If, then, this simple process can remedy a most distressing malady, which has ever been considered incurable, what internal disorder, let me ask, if recourse is had in time, may it not remedy?

In regard to the external use of cold water, in some form, for human disease, it is my firm conviction that such will prove the extent of this great blessing, bestowed by Providence to suffering humanity, that, with timely application, many other diseases than asthma, and some, if possible, still more distressing, will eventually yield to its power. WILLIAM MANSFIELD.

GLOUCESTER, MASS., April 3, 1848.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED.

"A LOVER of Science" asks: "Is it a principle in Phrenology that every faculty of the mind requires a peculiar and distinct kind of brain for its manifestation? (a.) If so, how does the plurality of action harmonize so as to constitute a unity of sensation? In other words, how does the reflective brain take cognizance of all the other portions of brain; say perceptive, sentimental, and passionate. (b.) How can we reflect upon color unless the reflective brain has the same peculiar kind of brain as the organ of color itself, and thus of all the other organs? How can the reflective brain use the other portions to receive their sensations, without a plurality in itself, which would make two distinct sets of organs. If the first proposition is answered in the affirmative, it seems to me to give the mind in a disjointed action."

(b.) Our last volume, in an article on Conscientiousness, or the seat of the soul, explained a principle, which, we think, answers this question. It at least gives the only answer we have to make. We will repeat its pith. It is generally conceded that the mental function is performed by the outer portion of the

brain, of which the convolutions are composed; that represented by figures from 1 to 14, in the accompanying engraving.

That portion of the brain which lies directly beneath, is composed of fibres, which converge from all parts of the surface-brain to the ring o, m, where they unite with transverse nerves which run from before backward, thus uniting the intellectual with the animal brain; from side to side, thus uniting the two hemispheres, and producing unity in their action; and from the right anterior lobe across backward to the left occiput, and from the left frontal back to the right occipital, so as completely to unite all parts of the brain with all the other parts, and produce perfect oneness of action among all the faculties. Or thus: This outer portion of each faculty transmits its action by these converging nerves to those transverse and criss-cross bundles, and they distribute it to whatever other faculties require concert of action. This criss-cross bundle is called the great commissure, and that circular space beneath, marked o, is doubtless that common center to which all the separate action of all the faculties are transmitted, and from which all concerted action of the mind originates. This concerted action may be called consciousness, or the putting together of the mental faculties into oneness or personality. It is to the mind what the putting together, each into its place, of the various wheels and parts of a watch or other machine, is to the watch. As the pieces, taken separately, are not a watch, but their putting together makes them into one, so this putting together-this giving oneness of action to the faculties by means of these concentric and transverse nerves, constitutes them into a one mind. This shows how any one faculty can rouse any one or all the other faculties, and produce personality or identity

BOILED CORN AND WHEAT WITH FRUIT.

PAGE 59 of this volume recommended a diet exclusively of boiled corn for a very poor man in quest of a home. One of our readers, not from motives of poverty, however, thought he would try it, and procured a bushel of cracked and hulled corn, called hominy, and had his daughter cook enough to last them several days. On this they lived exclusively, simply breaking an egg on what each one took at each meal. He said he never felt better in his life, nor his daughter, nor enjoyed equal clearness of mind or happiness of feeling. also gives her abundant time for reading, intellectual culture, etc.

This

On his narrating the incident, I proposed intermixing or alternating with wheat. I know of no one article of diet at all to compare with boiled wheat. Dr. Jackson, of Boston, recommends cracked wheat, which is all the rage there now, and held at enormous prices; yet whole is better, because it requires more time to masticate it. Wheat is the best of all the several grains, and, bran and all, it is just the thing for sustaining life. The bran performs a part in the digestive process almost as important as the inside of the grain. They should never be separated; nor does grinding add one iota to its utility; on the contrary, it does much to kill its vitality or nutritive property, and injures its flavor. And then raising bread by yeast still further deteriorates it, for its decay is the cause of the rising. But the boiled wheat is true to nature-is all that our bountiful Feeder could render it for the sustenance of man.

But shall it be eaten without sauce? No, eat it with fruit. Reader, rich and poor, just make trial of the following dish: Take new wheat, cleaned of chess, etc., and boil it more or less, according to your teeth and tastes; eat it cold or warm, probably better cold, with summer or fall fruit, such as berries, cherries, peaches, apples, pears, etc., adding sugar if you like-yet fruit is the best sauce;

and live exclusively on this fare one month, and then tell me of all the rich dinners you ever ate at public and private tables, if this does not cap the climax. And every meal it will relish better and better, because it will cleanse the stomach, sharpen the appetite, and perfectly satisfy hunger.

Its cost will not equal half what your living now costs, varying, of course, with the cost, quality, and amount of fruit, and your present mode of living. It will save your women much of their kitchen drudgery. It will remove irritability, and vapors, and wrath from yourselves and children. It will promote a calm and happy frame of mind, and give clearness of intellect and love of study, as well as time for it. It will render all who eat it more healthy than before, and restore many an invalid. Its cost will be a mere trifle, and save millers' and speculators' profits. Wheat will go twice as far as the same cost of flour. Try it, and report results.

NEW BOOKS.

TOBACCO AND HEALTH ALMANAC for 1849. By John Burdell. New York: Fowlers & Wells. pp. 48. Price only six cents.

The habits of SMOKING, CHEWING, and SNUFFING tobacco have become so universally prevalent, and their effects on the body and mind so obviously injurious, that we feel it to be a duty to do all in our power to stay and remove this barrier to physical reform and improvement. Indeed, we regard the use of these narcotics as dangerous and destructive to the constitution. Are not many of the ills and much of the disease by which we are afflicted, the result of using tobacco ?

This little work was written by request, with a view to point out the use and abuse of tobacco, which we think has been clearly done by the author

The following, from the Portland Pleasure Boat, gives an idea of some of the evils resulting from the use of tobacco:

"I have received a copy of the “Tobacco and Health Almanac, for 1849,” published by Fowlers & Wells, New York. The work should have a wide circulation in this tobacco generation.

6

"In the same proportion that men have broken off from intemperance in strong drink, they have run into intemperance in the use of tobacco. It is a common thing to see eight or ten men sitting all in a row,' in certain stores, puffing cigars, and crying down intemperance; and if we enter a temperance meeting, the jaws of nearly all the assembly are as busy as though they were sheep. Chew, chew, chew, is the order of the day among temperance men, Come, then, buy an Almanac in season to take time by the foretop, and be ready for a tobacco reform before the new year begins.

"I knew a man who destroyed his eyesight by smoking, and was blind fifteen years before his death.

66

I knew a man and woman who smoked themselves nearly blind, and during the time they were such slaves to the pipe they had three children all born blind.

"I knew another man, a blacksmith and an excellent workman, who destroyed his sight by smoking; I talked with him often after his sight was much injured, and strove in vain to persuade him to renounce his pipe. Now he is entirely blind at the age of forty.

"I knew another who destroyed his sight by smoking at the age of thirty, and became utterly blind.

"I knew another who injured his sight so much by smoking that he could not read a word for more than a year, but when he abandoned the habit his sight was restored. These are facts for you to smoke.”

Will not others add their testimony, and keep the thing "smoking?" Price only six cents, or twenty-five for a dollar. It is expected that every friend of the reform will aid in its circulation.

ILIES. By Mrs. L. N. Fowler, author of "Familiar Lessons on Physiology and Phrenology." New York: Fowlers and Wells.

We have delayed an extended notice of this excellent book until now, for no other reason than a want of room. We now take occasion to introduce it to our readers, believing it will not only find general favor, but be a source of much real interest. Although our more legitimate sphere is Phrenology and Physiology, as applied to man, still this departure to one of the other branches in natural science cannot be without pleasure and profit. The following, from the author's preface, is appropriate :

"CURIOSITY is one of the most powerful instincts of our nature.

'IT came from heaven: its power archangels knew
When this fair globe first rounded to their view;
When the young sun revealed the glorious scene,
Where oceans gathered, and where lands grew green.'

"In no class in community is this fact more evident than in the young, who hunger and thirst after knowledge. Give! give!' cries the young child, and he is never satiated in learning new truths and gaining new ideas.

"If the mind be properly trained and cultivated-and by mind is not meant the INTELLECT alone, but the whole mind, social, moral and intellectual-there is no disposition to idleness and vice.

"If parents felt this truism in all its force, they would seek to fill the minds of their children with useful and scientific knowledge. Of all the sciences, Astronomy has its strongest claims on our interest and attention. Even the little infant, who cannot lisp its own name, gazes with wonder when he beholds the resplendent moon in the firmament.

"As that child advances in years, if he learn and understand the structure of the moon, its phases, the probabilities of its being peopled with intelligent beings, who have their identity as well as himself, his infantile joy will be changed into admiration and reverence for the Great Being who made the moon. Then, as he gazes on the star-spangled firmament, and is enabled to trace out clusters and groups of worlds, and to give unto each their name, as he thinks of Him who made Orion and the seven stars,' his soul will expand

with pure and holy emotion, and he will be less inclined to frequent haunts of iniquity.

"One who is thoroughly imbued with a love for Astronomy, will have no affinity for low and groveling associations. For its elementary principle directs us UPWARD, and not DOWNWARD. Its tendencies are to elevate and purify, rather than degrade and debase. Let the young be taught Astronomy; they can receive the CRUMBS, and will receive them gladly, if they are presented in a clear and familiar manner.

"The following pages have been written with a view to do something toward extending a knowledge of this important science. Every new book that comes from the press meets some new mind, or gains some new reader, that would not have been reached through any other medium. These pages are therefore scattered, with the earnest hope that they may interest and instruct some who would not have gained light from any other source."

It will be seen that the work is designed for children and youth, yet those of an older growth will find much in it that would be equally interesting to them. Mr. Hunt, editor of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, gives, through its pages, the following truthful notice :

“We have seldom, if ever, met with an elementary treatise on any of the sciences, so well adapted to its design, as this of Mrs. Fowler. She seems to possess, as it were, an intuitive knowledge of the capacities of children, and conveys, in chaste and simple language, the leading points of the subject; divesting science of its technicalities, and rendering the study rather a pleasant pastime, than an irksome task."

As a sample of the style in which it is written, we copy the following: "1. My dear young friends, this is a beautiful world in which we live. Its surface is diversified by mountains, valleys, plains, rivers, and oceans. We have forests and shady groves, whose green and waving foliage apparently ascends to heaven, and the cloud-capped mountain, emitting from its summit fire and lava; we have sparkling streamlets, whose crystal waters meander through mossy meadows, fragrant with rich and velvet flowers; we have rocks, fields, and warbling songsters; each and all of which are but so many messengers or evidences of the goodness of the Creator. He caused each tiny floweret to put forth its tender leaves, to bud, expand, and blossom, to call forth meet incense of praise and gratitude.

"2. We might spend many delightful hours in enumerating and describing the beauties of our lower sphere with profit; but it is my present purpose to direct your thoughts to the worlds and systems of worlds which stud the canopy above us. We shall then see, that as a family is but one among the numerous groups which compose society, so our earth is but a speck in the whole universe of God."

After giving a familiar account of all the planets, with numerous beautiful illustrations, it closes with a very interesting chapter on DIFFERENT ASTRONOMERS, with biographies and portraits, from which we copy the following:

GALILEO.

"1. Galileo was born in Pisa, in 1564, of an ancient and noble family. His father was a man of superior talents, and designed to educate his son to be a physician. Though the son applied himself diligently to the study of medicine, yet his mind was not confined to books.

"2. He had a great fondness for painting and music, yet his natural forte was mathematics, which he pursued in secret for a time.

"3. He discovered that the vibrations of all pendulums, even of different lengths, were performed in equal times. This idea was suggested by his observing the motions of a lamp which was suspended from the roof of the