ADMONITION.–The tavern-haunter drinks till he feels himself half-ruined; he is wretched; he drinks to drown his wretchedness; he does drown it, and his soul along with it!
To young men, beginning life, especially to newly married men, the counsel is seasonable: Reverence the Fireside. Admit no rival here. Let your chief joys be shared by her who has forsaken all other hearts and hopes for you; by those who must inherit honour or disgrace from your course of life. Shun the bar-room and the purlieus of intoxication. They are, to thousands, the avenues to infamy.
HEALTH.
PUBLIC ECONOMY AND PUBLIC HEALTH.
It has been well said, by a recent writer, that if part of the large sums expended on over-fed Hospital patients, and pampered nurses, on rents and Dispensaries, and outlay of medicine, were appropriated to the prevention of diseases among the poor, it is probable that more extensive benefits would be conferred, than can be afforded in the limited and local range of Infirmaries. If half the amount annually spent in the purchase of liquors and medicines, for charitable institutions, were early and judiciously laid out in precautionary means of preventing diseases among the indigent, the hospital would have fewer inmates, and the asylums for orphans would not be so crowded. Among these preventive means be it added, that the chief are to ward off the evil of intemperance, and to protect the system against atmospherical inclemencies.
The expense of an establishment in every village, free to the poor, or at least at a small nominal rate, where they could enjoy the advantages of warm and tepid baths, with a drying stove for their clothes, and such other auxiliary means as humanity might suggest, would be a minor consideration, when put in competition with the benefits resulting to the working classes, in warding off impending diseases, and the inevitable ruin which is almost invariably attendant in their train.
Almost every village has its alms-house. True charity ought to be displayed in preventing the necessity for such buildings. Now we hazard little in asserting that, if under the same roof were to be found public baths, a public library, and a hall for a temperance association, the poorer inhabitants of our towns and villages would be healthier than at present, and in place of being a burden, would contribute their share to the support of the slate.
DIETETIC MAXIMS.
- A healthy appetite is to be acquired by early rising, regular exercise in the open air, and abstinence from intoxicating liquors.
- The food should be eaten slowly, and well masticated.
- Animal food is sooner digested in the stomach than vegetable; but it is more stimulating or healing to the system. Flesh long salted, tried hams, beef, &c., are less easily digested and less nutritive than fresh meat.
- Farinaceous and vegetable food, generally, is slower of digestion than animal, but it is less heating.
- Solid food, or food of a certain fibrous or pulpy consistence, is more fitted for digestion in the stomach than rich soups, jellies, and all highly concentrated sauces. The latter are rendered more digestible by the addition of bread.
- Fish are not so nourishing as the flesh of land animals. The white fish are less apt to disagree with the stomach than the red.
- Roasted meat is more nourishing than boiled, but much more stimulating.
- Bread should be perfectly raised, fully baked, and one day old.
- Salt, and a moderate quantity of pepper, are safe: beyond this, all seasoning becomes injurious.
- Different dishes at one meal, interfere with digestion.
- All excess in eating should be avoided. The best guide is to be found in the calls of a healthy appetite.
- Health, and strength of body, depend upon the health of the slomach and consequent perfection of the digestive powers.
- Water is the most wholesome drink. Toast and water, sweetened water, or water with a slight addition of a vegetable acid, are useful diluents during the summer.
- Distilled and fermented liquors impede digestion; and, when drunk to any extent, invariably destroy the tone of the stomach, and of the system generally.
- When the stomach is weak, but little fluid should be taken during or after eating.
- Exercise should be used in the intervals between meals, but not immediately before or after them.
ACCIDENTS.
There are few things in relation to which people commit more egregious errors, than the proper assistance to be rendered to individuals to whom an accidental injury has occurred. In that of a wound attended with a profuse discharge of blood, the patient’s life would be destroyed by a few moments’ delay; while in every case a trifling injudicious interference in the offset, may add greatly to the subsequent danger and suffering: it is important therefore that the public generally be made aware of the proper course to be pursued, when an accident occurs, previously to the arrival of the physician.
Wounds.–The only proper dressings for these accidents are such as are best calculated to keep the wounded surfaces in contact, and to defend them from the air and external injury. The milder and softer the materials of which they are composed, the better: above all, everything of a heating or irritating nature should be avoided. A simple cut, which might have been healed perfectly in a few days, has often been converted into a serious, painful, and tedious sore, by such applications as brandy and sugar, turpentine, balsams, and the like; or by having crammed between its edges a quantity of lint, low, soot, charcoal, or cobwebs; all of which are frequently resorted to. They invariably induce a degree of inflammation, which interrupts the healing process of nature.
When a wound has been received, the first thing that claims attention is the presence of any foreign substance, as splinters of wood, portions of stone, glass, or bits of cloth, &c. These should, if possible, be at
