scarificator before the tumour caused by the glass has subsided, there is no danger.

It is certainly preferable to make the incisions in the direction of the fibres of the subjacent muscles; but it is not of much importance, as, in my opinion, the incisions ought never to penetrate so deep as the muscular flesh. "In some diseases of the head, it is requisite to cup upon the posterior part of the hairy scalp, which of course must be previously shaved. As the skin is peculiarly loose and thick upon this part, the cups often bury themselves so deeply as to require the introduction of a thin piece of metal (an old shilling answers very well) to displace them; and the scarificator also requires to be properly adjusted, so as to cut a little deeper than is necessary in other parts to which cups are applied.

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From cupping on the temples I have seen many hundred instances of decided benefit in severe inflammation of the eyes; but I would not advise any person to attempt this operation unless he has had considerable practice upon other parts of the body.

"Previously to applying the glasses, it is of importance to foment the skin. well with a sponge and warm water. Cupping in the warm bath is rendered more efficacious by the relaxed and softened state of the skin.

"No step in the operation of cupping demands more the attention of the operator than the state of his scarificators. If not exquisitely keen, they occasion unnecessary pain; if foul or rusty, they may communicate disease, or give rise to festering sores.-The lancets or cutters should be kept as sharp and in as fine order as possible, so as to make a clean incision, without bruising or giving fruitless pain.

"The intention of the operation is, I believe, frequently defeated, from want of attention to these apparently trivial circumstances."

Mr. Mapleson, during his long practice, has made such observations on the effects of this mode of abstracting blood, on a variety of diseases, as to enable him to point out the diseases in which it has proved beneficial. The observation of a man, in the habit of witnessing the effects of a remedy, almost every hour of his life, although not a member of the profession, cannot but prove interesting to regular practitioners; we shall, therefore, briefly notice them.-Our non-medical readers will of course receive the opinions with great caution, for the affections, in which Mr. Mapleson has witnessed the beneficial effects of cupping, are symptoms of diseases of an opposite nature, and occur in opposite states of the system.

Head-ache, when seated in the fore part of the head, and attended with a sense of fulness, is, in general, immediately relieved by cupping. When the pain is principally in the back part of the head, he has very rarely found it useful. When the pain is chiefly felt over one eye, it has never afforded relief.

Delirium, when attendant on incipient fevers, it is uniformly very useful.

For inflammation of the brain, he has found cupping, "the most active and energetic means of depletion that can be employed." In those cases he has frequently taken away 100 ounces within a few days. Insanity. In slight and deplorable cases it generally affords relief. Melancholy. From cupping behind and below the ear he has observed good effects; it seldom fails to allay irritation, and tranquillize the mind, in this disease.

Giddiness and Lethargy, when the effect of plethora, it never fails

to remove the complaints, and to prevent apoplexy. He has also occasionally found the operation to afford relief in cases of watery head, (the inflammatory stage), epilepsy (when attended with plethora or morbid determination of blood to the head), depression, from congestion of the blood vessels of the head or chest, inflammation of the eyes (applied to the temples), inflammation of the throat (applied to the nape of the neck), inflammation of the lungs, palpitation of the heart, measles (when the inflammatory excitement of the lungs runs high), contusions, intoxication.

Long experience and observation have made Mr. Mapleson a great friend to an abstraction of blood by cupping, on the commencement of spring and autumn. The propriety of this practice must depend on the state of the sanguiferous system, and the nature of the disease to which the person is predisposed.

ADVICE TO PHYSICIANS, (continued from page 822.)" As it is said, that two heads are sometimes better than one, the patient and his friends might then have the benefit of two opinions separately taken; and why not in physic, as well as law cases? why not a written opinion demanded, in like manner as counsel's opinion, for the sake of comparison and discussion? No! the original physician must be the organ and director; and the second, therefore, is at no time to visit but in company with the first;-how soon such sort of etiquette ought to be put an end to, we will leave the public to judge; but to proceed; if, on this consultation of physicians, the case should turn out to be one, where an aggravation of symptoms may possibly have been the consequence of an ingenious variety of medicine, and a forgetfulness of the occasional utility of what has been vulgarly called the "kitchen physic," -or, probably, the exhibition of any of the new and active articles in fashion, you must have a proper degree of friendly feeling for your brother practitioner; and, to shew he has proceeded with perfect correctness, you must boldly advise, that the last prescription of your friend should be persevered in, and that the dose be doubled*!!

"A fashionable physician, now no longer living, who ranked high in the profession, was attending an elderly lady, to whom he was prescribing the digitalis, æther, &c. and the patient getting worse, from day to day, her recovery was pronounced to be impossible, when a second physician was proposed; and, at the consultation, they concurred as to the nature of the malady, and ordered, that the last medicine prescribed, which had disagreed and distressed her exceedingly, should be persevered in, and the dose doubled!! This appeared to the sick lady so unfeeling, revolting, and cruel, that she sent for the writer, who happened to be accidentally in town, to ask his advice upon it, as a friend; who, on hearing the whole detail of the disorder, was convinced, that the two former physicians had unaccountably mistaken the cause of the disease, which they had pronounced to be a Dropsy in the Chest; whereas, it was a case of disordered Liver, and obstructed Bile, from chronic inflammation of the Gall Bladder; and the symptoms were accordingly aggravated in proportion to the quantity exhibited of the irritating articles before mentioned; and which were now so

"As your office includes the dietetic as well as the medical treatment, you will frequently be asked by the patient, or the nurse, what

strangely ordered by them to be "doubled in dose." The lady was easily persuaded to throw aside all medicines, and to depend upon cooling and simple diluents; the consequence was, that, instead of dying that night, as they had pronounced, an amendment immediately took place; and she was well enough, in three weeks after, to be removed to her country house.

"I remember a physician, a very worthy man, who obtained a good practice and considerable reputation; and he had but one prescription; nevertheless, his patients were sure to be much better after his first visit. His custom was, not to write his recipe at the sick house; but to go to the apothecary's and call for pen and paper; and the young men in the shops were always glad to see him, in preference to any other, as he was the cause of very little trouble; and when he sat down to write, they would wink and smile at each other; for they always knew what the prescription was to be. In fact, it never was more or less than, eight or ten drachms of Infusion of Senna, and one drachm of Solutive Syrup of Roses, to be taken "statim," and it was, certainly, the sooner the better; for it quietly removed from the prima via all the various and complicated farrago that the apothecary had there put; and left nature to her own work: the patient, being immediately relieved, was well pleased with the doctor, who, at his next visit, was sure to say, "repetatur hausius," for it was seldom he would give any thingelse; and, if he did, it was of a very simple, mild, and inactive nature. "There was another physician, in the same provincial city, whose practice was somewhat different; wherever he went, the following was his favourite prescription. Take strong infusion of Valerian, two ounces; thirty grains of Spermaceti dissolved in the yolk of an egg; then add twenty grains of compound powder of Contrayerva, to which put Nitre and Camphor of each five grains: and this compound draught was directed to be taken every three hours. Thus, there was valerian for the nervous part of the case, spermaceti for the cough, contrayerva and nitre for the fever, and camphor to support the vis vita; and besides these draughts, there were emulsions and pills to be taken "horis vacuis.” This physician was a tall figure, and dressed in the costume of the profession thirty years ago; viz. the long camblet cloak, lined with scarlet, cocked hat, huge wig, and cane. He was a gentleman extremely respectable; but of a temper rather hasty; and, being once on a journey to a patient sixteen miles off, he found fault with his post-boy, who was both obstinate and impertinent, and the quarrel rose so high, that in the middle of the lonely stage the lad jumped off the horses, and declared, with an oath, that he would drive him no further. The doctor had, therefore, no alternative but to get, himself, upon the riding horse, and drive into the town, dressed as he was, and mounted whip-in-hand. Dr. Syntax himself never made a more excellent figure!!

"His neighbour, the senna and rose physician, before mentioned, was, on the other hand, so plain and simply clad, that one day arriving at a neighbouring town, whither he had been sent for in a great hurry,

food is to be taken? and what is best for common drink? now, your answer will instantly and invariably be: "Toast and water, and barley water." Two articles, we will venture (seriously, not ironically) to affirm, very much misunderstood in their effects, and ought to be discarded from the sick room, in the same manner as the stramonium, the deadly night shade, and some others, before treated of, ought to be dismissed from the apothecary's shop: the fact is, that the custom of drinking toast and water, is peculiarly calculated, from the alum and other substances which it contains, to promote obstruction in the coats of the alimentary canal, and biliary system: and barley water, the other very common drink, is extremely forcing and stimulating to the kidnies; and which, we suppose, is the sapient reason, that whenever a strangury supervenes from the absorption of cantharides, under the action of blistering plasters, the first remedy thought of, by many practitioners, is this said barley water in large quantities; which is, we contend, adding fuel to the fire.

"You may also probably be asked by the patient, in certain cases, "what wine shall I drink?" the answer is sure to be " Port," a beverage far less adapted to the sick than the light coloured wines; and, for those that are in health, we contend it is very doubtful.

"In this damp climate, such a cordial astringent may be occasionally indicated, and allowable; but, when had in constant use, it will induce a premature appearance of old age; and become the cause of bilious and other indispositions which are possibly, from this very cause, almost peculiar to our climate. The French are so aware of this, that they speak of it, as a matter of great surprise, that an Englishman will drink a whole bottle of it (Port), whereas they (the French), consider it merely as a "medicine," to be had recourse to only in particular cases, where the highest cordials are necessary, such as in Agues, &c. and in the same way as you would prescribe Logwood, or a decoction of Sloes, in the Dysentery.

"If you are popular among your brethren, you may be chosen one of the Censors by the College of Physicians; and you will act with little. spirit, if you do not make this your appointment a complete sinecure. The inspection of the shops of the apothecaries, and an examination of their contents, belong to your department. But to do your duty, would be a very invidious and troublesome task; and deprive your patients of much of your valuable time and attention. You know perfectly well, Mr. Censor, as all the faculty do, that the shops of some of the apothecaries, and perhaps some of the chemists, both in London and in other parts of the Kingdom, contain too many articles, falsely called "pharmaceutics," that are specious, noxious, stale, and good for nothing; and that, by virtue and power of your office, you have an undoubted right to seize, and throw them into the street: but, do not be so rigid a censor, so strict a promoter of the discipline of old times. Shut your eyes against the

and knocking at the door, the person who opened it, taking him for his servant, said: "Pray, my good man, is the doctor arrived? for it is nearly all over with us.' "If that is the case," cried old Seuna," then the sooner you shew me up stairs the better."

ingenious artifices of these shops, and shew your approbation of the mode of recompensing themselves, by supplying their patients with spurious Medicines, and making them pay for them the full price of those that are genuine; remember that, as a true Briton, and a good subject, you are bound to encourage the growth of all British produce, and discourage foreign articles; and let this principle. be a salvo to your conscience, when you connive at English Rhubarb and other Roots, being sold for the foreign; and if you happen to meet with Spurious Bark, let it pass for the true sort, for you know this fraud encourages the growth of the British Oak.

"Here, we cannot omit to advert to the absurd custom, still prevalent in the College of Physicians, of examining candidates, for licences to practise, in the Latin tongue. There was certainly a very good reason for it formerly, when the Latin language was well understood, and generally and fluently spoken by all scholars. But this practice has long ceased, and the phrases necessary to convey the questions of the Examiners, and the answers of the Candidates, are difficult to be acquired; and the consequence is, that both parties are put under extreme restraint, and are fettered so, that the business is cut as short as possible: who, therefore, does not see, that our own language would be more proper, or indeed, is absolutely necessary, to give scope to a fair and full trial of a candidate's abilities and attainments in medical science?

"As the examinations are at present conducted, the scrutiny is limited to a very few particulars, perhaps to one species of malady, or one topic of pharmacy only among the multitude that exists; and the consequence may be, that a candidate may be passed, with the full authority and approbation of the college, whose abilities are almost entirely unascertained, and who may be empowered "ad practicandum per totam Angliam," who, from incompetence, may possibly only practise " ad occidendum."

"On the Continent, this business of examination for a degree, is better conducted. It is there not a nullity. The first question put to the candidate is in Latin, and the examination is continued in whatever language the candidate may reply, provided the professors are acquainted with it."

The Author's politic advice to Surgeons will be given in the addition to the present Number, which will be published on the 15th of April.

BUCHU LEAVES.-In our first notice of these leaves, we find there is a typographical error in the generic name of the shrub; instead of Diosna, it should have been Diosma crenata. An intelligent correspondent informs us that the natives of the Cape are much in the habit of using an ointment, composed of the finely powdered leaves and grease; but, for what purpose, he does not state. We have found the infusion of the leaves to succeed far beyond our expectation, in several cases of morbid irritability of the bladder and urethra. We select the following as the most decisive of the beneficial effects of the infusion of the leaves :

Adam Davis, of Brentford, about 56 years of age, had been subject to pains in the region of the bladder, frequent paroxysms of retention of urine, and, at other times, an incontinence of it, for about 16 years. Within the three last years, his general health had materially given way