on; but the inflammation is not produced by the constipation, although the constipation preceded it, but by the mechanical obstruction. The obstruction, presenting a mechanical impediment to the passage of the motions, caused, of course, immediate constipation; and this is the first note of alarm sounded. But after the obstruction has endured some time, the neighboring parts, from the compression to which they are subjected, become inflamed ; so that the only relation between the constipation and the inflammation is that of antecedence and subsequence. But superficial observers, noticing that the constipation always comes first and is followed by inflammation, leap to the conclusion that the latter is caused by the former, and thus it has come to be generally believed that constipation, if allowed to go on unchecked, will of itself set up inflammation.

MR. B. Then, Doctor, do I understand you to say, that I was wrong in taking opening medicine at the end of the second or third day?

PHY.-Decidedly.

MR. B.-But what was I to do, or rather, as I am now in your hands, what am I to do in future?

PHY.-Abstain from physie. MR. B. For how long? PHY.-Until your bowels act. MR. B. But suppose they do not act for a week?

PHY.-Abstain from physic for a

week.

MR. B. And if they do not act for a month.

PHY.-Abstain for a month. You will be surprised, and perhaps incredulous, at what I am going to say, but I solemnly assure you that I have repeatedly witnessed cases of constipation, which lasted a whole month, and in which no evil consequences of any kind ensued. I pledge my word for the truth of this statement.

MR. B.-Then you advise me to throw myself unreservedly, trustfully, and without arrière pensée upon nature? PHY.-Yes.

MR. B. And do nothing? PHY.-Not so. You can and ought to do a great deal. You must give up

the idea of forcing a motion; for, as I have explained, this practice has the very opposite effect to that intended. Besides it weakens and inflames the bowels, corrupts the general health, and is bad in every way. But you can take the opposite course, and strengthen the bowels, and so aid them to perform their natural functions.

MR. B.-In point of fact, you mean me to take steel and bitters, and that sort of thing?

PHY.-Heaven forbid! I mean nothing so absurd. But I am not surprised at your misapprehension, for the art of healing has of late years sunk to so low a level, that physicians are little else than superior druggists, knowing of no other remedial means than those transmitted to them from Rhazes and Avicenna. Your bowels cannot be strengthened by steel and bitters: but they may be strengthened by cold spring water; they may be strengthened by mechanical manipulation; and they may be strengthened by means, such as exercise, which strengthen the whole frame.

MR. B. That is at all events consoling. But if I adopt your means shall I have to wait a month before my bowels become open?

PHY.-No. What I have been saying has been principally directed against the prejudices current upon the subject of constipation, so that if your bowels should not immediately act, you might not become frightened and fly to the old remedy. I wished to infuse patience and confidence into your breast. If you adopt the means which I am about to recommend, your bowels will act freely and fully in the course of a few days; but even if they should not do so, you are not to despair, but persist in the treatment laid down.

MR. B.-I am ready to comply implicitly with your directions. I feel every confidence; and am certain that you understand my case better than any person whom I have ever consulted. Say what I am to do, and I will do it.

PHY.-Follow, then, these few and simple rules :

1. Abstain from drugs.

2. Take exercise for two hours every day. 3. Eat animal food only once a-day, and then only take a small quantity. Partake freely of vegetables, such as greens, broccoli, and spinach; and of fruit, as gooseberries, grapes, currants, etc., and always prefer brown bread, (that is, bread made of undressed flour, or consisting of one part bran and two parts white flour), to the fine white bread. Give up entirely stimulating beverages.

4. Wear during the day an abdominal compress or umschlag. By the term ' umschlag,' I mean a piece of stuff similar to that of which coarse sheets or towels are made, long enough to go three times round the body, and sufficiently broad to cover the whole of the abdomen. One-third of this should be wetted with water, and then wrung out nearly as dry as possible by the hands. The damp part of the umschlag is then to be applied to the body and the dry portion wound over it. The umschlag should be renewed four times a-day.

5. Take every morning upon rising from bed, a sitz bath for ten minutes, and let at first the temperature of the water be 70 degrees F., but gradually reduce it to 60 degrees F., or the ordinary temperature. While in the bath, rub the bowels well with the hands, knead and press them in the direction of the large intestine; that is to say, begin at the lower part of the belly on the right hand side, then ascend as far as the ribs, cross over the stomach, and descend on the left hand. On rising from the bath, dress quickly, and take exercise to warm the body.

6. Drink a small tumbler of cold water on going to bed, and the first thing in the morning.

Carefully follow these six rules, and you will be cured of constipation.

MR. B.-What is the object, Doctor, of this umschlag and sitz bath?

DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF THE ADHESIVE COMPOSITION ON POSTAGE STAMPS.A clerk in an office at Leeds, had occasion to place some twelve dozen stamps on letters last Saturday week. He wetted them in the usual manner, that is, with the saliva. In two or three hours afterwards the roof of his mouth became exceedingly painful, being much inflamed, and on the following morning

PHY.-The object is to strengthen and given tone to the bowels, which have been debilitated partly by disease, but infinitely more by the nasty messes in which they have been drowned.

MR. B.-Thank you. I believe I now comprehend both the precepts which you have delivered to me, and the reasons by which you support them. I will carry out your injunctions to the utmost of my power, for you have enabled me to appreciate their importance; and, I must say, I think that if medical men, generally, were a little more communicative to their patients, and treated them as intelligent beings, who could understand a reason, it would be better both for physician and patient; for the former would more fully acquire the confidence of the latter, and the latter would be more scrupulously diligent in conforming to orders. When I have in old times, on different occasions, applied for medical advice, I have usually observed on the part of the medical men the greatest unwillingness to enter into any discussion with me. They have laid down despotic laws, and if I have at all attempted to inquire into them, I have been rebuffed with severity, and told that it was my part to obey and not to argue. The conclusion which I have deduced has frequently been, that these gentlemen felt themselves incompetent to give a reason for the line of conduct which they recommended. feel, therefore, meeting so different a reception at your hands, that I am now under the guidance of one, who says nothing which he has not previously well considered, and is not fully prepared to justify. I have implicit faith in your skill; and therefore now take my leave, intending, in a short time, to present my ugly face again before you, and report progress, whether good or evil. [Mr. B. bows himself out.]

I

an abscess had formed as large as a nutmeg. On the Monday, he was compelled to obtain surgical advice, and the abscess was lanced. He has been under medical treatment ever since, but his mouth is far from being healed yet, and there is an appearance of a fresh gathering on the outer side of the gums, opposite the original abscess.—Leeds Mercury, July, 1853.

than those of water.

Yet, in appearance, water is a very simple fluid, and gives but little evidence of the many and useful properties it possesses. It exhibits no color, if it be not in large quantities; it is almost tasteless, except when quite pure; when impure, its taste is extremely unpleasant; unless it contains extraneous matter, it is totally devoid of smell. If it were possible for a person to be unacquainted with any of its properties, he would form, from inspection, but a very slight estimate of its value.

As a chemical agent, water is essentially neutral. Its affinities are very numerous, but not usually violent. It unites with almost all the acids and bases, forming a class of salts called hydrates. Water is the most universal of all solvents. It is capable of dissolving air in considerable quantity, and all other gases except hydrogen. These may again be expelled by boiling. It will mix with most liquids, and is essential to the formation of crystals, a certain amount of water of crystallization being always present. There are few solids that do not yield to its influence, while its solvent power becomes greater when heated, and that of pure soft water is greater than any other.

The great solvent power of water renders it necessary that care should be taken not to allow it to come in contact with soluble poisonous substances, when it is intended for drinking. Hence, leaden pipes and cisterns should never be used, without due regard being paid to the chemical properties of the water.

Some kinds of water, and more particularly those which are nearly pure, dissolve the lead, and form soluble poisonous salts; but for hard waters, lead may be used without danger, since the calcarous matter they contain, soon forms a protective crust upon its surface.

The temperature of the water on the

earth's surface is much more regular than the temperature of the land. Water conducts heat less perfectly than solid substances; hence it does not become so rapidly heated as the land, and parts more slowly with the heat it has.

At

The

Besides which, the evaporation that is going on at its surface, and continually increasing with the increase of heat, keeps its temperature more even. great depths the temperature is stationary, but at the surface it is generally lower than that of the atmosphere at mid-day, and higher at midnight. heat of water from springs or wells usually increases with the depth from which it comes; but it is a singular fact, that the warm springs of Matlock proceed from a certain altitude above the level of the sea, while those which rise either in higher or lower ground are much colder. The temperature of some hot springs, such as the Geysers in Iceland, rises as high as 212 degrees.

The well-known color of the sea is not peculiar to sea-water. It is rather a general property of all water in large quantities.

Sea-water itself does not exhibit its usual colors in shallow places; and the depth of the tint always increases with the depth of the water. A small quantity of sea-water is of precisely the same color as river-water, except when the latter is charged with mud.

The color seems to be due to a peculiar refraction of the rays of light, which takes place in the deep fluid.

There are also many other colors which the sea assumes at certain times and places, but these are mostly caused by the presence of minute animals in vast numbers, or by animal or vegetable matter.

The appearance of a land in a state of drought is vividly sketched by Humboldt, in his picture of the great South American steppes. 'Fearful is the scene, when, beneath the vertical rays of a bright and cloudless sun,

the parched turf crumbles into dust, and the indurated soil cracks and bursts as if rent asunder by some mighty earthquake. Often the hot and dusty particles in the air form a cloudy veil, which shrouds the heavens from view, and increases the stifling oppression of the atmosphere; while the east wind, when it blows over the longheated soil, adds to the burning glow.

Everywhere the drought announces death; yet, everywhere the thirsty traveller is delayed by the phantom of a moving watery surface. But let the genial rains descend upon the soil, and the scene is suddenly changed.

'Scarcely is the surface of the earth moistened, ere the teeming steppe becomes covered with vegetation. The mimosa unfolds its dormant, drooping leaves to the rising sun, in chorus with the matin song of the birds, and the opening flowers of aquatic plants; while horses and oxen, buoyant with life and enjoyment, roam over and ecross the plains. Such are the pow rful effects of rain on the American steppes; and, though its effects are less rapid in our own land, they are not less wonderful. But, while the waters beautify the scene, they, at the same time, provide us with the food we eat.

'They cause the grass and corn to spring forth in abundance, and the trees to bud and blossom, and bear fruit. They are thus of essential importance to both man and beast.'

Not merely do we observe that water adds beauty to the scene; it, in a measure, creates the scene itself. It diffuses life and fertility wherever it goes. It converts an arid desert

into a rich and fertile plain.

But for the river Nile, that wonderfully fertile land through which it flows would be-as the country that skirts it on either side-a barren wilderness of land. But for the overflowing waters of its great rivers, and the rich mud that they deposit on the soil, the land of China would have no chance of maintaining its dense population.

And were it not for the grateful showers that descend from heaven, this world would be a desolate, unlovely

place. Dark mountains, and parched and fissured plains, would form the only prospect. There would be none of those varied scenes by which nature now delights us, and which contribute SO much to calm and elevate the human soul.

We,

All the food we eat is largely composed of water; our animal food contains, on an average, three-fourths of its weight of water, and vegetables even more than this. It is calculated that fully nine-tenths of our entire food consists of simple water. All the liquids that we drink largely consist of it; and water itself is the most indispensable liquid in nature. who dwell in a country abundantly watered by the rains of heaven, and supplied with exhaustless streams of fresh water, have often but little conception of the value of this fluid as a beverage, and the terrible consequences that result from the want of it. Before we can value it rightly, it is necessary that we should be able to form a vivid picture of the position of one whose road lies over the trackless desert, exposed to the burning heat of a tropical sun, yet without a drop of water to refresh his exhausted frame. Or that we should realise the idea, so powerfully sketched by Coleridge, of a ship becalmed in the neighbourhood of the line, when the sun pours its scorching rays directly on the head; when the sky glows with heat, and the sea

which looks to us so cool-reflects the fiery rays with an intensity that is scarcely to be borne; when the planks crack and open in wide fissures; and when the truth, in all its fearful reality, rushes upon the mind.

'Water, water, everywhere, Yet not a drop to drink.' Immediately connected with the use of water as an article of food, is its existence in the animal frame. Not only does the blood contain 79 per cent. of water, and all the other fluids of the body a large proportion, but every solid, too, has a considerable quantity of water in its composition.

In fishes, and other inhabitants of the deep, water forms the medium through which the air purifies the

vital fluid; hence the importance of the property it possesses of dissolving air; and especially of that by which it absorbs the oxygen in preference to the nitrogen.

Watery vapor is never absent from the air in this country, and it is only when the air is saturated with it, that it becomes injurious.

A certain degree of moisture in the air is essential to health. Of this we have an illustration in the sufferings that persons, in Sicily and elsewhere, undergo when exposed to the Sirocco; a wind which owes its fearfully relaxing character to its extreme dryness. Another important use of water, is its medicinal use. When reduced to a very low temperature, by freezing mixtures, it is given in some diseases as a sedative. Its powers as a derivative, as a tonic, is seen in the practice of hydropathy, or the water-cure.

Ice, in hot countries, is employed likewise as a valuable tonic. The value of water in improving the tone of the digestive organs by external and internal use is despised by many; had its value however, been known and practised by the author of a recent work, he might have saved himself much suffering. The book to which I allude is Memoirs of a Stomach, written by Himself, that all who Eat may Read; with Notes, critical,

and explanatory, by a Minister of the Interior. A leading journal, criticising this work, remarks, under a quaint title, and in quaint guise, this little volume contains a great deal of good sense; and it must be confessed, that Mr. Stomach has a frightful list of grievances whereon to moralise and protest. His, indeed, is a sad tale of suffering; and we can hardly entertain a doubt that the story of his wrongs and miseries will induce every human reader, who has any regard for his stomach, to abstain in future from imposing upon him the burden of civic feasts, or the not less obnoxious practice of systematic physicing, and to adopt instead his excellent "rules for special practice in the court of health.”

The water treatment, with a careful and well-selected diet, I have found indeed a most valuable agent in restoring the tone of the enfeebled stomach, when injured by too much or too stimulating food, or when, as is alas, now so frequently the case, its degeneracy is the result of the reaction of an overworked brain. Who will not exclaim with Beaumont and Fletcher, What an excellent thing did God bestow on man, when he did give him a good stomach!' or with quaint old Herbert's remark, 'A good digestion turneth all to health.'

WEARING

I THINK Mr. Ware was quite correct in his opinion, that members of the lower classes who had not the means for procuring, or the temptation of fashion to use, concave glasses, and yet who really were in early life to a certain degree short-sighted, have gradually improved in this respect, by the constant use of their unassisted eyes. I have long known two brothers, who when they were boys, complained of their sight, and appeared each of them to be somewhat short-sighted. One of them, a smart conceited lad, at once adopted, and has always used glasses, and now he is obliged to use very concave ones at all times. The other was at once persuaded by his friends to give up the glass he had just procured, and he has gradually become strongsighted, and reads with his book at the regular distance, from twelve to twenty inches-with

WM. FORBES LAURIE, M.D.

GLASSES.

ease. I might relate to you many distressing cases, had we time, of the results of the early indulgence in concave glasses, and in the unfortunate practice of increasing their power without any necessity, or of using them constantly. It is very important when any glasses are to be allowed, that the lowest power should be given with which the patient can see objects distinctly at a proper distance, and that spectacles, or, at any rate, double glasses, should be procured and not single ones. This precaution being adopted, it is very possible the patient may never be obliged to increase the power he has commenced with, and sometimes even a lower power may subsequently prove sufficient, although vision does not improve from mere age, as has been generally supposed.-MACMURDO's Lectures on the Eye.