We shall now take up a practical list of subjects, arranged in alphabetical order. Without any attempt at egotism, we claim that there are few nontechnical books extant that contain a superior selection of preventatives and remedies. Read carefully and judge for yourself. There are very few common or occasional afflictions which are not considered to some extent. Why always seek a doctor when you seem to be somewhat off your physical equilibrium? You will generally at each visit spend more money than this book will cost. Learn to provide against constant medical attention.

Accidents.—In sudden emergencies, either of accident or sickness, the first great requisite is presence of mind. Be calm. Endeavor, if possible, to grasp the situation, and do what is to be done promptly and quietly, until the arrival of the physician. All hurried and distracted motions, and all exciting noises, confuse the attendants and needlessly alarm the sufferer. In many cases, the course of immediate action is suggested by the circumstances; but where you do not know what aid to render, it is best to do nothing, except to make the patient as comfortable, for the time being, as possible. For all ordinary emergencies, ample directions are:—

"1. Always look in the direction in which you are moving.

"2. Never leave a car, or other public vehicle, when it is in motion.

"3. Never put your head or arms out of a vehicle when it is in motion.

"4. If a horse runs away with you, remain in the vehicle rather than risk the danger of jumping from it.

"5. In thunder-storms keep away from trees, metallic substances, doors, and windows. The lower part of a house is the safer.

"6. Never play with fire-arms. Always keep them beyond the reach of children.

"7. Avoid charcoal fumes; they are deadly when confined in a close room.

"8. Illuminating gas; be sure to turn it off. Never blow it out.

"9. When gas can be smelt in an apartment always air the room well before striking a match or bringing a light.

"10. When very cold, move quickly. If any part of the body is frozen, rub it with snow, and keep from the fire.

"11. Change wet clothing as soon as possible.

"12. Carefully avoid exposure to night air, in malarial districts.

"13. If necessary to go into an old vault or well, first introduce a burning candle. If the light burns low and finally goes out, carbonic acid gas is present and the place is unsafe to enter. Unslaked lime will absorb the gas and purify the air.

"14. Avoid walking on railroad tracks and icy sidewalks.

"15. When awake, very young children should never be left alone.

"16. Do not go, with loose hair or flowing garments, near dangerous machinery.

"17. Never touch gunpowder after dark.

"18. Never fondle a strange dog.

"19. Never light a fire with kerosene.

"20. Fill and trim your lamps in the day-time. Never trim or fill a lighted lamp.

"21. Keep matches in a closed metallic box.

"22. Have your horses rough-shod as soon as the ground freezes.

"23. When feeling dizzy or seasick, lie down.

"24. Do not close the damper of your stove too early. Better waste coal than run the risk of suffocation by gas.

"25. When climbing a ladder, look up and not down.

"26. In railroad traveling take the center of the car, and the middle car of the train, for safety.

"27. Eat only pure food, drink only pure liquids, think only pure thoughts, and keep your blood pure.

"28. In going through dry woods or over prairies do not smoke or cast matches about carelessly. There should be laws against this often wanton destruction of property.

"29. Look out for spontaneous ignition of oily rags, oil-painted canvas rolled up, wet iron filings.

"30. In entering mines not used, always try for gas before venturing into them.

"31. Do not be careless in any way whatever in connection with fire. The losses in the United States, in 1889, by fires as a result of carelessness amounted to nearly $100,000,000, while in San Francisco for the same year we find that fully 80% of the losses can be attributed to the same source."

Alcohol.—Felix L. Oswald, M.D., gives some very good ideas in Good Health on the alcoholic habit. "'Reform,' says an able political writer, 'is ever unpopular. All wrongs lie in the consent of the wronged, and what with the fierce support of those who thrive on the abuse, and the dull, heavy, ignorant conservatism of the masses, * * * it is a sad delusion to suppose that the cause is won when the argument is made.' An unquestionable preponderance of power, they argue, favors the side of the liquor venders, and in this world, at least, always finds a way to assert itself as right. The last link of that syllogism, however, is a rule with occasional exceptions. No unqualified evil has ever succeeded in maintaining its supremacy, and the evils of the alcohol vice are offset by no benefits. Alcohol has been called 'negative food,' because its physiological influence torpifies the functional energy of the digestive organs, and thus, for a time, renders the toper insensible to the cravings of hunger. The same effect, however, can be produced by a stunning blow, and we might as well claim that the interests of political economy could be promoted by a fierce war, because a knock-down stroke with the butt-end of a musket is apt to lessen the appetite of the afflicted soldier. No real benefit can result from the lethargizing effect of a poison dose, the retardation of the digestive functions being in every case a morbid and abnormal process, avenging its repetition by the fatty degeneration of the tissues and the impoverished condition of the blood. * * * During the horrible flood which a few months ago devastated the two richest provinces of the Chinese Empire, a number of vile marauders eked out an existence by fishing out wreckage and plundering floating corpses. The idea of mentioning the profits of these wretches as a compensating offset to the horrors of a public calamity would justly consign its propounder to the custody of a lunatic commission. Yet, by an exactly analogous line of argument, many of our political economists continue to defend the legal sanction of the liquor traffic. Nay, it might be seriously questioned if the total loss (by fire or water) of a billion bushels of grain would not be financially and morally preferable to their conversion into a life-blighting poison. According to the statistics of the Treasury Department, the alcohol drinkers of the United States (representing hardly one-fifth of the alcoholized nations of Christendom) spent during the last ten years a yearly average of $370,000,000 for whisky, $58,000,000 for other distilled liquors, $56,000,000 for wine, and $140,000,000 for ale and beer; together, $624,000,000 a year. That enormous sum has been far worse than wasted. It has been invested in the purchase of disease. It has been devoted to the development of idiocy, crime, and pauperism. It has turned blessings into a concentration of curses. The general recognition of these facts will seal the doom of the liquor traffic."

Dr. C. E. Spitka expresses some results of science investigating strong drinks:—

"Alcoholism among the ancients was therefore mainly or exclusively known in its acute phases, the drunken frenzy in which Alexander the Great killed Clitus being a familiar example. With the introduction of tobacco and playing cards, the saloon, the cellar-dive, and the bar-room usurped the place formerly held by the inn. The enlargement of cities deprived their inhabitants of rustic sports, and led to their seeking in other and more dangerous channels an escape from mental and physical strain, and a variation of routine monotony. It is generally conceded by those medical writers who are unshackled by prejudice that a certain amount of alcohol can be ingested with perfect impunity. That amount has been accurately determined by Dujardin-Beaumetz in the course of experiments made in the abattoirs of Paris. Transferring the result of his experiments to the human species, he concluded that a man weighing 120 pounds could take the equivalent of two ounces of alcohol a day for years without injury to any organ of the body. But when the amount taken daily exceeds the toleration-point, prolonged abuse is followed by results which are as sinister as they are insidious. In the dead-house of the Philadelphia Hospital, Formad found that, of 250 chronic alcoholists, nearly 99 per cent had fatty degeneration of the liver, 60 per cent had congestion or a dropsical state of the brain, the same proportion an inflamed or degenerated stomach, while not quite 1 per cent had normal kidneys. Of 17 children of drunken fathers observed by Voisin, 3 were idiots, 2 confirmed epileptics, 1 suffered from a congenital spinal disease, and the remainder died in early life with convulsions. Of 11 children similarly descended, cited by Dagonet, 9 died in the same way. Of 117 such births recorded in Alsace-Lorraine, 13 were still-born and 39 died of convulsive disorders shortly after birth. One drunken father had 7 still-born children in succession; another lost 8 of 12 by convulsions. It is not alone as a direct result of inebriety that a defective nervous system is thus transmitted. Even in his sober intervals, he whose nervous system has been shattered by alcohol is liable to have a degenerate or diseased offspring. Of 18 children recorded as born under these circumstances, Voisin found 8 epileptic and 10 idiotic. As if to prove beyond the possibility of a doubt that such degeneracy is due to the alcoholism of the parent, and to that alone, two French investigators, Mairet and Combemale, performed a series of experiments on dogs, by which they showed that the same result which the chronic inebriate is accused of producing in his offspring, through selfish indulgence, can be produced at will in the offspring of lower animals by compulsory induction of the same vice in them."

An English investigation, just completed, puts in tangible form the effect of the use of alcohol, from observations covering 4,234 cases in all walks of life. This report shows that, with men over twenty-five, the intemperate use of alcohol cuts off ten years from life, those who never drink to excess, or use no liquor, living, on the average, ten years longer than those who do. Indulgence, if carried to excess, doubles diseases of the liver, quadruples those of the kidneys, and greatly increases the number of deaths from pneumonia, pleurisy, and epilepsy.

It is not often appreciated how many people die annually from the effects of strong drink. Dr. Norman Kerr, an eminent physician of England, believing the statement of temperance people to be extravagant, that 60,000 people die annually from the effects of strong drink, began as early as 1870 a personal inquiry, in connection with several medical men and experts, expecting to quickly disprove the same. According to their deductions, the latest estimates of deaths of adults annually caused through intemperance is, in Great Britain, 120,000; in France, 142,000; in the United States, 80,000—or nearly a half million each year in three countries aggregating a population of 112,000,000.

Excessive Beer Drinking.—In the earlier part of our work we endeavored to impress on our readers the necessity of regularity and the avoidance of excesses. The last week of 1889 in New York City saw two prominent brewers buried, and two others of the guild were near death. None of them were, or are, over forty-seven years old. Kidney and heart disease were the causes of death in the case of the first two. Similar ailments have marked the other two gentlemen for the grave. The question arises, Was it beer or champagne that caused these diseases? In this connection the statement a physician of Bellevue Hospital once made is not amiss. These are his words: "The worst cases of alcoholic ailments coming under our observation are those resulting from excessive beer drinking."

In appearance the beer drinker may be the picture of health; but in reality he is most incapable of resisting disease. A slight injury, a severe cold, or a shock to the body or mind, will commonly provoke acute disease, ending fatally. Compared with other inebriates who use different kinds of alcohol, he is more incurable and more generally diseased. It is our observation that beer drinking in this country produces the very lowest kind of inebriety, closely allied to criminal insanity. The most dangerous class of ruffians in our large cities are beer drinkers. Intellectually, a stupor amounting almost to paralysis arrests the reason, changing all the higher faculties into a mere animalism, sensual, selfish, sluggish, varied only with paroxysms of anger, senseless and brutal.

That men are the sex most addicted to stimulating but injurious habits is sadly growing less true, and women are finding recourse too often to poisonous invigorators. If one-half of what the doctors are saying all over the country is true, there may soon be a greater need of a temperance reform among the women than there ever has been among the men. Strong drink, however, is not the monster by which the women may be enslaved, but a strong and poisonous drug equally baneful in its effect.

This drug is antipyrine. It is a white powder, slightly bitter, and soluble in water. Until about a year ago it was prescribed for fevers only, but a French medical college recommended it for headaches and other pains and disorders, and in this way it has gained its grasp on so many thoughtless and nervous women.

In Chicago and many other places it is said that the habit is gaining with alarming rapidity, for the women take it for every ill, and cannot believe that its soothing effect can have any evil result until the habit is thoroughly fixed upon them. It produces different results under different circumstances, and, like many other preparations, varies according to the size of the dose. In large doses it has been known to produce complete relaxation, and at the same time a loss of reflex action, and death. In moderate or tonic doses it often produces convulsions. Its effect as a stimulant seems to be very much like that of quinine, and the physicians say that they do not understand why it should get the hold on women that it does.

The latest female vice is intoxication by naphtha. It is not drank. The fumes of it are simply inhaled, inducing, so the inebriates say, a particularly agreeable exhilaration.

Remedies of Alcoholism.—Without much doubt, the best way to affect a cure is to regularly reduce one's amount of liquor each day until the system can do without it. A systematic decrease can always be carried through if the will power will back it. We add also some ideas that have been advanced by good judges: "To dispel as quickly as possible the effects of intoxicants, one of the most effectual remedies is a small dose of sal volatile, or volatile salts, in a wine-glass of water—repeating the dose in half an hour. A dish of cold broth may answer the same purpose. The most speedy way, however, of effecting a cure, is by taking an emetic, following it with the sal volatile and water half an hour after."

The Russian physician and publicist Portugaloff declares that strychnine in subcutaneous injections is an immediate and infallible remedy for drunkenness. The craving of the inebriate for drink is changed into positive aversion in a day, and after a treatment of eight or ten days the patient may be discharged. Even should the appetite return months afterward, the first attempt to resume drinking will produce such painful and nauseating sensations that the person will turn away from the liquor in disgust. The strychnine is administered by dissolving one grain in two hundred drops of water, and injecting five drops of the solution every twenty-four hours. Dr. Portugaloff recommends the establishment of inebriate dispensaries in connection with police stations.

Appetite.—Happy is the man who always possesses a good appetite; unhappy is he who does not have this precious boon. The lack of it results largely from failure of exercise and the excessive use of condiments. In the first place, try to take an invigorating bath with a wet towel and rub hard. If you cannot endure even that, use a dry towel on the body until the friction brings the blood to the surface of the skin. Then give the mouth a careful cleansing by rinsing and tooth-brush. When you sit at the table, do so with a cheerful mood, eat slowly, partake sparingly of condiments, using salt mostly, and vinegar for an acid. Preface your meals with a walk long enough to get up a circulation, if it is dinner or supper hour, but do not tire yourself, and be sure to rest the last fifteen minutes before eating.

Asphyxiation.—A practical man, conversant with cases in which asphyxiation resulted from inhaling carbonic acid gas, gives some valuable hints for their recovery by simple remedies always at hand. Fresh air to restore consciousness is the first important step. Then he gave apples, apple juice, or vinegar, to neutralize the gas and remove it from the stomach by eructations. Eggs broken into vinegar mixed and swallowed made a very effective drink. After removing the gas from the stomach, the patient was further relieved by a cup of strong, hot coffee, which speedily restored him to normal vigor. On two similar occasions, where a physician was called, he administered injections of carbonate of ammonia, and the man was ill for eight or ten days from the effects of the medicine. A little common sense is often better than physic.

Bathing.—We have already treated this subject to some extent, but we recommend the careful reading of Dr. C. H. Steele's ideas, part of which we embody here; also some other worthy opinions on this matter, of great importance to health.

"The use of water in the treatment of diseases dates back to remote antiquity. Savages resort to the surf and sweat-bath, and Hindoos and Mohammedans bathe because their religion commands them to do so. References to the bath may be found scattered throughout the literature of Greece, and in Rome the magnificent buildings and lavish expenditure devoted to the public bath show it in the highest stage of perfection it has ever attained."

"It is only within a few years past that the domestic bath has been accepted as a necessity. No home in England is complete without a bath-room, and no Englishman deems himself well unless he bathes daily. The speaker said that a thermometer, whose use should be understood, should be permanently attached to every bath-tub.

"Physiological Action of the Bath.—In considering the physiological action of the bath, it is first to be accepted that water of a temperature below that of the body abstracts heat from the skin, which abstraction continues indefinitely, only for a time checked by the renewed activity of the heat centers. In a bath the temperature of which is from 92° to 95°, the body may remain indefinitely without any loss or gain of temperature, but after the bath a cooling takes place, owing to increased perspirations. If the water is between 77° and 86°, there is, after the first shock, a positive rise in the temperature of the body. Sixty-five degrees, and lower, may be borne for a long time."

"Nature adapts herself to the cold bath by a rapid stimulation of heat production. All the muscles, nerves, and organs of the body are brought into heightened activity, and thus it is that to the healthy individual the cold bath is invigorating. But nature has her limits, and the bath must be discontinued while this tonic effect is felt, for the heat centers become fatigued and give rise to a chill which may continue for days afterward.

"The greatest agency in bathing is the stimulation of perspiration, and this depends upon the relative dryness of the surrounding air. Thus, in the dry vapor, or Turkish bath, a person will easily endure 264°, and lose four pounds per hour by perspiration. It is this rapid evaporation from the skin that keeps the body cool. A person may stand for some time in an oven, beside a roasting rib of beef. But in the steam or Russian bath the perspiration is retarded, and a temperature of 120° is hardly bearable. A temperature of 124° may induce a rise in the temperature of the mouth to 104° or even 107°, which is seldom reached in a raging fever. Hence, there is an element of danger in the Russian bath—a danger to sudden death similar to sunstroke. This danger is much more pronounced in the hot-water bath when perspiration ceases altogether, and the supply of heat from the interior to the skin is excessive. The temperature of bathing water should not exceed 104°, and this hot bath should not be endured more than fifteen minutes. Even then it is likely to be followed by depression and weakness." "The circulation being quickened, the cold bath acts as a good blood purifier, washing away the poisons of the body through the channels of the veins. In case of persons troubled with an excess of fat, the bath must be accompanied by massage, banting, and a liberal indulgence in outdoor exercise. In the hot bath there is this same waste of tissue, but no tonic effects, and it is invariably accompanied with loss of energy and vitality. But the action of the bath upon the skin is no less beneficial than upon the interior of the body. It favors the excretory action of the skin, thus purifying it. The millions of dead scales, kept to the skin by the clothing, and the cementing effect of the oil, are washed away, thus relieving the skin, which is the great sewerage system of the body. The work of the lungs and kidneys is thus lessened, and the danger of consumption and Bright's disease, which may be caused by uncleanness, reduced."

"Effects of Sea Bathing.—Sea bathing is much more tonic than all other kinds, and the reason is simple. The salt has a slightly irritating effect on the skin, which is very beneficial. Besides, sea bathing is always accompanied by the best of exercise, by relaxation and freedom from the ordinary cares of life, by a change of climate and scene. The beating of the waves against the body also has an exhilarating effect. The bath in the sea should be taken about three hours after breakfast. There are three stages experienced in the cold bath—first, that of depression; second, the tonic stage; and third, the giving out of the heat-producing powers. This is the same as the one stage of the hot bath, and is always to be avoided as highly injurious.

"Nevertheless, the hot bath has its value. Its power to cool the body is admitted, and it is used with effect in cases inflammation induced by cold. The cold foot-bath is recommended as a positive cure for cold feet."

"The practice among modern women of taking hot baths is endangering the health of the race. In a hot bath there is at first a feeling of oppression and violent throbbing of the head, followed by prostration, a highly feverish condition, and a relaxation of the entire system. In case of any organic disease of the heart or consumption, this bath must be carefully shunned. The hot bath belongs alone to the province of the physician. The cold bath, on the other hand, aside from its tonic effects, renders the body less sensitive to changes of temperature, and in this climate is, hence, especially valuable as a protection against catching cold. This bath is from 68° to 75°, and should be taken in the morning before breakfast."

"Bleeding.—A sudden and profuse flow of blood is cause for alarm. First, decide whether the blood comes from an artery or a vein. If from a vein, the blood is dark, and oozes or flows evenly; if from an artery, it is bright red, and spurts in jets. In the former case, the bleeding may generally be stopped by binding on a hard pad. In case of a ruptured artery, the flow of blood may be checked by tying a twisted handkerchief, a cord, or strap, between the wound and the heart. If the hand is cut, raise the arm above the head and bind it tightly. In wounds of the throat, arm-pit, or groin, caused by cuts, and in case of any deep wound, thrust the thumb and finger into the bottom of the wound and pinch up the part from which the blood comes, directing the pressure against the flow. In cuts of the lips, compress the lips between the thumb and finger nearer the angle of the mouth than the cut itself. In scalp wounds, make direct pressure against the bones of the skull with the fingers, or, better, by means of a compress or bandage."

"Nosebleed.—Full-blooded persons who are afflicted with headache and dizziness are most subject to nosebleed. In such cases, the bleeding should be regarded as a relief to an overcharged system, and should not be too suddenly stopped. To stop the bleeding, keep the patient's arms elevated, apply cold water or ice to the base of the brain, or inject vinegar or alum water up the nostrils with a syringe. A thick piece of wrapping paper, placed between the upper lip and gum, and firmly pressed, will usually arrest the flow. It acts by compressing the arteries which supply the Sneiderian membrane. Try plugging with cotton, or a strip of soft muslin, gently pushed up the nostrils, thus causing the blood to clot about the plug. If these remedies fail, the case should have the attention of a physician."

Brain Worry.—"After a good spell of hard work, the brain worker is often tormented by finding it difficult, all at once, to turn off the steam. His work-day thoughts will intrude themselves in spite of every effort to keep them out. Thackeray generally succeeded in exorcising the creatures he had been calling into existence, by the simple expedient of turning over the leaves of a dictionary. A great lawyer was in the habit, in similar circumstances, of plunging into a cold bath, and averred that a person never took out of cold water the same ideas that he took into it. Perhaps the best mental corrective of this condition is to employ the mind for a short time in a direction most contrasted to that in which it has been overworked. During excessive labor of the brain, there is an increased flow of blood to the working organ. If this condition of distention is long continued, the vessels are apt to lose the power of contracting when mental activity is diminished. Hence arises the impossibility of fulfilling the physical conditions of sleep, the most important of which is the diminution of the flow of blood to the brain. It is certain enough that the continued deprivation of any considerable part of the normal amount of sleep will be seriously detrimental to health. Dr. Hammond, in his work on sleep, mentions the case of a literary man in America who for nearly a year restricted his rest to four hours a day, and frequently less. At the end of that time, the overtasking of his mental powers was manifested in a curious way. He told the physician that, though still able to maintain a connected line of reasoning, he found that as soon as he attempted to record his ideas on paper, the composition turned out to be simply a tissue of arrant nonsense. When in the act of writing, his thoughts flowed so rapidly that he was not conscious of the disconnected nature of what he was writing, but as soon as he stopped to read it over, he was aware how completely he had misrepresented his conceptions."

Breathing.—In each respiration an adult inhales one pint of air.

A man respires 16 to 20 times a minute, or 20,000 times a day; a child, 25 to 35 times a minute.

While standing, the adult respiration is 22; while lying, 13.

The superficial surface of the lungs, i. e., of their alveolar spaces, is 200 square yards. The amount of air inspired in 24 hours is about 2,500 gallons.

Two-thirds of the oxygen absorbed in 24 hours is absorbed during the night hours, from 6 p. m. to 6 a. m.

Three-fifths of the total carbonic acid is thrown off in the day-time.

The pulmonary surface gives off about 5 fluidounces of water daily in the state of vapor.

The heart sends through the lungs 192 gallons of blood hourly, or 4,608 gallons daily. The duration of inspiration is five-twelfths, of expiration seven-twelfths, of the whole respiratory act; but during sleep, inspiration occupies ten-twelfths of the respiratory period.

There are two good rules to follow given by William Blaikie:—

"1. To hold the body erect, whether standing, sitting, or walking, and breathe deeply. This habit gives the lungs and digestive organs free play. More oxygen is taken into the blood, and the food is more readily digested and assimilated. 2. To fill the lungs full at frequent intervals, holding the air in the chest as long as is comfortable. This practice will soon improve a disturbed circulation."

Bright's Disease.—Bright's disease is a disorder of the kidneys which causes those organs to secrete albumen in the urine, while they fail to extract from the blood the urea, or effete matter, which they should take up from that fluid. Urea in the blood operates as a poison, and when accumulated in large quantities, produces drowsiness, convulsions, and apoplexy. Intemperance is a fruitful source of Bright's disease, because excessive drinking tends peculiarly to the degeneration of the kidneys. The best remedy we know, or have ever seen tested, is Bethesda water, from Waukesha Springs, Wis. It should be natural, without gas; a quart per day will not be too much for an adult.

Bruises.—If the skin is not broken, the best thing for a bruise, or black and blue spot, as they are often termed, is a piece of pure copper. It should be thin enough to shape with the fingers just the curvature or angle of the portion of the body bruised. In applying it, be very gentle at first, for if it be a finger nail you desire to preserve, on first application it will give you quite a severe shock, but by relieving it every second or two, inside of 5 minutes the pain will cease, and no black spot will follow. If the skin be broken, and the blood has ceased to flow, and you desire to use this remedy, first paste a piece of unprinted newspaper over the broken part, and then proceed as above; but in no case ever place a piece of copper on a broken part of the skin without the above precaution.

Burns.—A correspondent of the Philadelphia Record vouches for the wonderful efficacy of the common cat-tail as a remedy for burns. He says: "Take the down, and with just enough lard to hold it together, make a plaster and lay upon any burn, and it soothes and heals so soon that it seems a miracle. Put upon a fresh burn, and in less than half an hour the smart is gone; if it is an old burn, the healing will commence in twenty-four hours. 'Cat-tail' is also the Indian remedy for scrofulous sores or ulcers. Age does not destroy its healing virtues. It can be laid away and kept for years without losing any of its remedial properties." Burns should be bathed with alcohol or turpentine and afterwards with lime-water and sweet-oil, but never with cold water. Soft soap or apple butter are equally excellent for burns.

Cancer.—It is well proved that cancer cannot be successfully removed by use of the knife. Surgeon John McFarlane, of Glasgow, mentions the cutting out of eighty-six cancers without effecting a single cure. For those who are troubled we would say that there have been and there are remedies with permanent effects. The writer knows of a female physician in this city who has been very successful in achieving lasting cures in numerous authenticated instances.

Chewing Gum and Other Substances.—Regular chewing outside of meal hours of any substance is injurious. It unnecessarily excites the salivary glands, the strength of which should be reserved for eating. Do not chew the ends of your finger nails. Little pieces of the nails may be swallowed, which at some time—possibly quite remote—may cause you great pain, and even death. This has occurred. It has also been found by opticians and doctors that hardly anything will affect the eyes harmfully quicker than gum-chewing.

Cholera.—Dr. Gamaleia, of Odessa, claims to have discovered a prophylactic against cholera, and hopes to win the prize of $20,000 offered for such a cure. He calls his specific Chemical Vaccine, and has tried it efficaciously on apes, guinea-pigs, and pigeons. This is obtained by the successive passages of cholera virus through the blood of animals. After each of these passages, the virus becomes stronger, and is finally injected into the patient.

A cure which was very effective when the cholera struck America is called the "Sun Cholera Medicine." It is also an excellent remedy for colic, and diarrhea, etc. Take equal parts of tincture of cayenne pepper, tincture of opium, tincture of rhubarb, essence of peppermint, and spirits of camphor. Mix well. Dose: 15 to 30 drops in a little cold water, according to age and violence of symptoms, repeated every fifteen minutes or twenty, until relief is obtained. Our own infallible remedy for cholera, cholera morbus, cramps, colic, and diarrhea, is:—

Tincture of opium, 3 drachms.
" " cayenne pepper, 5 drachms.
" " ginger, 5 drachms.
" " camphor, 3 drachms.

Dose: 1 teaspoonful in a gill of cool water for an adult; repeat with half a teaspoonful in 15 minutes if not relieved. For a child 2 years old 1/4 the above dose, and in proportion up to an adult.

Cleanliness.—The English upper classes are clean, but cleanliness of any high degree is a modern virtue among them. It is an invention of the nineteenth century. Men and women born at the close of the eighteenth century did as French people do to-day; they took a warm bath occasionally for cleanliness, and they took shower-baths when they were prescribed by the physician for health, and they bathed in summer seas for pleasure, but they did not wash themselves all over every morning. However, the new custom took deep root in England, because it became one of the signs of class. It was adopted as one of the habits of a gentleman.

Don't take your pocket-handkerchief to dust off your shoes and the next moment wipe your face and eyes with it; don't carry your own sheets with you on a trip and then sit in the smoking-car for 200 miles for enjoyment; anything added to white castile soap as scenting matter is no improvement and in most cases is detrimental.

We have taken this subject up so carefully in "bathing" and in the first part that we will say no more here.

Cold Feet.—The best prescription for cold or tired feet is to carefully envelop each toe and foot with blank newspaper before encasing the same with sock. First have the feet perfectly dry and warm, then they will remain so all day, if properly protected with easy-fitting, strong boots or shoes. Barbers do this to prevent their feet scalding and heating; stage drivers use this method, and hundreds attest its efficacy.

Many people, especially women and children, suffer the whole winter through with cold feet. This is mainly due to the fact that they wear their shoes too tight. Unless the toes have perfect freedom, the blood cannot circulate properly. People who wear rubbers the whole winter through, generally suffer with their feet. Rubbers make them very tender by overheating and causing them to perspire. They should be removed as soon as one enters the house. They draw the feet, keep them hot and wet with perspiration—then as soon as one goes again into the air the feet are chilled.

Colds.—Don't have any fear of night air. That is an unfounded superstition. Keep your windows open. You will sleep better and the next day you will not catch cold.

Take a good hot lemonade just before retiring; in the morning, immediately on getting out of bed, take a cold bath and rub hard until you are in a perfect glow.

Too much coddling is unquestionably one of the most common causes of catarrh. One who is inured to hardships is able to endure exposure without injury, while one unaccustomed to like experience quickly succumbs. Air-tight houses, close and unventilated, overheated rooms, even the quantity of clothing required, are active causes, preventing development of hardihood. As a result, colds and catarrh are universal maladies among civilized people.

Says a writer in Woman's Work: "Without dwelling on the nature and causes of colds, or on what physicians call the pathology of these disorders, I will say that a low or even starvation diet for a few days, with the free drinking of warm, mildly stimulating teas, is better for a cold than any drug or combination of drugs. If with this a warm bath or a hot foot-bath is taken, little more will be needed. Nine cases in ten of colds can be broken up in this early stage by a hot foot or rather leg-bath, keeping the bath as hot as it can be borne, until perspiration arises. After the bath drink a half pint of hot lemonade and go to bed."

A Good Cough Remedy.—The following is from a doctor connected with an institution with many children: "There is nothing more irritable to a cough than a cough. For some time I had been so fully assured of this that I determined, for one minute at least, to lessen the number of coughs heard in a certain ward in a hospital of the institution. By the promise of rewards and punishments, I succeeded in inducing them to simply hold their breath when tempted to cough, and in a little while I was myself surprised to see how some of the children entirely recovered from their disease. Constant coughing is precisely like scratching a wound on the outside of the body. So long as it is done the wound will not heal. Let a person when tempted to cough draw a long breath and hold it until it warms and soothes every air-cell, and some benefit will soon be received from this process. The nitrogen which is thus refined acts as an anodyne to the mucous membrane, allaying the desire to cough and giving the throat and lungs a chance to heal. At the same time a suitable medicine will aid nature in her effort to recuperate."

Constipation.—Regularity in the hour of going to stool and the avoidance of highly-seasoned food are preventatives. See "constipation," first part, per index, for a cure.

Consumption.—"What Changes has the Acceptance of the Germ Theory made in Measures for the Prevention and Treatment of Consumption?" is the title of an essay by Dr. Charles V. Chapin, of Providence, to whom was awarded a premium of $200 by the trustees of the Fisk Fund. In this essay Dr. Chapin has given an admirable rÉsumÉ of all that has been written about consumption from the time of Hippocrates to the present day. After a careful examination of the literature of the subject, he thinks that we are justified in the conclusion that the acceptance of the germ theory has made no direct or important addition either to the hygiene or medicinal treatment of consumption. He thinks, however, that it should have great influence. It tells us plainly what we ought to do. We simply do not obey its behests. The germ theory—now no longer a theory in the case of tubercular consumption—tells us that we have to do with a contagious disease. Now there is no theoretical reason why a purely contagious disease like tuberculosis cannot be exterminated. If we can prevent the spread of contagion at all, we can prevent it entirely. The enormous value of preventive measures, isolation, disinfection, and quarantine, is well illustrated in history of cholera, typhus fever, and yellow fever in the United States.

By keeping out the virus of these diseases, or destroying it when it had gained access to our shores, we have for a number of years been remarkably free from these diseases, and it is certain that if these precautions had not been taken we should have suffered severely. For obvious reasons, the suppression of tuberculosis is not so easy a matter as the suppression of cholera or yellow fever. Neither is the suppression of scarlet fever or small-pox as easy. Yet whenever the public has been educated to a correct appreciation of the contagious nature of scarlet fever, the number of cases has diminished very much. Even in small-pox, with its virulent contagion, it is possible, by means of isolation and disinfection, to check its spread even among an unvaccinated population, as has been illustrated many times of late in the anti-vaccination city of Leicester, England. We must now put tuberculosis among these diseases, and, though its theoretical suppression is simple its actual extermination is a very difficult problem. It lies largely with the medical profession how long tubercular disease shall decimate the human race. The physicians are the educators of the people in these matters. When the doctor shall teach that tuberculosis is contagious, the people will believe, and will govern themselves accordingly. In combating contagious diseases the preventive measures taken often give discouraging results. This will be particularly so in tubercular disease. Half-way measures secure less than half-way results, and these alienate the support of those who only indifferently believe in contagion and the importance of precautionary measures. Efficient means of suppression are radical, and bear hard on the individual; they are not complied with, and they produce violent opposition. Yet, difficult as it may be, the medical profession should take aggressive action against this disease. We have no right to wait for the discovery of a specific, or the gradual evolution of a phthisis-proof race. We must take the world as we find it, full of men and women predisposed to tubercular phthisis, and with no idea of its contagious nature. What can we do about it? 1. Teach the people the true nature of the tuberculosis, that no one ever has tubercular consumption unless the tubercle bacilli find their way into their lungs. 2. Teach them, also, that, even if it finds its way there, it will not grow unless the conditions are right. Teach fathers and mothers how to rear healthy boys and girls. Tell them what to eat and what to wear, to exercise, to breathe fresh air. This alone would exterminate phthisis. 3. The contagion must be destroyed. Fortunately, in this disease there is no need of isolation. Disinfection is enough. The consumptive patient gives off the poison only in the sputum, or perchance the other excreta, if the disease extend beyond the lungs. The virus is not given off from these while moist. We must therefore disinfect all sputum at once with mercuric bi-chloride. Cloths must be used instead of handkerchiefs, and then burned, or, if the latter are used, they should be often changed, and immediately put in a bi-chloride solution and boiled. Bed-linen should be treated in the same way. Frequent disinfection of the entire person, and fumigation of the apartment, would be safe additions to the preventive measures. 4. Persons who have a marked predisposition to the disease had best not come in close contact with the phthisical. Children should never have tuberculous nurses, wet or dry. In the case of consumptives very great attention should be paid to ventilation, and to the alimentation both of the patient and the attendants. Such measures, if rigidly carried out, would be of enormous service in preventing this disease. But with the increasing prevalence of tuberculosis among domestic animals, something more is imperatively demanded. Active measures should be taken to free the country from animal tuberculosis.

There are some ideas which it is well to observe:—

1. Flies may carry the virus if they are allowed to frequent cuspidors into which consumptives have expectorated. Clean these out often. Do not permit the patient to spit into a handkerchief and then let it lie around to dry. The dust arising may inoculate some person prone to consumption.

2. Be careful about the meat you eat. It can and does convey tuberculosis. Investigations have been made showing that as high as 50% of a herd to be slaughtered in New York City had tuberculosis. Milk may be also infected and often is.

3. Have an abundance of flowers around. They invariably are helpful.

4. Constant and regular singing with proper care and not tiring is excellent for consumptive lungs, which should be done in well-ventilated rooms.

5. Be out in the open air as much as possible, and breathe through the nose entirely. Continually exercise the lungs by drawing in long breaths.

6. If possible try fumes of hydrofluoric acid. In glass factories if workmen are rendered consumptive by stooping over the grinding machinery, they usually find great benefit by being allowed to work in the room with the glass etchers, where so much hydrofluoric acid is employed.

7. Buttermilk is well recommended.

8. Consumptive and bronchial troubles in women are often due to irregularity of dress about the throat and lungs. There is danger from wearing dÉcollÉte costumes. So regular have we been in our habits that the throwing off of a 1-oz. neck-tie for half an hour in the open air will give us a cold with the thermometer at 70% Fahr.

The ocean cure is well set forth in the following, which represents the advantages of a long sea voyage:—

1. Perfect rest and quiet, and complete removal from and change of ordinary occupation and way of life; a very thorough change of scene, and perfect and enforced rest from both mental and physical labor.

2. The life in the open air and the great amount of sunshine to be enjoyed; it is quite possible, under favorable circumstances, to pass fifteen hours daily in the open air; and whenever it is possible the traveler by sea is certain to endeavor to escape from the close and sometimes unpleasant atmosphere of a small cabin, into the pure air to be found on deck.

3. The great purity of the air at sea, and its entire freedom from organic dust and other impurities. In this respect it has an advantage over the air of an open country, for the latter is apt to contain the pollen of grasses and other plants, which, in some persons, excites hay fever and asthma. The air of the cabins may, of course, be contaminated, but the air of the open sea is probably the purest to be found anywhere.

4. The presence in the sea air of a large amount of ozone, as well as particles of saline matter, more particularly in stormy weather, from the sea spray, and these may exercise a beneficial effect in certain throat and pulmonary affections on the respiratory mucous membrane.

5. The great equability of the temperature at sea. This refers chiefly to the daily variations, which rarely exceed four or five degrees Fahr. It must be noted that in a long sea voyage very considerable variations of temperature are encountered, and in a swift steamer the transitions are somewhat sudden.

6. The great humidity of the atmosphere and the high barometric pressure, which are considered to exercise a useful sedative influence on certain constitutions. It is said that the temperature of the body averages one degree Fahr. less on account of this sedative effect. The exhilarating and tonic effect of rapid motion through the air; for by the continuous progress of the ship the sea breezes are constantly blowing over it, and the passengers are borne through the rapidly-moving air without any exertion of their own. The influence of these currents of air on the surface of the body is, no doubt, important, acting as a stimulant and a tonic, increasing evaporation from the skin, and imparting tone to the superficial blood-vessels.

We now give our own cure, which we claim is of great value, at least it is worth trying, for it cured the author of consumption of twenty years' standing in one year. This disease can be cured by "cold packing" the lungs and throat, and following the rules in general for health stated in the first part of this work. You must understand a cold compress or pack, otherwise you are likely to increase the malady and hasten your death. Some persons cannot warm one ounce of cold water in twenty-four hours. Such we advise to go very slowly. First adopt the formulÆ for cleanliness and regularity already given. Then when a little more blood is infused through the system and hence more heat exists, commence the cold pack. Use simply a moistened cambric handkerchief, placed upon the lungs; envelop with at least two thicknesses of linen and one of flannel; wrap up warm and go to bed. Do not attempt to cold pack any part of your body and then expose it to a moving atmosphere. After one week you can increase the moisture of the pack at least 50%. Then add to the thickness and moisture 10% each week, as long as you can succeed in warming it and causing it to sweat that portion of the body packed. If you should wake up in the night and find the pack dry, remove the portion previously moistened and retain only the dry covering, viz., the linen and flannel. In the morning, before arising, thoroughly rub the lungs with a dry linen towel. This, then, is all that is necessary to get rid of this incurable (?) disease, if you will only follow the rules already given for health, happiness, and longevity.

Convulsions, Fits.—When a child has a convulsion, or what is commonly called "a fit," attention should be given to the urinary secretion at once. If there is suppression of urine, the child should be put into a warm bath and made to sweat as speedily as possible. In many cases in which children die from a succession of convulsions, the real cause of death is suppression of urine (a fact which is probably not so generally known as it should be), so that the child really dies of poisoning through the retention of the urinary secretion. When a child is subject to attacks of this character, care should be taken to dress it warmly in flannels, so as to keep up a degree of perspiration most of the time, and hot baths should be administered frequently. Give a glass of Bethesda water from three to four times a day, and the disease will disappear.

Corns and Bunions are caused by tight, ill-fitting boots and shoes. The way of preventing them is, therefore, manifest. Thrusting the toe into a lemon, to be kept on over night, will make the removal of a corn easy. Two or three applications will suffice for the worst cases. Soft corns may be relieved by dissolving a piece of ammonia, the size of three peas, in an ounce of water, and applying the solution as hot as can be borne. It is beneficial to place blank newspaper between the toes. That will keep them from scalding, and hence softening, so that corns will easily form. We have already referred to this paper method for cold feet. Paper is a non-conductor and thus has the proper effect.

Croup.—The following prescription, to be used as a gargle, is not only excellent for croup, but will absolutely keep anyone from choking to death from phlegm in the throat, no matter what the cause, so long as they have any portion of a lung left. It consists of the yolks of two eggs thoroughly beaten, in half a pint of good cider vinegar, adding two tablespoonfuls of honey. I have known two different patients, given up by their physicians, to rally in thirty minutes under the above treatment, and finally get well.

Diabetes.—A prominent French physician advocates a coffee remedy. After having continued to use the remedy for upward of a third of a century in many hundreds of cases, he again appeals to the profession to give it a trial in those cases of liver and kidney troubles which have resisted all other treatment. His habit is to place twenty-five grammes, or about three drachms, of the green berries (he prefers a mixture of three parts of Mocha with one part each of Martinique and Isle de Bourbon coffee) in a tumbler of cold water, and let them infuse over night. The infusion, after straining or filtering, is to be taken on an empty stomach the first thing after getting up in the morning. He cites many cases of renal and hepatic colics, diabetes, migraine, etc., which, although rebellious to all other treatments for years, soon yielded to the green coffee infusion. It is worth a trial at any rate.

Bethesda water from the Wakeshaw Springs, in Wisconsin, will cure three out of every five cases of diabetes and help the other two. Drink it as you would any good water.

Diphtheria.—Diphtheria is a malignant and very infectious disease. It may often be communicated by a kiss, a touch of the hand, or by drinking out of the same cup with the sick person. The mildest case should be carefully isolated. In the family this may sometimes be done by removing the patient to an upper room, which can be well ventilated by means of windows and an open fire. The contagion of diphtheria is not carried far by the atmosphere; hence, by strict attention to cleanliness and ventilation, it may be quite possible to isolate a case even under the family roof. The disease is characterized by soreness of the throat, pain in swallowing, apoplectic, epileptic, hysterical, or the result of poisoning. Put a cork between the patient's teeth, that the tongue may not be bitten. Loosen the clothing, have plenty of fresh air, and do not restrain the movements of the patient, except to prevent injury or bruising. Rub the temples with cologne or spirits, and, as soon as the patient can swallow, give a little cold brandy and water.

Dr. W. A. Scott, of Iowa, where, in the latter part of 1889, diphtheria raged, found a valuable and effective remedy for this dread disease. The recipe can be filled at any drug store, and used by any person without danger:—

Take ten grains of permanganate of potassium and mix with one ounce of cold water. As soon as dissolved, it must be applied with a rag or sponge mop or swab to the whitish places in the tonsils, and other parts that have the diphtheria membrane on them. Do this very gently, but thoroughly, every three hours until better; then every six hours until well. It does not give pain, but is rather nauseous to the taste.

If the tongue is coated white, mix one drachm of hyposulphite of soda and five drops oil of sassafras in four ounces of syrup made of sugar and hot water, and give a teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours, as needed, when awake.

If the tongue is not coated white, I mix 20 drops of tincture of phytolacca in four ounces of cold water and give a teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours, as needed, when awake. (The phytolacca is the common poke-root of the South, and as it loses its strength by drying and age, the tincture should be from the fresh root, or it is worthless.)

It is well to apply a little sweet-oil or cosmoline to the outside of the throat to protect from the action of the air, as the patient must be protected from all danger of getting chilled.

In the beginning of the disease, in mild cases, the above solution of permanganate of potassium is all I use, and all that is needed, as the disease is local at first, but rapidly affects the whole system when seated. In the stinking form of diphtheria this solution soon destroys all smell, and in every case destroys the diphtheria membrane without leaving any bad effect.

M. Roulin, of France, has successfully treated 22 cases of diphtheria with carbolic acid as an antiseptic. Nasal douches, consisting of three teaspoonfuls of the crude acid in a quart of water, were employed every hour by means of the ordinary irrigator. Tonics were given internally.

Dr. Deriker, of St. Petersburg, who is the head physician of the Children's Hospital, and has treated no less than 2,000 cases of diphtheria, and tried all remedies, both internal and external, has found the following a certain cure for the disease: As soon as the white spots appear on the tonsils he gives a laxative, usually senna tea. When the purgative effect has ceased, he gives cold drinks acidulated with lemons, limes, or hydrochloric acid, and every two hours a gargle composed of lime-water and milk. Hot milk was also given as a drink, and the throat well rubbed with spirits of turpentine. The Academy of Medicine in France offered a large sum of money for a successful cure for diphtheria, and this is said to have been it. Equal parts of liquid tar and turpentine are put in an iron pan and burned in the patient's room. The dense resinous smoke gives immediate relief. The fibrinous matter soon becomes detached and is coughed up.

Clothing.—There are some very important principles in regard to dress:—

1. If you desire health, do not wear a belt.

2. Avoid tight lacing. Some of the most beautiful women, including actresses, are giving up this injurious practice.

3. Do not wear, especially in summer, the constant black, even if in mourning. If you do someone may be mourning you too.

4. Use woolens almost entirely for clothing—always for under-clothing.

5. Have shoes that fit and give the feet an abundance of room, and not high heeled, but thick soled.

6. Wear sufficiently heavy woolen under-garments so that you will not be obliged to resort continually to overcoats.

7. In summer, use light outer garments—white flannels and cheviots are excellent.

The Most Important Function of Under-garments.—It is a great mistake to suppose that the material of which a garment is made is the most important consideration in selecting warm under-clothing. The way in which the fabric is prepared and manufactured is of more vital importance as regards heat or coldness of the body than the actual material. A light garment with large meshes is more effective against cold than a close, heavy one. Whatever an under-vest may be made of, its real value as a protector from cold depends upon its ability to inclose within its meshes a certain quantity of air. This is indeed the most important function of under-garments, viz., to encircle the whole body with an envelope of warm air, and a vestment that does not keep a continual layer of warm air next to the skin is of very little use.

We advise the discarding of cotton shirts altogether and wearing only those of flannel. The best material for an under-vest, where the shirt worn is flannel, is silk, but by reason of high cost it is within the reach of a comparatively few only.

Hence woolen under-vests must be selected. They should be large and never tight-fitting, for there must be room for the air to circulate freely beneath them. Good taste suggests that the outside shirt be of white flannel, and that also must be large. Nearly all those which are on sale in stores have collars, but for a small sum added to the price the dealer will make the necessary changes so that a linen collar may be worn.

With such under-clothing a man is very well protected against sudden changes of weather, and is much less liable to take cold than he would be with a cotton shirt on. Now, as to chest protectors. If a man is subject to colds during the winter he should wear a chest-protector. In order for him to get the full benefit of it it should fit him quite snugly at the neck and extend front and back to the belt. Dressed in flannels, as we have recommended, with his chest well covered by a protector, he will be as well fortified against cold as under-clothing of a healthful sort can make him.

Dropsy.—It is not generally known that the silk on an ear of green corn is a powerful and efficient remedy for dropsy, for bladder troubles and diseases of the kidneys. In the Louisville Medical News we find an account of the medical properties of corn-silk and the cures that have been effected by its use. The way to use it is to take two double-handfuls of fresh corn-silk and boil in two gallons of water until but a gallon remains. Add sugar to make a syrup. Drink a tumblerful of this thrice daily, and it will relieve dropsy by increasing the flow of urine. Other diseases of the bladder and kidneys are benefited by the remedy, which is prompt, efficient, and grateful to the stomach. The treatment can be continued for months without danger or inconvenience. Bethesda water is just as good, but both together are better.

Dyspepsia.—This trouble is often the result of decomposition of the food before it is digested. Unless this is remedied death will ultimately follow. A good remedy is this: Thoroughly brown some whole grain wheat, grind it in an ordinary clean coffee-mill; eat of nothing else for the two last meals of the day; carefully masticate it and eat sparingly for a few days, after that ad libitum; in ten days you will be well, if all other suggestions regarding cleanliness are followed.

Ears.—Sapolini of Milan has described a method of his which he states has been successfully employed in 62 cases of deafness of old age. It consists in mopping the membrana tympani with a weak oleaginous solution of phosphorus. He claims that the treatment diminishes the opacity of the membrane, increases the circulation, and improves the hearing.

A writer in a medical journal says: "Beware of too much quinine. It will produce a congestion of the ear and irritation of the auditory nerve. The common habit of taking quinine for neuralgia and other ailments without consulting a doctor is altogether reprehensible, and may lead to very serious results. Many cases of deafness are produced by overdoses and long-continued use of this drug."

Aprysexie is the name Dr. Guye, of Amsterdam, chooses for inattentiveness, and he quite singularly finds that the nose is a cause of it. A dull boy became quick to learn after certain tumors had been taken from the nose, and a man who had been troubled with vertigo and buzzing in the ears for twelve years found mental labor easy after a like operation. In a third case a medical student was similarly relieved. Dr. Guye supposes that these nasal troubles affect the brain by preventing the cerebral lymph from circulating freely.

Elixir Brown-Sequard.—The way Brown-Sequard uses this medicine is entirely successful. Do not think because others have failed that the principle is wrong. Most experimenters, first, are not careful in getting perfectly healthy specimens of animals from whose vitals the elixir is made, while, secondly, they expose the liquid and allow it to become filled or impregnated with microbes and various foreign elements.

The process of administration is thus described:—

The syringe punctures the cuticle, or scarf-skin, and the cutis, or true skin, and then enters the subcutaneous or cellular tissue which covers the muscles, or flesh. Through all the tissues of the body run the lymphatics, which convey the injected matter to the lymph channels, these in turn to the veins, and thence throughout the system. A half ounce of the fluid will be distributed in from one to three hours. Sometimes the subject might feel the stimulus very quickly, and in some cases hours might elapse before any effect was felt. The human system is able to absorb almost an unlimited amount of this liquid, if administered properly and if pure.

Epidemics.—The history of severe plagues is remarkable. The first great pestilence in a comparatively civilized nation was the one at Athens about 400 B. C. On account of being shut up by the Spartans in their crowded city the Athenians had this terrible experience. It carried off thousands—nearly two-thirds of the population. In the reign of the Emperor Justinian no less than 100,000,000 inhabitants died in thirty years from a pestilence that swept from Persia to Gaul. Later, in the fourteenth century, the plague of beautiful Florence in Italy killed 80,000 people in six months. In 1665-66 London was a vast pest-house and during September of 1666 the weekly death rate reached the number of 8,000. In America the sunny South has witnessed the blasting effects of yellow fever during the last fifteen years. In 1878, Florida had 2,649 deaths, and New Orleans 3,977 from yellow fever. Fully 33% of those attacked succumbed. In the same year 4,200 people died of it at Memphis. The last important run of this epidemic was in 1888, at Jacksonville and Decatur. There the deaths averaged 10% of those attacked.

The duration of the infection stages of various diseases is thus given by Dr. T. F. Pearse, an English physician: Measles, from the 2d day of the disease for 3 weeks; small-pox, from the 1st day for 4 weeks; scarlet fever, from the 4th day for 7 weeks; mumps, from the 2d day for 3 weeks; diphtheria, from the 1st day for 3 weeks. The incubation periods, or intervals occurring between exposure to infection and the first symptoms, are as follows: Whooping-cough, 14 days; mumps, 18 days; measles, 10 days; small-pox, 12 days; scarlet fever, 3 days; diphtheria, 14 days.

Scarlet fever is at its minimum from January to May, and at its maximum in October and November. Diphtheria is more evenly distributed through the year, and is most dangerous a little later than scarlet fever. Measles and whooping-cough seem to be somewhat aggravated by cold weather, but are most fatal in May and June. Hot weather is adverse to small-pox, and favorable to disorders of the bowels, particularly in children.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEASLES AND SMALL-POX.—At the outset of a popular eruption it is often difficult to decide whether the case is one of measles or of small-pox. M. Grisol's method of diagnosis is as follows (Medical Times): "If, upon stretching a portion of the skin, the papule becomes impalpable to the touch, the eruption is caused by measles; if, on the contrary, the papule is still felt when the skin is drawn out, the eruption is the result of small-pox."

Erysipelas.—It has long been known that an attack of erysipelas exerts a remarkable influence upon other diseases, and the attempt has been made to cure more serious maladies by deliberately inoculating the patient with the virus of erysipelas. In a recent case in Norway, the growth of a cancer was greatly retarded by this means, and life was probably prolonged a few weeks or even months, though no cure was effected.

Exercise.—Ben. Hogan, the reformed pugilist, has advanced some practical ideas:—

"In every city there are thousands of rich men and women who are ready to commit suicide because of ill-health. 'What is wealth without health?' they say. 'Nothing,' I should say; but I do say that, while every man cannot amass wealth, every man can secure good health. I know a man who owns a fine horse. He employs two men to take care of that horse and keep him in condition. He is exercised, sponged, and blanketed daily. Does the owner himself have a man to take care of him?—No. He possibly bathes once a week. He arises at 8 o'clock in the morning, throws his breakfast down without masticating it, and madly rushes off to his business. At noon he rushes into a restaurant and eats his dinner in five minutes. On he goes, hiring men to look after the health of his horse, but never stops to think of his own body and its needs.

"A man cannot digest his food unless he eats carefully. A meal should never be eaten in less than one hour. Gladstone says he bites each piece of meat he puts into his mouth twenty times before he swallows it, and that isn't too often. The men of to-day who throw their food into their stomach are physical wrecks in fifteen years. The American doctor studies medicine when he should study nature; instead of trying to prevent disease, they try to cure. There are many people who do not take a bath in two years and they prematurely die from poisoning. The poison that accumulates under the first layer of skin breeds disease and sooner or later must come death.

"There are thousands of people dying of consumption who haven't sense enough to know that they can throw it off. No man who is lazy can become healthy, for the best way to bring health is by physical development. I have seen thousands of young men apparently on the verge of the grave grow strong by following this daily routine: When you get up in the morning rub yourself with a rough towel until the blood is in circulation, and then take a cold bath. Never take a cold bath without getting the blood in circulation, for it is dangerous. After the bath rub the flesh for three-quarters of an hour. Then take a cup of tea and eat some toast, and start out for a half hour's walk. Don't plod slowly along the streets, but walk as rapidly as your legs will carry you. When you return you are ready for breakfast. Eat rice, mutton chops, and toast, and drink tea. If you are a business man you are ready for business, but if you are training for an athlete you will again start upon the walk and keep it up all day. A man under training is required to walk at least forty miles every day. When he returns from his walk he is put under blankets until he has cooled, and then again put in the bath-tub. He is taken out and rubbed or manipulated. Then he is ready for dinner. The athlete or pugilist would be required to eat raw ham or raw steak without salt or pepper. Pugilists are not allowed to use pepper, because it heats the blood. For men who are not undergoing training for pugilists I would advise a dinner on rare beef, rice, and other vegetables cooked dry."

Eyes.—A writer in Cassell's Magazine gives the following rules for the use and care of the eyes:—

"1. Sit erect in your chair when reading, and as erect when writing as possible. If you bend downward you not only gorge the eyes with blood, but the brain as well, and both suffer. The same rule should apply to the use of the microscope. Get one that will enable you to look at things horizontally, not always vertically.

"2. Have a reading-lamp for night use. N. B.—In reading the light should be on the book or paper and the eyes in the shade. If you have no reading-lamp, turn your back to the light and you may read without danger to your eyes.

"3. Hold the book at your focus; if that begins to get far away use spectacles.

"4. Avoid reading by the flickering light of the fire.

"5. Avoid straining the eyes by reading in the gloaming.

"6. Reading in bed is injurious as a rule. It must be admitted, however, that in cases of sleeplessness, when the mind is inclined to ramble over a thousand thoughts a minute, reading steadies the thoughts and conduces to sleep.

"7. Do not read much in a railway carriage. I myself always do, however, only in a good light, and I invariably carry a good reading-lamp to hang on behind me. Thousands of people would travel by night rather than by day if the companies could only see their way to the exclusive use of the electric light.

"8. Authors should have black-ruled paper instead of blue, and should never strain the eyes by reading too fine types.

"9. The bedroom blinds should be red or gray, and the head of the bed should be toward the window.

"10. Those ladies who not only write but sew should not attempt the black seam by night.

"11. When you come to an age that suggests the wearing of spectacles, let no false modesty prevent you from getting a pair. If you have only one eye, an eye-glass will do; otherwise it is folly.

"12. Go to the wisest and best optician you know of and state your wants and your case plainly, and be assured you will be properly fitted.

"13. Remember that bad spectacles are most injurious to the eyes, and that good and well-chosen ones are a decided luxury.

"14. Get a pair for reading with, and if necessary a long-distance pair for use outdoors."

Further rules are:—

Avoid all sudden changes between light and darkness.

Never begin to read, write, or sew for several minutes after coming from darkness to a bright light.

Never read by twilight or moonlight, or on dark, cloudy days.

When reading, it is best to let the light fall from above obliquely over the left shoulder.

Do not use the eye-sight by light so scant that it requires an effort to discriminate.

The moment you are instinctively prompted to rub your eyes that moment stop using them.

If the eyelids are glued together on waking up do not forcibly open them, but apply saliva with the finger. It is the speediest diluent in the world; then wash your eyes and face in warm water.

In the selection of books or pamphlets see that the paper is of a slight orange tint; this shade is the most pleasant for the eye to look upon.

The following is recommended as an efficient means of removing particles from the eye: Make a loop by doubling a horse hair; raise the lid of the eye in which is the foreign particle; slip the loop over it, and placing the lid in contact with the eyeball, withdraw the loop, and the particle will be drawn out with it.

An old locomotive engineer gives the following as an infallible method to eradicate any foreign substance from the eye, viz., close the eyes, and rub gently from right to left with a circular motion the well eye.

Food.—Of all the fruits we are blest with, the peach is the most digestible. There is nothing more palatable, wholesome, and medicinal than good, ripe peaches. They should be ripe but not overripe and half rotten; and of this kind they may make a part of either meal, or be eaten between meals; but it is better to make them a part of the regular meals, says Hall's Journal of Health, a medical authority. It is a mistaken idea that no fruit should be eaten at breakfast. It would be far better if our people would eat less bacon and grease at breakfast and more fruit. In the morning there is an arid state of the secretions, and nothing is so well calculated to correct this as cooling, subacid fruits, such as peaches, apples, etc. The apple is one of the best of fruits. Baked or stewed apples will generally agree with the most delicate stomach, and are an excellent medicine in many cases of sickness. Green or half-ripe apples stewed and sweetened are pleasant to the taste, cooling, nourishing, and laxative, far superior, in many cases, to the abominable doses of salts and oil usually given in fever and other diseases. Raw apples and dried apples stewed are better for constipation than liver pills. Oranges are very acceptable to most stomachs, having all the advantages of the acid alluded to; but the orange juice alone should be taken, rejecting the pulp. The same may be said of lemonade, pomegranates, and all that class. Lemonade is the best drink in fevers, and when thickened with sugar is better than syrup of squills and other nauseants in many cases of cough. Tomatoes act on the liver and bowels, and are much more pleasant and safe than blue mass and "liver regulators." The juice should be used alone, rejecting the skins. The small-seeded fruits, such as blackberries, figs, raspberries, currants, and strawberries, may be classed among the best foods and medicines. The sugar in them is nutritious, the acid is cooling and purifying, and the seeds are laxative. We would be much the gainers if we would look more to our orchards and gardens for our medicines and less to our drug stores. To cure fever or act on the kidneys no febrifuge or diuretic is superior to water-melon, which may, with very few exceptions, be taken in sickness and health in almost unlimited quantities, not only without injury but with positive benefit. But in using them the water or juice should be taken, excluding the pulp, and the melon should be ripe and fresh, but not overripe and stale. While, undeniably, a mixed diet is the best for man, there is a mistaken notion, which prevails to a great extent, that meat should largely enter into the same. As a consequence, much more is eaten than is needed or can properly be disposed of in the system. Never eat meat oftener than once a day, and very sparingly in summer. Men of sedentary habits might with safety for several days at a time during that season live on vegetables, fruits, milk, breadstuffs, and foods of like character, which are easy of digestion. For those who have good reason to believe that their "kidneys are weak," a diet largely made up of meat is ill-advised. Those organs are intimately concerned in its disposal in the system, and hence are overtasked if it is taken in too great a quantity.

Reasons Why a Strictly Vegetable Diet Is to Be Preferred to Animal Food.—The food which is most enjoyed, says a writer in Longman's Magazine, is the food we call bread and fruit. In my long medical career, I have rarely known an instance in which a child has not preferred fruit to animal food. I have been many times called upon to treat children for stomachic disorders induced by pressing upon them animal to the exclusion of fruit diet, and have seen the best results occur from the practice of reverting to the use of fruit in the dietary. I say it without the least prejudice, as a lesson learned from simple experience, that the most natural diet for the young, after the natural milk diet, is fruit and whole-meal bread, with milk and water for drink. The desire for this same mode of sustenance is often continued into after years, as if the resort to flesh were a forced and artificial feeding, which required long and persistent habit to establish as a permanency as a part of the system of every-day life. How strongly this preference taste for fruit over animal food prevails is shown by the simple fact of the retention of those foods in the mouth. Fruit is retained, to be tasted and relished. Animal food, to use a common phrase, is "bolted." There is a natural desire to retain the delicious fruit for full mastication; there is no such desire, except in the trained gormand, for the retention of animal substance. One further fact which I have observed—and that too often to discard it—as a fact of great moment, is that when a person of mature years has for a time given up voluntarily the use of animal food in favor of vegetable, the sense of repugnance to animal food is soon so markedly developed that a return to it is overcome with the utmost difficulty. Neither is this a mere fancy or fad peculiar to sensitive men or oversentimental women. I have been surprised to see it manifested in men who are the very reverse of sentimental, and who were, in fact, quite ashamed to admit themselves guilty of any such weakness. I have heard those who have gone over from a mixed diet of animal and vegetable food to a poor vegetable diet speak of feeling low under the new system, and declare that they must needs give it up in consequence; but I have found even these (without exception) declare that they infinitely preferred the simpler, purer, and, as it seemed to them, more natural food plucked from the prime source of food, untainted by its passage through another animal body.

There are thirty vegetarian restaurants in London, and a vegetarian hotel is the latest move in the right direction.

The time required to digest different kinds of food:—

The above is taken from Beaumont's "Experiments on Digestion." Dalton comments on these observations as follows: "These results would not always be precisely the same for different persons, since there are variations in this respect according to age and temperament. Thus, in most instances, mutton would probably be equally digestible with beef, or perhaps more so; and milk, which in some persons is easily digested, in others is disposed of with considerable difficulty. But as a general rule, the comparative digestibility of different substances is no doubt correctly expressed by the above list."

To Ascertain Pure Milk.—Take an extra quart of milk any day from your milkman and put it in a glass jar, an ordinary fruit-jar will do; set it away and await results. The proportion of cream on top shows the richness of the milk. Let it alone until it turns to clabber, and if there is any water in it, it will appear between the cream and the clabber. After fermentation sets in, the water will sink to the bottom. If there has been no water put into the milk, none will show. By trying milk from different milkmen, you can readily see which is the best.

We will add under food that eggs should be kept in oak or porcelain receptacles, not in pine boxes, as they partake of the odor of the pine.

Freckles.—A young lady of St. Louis says: "I accidentally discovered a sovereign remedy a couple of years ago, which costs next to nothing. One day the plumber shut our water off, and I could get none in which to wash my face. I was fearfully soiled, and, looking out of the window just then, I saw a friend approaching to call on me. Glancing about me, I noticed half a water-melon from which the meat had been removed some time before. It was partly filled with juice, and I hastily washed my face in it. The result was so soothing that I repeatedly washed my face in that manner. Judge of my astonishment a few days later on seeing that there was not a freckle left on my face."

Gargle.—An excellent gargle for general use is:—

Chloras Potass., 3 ounces.
Tannin, 2 drachms.

Dissolve one teaspoonful in half a pint of water, which will keep for several days. For bronchial trouble or bleeding at the lungs, gargle the throat often; but for general cleanliness, gargle a little every morning; for catarrh, not only gargle but snuff some up the nose.

Hair.—To prevent hair from falling out, headache, neuralgia, brain fever, etc., the hair should be worn comparatively short by both sexes, washed and dried every day. To preserve the hair this is a good recipe: Take a teaspoonful of dried sage; boil it in a quart of water for twenty minutes. Strain it off and add a piece of borax the size of an English walnut; pulverize the borax. Put the sage tea, when cold, into a quart bottle; add the borax; shake well together and put in a cool place. Brush the hair thoroughly and rub and wash well on the head with the hand; then, after a good hard rubbing, brush the hair well before a fire, so that it will become perfectly dry. Never use a fine-tooth comb, as it irritates the skin, and consequently inflames the roots of the hair.

Headache.—The causes are: "Overstudy, overwork in-doors, neglect of the bath, want of fresh air in bedrooms, nervousness, however induced; want of abundant skin-exciting exercise, the excitement inseparable from a fashionable life, neglect of the ordinary rules that conduce to health, overindulgence in food, especially of a stimulating character, weakness or debility of body, however produced (this can only be remedied by proper nutriment), work or study in-doors, carried on in an unnatural or cramped position of the body. Literary men and women ought to do most of their work at a standing desk, lying down now and then to ease the brain and heart, and permit ideas to flow. They should work out-of-doors in fine weather—with their feet resting on a board, not on the earth—and under canvas in wet weather. It is surprising the good this simple advice, if followed, can effect.

Health Beverages.—Lemons make the best beverage. They are very healthy and good, not only for allaying the thirst, but will cure a multitude of disorders. The juice of the lemon contains citric acid. Acids, as a rule, decrease the acid secretion of the body and increase the alkaline. Citric acid, which is the acid of lemons and oranges, for instance, will diminish the secretions of gastric juice, but increases very materially the secretion of saliva. The very thought of a lemon is sufficient to make the mouth water. Thirst in fevers is not always due to lack of water in the blood. It may be due in part to a lack of the secretion of the saliva. When the mouth is parched and dry, the acid will increase the saliva. When acid is given for the relief of dyspepsia it should be taken before eating. Lemon juice drank before meals will be found very advantageous as a preventive of heart-burn.

Drinks for the Voice.—Tea, coffee, and cocoa are three admissible drinks, but none in excess. For the voice cocoa is the most beneficial. It should never be made too strong, and those cocoas are the best that have been deprived of their oil. A cup of thin cocoa, just warm, is more to be recommended between the exertions of singing than any alcoholic beverage. Tea must not be taken too strong, nor when it has drawn too long, for tea then becomes acid, and has a bad influence on the mucous membrane that lines the throat. There is always a dry sensation after having taken a cup of tea that has been allowed to draw too long. A vocalist had better do without sugar in tea and only take milk with it.

Hernia or Rupture.—A swelling suddenly appearing in the abdomen, and especially in the groin, may be recognized as a rupture, particularly if it puffs out, or grows larger when the patient breathes or coughs violently. If, for any reason, the services of a physician cannot be immediately secured, the patient should lie down on his back, draw up his knees, and, while he breathes gently, rest his fingers upon the rupture, and press it in all directions. In most cases the hernia will slip back when thus treated. Then apply a bandage to hold the bowels in place long enough for the person to have a truss fitted to him. During this period the bowels should be kept regular.

The author of this book was cured of rupture of the right groin completely. Though having worn trusses of different patterns for 25 years, the one that effected a permanent remedy was an electric elastic truss, invented by Dr. A. T. Sherwood, 408 Stockton Street, this city. This is no advertisement, but wishing to help others who are afflicted, we are of the opinion that it will cure four out of every five cases that exist, provided the patient will pursue a careful course otherwise. My treatment required less than 4 months.

Hiccoughing.—Sweet-flag (calamus) is claimed to be an agent that will relieve and stop persistent hiccough in almost any case. Chew a small piece of the root.

Hydrophobia.—Rabies, the madness produced by the bite of mad animals, is often apprehended when there is no danger. In case the supposed mad creature has been killed, an important means of information is lost. If possible, the animal should be secured and closely watched. If he does not show signs of rabies, the bitten person need have no fear; but, in any case, when one has been bitten, the wound should be washed with hot water, sucked, by some person whose mouth is free from sores, and then thoroughly cauterized with pure nitric acid or concentrated liquor of ammonia. The patient's strength should be sustained by stimulants, and medical attendance should be secured as soon as possible.

Drs. Valentine Mott and A. F. Baldwin, of the Carnegie Laboratory; are prepared to inoculate hydrophobia patients according to the Pasteur system. The first patient was the seven-year-old son of Dr. Newell, of Jersey City. Dr. Mott inoculated himself to prove the harmlessness of the method for a healthy man.

It has been discovered recently that the juice of the maguey plant is a certain remedy for hydrophobia.

Influenza (La Grippe).—The first symptoms of the disease are sudden faintness, a chill, and marked prostration, succeeded by headache and a general feeling of malaria, followed by acute coryza, pharyngitis, and slight laryngitis, winding up with bronchitis. Examination shows that the patients are about as sick as persons with a bad cold. The duration of the attack is from 2 to 10 days and upward. An application of 2 parts turpentine to 1 of sweet-oil placed on the chest over the lungs, and then inhale the steam from steeped eucalyptus leaves, is the best remedy we know.

Insomnia.—The next time a sufferer finds himself awake, say 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, instead of merely trying to banish the painful thought and repeating numbers, according to habit, let him revert at once to the dream which was the cause of his awakening, and try to go on with it. Sleep will come soon. It is stated on good authority that this experiment, oft repeated, has never been known to fail.

A correspondent of the Lancet gives the following method of self-asphyxiation as an effectual remedy for insomnia in his own case: After taking a deep inspiration, he holds his breath till discomfort is felt, then repeats the process a second and third time. As a rule this is enough to procure sleep. A slight degree of asphyxia is thus relied on as a soporific agent.

Leprosy.—An interesting report by the Hawaiian Board of Health is in our hands; incomplete statistics give the number of lepers in the several islands of the Hawaiian group on January 1, 1888, as 400. A statement of the leper population at Leper Settlement at Molokai for the biennial period ending March 31, 1888, is 749.

The report says: "Accurate statistics as to the number of lepers still at large in the various communities of this country cannot be obtained." It is estimated from the best data obtainable, that there were 644 lepers at large on the islands on March 31, 1888.

The report says: "The rations furnished each leper at the Leper Settlement on Molokai are abundant for the support of any adult Hawaiian."

One of the embarrassing questions the board is called upon to decide is, how many of the non-leper friends and relatives of the afflicted ones shall be allowed to go and live with them at the leper settlement as helpers, or kokuas, the number of applicants being in excess of the demand. The great obstacle to be overcome in carrying out the law of segregation consists in the fact that the Hawaiians do not appreciate and refuse to be convinced that leprosy is a communicable disease. It is with them as if devotion to a fatal sentimentality had bid defiance to every instinct of self-preservation. Marriages between leprous and non-leprous individuals are freely contracted, and the intimacies are not prevented by the fact of potent evidences of the disease. "If this race is ever to be rescued from the slough into which it is sinking, the fatal lethargy that stupefies them must be dispelled, the instinct of self-preservation must be awakened, and it must be written upon their hearts, as with the point of a diamond, that to voluntarily contaminate one's self with leprosy is a crime. In spite of a number of claims to the contrary, we believe it safe to say that no one has been able to prove, to the satisfaction of the medical profession, who very rightly demand full proof in such cases, that a single unmistakable case of this disease has been definitely cured." Says the report: "It is necessary always to bear in mind that the symptoms of leprosy, like those of some other diseases, have a way of receding or entirely disappearing for a time, only to show themselves again when least expected."

Government physicians generally attribute the causes which are checking the increase of the Hawaiian population to be leprosy; also the indolent and easy nature of the natives, which causes them to rest content, provided they can obtain the bare necessities of life. They are content to sit idle while their places are being filled with Chinese, and their lands are gradually passing from their possession. This apathy causes them to degenerate, both mentally and physically, and thus leads to the smallness of families and the general extinction of the race.

The following description of how this terrible disease develops and affects the patient is taken from the Hankow (China) Medical Mission report: "Leprosy is common. It chiefly affects men who work in the field; we have met with it in brothers; it is occasionally met with in women. The age varies from ten to fifty years. Often the first symptom complained of is some localized anÆsthesia—which is sometimes quite accidentally discovered—in the feet, hands, or face, which are the parts that are most commonly affected. The sensory nerves are first affected, and sensation as a rule absent partially or completely. The anÆsthesia is followed by want of free use of affected parts; the circulation is also impaired in those parts; the hair on the eyebrows falls out. A peculiar punched-out-looking ulcer, with a very fetid discharge, is often met in the feet; sometimes, but not so often, in the hands. As the disease advances, which it does very slowly—it often apparently remains stationary for years—the face broadens, becomes square, glazed, irregular and nodular; nodules are also found in the mucous membrane of the lips and in the nerves; perspiration is absent; the natural expression of the face is completely changed; the patient looks old and sad. As the disease further advances, the toes and fingers drop off, and by and by part of the limb. The general health is never affected. Treatment is not very satisfactory; symptoms seem to be controlled for a time, but never cured."

Lockjaw.—Professor Renzi, of Naples, records several cases of tetanus successfully treated by absolute rest. The method advocated is as follows: The patient's ears are closed with wax, after which he is placed in a perfectly dark room, far from any noise. He is made to understand that safety lies in perfect rest. The room is carpeted heavily in order to relieve the noise of stepping about. The nurse enters every quarter of an hour with a well-shaded lantern, using more the sense of touch than sight to find the bed. Liquid food (milk, eggs in beef tea, and water) is carefully given, so that mastication is not necessary. Constipation is not interfered with. Mild doses of belladonna or secale are given to relieve pain. This treatment does not shorten the disease, but under it the paroxysms grow milder, and finally cease. Numerous physicians attest to the value of this treatment.

Marriage.—The Medical Record says the unpopularity of marriage in England continues unabated, and last year was the first in recent times in which, while the price of wheat fell, the marriage rate remained stationary. It is now 14.2 per 1,000. The decline in the popularity of matrimony is greatest with those who have already had some experience of wedded life. Between 1876 and 1888 the marriage rate fell 12 per cent for bachelors and spinsters, 27 per cent for widowers, 31 per cent for widows.

Another interesting fact is that the births have now reached the lowest rate recorded since civil registration began. In 1876 the rate was 36.3 per 1,000; it is now 30.6. This is very satisfactory, and it is also notable that the illegitimate birth-rate has declined, the proportion, 4.6 per cent, being the lowest yet registered. The worst feature in the Registrar-General's returns, however, is the fact that the male births had fallen in proportion to the female; in the last ten years 1,038 boys were born for every 1,000 girls, and last year the male preponderance had dropped by 5, and is now standing at 1,033 to 1,000.

M. Huth has recently published a valuable book on consanguinity. There is no lack of instances of enforced consanguinity, in the matter of marriage, in isolated communities, according to M. Huth, to disprove the assumption that physical degeneration is likely to result from the practice. An investigation into a number of unions between uncles and nieces, nephews and aunts, and cousins in the first and second degree, gives an average of children rather above than below the general average, though this is attributed to some extent to the comparatively early age at which such unions are generally contracted. Breeders inform us that the results are markedly in favor of consanguineous unions between healthy, well-bred animals. Unions between men or animals of widely different varieties, on the other hand, have a decidedly injurious effect on the off-spring, and beyond a certain limit are almost absolutely sterile. Mulattoes and the half-breeds of India and America are striking examples of the deterioration to which such racial disparity gives rise. The great point to bear in mind is that the union of individuals with the same morbid tendencies intensifies the taint, and that, too, quite irrespective of any consanguinity. The moral, according to the author, is that the reasons which have led to the prohibition of marriages within certain degrees of relationship are social, and not physiological.

Malaria (Chills and Fever).—Mr. W. S. Green, editor of the Weekly Colusa Sun, of this State, has made careful investigations on the malaria question. We quote from his issue of May 12, 1888:—

"Irrigation and Malaria.—At the irrigation convention held at Riverside in March, '84, a paper by W. S. Green was read on the subject of 'Irrigation on Health.' The writer took a new departure, and combated notions held for ages; that is, he held that however much the received notions of malaria might hold good as to other climates, they were not correct when applied to California, where the air was in motion pretty much all the while. Mr. Green received the highest indorsement of his ideas, and they have come to be accepted as correct. His statement of facts has been verified by almost all observing men.

"To the Pres. of the Irrigation Convention, Riverside, Cal.—

"Having taken great interest in the problem of irrigation for twenty years and over, I had intended to be present at your meeting, but at this date I find it will be impossible. If a man possesses a mite of knowledge or an idea on this great subject, it is his duty to give his co-workers the benefit of it.

"During a residence of thirty-four years in the Sacramento Valley, I have had time and opportunity to observe and to study its sanitary conditions, and these observations bear directly, I think, on the subject of the effect of irrigation on the health of a country. I am led by these observations to reject almost in toto the long-accepted theory of infection by malaria from the atmosphere, that is, so far as it pertains to California. I will not consume your time with a technical dissertation, but will state some facts as briefly as possible, and in plain, homely phrase.

"When I saw people living all along the margins of the tules, where in summer the water became hot and stale and full of decaying vegetation, and hundreds of forms of animal life, and yet remain entirely free from malarial influence, I began to think there was some mistake in the accepted theory. I do not pretend to say that all the people living along the tule margins were or are healthy. All who occupy some places seem to be attacked by chills, while the occupants of places close by are never so attacked. Health is the rule. I saw that all these people, those on the healthy and those on the sickly places, must breathe the same air, coming to them from the same hot, stagnant water and decaying vegetation, and I concluded that malaria was not in the air. But I investigated further.

"There are clay, or, as some call them, hardpan banks to the upper Sacramento River, which are from a quarter of a mile to a mile apart. The river, for some very indefinite number of centuries, has vibrated between these banks—washing in on one side and filling in on the other. There is, then, an old or clay formation and a newer or alluvial formation; of course, there is alluvium on top of the clay, but this is not to our purpose. When I first saw the valley in 1850, this new land, some of it as high as the old, was covered with pea vines, blackberry vines, and a dense undergrowth generally, while the other grew wild oats and was usually as open as our wheat-fields. I began to notice that those people who built their houses and dug their wells on a newer formation generally had chills, while the others, as a rule, had not. Sometimes these sickly and healthy places would be but a few feet apart. They breathed the same air, but they did not drink the same water. I began to conclude that these people, both along the river and around the margins of the tules, drank the germ of disease and did not breathe it, and I continued my observations.

"The town of Colusa is built upon the old, or clay formation, and the people are entirely free from the so-called malarial influence. They are almost entirely free from chills, typhoid fevers, diphtheria, etc., but just at the lower end of the town there is evidence that the river at one time ran almost at right angles with its present course, and while the land is just as high, and very large oaks grew upon it, showing the formation to be very old—the span of human life taken as a measure—yet in digging and boring wells, as well as by the indigenous growth, the very great difference in the age of the formation was apparent. Upon this new formation an extension to the town was located, and among other buildings the county hospital was placed there. The patients and employes of the hospital all had chills for several years, until the physician-in-charge, Dr. W. H. Belton, noticed that the people generally who used water from wells on this newly-made land had chills, while the others had not, and caused pipes from the town waterworks, into which river water was pumped, to be laid to the hospital. There was an immediate change. At the commencement of the use of river water, there were some forty persons in the hospital, all with chills, but since the building has been almost entirely free from it. There could be no more conclusive evidence that these people drank the germ of the disease and did not breathe it.

"It is claimed that after a wet season there is more malaria in the air, and that hence people are more subject to disease. I have investigated this, and my observations, extended over a number of years, have convinced me that the water in the wells is simply raised to a newer stratum, one not thoroughly washed, as it were, and that people drink the germ of disease, and do not breathe it.

"My conclusions are, therefore, that irrigation will tend to bring on malarial disorders, as it raises the water in wells to a newer stratum of earth, but no further. When we irrigate so as to produce this effect we must go down after pure drinking water, or bring it to our houses in pipes. The effect of disorders thus brought about is easily remedied.

"I do not wish to be understood as maintaining that there may be no such thing as poison in the atmosphere. In some localities, where the air is not in motion every day, as it is here, the air, like standing water, may become stagnant. I know of some hotels in this valley totally void of drainage, and where the accumulated filth of a quarter of a century stands in the yards in cess-pools. In some countries this would kill ninety out of a hundred people who would stop in them a week, but here we feel no inconvenience from it, except in so far that the water may become impregnated. Air in motion, like water in motion, purifies itself, and hence I have come to the rejection of the theory of malaria in the air."

Of our own remedies we feel very proud because they are sure to kill chills and fever. There are two:—

First: Take the proportions of one (1) of sulphur to two (2) of gin, or 4 fluidounces of gin to 2 of sulphur. Let it stand overnight. For an adult take one teaspoonful of this mixture in a little water from 15 to 30 minutes before the attack. Remain in bed in a room warmed to 90° Fahr., for from 6 to 10 hours. This has not been known to fail.

Second: This requires much care and judgment. Take a whole nutmeg finely grated, and its equal quantity of pulverized alum, thoroughly mix them, and take at one dose; the time to take it has everything to do with its effect. It must be taken between 10 and 17 minutes before the shake is due to come on. Go to bed immediately, using double the usual amount of bedclothes, remain there from 1-1/2 to 3 hours, and both chills and fever will permanently depart. If the medicine is taken too soon (say 30 minutes before the shake), the attack will be more severe; if taken immediately after the shake it will increase the fever; in either case the dose will have to be repeated to effect a cure. This latter treatment completely cured the author.

Nervousness and Worry.—One meets few unworried people. Most faces bear lines of care. Men go anxious to their day's duties, rush through the hours with feverish speed, and bring hot brain and tumultuous pulse home at night for restless, unrefreshing sleep. This is not only a most unsatisfactory, but is also a most costly, mode of living. The other night the train lost two hours in running less than a hundred miles. "We have a hot box," was the polite conductor's reply to some impatient passengers who begged to know the cause of the long delays at stations. This hot-box trouble is not altogether unknown in human life. There are many people who move swiftly enough and with sufficient energy, but who grow feverish and are thus impeded in their progress. A great many failures in life must be charged to worrying. When a man worries he is impeded in several ways. For one thing he loses his head. He cannot think clearly. His brain is feverish, and will not act at its best. His mind becomes confused, and his decisions are not to be depended upon. The result is that a worried man never does his work as well as he should do it, or as he could do it if he were free from worry. He is apt to make mistakes. Marks of feverishness are sure to be seen somewhere in whatever he does. Remedy: Keep cool, think three times before you act once.

Obesity and Thinness.—To increase the weight; Eat, to the extent of satisfying a natural appetite, of fat meats, butter, cream, milk, cocoa, chocolate, bread, potatoes, peas, parsnips, carrots, beets, farinaceous food, or Indian corn, rice, tapioca, sago, corn-starch, pastry, custards, oatmeal, sugar, sweet wines, and ale. Avoid acids. Exercise as little as possible, sleep all you can, and don't worry or fret. To reduce the weight: Eat, to the extent of satisfying a natural appetite, of lean meat, poultry, game, eggs, milk moderately, green vegetables, turnips, succulent fruits, tea or coffee. Drink lime juice, lemonade, and acid drinks. Avoid fat, butter, cream, sugar, pastry, rice, sago, tapioca, corn-starch, potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, and sweet wines. Exercise freely.

Piles.—When piles become painful, whether they protrude or not, the patient should take a warm hip-bath and remain in until the pain ceases, extra precaution being taken for cleanliness, using pure white castile soap with the hip-bath. A careful diet of farinaceous and other easily-digested food, and regularity in going to stool, will suffice to cure the majority of cases. If the piles are bleeding, apply a salve of opium and nut-gall; if itching, a drop of oil of cade will give relief. Linseed oil, applied to the piles, is said to be an effective remedy. In severe cases of piles great relief is afforded by the use of suppositories made after the following formula: 2 grains sulphate morphina, 2 grains extract belladonna, 1 scruple tannin.

The above mixed with a sufficient quantity of cocoa butter to make twelve suppositories of one-half ounce each; one to be used every night on retiring.

Poisons.—Poisons may be classified under two distinct heads—mineral and vegetable. Mineral poisons are irritating and corrosive in their action. They produce a metallic taste in the mouth, burning pains in the throat, stomach, and bowels, and, often, violent retching and bloody vomiting, purging, cramps, cold sweats, and great depression. Vegetable poisons are chiefly narcotics, and many of them are as virulent as any in the mineral kingdom. They cause giddiness, drowsiness, stupor, insensibility or delirium, and oppressed breathing.

General Directions.—First and instantly dilute the poison with large draughts of warm water, either clear, or, if the particular poison is known, containing the proper antidote. This will usually cause vomiting, which is to be desired. If vomiting does not soon occur, excite it. Protect as much as possible the lining membrane of the stomach and bowels from contact with the poison by large and frequent doses of sweet-oil, mucilage of gum arabic, flaxseed tea, milk, etc. Melted cosmoline, vaseline, butter, or lard will serve for this purpose. Keep up the temperature by means of warm blankets, hot bottles, etc.; and if there are marked evidences of sinking, such as a failure of the pulse, or very feeble, gasping respiration, give a little stimulus, preferably by injection into the bowels. In the case of an adult, a tablespoonful of brandy, whisky or gin, with an equal quantity of water, may be administered in this manner every five or ten minutes, until reaction sets in—that is, until the face regains its color, the pulse becomes stronger, and the breathing natural.

A general antidote for all cases of poisoning, where the nature of the poison is unknown, is a mixture of carbonate of magnesia, powdered charcoal, and hydrated sesquioxide of iron, equal parts, in water.

POISONS—MINERAL. Acids.—Muriatic (spirit of salt), nitric (aqua fortis), sulphuric (oil of vitriol), oxalic, nitro-muriatic, etc. Nitric and sulphuric acids are sometimes used for the removal of warts; oxalic acid is often employed for taking out iron or ink stains; muriatic and nitro-muriatic acids are frequently prescribed medicinally. As soon as a poisonous dose has been swallowed, seek for something which will neutralize the acid. Powdered chalk, whiting, magnesia, or lime scraped from a wall and stirred in water, may be given in any of these cases. For sulphuric or muriatic acid also administer soap-suds, sweet milk, common soap cut into small pieces, baking or washing soda, or saleratus, giving these latter in very small quantities at a time, so as not to produce dangerous distension of the stomach, from the evolution of gas. In the case of sulphuric acid, water must not be used freely at first, at least not unless it contains some antidote, as the heat produced, when this acid and water are mixed, is sufficient of itself to cause serious damage.

Ammonia, and other alkalies (Caustic Potash, Soda or Lime).—Antidotes: Vinegar, lemon juice, or a weak solution of tartaric acid, to be followed immediately with sweet-oil or mucilage of gum arabic, and an emetic. Also give an injection of boiled starch. Pain may be relieved with laudanum, in doses of ten to fifteen drops, as the paroxysms occur.

Antimony (Butter of Antimony, Tartar Emetic).—Encourage vomiting. The antidotes are milk, tea, tannic acid.

Arsenic, Ratsbane, Paris Green, Cobalt, and all arsenical preparations used as rat poisons.—Give the whites of five or six eggs, beaten in half a pint of water; or, flour and water, barley water, flaxseed tea, or magnesia. Also administer an emetic of five grains of sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), or fifteen grains of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), ipecac, or mustard and water. After the vomiting, give hydrated sesquioxide of iron in tablespoon doses, every fifteen minutes, until danger is past. This is the best-known antidote for arsenic, and should be procured fresh from the drug store if possible.

Chloral, Chloroform, Ether.—Cold water should be sprinkled over the face and applied to the head. If breathing is suspended, treat the patient for artificial respiration. The use of electricity is recommended.

Corrosive Sublimate (Bedbug Poison), Calomel (Mercury).—The whites of three or four eggs, beaten in water, should be given without delay. If eggs are not at hand, flour or thin starch gruel, mucilage of gum arabic, or milk, will answer. An emetic should be taken immediately after the antidote has been administered.

Iodine (used for external application).—If it has been swallowed, give a paste of starch, or flour and water.

Lead, Salts of (Sugar of Lead, Lead Paint).—After an emetic, administer as much Epsom salt, or Glauber's salt, as the patient can drink. Then give large quantities of milk and whites of eggs.

Lunar Caustic, Nitrate of Silver.—Give a large teaspoonful of common salt, in a glass of water. Repeat the dose every ten minutes for an hour. Then give a dose of castor-oil, and let the patient drink freely of flaxseed tea, barley water, or sweet milk.

Muriates of Tin and Zinc.—These poisons are sometimes found in canned goods—fruits, vegetables, fish, and meats. They cause nausea, vomiting, sudden failure of the vital forces, and sometimes cramps and convulsions. Milk, the whites of eggs, strong tea, or tincture of Peruvian bark, should be given. After the violent symptoms have subsided, the patient should drink freely of flaxseed tea or barley water.

Phosphorus, Matches.—Give large quantities of warm water containing calcined magnesia, chalk, or whiting.

Prussic Acid.—Liquor of ammonia, in doses of ten drops to a tablespoonful of water, should be given every fifteen minutes, until the patient is out of danger. Also apply smelling salts to the nose, dash cold water in the face, and give stimulants.

Verdigris.—Give sugar, milk, and whites of eggs in large quantities, then strong tea, but no acids of any kind.

Poisons—Vegetable. Aconite.—Induce free vomiting, then give brandy or whisky every half hour until the dangerous symptoms are allayed.

Alcohol, Spirits.—Give half a teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia in sweetened water every half hour. Bromide of potassa, in doses of fifteen to thirty grains, every two or three hours, will also be found useful.

Cocaine is the alkaloid of the coca plant of South American origin. It is generally employed in the form of muriate of cocaine and principally used as a local anÆsthetic. It should only be used under the direction of a physician. It may occasion dangerous effects even in doses usually deemed safe. When it has been taken internally, the proper antidote is a powerful emetic followed by stimulants—such as liquor and spirits of ammonia—administered internally. When it has been used to a dangerous extent externally, give whisky or brandy and ammonia.

Laudanum, Opium, Paregoric, Morphia, Belladonna, Hyoscyamus, Stramonium, and Conium.—An emetic of mustard and water, twenty grains of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), or thirty grains of powdered ipecac, should be given. Strong coffee, brandy, or whisky should then be administered in large quantities, and the patient walked around the room. Slapping, pinching, dashing cold water in the face, and even whipping, may be necessary to keep the patient awake.

Strychnine (Nux Vomica).—Give an emetic of a solution of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), or a strong infusion of tobacco; or inject into the bowels bromide of potassium, thirty grains, and the extract of coca, one-half ounce. During the spasms, the patient should breathe chloroform or ether from a saturated cloth held to the nose and mouth.

Toadstools (False Mushrooms) and other poisonous plants and seeds, such as are liable to be picked up and eaten by children.—Empty the stomach at once by an emetic you have at hand.

Coffee poisoning occurs mostly with well-to-do people—those who are overfed. Tea poisoning comes to hard-working, half-starved women. The symptoms of coffee poisoning are want of appetite, sleeplessness, and nervous tremblings, with various indications of indigestion and torpor of liver. Tea poisoning requires rest and nourishment; but the victim of coffee excess usually needs to unload his system by exercise on a low diet.

Antipyrine.—Dr. T. E. Smith, of Cincinnati, had his whole right side paralyzed by a ten-grain dose of antipyrine. The dose is an ordinary one. This powerful drug is much resorted to by grippe victims.

Removal of Foreign Substances.—Considering the frequency with which foreign bodies are swallowed, especially by children, the best treatment to employ in such cases should be generally known. A variety of such methods have been advocated, but just now the so-called "potato cure" appears to be the most popular. One physician not long ago reported that he had successfully applied it with the best results in three cases. One was that of a 6-year-old boy, who swallowed a small weight; another that of a girl, 9 years old, who had swallowed a nail; and the remaining one that of a woman who had swallowed a set of teeth. He fed the patients for three days on nothing but potatoes. This treatment is a method in vogue among the pickpockets of London, who, swallowing their booty, live on potatoes until the stolen articles have passed down and out of the body.

Rheumatism.—Those who have a tendency to that disease should "take a stitch" now and free their systems from all injurious retained matter. They should live abstemiously, exercise freely, keep the skin active by frequent bathing, the bowels open with fruits, and drink water in large quantities. Water dissolves and washes waste matter out of the system; it is therefore an absolute essential where there is any impairment in the action of the kidneys, bowels, or skin. He who applies this simple treatment, and takes proper care of himself otherwise, may feel quite secure from attacks of rheumatism.

"Practical Medicine" suggests: "Make a concentrated emulsion of black soap, 200 grammes; add thereto 100 or 150 grammes of turpentine, and shake the whole vigorously until a beautiful creamy emulsion is obtained. For a bath take half of this mixture, which possesses an agreeable pine odor. After remaining in the bath a quarter of an hour, the patient should get into bed, when a prickling sensation, not disagreeable, however, is felt over the entire body; then, after a nap, he awakens with marked diminution of rheumatic pains."

Flour of sulphur dusted into the soles of the shoes and stockings is said to be a perfect preventive. The exciting causes of rheumatism are cold or wet applied to the body when in a state of heat, exposure to cold winds, remaining long in wet clothes, sleeping in a damp bed, or blood-poisoning. Acute attacks of rheumatism should be treated by painting the affected part with tincture of iodine.

Seasickness.—Experts claim that seasickness can be regulated by a system of breathing. One must sit still and time the breathing to the upward and downward motion of the boat. As the boat falls there should be a full expiration, and as the boat rises start on an inspiration ending just as the boat begins to drop.

Sleep.—The "Home Maker" says: "Up to the fifteenth year most young people require ten hours, and till the twentieth year, nine hours. After that age everyone finds out how much he or she requires, though, as a general rule, at least six to eight hours are necessary. Eight hours' sleep will prevent more nervous derangements in women than any medicine can cure. During growth there must be ample sleep if the brain is to develop to its full extent, and the more nervous, excitable, or precocious a child is, the longer sleep should it get if its intellectual progress is not to come to a premature standstill, or its life be cut short at an early age."

A doctor of prominence says: "There is no doubt in my mind but the belief that human beings should sleep with their bodies lying north and south has its foundation in true scientific facts. Each human system has two magnetic poles—one positive and one negative. Now, it is true that some persons have the positive pole in the head and the negative pole in the feet, and vice versa. In order that the person sleeping should be in perfect harmony with the magnetic phenomena of the earth, the head, if it possesses the positive pole, should lie to the south, or if the feet possess the positive pole the head should lie to the north. The positive pole should always lie opposite to the magnetic center of the continent and thus maintain a magnetic equilibrium. The positive pole of the person draws one way, but the magnetic pole of the earth draws the other way and forces the blood toward the feet, affects the iron in the system, tones up the nerves, and makes sleep refreshing and invigorating. But if the person sleeps the wrong way and fails to become magnetically en rapport with the earth, he will then probably be too magnetic, and he will have a fever resulting from the magnetic forces working too fast, or he will not be magnetic enough, and the great strain will cause a feeling of lassitude, sleep will not be refreshing, and in the morning he will have no more energy than there is in a cake of soap. Some persons may scoff at these ideas, but the greatest scientific men of the world have studied the subject. Only recently the French Academy of Science made experiments upon the body of a guillotined man, which go to prove that each human system is in itself an electric battery, one electrode being represented by the head, the other by the feet. The body was taken immediately after death and placed on a pivot, to move as it might. After some vacillation the head portion turned toward the north, the body then remaining stationary. One of the professors turned it half way around, but it soon regained its original position, and the same result was repeatedly obtained, until organic movement finally ceased."

Small-pox and Vaccination.—Notwithstanding existing prejudices, statistics prove the great usefulness of vaccination. In small-pox epidemics, of those persons attacked who have not been vaccinated, one case in four is fatal; while of those who have been vaccinated, the death rate is not one in four hundred and fifty. In cities, it is important that every infant should be vaccinated before it is six months old. In the country, the operation may be deferred until the infant is a year old. Care should be taken to have the virus fresh and from the cow. The taking of virus from a child, or an adult, should never be allowed, as constitutional diseases are often transmitted in that way. Vaccination is performed by making a small incision in the skin and introducing the virus on the point of a lancet or needle. On the third day, if the desired result has been attained, a small red spot may be seen. This increases in size, becomes elevated, and, by the sixth day, is filled with a clear, yellow liquid. About the eighth day, the pustule is fully formed, when symptoms of small-pox are usually felt,—headache, shivering, loss of appetite, etc. These symptoms subside in a day or two; the fluid in the pustule dries up, and a scab forms, which remains about two weeks and then disappears, leaving a scar. The affected part should be protected by a loose bandage, and all scratching or rubbing prevented.

The theory in regard to vaccination is that the disease in a mild form takes hold of the system, and either completely or partially destroys the liability to contract the same disease in the future. If the destruction is only partial, it can be made total by future vaccinations. All authorities agree that it is necessary to revaccinate frequently—just as often, in fact, as the system shows itself in readiness to take the vaccinations. Then as often as once in five or seven years vaccination should be repeated in order to obtain complete immunity from small-pox.

Superstitions.—Numerous are the dangerous superstitions about marriage. For instance, the bride must not try on her wedding gown, or ill-luck will follow. She must not look in the glass after she is fully dressed and ready for the ceremony. She must not enter her new home by stepping over the threshold, but must be carried over it by one of her relatives. A piece of the bride's cake must be broken over her head as soon as she is safely on the other side. It is very unlucky for her to be in a happy state on her wedding-day. She must be as dolorous as possible, violent fits of weeping being especially beneficial.

It is a good idea for the brides-maids to throw away as many pins as possible on the wedding-day, as this will hasten marriage. The bride should throw away her slipper in leaving the wedding feast, and she who catches it will be the first married. The month of May is generally conceded to be the most unfortunate for marriages. The lucky months are January, April, August, October, and November. January is especially lucky.

Lovers should carefully avoid passing a sharp or pointed instrument from one to the other. Such things tend to cause quarrels. The wedding should be put off by all means if a cat sneezes on the eve of the wedding-day. It should never take place if the cat is black. To sweep dust over a girl's feet or legs will be certain to make an old maid of her.

Should the younger sister of a family marry first, the older sisters will be condemned to lasting celibacy unless they dance at her wedding in their stocking-feet.

The wedding-ring of the mother is an infallible cure for eruptions on the skin of the child. The ring must be rubbed three times around each sore. Cure is certain.

The virtue of the dew that glitters and sparkles in every leaf and flower of a May morning has been recognized from the earliest times. If a young girl wishes to obtain and preserve a glorious complexion she should venture out of a May morning and wash her face in this dew.

To spit in the hand before undertaking anything, whether in love, war, or business, will not fail to bring luck. If you are out fishing, do not step over your rod, or you will catch no more fish than did Simple Simon in his mother's pail.

Of births, it may be said in general that a crying child will grow up to be a great and useful man. This omen is not very clearly settled, however, and is often given the other way. Some seer far back in the ages discovered the following: Born on Monday, fair in the face; born on Tuesday, full of God's grace; born on Wednesday, sour and sad; born on Thursday, merry and glad; born on Friday, worthily given; born on Saturday, work for your living; born on Sunday, you will never know want.

To recall a person after they have left the house is bad luck. To go back for something forgotten is also bad luck, unless you sit down before going out again.

If, when you sit before the fire, a live coal jumps out, it is a sign that you are to have good luck, especially in money matters. To wash in water another has washed in is not only bad sanitarily, but also superstitiously. He who makes many crumbs at the table will never have any money to spare. It is flying in the face of fortune to sweep dust out of the front door or to allow it to be swept out. In so doing you are sweeping out your good luck. To count one's gains brings luck, but to find money is the worst possible luck.

The 4-leaved clover once found, should be treasured, as every school-child knows and believes. It brings luck of every description. Eve attempted to carry a 4-leaved shamrock of precious stone from Paradise with her, but it fell and shattered at her feet. Think of the disaster thus entailed upon the human race!

To see the moon over the left shoulder is as unlucky as to hold the four of clubs at cards. But the new moon seen over the right shoulder, or straight in front, portends fortune as smiling as her own bright rays.

One should be careful in writing a letter not to cross out a word in it. To do so means that any request you may have made in the letter will not be granted. It is very unlucky to dry a letter before the fire, instead of allowing it to dry slowly and naturally. But unluckiest of all is to drop the letter on the floor after finishing it.

Birth, marriage, and death are the three most important events in every life. Death, being the most dreadful, comes in for the largest share. One of the best ways given us of avoiding it when mortal sickness is upon us is to allow the report to be circulated that you are already dead. The chances are strongly in favor of getting well. Especially is this so if friends begin to arrange for the funeral. A sure sign of early death is for a person to scatter the leaves of a red rose upon the ground. It is extremely hazardous to an infant's life to pare its nails before it is a year old. They should be bitten off.

Some superstitions of my early life which I still remember are:—

1. Turning a loaf of bread upside down creates family quarrels. 2. Allowing anyone to pass between you and your companion evil and death to follow. 3. Breaking a mirror, death in the family. 4. Having your hair cut on Sunday, forgetfulness. 5. Beginning an undertaking on Friday, ill luck. 6. Sitting at table or in company when just 13 are present, a death of one of their number before the year is done. 7. Presenting a sharp instrument or edge-tool to anyone, ill luck to ensue. 8. Putting on any garment inside out, unless you retain it until the sun goes down, bad luck to come. 9. Spilling salt, unless some is thrown into the fire or over the left shoulder, misfortune. During my life I have done everything in the above list that is claimed should not be done, that fell in my way to do, and still live and prosper, although born on Friday, and being one of a family of 13 children.

Snake Bites.—Tie a string or ligature hard around the injured limb and above the bitten place; suck the wound, so as to extract the poison, but be careful to see that the person who performs the sucking has no open sore in his mouth; wash with warm water and apply caustics, such as carbolic acid or concentrated liquor of ammonia; give five to ten grains of carbonate of ammonia, in water, every hour, and stimulate the patient with whisky or brandy; rub the limbs with pieces of flannel dipped in hot whisky or diluted alcohol. Medical attendance should be secured as soon as possible.

Tape-worm.—Recently attention has been called to cocoanuts as a vermifuge. Professor Paresi, of Athens, when he was in Abyssinia, happened to discover that ordinary cocoanut possesses vermifuge qualities in a high degree. He took, one day, a quantity of the juice and pulp, and shortly afterward felt some gastric disturbance, which, however, passed off in a few hours. Subsequently he had diarrhea, and was surprised to find that there had been expelled a complete tape-worm, head and all, quite dead. After returning to Athens he made a number of observations which were most satisfactory, the tape-worm being always passed and quite dead. He orders the milk and pulp of one cocoanut to be taken early in the morning, fasting, no purgative or confinement to the house being required.

Teeth.—For toothache rub a little essential oil on the face, at the hinge of the jaw, on the side that aches.

Tobacco.—Probably no subject in our book can interest the majority of persons more than this great question of the use of tobacco. We have a collection of opinions from the best authorities:—

The Medical News published a paper by Dr. Wm. L. Dudley, Professor of Chemistry in the Vanderbilt University, giving the results of recent careful analytical experiments made by him in his laboratory with the smoke of an ordinary cigarette. Mice were used upon which to employ his tests. It is not needful that we should give the professor's description of his modus operandi by means of air-tubes, an aspirator, a glass jar, etc., the results of his experimentation being the chief object of interest in which the reader is concerned. Suffice it to say, then, that in each of his several chemical tests by the gradual combustion of a single cigarette, the mouse that was the recipient of the resultant smoke died in the course of the operation, being literally poisoned to death by inhaling the carbonic oxide evolved from the "noxious weed." The blood of the dead creature being subjected to spectroscopic examination, it was found that the veinous fluid had been so completely altered and vitiated that death was the inevitable effect. The tests were thoroughly scientific and conclusive. The fact was demonstrated, beyond the chance of doubt or question, that carbonic oxide is the chief constituent of cigarette smoke, if not all tobacco smoke, and that its inhalation into the air-passage and lungs must of necessity be exceedingly deleterious, as much so to men and boys as to mice.

Cases of poisoning due to meat which seemed thoroughly wholesome have sometimes occurred and have remained unexplained. In the Revue d' Hygiene, M. Bourrier, inspector of meat for the city of Paris, makes a suggestion. He described his experiments with meat impregnated with tobacco smoke. Some thin slices of beef were exposed for a considerable time to the fumes of tobacco, and afterward offered to a dog which had been deprived of food for twelve hours. The dog, after smelling the meat, refused to eat it. Some of the meat was then cut into small pieces and concealed within bread. This the dog ate with avidity, but in twenty minutes commenced to display the most distressing symptoms, and soon died in great agony.

All sorts of meat, both raw and cooked, some grilled, roasted, and boiled, were exposed in tobacco smoke and then given to animals, and in all cases produced symptoms of acute poisoning. Even the process of boiling could not extract from the meat the nicotine poison. Grease and similar substances have facilities of absorption in proportion with their fineness and fluidity. Fresh-killed meat is more readily impregnated, and stands in order of susceptibility as follows—pork, veal, rabbit, poultry, beef, mutton, horse.

A simple experiment which will show how injurious is cigarette smoke inhaled may be easily performed by means of a handkerchief: After taking a mouthful of smoke, put the handkerchief tightly over the lips and blow the smoke through it. You will find a dark brown stain on it. If the smoke is inhaled, and then blown through the handkerchief, there is very little stain, if any; consequently all that nicotine must remain in the lungs.

An Ex-Smoker's Advice.—A young man who, not long ago, was an inveterate smoker, but who was recently induced to "swear off," came to me and talked in this strain: "I have been doing some figuring lately, and the result astonishes me. When I was smoking my hardest my average was eight cigars a day. Sometimes it would run over eight and sometimes under; but eight was about the all-round figure. I rarely bought my cigars by the box, and as I indulged in straight 10-cent goods, 80 cents a day was what my smoking cost me. This, with 40 cents added for cigars that I gave away and lost shaking dice, make a total of about $6.00 a week that I now save. It is just nine weeks and three days since I swore off, and by Saturday I shall have $60 in the bank, without an effort on my part save that required to control an unnecessary appetite. I must also regard as an asset the superabundance of animal spirits I enjoy as a direct result of my abstinence from a habit that everybody knows is weakening, when indulged in to excess. Smoke yourself, do you? Well, try my scheme. Swear off and put your cigar money in the bank. You might need it some day, even if you are a newspaper man."

The New York Medical Journal contains a convincing article on tobacco: "Tobacco contains an acrid, dark brown oil, an alkaloid, nicotine, and another substance called nicotianine, in which exists its odorous and volatile principles. When tobacco is burned a new set of substances is produced, some of which are less harmful than the nicotine, and are more agreeable in effect, and much of the acrid oil—a substance quite as irritating and poisonous as nicotine—is carried off. These fire-produced substances are called, from their origin, the 'pyridine series.' By great heat the more aromatic and less-harmful members of the series are produced, but the more poisonous compounds are generated by the slow combustion of damp tobacco. This oil which is liberated by combustion is bad both in flavor and in effect, and it is better, even for the immediate pleasure of the smoker, that it should be excluded altogether from his mouth and air passages.

"Smoking in a stub of a pipe is particularly injurious, for the reason that in it the oil is stored in a condensed form, and the smoke is therefore highly charged with the oil. Sucking or chewing the stub of a cigar that one is smoking is a serious mistake, because the nicotine in the unburned tobacco dissolves freely in the saliva, and is absorbed. 'Chewing' is, on this account, the most injurious form of the tobacco habit, and the use of a cigar holder is an improvement on the custom of holding the cigar between the teeth. Cigarettes are responsible for a great amount of mischief, not because the smoke from the paper has any particularly evil effect, but because smokers—and they are often boys or very young men—are apt to use them continuously, or at frequent intervals, believing that their power for evil is insignificant. Thus the nerves are under the constant influence of the drug, and much injury to the system results. Moreover, the cigarette smoker uses a very considerable amount of tobacco during the course of a day. 'Dipping' and 'snuffing' are semi-barbarities which need not be discussed. Not much effect is obtained from the use of the drug in these varieties of the habit.

"Nicotine is one of the most powerful of the 'nerve poisons' known. Its virulence is compared to that of prussic acid. If birds be made to inhale its vapor in amounts too small to be measured, they are almost instantly killed. It seems to destroy life, not by attacking a few, but of all the functions essential to it, beginning at the center, the heart. A significant indication of this is that there is no substance known which can counteract its effects; the system either succumbs or survives. Its depressing action on the heart is by far the most noticeable and noteworthy symptom of nicotine poisoning. The frequent existence of what is known 'tobacco heart' in men whose health is in no other respect disturbed is due to this fact."

"A youth of eighteen at Bayshire, L. I., has become insane from the excessive use of cigarettes."

Those who can use tobacco without immediate injury will have all the pleasant effects reversed and will suffer from the symptoms of poisoning if they exceed the limits of tolerance. These symptoms are: 1. The heart's action becomes more rapid when tobacco is used. 2. Palpitation, pain, or unusual sensations in the heart. 3. There is no appetite in the morning, the tongue is coated, delicate flavors are not appreciated, and acid dyspepsia occurs after eating. 4. Soreness of the mouth and throat, or nasal catarrh appears, and becomes very troublesome. 5. The eyesight becomes poor, but improves when the habit is abandoned. 6. A desire, often a craving, for liquor or some other stimulant is experienced.

"In an experimental observation of thirty-eight boys of all classes of society, and of average health, who had been using tobacco for periods ranging from two months to two years, twenty-seven showed severe injury to the constitution and insufficient growth; thirty-two showed the existence of irregularity of the heart's action, disordered stomachs, cough, and a craving for alcohol; thirteen had intermittency of the pulse, and one had consumption. After they had abandoned the use of tobacco, within six months one-half were free from all their former symptoms, and the remainder had recovered by the end of the year."

Pasteur Recommends Camphor Smoking.—In an interview with M. Pasteur, he was asked whether he considered la grippe occasioned by bacteria? The professor smiled sardonically and shrugged his shoulders, but said nothing. On being asked what he considered the best remedy for the malady, he remarked: "Let men and women both quit smoking tobacco and smoke camphor instead, and they will probably escape the pest."—Paris Special.

The Bulletin of this city has a good article on insanity and the cigarette. Ten or twelve boys have within a short time been committed to the insane asylum at Napa whose insanity has been traced directly to the smoking of cigarettes. The number who by reason of the same indulgence have brought on a degree of imbecility that may ultimately land them in the asylum or in the penitentiary cannot be reduced to an exact estimate. But having occasion recently to make some inquiry about a number of boys who had figured in the records of the criminal courts, it was found that a majority of them were habitual smokers of cigarettes.

The connection between cigarette smoking, mental imbecility, idiocy, and crime has recently attracted more than usual attention. No boy or young man can smoke a cigarette without being harmed thereby. One of the reasons ascribed for the lunacy of several boys was that the cigarettes were made up of the vilest stuff. They contained a narcotic beyond that usually found in pure tobacco. This is supposed to be some of the cheaper forms of opium. But, whatever it may be, it is making imbeciles and idiots of many boys, and criminals of some of them. In a number of instances where boys have been sent to the asylum, it was found that after a short period, the cigarette and all other forms of dissipation having been cut off, the patients rapidly improved, and after a few months' detention they were sent home. The evil does not end here. If a boy becomes an inveterate cigarette smoker, the chances are greatly against any reformation. Some friend may take him in hand and show him the danger in season. The larger number will keep right on. Of this number it is doubtful if ten per cent will ever come to anything. And even these will accomplish far less than if they had never weakened their mental powers by this vile indulgence.

The crazy boys who bring up in the asylum are only the few wretched examples of the cigarette mania. Other examples are constantly found in the criminal courts. The moral sense has been utterly lost, or so weakened that there is no clear distinction between right and wrong. Every boy who smokes a cigarette has started to go to the bad. Just where he will bring up—whether in the insane asylum, in the criminal courts, or in a condition of such hopeless moral and mental imbecility that friends must support him, or the almshouse must finally give him shelter, is one of the questions that time will settle for him. But if any better record is to be made for him, the boy and the cigarette must have a prompt and final separation.

The Boston Herald states: "It is said that Turkish tobacco contains prussic acid, and that Havana tobacco has another alkalide called collidine, of which one-twentieth of a drop will kill a frog, with symptoms of paralysis. The half-liquid matter that accumulates in the bowl of a pipe will kill a small animal in three-drop doses. A few drops of nicotine inserted under the conjunctiva of an animal will kill at once. Eight drops will kill a horse, with frightful general convulsions. It has been observed that the living systems quickly become tolerant of tobacco poison—"an animal that is thrown into convulsions by half a drop one day will require twice as much the next day, and so in four or five days four or five times as much."

The following is suggestive: No student who smokes can obtain a scholarship at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H. It is a new rule of the faculty.

As the purchase of the breweries of the United States has been commenced by the capitalists of the eastern continent, I trust they will extend their purchases to the distilleries and tobacco warehouses and plantations on this continent, especially of the United States; its financiers being shrewd will the sooner observe the advancement of intelligent progress in the line of thought, and change their investments from breweries, distilleries, and cigarette and tobacco manufactories, to the sinking of artesian wells and the invention of some improved water-filter.

Tonsillitis, Quinsy, Black Tongue, or Ulcerated Sore Throat.—

PRESCRIPTION.

Shake well before using.

Dilute in equal parts of water, and gargle every half hour in a severe case for the first three hours. After that every two or three hours. The above is invaluable and unfailing in case of quinsy.

Vital Statistics.—Statisticians are bringing out some curious facts with regard to the birth and death-rates of the leading nations of the world. Unfortunately, our tables are not as accurate as those collected in the European States. Abroad there is a careful record of marriages, births, and deaths. These are collected by us without any thoroughness, save only when a census is being taken. In England and Wales it has been found that the birth-rate is 35.4 and the death-rate is 20.5 per 1,000 persons. In Sweden the birth-rate is 30.2, against a death-rate of 18.1. In the German Empire, birth-rate 39.3 and death-rate 26.1. Austria, 39.1 birth-rate, 29.6 death-rate. The official returns state that our annual birth-rate is 36 and death-rate 18, but clearly our birth-rate is much larger, as we are growing in numbers faster than any people on earth. Our increase is fully 10,000,000 since the last census was taken in 1880. Our colored population have a higher birth-rate than have the Southern whites. Among the latter it is 28.71, while for the colored it is 35.08. Although the death-rate of the blacks is quite large, still they are increasing relatively faster than the white. It is also a curious fact that more colored females are born than whites, but taking blacks and whites together the births of the males exceed those of the females.

The report of the California State Board of Health for the month of April, 1889, contains the following: Reports from 75 different localities, with an estimated population of 701,950, give a mortality of 835, which is a percentage of 1.18 per 1,000 in the month, or an annual mortality of 14.16, which is the lowest annual percentage at which we have yet arrived, indicating a remarkably good condition of the public health throughout the State.

Voice.—A question in connection with the training of the voice is to be discussed, viz., when it should be commenced. With regard to the question, says a distinguished scientist, "I am strongly of opinion that training can hardly be begun too early. Of course, the kind and amount of practice that are necessary in the adult would be monstrous in a young child, but there is no reason why, even at the age of six or seven, the right method of voice production should not be taught. Singing, like every other art, is chiefly learned by imitation, and it seems a pity to lose the advantage of those precious early years when that faculty is most highly developed. There is no fear of injuring the larynx or straining the voice by elementary instruction of this kind; on the contrary, it is habitual faulty vocalization which is pernicious."

There are three essential elements in voice production: First, the air blast, or motive power; second, the vibrating reed, or tone-producing apparatus; third, the sounding-board, or re-inforcing cavities. These, to parody a well-worn physiological metaphor, are the three legs of the tripod of voice. Defect in or mismanagement of any one of them is fatal to the musical efficiency of the vocal instrument. The air supplied by the lungs is moulded into sound by the innumerable little fingers of the muscles which move the vocal cords, and their training largely moulds the tone and volume of voice. Much of the lung and throat troubles existing can be traced to the ignorance of vocal teachers and parental indulgence in allowing the voice to be strained beyond its register. To know a teacher that understands the proper treatment of the vocal organs, from one that does not—judge them by their pupils; if a pupil has an impaired throat, and there is no improvement after six lessons, change teachers. Every vocal teacher can instruct in the rudiments of music, but only one in fifty knows anything about the voice.

Warts.—A drop of cinnamon oil on each wart daily, continued for a fortnight, will usually remove them. The most successful remedy we have ever tried is to have the wart saturated three times a week for three weeks with the saliva of a person of positive magnetism, not a member of the family. There is a scientific reason for it not here explained, but try it.

Water.—If a small quantity of oxalic acid added to water produces a white precipitate, lime is contained in the water. Tincture of galls added to the water which contains iron will yield a black precipitate. Water which causes a bright piece of steel to turn yellow, when dipped into it, contains copper. Sulphuric acid, dropped into water and turning it black, shows that the water contains vegetable and animal matter. For detecting sewage contamination, fill a clean pint bottle three-fourths full of the water to be tested; add a teaspoonful of granulated sugar; cork the bottle, and set it in a warm place for two days; if the contents of the bottle become cloudy or muddy, the water is unfit for domestic use. Half an ounce of the neutral solution of bisulphate of alumina added to 200 gallons of water will precipitate the organic matter therein contained; the water may be then used freely for drinking purposes. To remove the odor from cistern water, suspend in the water a bag containing a peck of charcoal.

According to Dr. Leuf, when water is taken into the full or partly full stomach, it does not mingle with the food, as we are taught, but passes along quickly between the food and lesser curvative toward the pylorus, through which it passes into the intestines. The secretion of mucus by the lining membrane is constant, and during the night a considerable amount accumulates in the stomach; some of its liquid portion is absorbed, and that which remains is thick and tenacious. If food is taken into the stomach when in this condition it becomes coated with this mucus, and the secretion of the gastric juice and its action are delayed. These facts show the value of a goblet of water before breakfast. This washes out the tenacious mucus and stimulates the gastric glands to secretion. In old and feeble persons water should not be taken cold, but it may be with great advantage taken warm or hot. This removal of the accumulated mucus from the stomach is probably one of the reasons why taking soup at the beginning of a meal has been found so beneficial.

There is no remedy of such general application, and none so easily obtainable, as water, and yet nine persons in ten will pass it by in emergency to seek for something of less efficacy. There are but few cases of illness where water should not occupy the highest place as a remedial agent. A strip of flannel or a napkin wrung out of hot water and applied round the neck of a child that has croup will usually bring relief in ten minutes. A towel folded several times and quickly wrung out of hot water and applied over the seat of the pain in toothache or neuralgia will generally afford prompt relief. This treatment in colic works like magic. A physician writes: "We have known cases that have resisted other treatments for hours yield to this in ten minutes. There is nothing that will so promptly cut short congestion of the lungs, sore throat, or rheumatism as hot water when applied promptly and thoroughly. Pieces of cotton batting dipped in hot water and kept applied to sores and new cuts, bruises, and sprains, is the treatment adopted in many hospitals. Sprained ankle has been cured in an hour by showering it with water poured from a few feet. Tepid water acts promptly as an emetic, and hot water taken freely half an hour before bed-time is the best cathartic in the case of constipation, while it has a most soothing effect on the stomach and bowels. This treatment continued for a few months, with proper attention to diet, will alleviate any case of dyspepsia.

Water Pollution Remedy.—According to Dr. S. S. Kilvington, the Mississippi River received during the past year 152,675 tons of garbage and offal, 108,550 tons of night-soil, and 3,765 dead animals from only eight cities; the Ohio 46,700 tons of garbage, 21,157 tons of night-soil, and 5,100 dead animals from five cities; and the Missouri 36,000 tons of garbage, 22,400 tons of night-soil, and 31,600 dead animals from four cities. Doctor Kilvington urges the cremation of most of the refuse, and 23 out of 35 health officials consulted by him favored the plan.

Whooping-Cough.—Mr. W. A. Stedman, superintendent of the Rochester Gas Works, gives his opinion:—

"The fumes of the substance used to purify gas are generally recognized as a specific for this disease.

"The composition used for purifying gas is composed of wood shavings, iron filings, lime, and sometimes copperas. This substance cleanses the gas of the ammonia and sulphur it contains. If a child with the whooping-cough is allowed to breathe the fumes of the purifier after it becomes foul, immediate relief will be experienced. The fumes of the lime after it has been taken out are particularly beneficial. The lime, after it is taken out, begins to heat and throws off fumes strongly impregnated with ammonia. After breathing these fumes for a short time the cough seems to loosen, and two of these visits will generally cure the most obstinate case.

"In Newport one winter, when I was superintendent of the gas works there, there was an epidemic of whooping-cough, and I treated over 200 cases, with the happiest results. I had so many patients that I was forced to put benches in the purifying-room. Once in awhile there are people affected with whooping-cough to whom this gas treatment gives no relief, but they are the exception rather than the rule. In nearly every instance it gives immediate relief and effects a positive cure. I know of many physicians who send all their whooping-cough patients straightway to the gas works. I know that it is a sure cure from personal experience, and we would be happy to extend the courtesies of our purifying-room to any person who is suffering from the disease."

Yellow Fever.—The yellow fever is one of the varied forms of the typhus, the name being derived front the hue of the victim, while the Spanish call it vomito negro—the black vomit—from one of its symptoms. Its home is tropical Africa and tropical America, but it is never found in India and China, hot as the climate may be. The cause of this difference, however, has never been explained. Its greatest prevalence is on the sea-coast or banks of navigable rivers. Its ordinary duration of attack is from 36 to 48 hours. The yellow tinge first appears in the eye and then spreads over the face, gradually reaching the extremities and often becoming dark brown. The rate of mortality varies in a striking degree, for in some places one-third of the cases prove fatal, while in others the mortality reaches two-thirds, and then at other times it has not exceeded three per cent. Treatment varies more in this disease than in any other, which is a proof that thus far it has baffled the best practitioners. Like all other forms of pestilence, it not only walketh in darkness but destroyeth at noonday.

The disease itself is not as dangerous as typhoid fever when properly handled. It is a continuous fever, lasting 72 hours. The premonitory symptoms are a pain in the back of the head and in the loins, followed by a slight chill. The pulse and temperature then rise rapidly, the former attaining usually about 110 beats to the minute, and the latter 104 degrees in a few hours. On the second day the pulse begins to drop and continues to do so slowly until the normal is reached, while the temperature remains steady, and this peculiarity is the one pathognomonic symptom of the disease, as ascertained by experts who have studied many epidemics. Toward the third day the temperature is often up to 105. This is a grave symptom, and unless it can speedily be reduced, "black vomit" or gastric hemorrhage appears, or the kidneys refuse to act on account of acute inflammation and destruction of tissue. The famous black vomit is not fatal in more than 50 per cent of cases well treated, but when albumen appears in the urine death almost inevitably follows. Nursing is everything. The treatment of the disease is wholly expectant. A hot mustard foot-bath and a large dose of castor-oil are preliminaries. After this nothing is given but orange-leaf tea, to promote perspiration, and sometimes a little extract of jaborandi. Champagne in small quantities is found to be the best preventive of black vomit, and dry cupping and blisters are resorted to in case of a tendency to kidney trouble. The nurse does more than the doctor in yellow fever to effect a cure, and in New Orleans nearly all the black "mammies" are experts in handling the disease, which undoubtedly accounts for the very low mortality in that city's epidemics. To watch the patient, be quick to start a fire if a north wind comes to chill the air, to keep the clothing adjusted, see that no talking is allowed, and be familiar with the symptoms forerunning black vomit or kidney trouble, and know how to treat them promptly—these are necessaries in nursing yellow fever, and in these the darkey women of New Orleans are more familiar than are the doctors in other towns.

On the third day after the attack, when the fever heat subsides, the patient is left in a weak and horribly nervous condition, and for many hours is subject to immediate relapse upon the slightest provocation. Then it is that the tolling of a bell, the sudden shock of a cannon fired by silly authorities, the slightest indigestion or exposure to cold or excitement, will do murder. The stomach is left raw, and for many days only milk, gruel, and crackers are given, doled out in miserly quantity.