How long are these things to continue? Surely some virtuous minister will arise, who will not think the concerns of the health of our population, and the defence of the sick, unworthy of his care. Something more than a civil reception of deputatations, and smooth answers to addresses, is necessary, before this great question can be settled. Its adjustment would make the fame of any minister, and entitle him to the gratitude of this and succeeding generations. It cannot be said that the profession of medicine is unworthy of such a boon, as the restriction of medical practice to properly qualified persons would prove. The calls upon us, in the public service, and in the vast machinery of charitable ministration of the profession to the sick, should alone entitle us to such reform of the laws relating to medicine. More than this, the rights of the lives of the sick poor to legal defence demand it. Glad indeed shall we be if, at the next meeting of the British parliament, our gracious Sovereign should echo the words of the King of Prussia, and tell her assembled lords and commons, "The draught of a law regulating the practice of medicine will shortly be laid before you."-The Lancet.

THE CENSUS OF 1851.

THE schedule, intended to be left at every house in Great Britain, to be filled in on the 31st of March next, has been completed and approved by the Secretary of State.

:

The following are the general instructions :This schedule is to be filled up by the occupier, or person in charge of the house; if the house is let, or sub-let, to different persons or families, in separate stories or apartments, the occupier or person in charge of each such story or apartment must make a separate return for his portion of the house upon a separate householder's schedule.

The instructions for filling up the column headed "Rank, profession, or occupation," are as follows:

The superior titles of peers and other persons of rank to be inserted, as well as any high office which they may hold. Magistrates, alderman, and other important public officers to their profession after their official title.

state

Army, Navy, and Civil Service.-Add after the rank "Army," "Artillery," "Royal Navy," "Marines," " East India Company's Service," as the case may be-distinguishing those on half-pay. Persons in the civil service to state the department to which they are attached after their title or rank; those on the superannuation list to be so distinguished. Chelsea, Greenwich, and other pensioners to be clearly designated.

Clergymen of the church of England to return themselves as "Rector of," "Vicar of "Curate of -——," &c., or as not having cure of souls. They are requested not to employ the indefinite term "clerk." Presbyterian ministers and Roman catholic priests to return themselves as such, and to state the name of the church or chapel in which they officiate. Dissenting ministers to return themselves as "Independent Minister of Chapel," "Baptist Minister of Chapel," &c. Local or occasional preachers must return their ordinary occupations. Legal Profession.-Barristers to state whether or not in actual practice; officers of any court, &c., to state the description of office and name of court. The designation "attorney" or "solicitor" to be confined to those whose names are actually upon the roll. Persons in solicitors' offices should distinguish whether "solicitor's managing, articled, writing, or general clerk."

Members of the medical profession to state the university, college, or hall, of which they are graduates, fellows, or licentiates -also whether they practise as physician, surgeon, or general practitioner, or are "not practising."

Professors, teachers, public writers, authors, and scientific

men, to state the particular branch of science or literature which they teach or pursue; artists, the art which they cultivate. Graduates should enter their degrees in this column.

Persons engaged in commerce, as merchants, brokers, agents, clerks, commercial travellers, to state the particular kind of business in which they are engaged, or the staple in which they deal.

The term farmer to be applied only to the occupier of land, who is to be returned--" Farmer of [317] acres employing [12] labourers;" the number of acres, and of in and out door labourers, on March 31st, being in all cases inserted. Sons or daughters employed at home or on the farm, may be returned—“ Farmer's son,' ""Farmer's daughter."

In trades the master is to be distinguished from the journeymen and apprentice, thus—“ Carpenter(master employing [6] men;") inserting always the number of persons of the trade in his employ on March 31.

In the case of workers in mines or manufactures, and generally in the constructive arts the particular branch of work, and the material, are always to be distinctly expressed if they are not implied in the names, as in coal-miner, brass-founder, and woolcarder, silk-throwster. Where the trade is much subdivided, both trade and branch are to be returned, thus-" Watchmaker— finisher;" "Printer-compositor."

A person following more than one distinct trade may insert his occupations in the order of their importance.

Messengers, porters, labourers, and servants to be described according to the place and nature of their employment.

66

Persons following no profession, trade, or calling, and holding no public office, but deriving their incomes chiefly from land, houses, mines, or other real property, from dividends, interest of money, annuities, &c., may designate themselves Landed Proprietor," " Proprietor of Iron Mines," "Proprietor of Houses," "Fundholder," "Annuitant," &c., as the case may be. Persons of advanced age who have retired from business to be entered thus-"Retired Silk Merchant," "Retired Watchmaker," &c. Almspeople and persons in the receipt of parish relief should, after being described as such, have their previous occupations inserted.

Women and Children.-The titles or occupations of ladies who are householders to be entered according to the above instructions, The occupations of women who are regularly employed from home, or at home, in any but domestic duties to be distinctly recorded. So also of children and young persons— against the names of children above five years of age, if daily attending school or receiving regular tuition under a master or governess at home, write "Scholar," and in the latter case add "at home."

ON THE DANGER OF TYING UP THE LOWER JAW
IMMEDIATELY AFTER SUPPOSED DEATH.

VARIOUS well-known practices are resorted to by the public immediately after the supposed death of their relatives or friends, such as placing shillings on the eyelids, a plate containing salt on the abdomen, touching the body, closing the nostrils, and tying up the lower jaw. Some of these peculiarities are harmless enough; but the two latter may be the means of destroying life, either wilfully or through ignorance.

C. , an infant, aged two months, was brought to me at the London Dispensary on a Friday, a short time since, by its mother. It became atrophied soon after birth, and continued in that state for two months. The mother having taken away the child, returned with it in a few minutes, told me that it was dead, and asked for a certificate. I examined the neck, and found the lower jaw tied up so tightly, as to prevent its being

moved. I immediately set the jaw free, and asked why she had fastened it up so quickly? She replied that a woman at the dispensary seeing the jaw fall, and thinking the child was dead, had done it up. I declined giving a certificate then, but kept the mother in conversation for a minute or two, in order to see if any change took place in the countenance of the child, when the right eyelid began to move, and soon after the infant was restored to its usual state, and did not die until the following Monday.

It is very probable that the child would have been destroyed on the Friday had I left the dispensary before the mother's return; and it is also probable that in another case, with more stamina in the constitution, life might have been preserved for a longer period. It is true that air would gain access to the lungs through the nostrils, though the mouth be firmly closed, but not sufficient to keep a very weakly child long alive, especially when we consider the pressure frequently made against the larynx on binding up the lower jaw, and the effort required to fill the lungs with sufficient air merely through the nostrils. Is it not, then, obvious that the public should wait until a medical man has seen the body, or at least for a few hours after death, without precipitately tying the lower jaw, and incurring the risk of committing murder?-C. J. B. Aldis, M.D.

Woodford, Nov. 23, 1850. SIR, It was with great pleasure I read your announcement in the last number, of the intended "Drawings of the Human Body." Now, all will understand so completely the wonders of their own structure, that "Quack Doctors" can no longer exist. Your publication has done, and is now doing, so much to destroy the mystery, not the science of medicine, that humbug must explode. It is only where great ignorance is that Quacks can thrive. You can have no idea how your Journal is finding its way through the whole of the reading community, and when once you teach by the eye (as plates or drawings do), knowledge is soon acquired. I am a teacher of mathematics, therefore speak from experience. There can be no doubt of the Journal taking care of itself; good publication will always be read.

or "

People will read; and now education is within the reach of all, they prefer good to trash. The " ," if now in existence, has little circulation, and no one owns to reading the " -," merely because we have better works at the same price. So, pray, Sir, have no fear of the Journal opening a debit side; and, even if it does not at first bring quite so much "grist to the mill," remember the good you are doing both to the world and to the medical profession. So, again, many thanks for your good and benevolent deeds. I beg to subscribe myself as one much indebted to you,

A YOUNG HUSBAND.

FATAL ACCIDENT FROM A PEA.

A youth, the son of Mr. Richard Bolton, of Great Horton, Yorkshire, was playing a few days since with a juvenile companion, who was pretending to place a pea in his ear and to make it come out of his mouth. Bolton, believing the feat to have been really performed, was induced to make the attempt himself, and thrust the pea so far into his ear that it could not be got out. In a vain endeavour to extract it, made by a medical man, it was sent further in, and the poor boy died four days afterwards from the effects.

PHARMACOLOGY.

No. XXXV.

STIMULANTS.

(Continued from page 174.)

Strychnos Nux Vomica,-Nux Vomica.-This poisonous drug is void of smell, and of an intensely bitter taste. Its efficacy as a remedy depends upon a peculiar alkali, named strychnia, combined with igasuric acid. Its operation is stimulant and tonic; and when taken in large doses, it produces tetanic spasms. It is employed in indigestion, gout, rheumatism, and especially in paralysis of the lower extremities. The dose is from two grains to ten. The symptoms of an over-dose are-sensations of inebriety; giddiness, spasm or twitchings, with stiffness of the arms and limbs, alternating with sudden jerkings of the tendons; extreme difficulty of respiration, with excruciating pain under the cartilage of the breast-bone; suffocation and death. The treatment should be to evacuate the stomach and bowels, and then dilute freely with vinegar and water, and other acidulous drinks. Strychnia,-Strychnia,-prepared from the above :-is employed as a tonic in pyrosis (water-brash-heartburn with an eructation of a watery fluid), passive diarrhea, and leucorrhoea ; and in cases of partial paralysis not depending on organic disease, especially when caused by carbonate of lead. The dose is from the tenth part of a grain to half a grain. It requires the greatest possible caution in prescribing it, and the most careful vigilance in dispensing prescriptions which contain it. Oleum Terebinthine Purificatum,-Rectified Oil of Turpentine.-The odour of turpentine is well known and easily recognised; the taste is hot and pungent; it is colourless, limpid, and lighter than water; it is volatile and sparingly soluble in alcohol. Its operation in medicine is stimulant, diuretic, sudorific, and as a remedy against worms: applied externally, it acts as a rubifacient, producing redness and counter-irritation without blistering. Turpentine is employed in chro nic rheumatism, lumbago, and sciatica; and in passive uterine hæmorrhages; dropped in the ear in deafness from defect of wax, it is sometimes of great utility; it is a proper stimulant for many indolent tumours; and, in the form of an embrocation, it is useful in rheumatism, lumbago, and bruises. It is given in very large doses, alone, or united with honey, against the tænia solium, or tape-worm, which it brings away entire, dead, after two or three doses. The dose in rheumatism is from ten drops to a drachm; but for the expulsion of worms Linimentum Terebinthine,-Turpentine Liniment,-is made by melting the quantity may be increased to an ounce or more. soap and camphor in oil of turpentine. This is a powerful stimulating application, and was at one time in great favour as a remedy for burns, for which accident it was greatly advocated by Dr. Kentish of Newcastle.

Cantharis, Cantharis Vesicatoria,—the Blistering Fly,—Spanish Fly,—

Blister Beetle, a coleopterous insect, native of the South of Europe. The body is oblong, of a green and gold shining colour; the odour is fætid, and the taste slightly acrid. They retain their acrimony for many years, if kept dry. Their medicinal operation is stimulant, diuretic, rubifacient, and vesicant, or blistering. Both their internal use and their external application are apt to produce strangury (see No. 48, page 171). They are used internally in dropsies, obstinate gleet, and leucorrhoea; in retention of urine owing to want of action in the bladder, and in incontinence of urine from debility of the bladder (see No. 48, page 172); and lepra. The internal use demands the greatest caution. The dose is from half a grain to a grain, in the form of a pill with opium, or the extract of henbane and camphor, twice a day.

Tinctura Cantharadis,-Tincture of Spanish Fly,-is prepared by macerating four drachms of bruised flies, in two pints of spirits of wine. Its action is similar to that of the flies-namely, stimulant and diuretic -having a certain, perhaps a specific, action on the urinary appara tus. The tincture is prescribed in gleet, dropsy of the ovaries, and leucorrhoea; but it is chiefly used as an external application, united with soap or camphor liniment, against rheumatic and other pains. Dr. Anthony Todd Thompson says: "I have found it a useful application in that peculiar species of mortification of the extremities which sometimes takes place without any apparent cause, and to Acetum Cantharadis, Vinegar of Cantharadis,-is prepared by dissolving frost-bitten parts." The dose is from ten drops to a drachm. two ounces of the powdered flies in a pint of vinegar. It is seldom used internally; the dose, however, is stated to be from five to sixteen drops, as a diuretic. Applied externally, it forms an immediate

blister.

(To be continued.)

A YOUNG FOOL.-The old tale, alas! Follow the advice tendered to A SHOPMAN in No. 17.

B. R. S. (Arbour Square).—You require a convex glass. Glasses are of

two kinds, concave and convex: convex glasses are for the use of those who have what is commonly called an old, or long sight, and are unable to read or see small objects near them; concave glasses are for the use of those who are short-sighted, to enable them to see distinctly objects at the same distance at which they were able to perceive them before they became short-sighted.

B. THOMAS (Ratcliff Cross-query Battle Bridge?).-We must see you. A SUBSCRIBER (Nottingham).-Yes.

THIRST (Chatham).-See the Editor's work on BRONCHITIS, INFLUENZA, &c., or purchase the numbers of the Journal in which they are reprinted; namely, from No. 1 to No. 11 inclusive.

JOHN HOPE (Leith).-See the Editor's small work on INDIGESTION, p. 19. DELTA (Canterbury), as "a Constant Reader," should know that we do not reply to such questions in the Journal. How is it possible that we can print such instructions as your case requires, in à broadsheet that is read by all classes, all ages, and both sexes?

H. W. M. (Blackfriars Road).-Read the Editor's small work on INDIGESTION. We never prescribe for a patient, without examining for ourselves, when the residence of the applicant is so near to our own as is your's. How can we tell that you are correct in diagnosing the complaint? ALFRED B. (Sudbury).-Peas for issues are made of tow, or flax, rolled up with gum-water and wax; to which are sometimes added, powdered savine, cantharides, or verdigris; orange peas, from the unripe Curaçoa oranges, are also used. Moxa is a small mass of combustible vegetable matter, prepared from moxa-weed, a Chinese plant, and is used as an actual cautery. "German tinder"-well known to smokers-will answer the same purpose.

A READER (High Holborn).-You will find the information you seek for in article THE INFLUENCE OF MARRIAGE ON LONGEVITY, published in No. 14 (page 105, Vol. I.) CARSHALTON AND WOOLWICH SCHOOLS.-We have received many letters on this most painful subject. We dare not introduce the question in our pages. We are glad, however, to see a journal that seldom takes the right view in any case, a journal that delights in pampering to a libidinous taste, the only journal that inserts "Matrimonial advertisements," is in this important instance on the right side. The Sunday Times is now advocating the cause of justice and mercy. Let it pursue this course, and it may reject obscene police reports, and augment the number of its respectable subscribers.

RICHARD HARRIS (Oxford).—Salt, common salt, (the muriate of soda) is an excellent tonic purgative, and expeller of worms (anthelmintic). As a condiment with fresh animal food, it is essential to health in large doses it will destroy intestinal worms: as an ingredient to glysters, it is a safe remedy in constipation; and added to water it forms a bracing and stimulating bath.

T. D. (High Street, Poplar).—This is an easy, cheap, and correct mode of making COLD CREAM. Take, eight ounces of oil of almonds; one ounce of white wax. Melt them together and pour into a warm mortar or basin; then add gradually, and stir or "whip" during the time of adding, four ounces of distilled rose water. QUACKERY ACCORDING TO LAW.-We beg to call the especial attention of our readers to an admirable article on this subject, which we have extracted in this number, from our able contemporary The Lancet. A POOR CLERK (Wootten Street). - See answer to H. W. M. in this No. D. (Tetbury).—The person you name, residing in the low locality of Liquorpond Street, is the youthful son of a notorious old quack, who for many years has subsisted by extracting the hard-earned monies of the poor, unwary artisan. He professes to cure the itch, and other congenial complaints, and announces his avocation by papering obscure walls with indecent little bills.

A COUNTRYMAN.-First: The name of "Peede, Liquorpond Street" does not appear in the list of qualified medical practitioners in the London Medical Directory. Second: See the letter of VICTIM in No. 2, and our articles exposing the pretensions and extortions of ADVERTISING

QUACKS.

MARION (Cheltenham).-We must endeavour to insert an article on LEUCORRHEA (the whites), but the subject is a delicate one.

ALLEGED CHARGE OF PROCURING ABORTION.-John Wakeman Edwards, a surgeon, charged with producing abortion (see No. 46), was brought up at the Central Criminal Court, Nov. 27th; but the prosecutrix not having appeared, he was discharged.

HENRY (Highgate).-Black pitch ointment is made by melting four ounces and a half of black pitch, the same quantity of yellow basilicon, and YOUTH (Loughborough), a boy of seventeen, writes for advice in a case eight ounces of olive oil. When melted strain through a cloth. which is "worse when he drinks rather more"! Proh pudor! We decline advising until the cause be removed.

A

HAROLD.-Musca volitantes are specs or motes floating before the eye: it is a nervous disease, and depends in many cases on a deranged condition of the stomach. The patient should first remove whatever may be a cause of the complaint; he should attend to his general health, breathe a pure air, take out-of-door exercise, live on plain but wholesome food, give rest to the affected eye or eyes, and enjoy a little cheerful society: above all things he should guard against constipation.

ESTHER (Loughborough).—We thank our Leicestershire friends for the kind interest they take in the success of our Journal. The demonstration of their good-will is rendered more grateful in being conveyed to us by one who, as a mother and an Englishwoman, so well merits the respect and the honour such titles will always obtain from her countrymen.

MARIA B. (Dublin).-Lunar caustic will-perhaps we should say may— destroy the nerve of a decayed tooth. The cavity in the tooth should be thoroughly cleansed, and the caustic applied to the very bottom of it;-the stick of caustic should first be ground to a fine point. The pain would be trifling. We only answer your query-we do not advise the trial.

A

QUERIST (Snerston, near Nottingham).--1. Scrofula more frequently attacks the glands; but every glandular affection is not of necessity scrofulous. 2. Such a change of diet is most likely to induce scrofula, if it be hereditary. 3. A local scrofulous attack may be cured, but the scrofulous taint may still remain in the system, awaiting a fresh exciting cause to call it into action again. GEORGE THRIFT (Bold Street, Liverpool).-The "Legacy to the Afflicted," advertised as prepared from the prescription of the late estimable Sir Astley Cooper, is a quack doo. Have none on't.

RICHARD B. (New Buildings, Whitby).-Take, ipecacuanha powder, six grains; nitrate of potash (saltpetre), thirty grains; powdered myrrh, twelve grains. Mix carefully and divide into six equal doses; of which take one every four or five hours. Get the prescription prepared at Robinson's.

N.

S. (Lambeth).-Visitors are admitted to the Hunterian Museum through the personal introduction of a member or trustee. The days are Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, from twelve till four o'clock. A written application, with a reference, addressed to the secretary, or to one of the conservators,- Mr. Owen, or Mr. Queckett, might procure you a card of admission.

HORACE (Park Lane)." Lateritious" (from later, lateris, a brick) is a term applied to the red sediment deposited from the urine in some stages of fever. "Fufuraceous" (from furfur, bran) is applied to branny or HEALTH OF LONDON.-The present return exhibits a sudden increase of scaly deposits in the urine. deaths, and greater mortality than in any week since the beginning of April. The deaths registered in the two previous weeks were 921 and 908, but rose in that which ended Saturday, Nov. 23, to 1,016; and they now exceed the actual average for the ten corresponding weeks in 1840-9, which is 977, but fall short of the average as corrected for probable increase of population, by which it is raised to 1,066. The present increase, as might be expected from the season of the year, is observed to proceed from diseases of the organs of respiration, with the exception of phthisis. Inflammation of the lungs was fatal in the preceding week in 56 cases, last week in 94, of which 69 were children; but it has not yet attained the average. Bronchitis was fatal in 77 cases, of which nearly two-thirds were among persons of mature years, and it continues to exceed the average. On the other hand, consumption, which numbers 111, has declined on the previous week, and does not show the same disposition, with other affections of the respiratory organs, to be aggravated by atmospheric changes. Intemperance was fatal in the week to three persons; in two cases by producing delirium tremens or other disease; and in one, by means of a fall received in a state of intoxication. The births of 708 boys and 673 girls, in all, 1,384 children, were registered in the week. The average of five corresponding weeks in 1845-9 was 1,320.

London: Printed by CHARLES ADAMS, at his Printing Office, 8 St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell, for the proprietor, T. H. YEOMAN, Lloyd Square; and published by GEORGE VICKERS, 28 and 29 Holywell Street, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, Strand.