latter be inferior to that of the morbid action, this will be only aggravated by their application; hence if we commence the treatment of these diseases by inferior means, and depend on raising their power as we proceed, we shall be foiled, for the morbid process will rise in proportion, or the system will become habituated to their action and no cure will be effected. We should therefore institute, at once, an action superior to that of the morbid process, and maintain it till the latter is completely eradicated. From this view of the theory of irritation I have been led to the cure of many diseases purely from principle, and that too very speedily and satisfactorily; and among the rest, the shingles and all erysipelatous inflammations. Treatment of the Shingles.This affection is universally attended by some inflammatory or increased action of the part, and of the system generally; hence the cure consists, first in reducing this excitement by an emetic, or a moderate bleeding; and secondly by instituting a new and permanent action on the part capable of supplanting that constituting the disease; this is to be accomplished by the application of a liniment composed of equal parts of spirit of turpentine and aqua ammoniæ. It is on this same principle that lunar caustic cures the disease. The plan I have adopted I have never known to fail of removing it in two or three days. Cuticular poisons from the different species of the rhus, the swamp sumach, poisonous ivy, &c. may be cured at once by the same course. When the inflammation or redness first appears, one ap plication of the liniment or of spirit of turpentine alone, at bedtime, will often perform a perfect cure before morning. But when the disease has been of some days' standing, it will be necessary to premise an emetic, or in full habits bleeding also, after which the turpentine liniment will succeed. On my first trial I entertained some fears of applying turpentine to a red, angry face, covered with blisters with fiery margins. my next visit, however, I found the redness all gone, and the blisters converted into black scabs. On There are persons whose skins do not admit of the use of turpentine in any manner. Such will find a complete substitute in a decoction of the leaves and stalks of the Helianthus trachelifolius, a wild plant growing in old hedges and resembling, in miniature, common artichoke or sunflower. This plant is deemed a specific by many people, in poisons, and it certainly, to my knowledge, approaches very nearly to this character. It may be readily distinguished from the other species of helianthus by the extreme roughness of its leaves on both sides. OBSTINATE CONSTIPATION. Dr. Whaley, a scientific and experienced physician of London, has found the galvanic fluid, applied by the scientific M. La Beaume, to succeed in a case of obstinate constipation, which had resisted the usual remedies. After a few applications of this active agent, which clearly increases the power inherent in muscles termed irritability, the lower intestines regularly performed their office, and the general health gradually improved, and these effects continued many months after the remedy had been discontinued. The galvanic fluid applied to the region of the liver, and in the course of the eighth pair of nerves we have known to succeed in a variety of cases of indigestion and hepatic obstruction, from an indolent condition of the lower portion of the intestines, after the blue pill and other medicinal remedies had failed. It is probable that the medicines which had been administered to bring the digestive organs and the lower intestines into action, put the system in a favorable state for the operation of the galvanic fluid; but without this agent we are satisfied the patients, soon after the remedies had been discontinued, would have relapsed into their former state. Galvanism is therefore a most valuable auxiliary to blue pill and stomachic medicines in those cases of obstinate indigestion and constipation which will not entirely give way to the usual alterative, stomachic, and aperient medicines, and a proper regimen.-Lond. Gaz. of Health. bia, though we do not profess to know what are the symptoms by which the disease is characterised in the rabbit.-Ib. BLINDNESS FROM PALSY OF THE The following case of blindness from a paralytic affection of the optic nerves, gutta serena, has been lately published by the editor of an Italian medical journal: A female, about ten years of age, was, after an attack of fever, affected with paralytic tremors of the whole body, which, in the course of two months, were followed with acute pains in the orbit of the right eye, soon after which the tremors ceased, with the loss of the power of seeing with the affected eye. The pain in the orbit of the eye continued for eleven years, when a copious secretion of mucus from the nostrils took place, and the pain ceased. After a short period the left eye became similarly affected, and she was soon so blind as not to be able to distinguish day from night. Local abstraction of blood, active aperient medicines, and blistering, proved unavailing. The patient was sent to an Italian hospital, where she was admitted A dog was inoculated with the an in patient, and the only morbid saliva of a hydrophobic patient, appearances the eyes exhibited but the animal to this period has were dilatation of the pupils, and continued healthy. At the same slight squinting. A seton in the time an incision was made in the nape of the neck was recommendskin of a rabbit, at the back of ed, but the patient objected to it. the neck, and a portion of the cic- The surgeon then prescribed a atrix, on the patient's hand, im- simple vegetable infusion, with a planted in the wound. The ani- grain of tartarised antimony. On mal sickened and died a few days the following day the dose of tarskice, which is somewhat curious, tarised antimony was increased to as regards the time from which two grains, which excited vomitthe inoculation was made, but it ing. The next day the patient was not considered, however, could distinguish various objects that the rabbit died of hydropho- with her left eye. This treat HYDROPHOBIA. Mr. Wakley has published the following experiments, made on a dog and a rabbit: ment, gradually increasing the dose of tartarised antimony to three grains, was continued a few days, when the left eye recovered its power of vision, and with the right eye she could discover the buttons on a coat. In cases of gutta serena, from the pressure of an effused serum on the optic nerve, vomiting or nausea, excited by tartarised antimony, may prove very beneficial, by occasioning absorption of the affected serum; but in cases attended with a congestion of the vessels of the brain, or general plethora, common causes of gutta serena in females from the age of fifteen to twenty, vomiting in general proves very injurious. Indeed cases of gutta serena following obstinate vomiting in females, between the ages of fifteen and twenty, are not uncommon in this country, particularly when the vomiting is sympathetic of uterine obstruction or disorder.-Ib. LEECHES. ounces after the same number to the neck. The quantity of blood must of course vary according to the vascularity of the part, and degree of inflammatory excitement, to which the leeches were applied. As the size of the punctures must also make a considerable difference, Mr. Lawrence recommends large leeches to be employed. This mode of abstracting blood is certainly less terrific than that of cupping, and less troublesome than the usual method of promoting the discharge of blood from the wounds of leeches by warm water. In exhausting the air, care must be taken, as in the operation of cupping, not to do it forcibly, for in this case the edge of the glass will have the effect of a ligature in preventing the free escape of blood. When it is necessary to abstract ten or twelve ounces of blood, either the scarificator, or a greater number of leeches, and two or three glasses, should be employed. When the part has been dry cupped, we have observed the suction of blood by leeches to be much more rapid. The method of increasing the flow of blood from the punctures of leeches, recommended by Mr. Lawrence, is not new. It has for many years been common among the surgeons of Paris, and very frequently adopted by Dr. Hassell and M. Goree, of Boulognesurmer. -Ib. Mr. S. G. Lawrence, assistant surgeon to the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, has lately communicated a method of increasing the discharge of blood from the punctures of leeches, which he has for some time employed with great success. It simply consists in applying a cuppingglass, with an exhausting syringe fitted to it, over the bleeding punctures, immediately after the leeches have fallen off. When the air is pumped out, he says "the blood will flow as freely Mr. Editor, I herewith send into the glass as it does in the ope- you an ague receipt, which I have ration termed 'cupping."" By given with great success. this plan Mr. Lawrence has abstracted in a few minutes from three to four ounces of blood from the punctures of six leeches to the temples, and from two to three From the London Mechanics' Magazine. ONE MORE CURE FOR THE AGUE. Best bark half an ounce; salt of wormwood, two drachms; anniseed water, four ounces. Mix the whole together, and divide it into three doses, which are to be taken the morning after the fit, at six, seven, and eight o'clock, fasting. This for an adult. Children according to age and strength. I have given the sulphur with success, as mentioned in No. 190 of your entertaining work, with this difference; I give it in white wine, and order the patient, when in bed, to drink warm tea as often as agreeable. The best receipt, certainly, I have ever given, is the quinine pills, which I purchase at the chemists, giving a dose of salts first, and a pill every three hours, when the fit is off. But this medicine is much too high in price for a poor man. I am, &c. J. N. MEDICINE AND SURGERY. The Académie des Sciences has adjudged a prize of 10,000 francs to Messrs. Pelletier and Caventon for their discovery of sulphat of quinine; and another prize of 10,000 francs to M. Civiale, for having been the first to practise litho trity on the living body, and for having successfully operated by this method on a great number of patients afflicted with the stone. Several smaller prizes have been given to various individuals for improvements in the art of healing. EXTRAORDINARY BIRTHS. A lady, the wife of Mr. John Kelly, now residing in Wolf creek township, in this county, Mercer, Penn., recently from Ireland, yesterday had five living children at one birth! They all died shortly after, as we are informed by the physician who attended her. Previous to her leaving Ireland, this same lady had two at once; and on her way hither, while in the state of New York, she had also five at one birth,-making, in all, twelve children, within about 18 months! A man by the name of Daniel Peck, has killed himself, in a fit of intoxication, at Raleigh, N. C., and at Hillsborough, in the same state, a man by the name of John Cheek, has been killed by another named David Hobbs. Both were drunk. By these events three lives have probably been sacrificed, and twice the number of families rendered miserable,-all in consequence of the intoxicating cup. Can it be denied that crime is increasing in our country with awful strides. Whilst we live, let us live well: for, be a man ever so rich when he lights his fire, death may enter his door before it be burnt out. 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