Fouché and Fontanes turned upon each other a bewildered look. Boïste was set at liberty; but it cost him the expense of the sheets that replaced the seditious page through the whole edition. And Boïste thought himself happy to get off so cheaply, now that he began to perceive that his tribute to the Emperor's coinage was considered so equivocal a compliment.

ECONOMICAL NATIONAL FORCE. MR FREDERICK HILL, inspector of prisons, has published a small pamphlet, addressed to the question of national defence.* He treats the subject with that prac-important that the members of the force should in tical sense and regard for the economical and moral good of the country which presided over the post-office reform of his distinguished brother. While regarding the late outcry about national defence as uncalled for, and perhaps dangerous, we may go so far as to admit that, in the event of any need for additional force being experienced, Mr Hill's plan will be entitled to respectful consideration. More than this, a force such as he proposes might be substituted with advantage for a certain amount of the present standing army.

Mr Hill remarks very justly, that 'many circumstances tend to keep an army in a comparatively low moral condition, and thereby to act injuriously upon public morals. The early removal from parental influence-the recklessness frequently induced by the feeling that, in a moment of anger or partial intoxication, an engagement has been entered into fatal to the person's happiness, and which it is impossible to shake off-the forced association with the rude, the violent, and the vicious-the idleness of the barrack life, with its temptations to drinking and gambling, alternating with the mad excitement, great bodily fatigue, and exposure to cold, hunger, and sickness, attendant on most kinds of warfare-the thirst for plunder, excited by the opportunities for military license, and the practice of giving prizemoney-the improvidence arising from the irregular gains of a soldier, and the constant feeling of the great uncertainty of his life-the habits of licentiousness caused by the difficulties in entering into the marriage stateand the little regard for character generally felt by those who are for ever moving from place to place-these, and other causes, must act with baneful effect on the moral character of the soldiers themselves, and, through them, on the people generally.'

After illustrating this position by a variety of facts, Mr Hill goes on to discommend the raising of a soldiery by conscription, as unjust to classes and individuals, and an absurdity in itself, in as far as it disregards the special qualities requisite for the vocation of a soldier. He then asks if a body could not be formed 'consisting of men prepared by nature for warlike encounter, and trained by art to military service?-ready to resist aggression of all kinds, whether of domestic or of foreign enemies, and yet with the interests and feelings of citizens and yeomen?-of men with homes, families, and friends?-of men who have something dear to them to fight for, and which would be perilled alike by the anarchy of an ignorant mob, the tyranny of a military despotism, or the successful invasion of a foreign foe?'

He thinks such a force might be raised. He suggests it should consist of 100,000 men, under the name of the National Reserved Force, 'to be formed of men chosen from volunteers for the service, and residing, under ordinary circumstances, at their own homes, in different parts of the country.' These men he would have

*Economical Defence of the Country from Internal Tumult and Foreign Aggression. Ridgway. London: 1848.

regularly drilled, and ready to act, when called upon, either as a police force to suppress internal tumults, or as an army to defend the country from attack. The men to receive a small annual stipend, and in addition to be paid for their time when on duty; also to have a claim to an annuity when sixty years of age, if they have spent twenty in the service. In the selection of 'the men, great regard to be had to the moral character of the applicant, and to his being strictly sober; and, other things equal, a preference to be given to those who possess some amount of property. Indeed it is so general be owners either of a house, a piece of land, a stock of furniture, money in a bank, shares in a public company, or some other kind of property, so that they may have a strong interest in the preservation of order that if the proposed remuneration (together with the other inducements which are likely to exist) be not found sufficient to cause persons of this class to enter the force, it would be advisable to increase it.' Parade and drill at stated times, but so as to interfere as little as possible with the ordinary avocations of the men; every member to be obliged to reside within a certain distance of his place of muster, but to be enabled to exchange from one division of the force to another when the interests of his trade or calling render it necessary. Mr Hill roughly estimates the annual expense of this force at L.900,000; and remarks that if the new force were found to justify a reduction of the army by 25,000 or 30,000 men, it would produce a saving.

'Without stopping,' says Mr Hill, 'to inquire whether men selected on the proposed plan could not, if it were thought important, be readily made to equal ordinary soldiers, even in the minutest detail-without examining this point, it must be remarked that again and again has the proud general of a well-disciplined army found himself wofully mistaken, and compelled to yield to men who, though less erect in their bearing, were animated by a high moral feeling, a strong love of country, and a determination to defend their homes and liberties. Witness the disgraceful defeat of the Austrian and Burgundian armies in the war which gave Switzerland her freedom, and in which the power of infantry was first taught to the well-trained and iron-clad warriors of Europe by a few mountain herdsmen. Witness also the defeat of the chivalry of the first two Edwards in their attack on Scotland, ending in their utter rout at the glorious battle of Bannockburn. Witness again the disgraceful defeat of our troops in the American war; and the discomfiture of the Austrian and Prussian troops in their unjustifiable attack on France in the early period of the French Revolution, and before France had exhausted herself and weakened the attachment of her people by her atrocious invasion of other states, and her fearful conscriptions. Look also at the noble struggle of Toussaint L'Ouverture and his negro associates, and the triumph of Dessalines and his army, formed out of men who had lately been groaning in slavery, over Bonaparte's disciplined troops. And we now see how the countless hordes of Russian soldiers are kept at bay, year after year, by a few brave Circassians.

'A consideration of these and other similar deeds

must, I think, convince almost every one that men with ordinary spirit and energy, who stand on their own soil, who know every yard of the country, who have the sympathy and support of the people, and who, in their homes, their property, and their liberties, have something worth fighting for, will, with a very moderate amount of training, present an irresistible front to any invading army-a front, indeed, the very idea

of which would prevent any but an army of madmen from setting foot upon the coast; and shows, I think, that such a force has inherent advantages which can never be wholly possessed by troops collected even in the manner in which the English army is raised; and far less by foreign mercenaries or conscripts, animated by no pure or noble motive, and in many cases serving against their will.'

The objection, that soldiering should be a trade by itself, is met by the allegation that, in reality, it cannot in peace be a trade, since it is then a life of more than semi-vacuity and idleness; a state of things not merely tending to immorality, but to violent discontent, and sometimes even mutiny. The gain,' he adds, 'to public morality, by a decrease of drunkenness and prostitution, with their train of misery and crime, which would result from a large diminution of the number of ordinary soldiers, would be great; while the security for our liberties would be increased by the power of the army being in a great measure transferred to men of superior education and morality, linked to society by the thousand ties produced by a family, the possession of property, and the exercise of an industrious calling.' By some, the employing of an armed force of any kind, even for defence, may be objected to; but all experience proves that peace-officers with staves are powerless in suppressing tumultuary masses armed with muskets and other dangerous weapons, as was exemplified in a striking manner on the occasion of the late riots in Glasgow. While there exist miscreants sufficiently daring to unite in forcibly defying the law, we fear that soldiering of some sort must be considered a lamentable necessity. Mr Hill's plan may be said to reduce this evil within the narrowest possible bounds. His soldiers are to be only armed and trained civilians, ready at a moment's notice to assume a military character; and we should suppose they are to have about them as little of the pomp and buffoonery of warlike array as the most sober-minded could desire.

THE MEDICINE-MAN, OR INDIAN CURE
FOR CANCER.

AMONG all savage nations and tribes, the observance of
certain superstitious forms and ceremonies are inter-
woven in almost every important event, whether civil,
social, or political; yet in none, perhaps, are these ob-
servances more strictly kept up than in everything
relating to the practice of the healing art.

to the true cause-the healing properties of the plants
that grow beneath his tread. To those, too, whose very
vocation would seem in a great degree to lie in a know-
ledge of the powers of the vegetable world, the medical
practitioners not only of Europe, but even those of the
large Atlantic cities of North America, of the very
land in which these plants are indigenous, they are
generally as little known as they were to the distin-
guished philosopher above named.
We shall cease,
however, to be much surprised at this fact, when we
consider for a moment the unvarying system of teach-
ing adopted at medical universities. Hear certain lec-
tures, read certain books for a given time, answer cer-
tain questions which these books will teach you have
passed your examination-you are a qualified phy-
sician.

To the medical philosopher there are few fields fraught with so rich a harvest of discovery as the investigation of the properties of many of the plants peculiar to the fertile districts of North and South America, in relieving and permanently curing many of the most severe diseases to which the human frame is incident. The ground for these investigations is already broken to some extent by the medicine-men of the different tribes, whose rude experience and modes of practice, which they are ever most willing to exhibit and describe, would be of great value in directing many apparently intricate or obscure applications, the modus operandi of which the light of science might afterwards illustrate and explain.

Cancerous affections in stages of extreme malignity; the long train of obscure glandular diseases of more or less severity; the multiform denotements of severe scrofulous affections; ulcerations of chronic duration; cutaneous maladies of various and loathsome origin and extent; tumours of indolent and malignant character; rheumatism; epilepsy; spasmodic diseases; lumbago; torpid action of the bowels or liver; incipient consumption, and the various inflammatory affections of internal organs; the bite of venomous reptiles; tetanus; and a host of less grave forms of disease, I have seen subdued and cured by these humble pharmacopolists.

I will proceed now to relate a case. In a wigwam in which I was for a time domiciled, a fine Indian lad of eleven years of age, in gathering berries, was bitten on the back of the hand by a mocassin snake, which he had provoked; but which he at length succeeded in capturing, and bringing home in triumph. The squaw, the only person except myself present, immediately bound the arm tightly just above the elbowExtensive means of observation, and some length of joint with a strong cord; upon the wound on the hand residence among various tribes of North American she applied a succession of plantain leaves (the Alisma Indians, particularly one called the Pottowatomie na-plantago), wetted with oil and milk; she then prepared tion, which, at the time I speak of, were a wandering a strong decoction of the Lobelia inflata, which she people on the great prairie lands of the state of Illinois, now called the Wisconsin Territory, gave me ample opportunity of observing many of their superstitious orgies, as well as their medical treatment in curing many violent and severe diseases. When I say that my only object in being among these rude people of the forest was that of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the virtues of the vegetable substances used among them as medicinal agents, being myself a physician, and having, too, the sanction of the chief of the tribe to dwell with them, it may be supposed that my opportunities of observation were unusually great. How I have profited by it, many of my patients suffering under some of the most severe diseases incident to humanity might testify; but on this head I must not enlarge.

Unknown to the classification and arrangement of the great Linnæus or succeeding botanists, many plants of surpassing power in these wild regions bloom, flourish, and decay, whose virtues are confined to the knowledge of the Medicine-man (as the doctor is called) of the tribe, and who, in the wild superstition in which he has been educated, ascribes the remarkable cures he performs more to the influence of his savage orgies than

gave the boy to drink freely, and placed him in a warm bed. She then strewed some salt upon the ground, burnt a hank of flax in her hand, muttered a form of prayer to the Great Spirit Manitou, and then repeated at intervals to her patient copious draughts of the decoction, notwithstanding the severe vomiting it occasioned. This treatment was kept up throughout the night, the plantain leaves being repeatedly changed for fresher ones. The following day the same treatment was followed with less vigour; and in the evening, a poultice, made of the green leaves of the Geranium maculatum, was applied to the wound, and the patient placed in a warm water bath prepared with the balsam of the pinetree. On taking him out, he was pronounced to be well; and so in truth he was, excepting some degree of debility occasioned by the treatment. To my own knowledge, he was in good health five years after this event. Now, in contrast with this rude yet successful treatment by savage skill, let us place that of the regular faculty of the city of New York in a similar case. Dr Wainwright of that city was bitten on the forefinger by a rattlesnake; he was aware of the danger, and in a situation to have the immediate aid of several eminent physicians; but in vain: the life of this amiable and

talented gentleman was sacrificed for want of that in the neck, much as the European surgeon would, he knowledge of the curative properties of plants growing takes from his pocket an oval instrument, made of thin almost at their very doors. The death of Dr Wain-iron, about the size of a large tablespoon, and shaped wright occurred last December, and the circumstances somewhat like a trowel, which he heats to a red heat attending it were noticed in the London 'Times.' When in the lighted charcoal, and with a sudden and light it is borne in mind that the bite of the rattlesnake is far touch sears the open cancer, already in a state of ulceless dangerous than that of the mocassin, the value of ration, observing to touch the edges, and what he the two modes of practice will stand in still stronger pointed out to me as the roots of the cancer, but contrast. which were, in truth, the deep sinuses occasioned by the progress of irregular ulceration. At the touch of the iron, the woman shivered, and slightly shrank back, but uttered neither moan nor cry. Immediately after this, the proper plants, in a green state, previously soaked in the blood of the calf, were spread all over the cancer; the earth was then laid on the plants about the thickness of an inch or a little more, having been made into a clayish paste by mixing the blood with it. Thus much for the treatment. For the prognosis, or probable result, three small peas had for a few days previously been placed in earth and water, until they were just on the point of germinating; being carefully removed, they were pressed down into the covering of the diseased breast, and the earth gently smoothed over them by the fingers. Suitable bandages, made of cloth and the inner layers of the white birch bark, were applied; and to insure the earth keeping in its place, a pair of stays (or garment of their precise form) was tightly secured round the chest. The woman was then delivered to her friends, and placed in a recumbent position upon a species of palanquin; orders were given as to her diet, which was strictly antiphlogistic, and she was then conveyed home, with a caution to remain in the same position until the visit of the medicine-man, to take place on the third day after.

I will now proceed to detail the treatment of a severe case of cancer, occupying the whole surface of the breast in an Indian female. This woman belonged to a wandering tribe of Indians, whose nomadic habits had heretofore prevented the necessary confinement and attention to diet to effect the cure. The medicine-man, whose pupil at the time I was, having appointed his day for general consultation, and being aware, as in more civilised conditions of life, of the vast importance of assuming a great degree of consequence, had not failed to throw around himself the utmost gravity and mystery of manner on the days devoted to the public reception of the sick. These days are always during the time of the full-moon; and the one previous to reception the medicine - man observes strictly as a day of abstinence, refraining from all food except bread, water, and vegetables. Receptions usually take place in the open air, under the shade of large oak-trees; but in severe weather his own wigwam is chosen. Having divested himself of his ordinary hunting or farming dress, he robes himself in an external garment made of the skins of various kinds of snakes sewed together. This dress is girted tight at the neck, and spreads loosely around him, reaching to his feet, and rattling, at every motion of his body, with more noise than some of the venomous reptiles make when alive and about to dart on their prey. The ground having been marked in a circular form with a spade, flax, pine-tree gum, and various aromatic herbs, are burnt in an iron pot, and thrown around. The medicineman, whose face is previously painted with red and blue streaks, sits at a table, on which is placed various roots, herbs, and plants. In the centre of the table is a large basin, made of the bark of the birch-tree, containing the blood of a new-born calf that has never cropped the herbage. Among some tribes, and formerly with this, the blood of a new-born babe, slaughtered for the purpose, was used on this occasion; but from the progress of humanity consequent upon their frequent intercourse with Europeans, the blood of a calf has been substituted, and found to be equally efficacious.

On the present occasion, there was placed on the table another vessel, containing a large quantity of clayey earth, of a yellowish red colour, dug at six feet depth from the surface of the ground. This earth had been previously most carefully pulverised, and passed through a fine sieve, every particle of stone and shell, or other extraneous substance, having been thoroughly excluded. An iron pan, containing a little charcoal, made from the wood of the yellow elm-tree (Ulmus flavius), in a state of bright ignition, was placed upon the ground.

The patient was brought in, carried in the arms of four men, her relations, and accompanied by a multitude of neighbours and spectators, to whom these exhibitions are ever open. She was seated on a low cork stool within the circle on the ground, and facing the medicine-man. During a form of prayer or invocation commenced by the operator, and joined in by all present, beseeching the Great Spirit Manitou to give courage to the patient, skill to the doctor, and success to the cure, the eyes of the female were bandaged with cloth, and her breast uncovered. The most perfect silence now prevails; every voice is hushed; and the medicine-man proceeds to his examination of the case. He puts no question as to the origin of the disease, or what applications have been used; but after examining the state of the glands in the axilla (arm-pit), and those

At the moment the medicine-man commenced his treatment with the application of the heated iron, and during its continuance, until her arrival at the door of her own home, the following words were chanted, in a slow mournful measure, by all who accompanied her. The translation has been furnished by a friend versed in the language of the tribe :

'Fertile earth and growing grain,
Ease this woman of her pain;
Fire to purge thy pains away,
Earth to cleanse and purify;
Sow the seeds in hope to grow,
By thy blessing, Manitou.
Sow the seeds,' &c.

The prognosis by the peas is much relied on. In truth, divination is peculiar to all savage tribes; and though frequently deceived, they still adhere with strong tenacity to the ancient superstitious observances of their forefathers. If the three, or two out of the three peas continue the process of germination, so that the earth is slightly broken in their attempt to reach its surface, the result is predicted as highly favourable: if one only, not so favourable; still the woman will recover, but slowly; and the prognosis would be doubtful as to the recurrence of the disease in after-life. Should none of them germinate, which often happens from accidental causes-such as changing the position of the earth by the necessary movements of the bodythen an unfavourable conclusion is looked for, and the patient and her friends are apprised that the Great Spirit Manitou needs her presence in the huntinggrounds of her forefathers, and bids her prepare for death.

I should have mentioned, that after the third day, the medicine-man attends the patient at her own wigwam at such times as he considers necessary, and the subsequent treatment is with the decoctions made from the plants useful in the case, together with medicines given internally. In many cases, if not in all, I am assured that the searing of the diseased surface with the heated iron has been attended with most injurious results, increasing the inflammatory disposition, destroying the vitality of the parts essential to the healing

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