would be, without the approval of the physician in attendance. You may otherwise most disastrously conflict with his plan of treatment.
The patient himself should have no responsibility about the taking of medicine, the preparation of food, or anything else which can be spared him. In all small matters, relieve him entirely of the onus of decision. If there is any doubt in your own mind as to the expediency of this or that measure, do not let him share it. Let him feel that you know, and can be relied upon to do, what is best for him, without any necessity for thought on his part.
Perfect freedom from anxiety and cheerful surroundings are as essential for his mental, as are free ventilation, absolute cleanliness, and nourishing food for his physical, well-being. These are the elements of good nursing, and surely they are within the reach of all. Secure these, and you will have given the sick person under your care the best possible chance for recovery; at least you will ameliorate his sufferings, and relieve him from many an unnecessary aggravation.
| THE DECREASE OF GOLD. |
By F. von BRIESEN.
WHEN, in the beginning of 1850, California and Australia sent annually about one hundred and eighty million dollars of gold into the world, national economists became frightened, and Michel Chevalier and Cobden expressed the fear that the world would be completely inundated with a flood of gold. But when, after the year 1867, this production decreased with alarming rapidity, the opposite fears were expressed. As early as 1869, the London "Economist," when reviewing the year past, said that it would be a great blessing if new sources of gold could be discovered, since the production of thirty thousand pounds sterling per year was barely sufficient to cover the necessities of a flourishing commerce, more especially since America consumed a great part of the gold for itself, thus withdrawing it from the European market. Notable statesmen saw in it the cause of the periodically recurring commercial crises; and Professor Süss, of Vienna, demonstrated in his pamphlet, "The Future of Gold," that the present sources of gold are being exhausted, and that the territory in which new deposits might be found is gradually diminishing in extent.
It is not our purpose, however, to dissuss the national, economical side of the question, but merely to consider it in its scientific bearing.
Gold and silver are the so-called precious metals, for the simple reason that they are rare. But, if we ask why gold is so scarce, Dr. Süss answers that its scarcity is caused by its specific gravity.
