ADVERTISEMENTS. TERENCE WAKEFEILD. RESPECTFULLY informs the custo mers of the late firm of WAKEFEILD & SMITH, and the public in general, that he continues the business of Druggist and Apothecary, at the old stand, 121, Washington street, where he offers for sale a large and general assortment of articles usually found in his line, among which are, Calomel, English and American, tart. emet. do; rhubarb, gentian, orange peel, chamomiles; sub carb. soda; tartaric acid; carb. of ammon.; fine and coarse sponge; hat case; refined liquorice ; camphor: English ppt. lozenges; croton oil, French and English; calc, magnesia, from Apoth. Hall, London; gamboge, pulv. ipecac. myrrh, guaiacum, rhubarb quicksilver, opsum, aloes, bals. capivi, Epsom salts; oils of lavender, peppermint, cloves, anniseed, caraway, cinnamon, &c.; sulphuric, nitros, and nitric acids; soda, Rochelle and Seidlitz powders; white phials, assorted. A variety of patent medicines, such as Anderson's pills; Hooper's do.; bals.honey; Henry's magnesia; Turlington's balsam; Cologne water, superior from Paris; common do.; French lavender, from the manufactories; cephalic snuff; Riga balsam; antique oil; otto of rose; Godfrey's cordial; opodeldoc, &c. Also, bear's oil, for the hair: French hair powder; English Windsor soap; fancy do.; salts of lemon; court plaster, black and white; tooth powder; tooth powder and lip salve boxes; tooth brushes, a variety; fancy smelling bottles; thermometers of different prices; an assortment of trusses of the most approved kinds. Country physicians and dealers in drugs are invited to call as above, where they can be supplied at a fair price. Physicians prescriptions will receive all the attention and care that a long experience in the business has enabled him to bestow, and every article delivered will be such as they may calculate on. Medicine chests of every description, for family and ships' use, are put up and replenished with care and faithfulness. SELLERS & ROSE, CUTLERS AND SURGICAL INSTRUMENT MAKERS, A 344, Washington St., opposite Avery St. LL kinds of surgical instruments and cutlery are made, ground, repaired, polished, honed, &c., with the finest edge for use. New penknife blades are fitted to old handles. S. & R. make the needles for Acupunc ture, of any size, agreeably to order. MEDICINES AND SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. THEODORE DEXTER offers for sale at his shop, 56 Hanover St., opposite Dr. Beecher's church, an extensive assortment of Medicines and Surgical Instruments of the best quality.-All preparations of Medicines called for, and all prescriptions will be put up with attention, punctuality, Oct. 23. and accuracy. HE. facilities for experimental illus tration having lately been increased by the addition of much new apparatus, of Lectures on Chemistry, for ladies and Dr. Webster proposes to deliver a course gentlemen, at the Chemical Lecture Room, Massachusetts Medical College, Mason Street. The course to consist of twelve lectures; a lecture to be given every Monday evening, at half past o'clock, and to commence as soon as a sufficient num- TERMS. course, 5 dollars; to admit a family, 12 CHARLES WHITE, H from France and England, his fall Published weekly, by John Cotton, 184, Washington St. corner of Franklin St. -The price of this paper will vary with the time of payment. If paid on subscribing, or within 3 months after, the price will be 3 dollars per annum ; if paid after 3 months but within the year, it will be $ 3,50; but if not paid within the year, it will be 4 dollars. No paper to be discontinued till arrearages are paid.-All communications relating to the present or future concerns of this paper, to be addressed, always postpaid, to John G. Coffin.-Advertisements, 1 dollar a square. MEDICAL INTELLIGENCER. JOHN G. COFFIN, M. D., EDITOR. DEVOTED TO THE CAUSE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, AND TO THE MEANS OF PRE VENTING AND OF CURING DISEASES. VOL. 5. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1827. No. 27. From the London Literary Gazette. "But say I warn'd ye; Take heed, take heed, for heaven's sake." Shakspeare. WE have now arrived at a point in the progress of these Essays, when the remarks which they contain must be addressed to the readers, not in reference solely to the management of the health of others, but more especially of their own. In the plan hitherto pursued, I have confined my attention almost solely to the influence of food, clothing, air, and exercise, on health, through the various stages of life, from the cradle to adult age, when the individual is under parental care, or at least under the control of others,--when the body is yet in a state of growth, and the mind in tutelage. My observations must now be extended to that period when the body is supposed to have attained its utmost stature, and to have gained much of the perfection in form and vigor of which it is susceptible; when the individual is, or when he should be, capable of judging for himself, and of regulating his conduct, both as regards the preservation of his body, and the power of sustaining that character, which he either chooses for himself, or which is allotted to him, in the great drama of the world. If this point be reached with an unimpaired constitution, many circumstances, which were previously of moment, become comparatively unimportant. The requisite of food is less than what was required in the growing state of the frame, the regularity of the supply is less necessary, and the stomach will bear with impunity many varieties of diet which for merly would have proved injuri ous. There is less susceptibility, also, of diseased impressions from the alterations of weather, though these are not borne with so much patience and indifference as in boyhood. Sedentary occupations, which a few years earlier in life were not only incompatible with the natural feelings, but were likely to lay the foundation of fu ture diseases, are now, if not wholly innocuous, at least much less hurtful. But for what have these been exchanged? Is adult age a state of perfect health? Is the immunity from the influ ence of causes which assail health in our ascent of the hill of life, an earnest of our security from others not less hurtful when we have reached its summit? To wrap ourselves in such a security would be in vain; for numerous evils, less connected indeed with exter nal events and natural circum-. stances than those which have preceded this period, but not less baneful, lie scattered around, threatening every step of our advancement; and few, very few of us, reach the opposite brow of the steep, and securely descend into that vale of calm repose, where it is certainly the intention of Nature that the mortal journey of all should terminate. To follow the career of this period of life, the matter to be discussed in these Essays must, therefore, become more multifarious; but though less systematic, yet the subjects of these disquisitions shall follow in as regular a suc cession as the nature of the events that make up the ordinary routine of life will permit. One of the most common events which follow the attainment of adult age, in both sexes, is mar riage. Since this sacred compact is a state in perfect accordance with the instinctive nature of man, no disadvantage in reference to health can result from the event itself, if both parties have reached adult age before it occurs; though, the artificial state of society, the cares and anxieties attendant on a family, especially with narrow means only for a support, are circumstances unfavorable to the preservation of that equanimity of temper and gaiety of heart which are conducive to the maintenance of a healthy state of the body. But too often the female has not arrived at adult age; and her health and future comfort are sacrificed either to the inconsiderate vehemence of a girlish passion, or to the baser gratification of age desirous to unite itself with youth, or to the cupidity of a parent, who is eager to get a daughter, as the term is, advantageously settled. The con stitution, in few women, can be regarded as properly or firmly established even at twenty years of age; and, indeed, it would be advantageous for every woman to pass her twentyfourth or twentyfifth year before subjecting herself to the cares and fatigues which the duties of a married life necessarily impose. I am well aware that this is a doctrine completely at variance with that romance which too often governs the youthful mind, when imagination usurps the place of reason, and paints the future "More sweet than all the landscape smiling near." But it is to ensure solid comfort, instead of this delusive sweetness, this enchantment, which distance spreads over the future, that the acquisitions of experience are demanded to temper and rein in the fervor of youth. If a female marries before twenty,-her disposition lively, her temper ardent, and her love of novelty and pleasure still at its height,--what is the consequence? Visitings, late hours, dancing, and other dissipations into which she probably will enter, will prove most injurious to her health, when she is about to become a mother; and, more certainly, if she has already acquired this important character; independently of the hazard which must also endanger, not merely the health, but the life, of an infant, which is applied to the breast of a mother, either in such a state of feverish excitement or of exhaustion, as is likely to be the case in a lady returning from a ball, or a crowded evening party. Women also, under the period of life at which it is contended marriage ought to take place, as they are more ardent in their anticipations, and less experienced their imaginations moderated, by in the affairs of life, than those who have attained this age, are also more likely to suffer, if a cloud should pass over the brightness of the scene which they have pictured to themselves from a union with the object of their affections. This produces a slow, corroding grief, which gradually undermines the nervous system, destroys appetite and banishes sleep; the pulse becomes languid, weak, and generally unequal; the tone of the heart is, as it were, partially paralyzed, so that the blood is sent feebly through the lungs; the general circulation also being inadequate to carry the vital current through the minute vessels of the skin, the whole body suffers, and the complexion becomes pale and sallow: for the depression of the spirits deranging the functions of the liver, disappointment preys equally on the body and the soul; and, if the individual does not sink its victim, she drags on a life of wretchedness and chagrin. This is a melancholy picture; but it has been too often realized and many are the lovematches, rashly entered into between young people, which have exhibited, in a few short years, this sad termination. Diseases of this description occur from matrimonial alliances at every period of life, and are referred to causes very foreign to that from which they originate. True, indeed, is it, that disappointment and chagrin may result from a marriage contracted at any age, yet experience has proved that they are more frequently the result of unions from violent attachments in the very young and romantic, than in those whose judgments have been matured, and a little more acquaintance with the world than either a boy or a girl under twenty years of age can possess. It is but justice, however, to acknowledge, that it may be contended, and justly, that as much injury arises to health from ungratified love as from premature marriage, and that this operates more suddenly and violently, because of all the passions it is the most violent, and the least capable of being controlled. In some constitutions, indeed, it shows itself only by its effects: the body wastes; the pulse becomes tremulous and irregular; deep sighs break from the chest; there is an alternate glow and flushing of the cheek; the mind becomes dejected; the appetite is lost; the speech falters; cold sweats and watchfulness follow; which gradually terminate in consumption, sometimes in insanity. Yet the passion remains latent in the bosom of the sufferer, "She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek: The passion, corroding invariably, like intense grief from any other cause, undermines the constitution; and the only remedy is the union of the parties. But, in allowing the truth of this description of the effect of disappointment in the tenderest of all the passions, I would inquire whence the evil proceeds? Is it not the result of an error in female education? does it not arise from the early impression which every girl receives that marriage is the first and most important object of her life; and from the anxiety of every mother to push off her daughters, as soon as they have arrived at that period of life which has been erroneously fixed on as the marriageable age? Were this altered, and young women impressed with the idea that marriage before the age of twentyfour or twenty five is both injurious to health and likely to hazard their future felicity, the passion which is now awakened prematurely would seldom be indulged before the constitution is confirmed, and the judgment sufficiently matured to make that selection, which is more certain of ensuring happiness than the romance and ideality of the majority of early marriages on the present system. At all events, there can be no doubt of the advantages of the change, in reference to health. Another evil, in reference to health, arising from hasty and inconsiderate marriages, is the impossibility of the temper and disposition of the parties being known to one another, and the chance that they may not harmonize. Nothing breaks down health so effectually as the constant uneasiness excited by being united to a person of an irritable disposition: who is either drawing largely and frequently on the gooduature of his wife, or, what is worse for both parties, gradually creating in her a disposition similar to his own. Jealousy, another passion which destroys health, is more likely to occur in early and hasty marriages, in which the affections alone have been considered; and where the parties are young, and have few opportunities of mixing in general society till after their union. There is no are It is an undoubted fact, that the temperament of parents is as certainly transferred to their offspring as the similitude of their faces and persons; and perhaps, could it be as easily discovered, a family temperament of body would be found more frequently to exist than a family likeness. It may be necessary to define the term temperament to some of our readers :-it is that state or con stitution of the brain and nervous system, according to which a man |