Any human organization obtains its full development, and yields the highest results it is capable of, only in proportion as the surrounding circumstances are favourable to such an end. In the case we are now considering, these circumstances are known to us, and, although too circumscribed to permit that degree of development to which an organization so highly endowed as that of Priessnitz would be entitled, they are nevertheless, in most respects, highly favourable, not only to the pure manifestation of his special powers, but also to the harmonious concurrence of all his mental faculties with them.

An estimate as to the probable effect of a more extended range of action than that at present afforded to this character, in developing its resources, would not give us much more remarkable_results than may commonly be seen. For the simple taste of Priessnitz, his love of home, his affectionate character, his attachment to his friends, the goodness and generosity of his heart, his practical intelligence, his plain and excellent sense all these qualities united, however admirable in themselves, would still not establish a claim to an extraordinary degree of mental superiority; on the contrary, these qualities alone, unsustained as they are by certain others of which we shall speak presently, would risk being in part stifled or paralyzed in an atmosphere of difficult circumstances an observation particularly applicable to his intellectual powers. We recognize in Priessnitz the full amount of patience and perseverance for scientific and philosophical investigation, and that he would bring to these studies his excellent judgment, and the simple truthfulness of his mind. At the same time, the absence, to which we have already alluded, of certain other ingredients of a complete intelligence would probably have had the effect of rendering his progress in any study to some degree limited, and therefore imperfect. We cannot then admit this

true sense of the term (insufficiency of ideality), but so far as intelligence is concerned, we consider it justly defined as one which can appreciate and turn to good account all it observes and discovers, within the range of facts of which it can take cognizance.

SECTION 5.-ON THE INFLUENCE OF HIS

MORAL POWERS ON THE EXERCISE
OF HIS ART.

When we reflect on the disadvantageous circumstances under which Priessnitz would, in all probability, make his first attempts to give a practical form to the new revelation he had obtained from nature; that he would depend solely upon his own mental resources in extending its application to the cure of disease, often in its most perilous forms, and aggravated by every variety of injudicious treatment to which the unhappy human frame can fall a victim; that like all other important innovators, he would be subject to misconstruction, to prejudice and envy; taking all these things into consideration, we can easily understand that he would need all the firmness and benevolence of his character to sustain him in so difficult an enterprise, and the spur of some higher motive than the prospect of mere personal advantage, to stimulate his exertions. But apart from these reflections, the scientific means possess of penetrating into character, reveal the fact that he would derive his chief stimulus from faith, that is, from an intuitive sense rather than an intellectual conviction of the universal utility of his happy discovery. Yet even this faith might have remained sterile, had not his benevolence acted as a constant incitement to new and indefatigable exertions to realize the benefits which, he would feel, he had the power to confer on mankind. Some degree of egotism would doubtless give a tinge of personal feeling to his views, and help to supply him with the necessary patience for carrying them into execution; but the altogether secondary importance of this element in the general operations of his mind, suffers it in no

we

way to invalidate the sincerity and purity of his faith in the utility and efficacy of his remedial art. (Marvellousness: Benevolence: Self-Esteem.) SECTION

6.-CONTINUATION ON THE MORAL PART OF THIS CHARACTER.

On observing the ordinary demeanour of Priessnitz, we must not be surprised that it shows no trace of an exaltation of mind or enthusiasm, corresponding to that religious faith in his providential mission which we assign to him in our last paragraph. We have elsewhere spoken of his simple and unsophisticated nature, a fact which may easily be verified by any ordinary observer. And when he is seen to be calm, laconic, and almost indifferent to admiration at times when giving the highest proofs of skill; full of reliance in himself and in the inexhaustible resources of his art, such phenomena find their explanation in the very nature of faith, which is to impart confidence, and also in the selfdependence which springs from a truly firm and manly character, conscious of its own worth. The learned and the great have equally little power to awe him; for as his knowledge is not derived from acknowledged science, so neither do his moderate desires permit him to feel envy; the limited range of his

HORRORS OF A WRITER in India, who has been a constant witness of the terrible effects of opium eating, draws a most startling picture of the horrible sensation to which the victim of this practice subjects himself. In two years from the time he commences its use he must expect to die, and a death most terrible, and which makes one tremble to think of. After the habit becomes confirmed, the countenance presents an ashy paleness; the eyes assume a wild brightness; the memory fails; the gait totters; mental and moral courage sinks, and frightful marmasus and atrophy reduces the victim to a ghastly spectre-a living skeleton. There is no slavery of the body and mind equal to that of the opium taker. Once habituated to its doses as a fictitious stimulant, everything will be endured rather than the

imagination, and a restricted development of the sentiment of veneration, giving him but little appreciation of conventional distinctions. How then does it happen that, with a full sense of the importance of his mission, with a character so firm and self-dependent, and with indifference to worldly greatness, we nevertheless find in him a touching degree of modesty? For this reason, namely, that the modesty which distinguishes him, springs from a mind duly impressed with the consciousness of not possessing intellectually, a treasure won at the cost of long and painful toil; that, moreover, his instinctive appreciation of himself is never exaggerated by the heightened colouring of a vivid imagination; and, above all, that the strong inherent tendency of his nature to feel benevolently towards all, causes forgetfulness of self. Admitting, then, the presence of a great degree of modesty, or absence of pride, in this character, it is scarcely necessary to add that it is by no means of that kind to which the term humility would be in any way applicable; the evidence he gives of a will, gentle, but firm on all occasions of importance, proves effectually that the pliancy of his temper can never degenerate from gentleness to weakness. (To be continued.)

OPIUM EATING. privations of it, and the unhappy victim endures all the consciousness of his own degraded state, while he is ready to sell all he has in the world-to part with his family and friends-rather than surrender the use of this fatal drug-this transient delight. The pleasant sensations and imaginative ideas arising at first soon pass away; they become fainter and fainter, and at last give place to horrid dreams and appalling pictures of death. Spectres of fearful visages haunt the mind: the light of heaven is converted into the gloom of hell; sleep, balmy sleep,' flies for ever; night succeeds day, to be clothed in never-ending horrors; incessant sickness-vomiting and total derangement of the digestive organs ensue, and death at last relieves the victim of this sensual enjoyment.

THERE are, it is well known, many hindrances to the adoption of the Water-cure by the masses of society. One great hindrance is, its extreme simplicity. When Naaman the Syrian, anxious as he was for his recovery, was ordered by the prophet of Israel to go and wash in Jordan seven times, and be healed, he replied: 'Are not the rivers of Damascus better than the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean ? So he turned and went away in a rage.' But his servants expostulated with him: If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean.'

And, truly, we need not revert so far into ancient history for an illustration which is of every-day occurrence.

Not long ago we had under our care an ignorant individual who presented herself from the hills of Derbyshire, for treatment for a paralysis which influenced the lower limbs, and of several years' standing. After remaining at Disley about two weeks, in which her power of locomotion was considerably increased, she suddenly left for home, declaring that there was water at her father's house quite equal to the water of Disley, and therefore she could just as well treat herself at home, and save all expense.' Nay, hydropathy stands not alone in this matter, for the very blessed and simple truths which the world's Redeemer left on record for the removal of the diseases of the soul, are, by reason of their simplicity, to the Jews a stumblingblock, and to the Greeks foolishness.' Frequently, indeed, there are those who, during their residence with us, receive most marked, acknowledged, and decided improvement, yet (after for years resorting to all other departments of the cure, change of air, diet, exercise, etc. and without benefit) still attribute their, to others, marvellous progress to some peculiarity. "They were im

proving indeed the week before they came!' "There may be something peculiar in the air of Disley which agrees with them better than any other air,' etc. etc. etc.

In one instance, we had here an individual who was suffering severely from all the symptoms of schirrous of the stomach. After remaining in the Institution a few weeks, in which he exfoliated a large piece of false membrane from the intestinal canal, he became almost free from pain, although he had sought relief by medicine for seven or eight years. Upon which, on account of urgent business, he went home, and treated himself for one month, in which period it appears he went far beyond his strength and reactive power, deeming his own competency in the treatment quite sufficient, without the aid of his professional adviser, whom he could have seen, and had promised so to do very frequently. The result was, many of his old pains returned; his former physician was called in, ordered him to bed; and gave him medicine for a week! I saw him a few months after this, and he declared himself quite well, and able to eat his bacon again, and many other things which were denied him in the Hydropathic Establishment. One would think there would be few individuals partial enough, or so blind and bigotted, as to attribute his whole cure to this last one week's treatment by medicine. But such was indeed the case, for he not only attributes his present relief to the week's medicine, but also his capability of enjoying a good slice of the flitch in a morning, a habit which he could not at all adopt previous to his hydropathic treatment, without almost instant vomiting. This gentleman will be requiring aid again by and bye. To whom will he go? Не does not certainly deserve accommodation where alone he can be cured!

Ignorance of hydropathic principles is another great source of restriction

upon the rapid progress of hydropathy; and I would call the attention of hydropathic practitioners to the chief cause of this ignorance. It is not that the public are unwilling to read. It is not that there are not hydropathic publications in abundance. Nay, I was delighted, not long since, to observe the talented editor, Mr. Chambers, had taken up this benevolent subject. It is the silence of veritable hydropathic practitioners, who not only withhold present knowledge, but, by their silence, produce a fruitful hindrance to future progress, which may, indeed, after the lapse of a few years, cause this vast boon to suffering humanity to sleep in obscurity and oblivion. It is said there were many arts in ancient Egypt, which, if they could have been preserved to us, would have adorned our halls and beautified our palaces, in a manner unattainable by modern invention. No doubt many wonderful and extensively useful discoveries are daily falling asleep, and entering into the confines of forgetfulness never to return, because the inventor is too selfish to impart the knowledge of his discovery, whilst life and hope remain, and an apparently ungenerous public does not come forward and offer a splendid recompense for his midnight toils, adequate to his own conceptions.

Let the hydropathist look around! He beholds his beloved science but in its infancy! The practitioners of the science should, one would think, be like one little brotherhood. The paucity of their numbers; the opposition they have to encounter; the difficulties by which they are assailed, would naturally lead them to the formation of bonds of amity, unity, and mutual co-operation. And, although, so simple as is designated this modern science, many are the cases which occur, in which the wisest head would sometimes be glad of counsel, either to propose a shorter way for ejecting the malady, to throw a ray of light upon some obscure symptom, or to establish an opinion already decided upon. For the science of hydropathy differs not from medicine, only in the remedial agents employed. There are the same mortals liable to err, as pre

scribers, and generally drawn out of the same ranks; there is the same professional skill, knowledge, judgment, and talent, required in the diagnosis, prognoscis, and treatment; the same tact necessary to make one's self acquainted with the history of the case, the powers of the constitution, and the extent and peculiarities of the disease. And in medicine we have cordial co-operation on every hand. Medical associations, libraries, hospitals, fever wards, eye institutions, and constant periodicals issuing from the press, describing symptoms most minute, cases most extreme, daily discoveries in every branch of the sciences; and, indeed, no help is withheld for erecting, strengthening, and securing the bulwarks of medicine, and destroying every influence which presents a counteractive tendency. But what is the case in hydropathy? We behold the sage propounder of this extraordinary system immured; and amid the vast duties of his philanthrophic labours, not a moment's pause is made, either from inability or unwillingness, to inscribe, upon the tablet or the parchment roll, one item of the motives, objects, or practical workings of his long, long experience. Thus, so far as he is concerned, when death closes his eyes, and prostrates his busy hand, the vision of the restored health of nature closes its wondrous career, and the brow decked by many a hearty laurel from a once sickly but now healthy hand, no longer lives in the experience of the future. The experience of a whole life, valuable for its extension, its extraordinary opportunities, and in which glow the living views, the very germs of the future flower, except the few pollen which have fallen annually from the parent stem, and have taken root, and are now beginning to flourish, must all perish from the use of man.

Then look at the medical visitors of Graefenburg. Some return home with sickly, prejudiced views. Some commence the practical carrying out of the system; but in detail imitate only the bold and daring, throw themselves into disrepute, and bring down discredit upon the whole.

But, among those whose happy genius