and hands are uniform symptoms in those diseases which gradually wear our lives away. The cause of these symptoms is a want of circu- lation. The blood does not pass to and from the extremities with facility. Nine tenths of our women, at least in cities 344 MAKE HOME HAPPY. and large towns, have cold feet or hands, or both ; hence, not one in a hundred is healthy. It is at our feet and hands that we begin to die, and last of all the heart, because, last of all, stagnation takes place there. In the worst cases of disease, the physician is hopeful of recovery as long as he can keep the extremities warm ; when that cannot be done, hope dies within him. It needs no argument to prove that a tight glove prevents the free circulation of blood through the hands and lingers. It so happens that the very persons who ought to do everything possible to promote the circulation of the blood are those who most cultivate tight gloves, to wit, the wives and daughters who have nothing to do but dress ; or, rather, do nothing but dress ; or, to be critically accurate, who spend more time in connection with dressing, than on all other objects together, not including sleep. No man or woman born has any right to do a deliberate injury to the body for a single hour in the day ; but to do it day after day for a life- time, against the lights of science and common sense, is not wise. We may wink at it, glide over it, talk about this being a free country, that it is ridiculous for a doctor to dictate whether a glove shall be worn tight or loose, but the effect won't fce laughed or scorned away, for whatever is done which impedes the circulation of the blood, is done wrongfully against our bodies, and will be as certain of injurious results as the hindering of any law, physical or physiological. Every grain of sand must be taken care of, or the universe would dash to atoms ; and so with the little things of the body. MAKE HOME HAPPY, PARENTS, if you wish to prevent your children from falling into practices and associations which lead to loss of health and morals, and to a premature grave. The love of home, as a part of parental teaching, forms the subject of an article in that very excellent publication, "The Presbyterian Maga- zine," of Philadelphia ; and we trust that all who read it will give it adequate consideration. It is not enough that our children have abundant food and clothing, and comfortable MAKE HOME HAPPY. 345 lodging. There is a monotony about these things which soon tires ; the very absence of such comforts is an agreeable re- lief, at any time, if away from home. It is a common remark, that a child eats almost as much as a grown person, and nothing will satisfy a hungry child. It is strikingly so with the mind ; it must have food to feed it ; that food is variety the variety of the new, the unknown that is what de- lights children of all ages ; and to gratify that delight by presenting to their attention, with moderate rapidity of succession, what is substantial, valuable, practical, is one of the most important of all parental occupations. And parents should feel themselves constantly stimulated to efforts of this kind by the consideration, that, if they do not hold these things up to their attention, their reverses will be presented to them in endless combinations, by the lower associations of the street and of the kitchen. The three necessities of children are food, exercise, amuse- ment. They will eat, they will move about, they will be entertained. The feeding of the mind is as essential as the feeding of the body ; and not half a parent's duty is done in securing house, and food, and raiment. So far from appre- ciating this mental necessity, w r e are too apt to thwart their own instinctive efforts to satisfy it, by our short and listless, if not, indeed, impatient and angry answers to their multi- tudinous inquiries. Under such treatment, they soon learu the uselessuess of seeking information from their parents, and gradually seek it elsewhere, with its large admixture of incorrectness, iuiperfectness, and, too often, viciousuess. In our opinion, neither sons nor daughters should be al- lowed to sleep away from home, unless their parents are with them. We sincerely hope that such a blessing may be secured to ours, until the day of marriage. It is a true mother's love which seeks to keep her daughter in sight, until superior claims come; it would save many a family from social ruin, and many a parent's heart from breaking. As for our sous, it should be impressed upon them, that no business is to require their attention, and to keep them out of the house after sundown, unless the parent is along, as long in their teens as it is possible to secure obedience to such a requisition. And, to make such obedience pleasurable, let it be the par- 340 POSITION IN SLEEPING. enls' study to render home inviting, by the cultivation of all that is courteous and kindly, and by the large and habitual exercise of the better qualities of our nature, especially those of sympathy, and love, and affection. To all parents we say, Keep your children at home as much, and together, as long as it is at all possible for you to do it. No better plan can be devised for enabling a house- hold to grow up loving and being loved, in all its members. POSITION IN SLEEPING. IT is better to go to sleep on the right side, for then the stomach is very much in the position of a bottle turned up- side down, and the contents are aided in passing out by gravitation. If one goes to sleep on the left side, the opera- tion of emptying the stomach of its contents is more like drawing water from a well. After going to sleep, let the body take its own position. If you sleep on your back, espe- cially soon after a hearty meal, the weight of the digestive organs, and that of the food, resting on the great vein of the body, near the backbone, compresses it, and arrests the flow of the blood more or less. If the arrest is partial, the sleep is disturbed, and there are unpleasant dreams. If the meal has been recent or hearty, the arrest is more decided, and the various sensations, such as falling over a precipice, or the pursuit of a wild beast, or other impending danger, and the desperate effort to get rid of it, arouses us ; that sends on the stagnating blood, and we wake in a fright, or trembling, or perspiration, or feeling of exhaustion, according to the degree of stagnation, and the length and strength of the effort made to escape the danger. But, when we are not able to escape the danger, when we do fall over the precipice, when the tumbling building crushes us, what then? That is death! That is the death of those of whom it is said, when found lifeless in their bed in the morning, " They were as well as they ever were the day before ; " and often is it added, "and ate heartier than common." This last, as a frequent cause of death to those who have gone to bed well, to wake no WINTER RAILROADING. 347 more, we give merely as a private opinion. The possibility of its truth is enough to deter any rational man from a late and hearty meal. This we do know with certainty, that waking up in the night with painful diarrhoea, or cholera, or bilious colic, ending in death in a very short time, is properly traceable to a late large meal. The truly wise will take the safer side. For persons who eat three times a day, it is amply sufficient to make the last meal of cold bread and butter and a cup of some warm drink. No one can starve on it ; while a perseverance in the habit soon begets a vigorous appetite for breakfast, so promising of a day of comfort. WINTER RAILROADING. SUCH multitudes travel in rail-cars in winter time, it will be a public benefit to make some statements in its bearing on health. To regulate the temperature of any car to suit the hundred different persons who occupy it, is simply impossible. Only general principles can be profitable and practical. It is better that the car should be too warm than too cold, for the many who come into it in a more or less heated con- dition, from various causes, too well known to be enumerated. A person terminating exercise in a very warm room cannot take cold. A person terminating exercise causing the slight- est moisture on the surface, will always take cold within fifteen, often within five minutes, after sitting still in a cold apartment; and, if continued, an attack of pleurisy, or in- flammation, or congestion of the lungs, is an almost certain event, from either of which results a life-long inconvenience, if not, indeed, a speedy death. Therefore, as to all persons entering a car at the beginning of a journey, it is safer, be- yond comparison, that it should be too warm than too cold. Persons sitting in a cold car, for a time sufficient to allow them to get thoroughly chilled, will scarcely fail to suffer from an attack of some acute disease, in spite of a subsequent warming up by exercise or otherwise ; while it is well known that persons may remain for hours in an apartment heated to a hundred degrees and over without any permanent discom- fort, if they are careful to cool off slowly. 348 GROW BEAUTIFUL. But, as the cars may be very hot in midwinter, and pas- sengers are put down at every station, and often without any fire to go to, it is, most of all, important to know how to conduct one's self without injury under the circumstances. It is only necessary to have all the clothing adjusted hat, gloves, everything before the cars stop; as soon as they stop, shut your mouth, open the door, and run as fust as you can to your destination, or the first available house, keeping the mouth resolutely shut, if possible, until you get within doors, and then remain with all your clothing on for ten or fifteen minutes. The running keeps the blood warm, and to the surface. The closing of the mouth sends the cold air by the circuit of the nose, and heats it before it reaches the lungs. The retention of the clothing allows the circulation to become natural slowly, and while so, no one can take cold. With these precautions, the more a person travels by rail- road the more -hearty will he become, and, eventually, will not take cold in a year's travel. In winter railroading the feet require most attention. The floor of the car is the coldest part of it under any circum- stances ; while a single plank separates them from a zero temperature, it may be. Persons will greatly consult their comfort by keeping their feet on the foot-boards, and, in addition, have the feet and legs well wrapped in a substantial blanket or other covering. It is vastly better to shawl the feet than the shoulders in a rail-car. GROW BEAUTIFUL. PERSONS may outgrow disease, and become healthy, by proper attention to the laws of their physical constitutions. By moderate and daily exercise, men may become active and strong in limb and muscle. But to grow beautiful, how? Age dims the lustre of the eye, and pales the roses on beauty's cheek ; while crow-feet, and furrows, and wrinkles, and lost teeth, and gray hairs, and bald head, and tottering limbs, and limping feet, most sadly mar the human form divine. But MILK. 349 dim as the eye is, as pallid and sunken as may be the face of beauty, and frail and feeble that once strong, erect, and man- ly body, the immortal soul, just fledging its wings for its home in heaven, may look out through these faded windows as beautiful as the dew-drops of a summer's morning, as melt- ing as the tear that glistens in affection's eye, by growing kindly, by cultivating sympathy with all human kind ; by cherishing forbearance towards the foibles and follies of our race, and feeding day by day on that love to God and man which lifts us from the brute, and makes us akin to angels. MILK. MANY persons imagine that the milk of cows is one of the most healthful of all articles, and yet it is a great mistake, except under certain limitations. By stout, strong, hardy, industrious out-door working men it may be used advanta- geously for breakfast and dinner, but, except in tea and coffee, and now and then half a glass for breakfast or dinner, it is not a proper article of food for invalids. In many instances patients have said to me, "I used to be a dear lover of milk, but I thought it made me bilious, and I have ceased using it altogether." This is the common-sense observation of ordi- O nary men one that, without any theory, and against a life- time of prejudice, has forced itself upon the attention. The rule that a man may eat almost anything with impunity, applies to one in good health, eating in moderation, according to the quality of the food ; but when an invalid is to be fed, very different principles are to govern. In all that I may say, I ask credence for nothing, except in proportion as it is followed up by the argument of whole facts. 350 LIVING IN THE COUNTRY. LIVING IN THE COUNTRY. LIVING in the country and doing business in town, is a "dog's life," from beginning to end, as far as New York is concerned. Instead of adding to one's comfort and quiet, it diminishes both. So far from promoting health, it undermines it ; while in a business point of view, it is attended with a multitude of annoyances of every variety. We have tried it under very favorable circumstances, and speak from ex- perience. We know that many persons think that they would like nothing better than to be able to work in town and live in the country. In some few cases it may be a com- fort : it is when a man can afford to go to his place of business not sooner than ten in the morning ; or, if he does not go at all for any day, or two or three of any week in the year, it makes no kind of difference, having persons on the spot who will do just as well. But to be the main spoke in the wheel of any establishment, whose punctual and daily presence is indis- pensable, it is an unmistakable bore to live out of the city limits. The semi-citizen is in a hurry from one year's end to another. When he goes to bed at night, among his last thoughts are and there is an anxiety about it that he may oversleep him- self, or that the cook may be behind time with his breakfast ; so, going to sleep with these thoughts, the instant he wakes in the morning there is a start, and the hurry begins he opens his eyes in a hurry, to determine by the quality of the light whether he is in time. His toilet is completed with despatch ; but instead of composedly waiting for breakfast-call, his mind, even if not on his business, will be in the kitchen. Can a man converse composedly with his family, when the fear is upper- most of his being left by the train? It is impracticable. Even with the case in a thousand, where the cook is a minute-man, he can't for the life of him eat with a feeling of leisure : may be his watch is a little slow ; may be the train is a little before time, and the result is, a hurried and unsatisfactory meal, to say the least of it, under the most favorable circumstances ; but suppose the cook is like the multitude of her class never LIVING IN THE COUNTRY. 351 before but always behind the time what a fretting feeling is present, mad as fire, yet afraid to say anything ; soon the wife gets the contagion, and then the play begins ; stand about, everybody. You are deposited in the cars for town'; accidents and delays will occur; your mind is in your office, may be a customer is waiting, or you are pressed for time to meet an engagement. As soon as midday is past, the solicitude begins lest circum- stances should prevent your departure by a specified train ; this increases as the hour draws near, and when we take into account the dilatory nature of most men, it will be a marvel if some one is not late in meeting you, or making an expected payment ; or a customer does not hang on your button-hole, and you don't wish to offend him. In short, there are such a multitude of causes in operation to crowd the last moments of the business day, that we do not believe that one semi-citizen in a hundred, of any day, walks to the depot from his place of business with a feeling of quiet leisure. When you get home, you are too tired and too hungry to be agreeable until you get your last meal ; even then there is a calculation about getting to bed early, so as to have your full sleep by morning. We ask, Where is the " quietude " of a life like this ? It does not exist. Such a man is an entire stranger to composure of mind. One beautiful morning a sprightly young gentleman entered the cars just as they were moving off. We had seen him often, always in a hurry, always in a pleasant humor. He said to a friend, as he took his seat, "I've been in a hurry from morn- ing until night for the last two years always on the stretch, but never left. Came very near it this time." Soon after- wards it appeared that he had been industriously engaged the whole of that time, and had accomplished a great deal ; for he had, in various directions, disposed of seventy thou- sand dollars belonging to a public institution, of which he was the custodian. If this incessant hurry, from one year's end to another, can promote quietude of mind, can conduce to one's pecuniary advantage, can foster domestic enjoyments, it is new to us. We think, rather, that it tends to fix on the mind a stereotype impression of anxious sadness, which, in the father of any family, to be seen every day, must have a decided effect in subduing that spontaneous joyousness which 352 WATER CUBE. should pervade the countenance of every member of a happy household. There is one little matter which we prefer to speak of before dismissing the subject, which we consider of vital importance, and is the idea which led to the penning of this article. A daily action of the bowels is essential to good health under all circumstances ; the want of it engenders the most painful and fatal diseases. Nature prompts this action with great regularity, most generally after breakfast. Hurry or excitement will dispel that prompting, and the result is, nature is baffled. Her regular routine is interfered with, and harm is done. This is a thing which most persons do not hesitate to postpone, and in the case of riding to town, a delay of one or two hours is involved. This never can occur with impunity, in any single instance, to any person living. This very little thing, postponing nature's daily bowel actions ; failing to have them with regularity, is the cause of all cases of piles and anal fistulas, to say nothing of various other forms of disease : fever, dyspepsia, headache, and the whole family of neuralgias. A man had better lose a dinner, better sacri- fice the earnings of a day, than repress the call of nature ; for it will inevitably lead to constipation, the attendant and aggravator of almost every disease. To arrange this thing safely, breakfast should be had at such an early time as to allow a full half hour's leisure between the close of the meal and the time of leaving for the cars. WATER CURE. ONE of the most powerful of remedial means is the use of cold water powerful for good or ill. Much of the prejudice existing against it is unjust, having arisen from its injudicious application by incompetent men. Any valuable remedy is liable to abuse. Beyond all question calomel, in the estima- tion of the Old School, is worth all the other remedies of Allopathic Materia Medica; but nine tenths of those who employ it do so injudiciously, and one of the great reasons of WATER CURE. 353 this injudicious use is in the fact that inconsiderate practi- tioners, living in one section of the country, have taken " reported cases " from other and distant sections for their guide. So with the errors of water cure. Its wise and safe applica- tion consults the varying habits, temperaments, constitutions, and modes of life of those who employ it. The truly intel- ligent men who practise the water cure, owe it to the repu- tation of a useful remedy to impress upon their younger brethren the value of a thoughtful discrimination in every case. A lady of unusual intelligence writes, "I was so unfortunate as to be over-treated at a water-cure. I believed the doctor did his best to cure me, but the treat- ment was too powerful for a person the most marked feature of whose case has always been great depression of vital power. It produced entire sleeplessness. It was more. I was preter- naturally awake. For four days and nights I did not lose my consciousness for a single moment. A\*nen, at the end of this time, and life was almost extinct, I would fall asleep, and for a week sleep some, after a fashion ; then another of those ter- rible attacks of sleeplessness would come on, and run its course, no matter what was done. In this way I suffered for more than a year, and then I began to sleep better ; but I am sure my system received a great shock, and I doubt if I ever sleep as well as other people. I have been obliged to give up cold bathing altogether. A single bath will deprive me of the power of sleeping. I now use tepid sponging every other day, with soap, and think it agrees with me." We knew an estimable gentleman some years ago, of small vitality, and very feeble constitution. He could not keep warm. The cold-water mania seized him at this time ; he carried it to' the greatest extremes, when chronic diarrhoea set in, and he died. He had two small children girls of three and five years. His theory was, that to secure them a hardihood of constitu- tion, they must have a cold bath every morning. They would regularly come from the bath shivering with cold, lips and finger nails blue, even in summer, and it would be a long time before they could get warm. Their mother, an unresist- ing Quaker woman, of great excellence of character, saw her 354 BODILY ENDURANCE. children paling away before her daily, while her husband had become so fanatical that she saw argument and remonstrance would be alike unavailing. His death terminated these vio- lences. The children rallied soon after, and grew up in excel- lent health, and for aught we know are alive and well to this day. The idea which we wish to impress upon the minds of our readers is, cold water is a valuable and powerful remedy, but as a remedy in any decided ailment it should never be em- ployed except by the direction of a physician of experience and education. Scientific hydropathy is no more responsible for the abuse of cold water as a remedy in disease, than are the Old School doctors for the abuse of calomel by ignorant or reckless per- sons. In the hands of experienced men, both are remedies of very great value, and both in their places are indispensable. Our general opinion is, that all children under ten years of age, all invalids, people of thin flesh, and those who are easily chilled, should always wash their limbs and bodies in warm water, with soap and brush, in a room almost as warm as the water itself. BODILY ENDURANCE. AN ecclesiastic, whose keenness of logic, whose thorough scholarship, whose depth of thought and breadth of view have made his name familiar to both hemispheres, in a pri- vate letter gives us credit for possessing a sounder theology than half the ministers in the land. May be he had not learned that we have considered it a self-evident proposition that the human heart was the seat of a depravity all-pervading. In that respect we are John Calvin, and, if anything diifercnt, with a bend backwards. We do not believe that every hu- man heart is equally bad ; some are worse than others, incal- culably worse, just as of several glasses of pure water, a few drops of ink will color the whole body of water in one glass, making it totally discolored not an atom of it that is not colored some ; a few additional drops will give a more dis- tinct coloring to the next glass, so that of each glass it may BODILY ENDURANCE. 355 be said, as to the water within it, it is totally discolored, yet some are of a deeper black than others ; but all are blackened every particle of each glass is discolored. No atom of any glass is clear ; so no one outgoing of the human heart, in its natural state, is clear, is pure, is without a stain. But the extent of that stain, the depth of its blackness, has a strong exhibition in one of the British Reviews. The article is en- titled "Christian Missions a Failure." That is to say, all the money expended by missionaries for the purpose of enabling the heathen to read the Bible, has been a bad investment; that the effort made to enlighten the nations for a century or two past has " cost more than it comes to " the good done has not been commensurate with the money expended. We can scarcely conceive of a piece of more virulent, ill- natured malignity than that which must have pervaded the heart of the writer at the time of his penning the article. We can all appreciate the feeling which prompts the using of a dagger deliberate, determined, vengeful, murderous ! We would handle such a one in this way : Your composition shows that you are highly educated, that your associations have been of an elevated character, and that you would shrink from making yourself liable to the charge of being wanting in gentlemanly bearing or honorable dealing. But none of this money was yours, not a cent of it. The persons who made that money appropriated it willingly in the direction of an object which you yourself admit is desirable. Do you think it altogether proper for one gentleman to dictate to another how he shall spend his own money, or when he has spent it to inform him that it was improperly done, and hint that it would have been a great deal better if he had appro- priated it in a different direction ? Intermeddling, an officious interference with the pecuniary expenditures of a neighbor, of a fellow-citizen , dictating to him as to its appropriation what is it ? What would you do in the premises ? Here are a number of people who are anxious that certain persons, strangers to them, should be taught how to read the Bible, thinking that it would promote their happiness ;. and thus thinking, they, with a noble consistency, use their own money largely to purchase the Bibles, and to send persons to teach how to use them ; and here is a man in Scotland, a cul- 356 BODILY ENDURANCE. tivated scholar, raised in the bosom of the church, engaging without fee or reward in an effort to throw ridicule on the attempts of those benevolent men ; and in order to make his shafts more efficient, falsifies history, falsifies fact. Verily, we can scarcely imagine, under all the circumstances, a greater depth of innate malignity against the Christian reli- gion. There is one man totally depraved , and the depth of the blackness is unmistakable. The great burden of Bible teach- ing is love to all human kind, industry in all human callings, temperance in all human enjoyments, and unflinching justice in all human transactions ; a book which encourages no wrong- doing ; which winks at no vice, tolerates no crime ; and here is a man who seeks to thwart the efforts of nobler hearts to make this book available to the millions of our earth, who else will die without its sight opposing these efforts on the ground that they cost too much money, not a dollar of which was his. How deeply dark, how unfathomably mean must that man's heart be ! what a disgrace to the noble land which gave him birth ! May he live to feel ashamed of all that he has written. So far from Christian missions being a failure, one single individual within a single lifetime has been the means of ini- tiating instrumentalities which have done more to break up the slave trade, than have the fleets of the three greatest nations on the globe for the last quarter of a century ; a single indi- vidual, by shutting himself out of civilized society for eighteen years, consorting with savages, traversing deserts, swimming rivers, torn by wild beasts, famished by want, and tortured by fiercest fevers, has opened a door to the civiliza- tion of a whole continent, occupied by millions of human beings of whose existence the world never dreamed, an interior continent with its fruitful plains, and navigable rivers, and rich forests, the people themselves comparatively harm- less, friendly, and docile ; and this man is a Christian mis- sionary, a physician Dr. Livingstone, who has "endured more anxious moments, experienced difficulties and perils, and performed grander and more noble deeds than any Cri- mean hero ;'' of whom the Earl of Shaftesbury declared, " His great researches and operations will be followed by great and mighty benefits to the whole human race ; " while Colonel Sir BODILY ENDURANCE. 357 R. H. Rawlinson, the learned Oriental traveller, expressed his belief that Dr. Livingstone had laid the train which would raise interior Africa, with its untutored millions, from the depths of savage degradation. This unpretending missionary has made himself old in forty years ; his face is furrowed by hardships and thirty fevers, and literally black by exposure for sixteen years to an Afri- can sun ; his left arm crushed and made helpless by a fero- cious lion. Having passed through all these privations, he made a journey of a thousand miles on foot, and then farther on into an unknown country, stopping not until he had added to his discoveries that of a river navigation of two thousand miles. And while he has done so much for humanity, at so much personal toil and suffering, here is a Scotchman in scho- lastic Edinburgh, who quietly sits down in his own study and writes " Christian Missions a Failure " " cost more money than the benefits attained pay for." The life of the great missionary presents several features of physiological interest. 1. The constitution of man adapts itself to all climates. 2. The hardships which the human body can endure are incredible until seen, and when encountered without the use of spirituous liquors, leave the constitution as firm and as capa- ble of new endurances as it was at the beginning. 3. In all great undertakings requiring persistent endur- ance of toil, and privation, and exposure, those are most likely to succeed who discard alcoholic drinks of every de- scription, and make up their minds to the temperate indul- gence of all the appetites. 4. Systematic temperance in eating and drinking is capa- ble of shielding the human body from the pestilences of all climes, and from the fatal diseases of all latitudes. 5. That the hardships which great travellers are called to encounter do, by their large exposure to out-door air and daily bodily activity, consolidate the constitution and make it more healthy, while the mental powers take their share of increased vigor and activity. 358 GETTING WORSE. GETTING WORSE. "THE world is worse than it used to was," is the expressed sentiment of many a poor, unfortunate, woe-begone, used-up fellow. His face is as long as a fence rail as dolefully seri- ous as Dan Tucker without his dinner as blue as an indigo bag. He lives down in the cellar himself, and thinks all the world is doing the same thing. Being of no account, doing nothing, he thinks all creation is like his old shoe, "going down heel," while he is too lazy to pull it up. He is of the Neverwas family. Everything and everybody compares un- favorably with the things and bodies of his youth ; he excepts himself, of course ; and while he is the most striking illustra- tion of going backward, he is a firm believer that he alone of all creation has made progress. Who are the people that will have it that the summers are hotter, the winters colder, the beef tougher, the turkeys smaller, the pigs poorer, the pota- toes more watery ? They never saw the eggs so small , or corn- ears so short ; the girls are uglier, the boys ruder ; the minis- ters don't preach as much gospel, nor judges administer the same law ; the sun does not shine so bright, nor do the skies look so clear ; there is less color in the grass and less bloom on the rose. In short, the whole world is getting worse, and they are tired of it in which last the world accords its heartiest reciprocity, for the very good reason, they are of no account to anybody. But who are the persons most given to depreciate the present? Not the money-making man, not the energetic mechanic, who finds he has more than he can do ; not the clergyman, whose influences for good pervade a whole community, and whose pulpit is surrounded by respectful multitudes. The fact is, the world is retrograding only to those who are themselves going down hill. When a man begins to croak about " hard times," and about everybody get- ting worse, the whole world included, it behooves him to in- quire if it is not he himself who is thus depreciating in value, in his industry, his activity, his sterling worth, and his high resolution. Energetic men are not croakers. The resolute, and those whose motto is " Upward " whose actions show SOAP SUDS AT TEN DOLLARS A GALLON. 359 "progress," are not the men who feel disposed to believe in coming ruin. No ; there is progress everywhere elevation in precept and in practice everywhere around us. In all call- ings do liberal views prevail. Take the whole question, and let a single fact decide it. Where a dollar was given in pri- vate charity a hundred years ago to found a college, endow a seminary, build a hospital, or sustain an asylum, millions are now bestowed. A hundred years ago the pence only were given to humanity ; now it is the pound. Be of good cour- age, then, ye noble workers of good ! This world is better for your life, and daily is rising into the more perfect similitude of what it shall be, when, donning its millennial garb, it shall be the sun of all worlds ! SOAP SUDS AT TEN DOLLARS A GALLON! A MONEY-MAKING business that. But is any man so ver- dant as to pay such a price for an article which can be made for six cents a gallon? Yes, there are ten thousand men and women who are regular customers, and have been for years in succession at least so we judge from developments made at a special term of the Supreme Court in the city of New York, Judge Duer presiding. On the hearing, the receipt for making the "Balm of a Thousand Flowers" was produced, and it appeared that it was compounded of grease, lye, sugar, and alcohol, dignified by the name of palm oil, potash, &c. We have seen it recommended in the papers, with various cer- tificates, as the best thing in the world to make the hair grow, to keep the face and hands clean, and to perfume the whole body generally. It so happens that it is a fact that soap suds is the best thing known to keep people clean, to shave with, or to make the hair grow, when it can be made at all, or to keep it from falling out when it has been brought to that state by plastering the scaip and hair with hogs' lard, or any other form of fat, for months in succession this same oil being " good for " making all floating dust and dirt adhere to the hair, when in a reasonable time a layer of grease and dirt is found spread over the scalp, closing up the pores, destroy- 360 AN EAST DEATH. ing the vitality of the hair, causing it to fall out by the roots. Under such circumstances, the "Balm of a Thousand Flowers " is truly a useful article, for its thorough application will be followed by the growth of the hair, when it has been prevented from growing by accumulated filth, or by se- vere sickness. But, then, soap suds will do the same thing, by adding a little spirits of hartshorn or alcohol. In our judgment, therefore, there is no hair tonic known more effi- cient and appropriate for the masses than a bottle of " Balm of a Thousand Flowers," at one dollar, or half a pint of soap suds at one cent. Similar percentages do patent medicines yield, with the drawback, however, of their failing uniformly to meet the reasonable expectations of the purchasers. AN EASY DEATH. NOT the least of all the rewards of a life of systematic tem- perance, is that of an easy death. The whole machinery of the body wears out together. Its fly-wheels and its rollers, its cogs, its scapements, and its springs, lose all their power by equal and slow degrees. No one part runs on in the full vigor of its newness while others are wholly incapacitated. " He suffered a thousand deaths in his last illness," is the familiar description of the closing scene of many. And why? Because one part of the complicated machinery had worn out before its time, from having been overtasked, or had been made a wreck of by destructive habits or exposures. It is the being "temperate in all things" to which the sacred Scriptures attach the blessing of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come ; to which we may allowably attach the meaning, enjoyment of to-day, exemption from suffering on to-morrow. Present health and an easy death are the uniform perquisites of those who obey the Scripture injunction in the love of it. No less a violation of the inflexible law of our being is it to wear out the throat by vociferous preaching ; or the voice organs by injudicious singing ; or the brain by ruthless habits of mental appliances ; or the eyes by persistence in night SLEEP OF CHILDREN. 361 study ; or the imagination by unlicensed delving into the " hidden wisdom," in order to be wise above that which is written ; or the stomach by taxing it daily with a labor it was never formed to accomplish ; or the hands themselves, or feet, by imposing a task on their capabilities which they were never made to endure ; we say these are no less infractions of physical law than are wilful violations of written moral precepts. As to the latter, we have an " Advocate " who can " clear " us ; from the former no power can deliver, short of the miraculous, and that it is useless to expect. It is the regular and temperate who live long. It is the very old who die without sickness or pain whose lamp of life goes out as gently as the last flicker of an expiring candle. Cornaro died at ninety-six, without the illness of a day. Old Aunt Hay died among the nineties, without the sickness of an hour. The Rev. Mr. Davies, of England, had no disease of any kind during his life except poor sight, and died at the age of a hundred and five years. If, then, we covet an " easy death " as to the body, let us obey the Book of books in being " temperate in all things." And more, if we would " die easy" as to the more immortal part, the soul, let us still cling to the guardianship of that sacred volume, and be, like Cornelius, men "without guile," striving " to have always a conscience void of offence toward God &nd toward men." SLEEP OF CHILDREN. MANY a bright and beautiful child is destroyed, or made idiotic for life by their nurses, in one of two ways. By the administration of laudanum, paregoric, opium, or other form of anodyne. By teaching self-abuse, in order that the exhaustion it pro- duces should promote sleep. Medical books abound in cases of this lamentable character. How to guard against them with most efficacy, is worthy of inquiry. All children, under five years of age, will be made the 362 TROUBLE KILLS. better, healthier, happier, and more good-natured, by an un- disturbed sleep of one or two hours in the forenoon. Children under eighteen months may require two day-naps in summer time. If a child is regularly put to sleep at the same time, for only three or four days in succession, the habit will so rapidly grow upon it, that with the aid of quiet and a little darkening of the room, it will, if well, fall to sleep within a few minutes of the time, for weeks and months in succession : such is na- ture's love for system and regularity. We appeal, then, to every mother, as she values the securi- ty, the health, happiness, and sanity of her children, to adopt this inflexible rule. Never allow a child to be put to sleep by any servant, on any pretence whatever, nor permit it to go to sleep at any other than the regular time ; and then put the child to sleep yourself, and, if properly managed, all that you have to do is, to take the child to a quiet, darkened room, place it in the bed with a few affectionate words, uttered in a kindly tone, leave it, and it will be asleep in five minutes, without rocking, singing, coaxing, or anything else. It is wonderful how soon a child learns to do a thing as a matter of course, when it is put in a proper habit by a quiet and kindly firmness. By such a plan of operation, it will be seen that all induce- ment to make a child sleepy, by either of the fearful practices named, is taken away from the servant. To all mothers we say, you cannot safely trust your children out of your sight with one servant in a million ; and, least of all, to one of the plausible sort, who have a ready " O yes, ma'am," to every inquiry or request you have to make. TROUBLE KILLS. THE secret sorrow of the mind, a sorrow which must be kept, how it wilts away the whole man, himself all uncon- scious, meanwhile, of its murderous effect ! He cannot feel that he is approaching death, because he is sensible of no pain ; in fact he has no feeling, but an indescribable sensation TROUBLE KILLS. 363 perceived about the physical heart. Lord Raglan, command- er-in-chief of the British army before Sebastopol, the bosom friend of the Duke of Wellington for forty years, of whom partial friends have often said, " his character seemed without a flaw," - such a man died, figuratively, of a broken heart. In a moment, almost, trouble came like a whirlwind ; ava- lanche followed avalanche, in such quick succession, that no time was left for the torn spirit to rise above its wounds. The British government, quailing before popular clamor, left the brave old man to bear the brunt alone, because it could not afford to recall him, and yet had not the courage to sus- tain him. While the tone of official communications deprived him of his sleep, weighing heavily upon him and breaking his gallant spirit, the failure at the Redan closely followed. On reaching headquarters, a letter was in waiting, which an- nounced the death of the last surviving member of a large family of brothers and sisters ; the next day, the death of a general, his old companion in arms. Next came the news that the gallant son of Lord Lyons was sinking under his wounds. These things, coming so rapidly one after another, in the course of a few hours, as it were, caused such a change in his appearance, all unknown to himself however, that his physician had to request him to take to his bed, and within forty-eight hours he died, without supposing himself to be in any danger whatever. Within a year a worthy lady in Ohio sickened, in conse- quence of some wholly groundless rumors affecting her char- acter in the community into which she had recently moved. She knew they were groundless ; she knew the motives of the miserable wretches who originated them ; but her delicate and sensitive spirit shrunk before the shock, retreated within itself, and, all torn and bleeding, she died ! Within a few months, a most excellent clergyman found the feelings of his people so generally against him that he resigned his office. The resignation was accepted ; but all under such circumstances, that it was really a dismissal, and that, too, for causes which ought to have made every member of the community stand up to him like a man. Conscious of his integrity, and feeling that he had been badly dealt with, his sensibilities received a shock which carried him to a prema- ture grave in a few days. 364 CHAPPED HANDS. M You are worse than you should be from the fever you have. Is your mind at ease? " said a quick-sighted physician to a sleepless, wasting patient. " No, it is not," was the frank reply, and the last recorded words of Oliver Goldsmith, whose " Vicar of Wakefield " and " The Deserted Village " will only die with the English language. Died at the age of forty-six, of a malady of the mind, from blasted hopes and unkind speeches of the world around him 1 He was a man whose heart was large enough and kind enough to have made a whole world happy, whose troubles arose from his humani- ty ; yet the base things said of him, so undeserved, so malig- nant and untrue, " broke his heart." In view of these facts, let parents early impress on the minds of children, It is not what they are charged with, but what they are guilty of, that should occasion trouble or re- morse ; that a carping world should not blanch the cheek or break the spirit, so long as there is conscious rectitude within. And let all learn what the commonest humanity dictates, to speak no word, write no line, do no deed, which would wound the feelings of any human creature, unless under a sense of duty, and even then, let it be wisely and long con- sidered. CHAPPED HANDS. THIS is an annoyance in winter-time ; while to keep them soft and white is sometimes very desirable. To do this, wash the hands not more than once or twice a day, and always in water a little warm, using the finest, purest white soap. Rinse them well, so that the soap be entirely removed, then wipe them with a soft, dry towel, closing the operation by rubbing the hands with one another very freely until there is a feeling of comfortable softness in them. At bed-time, especially of the coldest days, a few drops of sweet oil should be most thoroughly rubbed with one hand into the other. If coal must be handled, or fires made or replenished, do not go near the fire until a pair of gloves, lined with some soft material, are put on. A WIFE WORTH HAVING. 365 A WIFE WORTH HAVING. A LADY writes, "At present I do all my own work, cook for five in family, sweep, dust, and build fires ; take care of my two little ones, teach eight piano pupils, giving to each two hours a week, give three lessons a week to a class in vocal music, besides classes in the school-room several hours every day. In addition, I canvass for pupils, receive our friends, retire at half past eleven, and rise at five in the morning. But I find my eyes growing heavy, and my bones ache with servitude." Who does not feel that a woman of such energy ought to succeed? Who does not regret that she should be called to perform labors so multifarious and so incongruous. In view of this, there are multitudes of married women, not "wives," who may well hide their faces in shame, who, with no larger family, have a cook and housemaid, and yet are ceaselessly complaining of how much trouble they have, how they are worn out with work ; who can dilate indefinitely on the hardness of their lot, and who, without earning a dollar a week, complain of being tired of living in such destitution, and cry and pout by the hour whenever a coveted silk dress, or beauty of a bonnet, or love of a point-lace collar or cuff is not procured, on the slightest intimation of being wanted we do not say M asked for." There are women who think themselves descending, to ask their husbands for anything ; who want money placed where they can get it at will, without any account of its expenditure ; women who, in the vacillation of business, meet the prudent suggestions of re- trenchment with impatient reproaches, if not with downright epithet and rage; who never inquire, "Can we afford it?" who cannot brook the delay of a few days, until the " quar- ter's rent " is paid ; who would not fail to be present at the " opening " of an autocratic milliner, even if it risked their husband a bank protest. What was the manner of the rearing of such wives ? As daughters, they were allowed to have their own way ; every wish was gratified, every obstacle was removed from their 366 TEE AIR WE BREATHE. path without any effort of their own. They were never allowed the opportunity of a self-denial, and were practically taught that the convenience and comfort of mother, father, brothers, everybody, must be sacrificed to their own ; hence they grew up selfish, impatient of control, and, too often, to their own undoing and that of their husbands. THE AIR WE BREATHE. THE air we breathe is composed of one part oxygen and four parts nitrogen. The former supports life, the latter ex- tinguishes it. The more oxygen there is, the livelier, the healthier, and the more joyful are we ; the more nitrogen, the more sleepy, and stupid, and dull do we become. But if all the air were oxygen, the first lighted match would wrap the world in instant flame ; if all were nitrogen, the next instant there would not be upon the populated globe a single living creature. When oxygen was discovered by Priestly, nearly one hun- dred years ago, there was a universal jubilation among doctors and chemists. The argument was plausible, and seemed perfectly convincing, " If oxygen is the life and health of the atmosphere, as we have found out how to make oxygen, we have only to increase the quantity in the air we breathe, in order to wake up new life, to give health to the diseased, and youth to the aged." But, on trial, it was found that it made a man a maniac or a fool, and, if continued, a corpse. Various other experiments have been made, to improve upon the handiwork of the all-wise Maker of the universe ; but they have been successive failures, and thinking men have long since come to the conclusion, that as there can be no improve- ment upon the cold water of the first creation in slaking thirst, so there can no addition be made to pure air which will better answer its life-sustaining purposes. And, as there is not, in all nature, a still, warm atmosphere, that does not instantly begin to generate decay, corruption, and death, so there is no chamber of the sick, graduated to a degree, that will not hasten the end desired to be averted. Nor is "FIFTEEN TEARS IN HELL." 367 there an atom in nature which can add to the health and life- giving influence of the pure air of heaven ; for, if it displaces the oxygen, in the same proportion does it diminish its life ; and, if it displaces the nitrogen, just to the same extent does it loosen the conservative power of nature, and kindle up a fever which is to burn up the body. "FIFTEEN YEARS IN HELL!" " FIFTEEN years in hell ! " as, with a stamp of the foot, he dashed on the table the pen which had just made him a bank- rupt and a beggar, was the exclamation of a gentleman of sixty, who had been born and reared in luxury and wealth. This excellent man, in the course of business, had become involved, but was hoping and striving, as honorable men do, to "work out of his embarrassments ; " and, for all that long time, he did work, and worked hard, allowed himself no indulgences, sacrificed his large property freely, whenever necessary to " meet an engagement." But all would not do ; and he closed the strife by saying, " I am old, and poor, and have no home ! " Not long ago, a gentleman who had failed in business, but had subsequently paid all his debts, and was now acting in a capacity which, while it involved no pecuniary responsibility, Avas sufficient to enable him and his family to live comfortably, said, " I am one of the happiest men in New York, and no amount of money could induce me to repeat my former career. I could not do it. The efforts to keep up the name of our firm would now eat out my mind." Another gentleman, still in active business, who lives in his own house, and who is adding to his fortune every year, said, with the seriousness of a man who, in a moment's retrospec- tion, had lived over the strifes of a quarter of a century of business, " Could I have known, the day I entered New York a poor boy, the cares and anxieties which I have had to en- counter, Manhattan Island, and all that is upon it, would not have presented the slightest inducement to undertake the task." 368 "FIFTEEN TEARS IN HELL:' Within a mouth a gentleman, whose "house," in a single year, cleared six hundred thousand dollars in legitimate busi- ness, has been sent to the lunatic asylum, and has since died, at an age but little beyond that at which men are fairly pre- pared to live to purpose. Little does the careless, and penniless, and light-hearted passer-by of the splendid palaces of Fifth Avenue, and Union Square, and Fourteenth Street, imagine what storms of passion and of fear, what wrecks of heart and hope, what withering of the sweet joys and anticipations of youth, what a drying up of the better and purer feelings of our nature, these stately mansions have sometimes cost their owners. " What did that house cost you ? " is not an infrequent in- quiry. " I am ashamed to tell you ; " or, " More than it is worth," is a very common response. The true answer, in too many instances, is, "It has cost me my soul." To maintain a good name at bank, at the exchange, or on the " street," is an idolatry with many New Yorkers ; and to that idol, rather than be sacrificed, men will offer heart, con- science, independence, everything. A good name, certainly, can never be overvalued ; it is worth more than millions of money to the man in business ; it is as much his duty as his interest to maintain it at any pecuniary cost, at any personal sacrifice ; and it is highly creditable to our business commu- nity that so honorable a feeling generally prevails. But the error consists in men placing themselves in positions which present the strongest of all possible temptations to sacrifice independence, and heart, and conscience, in order to maintain their standing in the business world. Beyond all question, the great, the most universal error of the age in this country is the disregard of the scriptural warning against "hasting to be rich ; " and this neglect brings with it, in multitudes of cases which we never dream of, the premature decay of body and mind together, and, in the sweeping ruin, carries with it down to death, truth, manliness, heart, conscience, all! confirming the saying, " They that will be rich fall into temp- tation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition; which, while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." And again, TEA DRINKING. "He that maketh haste to be rich shall not bo innocent." " He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him." TEA DRINKING. IF the question be narrowed down to "Tea, or no Tea," we advocate the weed. The world will be the happier and healthier by the moderate use of any of the China teas, in their purity, than without them. The immoderate use of cold water is prejudicial to health, whether as a drink or a lavement, and so is the immoderate use of bread and butter. It is the argument of a fanatic to say, that, because the ex- cessive use of anything is injurious, it should, therefore, be discarded altogether. Chemistry decides that the essential elements of coffee and tea are identical, and are nutritious. Tea is a stimulant, and so is any other nutritive article. That which imparts no stimulus is not fit for food. An ordi- nary meal stimulates the pulse to a greater activity by five or ten per cent. Tea, being used warm, and at meal-time, promotes diges- tion by its warmth, as any other warm drink would do. Any cold drink, even water, taken at meal-time, arrests the progress of digestion, until it is raised to a heat of about a hundred degrees, and, if that arrest be too long protracted, convulsions follow, and sometimes death, as has happened to children many times, by eating a couple of hard-boiled eggs hastily, or upon an empty stomach, or, indeed, eating much of any indigestible article. Thus it is, that, as far as the use of tea at our meals banishes the use of cold water at meals, it is a safeguard. Late and hearty suppers destroy multitudes, either out- right in a night, or in the insidious progress of months and years. It is almost the universal custom to take tea for sup- per. It is a stimulant. It aids the stoma'ch in digesting more than it would have done, just in proportion to its stimulating qualities. And, as all eat too much at supper- 370 TEA DRINKING. time, the general use of warm tea, as a drink, at the last meal of the day, is beneficial in the direction just named. True wisdom lies in the moderate use of all the good things of this life. It is stated that, at a tea-party of sixty old women, in England, it was ascertained that they were the mothers of eight hundred and sixty-nine children. The presumption is, that these women were tea-drinkers habitually, and it is equally inferable that they did not drink it very "weak;" yet they were healthy enough to be old, and healthy enough to be the mothers of large families. An isolated fact proves nothing, but this one is suggestive. It is, then, safer and healthier to take a cup of warm tea for supper, than a glass of cold water. With our habits of hearty suppers, it is better to take a cup of warm tea, than to take no drink at all. By the extravagant use of tea, many persons pass their nights in restlessness and dreams, without being aware of the cause of it. We advise such to experiment on them- selves, and omit the tea altogether at supper, for a few times, and notice the result. If you sleep better, it is clear that you have been using too much tea, in quantity or strength. In order to be definite, we consider the following to be a moderate use of tea : A single cup at each meal, as to quan- tity ; as to strength, measure it thus : put a teaspoonful in a hot teapot ; pour on a quart of boiling water ; two thirds of a teacup of this, adding a third of cream, or boiling milk, or hot water, with sugar or not ; this is strong enough. We believe that such use of China teas, by excluding cold drinks at our meals, and by their nutritious and pleasantly stimulating character, may be practised for a lifetime to very great advantage, without any drawback whatever ; coffee also. We believe that the world, and all that is created upon it, is for man ; and that the rational use of its good things will promote the health and happiness of all mankind. COLD BATHING. 371 COLD BATHING. WE detest cold bathing, in summer or winter, except it be to jump into a river, splurge about for two or three minutes, and then dress, and walk home as hastily as possible. All animate nature, except the hydric, instinctively shrinks from the application of cold water, if in health. Everybody knows that cold water cannot wash the hands clean, and yet whole tomes are scribbled about the purifying effects of cold water. Cold water kills more than it cures. Hundreds of children are killed every year by fanatical mothers sousing them, head and ears, in cold water every day. We never saw a modern bath-tub until we were thirty years of age, and ever since the sight we have not ceased to hate it with great cordiality, on account of the mischief which it con- stantly occasions. The ordinary use of a bath-tub is an indecency. A great deal of stuff is printed about the bathing habits of the ancients, about the Eastern nations, and their love of the bath. What if they did love it ? The ancients have all gone to grass long ago, and " Eastern nations" are going to pot as fast as possi- ble, individually and collectively ! The average of human life is shorter, by many years, among the Eastern peoples than among the Western. Of three hundred inhabitants in the United States, only four persons die every year, while six die in England, and eight in France, and the farther we go "east" the greater is the mortality. As to the United States, it is the healthiest country on the globe, as a whole ; according to the last statistics, Virginia, the very embodiment of the " Great Unwashed," is the healthiest of her healthy sisters, and next comes North Carolina, all smoked with pine knots, and begrimed with coal-dust and tar : and it is doubtful if one in ten thousand of its families ever saw a modern bath-tub. How many of our grandsires, now hale and hearty at three- score and ten, ever felt a shower-bath, or jumped into a tub of cold water to wash themselves? Who are they, amongst the beautiful women of present or past time, whose cheeks are the softest, and remain the longest free from the wrinkles of 372 COLD BATHING. age ? They are those who never washed their faces in cold water; and if, indeed, they were washed at all, it was done with warm water, or spirits of wine, as practised in the times of Louis Quatorze. Soft as velvet is the cheek of infancy; and it only grows harsh, and hard, and rough as the practice gains of washing them with cold water. A pig gets 'no cleaner by wallowing in a puddle ; yet men and women wallow in a bath-tub, diluting the excretions from nameless parts of the person, to come in contact with the cleaner hands and face, and even lips, it may be ! People talk glibty about the bathing habits of Eastern na- tions, and the cleanliness of the Houris, who grace the Turkish harem, and then we essay an imitation in this fashion : A Turk takes a hot bath, we take a cold one ; we jump into a bath-tub, a thing which no decent Turk ever does. We ques- tion if there is a single bath-tub in all the dominions of the Sultan, unless it be the pet property of some water-mad Yankee. A Turk washes himself under a stream of running water, after a vigorous first-scrubbing ; so that no impure particle, loosened from one part of the body, can, by possi- bility, come in contact with the body again. We wash our- selves in bath-rooms as cold as Greenland : the Turk cleanses himself in an apartment almost as hot as an oven. We really cannot see how a man can make himself clean in a bath-tub, after the usual fashion. The sum of the whole matter is this : If we want to cul- tivate habits of personal cleanliness and health, let us, at rational intervals, say once a week, have a room, in fire-time, which shows seventy degrees of Fahrenheit, and with strong soap-suds and a hog's-hair brush, let the whole body be most thoroughly scrubbed, almost as effectually as if we were rubbing a grease spot out of a plank floor, then let the whole surface be rinsed with warm water, running from the spigot. When that is done, an instantaneous souse in a bath-tub, or better still, a bucket of cold water dashed on the head, fallirig all over the naked person, and then to be wiped dry and dress in two minutes that indeed is a glorious luxury to any grown person not an invalid. That " taking a bath " requires the exercise of a sound judgment, and that without this, it is not unattended with fatal consequences, New Yorkers especial- WEARING FLANNEL. 373 ly have recently had some sad lessons. The lovely young wife of our national representative at Home went from the dinner-table to a warm bath, and died in a few hours. One of our most distinguished lawyers, the state's attorney, we believe, was found dead in his bath-room. Mortimer Living- ston, one of New York's noblest merchants, '* took a bath one morning, remaining in the water a long time. On coming out, he complained of cold over his entire person, and all the means made use of to restore warmth failed; he lingered a while, and died in a few days, aged fifty years," in the very prime of life ! Bishop Heber, the author of that charming hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," died from the effects of a bath : and how many thousands of children are annually hurried into the grave by injudicious washings, we will not hazard to conjecture. Let those who are wise learn from these things a lesson ; and let none controvert the statements made but those who know something, and can give whole facts. WEARING FLANNEL. PUT on, the first week of November, a good, substantial, old-fashioned, home-made, loose, red woollen flannel shirt, and do not lay it aside for a thinner article, at least until the first day of May, even in the latitude of New Orleans. We advise the red, because it does not full up, thicken, and become leathery by wearing. Wear it only in the daytime, unless you are very much of an invalid ; then change it for a similar one to sleep in letting the two hang alternately on a chair to dry in a warm dry room. If leaving it off at night gives you a cold, never mind it ; persevere until you take no more cold by the omission. No one ceases to wear shoes because they caused corns ; it is the proper use of things which makes them innocuous. The less you wear at night, the more good will your clothing do you in the daytime. Those who wear a great deal of clothing at night, must wear that much more in the day, or they will feel 374 WEARING FLANNEL. chilly all the time ; and our own observation teaches us, that the people who muffle up most are the most to complain of taking cold. But why wear flannel next the skin, in preference to silk or cotton ? Because it is warmer ; it conveys heat away from the body less rapidly ; does it so slowly, that it is called a non- conductor; it feels less cold when we touch it to the skin than silk or cotton. If the three are wetted, the flannel feels less cold at the first touch, and gets warm sooner than silk or cotton, and does not cling to the skin when damp as much as they do. We know what a shock of coldness is imparted to the skin when, after exercise and perspiration, an Irish linen shirt worn next the skin is brought in contact, by a change of position, with a part of the skin which it did not touch a mo- ment before often sending a shivering chill through the whole system. A good deal has been said and written about silk being best on account of its electrical agencies ; but all that is guess- work. We are mere blind leaders of the blind when we talk about that subtle agent ; and until we know more of it, it is the greater wisdom to be guided by our sensations. Another reason why woollen flannel is better is, that while cot- ton and silk absorb the perspiration, and are equally saturated with it, a woollen garment conveys the moisture to its outside, where the microscope, or a very good eye, will see the water standing in innumerable drops. This is shown any hour, by covering a profusely sweatihg horse with a blanket, and let him stand still. In a short time the hair and inner surface of the blanket will be dry, while the moisture will be felt on the outside. If we would be wise, we must use our senses, and observe for ourselves. Some persons prefer white flannel, which may be prevented from fulling up if first well washed in pretty warm soap-suds, then rinsed in one water as hot as can be well borne by the hand. After being once made, a woollen white flannel shirt should never be put in cold water, but always washed as above, not by putting soap on it, but by washing it in soap-suds, not very hot. HOT-AIR FURNACES. 375 HOT-AIR FURNACES. HOT-AIR furnaces ought not to be tolerated ; they ruin the wood-work of any building, ruin the furniture, and, more than all, impair the health of every person who breathes the atmosphere of houses thus heated by them. Warm air relax- es, debilitates, the world over ; cool air braces up, gives tone, vigor, power, to the whole frame. Warm air evaporates every article that has moisture in it, fluids, meats, vegetables everything: these particles are distributed all through the air of the house, to the exclusion, to that extent, of the life-giving oxygen ; so that not one sin- gle breath of pure air is taken into the lungs, as long as the person occupies such a house ; and when it is remembered that during the most inclement season of the year there are days, even weeks, during which the very young and the very old of the family, as also the invalids, do not pass outside the door, it is not to be wondered at that there is not one day, during all the winter, in which health dwells in any house- hold so warmed. But a great deal of the ill effect of furnace- heated rooms may be obviated, if the fireplace is always kept open ; but in very cold weather there should be fire in the fireplace, in order to create a more decided draught towards it, so as to promote a circulation, and carry the bad air more rapidly up through the chimney, and out of the building. It is a great mistake, and an almost universal one, that sud- den changes from one temperature to another are prejudicial to health. If persons will close their mouth, and send all the air to the lungs through the circuit of the head, and thus tem- per it to the air of the lungs, a positive benefit will result, although there may be a change of forty degrees in a second of time. Only one precaution is needed : Shut your mouth, and keep moving. The proof of all this is, railroad conductors are healthy men, as a class, and yet their changes are fifty degrees, hun- dreds of times in a day. In addition, it is known to all persons of observation, that 376 BUCKWHEAT CAKES. the inhabitants of the equable and moderate climates are not long-lived. The " Italian skies," and the " South of France," so much boasted of, do not give length of days to those who enjoy their balmy atmosphere. Our graudsires lived in cosy parlors, and fireplace heated dining-rooms, with passages and halls as cold as Greenland, and yet they boast a higher health than their degenerate sons and daughters. These are facts, and they ought to have a rational consideration. Down, we say, with every hot-air furnace in the land ! BUCKWHEAT CAKES. BUCKWHEAT cakes and molasses make a favorite dish for multitudes in winter time. Why not in summer, also? We need in winter the food which contains most carbon ; that is, the heat-producing principle, something which will keep up the internal fires, to compensate for the external cold. Meats, everything containing fat, are largely made of carbon ; hence, we instinctively eat heartily of meats in winter, but have small appetite for them in summer. The same instinct receives greedily the buckwheat cakes in winter, and turns from them in summer, while other forms of bread materials, meal and flour, are -desired all the year. It is because buckwheat cakes are superior to bread as to fatty matter, while the syrup and butter used with them are almost entirely of carbon ; so that there is nothing more suitable for a winter morning's breakfast than buckwheat cakes and molasses. In New York, where almost every kitchen is under the same roof with the dining-room and parlors, the fumes arising from the baking of the cakes on the ordinary iron instrument, which requires greasing, are not very desirable ; this may be obviated by using a soapstone griddle, which does not require to be greased to prevent the cakes from sticking. Children and delicate persons should use the finest white flour of buck- wheat. The robust, who exercise or work a great deal in the open air, should use the buckwheat flour which contains all the bran, because the bran is the richest pail, yielding more nutriment and strength. THE HUMAN HAIR. 377 ^ If any unfortunate dyspeptic cannot tolerate them, such a one has only to let them alone, and there will be more of this luxury left to those who can eat them with pleasure and im- punity, having had the wit to avoid eating them like a glut- ton. The simple fact that any given item of food " is not good for " one man, does not " set well " on the stomach, is no proof that it is not positively beneficial to others ; it is simply a proof that it is not good for him. This is a practi- cal thought of considerable importance. THE HUMAN HAIR. BALDNESS is considered a great calamity by many. It is brought on, in many cases, by wearing the hat too constantly, or by any other means which keeps the head too warm. An- other cause of baldness is the filthy practice of keeping the hair soaked in various kinds of grease, or allowing the scalp to remain unwashed for weeks and months together. Instead of throwing money away for any of the thousand inert, if not hurtful " hair restoratives," which meet the eye in every paper, our readers Avould do well to at least try the following wash : Pour three pints of hot water on four handfuls of the stems and leaves of the garden " box," boil it for fifteen minutes in a closed vessel, then pour it in an earthen jar, and let it stand ten hours ; next strain the liquid, and add three table- spoonfuls of cologne water ; wash the head with this every morning. It is cleansing and tonic, and if the root-bulbs of the hair are not destroyed (which is the case where the scalp looks smooth and shiny, and then there is no remedy), the hair will begin to grow with vigor. If this wash fails after a few weeks perseverance, the baldness may be considered incurable, because the structure of hair growth is destroyed, the cogs and wheels are gone, and no power can replace them short of that which made them first. But a more certain and more easily understood method of restoring the hair, when such a thing is possible, is to strive to secure a larger share of general health ; keeping the scalp clean, in the mean while, by the judicious application of a 378 THE HUMAN HAIR. moderately stiff brush, and a basin of plain, old-fashioned soap-suds ; for, as a general rule, baldness arises from one of three things, inattention, which brought on a decline of health, dirt, or stupidity. What, for example, could a woman expect better than an unsightly broad path of skull along the line where the hair is parted in front, when she has kept each particular hair on a constant strain at the root, at the same identical spot, from earliest "teens" to thirty, instead of changing the line slightly every month or two, or giving entire rest, by having no parting at all, but to carry the hair backward for a mouth or two at a time, or adjust it in any way which a correct taste and a sense of appropriate- ness will readily suggest to a quick-witted woman. In this way the delicate line of parting may be made to look rich and young to the confines of old age. The judicious cultivation of the hair that natural orna- ment, of which, when possessed in its abundance, richness, and beauty, all are pardonably proud is most unaccounta- bly neglected ; for we are all conscious of the fact, that if the hair is plentiful, and is handled with a pure taste, it will add to the impressiveness of any set of features. As it is, the hair begins to fall before our girls are out of their " teens." In a room full of them, not one in a half dozen can boast of anything on the " back head " but a knot about the size of a hickory nut. If appearances are to the contrary, it will be found that it is a borrowed ornament, whose original owner is in the grave, or has parted with it for a few pennies, or glazy ribbon, or gaudy handkerchief, to " raise another crop " just as rich and beautiful. The girls of Brittany, and the lower Pyrenees, repair to the annual " hair fairs " in droves, where each one waits her turn for shearing, with her rich long hair combed out, and hanging down to the waist. The most valued head of hair brings five dollars, and down to twenty cents, according to quantity and quality. One dollar, in fiery ribbons, violent colored calicoes, and the like, is the average, bringing double these prices when taken to the Paris and London wholesale dealers. The weight of a marketable head of hair, when first taken from the head, is from twelve to sixteen ounces, or from three quarters of a pound to a pound ; under twelve not being " accepted," and THE HUMAN HAIR. 379 over a pound, or sixteen ounces, especially if silken and long, bringing fabulous prices. Rare qualities have been sold at double the price of silver, weight for weight. Two hundred thousand pounds of hair are shorn from the heads of young girls every year, to supply the demands of the Paris and Lou- don markets, and from these we derive our supplies. The hair " growers " seem to be rather a degraded set of people, living in mud huts, in filthy community, garments so patched and worn as to scarcely hold together by their own weight. For once, at least, fashion bows to profit, and the richest and most luxuriant head of black hair is accounted an incumbrance. Caps are worn by these people, so as to con- ceal the hair almost entirely. So, as far as personal appear- ance is concerned, it would seem of very little consequence whether they had any hair or not. But an important practi- cal hint may be taken from this historical fact. Caps being thus worn, there is no need for combs and pins, and plaits and ties, and as a consequence no hair is strained at its roots, nor is it distorted by being pulled against the grain against its natural direction. The Mauillans have the longest, blackest, and most glossy hair in the world. They do not wear caps at all, but allow the hair to fell back behind in its own natural looseness. Taking these two facts together, it would seem that one con- dition for having a fine head of hair is, that it should never be on a strain, and should hang pretty much in the direction of its growth, or if diverted at all, as from over the face, it should be in a gentle curve over and behind the ears, with a loose ribbon to keep it from spreading too much at the back of the neck, the hair hanging its length down the back. The girls of Brittany wear their hair under their caps, so as to conceal it entirely, and those of Manilla, having theirs still longer, more glossy and abundant, wear no caps at all, but allow it to fall loose over the shoulders. One instructive circumstance connected with this richness of female orna- ment is, that in both, one condition is present ; the hair is not strained against its natural direction, nor indeed is it strained at all. But there is one or other condition in the case of the Manillans, which may aid in causing that superiority in length, glossiness, and abundance it is not braided or tied, or 380 THE HUMAN HAIR. knotted up ill any way, but floating in perfect freedom : a thorough ventilation is allowed. It has been found by observ- ant ladies, that when nature is aided in respect to ventilation, by redding the hair very gently and freely night and morning with a fine-tooth comb, its richness, glossiness, silkiness, and length are all increased, as the following incident, related by a traveller, strikingly illustrates. He stated that he fell in with a man, whose bearing indicated that he was a gentleman, one of position, and of unusual scholastic attainments ; but without these, there was a singularity about him which would have forcibly arrested the attention of the most careless ob- server : his hair was the longest, most abundant, the most silkenly beautiful, that he had ever observed in man, or woman either ; and more, he seemed to bestow a large share of his attention upon it, and he was evidently proud of it. He spent a great part of his time, when not necessarily engaged otherwise, in combing it, exhibiting in the operation a careful- ness, a delicate and gentle tenderness, amounting almost to an affection. At night, he bound it up, so as not to be strained or tangled in any manner. Our traveller's curiosity was excited, and he rested not, until he learned that the gentleman in question was a minister of some religious sect, and that his order was debarred every personal adornment, except that of the hair, which was allowed to be cultivated and worn to any desired extent. The priest gave, as his opinion, that the suc- cess of his cultivation depended on gently combing it a good deal in the direction in which it grew, and preventing all strain be} r oud that of its own weight. This mode of treating the hair is strikingly opposed to that prevalent among us ; the practice being to begin, in almost infancy, to part the hair in front, and plait it, and knot it, and strain it, almost to pulling it out sideways, crossways, and upwards ; the ingenuity being taxed apparently to strain it in every direction, so it be contrary to that which it would naturally take ; not only so, but the meanwhile it is kept saturated with any and every kind of grease, tallow, hog's fat, and rancid butter, disguised, intermixed, or partially purified, and then with a flourish of trumpets and certificates, written by knavery, signed by stupidity, and published abroad un- blushingly to the end, that while the fabricators and falsifiers THE HUMAN HAIR. 381 make money, our daughters' heads become mangy, the hair dropping out, the scalp becoming diseased, giving headaches, dulness, smarting eyes, and a dozen other correlative symp- toms. Then comes a subterfuge and a degradation both together, in order to make up for the deficiency, and some dead corpse is robbed, or some filthy Breton or Manillau is despoiled, the deception not being known until the marriuge ceremony has made it too late to be remedied. Out upon it, we say ! these shams of ivory, and cotton batting, and hair of people dirty or dead. Why, most of us young men, if we marry at all, have to risk marrying parts of half a dozen peo- ple at once. The lessons learned by these statements, are, 1. The hair of children should never be plaited, or braided, or twisted, or knotted. 2. Nothing should ever be put on it except simple pure water, and even this not until the scalp is cleaned. 3. The hair should be kept short. It would be a valuable accomplishment, if, when a woman becomes a mother, a few lessons were taken from a good barber, so that the child's hair, after the third year, might be trimmed by its mother once a week, only cutting off the longest hairs, by ever so little, so as to keep it of a uniform length. This practice is proper for male and female, old and young. 4. The hair should be always combed leisurely and for some considerable time, at least every morning, and neither brush nor comb ought to be allowed to pass against the direction of the hair growth. Pomatums and hair oils, and washes of every description, are wholly pernicious and essentially disgusting, because they detain on the hair and scalp that dust and those animal excre- tions, which otherwise would fall off or be blown away. The most perfect cleanliness of the scalp should be sedulously labored for, the first step being that of pure soft water (rained or distilled), applied by rubbing it in upon the scalp with the " balls " of the fingers, thus avoiding wetting the whole mass of hair when long ; after it is thoroughly dried, then it should be patiently followed by a brushing in its dry state, in the direction of its growth. This is most assuredly the best way to give the hair all that beauty and polish of which it is 382, THE HUMAN HAIR. susceptible. It is abundantly soon to allow the hair of girls to begin to grow long, on entering their fourteenth year ; nor should it be allowed to be parted in front sooner than two or three years later, if there be any desire to have the " parting " delicate, beautiful, and rich. But all this while, there should be secured the same perfect cleanliness of scalp ; the same daily ventilation at the roots ; the same daily redding and brushing in its dry state, it being done leisurely and long; while the clipping should be made every fortnight, but only of those hairs which have outgrown the others, or which may have " split " at their ends. Do not " thin " the hair, only cut off the smallest length of the straggling or most lengthy ; the object being a greater uniformity as to length, preventing thereby any undue or irregular straining in handling. As the hair of most persons tends to curl in some direction, that direction should be noticed and cultivated when a beauti- ful curling is desired. As a general rule, we would discourage any application to the hair ; but if, on some rare occasion, we may desire to give greater firmness or durability to any particular adjustment of it, in curling or otherwise, a very weak solution of isinglass is the best thing that can be employed. And if at times any "falling off" is observed, and it is desirable to arrest it sooner than mere cleanliness and im- proved health would do it, one of the most accessible washes is boiling water poured on tea leaves, which have already been used, and allowed to stand twelve hours ; then put in a bottle, and used as a wash to the scalp : it should be of mod- erate strength. Another good wash is one grain of spirits of tannin, and six ounces of spirits of Castile soap, well rubbed in the head every morning, a tablespoonful or two at a time, until the hair ceases to fall off. Curling tongs and papers are destructive to the hair. If anything is used on an uncommon occasion, it should be silk, or the very softest paper, as near the color of the hair as pos- sible. The hair should not be tied at any time with a string, but loosely with a thin soft ribbon, or carried in a loose twist on the part of the neck about the line of the hair, so as to avoid all straining, especially against the direction of the hair growth. The almost universal custom of our women to draw- SELF-MEDICATION. 383 ing it up from behind, for the purpose of wearing it at the back of the head, or at the top, is contrary to good taste and physiological wisdom, the great point being to wear the hair without any strain upon its roots beyond its own weight, and loosely, so as to afford a constant, free, and thorough ventila- tion. It is a great mistake that water " rots " the hair ; it is accumulated dust, and dirt, and grease which does that. Water lightly applied to these accumulations becomes hurtful, by merely softening them, but if pure soft water is cleansingly applied, it is in every way beneficial. SELF-MEDICATION. OF any four persons met successively on the street, three will strongly inveigh against taking medicine and against the doctors, and multitudes of publications are scattered through the land every day by a class of persons as reckless and im- pudent as they are ignorant, assuming to themselves the name of " reformers," their papers being the vehicles of their trumpery, making all sorts of imaginary and impossible state- ments as to the ravages of what they call " druggery," and fighting under the popular banner of "temperance," with maudlin professions about "progress," "human amelioration," " elevation of the masses," "equality," "fraternity," and all that ; and last, but not least, pandering to the passions of a depraved nature, they stab secretly, and behind and under cover of false garbs, the fundamental principles of our holy religion, and indeed of all religion, and by these means have got up such a hue and cry against physic, that even medical men, despicably weak-minded, of course, take up the refrain, chime in with the prejudices of a gullible community, and are getting into the way of prescribing almost no medicine at all, in cases where it was urgently demanded ; doing violence to their own better judgment, rather than incur the hazard of censure, in case the disease should take a fatal turn. On the other hand, as among the people themselves, there is a most extraordinary paradox, in that they have fallen into the habit of swallowing medicine on their own responsibility, or by the 384 SOFTENING OF TEE BRAIN. advice of any ignoramus or knave who may happen to fall in with them, and this, too, for ailments so trifling sometimes, that simple rest and warmth for a few hours would restore them to usual health. Not long ago a lady near us gave a little girl a dose of castor oil for what appeared to her to be a little cold. This acted on the bowels freely, and, by weakening the system, took from it the power of throwing out the real disease on the surface, and the only child of wealthy parents died in forty- eight hours of undeveloped scarlet fever. More recently, a man felt unwell, and concluded to cure himself by mixing with a pint of beer a tablespoonful of salt, a raw onion, and twenty-five cents worth of quinine. Soon after taking it, vomiting set in, and he died in twenty-four hours. Fools cannot die off too soon ; but we earnestly advise all whose lives are of worth in the community in which they live, that in any case where, in their own opinion, they are ill enough to require medicine, swallow not an atom by any- body's advice, however simple the remedy may appear, but send at once for a respectable physician. The remedy advised may do no harm, if it does no good ; but even in that event, it may cause a loss of time in waiting for its effects which no medical skill may be able to make up for. SOFTENING OF THE BRAIN. SOFTENING of the brain is a disease for which there is no known remedy ; its progress is slow, steady, and resistless as an avalanche, and body and mind go out together. It generally comes on with a gradual loss of sight, while the health of the remainder of the body is usually good. The younger son of the "Iron Duke" died of this disease, which is becoming of more frequent occurrence than formerly. For eight long years he had been totally blind, and had amused himself with making willow baskets. It usually attacks men who have overworked their minds. But Lord Charles was neither a student nor a rout; but, being a man of great wealth, he lived at his ease. There were no sufficient inducements to DIETING FOR HEALTH. 385 mental and bodily activities hence mental and physical stag- nation first, then disorganization ; and he died prematurely, in the midst of his millions. Multitudes think it a hard necessity to tug and toil for daily bread, or that it should require their undivided energies of body and mind in planning, and contriving, and laboring to maintain their position. This is not a hard, but a happy necessity, as these very activities are not only the preserva- tives of body and mind, but are productive of those utilities which hasten human progress, develop our powers, elevate the people, and happify mankind. DIETING FOR HEALTH. DIETING for health has sent many a one to the grave, and will send many more, because it is done injudiciously or ignorantly. One man omits his dinner by a herculean effort, and thinking he has accomplished wonders, expects wonder- ful results ; but by the time supper is ready he feels as hungry as a dog, and eats like one, fast, furious, and long. Next day he is worse, and "don't believe in dieting" for the remainder of life. Others set out to starve themselves into health, until the system is reduced so low that it has no power of resuscitation, and the man dies. To diet wisel} r , does not imply a total abstinence from all food, but the taking of just enough, or of a quality adapted to the nature of the case. Loose bowels weaken very rapidly total abstinence from all food increases the debility. In this case food should be taken, which, while it tends to arrest the disease, imparts nutriment and strength to the system. In this case, rest on a bed, and eating boiled rice, after it has been parched like coffee, will cure three cases out of four of common diarrhrea in a day or two. Others think that in order to diet effectually, it is all-im- portant to do without meat, but allow themselves the widest liberty in all else. But in many cases, in dyspeptic con- ditions of the system particularly, the course ought to be 386 SEASON AND INSTINCT. reversed, because meat is converted into nutriment with the expenditure of less stomach power than vegetables, while a given amount of work does three times as much good, gives three times as much nutriment and strength, as vegetable food would. EEASON AND INSTINCT. THE Power which sets all stars and suns in motion, or- dained that it should be kept in continuance by inherent properties : we call it Gravitation. That same Power stalled the complex machinery of corporeal man, and endowed it with regulations for continuance to the full term of animal life ; and we call it Instinct. The irresponsible brute has no other guide to health than that of instinct ; it is in a measure absolutely despotic, and cannot be readily contravened. By blindly and implicitly following this instinct, the birds of the air, the fish in the sea, and four-footed beasts and creeping things, live in health, propagate their kind, and die in old age, unless they perish by accident or by the warfares which they wage against one another ; living, too, from age to age, without any deterioration of condition or constitution ; for the whale of the sea, the lion of the desert, the fawn of the prairie, are what they were a thousand years ago ; and that they have not populated the globe, is because they prey on one another, and man, in every age, has lifted against them an exterminating arm. Man has instinct, in common with the lower races of animal existence, to enable him to live in health, to resist disease ; but he has, in addition, a higher and a nobler guide it is Reason. Why he should have been endowed with this additional safeguard, is found in the fact that the brute creation are to be used for*temporary purposes, and at death their light goes out forever ; but man is designed for an immortal existence, of which the present life is the mere threshold. He is destined to occupy a higher sphere, and a higher still, until, in the progress of ages, he passes by angelic nature ; rising yet, archangels fall before him ; and leaving these beneath and behind him, the regener- IN THE BLOOD. 387 ated soul stands in the presence of the Deity, and basks for- ever in the sunshine of his glory. Considering, then, that such is his ultimate destination, it is no wonder that, in his wise benevolence, the great Maker of us all should have vouchsafed to the creature man the double safeguard of instinct and of a diviner reason ; that by the aid and application of both his life might be protected, and protracted too, under circumstances of the highest ad- vantage and most extended continuance, in order to afford him the fullest opportunity of preparing himself for a destiny so exalted, and for a duration of ceaseless ages. IN THE BLOOD. DYED in the wool, radical, inherent, of a piece, these are various forms of expression intended to convey one and the same idea, to wit a part of a chip of the same block. But by the expression " in the blood," we desire here to convey a moral idea, by the aid of a medical phrase ; an idea repudi- ated by multitudes, abhorred by not a few, but true for all that, as the following narration may illustrate : A city mer- chant wanted a small boy in his store ; one, aged ten years, was highly recommended by a lady, who guaranteed his good conduct, she having befriended and aided the family materi- ally, for several years, since their arrival in this country. The youth was not known to have been in a place of trust before. He proved to be diligent and attentive ; small pieces of money were brought to the proprietor from time to time, as picked up from the floor in sweeping out, and there was an evident effort to please. Within a week of his en- trance, stolen property and money were found in his pocket, which, at the instant before discovery, he declared contained nothing whatever ; but it did contain the proprietor's pocket- book, with money, papers, &c. Here was a systematic effort of a mere child, begun from the very first day of entering the store, by an appearance of strict honesty and integrity in trifling matters, to throw the proprietor off his guard, to enable the child to steal from the shelves and cash-box 388 IN THE BLOOD. without suspicion. We personally knew the facts of the case, and can account for such precociousness in crime, such adeptness in deception, such facility and aptitude for perpe- trating thefts, in no other way, than that both father and mother were thieves and liars, and had never been anything else, having been indoctrinated thus for perhaps long genera- tions preceding. We know that persons are born with the physical characteristics of their parents born with their parents' diseases. Napoleon's mental nature was impregnat- ed from his mother before his birth, when she rode by her warrior husband, at the head of armed bands, for days, and weeks, and months together; while, at the same time, he inherited the disease of his father, and likewise perished with it. It is notorious that three fourths of the idiotic are born of parents, one or both of whom are drunken ; shadowing the state of mind of the parent, bestial, stupid, low, at the instant of conception, as the mould in which the child is cast. Some practical use may be made of these things, but not, we pre- sume, until the human mind becomes more generally, more thoroughly, more supremely religious from principle, high, uniform, abiding. What, therefore, physiology teaches of corporeal man, the Bible repeats as to his moral nature, in the stern declaration, that " the wicked are estranged from the womb ; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." That it is just as natural for man to sin, as it is for the sparks to fly upward, or for a duck to take to the water the instant it breaks from the shell. Sin and crime bring desti- tution, disease, and death. From another direction, then, we come to the practical conclusion, that the time for impressing the future child, with the greatest certainty, with a high moral character, is during the months preceding its birth, just as certainly as a high state of physical health, kept up during gestation, is one of the most certain means of insuring a good constitution to the coming being. It, therefore, seems to follow, that all modes of human re- form, in order to be successful, must be founded on truth, and that the million plans which have been spawned forth on the world, with only a butterfly life, have had their foundations laid in error, in false doctrine, and that false doctrine has colored almost every system of human amelioration which has HUNGER. 389 ever been presented ; it is the doctrine of human perfectibility as opposed to human depravity, innate and total : a depravity not equally deep as to all, but a depravity of varying shades, pervading all, from the new-born infant to the centenarian. Owen of Lanark, Cabot of Paris, Communism, and the Phi- lanstery, all foundered here ; and their defeated glorifiers, now crimson not to confess that their systems are only adapted to the unselfish ; which means really, that to succeed, they must have perfect men to begin with ; but ask them how they will make men perfect, and they are either as dumb as the ass, or utter incoherent ravings about education and the elevation of the masses. Then, philosophers, so called, may blunder and flounder, and prate as they please, but it all comes to this at last, that the very first step towards human elevation is in human abasement; each man for himself must see, and feel, and acknowledge that he is a poor, weak, miserable sinner, and then, in the light of the Bible, look for help in the direc- tion of Him, who is able to elevate and save all who, while looking, believe and live. HUNGER. IF a man in good health has not eaten anything for some days, he will die if he eats heartily. When persons are found in an almost starving condition, light food, in small quanti- ties, and at short intervals, is essential to safety. The rea- son is, that as soon as we begin to feel hungry, the stomach rolls and works about, and continues to do so, unless satis- fied, until it is so exhausted that there is scarcely any vital energy ; it is literally almost tired to death, and, therefore, digestion is performed slowly, and with great difficulty. Hence, when a person has been kept from eating several hours beyond his usual time, instead of eating fast and hearti- ly, he should take his food with deliberation, and only half as much as if he had eaten at the regular time. Sudden and severe illness has often resulted from the want of this precau- tion, and sometimes death has followed. 390 MORAL NUTRIMENT. MORAL NUTRIMENT. WHOSE mind does not run far back into the past with sunny memories in reading the dear familiar lines, " In works of labor or of skill I would be busy, too, For Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do ? " Lazy people eat more than the busy, at least for a while, because it affords them enjoyment ; it is a standing source of gratification, until they become dyspeptic, when every meal becomes more or less a torture. But want of occupation has its attendant moral evils as well as physical. Idlers are nervous, fretful, peevish, cross. Ill- nature becomes a second nature, and they grumble, and com- plain, and whine from morning until night, with chance inter- vals of sunshine, but ever so transient. One of the causes of the deep moral degradation of many sailors, is want of occupation in the interval of their " watches," especially in long voyages. We have many a time and oft been with them in the forecastle, from the full-rigged ship down through bark, and brig, and schooner, and tiny sloop, and have seen and heard all that was degrading in story, and foul in act, profane and beastly, for want of occupation to lead them to higher things. The knowledge of this has led us for a long time past to preserve carefully all our religious ex- changes, our agricultural papers, and the outside half sheet of many weeklies, which, for safety in sentiment, purity of teach- ing, and courteousness of spirit, favorably compare with the religious press. For these a friend, whose heart is in the right place, comes regularly on the first of every month. No win- ter's frost or summer's fife by any chance keeps him away, although gray hairs are upon him, and his shadow is lengthen- ing for the grave ; and going down among the shipping, he hands them to the sailors of such vessels as are just weighing anchor, for the chance that some good sentiment may strike their attention in hours of quietude, and make them think of MORAL NUTRIMENT. 391 home, and sisters, and mother, and minister, the country church, the graveyard close by, and of heaven; for even transient thoughts like these have a restraining, an elevating, purifying power. "These are the best things that come aboard for my men ; they keep them out of mischief," said Captain , of the steamship Prince Albert, as the distrib- utor jumped aboard and handed him a large bundle of read- ing matter. " We don't swear half so much when we have your papers to read," said a hardy Jack tar. These two un- varnished statements are full of meaning ; and we trust that our readers will give them a practical turn, by carefully pre- serving their religious papers for future perusal. A good religious newspaper ought not to be destroyed ; nor, as we think, ought it to be laid away, to become moulded and worm-eaten, in the calculation of reading it again ; for it is hiding in the napkin it is hoarding up, instead of putting out at interest. We have many times copied a good article, rather than mutilate the paper which contained it, thinking that, if it did us good, it would be likely to do as great a good to some others, or a dozen others. Further, those who can write well for their favorite paper, who can throw off senti- ments sparkling and pure, and short, terse, striking, and do not do it, are responsible to humanity and to God for the default. The making of a religious newspaper interesting, useful, influential, by reason of the sterling character of its reading matter, ought no more to be left to the editor, than the build- ing up of an active, efficient church society should be left wholly to the minister. Every man, woman, and child ought to help him in all ways possible ; and so ought the editor to have the sympathy, encouragement, and literary help of every reader who can thus contribute ; for, next to the minister, a well-conducted religious newspaper is an in- strument for present, extensive, enduring good, and they are essential to the times, as counteracting the malign influences which are scattered with a reckless hand by anonymous writers, who can stab from behind and in the dark, or by those who, leaving foreign countries for their country's good and their own safety, boldly solicit to be made the paid con- tributors of our best papers ; and, having left home disap- 392 MORAL NUTRIMENT. pointed and depressed, take refuge in " liberal " views in doctrine and in drink, and pour out their infidelities and atheisms as largely as a sleepy public will allow ; when, at length, having lived up to their principles for a year or two, or more, their death and their nom deplume, with "real name," are, for the first time, made public; the "report" being, "Died" of mania a potu, delirium tremeus, drowned, run over by the cars at midnight ; " died " by his own hand, by the visitation of God ! Such are not a few of the men who, through the daily, the weekly, the monthly, and the quarterly, enter our parlors, and talk to our wives, and sons, and daughters, in gingerly infidelities, in gilded whoredoms. Men of a true humanity and a true progress ! look to it that you write to counteract these poisons, and write as splendidly ; look to it further, that your centre-tables be cleared of all this worse than trash, and assert and practise your right of a proper supervision of what your families are to read. There is "death in the pot," literary and moral, as, in olden time, there was in the culinary, moral death in many a fascinating novel, and high-sounding magazine, and "popular" weekly. Some reason was there in the declaration made to us lately by one of our sternest, most useful, and aged divines, "I al- low no newspaper to be read in my family." Another, of a different profession, who was second to none in position and professional ability, since passed away with years and honors, said, "There is but one daily paper in New York that I con- sider fit to enter a family of daughters." Therefore, while one part of the community should watch the reading of their families with a jealous care, let those who can write well, pungently, and powerfully, feel it their duty to do what in them lies to insure that the literary pabulum of the people shall be uupoisoned, shall be prepared with materials that are morally pure, safe, and nutritious, that the reading for the masses be sound, truthful, and divine. BULL DOGS. 393 BULL DOGS. WHEN quite a child, a beautiful big dog came to our fa- ther's house, no one knew whose or whence. All the children were wonderfully taken with him ; he was fed, and caressed, and played with, from morning till night, and we all thought we had gotten a valuable prize. Before long, however, we discovered a failing, a serious drawback ; there was no reli- ability in his mood ; for, in the very midst of our gambols with him, he would sometimes turn round and snap at us so savagely, that we began to avoid him. Strangers would often exclaim, " What a beautiful dog you have ! " But we could not join in any commendation of him. We let visitors praise him, and we let him alone. Later in life we have found bull dogs everywhere, in every party, in every sect, in every profession, and in very many families. A young man is a suitor ; his dress and address mark the gentleman. He is educated, travelled, handsome. His de- meanor is unexceptionable, and he wins the hand and trusting heart, and makes them his own. But, on a nearer view, after marriage, unexpected developments are made, startling principles are enunciated, the principles of the roue, of the gambler, of the infidel. With such a one a pure heart can never assimilate, and retires more and more within itself; while the other, left more and more to itself, grows cold and fretful ; becomes, daily, more soured ; and complaints, and fault-findings, and growls are the order of the day ; that is a Domestic Bull Dog. A strange physician arrives. He is polished in his man- ners, plausible in his theories, and confident in himself. Courteous in deportment, agreeable and gossiping in conver- sation, he wins his way among the people ; they forsake the man to whom they have been bound by ties of citizenship and near neighborhood for a dozen or twenty years, and the new- comer is all and all. But time develops character. With a remorseless maw, he snaps at his new patrons' purses, bites out, in merciless mouthfuls, the substance of his patients, 394 BULL DOGS. who, just about that time, find out that he is not as good as their "old doctor." But the new one got their purse, and they got their experience by paying the Medical Bull Dog. A minister comes among us. We never heard of him be- fore ; but he "walks into our affections " unresistingly, for we are carried away with his eloquence. As lavishly as corn grains to a brood of chickens, does he scatter around him the bright jewels of thought ; we feel as if we could sit and listen to him always, and he settles among us. But no sooner fixed, than some idea is proposed which we do not like altogether ; but, thinking that we must have heard amiss, it is passed over, and, for "a spell," all moves on smoothly as before; then another new idea is thrown out, rather more rousing than before, in fact, it is disquieting ; and, with the charity which many good qualities engendered, w r e think, perhaps, he did not mean what he said ; had failed to express himself clearly ; but, before the irritation has subsided, another shot is cast, and another, and another, with shortening intervals, until not a sermon is heard, without some expression is made more or less startling, enough to make us feel that it is nothing short of a desecration of the day, and the place, and the occasion. These things go on until, by degrees, the new- comer is " shied " from by the more reflecting ; they cease to wait on his ministrations, say nothing in his praise, and let him alone. Next, the newspapers take him up. They handle him gingerly at first ; but his sentiments and his conduct be- coming more and more "liberal," in an ungracious sense, he is, after much long-suffering, in consequence of his undenied mental power and other bright qualities, reluctantly " read out," and he settles down among the heterodox and the infi- del, where he belonged from the first, and, thenceforward, is regarded as a Clerical Bull Dog. A daily, a weekly, a monthly, a quarterly publication is left at our doors. A close criticism discovers nothing ob- jectionable, and much to commend. It comes, too, at a low price, and we conclude to give it the support of our patronage and influence. It continues good, and, by degrees, we begin to feel a personal interest in its prosperity ; and, about this time, the rise in price to that of others of its class is an- nounced ; we wince and bear it. Later still, there is a BULL DOGS. 395 latitudinarianism in its editorials not wholly agreeable ; these gradually grow more and more decided, to become in time as dogmatical, as impertinent, as levelling as any of its class, and we tolerate when we do not admire; and, as we can't better ourselves, we submit, to be aroused to indignation, even, at sentiments uttered every now and then, jpolitical, social, re- ligious, which almost determine us not to take that paper another day. But we must have a paper ; it is no worse than the others, while in some things it is better ; and we take it still, forgetting that an arrow poisoned with a false doctrine in politics, in domesticities, in religion, especially when barbed with ridicule, never fails to leave in young minds a venom, which remains, and rankles, and corrupts, to the utter ruin, sometimes, of the whole moral character. Beware, then, of Editorial Bull Dogs. The dog which came to our father's house had, no doubt, been kicked out of somebody else's ; we, at length, did the same thing, and he slunk off to find another home. He was a peripatetic bull dog ; his prototype is found in those who go about the country lecturing, professionally, on this, that, or the other specified subject ; but, to cut the whole matter short, we will state it, as our observation, that, with very few exceptions, we come away from a public lecture with feelings varying from dissatisfaction to disgust, and, now and then, with horror ; for, no later than last night, having, for the reason above given, almost wholly ceased from attending public lectures, we heard a man discoursing, professedly, on "Fun." We love a laugh ; for we know it to be a better pill for the dispersion of blues, inanity, and the like, than any of our compounding, hence we go willingly where a whole-souled risibility may be expected. The lecturer pleased us hugely at first. He hit off gaming, and profanity, and drunkenness, to a T, closing, however, with the laudification of Punch, and Thackeray, and Dickens, making quotations from these men as being superior to any sentiment from any pulpit in Christendom ; and, with a twitting of parsons and people, who were so pious that a smile was considered a profanity, he ceased with the growl of a Bull Dog Lecturer. The lesson of this article is Beware of new men, of strangers. Take 396 LIVING AGES. time to " try the spirits." Of social bull dogs, domestic bull dogs, and bull dogs medical, as also those of the press, the rostrum, and the pulpit, beware ! LIVING AGES. IT has been the aim of our writings to inculcate the idea that man should be in his fullest mental prime at sixty, and ought to live in good health a hundred years, and so would we, as a general rule, if we lived wisely, temperately, every day. We expect to be living a hundred years to come, not bodily, but in influences. This book will influence its steady readers, from month to month, to live more or less according to its teachings, giving them increased vigor of body and of mind, to be perpetuated in their offspring, and they again to theirs. This is what we call " living for ages." One of the best specimens of a whole man in New York said of our writings, " They ought to be read, they will be read when you are gone." This single expression, in the busiest hum of high noon in New York, threw over our most time sunny heart one of the most sudden and sombre clouds in our remembrance ; not, indeed, a cloud of sorrow or of dis- appointment, but of responsibility. It came upon us like the weight of au avalanche, starting the inquiry, Have I written truthfully? invitingly? Have I, in anything, hoisted a false light, which some foundering brother long afterwards looking trustfully to, shall mislead and make a wreck of? Then came the resolve, We will write more carefully here- after, especially as our readers are more than fivefold what they ever were before. The next moment our thoughts ran away off among our brother editors, and then all the writers and clergymen. Do they feel as fully as they ought, that every line they write, every sentiment they utter, are pebbles thrown on the bosom of the great sea of human life, which shall make waves of influences that, for all times, shall aid in propelling some human brother to glad successes, or to bitter disappointments, to final happiness, or to ultimate despair? Let us resolve then, one and all, as we must "live BEAUTIFUL OLD AQE. 397 for ages," for good or for ill, that we will live to elevate and bless humanity, by being truthful in every line we write, in every sentiment we utter. BEAUTIFUL OLD AGE. " WHAT a lovely old man he was, so simple and modest." Such is a traveller's testimony of a sage in his ninetieth year ; a man " whose greatness has not destroyed his nobleness of heart, but nobleness of heart has rendered still greater." The author of " Cosmos " stands out among a million of men in his intelligence, in his age, in his striking physiognomy ; the blue bright eye, the "massive forehead, deep, broad, over- hanging ; " and the heart, too, stands out, in even higher relief, than all the others, and the stranger apostrophizes, " What a lovely old man ! " Religion makes a man lovely in his age ; true and deep science makes a man lovely in age ; and so does a real great heart : but the imperfections of our nature altogether fail to do it, too often, when there is not sound bodily health under- lying the whole. It is good health which moulds the features in smiles, which warms up the affections, and mellows the heart with human sympathies ; on the other hand, illness cor- rugates the brow, freezes up the fountains of loviuguess, and despondency and fretfulness reign supreme, unless counter- acted by high Christian principles. With so much depending on bodily health when gray hairs come upon us, who shall not say that, next to securing a Bible piety, it should be the aim of all who are truly wise to do what is possible by study, by observation and steady self-denial, to maintain all the time a high state of bodily health. To grow kindly as age comes on, is to grow in likeness to, and a fit preparation for, companionship with angels in the mansions where all is love ; but to grow cross, and peevish, and complaining, by reason of the irritating influences which a diseased and suffering body exercises over the heart, making it a leafless tree, sapless and dry, when it should have boughs 398 OBJECT OF EATING. bending almost to the earth with the delicious fruits of a loving nature, how wide the contrast ! Old age with religion and health, and old age with neither, let Cornaro and Voltaire be the representative men ; and let every man determine with- in the hour which portrait he will set to, in what mould he shall be cast, forgetting not that that mould is in process of formation now. OBJECT OF EATING. TAKING food into the body is called eating, passing it from the body is called defecation. Three fourths of all our ailments occur, or are kept in con- tinuance, by preventing the daily food which is eaten from passing out of the body, after its substance has been extracted by the living machinery for the purpose of renovation and growth. A healthy laboring man will eat daily two pounds of solid food, of meat, bread, vegetables, and fruit ; these two pounds, if brought together in one heap, would till to over- flowing the largest sized dinner-plate, and yet there are myriads of grown-up men and women to whom the idea has never occurred, that if this mass is retained in the body, day by day, inevitable harm must accrue. If a man eats two pounds daily, near two pounds daily must in some way or other pass from his body, or disease and premature death is a speedy and inevitable result. The object of passing food through the body is threefold in youth ; in maturity, two : for growth, sustenance, and repair in the one, in the latter for support and repair only ; that is, nutrition ; and the process by which the system separates the nutriment from the food is called digestion ; the distribution of this digested material to the different parts of the body where needed, for the purpose of being incorporated into bone, flesh, nerve, and tendon, is termed assimilation. HEART DISEASE. 399 HEART DISEASE. WHEN an individual is reported to have died of a " Disease of the Heart," we are in the habit of regarding it as an inevi- table event, as something which could not have been foreseen or prevented ; and it is too much the habit, when persons sud- denly fall down dead, to report the " heart" as the cause ; this silences all inquiry and investigation, and saves the trouble and inconvenience of a repulsive "post mortem." A truer report would have a tendency to save many lives. It is through a report of " disease of the heart " that many an opium eater is let off into the grave, which covers at once his folly and his crime ; the brandy drinker, too, quietly slides round the corner thus, and is heard of no more ; in short, this report of " disease of the heart " is the mantle of charity, which the politic coroner and the sympathetic physician throw around the grave of "genteel people." At a late scientific congress at Strasburg, it was reported, that of sixty-six persons who had suddenl} 7 died, an immediate and faithful post mortem showed that only two persons had any heart affection whatever : one sudden death only, in thirty- three, from disease of the heart. Nine out of the sixty-six died of apoplexy, one out of every seven ; while forty-six, more than two out of three, died of lung affections, half of them of "congestion of the lungs," that is, the lungs were so full of blood they could not work ; there was not room for air enough to get in to support life. It is, then, of considerable practical interest to know some of the common every-day causes of this " congestion of the lungs," a disease which, the figures above being true, kills three times as many persons, at short warning, as apoplexy and heart disease together. Cold feet, tight shoes, tight clothing, costive bowels ; sitting still, until chilled through and through after having been warmed up by labor or a long or hasty walk ; going too suddenly from a close, heated room, as a lounger, or listener, or speaker, while the body is weak- ened by continued application, or abstinence, or heated by the effort of a long address ; these are the fruitful, the very 400 SLEEPING TOGETHER. fruitful causes of sudden death in the form of " congestion of the lungs ; " but which, being falsely reported as "disease of the heart," and regarded as an inevitable event, throws people off their guard, instead of pointing them plainly to the true causes, all of which are avoidable, and very easily so, as a general rule, when the mind has been once intelligently drawn to the subject. SLEEPING TOGETHER. IF a man were to see a quarter of an inch of worm put in his cup of coffee, he could not drink it, because he knows that the whole cup would be impregnated. If a very small amount of some virulent poison be introduced into a glass of water, the drinking of it might not produce instant death, but that would not prove that it was not hurtful, only that there was not enough of it to cause a destructive result immediately. We sicken at the thought of taking the breath of another the moment it leaves the mouth, but that breath mingles with the air about the bed in which two persons lay ; and it is re- breathed, but not the less offensive is it in reality, on account of the dilution, except that it is not taken in its concentrated form ; but each breath makes it more concentrated. One sleeper corrupts the atmosphere of the room by his own breathing, but when two persons are breathing at the same time, twelve or fourteen times in each minute, in each minute extracting all the nutriment from a gallon of air, the deteriora- tion must be rapid indeed, especially in a small and close room. A bird cannot live without a large supply of pure air. A canary bird, hung up in a curtained bedstead where two persons slept, died before the morning. Many infants are found dead in bed, and it is attributed to having been overlaid by the parents ; but the idea that any person could lay still for a moment on a baby, or anything else of the same size, is absurd. Death was caused by the want of pure air. Besides, emanations aerial and more or less solid, are thrown out from every person, thrown out by the processes of nature, because no longer fit for life purposes, because they are dead SURFEIT. 401 and corrupt ; but if breathed into another living body, it is just as abhorrent as if we took into our mouths the matter of a sore or any other excretion. The most destructive typhoid and putrid fevers are known to arise directly from a number of persons living in the same small room. Those who can afford it, should therefore arrange to have each member of the family sleep in a separate bed. If per- sons must sleep in the same bed, they should be about the same age, and in good health. If the health be much unequal, both will suffer, but the healthier one the most, the invalid suffering for want of an entirely pure air. So many cases are mentioned in standard medical works, where healthy, robust infants and larger children have dwin- dled away, and died in a few months from sleeping with grand- parents, or other old persons, that it is useless to cite special instances in proof. It would be a constitutional and moral good for married persons to sleep in adjoining rooms, as a general habit. It would be a certain means of physical invigoration, and of advantages in other directions, which will readily occur to the reflective reader. Kings and queens, and the highest person- ages of courts, have separate apartments. It is the bodily em- anations, collecting and concentrating under the same cover, which are most destructive to health, more destructive than the simple contamination of an atmosphere breathed in com- mon. SURFEIT. SURFEIT in man is called founder in a horse, and is over- eating, eating more than the stomach can possibly convert into healthful blood. Wise men, and careful men, will sometimes inadvertently eat too much, known by a feeling of fulness, of unrest, of a discomfort which pervades the whole man. Under such circumstances, we want to do something for relief; some eat a pickle, others swallow a little vinegar, a large number drink brandy. We have swallowed too much ; the system is oppressed and nature rebels ; instinct comes to the rescue and 402 CHILDREN'S EATING. takes away all appetite, to prevent our adding to the burden by a morsel or a drop. The very safest, surest, and least hurtful remedy, is to walk briskly in the open air, rain or shine, sun, hail, or hurricane, until there is a very slight moisture on the skin ; then regulate the gait, so as to keep the perspiration at that point, until entire relief is afforded, indicated by a gen- $ral abatement of the discomfort ; but as a violence has been offered to the stomach, and it has been wearied with the ex- tra burden imposed upon it, the next regular meal should be omitted altogether. Such a course will prevent many a sick hour, many a cramp, colic, many a fatal diarrhrea. CHILDREN'S EATING. WHEN a child is observed to have little or no appetite for breakfast, sickness of some kind is impending. If in addition to this indifference for food in the morning, there is a uniform desire for a hearty supper at the close of the day, a dyspepsia for life will be founded, which will embitter many an other- wise happy hour ; or some other form of chronic disease will result, which medical skill, for many years, will often fail to eradicate. This want of appetite in the morning, and this over-appetite late in the day, is the creator of disease in multitudes of grown persons who have reached maturity in good health, but whose change of position, of business, or of associations, has gradu- ally led to the perversion of nature's laws. Young children naturally, in common with the animal crea- tion, are greedy for breakfast, after the long abstinence of twelve hours ; this is the natural arrangement, and it is wise. As persons of any intelligence at all cannot but know that eating heartily late in the day is destructive of health, we need not stop here to prove it ; but by pointing out an easy remedy, we will, if it is attended to by every reader, arrest more disease, and save more life, than can easily be computed. The importance of attending to what we shall say is such, that we entreat all parents who have any true wisdom and affec- tion, who have an abiding desire for the future happiness of WELL DONE. 403 their offspring, to give it their mature consideration, their steady and prompt attention. Allow nothing to be eaten between meals, not an atom of anything, and let the time of eating be fixed, and regular to a minute almost, for nature loves regularity. On the first evening allow the child just half of his common supper. In three or four days diminish the last allowance one half more. For another week allow nothing at all but one or two ordinary slices of cold bread and butter, and a cup of hot water and milk, with sugar in it, called cambric tea, from its similarity in color to that fabric. Meanwhile the ap- petite for breakfast will gradually increase, until it becomes a hearty meal, and all the exercise of the day will go to its thorough digestion, and perfect adaptation to the nutrition of the whole system. It is contrary to physiological law, to nature and to com- mon sense, to eat an atom of anything later than an hour after sundown, and alike contrary to all these is it, to make the last meal of the day the heartiest one, as in the manner of five o'clock dinners. WELL DONE. To do anything well, there should be a sound mind in a healthy body. There have been men who were perhaps never well, never for an hour enjoyed good health, and yet they lived to purpose, for their deeds are this day exerting a hap- pifying influence on mankind. William the Conqueror was a wheezing asthmatic all his days. Bishop Hall was a martyr to pain as ceaseless as it was severe. Baxter had an infirmity of constitution, and, from early youth to the grave, labored under bodily disease and wearing pains. Calvin scarcely knew, in twenty years, what it was to have a well day. No doubt the sufferings of these men aided in moulding their char- acters to a form which the age required. The most we can say of these cases is, that their diseased condition was over- ruled, and good was brought out of it. What greater good might have resulted had they been men of stalwart coustitu- 404 LIQUOR DRINKING. tions, we may never know, but certain it is, that when we are well, thought is a pleasure, and labor is a pleasure, but when sick, both are a burden, and every thought, and every an mind, in pro- portion as agricultural papers are taken, for several reasons : these publications uniformly contain a large amount of unex- ceptionable family reading, as to health, temperance, and sound morals ; they will also gradually waken up the mind of farming people to experiments, to what is often sneeringly styled " scientific farming." Every day the helter-skelter mode of agriculture is becoming less and less remunerative ; every day it is becoming more and more necessary to study the laws of vegetable growth, the habitudes and needs of plants, and grains, and trees ; and in proportion as this is done, and the analysis of soils becomes an indispensable pre- requisite, there will be a world of novelty and light to break in upon the farming mind to interest, electrify, and enrich. The time will come when to attempt the successful manage- jnent of a farm, large or small, without some considerable practical knowledge of chemistry, and botany, and geology, will be considered the extreme of Quixotism. Meanwhile, let farmers and farmers' wives, with their children, bear in mind that, to diminish the chances of a dyspeptic or bilious madness, or a premature death from acute disease, they should practise habits of personal cleanliness and bodily regularity ; should eat only at regular hours, not oftener than thrice a day, and never between meals, swallowing not an atom after sundown ; A DANGEROUS CURIOSITY. 501 eat always slowly and with great deliberation ; take nothing for the last meal of the day beyond some cold bread and butter and a single cup of water or warm drink, so as to throw the main meal to breakfast or dinner, thus having all the exercise of the day to w grind it up," to convert it into healthful nutri- ment. Avoid damp clothing, and cold or wet feet ; keep out of even the slightest draught of air after all forms of exercise ; and all the while practise, as to the body, regularity, tem- perance, and self-denial ; while, as to the mind, cultivate a cheerful spirit, a courteous temper, and a loving heart. The great general idea is this, that as between farmers and citizens of the largest cities, the chances are in favor of the latter as to length of life and mental integrity ; that less bodily exercise and more mental activity bring better results in the long run, than more exercise and less mental activities ; that what tends to waken up and divert the attention, is quite as indispensable to our well-being as bodily activities. A DANGEROUS CURIOSITY. IT is the most natural thing in the world, when you have gone to bed, to get up, run to the window, hoist it and look out, at an alarm of fire or any unusual noise or clamor going on outside. A lady was roused from her sleep by a cry of " Fire 1 " Her chamber was as bright almost as day when she opened her eyes. She went to the window, and soon saw that it was her husband's cotton factory. She felt on the instant a shock at the pit of the stomach ; the result was a painful disease, which troubled her for the remainder of her life, a period of nearly fifteen years. A young lady, just budding into womanhood, was called by the sound of midnight music to the window, and in her un- dress leaned her arm on the cold sill ; the next day she had an attack of inflammation of the lungs which nearly killed her. She eventually recovered, only to be the victim of a life-long asthma, the horrible suffering from the oft-repeated attacks of which, during now these twenty years, is the painful penalty, to be paid over and over again as long as life lasts. 502 TRIALS OF LIFE. A letter just received from a successful banker, who has been an invalid for five years, every now and then spitting blood by the pint, with a harassing cough which makes every night and morning a purgatory, states that the immediate cause of all his sufferings, and the final blasting of life's pros- pects, was his getting up on a cool night to look out of his chamber window, his body being in a perspiration at the time. That sturdy old Trojan, Dr. Johnson, used to say, that "man- kind did not so much require instructing as reminding ; " hence the present reminder, that it is dangerous for people to be poking their nightcaps out of windows after nightfall. Another mischievous habit, in the same direction, may have pertinent mention here : standing in the street doorway in cold weather, while the door itself is open, in taking leave of visitors. The cold air from without rushes into the dwelling, causing a draught, which chills the whole body almost instant- ly. It is a hundred times safer to close the door and stand without, bareheaded. Many a tedious case of sickness and suffering has been occasioned, and even life itself has been lost, by an exposure apparently so trifling. May our readers remember these things, and teach them to their children on the instant. TRIALS OF LIFE. WE start upon life's journey full of hope, full of gladness, and full of joyous ambition, confident in our own strength and in the support of friends and kindred stationed round about us, on whom we lean with great satisfaction ; but as years pass on, one of the outposts, the supports, falls ; and then another and an- other, each succeeding year, leaving one or more the less. For a while we scarcely miss the acquaintances and friends of our childhood, for we have so many ; but as time rolls on, the num- ber becomes so small that each additional loss makes a greater void. Father, mother, brothers, sisters, our oldest neighbors, all gone ; the minister of our youth has grown gray before us, he, too, has passed away ; and beyond a schoolmate here, and another there, nothing is left to connect us with the times and the home of childhood, and such a feeling of desolation SPRING SUGGESTIONS. 503 comes over us, that we are ready to sink ill perfect helpless- ness and despair. To the old who uiay chance to read these lines, the suggestion is made, which, if wisely heeded, may save the body from sinking under the whelming load, and it is this : He who made us is the Father of us all ; and the dispensations of this life are designed to prepare us the more certainly for a beatific existence beyond the grave, and to en- able us to make the transition with the least violence ; and, at the same time, to train us to those habitudes of heart which will the more elevate us in the world beyond, he arranges that we shall learn to lean less on ourselves, less on others, and more on himself, as a weary man leans on a staff; and the sooner we begin to learn thus to lean, the happier we shall be in time, and the more ready shall we find ourselves to take up the returnless journey, without a murmur and without a sigh. There are no words more beautiful and more true, in any lan- guage, than that " GOD is LOVE " to all his true children ; and the longer they live, the more constantly does he gather him- self about them with his providences, not, certainly, in the way that man's wisdom would devise, but in the manner most surely to eventuate in their safe arrival at their heavenly home. So that, while it is natural that we should feel the death of those who are near to us more and more acutely the older we grow, we should gain even physical power to resist the most .crushing trials in the sweet reflection, that behind the darkest cloud a loving Father hides a face all radiant with pity, sympathy, and affection, to be shown in due time, when faith has done its perfect work. So that, for life's suf- ferings, there is a balm in Gilead, there is a Physician there ! SPRING SUGGESTIONS. Do not take off your winter flannel sooner than the first of May, but then change to a thinner article of the same material. They are wisest and healthiest who wear woollen flannel the whole year. Sailors wear it in all latitudes and all seasons. Arrange to have a fire kept up all day in the family room, however warm it may be out of doors, until the first of May ; 504 SPUING SUGGESTIONS. and in the morning and evening, daily, until the first of June. The author has lived in the most malarial region in the world, perhaps, and when the thermometer was a hundred and twelve at noon, a fire was regularly kindled at sunrise and sunset in his office, and sat by. Disease, malignant fever, and death reigned in every direction, and yet he had not a second's sickness. It is because a brisk fire not only creates a draught, and thus purifies a room, but so rarifies the deadly air that it is carried to the ceiling, where it cannot be breathed. The simple precaution of having a fire kindled in the family room at sunrise and sunset, in late spring and early fall, is known by eminent names in the army and navy surgery to be the most efficient preventive of all forms of fever and ague, and spring and fall diseases ; in flat, wet, warm countries, it is almost a specific against those diseases. No man would be considered sane who should keep up as hot fires in his house as the spring advances as he did in midwinter. Food is the fuel which keeps the human house the body warm ; hence, if as much is eaten in spring as in winter, we are kept too warm ; we burn up with fever ; we are oppressed ; we suffer from lassitude. All nature takes a new lease of life with spring but man. It is because he alone is unwise. The brute beasts, the cow, the horse, the ox, these turn to a new diet and go out to grass, to crop every green thing ; they would never come to the stable or barnyard of choice, to eat the " heating," " binding " oats and corn on which they luxuriated during the winter; they eat watery food, which is light and purifying. Not so with man ; he continues his meats and fats, his greases and his gravies, as at Christinas. Watchful nature takes away his appetite for these, and because he does not " relish " them as he did a few weeks before, he begins to con- clude that something is the matter, and measuring the amount of his health by the amount he can send down his throat, he begins to stimulate the appetite, thinks he must use some tonic, readily assents to any suggestion which includes bitters and whiskey, especially the latter ; in addition, he puts more mustard, and pepper, and catsup on his meats, seasons every- thing more heavily, until nature has been goaded so that she will bear no more, and yields to the fatal dysentery or bilious SPRING SUGGESTIONS. 505 colic, or, happily, relieves herself by a copious diarrhoea. Does not every reader know that fever, and flux, and diarrhoea are common ails of spring? But you did not know one of the two chief causes, man's gluttony, as above described ! Tens of thousands of lives would be saved every spring, and an incalculable amount of human discomfort would be pre- vented, if, early in March, or, at most, by the first of April, meat, and grease, and fried food of every description, were banished from the table wholly, at least for breakfast and supper. If meat will be eaten for dinner, let it be lean ; use hominy and " samp " largely ; have no fries, eat but little but- ter ; use eggs, celery, spinach, vinegar ; keep the body clean ; spend every hour possible in the open air, snuffing in the spring ; but by every consideration of wisdom and of health, have a good fire to come to and sit by with all your garments on, for eight or ten minutes after all forms of exercise ; other- wise, you will wake up next morning as stiff as a bean-pole, and as " sore " as if you had been pounded in a bag, to the effect of your exercise having done you more harm than good ; and, concluding that work don't agree with you, however beneficial it may be to others, you take no more for weeks and months. Man is, certainly, the biggest mule that ever was created. For the sake of giving some general idea as to how much sedentary persons should eat in spring, particularly those who are most of the time indoors, it may be well to name the bill of fare. At breakfast, take a single cup of weak coffee or tea, some cold bread and butter, with one or two soft-boiled eggs, and nothing else. Twice a bit of ham or salt fish may be used in place of the eggs ; but then no meat should be eaten for dinner that day. If there is no appetite for eggs or the salt meat, it is because nature needs nothing more than the bread and butter and the drink ; and nature is wise. When there is not much inclination to eat, a baked or roasted potato, with a little salt and butter, is a good substitute for an egg or piece of ham. Substitutes for these, again, are found in a roasted apple, or in stewed fruit or cranberry sauce. Dinner, cold bread and butter, and a piece of lean meat of any sort, with baked or roasted potatoes, or some other vegetable ; as dessert, stewed fruits or berries of any sort, and nothing else. 506 CBOUPY SEASON. Supper, a single cup of weak tea, some cold stale bread and butter, and nothing else whatever; any "relish," as it is called, whether in the shape of a bit of dried beef, or cold ham, or sauce, or preserves, or cake, is nothing less than an absolute curse. This is strong language ; but such things do give millions of persons restless nights, uncomfortable awak- enings, and succeeding days of unwellness in every degree, from simple fidgets to ennui, ill-nature, fretfulness, and the whole catalogue of little, mean, low traits of character, such as snappishness, fault-finding, querulousness, glooms, and the like ; this is because nature does not need food for supper, does not call for it ; and a plain tea-table, with nothing but bread and butter on it, repels us the moment we enter the room. The next thing is to have something which has more taste in it, which * relishes ; " in other words, which tempts nature to take what she would not otherwise have done ; and when once inveigled into the stomach, it must be got rid of; but no preparation has been made for it ; it is as unwelcome as the appearance of a friend at dinner on a washing day. The result is, that what has been eaten is imperfectly digest- ed, a bad blood is made of it, and this, being mixed with the good blood of the system, renders the whole mass of blood in the body imperfect and impure ; and as the blood goes to every part of the system, there is not a square inch of it that is not ready for disease of some sort, those parts being most liable to attack which had suffered previous injury of any kind ; those who have weak brains, for example, become " softer " still, under the charitable name of " nervousness." CROUPY SEASON. IN the early part of spring many children die of croup, which is simply a common cold settling itself in the windpipe, and spending all its force there. Why it should tend to the throat in them, rather than to the lungs, as in some grown persons, and to the head in others, giving one man influenza, another pleurisy, a third inflammation of the lungs, and a fourth some low form of fever, is not so important as to know the CBOUPT SEASON. 507 causes of croup and the means of avoiding it. The very sound of a croupy cough is perfectly terrible to any mother who has ever heard it once. In any forty-eight hours, it may carry a child from perfect health to the grave. Croup always originates in a cold, and in nine cases out of ten this cold is the result of exposure to dampness, either of the clothing or of the atmosphere ; most generally the latter, and particularly that form of it which prevails in thawy weather, when snow is on the ground, or about sundown in the early spring season. At midday the bright sun lures the children out of doors, and having been pent up all winter, a hilarity and a vigor of exercise are induced, much beyond what they have been accustomed to recently. They do not feel either tired or cold ; but evening approaches, the cool of which condenses the moisture contained in the air ; this rapidly abstracts the heat from the body of the child, and with a doubly deleteri- ous impression ; for not only is the body cooled too quickly, but, by reason of the previous exercise, it has been wearied and has lost a great deal of its power to resist cold, hence the child is chilled. Exercise has given it an unusual appetite, a hearty supper is taken, and in the course of the night the re- action of the chill of the evening before sets in, and gives fever; the general system is oppressed, not only by the hearty meal, but by the inability of the stomach to digest it, and fever, oppression, and exhaustion, all combined, very easily sap away the life of the child. In fact, it may yet be found, when the nature of diphtheria is better known, that it is a typhoid croup malignant croup. Children should be kept as warmly clad, at least until May, as in the depth of winter; they should not be allowed to remain out of doors later than sundown, when they should be brought into a warm room, their feet examined and made dry and warm, their suppers taken, and then sent to bed, not to go outside the doors until next morning after breakfast. All through February, March, and until the middle of April, especially when snow is on the ground, children under eight years of age should not be allowed to be out of doors at all later than four o'clock in the afternoon, unless the sun is shining, or unless they are kept in bodily motion, so as to keep off a feeling of chilliness. We have never lost a child, 508 CROUPT SEASON. but feel that it must be a terrible calamity. Young mothers seldom get over the loss of a first-born. Suroly, then, it is worth all the care suggested in this article, to avert a calamity which is to be felt until we die. The commonest sense dic- tates the instant sending for a physician in case of an attack of croup, but the moment a messenger is despatched, have three or four flannels, dip them in water as hot as your hand can bear, and apply them successively to the throat of the child, so as to keep the throat hot all the time, so as to evap- orate the matters, which, if retained, cause the clogging up inside which soon stops the breath. Hot water should be constantly added to that in which the flannels are thrown, so as to keep it all the time hot. Keep the water from dribbling on the clothing of the child, and see to it that the feet are dry and warm. Most likely the child will be out of danger before the physician arrives, and it is pleasant to be able to turn over the responsibility on him. Loose cough, freer breath- ing, and a copious discharge of phlegm, indicate relief and safety. Croup seldom comes, on suddenly. Generally it has at first no other symptoms than those of a common cold ; but the very moment the child is seen to carry his hand towards the throat, indicating discomfort there, it should be considered an attack of croup, and should be treated accordingly. When a child is sick of anything, no physician can tell where that sickness will end. So it is with a cold ; it may appear to be a very slight one indeed, still it may end fatally in croup, putrid sore throat, or diphtheria. The moment a mother observes croupy symptoms in a child from two to eight years, the specially croupy age, arrange to keep it in her own room, by her own side, day and night, not allowing it for a moment to go outside the door, keeping the child comforta- bly warm, so that no chilliness nor draught of air shall come over it. Light food should be eaten, no meats or hot bread, or pastries. The whole body, the feet especially, should be kept warm all the time. Rubbing twenty drops of sweet oil into the skin over the breast, patiently, with the hand, two or three or more times a day, often gives the most marked relief in a cold, thus preventing croup from supervening on an attack of common cold. Such a course, promptly pursued, TEE BEST INHERITANCE. 509 will promptly cure almost any cold a child will take, and will seldom tail to ward off effectually, in a day or two, what would otherwise have been a fatal attack of croup, with its ringing, hissing, barking sound, and its uneasy, oppressive, and labored breathing, none of which can ever be mistaken when once heard. Many a sweet child is lost thus : the parents are aroused at dead of night with a cough that sug- gests croup ; but it seems to pass off, and in the morning they wake up with a feeling of thankful deliverance from a boding ill. The child runs about all day as if perfectly well ; but the next night the symptoms are more decided, and on the third night the child dies ; but this would have been averted with great certainty, if, from the first night, the child had been kept in a warm room, warmly clad, the bowels had been kept free, and nothing had been eaten but toast with tea, or gruel, or stewed fruits. THE BEST INHERITANCE. ABILITY to help one's self, manly principles, and a good constitution, are the best inheritance. Infinitely more valua- ble are these than beauty, birth, or blood. Beside them wealth, and fame, and position pale away in darkness, when they have come down from father to sou ; because then they may be lost, and are ignobly lost in countless instances. But with these, health, manliness, and self-sustaining power, wealth is created, a name may be founded as lasting as that of the Caesars, and a standing among men secured of more honorable mention than the coffers of all kings could pur- chase. These things being true, the wiser policy of parents is, not to work themselves to death, in order to leave their children perishable thousands ; but, by judicious teachings from in- fancy, show those children how to take care of their health, and how to make a living for themselves. 510 BHEUMATISM. RHEUMATISM. COMMON rheumatism is a disease which affects the joints, the hinges of the body, in such a wa} r , that the slightest mo- tion of the ailing part gives pain. A creaking hinge is dry, and turns hard. A single drop of oil to moisten it makes a wonderful change, and it instantly moves on itself with the utmost facility. All kinds of rheumatism are an inflammation of the surface of the joints. Inflammation is heat ; this heat dries their surfaces ; hence, the very slightest effort at motion gives piercing pain. In a healthy condition of the parts, nature is constantly throwing out a lubricating oil, which keeps the joints in a perfectly smooth and easy- working condi- tion. Rheumatism is almost always caused indeed, it may be nearer the truth to say, that it is always the result of a cold dampness. A dry cold, or a warm dampness, does not induce rheumatism. A garment, wetted by perspiration, or rain, or water in any other form, about a joint, and allowed to dry while the person is in a state of rest, is the most common way of causing rheumatism. A partial wetting of a garment is more apt to induce an attack than if the entire clothing were wetted ; because, in the latter case, it would be certainly and speedily exchanged for dry garments. There are two very certain methods of preventing rheumatism. The very moment a garment is wetted in whole or in part, change it, or keep in motion sufficient to maintain a very slight perspiration, until the clothing is perfectly dried. The failure to wear woollen flannel next the skin, is the most frequent cause of rheumatism ; for a common muslin, or linen, or silk shirt of a person in a perspiration, becomes damp and cold the instant a puff of air strikes it, even in midsummer. This is not the case when woollen flannel is worn next the skin. The easiest, most certain, and least hurtful way of curing this troublesome affection is, first, to keep the joint affected wound around with several folds of woollen flannel ; second, live entirely on the lightest kind of food, such as coarse breads, ripe fruits, berries, boiled turnips, stewed apples, and PRIVATE THINGS. 511 the like. If such things were eaten to the extent of keeping the system freely open, and exercise were taken, so that a slight moisture should be on the surface of the skin all the time ; or if, in bed, the same thing were accomplished by hot teas and plentiful bed-clothing, a grateful relief and an ultimate cure will very certainly result in a reasonably short time. Without this soft, and moist, and warm condition of the skin, and an open state of the system, the disease will continue to torture for weeks, and months, and years. Inflammatory rheumatism may, for all practical purposes, be regarded as an aggravated form of the common kind, extended to all the joints of the body, instead of implicating only one or two. For all kinds, time, flannel, warmth, with a light and cooling diet, are the great remedies. PRIVATE THINGS. A PERSON called some time ago, who, in addition to a throat difficulty, complained that the urine had been coming away in a dribble for years, drop by drop, day and night. There was no remedy. No one can think of being in such a condition for a week without the most decided aversion ; but to remain so, hopelessly, for all the long years of life yet to come and go in their weariness, is horrible to think of! The immediate cause of this distressing malady was a paralysis of the bladder, brought on by resisting the calls of nature to urination from early morning until business hours were over, and making it a habit day after day, on the ground that it interfered with business to give the requisite attention, and not knowing that any harm could come from it. By retaining the urine too long, the bladder sometimes be- comes so distended as to burst, and death is inevitable. When the membrane is not ruptured, it is, in a sense, like a bo\v bent to breaking, and loses all power of action ; the urine cannot be discharged ; terrible pains ensue, and death is a speedy result. At other times persons get into the habit of resisting urination ; this induces inflammation, reabsorption into the circulation, and is a frequent cause of stone in the 512 PRIVATE THINGS. bladder, one of the most fearfully painful of human maladies, and when not fatal, requiring a dangerous operation, at a cost of several hundred or a thousand dollars. This inability to urinate, brought on by deferring the calls, is, under all cir- cumstances, a most distressing, dangerous, and alarming malady, and demands the most prompt and energetic treat* ment. The object of this article is not to propose a remedy, for too often it proves fatal in two or three days ; it is rather intended as a warning to all to avoid the cause, by the easy means of yielding to nature's calls habitually, and on the instant, however frequent. Medical books give a variety of fatal cases, where the patient was riding in a stage-coach, particularly in cold weather, and resisted nature for a whole day. Parents should teach their children that it is a false modesty and a false politeness to put off these calls under any circumstances whatever. It is a thing which should invari- ably be attended to the last thing at night, and the last thing previous to going to any public assembly, and as nothing can excuse an unnecessary risk .of life, so nothing can excuse resistance to a call for urination. While on the subject, it is well to state that the more a per- son exercises, the less will be the amount urinated, because the water of the system then passes through the pores of the skin. But when the weather is cold, these pores are to a certain extent closed ; the water is then driven to the interior, and has to be passed off through the kidneys. Ordinarily, the urine is high-colored and scant in warm weather, or when from exercise or other cause there is free perspiration ; in cold weather it is abundant and clear. It is a practice hurtful and unwise to inspect the urine ; its color, consistence, and quantity are modified by such a variety of circumstances of heat and cold, chill and fever, food and drink, and even by the emotions of the mind, and only a thoughtful physician can put a proper estimate on appearances, and even then, it must be in connection with all the facts of the case, bodily, mental, and moral. Persons suffer a great deal in large cities from the want of public urinals. Scarcely a reader but may remember the time when he would have freely given a dollar for the use of such an institution. These establishments were formerly in Paris, PRIVATE THINGS. 513 but it was found impossible to keep them clean, and they were declared a nuisance. Hotels are scattered all through our cities, and while no proprietor of respectability would refuse an accommodation, yet if it could be brought about, that a tax of half a dime or a penny would secure it as a matter of bargain and sale, leaving both parties independent and free from obligation, much relief would be afforded and a great deal of suffering prevented. The whole subject merits the mature attention of every reader. A very hasty and forcible attempt to urinate, especially when the parts are turgid, has resulted in a rupture of the membrane and subsequent stricture, and strictures tend to be- come more and more aggravated, until urination can only be performed by introducing a tube into the bladder, the very thought of which, both as to the trouble and danger of it, well inspires dread. A patient once had practised this for sixteen years, but on one occasion introducing the instrument careless- ly, an artery was ruptured, causing death in a few hours. And } r et not one reader in a hundred but thinks it a small besides the hygienic advantages already stated. The ready plea of want of time is not valid. There is not a man in the country who could not save fifteen minutes from any day's work, and give it to the morning prayer-meeting. As for our wives and grown daughters, many ot them are literally dying off in-doors, for want of an adequate induce- ment to dress and go out in the open air, pleasantly, for an hour or two a day. Such an expenditure of time daily, sys- tematically, would add years to the life of some, and save others from weary weeks and months of worse than idleness on beds of avoidable sickness, because they not only lose their own time, but require that of others to attend them, besides deranging the movements of the whole household. THE DEAF HEAR. SOME become deaf in very early life, in consequence of an unfavorable recovery from scarlet fever, measles, mumps, and other ailments, such as cold in the ears, or by the violent straining of vomiting. Others grow deaf as a consequence of increasing age. In all these the deafness grows with advan- cing years. A great multitude of remedies have been tried for the removal or mitigation of this calamity ; but, with the ex- ception of such cases as are the result of " hardened wax," the writer has never known any material benefit to have been de- rived in a single instance, either by medicines or external appliances. The successful cases were the result of moist, bland applications, of which glycerine is the best, from the quality which it possesses of remaining moist longer than any other known substance. Let fall two or three drops in the ailing ear, then introduce a bit of lint or cotton saturated with it. If, by repeating this operation night and morning, for some weeks, there is no relief, it may be considered a remediless in- firmity. But the increase of the deafness will be considerably retarded by using all possible means to keep up the general 608 THE DEAF -HEAR. health, by regular bodily habits, by personal cleanliness, by a temperate life, and by arranging to spend several hours of each day in the open air, in some enlivening and agreeable manner. Artificial aids have sometimes been called into requisition, such as ear-trumpets and auricles, which never fail to deepen the deafness, and that rapidly. It is, therefore, wisest and best for one who hears with difficulty, 1. To apply glycerine, night and morning, for months. 2. Maintain a high state of general health. 3. Steadily resist all artificial aids for the ordinary occasions of life. 4. Never allow anything stronger than sweet oil, tepid wa- ter, or glycerine^ to be applied to the ear. 5. Never permit the introduction of a probe, or stick, or anything else, into the ear, for any purpose whatever. In one case art is admissible, that is, in religious worship ; and this being only once or twice a week, the hearing will not be appreciably impaired in the course of several years. The writer knows a lady who has not heard a sermon for several years, although a regular attendant. She now hears with the utmost ease. This has been accomplished by a pecu- liar arrangement of that part of the pulpit on which the Bible is laid, and a distribution of pipes under the floor and through the pew-seat. The sound of the speaker's voice can be trans- mitted, with perfect distinctness, to various parts of the house, without appreciably affecting the volume of sound; that is, an apparatus arranged for one person, enables him to hear with perfect clearness ; if extended to a dozen others, the first one hears as well as if there was but a single attachment. To Christian men and women, whose hearing is defective, and who are thereby cut off from one of the greatest privileges of life, this device is of inestimable value ; for, as we grow old, and the ties* which bind us to the world become, almost daily, fewer and more fragile, we instinctively draw closer to Him, who has appointed religious worship as a means of communi- cating to us his will. Those communications become sweeter, more nourishing, and more necessary, every day, to the ripe and aged Christian ; they are the greatest solace in life. Thus it is he feels, with king David, " a day in thy courts is better than a thousand " anywhere else. WHITEWASHES. 609 WHITEWASHES. COMMON lime quickly and perfectly absorbs carbonic, and other disagreeable and unhealthful gases and odors ; and for this purpose, in times of plagues, epidemics, and wasting dis- eases, is scattered plentifully in cellars, privies, stables, and gutters of the streets. It not only purifies the air and pro- motes physical health, but, as a whitewash, enlivens and beau- tifies wherever it is applied. As it is easily washed off by the rain, if not properly prepared as a wash, it has to be so fre- quently reapplied that it is considered troublesome by many ; hence the rich use paint, and the poor use nothing to protect their dwellings, fences, etc., from the ravages of the weather ; yet the difference between a well whitewashed farm and one where no lime is used, would amount to a large percentage in case of a sale. For the physical and moral benefits which may arise from the abundant use of lime as a whitewash, several modes of preparing it, so as to make it more durable, whether applied in-doors or out, are here given, with the suggestion that the same amount of money necessary to keep a man's premises well whitewashed, cannot be expended to as great a moral and healthful advantage in any other way. 1. One ounce of white vitriol (sulphate of zinc), and three ounces of common salt, to every four pounds of good fresh lime, that is, lime which has not fallen into dry powder from exposure to the atmosphere, with water enough to make it sufficiently thin to be applied with a brush, makes a durable out-door whitewash. 2. Take a clean water-tight barrel, or other wooden cask, and put into it half a bushel of lime in its rock state, pour enough boiling water on it to cover it five inche's deep, an-1 stir it briskly until it is dissolved or thoroughly "slacked," then put in more water, and add two pounds of sulphate of zinc, that is, white vitriol, and one pound of common salt ; these harden the wash and prevent cracking ; this may be colored, according to taste, by adding three pounds of yellow ochre for a cream color, four pounds of umber for a fawn color, with a pound each of Indian red and lampblack. 3. Mix up half a pail of lime and water ready for white- 610 RESIGNATION. washing ; make a starch of half a pint of flour, and pour it, while hot, into the lime-water while it is hot. This does not rub off easily. 4. A good in-door whitewash for a house of six or eight rooms is made -thus : take three pounds of Paris white and one pound of white glue ; dissolve the glue in hot water, and make a thick wash with the Paris white and hot water, then add the dissolved glue and sufficient water to make it of the proper consistence for applying with a brush. If any is left over, it hardens by the morning; but it may be dissolved with hot water ; still it is best to make only enough to be used each day ; spread it on while it is warm. It is said to add to the value and lastingness of any lime- wash, if the vessel in which it is slacking is kept covered with a cloth ; this not only confines the heat, but keeps the very finest of the particles of lime from being carried off by steam, wind, or otherwise. When it is taken into account how much buildings and fences are protected against the destructive influences of the weather, if they are plentifully whitewashed in April and No- vember, to say nothing of the cheeriness, beauty, and purity which it adds to any dwelling, it is greatly to be desired that the practice of whitewashing liberally twice a year should be adopted by every household in the nation, where paint can- not be afforded, and on every farm. RESIGNATION. ONE of the most instructive articles we have read for a long time on the true meaning, nature, and uses of "resignation," is found in the Atlantic Monthly for April, 1863. It is full of a sound philosophy, and we certainly urge our readers, whether old or young, sick or well, fortunate or unfortunate, if they can possibly save twenty-five cents, to procure the num- ber, and read and study, and read it again, from beginning to end. We have felt the truth of its sentiments a thousand times, as a physician. It is said there is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous ; it is just as true that there is but a step be- RESIGNATION. 611 tween courage and cowardice in this matter of " resignation ; " but that step is the distance between life and death to many an invalid. One man is sick ; and laying the blame of it on the Almighty, whines out, "It's the Lord's will ; " and sits about, and lounges, and loafs around, for weeks and months, waiting to get well. We verily believe that full one half of such peo- ple, if not all of them, don't want to get well, for then they would have to get up and do something. There is another class, true men and women, persons of force are they, and capa- ble of great deeds, who shake off sickness, and sloth, and idle- ness, and a craven submission to the mishaps which may befall them ; believing, fully, that resignation is a grace only when it bows to what cannot be helped, and was not brought on by wickedness, or the want of wisdom on their part. If calamities come upon us without our fault, and, at the same time, are clearly beyond removal by any power of our own, then a dig- nified and submissive resignation is a nobility, which only a great heart can achieve ; then there is a sweetness in resigna- tion which pays for all that it cost ; for, while bending the knee and bowing the head, the eye looks trustingly upward, and, piercing through the black and threatening cloud, discerns the gladdening sun in the distance, and patiently and piously bides its time. This is that faith in God which sanctifies and raises man to be akin to angels. If a man fails in business, it is not, at any time of life, a true resignation to give up, for the remainder of his days, and make no further effort to recover himself, any more than it is a true resignation for a man who gets sick to cry out, " The will of the Lord be done ] " as if it could be his will to see a child of his suffer, " For we his offspring are." He may permit suffering ; but he has no agency in bringing it on any creature of his. As long as sickness and trouble are the results of our own wrong-doing, of our yielding to sense, and passion, and appetite, instead of abandoning ourselves to helplessness under the deceitful plea of a pious resignation, we should heroically shake them off as a viper, or as some deadly spell. The mishaps of life are the result of ignorance, carelessness, or wickedness of ourselves or others ; we should, in every case, seek out the specific cause, and, if in ourselves, rectify it; if from the misdoings of others, endeavor to rectify 612 DROWNING. it also ; and if no human efforts can accomplish such a rectifica- tion, then, and not till then, is it a true heroism and a sterling piety, a genuine "resignation," to say, in loving confidence and hope, " THY WILL BE DONE." DROWNING. As multitudes go a bathing during the heats of summer, and even the very best swimmers are liable to be drowned, perhaps more liable than others, from their very fearlessness, it is a proper precaution for every individual to be familiar with the means of resuscitation. The London physicians ad- vise, 1. To send, instantly, for a medical man, and, while he is coming, place the patient in the open air, unless the weather is very cold; expose the face and chest, especially, to the breeze. 2. To clear the Throat. Place the patient, gently, face downward, with one wrist under the forehead, in which posi- tion all fluids will escape by the mouth, and the tongue itself will fall forward, leaving the entrance into the windpipe free. Assist this operation by wiping and cleansing the mouth. If there be breathing, wait and watch ; if not, or if it fail, then, 3. To excite Respiration. Turn the patient well and in- stantly on the side, and, 4. Excite the nostrils with snuff, hartshorn, volatile salts, or the throat with a feather, etc., and dash cold water on the face, previously rubbed warm. If there be no success, lose not a moment, but instantly begin, 5. To imitate Respiration. Replace the patient on his face, raising and supporting the chest well on a folded coat or other article of dress. 6. Turn the body very gently on the side and a little beyond, and then briskly on the face, alternately; repeating these measures deliberately, efficiently, and perseveringly, about fifteen times in the mmute, or every four seconds, occasionally varying the side. [By placing the patient on the chest, its cavity is compressed by the weight of the body, and expira- DROWNING. 613 tion takes place ; when turned on the side, this pressure is re- moved, and inspiration occurs.] * 7. On each occasion that the body is replaced on the face, make uniform but efficient pressure, with brisk movement on the back, between and below the shoulder-blades or bones, on each side, removing the pressure immediately before turning the body on the side. 8. After respiration has been restored, promote the warmth of the body by the application of hot flannels, bottles or blad- ders of hot water, heated bricks, etc., to the stomach, the arm- pits, between the thighs, and to the soles of the feet, to induce circulation and warmth. 9. During the whole time do not cease to rub the limbs up- ward, with firm, grasping pressure, and with energy, using handkerchiefs, flannels, etc. 10. Let the limbs be thus warmed, and dried, and then clothed, the bystanders supplying the requisite garments. Cautions. 1. Send quickly for medical assistance, and for dry clothing. 2. Avoid all rough usage and turning the body on the back. 3. Under no circumstances hold up the body by the feet ; 4. Nor roll the body on casks ; 5. Nor rub the body with salts or spirits ; 6. Nor inject tobacco smoke or infusion of tobacco. 7. Avoid the continuous warm bath. 8. Be par- ticularly careful, in every case, to prevent persons crowding around the body. General Observations. On the restoration of life, a tea- spoonful of warm water should be given ; and then, if the power of swallowing is returned, small quantities of wine, or brandy and water, warm, or coffee. The patient should be kept in bed, and a disposition to sleep encouraged. The treat- ment recommended should be persevered in for a considerable time, as it is an erroneous opinion that persons are irrecover- able because life does not soon make its appearance, cases having been successfully treated after persevering several hours, In endeavoring to rescue a drowning person, take him by the arm from behind, between the elbow and the shoulder. A good swimmer can, by " treading water," catch both arms thus, and keep the person from going under for an l^our, the very struggles of the victim aiding in buoying him up, for his feet, then, are mainly engaged, and he, also, to that extent, 614 ESCAPING FROM FIRE. "treads water." If a drowning person is seized anywhere else, he is pretty sure to clutch with a death grip, and both perish. Any one can remain for hours in water, whether he can swim or not, by clasping his hands behind him, throwing himself on his back, so as to allow only his nose to be out of the water ; a very little presence of mind, force of will, and confidence, will enable any one to assume this position. ESCAPING FROM FIRE. HUMAN life has been often thrown away, from persons not taking the precaution to accustom their minds to dwell, at times, on the proper method of acting in emergencies ; from want of this, many rush into the very jaws of death, when a single moment's calm reflection would have pointed out a cer- tain and easy means of escape. It is the more necessary to fix in the mind a general course of action in case of being in a house while it is on fire, since tUe most dangerous conflagra- tions occur at dead of night, and, at the moment of being aroused from a sound sleep, the brain is apt to become too confused to direct the bodily movements with any kind of ap- propriateness, without some previous preparation, in the man- ner contained herein. The London Fire Department suggests, in case the premises are on fire, to, 1. Be careful to acquaint yourself with the best means of exit from the house, both at the top and bottom. 2. On the first alarm, reflect before you act. If in bed at the time, wrap yourself in a blanket or bedside carpet. Open no more doors than are absolutely necessary, and shut every door after you. 3. There is always from eight to twelve inches of pure air close to the ground ; if you cannot, therefore, walk upright through the smoke, drop on your hands and knees, and thus progress. A wetted silk handkerchief, a piece of flannel, or a worsted stocking drawn over the face, permits breathing, and, to a great extent, excludes the smoke. 4. If you can neither make your way upward nor downward, get into a front room ; if there is a family, see that they are ESCAPING FROM FIRE. 615 all collected here, and keep the door closed as much as possi- ble, for remember that smoke always follows a draught, and fire always rushes after smoke. 5. On no account throw yourself, or allow others to throw themselves, from the window. If no assistance is at hand, and you are in extremity, tie the sheets together, having fastened one side to some heavy piece of furniture, and let down the women and children, one by one, by tying the end of the line of sheets around the waist, and lowering them through the window that is over the door, rather than one that is over the area. You can easily let yourself down after the helpless are saved. 6. If a woman's clothes catch fire, let her instantly roll her- self over and over on the ground. If a man be present, let him throw her down and do the like, and then wrap her up in a rug, coat, or the first woollen thing that is at hand. Of the preceding suggestions, there are two which cannot be too deeply engraven on the mind : That the air is compara- tively pure within a foot of the floor ; and that any wetted silk or woollen texture, thrown over the face, excludes smoke to a great extent. It is often the case that the sleeper is awakened by the suffocating effects of the smoke, and the very first effort should be to get rid of it, so as to give time to compose the mind, and make some muscular effort to escape. In case any portion of the body is burned, it cannot be too strongly impressed on the mind, that putting the burned part under water, or milk, or other bland fluid, gives instantaneous and perfect relief from all pain whatever ; and there it should remain until the burn can be covered, perfectly, with half an inch or more of common wheaten flour, put on with a dredging- box, or in any other way, and allowed to remain until a cure is effected, when the dry, caked flour will fall off, or can be softened with water, disclosing a beautiful, new, and healthful skin, in all cases where the burns have been superficial. But, in any case of burn, the first effort should be to compose the mind, by instantaneously removing bodily pain, which is done as above named ; the philosophy of it being, that the fluid, whether water, milk, oil, etc., excludes the air from the wound ; the flour does the same thing ; and it is rare, indeed, that water and flour are not instantaneously had in all habitable localities. 616 SAVING MINISTERS. SAVING MINISTERS. IT has been proposed in the public papers, as a means of preserving clergymen for a longer use, to a greater age, that, while they are young, they should not be expected to do so much as is now required of them ; that, for the first five years of their ministry, only one sermon on the Sabbath should be given. Not one minister in a million is ever disabled by hard study, or dies prematurely from that cause. A far better plan would be to require them to preach every day, and Sunday too, for the first years of their ministry, and, " as ye go, preach ; " take circuits, and preach in destitute places, five, or ten, or fifteen miles apartj a sermon a day, on an average, the year round, and two or three on Sundays, the oftener the easier ; the advantages are, that they would become acquainted with the country ; would be brought into personal contact w ith a great variety of persons ; would see human nature in its mul- titudinous phases ; and thus, in after life, would bo able to read a book more instructive to them than any other except the Bible ; and, reading it well, would put in their hands a key which would unlock the human heart, and give them so com- plete an access to it, that the people would say, " Never man spake like this man." " He told me all that ever I did." Pat- rick Henry owed his greatest power to what he learned of human nature, by talking to all sorts of people in his little country store. Another advantage is, that this daily active out-door life, breathing the pure air for almost all of daylight, would enable them to work off that diseased bodily condition which is generated in theological seminaries; and would so knit and compact the constitution, so renovate it, not only by the exercise, but by the change of food and association, as to lay the foundation for many years of healthfulness in the fu- ture. It is impossible for an intelligent man to doubt, for an instant, that four or five years spent in riding every day on horseback, in the open air, with the accompanying and exhila- rating mental exercise required in preaching, would be aa certain to build up the constitution, as spending from morning until night in confined rooms, and eating heartily all the time, without any systematic exercise, would pull it down and SICKNESS NOT CAUSELESS. 617 destroy it. There is nothing perplexing, or mystic, or mind- racking, in ordinary ministerial duty ; it is more of calm con- templation, like that of the natural philosopher, the longest lived of all other classes, as statistics say ; they study the works of God ; the clergy study his word, which is a surer "word of prophecy," and a plainer. The destroyers of our clergy are not hard study, not the difficulties connected with their calling ; but reckless and unnecessary exposures, irregu- lar efforts, wrong habits of eating, unwise neglect of whole- some bodily exercises, bad hours of study, and a criminal inattention to the securement of those bodily regularities, which are indispensable to health the world over. Preaching often, does not kill, look at the Whitefields, and the Wesleys, and multitudes of others like them ; confinement, even, does not kill, Baxter, and Bunyan, and many more, lived in jails for years together, and that, too, without opportunities of ex- ercise ; for their living was plain, and that not over-abundant, nor tempting either. SICKNESS NOT CAUSELESS. THERE never can be disease without a cause ; and almost al- ways the cause is in the person who is ill ; he has either done something which he ought not to have done, or he has omitted something which he should have attended to. Another important item is, that sickness does not, as a gen- eral thing, come on suddenly ; as seldom does it thus come, as a house becomes enveloped in flames on the instant of the fire first breaking out. There is, generally, a spark, a tiny flame, a trifling blaze. It is so with disease ; and promptitude is al- ways an important element of safety and deliverance. A little child wakes up in the night with a disturbing cough, but which, after a while, passes off, and the parents feel relieved ; the second night the cough is more decided ; the third, it is croup, and, in a few hours more, the darling is dead ! Had that child been kept warm in bed the whole of the day after the first coughing was noticed, had fed lightly, and got abundant, warm sleep, it would have had no cough the second night, and the day after would have been well. An incalculable amount of human suffering, and many lives, 618 CANCER. would be saved every year, if two things were done uniformly. First, when any uncomfortable feeling is noticed, begin at once, trace the cause of it, and avoid that cause ever after. Second, use means, at once, to remove the symptom ; and, among these, the best, those which are most universally available and applica- ble, are rest, warmth, abstinence, a clean person, and a pure air. When animals are ill, they follow nature's instinct, and lie down to rest. Many a valuable life has been lost by the un- wise efforts of the patient to " keep up," when the most fitting place was a warm bed and a quiet apartment. Some persons attempt to " harden their constitutions," by exposing themselves to the causes which induced their suffer- ings ; as if they could, by so doing, get accustomed to the ex- posure, and ever thereafter endure it with impunity. A good constitution, like a good garment, lasts the longer by its being taken care of. If a finger has been burned by putting it in the fire, and is cured never so well, it will be burned again as often as it is put in the fire ; such a result is inevitable. There is no such thing as hardening one's self against the causes of disease. What gives a man a cold to-day will give him a cold to-morrow, and the next day, and the next. What lies in the stomach like a heavy weight to-day, will do the same to-morrow ; not in a less degree, but a greater ; and, as we get older, or get more under the influence of disease, lesser causes have greater ill effects ; so that, the older we get, the greater need is there for increased efforts to favor ourselves, to avoid hardships and exposures, and be more prompt in rec- tifying any symptom, by rest, warmth, and abstinence. CANCER. CANCER is the Latin word for " Crab," and was applied to that kind of sore which has the spraggling look of that ugly animal. The essence of cancer is in a depraved condition of the blood ; it is hard, soft, or yielding, as a sponge ; it is a loathsome, and, thus far, an incurable disease. It is worse than incurable ; because, if healed up, or cut out, at one place, it is sure to sprout up in a dozen others. Sometimes a sore is cured, that looks like a cancer, and the pretended curer is CANCER. 619 willing enough that it should be considered a real one ; hence ingenious impositions have been practised on many, and many hearts sickened to death by false hopes. Cancer is developed in two ways almost always. First, nature makes an effort to pass out of the system, through some gland, matters, the pres- ence of which is hurtful ; if thwarted, the gland, under certain conditions, becomes cancerous ; becomes an eating, running sore, which, if let alone, will always secure a longer life than if it is not allowed to run, by " healing it up," or cutting it out. Second, when a gland is injured by a cold settling in it, or by a bruise, cancerous disease begins to develop itself when the blood is in a depraved condition. The same cold or bruise would have passed off without injury, had the individual pos- sessed vigorous health. Cancer is confined, chiefly, to females, because of their in-door life, so promotive of a poisoned blood from want of exercise, and from the routine nature of their ex- istence. Its commonest seat is the left breast, first appearing an undiscolored hard lump the size of a marble or pea, growing very slowly, and, as it becomes more active, giving the char- acteristic star-like pains, pains which shoot out, or lancinate in every direction, like the rays of a star. Any pain of this sort, confined to one spot, should be always regarded with ap- prehension. After a while the skin assumes a puckered ap- pearance, sometimes with heat ; soon breaks and throws out a thin fluid, with more or less blood ; next emitting a most offen- sive smell, as the fungus mass springs forth, and eats its horrible way into the very vitals. Cancer, of a more superficial character, sometimes attacks the nose, the lower lip, and the corner of the eye, looking, at first, like a fever-blister, or a wart with an uneven surface ; at other times it comes with a dry scale, which falls, or is picked off; another and another comes, each going deeper, until the hateful sore assumes its characteristic appearance. It is ad- mitted, the world over, because statistical tables prove it, that cutting out a cancer, especially from the breast, is fatal in nine cases out of ten. Whether that tenth case may not be a cancer only in appearance, is a question. As all acknowledge that cancer arises from a depraved condition of the blood, those who fear cancer, with or without cause, should use means to keep the general system in the highest health possi- ble, as a means of purifying the blood, and thus indefinitely 620 APOPLEXY. postpone the breaking out of the cancerous sore ; keeping it in its hard state, as it were, just as tubercles in the lungs, which are hard lumps there, and which are not capable of causing common consumption as long as they remain hard, may be kept in abeyance, for a long lifetime, by a vigorous following out of those activities which the experienced physi- cian has so often seen to be efficient in such cases. Mean- while, if any person has an actual sore which seems to be of a cancerous character, try anybody and anything reasonably promising even a slight benefit. APOPLEXY. APOPLEXY means w stricken from," a description given by the Greeks, under the feeling that it was of unearthly origin. The person falls down, as if suddenly struck with death. There is neither thought, feeling, nor voluntary motion. There is no sign of life, except that of deep, heavy breathing. It comes on with the suddenness of the lightning's flash, and with as little premonition. A common fainting-fit occurs sud- denly ; but there is no breathing, no pulse, and the face is pale and shrunken. In apoplexy, if the person is not really dead, the face is flushed, the breathing loud, and the pulse full and strong, usually. In mild attacks, a person is found in bed of a morning, apparently in a sound sleep ; but, if so, he can be easily waked up. In apoplexy, no amount of shaking makes any impression. The earliest Greek writers described apo- plexy with a minute accuracy which has scarcely been ex- ceeded since, showing that it is a malady belonging to all time. To pass from apparent perfect health to instant death on enter- ing one's own dwelling, or sitting down to the family table, or while at the happy fireside, in the loving interchange of affec- tionate offices, strikes us as being perfectly terrible. But the terror belongs to the witnesses; the victim is as perfectly destitute of thought, feeling, sensation, and consciousness, for the time being, as if the head had been taken off by a cannon- ball. In many cases, after lying for hours, and even days, in a state of perfect insensibility, the patient wakes up, as if from an uneasy sleep or dream ; but often, as many sadly know, APOPLEXY. 621 there is no return to life again. The essential nature of the disease seems to be such an excess of blood in the brain, that its appropriate vessels or channels cannot contain it, and it is " extravasated," let out, upon the substance of the brain itself, and thus arrests the functions of life." Persons with short neck, who are thick-set, corpulent, are almost the sole actual sub- jects of apoplexy, when not induced by falls, blows, shocks, and over-doses of certain drugs. Apoplexy is an avoidable disease, except in some cases of accidents, which we can neither foresee nor prevent ; it is, essentially, too much blood in the brain. This blood is either sent there too rapidly, or, when there, is detained in some unnatural manner, the essen- tial effect being the same. Whatever excites the brain, does so by sending an unnatural amount of blood there, such as intense and long thought on one subject ; all kinds of liquors, any drink containing alcohol, whether ale, beer, cider, wine, or brandy, excites the brain and endangers apoplexy. So will a hearty meal, especially if alcoholic drinks are taken at the same time ; going to bed soon after eating heartily ; sleeping on the back, if corpulent, may bring on an attack any night ; so will a hot bath ; so will a cold bath soon after eating. The ultimate effects of all opiates are to detain the blood in the brain, while the things just mentioned send it there in excess. The great preventives are warm feet, regular daily bodily habits, eating nothing later than three o'clock P. M., and the avoidance of opiates, tobacco, and all that can intoxicate. In case of an attack, send for a physician. Meanwhile, put the feet in hot water, and envelop the head with cold; ice is still better. It is safer to live in a hilly than level country, in town than country. Winter is more dangerous than summer. The liability increases rapidly after forty years of age, greatest at sixty, when it gradually diminishes. Statistics seem to show that the most dangerous years are forty-eight, fifty-eight, sixty- six; while forty-six and forty-nine are almost exempt. The well-to-do are more liable than the laboring. Sudden changes of weather promote attacks. Let the liable, especially, live in reference to these well-established facts. 622 DIRTY CHILDREN. "DIRTY CHILDREN." THERE is an undefined impression left on the minds of many, in passing a group of chubby-looking children playing in the street, or by the roadside, barefooted, bareheaded, and ragged, begrimed with dust or mud, that " dirt must be healthy." And when there is noticed around the cabins of the country poor, or the shanties in the city outskirts, a crowd of ragamuffin urchins of all sizes, like the regular gradations of a ladder, another no- tion is almost formed, in distinct words, that "poverty is healthy," as well as dirt, as the having a house full of children is taken as proof of vigorous constitutions on the part of the toiling parents. Taking New York city as a guide, the of- ficial reports for 1863 show that, of every ten deaths, seven are foreign, although just half the population is foreign born ; and, as a class, foreigners are the poorest and the filthiest of all American large seaboard cities ; of course, there are notable exceptions. It is known that those who live on their daily wages average eleven years less of life than those who are well-to-do. So that poverty is as far from being healthful, as it is from being agreeable. Of one thousand children dying un- der one year old, nearly three fourths were born of foreign parents ; two thirds of all the children dying on the day of their birth were of foreign parentage. Of those dying from one to five years old, three fourths were born of poor people. Of nine children, Queen Victoria lost none. The constitutions of royal pairs may not be as vigorous as those of two young laborers ; but exemption from exhausting toil, and their ability to command roomy residences, well-ventilated chambers, and the strictest personal cleanliness from earliest infancy, more than counterbalance other unfavoring circumstances. So far, then, from poverty and filth being elements of health and long life, they are the very reverse ; they directly induce premature death as to grown-up persons, and sow the seeds of fatal dis- eases in innocent childhood. During the first week of August, 1864, in New York city, four hundred and forty-four children died ; of which four hundred and four were of foreign paren- tage, and only forty were born of native parents : that is, of ninety per cent, of the children dying in New York, nine out SALT-RHEUM. 623 often are from the abodes of poverty and untidiness. Fifteen thousand children died in New York during 1864, of which eighty-eight per cent, were the children of foreigners, and twelve per cent, of native parents. SALT-EHEUM. SALT-RHEUM is a disease of the blood ; it is an effort of nature to push out of the system, through the skin, that which, if re- tained, would work mischief; hence any external application, calculated to heal it up or drive it in, is unnatural, unwise, and mischievous, under any circumstances. There are states of the system in which a hasty " healing up " may be followed by long, painful, and dangerous attacks of illness, on precisely the same principle that the " striking in " of measles, or any other rash, endangers life. Hence incalculable mischief is often caused by heeding newspaper articles, such as the following : " Petroleum, crude or refined, applied thrice a day to the part affected with salt-rheum, is an effectual and speedy cure." This is called a " simple " remedy, because all are familiar with the article. The salt-rheum may disappear under such appli- cations ; but how many, in a short time afterwards, are attacked with violent diseases, can never be known, and no inquiries are made to that effect. There is only one safe general rule, as to breakirgs-out on the skin, and that is, consult the family physician at once. The next best plan is, keep warm in bed, in a cool, well-ventilated room, drinking warm teas, into which has been broken the crust of cold wheaten bread. This is the safest, the best, and most efficient course of treatment for all breakings-out on the skin. All external applications are uncer- tain, worthless, or injurious, as far as skin affections are con- cerned, except so far as they tend to keep the skin soft, moist, and natural. Nothing does these things so uniformly and so well as lukewarm water, or milk and water, half and half. A little grease from a candlestick was advised to be applied to a little pimple on the child of Judge N., our neighbor. It began, at once, to inflame, and death ensued in twenty-four hours. 624 CHURCH VENTILATION. CHURCH VENTILATION. MANY persons have gone to church, taken cold, gone home, and died in a few days, from sitting in an ill-warmed or ill- ventilated church, arising from the inattention or ignorance of sextons, or indifference of church-officers ; hence tens of thousands are interested, to the extent of life and death, in the perusal of these few lines. Perhaps three persons out of four, who attend divine service on the Sabbath day, are conscious, within two minutes after taking their seats, that they have been in a hurry ; that both mind and body have been, more or less, in a turmoil ; they have been hurried in getting to church in time ; the result is, they are over-heated, that is, the body is in a state of warmth considerably above what is natural ; and if, in this condition, they sit still, even for ten minutes, in an atmosphere cooler than that of out-doors in summer, or below sixty degrees at any time, a cold is the result, slight, or more severe, according to the vigor and age of the individual. What would give but a triffling cold to a person in robust health, would induce inflammation of the lungs, called by phy- sicians pneumonia, in an old person, or any one of infirm health. Many a person has taken cold, and died of pneumonia in three or four days, although in perfect health previously, by sitting a few minutes in a fireless room in winter time. The danger is still greater if the room has been closed for several days ; this is specially applicable to houses of worship. Within a few min- utes after the benediction, at the close of the Sabbath services, the house is shut up, doors, windows, and all ; the atmosphere of the building has been saturated with the breath of the wor- shippers ; as it becomes gradually cooler, this dampness con- denses and falls towards the floor, so does the carbonic acid gas, which is what becomes so unpleasantly perceptible on entering a sleeping-chamber after a morning walk ; and there is experienced a sepulchral dampness and closeness enough to chill any one on first entering the church, after having been closed several days. We once knew a gentleman, who was something of an invalid, to take a chill, and die in a short time, from entering a warehouse in December, which had been for a week or two. CURIOSITIES OF BREATHING. 625 The practical conclusion is, that every church ought to have the windows and doors open for several hours, including the middle of the day, before it is opened for service. In cold weather, preparatory to the Sabbath service, this ventilation should be secured on Friday, and early on Saturday mornings fires should be built and steadily kept up, day and night, until the Sabbath services are concluded. A thermometer should be kept hanging about five feet from the floor, near the centre of the building, and the mercury should be kept at about sixty-five or seventy degrees in fire-time of year, better seventy than under sixty-five. CURIOSITIES OF BREATHING. THE taller men are, other things being equal, the more lungs they have, and the greater number of cubic inches of air they can take in or deliver at a single breath. It is generally thought that a man's lungs are sound and well-developed, in proportion to his girth around the chest ; yet observation shows that slim men, as a rule, will run faster and farther, with less fatigue, having more wind than stout men. If two persons are taken, in all respects alike, except that one measures twelve inches more around the chest than the other, the one having the excess will not deliver more air at one full breath, by mathematical measurement, than the other. The more air a man receives into his lungs in ordinary breathing, the more healthy he is likely to be, because an im- portant object in breathing is to remove impurities from the blood. Each breath is drawn pure into the lungs ; on its out- going, the next instant it is so impure, so perfectly destitute of nourishment, that, if re-breathed without any admixture of a purer atmosphere, the man would die. Hence, one of the conditions necessary to secure a high state of health is, that the rooms in which we sleep should be constantly receiving new supplies of fresh air through open doors, windows, or fireplaces. If a person's lungs are not well-developed the health will be imperfect; but the development may be increased several inches, in a few months, by daily out-door runnings with the 626 ONE ACRE. mouth closed, beginning with twenty yards and back, at a time, increasing ten yards every week, until a hundred are gone over, thrice a day. A substitute for ladies, and persons in cities, is running up stairs with the mouth closed, which compels very deep inspirations, in a natural way, at the end of the journey. As consumptive people are declining, each week is witness to their inability to deliver as much air, at a single out-breath- ing, as the week before ; hence, the best way to keep the fell disease at bay is to maintain lung development. It is known that in large towns, ten thousand feet above the level of the sea, the deaths by consumption are ten times less than in places nearly on a level with the sea. Twenty-five per- sons die of consumption in the city of New York where only two die of that disease in the city of Mexico. All know that con- sumption does not greatly prevail in hilly countries, and in high situations. One reason of this is, because there is more ascend- ing exercise, increasing deep breathing ; besides, the air being more rarified, larger quantities are instinctively taken into the lungs, to answer the requirements of the system, thus, at every breath, keeping up a high development. Hence, the hill should be sought by consumptives, and not low, flat situations. ONE ACRE. ONE of the most general causes of unthrift to farmers, as well as reasons why many persons who retire to the country to spend the evening of their days, after having accumulated a fortune in the city, and soon tire or become dissatisfied, is the unwise grasping for too much land. The farmer wants from the first to secure enough to be a little fortune for each child, by the rise in price. The citizen cannot rid himself of ideas about profit and loss ; and his mind will run on the fact, that if he gets a good slice of land, it may turn out that he can divide it into town lots in a few years, and realize an immense percentage ; but while he is waiting for a town, a messenger comes to say, "You are wanted " for the last great account ! The young farmer, after working out a little lifetime in trying to pay interest, wakes up some morning to find that he has ONE ACRE. 627 already paid more for his farm than it is worth, and is owing a considerable amount on it besides ; for the " rise " never came ! Let the merchant remember that going to the country will kill him all the sooner, if he does not, at the same time, go to work ; that the vexations attendant on a large place, which is equivalent to embarking in a new business, one about which he knows almost nothing, will inevitably produce a disqui- etude of mind, and at length a general irritation of temper, many fold more injurious to his well-being, than if he had re- mained in business. As much work can be profitably expend- ed on one acre of arable soil, as any retired merchant ought to perform in twelve months. And there are farmers, wise beyond their day, who, by expending on one acre the labor which others have diffused over twenty, have saved more money, lived more quietly, enjoyed more happiness, and rev- elled in more luscious good health. By what follows, it may be seen how a man made money for two successive years, by cultivating one acre of land well ; planting potatoes the first year, following them with wheat : Dr. Or. POTATOES. To 12 loads manure, . . . $10 00 Hauling and spreading same, . 3 00 Ploughing in potatoes, . 8 75 114 bushels seed, at 90 cents, 10 35 Hoe-harrowing and hoeing, . 3 25 Digging and putting in cellar, 24 874 Hauling to market (10 miles), 6 25 WHEAT. Harrowing, 1 50 Seeding, 874 14 bushels seed, at $1.30, . . 1 95 Cradling and hauling in, . . . 2 50 Threshing and cleaning, . . 2 50 Hauling to market (2 miles), . 75 To 218 bushels potatoes at 97 cents, Tops as manure, .... 31 bushels wheat, at $1.25, 1 ton straw, Chaff, $211 46 . 3 00 . 38 75 . 8 00 1 00 Cr., Dr., Interest on land, 17 months, $272 21 76 05 $186 16 2 75 $183 41 $76 05 The land was a good loam, with a light clover sod. The manure was spread on the sod, and ploughed down with the potatoes, in every third (narrow) furrow. The seed was the common Mercer, planted as early as convenient, and dug ditto ; no sign of rot. The wheat was the common blue-stem. The potatoes were ploughed out every third furrow, and the ground was ploughed regularly, and harrowed down for wheat. 628 SYMPTOMS. Let all who seek fortune or health in farming remember to purchase no more land than they can pay for, and no more than they can easily cultivate with the force they have ; other- wise, irritations, vexations, and disappointments will eat out their health, and squander their money. SYMPTOMS. I SUPPOSE that, in the course of my medical career, I have received, literally, thousands of letters similar to the following, which came to hand April 12, 1866, from a gentleman of posi- tion, of a superior education, and of high culture : " On ac- count of business pertaining to my profession, I have been prevented from seeing you for several months. I am happy to inform you that I am improving ; I have felt better for the last three months than I have for two years. I cannot be thank- ful enough for the instructions received from you. I have been busy, very busy, all this winter. I can stand the cold nearly as well as ever. I have not taken a particle of medi- cine since last December, except what you gave me (half a dozen pills). My throat is nearly well. I must again thank you for your treatment. You taught me how to live, which I never knew before." It may be instructive to make some comments on this case. This gentleman had made application six months before, had been heard from once, and not seen at all. He complained of 1. Burning and dry ness in the throat. 2. On first rising in the morning his head was dull, with running from the nose and dizziness. 3. Coughing for two hours after breakfast. 4. Shifting pains in the body. 5. Raw sensation in the stomach. 6. Continued desire to eat. 7. Pain on the right side. 8. Pains back of the neck, extending to the head ; when out of doors the wind seems to concentrate there. 9. Constipation. 10. Bilious. 11. Headache. 12. Belching. 13. Pains in breast. ELEMENTS OF FOOD. 629 The written opinion (always given) in this case was, " You have liver complaint, constipation, and dyspepsia, reacting on one another, and you can get well, because your lungs are per- fectly sound. There is no reason to doubt of your regaining your health, and living man} 7 years." The first important step in leading to this gentleman's res- toration was, relieving the mind of those depressing forebod- ings of a dreaded disease, by showing him that it could not exist. The second was, not only in showing him the impolicy of abandoning his profession even temporarily, but that it was important for him to follow it with a new energy, to have his mind fully occupied with it, even to be a little driven. It is almost impossible for an active, cultivated mind, to get well of any serious ailment, if the patient is placed in a condition which allows him to lounge, and loll, and mope about, hanging about the house, the mind all the time reverting to the bodily ailments, going round and round, in the same track, as in a horse-mill. Third. The mode of a man's life as to eating, sleeping, clothing, exercise, and employment of time. Fourth. A pill or two a month to relieve the system of what clogged the working of the machinery, until it could get a fair start, and then to rely on general hygienic rules of life. ELEMENTS OF FOOD. THE ultimate ingredients of all food are carbon to warm, and nitrogen to make flesh. Some have no carbon, others no nitrogen ; some have both in varying proportions : all have water, or waste, from five to ninety per cent. The table below is the result of the researches of the ablest chemists of the age. The amount of solid matter in an article of food, does not mean that amount of nutriment, for a portion of it may be woody fibre, or waste, or lime, chalk, iron, or other mineral. The cipher indicates that not one per cent, of the element is found ; n. a., not ascertained ; blanks mean no published or reliable statements have been made. The more water, the more waste, for even woody fibre and iron have their essential uses in the system. This, and other good tables in this vol- 630 ELEMENTS OF FOOD. ume, should be regarded as merely approximative ; they are not so much intended to live by, as for guidance in diseased conditions; for example, if constipated, it is better to use rough food, such as has much waste and little nutriment, as fruits, berries, and the like : concentrated food, as boiled rice, is best for loose bowels ; syrups, and oils, and milk, cause biliousness and fevers ; sours, as berries, fruits, and cold slaw, cure fevers. It is safer, however, especially in health, to eat by instinct rather than by rules or scientific tables. In 100 parts of, there is percentage of, Solid Matter. Water. Carbon. Nitrogen. 88 12 36 o 28 80 9 o 25 75 n. a. 82 18 36 n. a. 100 77 o 83 17 66 n. a. 68 32 31 n. ti. 87 14 38 n. a. 20 80 10 3 25 75 10 8 2 98 n. a. 8 92 12 88 o 25 75 3 97 90 10 43 20 80 46 54 20 80 Ficrs. 84 16 18 81 100 79 92 7 37 84 16 37 40 100 70 13 87 8 92 13 86 100 77 Oats, 79 21 40 2 93 7 Oysters, . 13 87 36 Peas, 84 16 24 76 11 __ 20 80 16 84 Poultry, 23 77 Rve. . 83 17 39 2 42 Starch, average, 84 16 36 Wheat. 86 14 39 2 BILIOUSNESS. 631 BILIOUSNESS. BILIOUSNESS, is a greater amount of bile in the blood than is natural ; the result of which is, the eyes and the skin begin to wear a yellow appearance, while various other symptoms man- ifest themselves according to the temperament, habits, and peculiarities of the individual. One has sick headache ; anoth- er complains of a want of appetite, sometimes loathing the very appearance of food ; a third has cold feet and hands ; a fourth has chilly sensations, involving the whole body, or run- ning up and down the back ; a fifth is costive : women become hysterical, and laugh, cry, or talk ; while men are moody, peev- ish, or morose. Bile is naturally of a bright yellow color, but as a man becomes more bilious, it grows darker, and is at length as black as tar, causing a state of mind, which the old Romans called atrability, " atra " meaning w black ; " a scowl is on the countenance, and the person is ill-natured and fretful, finding fault with everybody and everything. Hence, when a man is cross, he is bilious, and ought to be pitied, and at the same time be made to take an emetic. The ill-natured are never well ; they are w bilious," the system is clogged, the machinery does not work well ; and both mind and body are disordered. The safest and best method of getting rid of bil- iousness, is steady work in the open air, for six or eight hours every day, working or exercising to the extent of keeping up a gentle moisture on the skin : this moisture conveys the bile away out of the system. The same result will be accom- plished, but not so well, by a good steam bath, or by wrapping up in bed, drinking hot teas, thus getting up a perspiration, but the atmosphere of the room should be pure, arid the diet for several days should consist of coarse bread and fruits. Medicines which act on the liver will do the same thing, but they should be advised by the physician, when other means have failed. The office of the liver is to withdraw the bile from the blood ; it is the largest workshop of the body, and is at the right side, about the lower edge of the ribs. When it does not do its work, it is said to be torpid, asleep, and medicines are given to stimulate it, wake it up, make it act, work 632 FOOD FOR CATTLE. faster than common, so as to throw off the excess of bile. When it does not withdraw or separate the bile from the blood, the skin grows yellow, also the whites of the eyes, and the man has the " yellow jaundice." When it separates the bile from the blood, but retains it within itself, constipation ensues, appetite is lost, spirits become despondent, and the person is languid, lazy, fretful, and irritable. The liver is, in a sense, like a sponge, and the bile may be pressed out of it, as water out of a sponge, by pressing the ball of the hand dver the region of the liver downwards, from hip to pit of stomach, two or three minutes at a time, several times a day ; this is a good remedy in dyspepsia, and also relieves the stomach of wind, giving immediate and grateful relief some- times. FOOD FOR CATTLE. SERIOUS sickness, dyspepsia, and a life-long train of ills, sometimes follow the use of flesh from poor, old, hard-worked, and diseased animals ; it is, then, of some importance to know how to feed and fatten them properly and to the best advan- tage ; and to do this, the first essential step is to know the relative value, the nutritiousness of various kinds of food, so that the meat when it appears on the table may be fat, healthy, tender, and juicy. The following table is the result of care- fully conducted experiments, made and corroborated by the experiments of eminent chemists, and is therefore reliable, as being approximately correct in the main. One hundred pounds of good hay affords as much nourishment to cattle which feed upon it, as 11)8. 43 of Wheat, 44 dried Peas, 46 " Beans, 49 " Rye, 51 " Barley, 56 " Corn, 59 " Oats, 64 " Buckwheat 64 " Linseed Oil Cake, Ibs. 68 Acorns 96 Red Clover Hay, 105 Wheat Bran, 109 Rye Bran, 153 Pea Straw, 153 Pea Chaff, 167 Wheat or Oat Chaff, 170 Rye or Barley, 175 Raw Potatoes, Ibs. 195 Boiled Potatoes, 220 Oat Straw, 262 Ruta Baga, 276 Green Corn, 280 Carrots, 339 Man. Wurtzel, 346 Field Beets, 355 Rye Straw, 504 Turnips. COURTING. 633 FOOD FOB COWS. German chemists have found the relative value of food for cows giving milk, to be as follows. One hundred pounds of good hay contains as much nourishment as, 26 Ibs. Peas, 250 Ibs. Pea Straw. 25 " Beans, 300 " Barley Straw, 50 " Oats, 300 " Oat Straw, 60 " Oil Cake, 350 " Siberian Cabbage, 80 " Clover Hay, 400 " Rye Straw, 80 " Vetches, ' 400 " Wheat Straw, 200 " Potatoes, 460 " Beet Root with leaves. The English give their cows, weighing a thousand pounds, eight pounds of good hay thrice a day in winter. A cow, which was given twenty-seven pounds of hay daily, yielded, in four days, one quart more of milk than when she con- sumed only twenty-one pounds of hay : that is, the extra twenty-four pounds of hay, in four days, gave one quart of milk extra. While horses require eight per cent, of their weight good English hay a day, milch cows require only two and three quarters per cent. A milch cow will not eat more than twenty-five or thirty pounds of hay a day, and if more milk is desired, it must be obtained by giving her richer food, that containing more oil, albumen, &c. COURTING. IN the Old World marriage is a matter of convenience, or an out and out business transaction ; and family is bartered for funds, or an improvement in the pecuniary affairs of both parties is aimed at. In our own country it is literally a " love affair," without rhyme or reason, sense or system ; it is a blissful, mutual absorption of two hearts into one for a while anyhow. Perhaps if it were made a matter of hygiene, there would be eventually a greater amount of happiness and solid prosperity in any community. A sickly wife has many a time blasted the ambition of an industrious and enterprising young man, whose aim was to rise in his business and become one of the leading men of his calling. 634 NUTRITIOUSNESS OF FOOD. But in the very first year sickness came, the young wife could not attend to her domestic affairs ; the servants became remiss, indifferent, and wasteful ; the physician was called in ; the husband himself was obliged to remain at the house, and the same derangement of his own affairs took place ; and eve- rywhere there was waste and expenditure, and loss of busi- ness and custom. Discouragement came, until, finally, all that was hoped for was to live from one day to another. At other times the husband became the invalid ; the support of the family is thrown upon the wife and the mother : and how many of them have worked themselves into a premature grave or into a lunatic asylum, it is painful to contemplate. No sickly person can honorably marry another in good health, without previously making a fair statement of the cas/e. And even then, if a marriage takes place, a crime has been committed against the community and against unborn inno- cents. But when both the parties are sickly, it is wholly in- excusable, and ought to be frowned upon by every intelli- gent community, however satisfactory the pecuniary condition of the parties. They may be able to support themselves, but they can give no guarantee that their children, diseased in body and feeble in mind, shall not be a public charge at the hospital, the poorhouse, or an insane asylum. The best gen- eral plan for insuring a healthy and vigorous offspring is to make an antipodal marriage, to make as much of a cross in the physical characteristics as possible. The city should marry the country ; the black-haired the blonde ; the bilious temperament the nervous ; the fair-skinned the brunette ; the stout the slender ; the tall the short. To marry each its like, is to degrade the race. NUTRITIOUSNESS OF FOOD. THE following table, from authentic sources, shows the as- certained per centage of nutriment in the common articles of table consumption. Boiled rice being the easiest of digestion, because the quickest, is marked ten ; boiled cabbage is two ; roast pork, boiled tendon, and beef suet, requiring five and a half hours to be digested, would be one, or the lowest grade NUTRITIOUSNESS OF FOOD. 635 of digestibility. One important practical bearing of the table is, that the most nutritious food should be eaten, as boiled rice, when the bowels are loose ; but when constipated, that which has most waste should be eaten, as boiled turnips, be- cause the more waste, the greater is the accumulation of this waste in the lower bowel, which acts in proportion as it is distended by such accumulation. Kind of Food. Preparation. Pr-Cent of Nu- triment. Time of Digestion. H. M. Ease ol Diges- tion. KKMAUKS. Almonds, . . Raw, 66 Apples, . it 10 1.30 5 Sweet and mellow. Apricots, . . < 26 Barley, . . . Boiled, 92 2.00 5 Beans, dry, . . .