quor, just as you would tea, and fill up the pot again with boiling water; in a similar manner pour this off, and so go on filling up and pouring off, till the malt in the pot is tasteless, which will be the case when all the virtue is extracted. The liquor, or malt tea, thus extracted, must then be boiled with a few hops in it, and when it becomes cool enough, that is, about blood heat, add a little yeast to ferment it, and the thing is done. This is the whole art and process of brewing, and to brew a large quantity requires just the same mode of proceeding as it would to make a tea breakfast for a regiment of soldiers. A peck of malt and four ounces of hops will produce ten quarters of ale, better than any that can be purchased in London, and for which purpose a teakettle and two pan mugs are sufficient apparatus." THE PHYSICIAN. The physician is only the minister of nature; his duty is to follow her in her march, to aid her when she wavers, to rectify her when she wanders from her path. Without doubt, if nature sufficed in all cases, the science of medicine would be a useless one; but unfortunately there are a great number, in which all her efforts would be vain without the assistance of art. Nature does not possess the same energy in every individual; in some, it is originally weak and languishing, and in others, misery, labor, the excess and the abuse of life have destroyed its power of resistance. For some persons, the aid of medicine is indispensable when they fall sick; and often is insufficient, because nature not seconding its efforts, it combats alone against the disease. There exists then in us, as well as in all living beings, an interior power which resists destruction, and which exerts a degree of force, every time that life is menaced. It is this active force which physiologists have designated Nature. We have said that its efforts were sometimes sufficient to overcome disease, that at other times they were too weak; in short, that it had its wanderings and its deviations. In all these cases the eye of the physician is necessary to ascertain when it is needful to repress a too powerful reaction, or when it is proper to aid a preservatory effort. This is his duty; but in order to perform it with success, what knowledge has he to acquire, what laziness and prejudices to conquer! Youth, pleasures, health, fortune, are all sacrificed to the study of this science, and no person honors him for it ;-each one believes himself sufficiently enlightened to give advice to the physician; everybody knows how to cure, and the lowest nurse confidently blames or approves the conduct of the man of art, in cases even where an association of physicians only would be competent to decide. The great number of diseases which exist, their complication and their varieties, are immense. The manner of treating them, the knowledge of remedies, that of their action; the study of the human body, of the laws which govern it; the Sciences which are necessarily connected with Medicine, &c., all these require, on the part of him who embraces this profession, native talents and profourd study, without which this science becomes more prejudicial than serviceable to humanity. How is it, then, that every one believes himself capable of reasoning on a science, for the study of which, says Hippocrates, life is too short? How can we conceive that there are persons so careless as to dare to trust their lives to ignorant persons, who have pursued no other study than that of duping, and whose only science consists in deceiving by making promises which they do not fulfil. But that which is still more difficult to conceive, is, that there can be persons sufficiently imprudent to use remedies which they do not under stand and to treat diseases which they know no better. This, however, is what we every day see, and which the examples of misfortune which are continually resulting from it, do not prevent. How many persons have been the victims of medical ignorance, by not having been willing to submit themselves to the care of qualified physicians! How many persons have died who would have lived if they had been left to the efforts of nature, instead of opposing them by a treatment much more grievous for the patient than the disease itself!Ami de la Santé. A WAY TO GET BUSINESS. Volatile. Your humble servant, sir, walk in sir, sit down, sir, bringing a chair. My master will wait on you in a moment, Sir, he's busy despatching some patients, Sir. I'll tell him you are here, sir. Be back in a twinkling, sir. Sinclair. No, no, I will wait till he is done, I wish to consult him about Vol. Right, sir, you could not have applied to a more able physician. My master is a man that understands physic as fundamentally as I do my mother tongue, sir. Sin. He appears to have an able advocate in you. Vol. I do not say this, sir, because he is my master; but 'tis really a pleasure to be his patient, and I should rather die by his medicines, than be cured by those of any other; for whatever happens, a man may be certain that he has been regularly treated; and should he die under the operation, his heirs would have nothing to reproach him for. Sin. That's a mighty comfort to a dying man. Vol. To be sure, sir, who would not wish to die methodically? Besides, he is not one of those doctors who husband the disease of their patients. He loves to despatch busi ness, and if they are to die, he lends them a helping hand. Sin. There's nothing like despatch in business. Vol. That's true, sir. What is the use of so much hemming and hawking, and beating round the bush? I like to know the long and short of a distemper at once. Sin. Right, undoubtedly. Vol. Right! Why there were three of my children, whose illness he did me the honor to take care of, who all died in less than four days, when in another's hands they would have languished three months. Enter Doctor. Vol. Sir, this gentleman is desirous of consulting - Dr. I perceive it, sir; he is a dying man. Do you eat well, sir? Sin. Eat! yes, sir, perfectly well. Dr. Bad, very bad; the epigastric region must be shockingly disordered. How do you drink, sir? Sin. Nobody drinks better, sir. Dr. So much the worse. The great appetition of frigid and humid, is an indication of the great heat and aridity within. Do you sleep soundly Sin. Yes, when I've supped heartily. Dr. This indicates a dreadful torpidity of the system; and, sir, I pronounce you a dead man. After considering the diagnostic and prognostic systems, I pronounce you attacked, affected, possessed, and disordered by that species of mania termedHypochondria. Vol. Undoubtedly, sir. My mastter never mistakes, sir. Dr. But for an incontestable diagnostic you may perceive his distempered ratiocination, and other pathognomic symptoms of this disorder. Vol. What will you order him, sir? Dr. First, a dozen purges. Vol. But should these have no ef fect? Dr. We shall then know the disease does not proceed from hu mors. Vol. What shall we try next, sir? Dr. Bleeding, ten or fifteen times, twice a day. Vol. If he grows worse and worse, what then? Dr. It will prove the disease is not in the blood. Vol. What application would you then recommend? Dr. My infallible sudorific. Sweat him off five pounds a day, and the case cannot long remain doubtful. Vol. I congratulate the gentleman on falling into your hands, sir. He must consider himself happy in having his senses disordered, that he may experience the efficacy and gentleness of the remedies you have proposed. Sin. What does all this mean, gentlemen? I do not understand your gibberish and nonsense. Dr. Such injurious language is a diagnostic we wanted to confirm our opinion of his distemper. Sin. Are you crazy, gentlemen? Spits in his hand and raises his cane. Dr. Another diagnostic, frequent sputation. Sin. You had better be done, and make off. Dr. Another diagnostic! Anxiety to change place. We will fix you, sir. Your diseaseSin. I have no disease, sir. Dr. A bad symptom, when a patient is insensible of his illness. Sin. I am well, sir, I assure you. Dr. We know best how that is, sir. We physicians see through your constitution at once. Sin. You are then a physician, sir? Vol. Yes, sir, this is my master, sir, the celebrated Dr. Pumpwater, sir, the enemy of human diseases, sir. Sin. Who has travelled over the country? Dr. The same, sir. Sin. I am happy to hear it, genthemen. I have long been in search of you, and have a warrant for your apprehension, on an indictment for vagrancy. A lucky mistake has enabled me to become a useful witness. You will please to follow your patient to the workhouse. To the Editor of the Baltimore Patriot. SIR, As the season for WET FEET and their attendant consequences is approaching, you are desired to publish the following recipe for rendering boots and shoes water proof, for the public good: Take Gum Elastic, commonly called Indian Rubber, cut into fine shreds, and put about one ounce of it into half a pint of Seneka Oil, or petroleum-Let the mixture stand about a week, at the end of which time the gum will be dissolved, and a thick elastic varnish formed, which may be applied to the boots or shoes with a brush, and will be absorbed by the leather-the varnish to be applied once a day till the leather is saturated, when the shoes will be perfectly water proof, and rendered soft and easy to the feet. If, in the preparation of leather, this varnish was used instead of common tanner's oil, the object would be more perfectly attained. Seneka oil is produced in our country in great abundance, and costs little, if any more than tanner's oil, and the gum elastic is very cheap. I made the discovery, that gum elastic may be dissolved in Seneka oil, about a year since, and now publish it pro bono publico. GIDEON B. SMITH. A translation of La Beaumé's historical view of Galvanism, with observations on its chemical properties, and medical efficacy in chronic diseases is in the press. SONG OF THE ANGEL. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth How soft the music of his tongue! "Goodwill, henceforth to man be given ;" The light of glory beams on earth; Let angels tune the harps of heaven, And saints below rejoice with mirth: On Bethlehem's plains the shepherds sing, And Judah's children hail their King! BOSTON, TUESDAY, NOV. 27, 1826. result of the operation will now be THE TEETH. It is reported in many of our newspapers, that an American Dentist in London has invented a new instrument, and is performing a new and useful operation on, diseased teeth; but as serious doubts of the truth of all this hangs over the subject, we are pleased to see some attention paid to the English account by genFor ourtlemen in this quarter. selves, we doubt very much whether Mr Fay will do himself any credit, or the public any service, by his pretension. The operator professes to cure the toothache by the cutting off of the tooth by a pair of forceps, made for the purpose. The questions to be settled in the case seem to be-are the instrument useful? and operation new, and are they All this novelty and merit are implied, or asserted in London, and denied in New England. While this state of doubt and controversy exists, any man in half an hour can learn enough of the structure, vital properties and morbid states of the teeth, to know that breaking off a tooth at a certain point, by the pres sure of the forceps, will be far from a certain cure for toothache; for the seat of the disease and of pain may be altogether below the line of division, when no alleviation of suffering will follow the operation. Let us suppose again that the diseased part of the tooth, and with it the pain, are removed by the operation, and that the remaining portion of nerve below is left uncovered, exposed to the action of air, particles such a degree of irritation, inflammation, and distress, as will be far more intolerable than the toothache which the operation was to have removed, and which will compel the sufferer to have the residue of the tooth extracted. Any dentist can snap off a tooth in this way, but it often requires one of more ability and judgment to remove the pain and suffering which the operation occasions. By the action of the forceps, the fang of the tooth, below the point of separation, may be split into several pieces, each of which must be taken out before the patient can sleep or eat. We need not go from home to learn all this, for these causes and effects, this malpractice and its painful consequences, are not unfrequently seen, and done and suffered in this city, before the eyes of our best dentists who are called on to relieve those persons who have had their teeth cut off, the operator not being able to obviate the painful effects of his own agency. TO REVIVE OLD WRITING. Boil gallnuts in wine, then with a sponge dipped in the liquid wipe over the lines of the old writing, and all letters will again appear distinctly visible. This should not be attempted with documents the originals of which must be preserved, as it has a tendency to destroy the material, but only with such as are to be copied when legible. The operation of crushing the stone in the bladder was performed at the Hotel Dieu in Paris, on the 23d of September, in the presence of Baron Dupuytren, several Physicians, and all the pupils of the Medi CHARLES WHITE, AS received by the late arrivals from Seton Needles, Trocars, Bistories, Lancets, Strict personal attendance paid to Physicians' Prescriptions, and to the delivery of Family Medicines. Medicine delivered at any hour in the night ATHENEUM : OR, SPIRIT OF THE ENGLISH MAGAZINES. FOR DECEMBER 1, WILL be published on Friday next, by John Cotton, 184 WashingtonStreet, corner of Franklin-Street. CONTENTS.-A Quiet GentlewomanHaroun, the Lonely Man of Shiraz-Roman Girl's Song—Autobiography of Mansie Wauch, Tailor. Anent Mungo GlenThe Broken Leg-Florence Willesden. A Tale of Real Life-Four Autumnal Sonnets, Boyhood Thoughts, Youthful Memories, Mature Realities, Regrets and Anticipations-Recollections of Turkey--Warfare of the Fourteenth Century-Punishment of Cowardice-Humours of Donnybrook Fair. TO PHYSICIANS. IN preparation and will be published as soon as the necessary arrangements are completed. The American Journal of Foreign Med icine, to consist of such selections from the periodical works on Medicine, published in Europe as are of practical utility. The American Journal will be edited by an Association of Physicians in this city, and rejecting speculative discussions, will contain the spirit of such improvements made abroad in the Medical Sciences as are likely to be useful in actual practice. It is designed therefore exclusively for professional men. A number, of not less than forty pages, on fine paper and in fair type will be is sued every month. Price to subscribers four dollars per annum. Instead of the enormous expense of subscribing for, and procuring the numerous Medical Journals of England, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, a cheap HEurope, a full assortment of DRUGS, and compendious method of learning their most valuable contents is here offered to the American Faculty; and those who wish to avail themselves of the work will forward their names before the 15th November inst. to HILLIARD,GRAY & CO. N. B.-All communications must be MEDICINES, and SURGEONS' IN- Published weekly, by John Cotton, at 184, Washington-St. corner of Franklin-St., to whom all communications must be addressed (post-paid).-Price three dollars per annum, if paid in advance, but, if not paid within three months, three dollars and a half will be required, and this will, in no case, be deviated from.-Advertisements,$1 a square." |