Would that the female portions of civilized society were made up of Mrs. Merrifields, and my word for it, men would have merrier and more beautiful wives, and healthier children. I have never had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Merrifield, and know not if she is pretty or ugly, but if, by any possibility, she be the latter, her offspring cannot fail to be both handsome and healthy, as a reward to the mother for her obedience to nature's laws.

In the next place I should treat of some of the pernicious habits of married people, in their private relations, were it not for the fact that extended remarks on these will be given in Part Third. They might with propriety be introduced here, for they are common causes of nervous and blood derangements. But the consideration of all matters relating to marriage, its excesses, etc., will be deferred for the place specified.

There is one habit growing with fatal rapidity in the United States, which demands the criticism of the physiologist, and that is medicine-taking. The country is flooded with patent medicines, and every village store has shelves appropriated to the display of this kind of semi-apothecary merchandise. If they would remain shelved no injury could ensue from their preparation; but, unfortunately, there is a ready market for them, as is evinced by the rapid accumulation of wealth by those who manufacture them. The origin of each one of these medicines is something like this: Mr. Unfortunate has a wife or other relative sick with consumption; he tries every thing and everybody with little or no success; finally he resorts to something which his own fertile brain suggests, and, astonishing to say, the invalid actually recovers. The surprised discoverer at once thinks he has found an infallible remedy for consumption, and the bottle-maker and the printer at once receive stupendous jobs-the former to make some quart bottles with a jaw-breaking name blown in one or all sides, the latter to get up labels and flaming posters. He is received at once by credulous invalids as a great benefactor, and by the old-school doctors and "knowing ones," as a huge hum-. bug. But, reader, he is neither of these two-only a mistaken man. He does not understand the law of temperaments. Many physicians do not. I might say further; the majority of the medical profession do not.

Notwithstanding the adage "what is cure for one is poison for another," has become trite from daily repetition, its true import is not comprehended. It should be understood, that every variety of temperament denotes as many varieties of human beings, the same as the leaves and bark of trees indicate different varieties of trees. For this reason a medical man or a discoverer of patent medicine should not give to a black-haired, brown-complexioned man the same medicine which has cured a light-haired and fair-complexioned indi'vidual, even if his disease is the same.

It is plain that patent medicines must act upon the principle of "kill or cure." They are absolutely dangerous, and the amount of mischief they are doing is incalculable. Many an invalid is rendered hopelessly incurable by experimenting with these nostrums before consulting a skillful physician. I have frequently been called upon by poor emaciated creatures who have swallowed forty or fifty bottles of different panaceas. If their cases are at all curable, a great deal has to be undone before any relief can be administered. If people would exercise half as much discrimination in dosing as they do in many other things of less importance, patent medicines would be robbed of half their power to harm. They understand why Parson A's coat will not fit Capt. B's back-why the pretty dark dress of blue-eyed Mary does not become "black-eyed Susan,” and why a hymn in long metre does not sound well to a tune of short metre, but it does not occur to them that the rule of adaptation extends equally to medicine. Let it be understood, then, that difference in form, size, and complexion, indicates difference in temperament, and that difference in temperament indicates difference in constitutional peculiarity. Next we arrive at the irresistible inference that what is beneficial to a man of a nervous temperament may be injurious to one of a bilious temperament, etc. The intelligent farmer understands the temperaments of soils, and throws on such manure as they require. On soil deficient of alkali he strews ashes or lime; on that deficient of ammonia, the gleanings of the stable, etc. A majority of intelligent physicians do not understand the laws of temperament, and such not unfrequently have to bear the name of "kill or cure doctors," and such they manifestly are.

In medicating, however, not only temperaments, but complications must be considered. The organ has many stops, as they are called by the musician, and one drawn out, or another pressed in, modifies

or changes the whole tone of the instrument. By changing the position of these numerous stops, all sorts of variations in tone may be produced. Now the human system is likewise full of its little stops. Every organ of the body has its stops, and all these must be considered by the intelligent physician before he administers medicine, and the medicine must be prepared to suit the complications. If it is not, it will, while benefiting one difficulty, aggravate another, and the unlucky invalid finds relief in one organ, or one organ stop, at the expense of one, or may be all, of the rest. It is for the purpose of thoroughly understanding any case presented by letter, that the Questions to Invalids" presented in another place in this book, are so impertinently inquisitive.

It will be seen by the preceding that while those who buy and take patent medicines are often ingloriously humbugged, the manufacturers are by no means in all instances humbugs. Many honest men and women think they are doing a great amount of good in the world by compounding and selling "one-cure-alls." in the head, and not in the heart. Their error lies

Patent-medicine eaters and drinkers should, therefore, be careful what they put down, and take nothing in the form of medicine unless necessary. It is said that there is a tombstone in one of the English cemeteries, on which are inscribed the following words:"I was well, took medicine to feel better, and here am I." There are thousands of tombstones in America which might truthfully bear this same inscription.

Arsenic-eating is a habit to which many ladies are addicted for the improvement of their complexions, and the obliteration of the marks of age. So long as our fashionable women are ashamed of old age, and insist on being considered thirty when in fact they are on the shady side of fifty, such desperate remedies for the marks of time will be resorted to by many. Young girls, too, who are willing to sacrifice life itself to look pretty, and especially those who admire "languishing beauties," will continue to eat arsenic, or any other powerful drug, if by the means the complexion may be improved. Until common sense, and the laws of health and life are taught in the family and common schools, it is almost useless for the physician to "croak," as his voice of warning is often called.

Turning night into day is an injurious and prevalent custom, par

ticularly in fashionable life. Observation and experience have taught almost every one of adult age, that the habit is destructive to the nervous system, but these teachers often fail to improve any one in the absence of testimony founded on philosophy. I have looked in vain in the writings of medical men and physiologists for any rational reason why man should lie down at night and rise with the sun. The effects of the non-observance of this hygienic rule are plainly exhibited by many popular medical authors, but frequently not so forcibly in their literary productions on the subject as in their own faces, which betray the secret that the physiological teacher does not always practise what he preaches.

Such is the happy predominance of the social faculties in the best classes of human beings, the social circle is more attractive than the embrace of Morpheus, and most persons are ready to attribute the injurious physical effects of unseasonable hours for rest, to any other cause than the true one. There is, therefore, great need of new light on this subject-something which will appeal to the reason of men, and demonstrate the fact that one hour of sleep at night is worth more than three after the sun has risen. From the investigations I have made, I have come to the conclusion that during the day the magnetic or electric currents from the sun predominate, and descending perpendicularly or obliquely the upright body is brought in harmony with the descending currents; while at night the magnetic or electric currents of the earth predominate, and flow from north to south horizontally, in consequence of which the human body should be in a recumbent position, with head to the north, in order to preserve the harmonious circulation of the nervo-electric fluids. That this hypothesis will be favorably received by those who have had much experience as electrical therapeutists, I am confident; for all who understand the proper application of electricity, know that, with few exceptions, the electrical currents from the machine must be passed from the positive to the negative in the directions which the nerves ramify. This being the case, ought not the electrical currents from the sun during the day, and those of the earth from north to south during the night, be made to observe the same rul by a conformity of the position of the body to them? In applying the galvanic battery, if the electrical currents are passed contrary to the nervous ramifications, or from their termini to their source-the brain-nervous irritation ensues, and the patient is rendered more

nervous. Such it seems to me must also be the result of a nonconformity to the directions of the currents of the earth and sun. In fact, we see it exhibited in a majority of those who turn night into day. True, there are a few whose strong nervous organizations appear to resist all such influences, but the continual dropping of water wears away a stone, and these exceptions finally favor the truth of this philosophy.

The sun exerts a powerful magnetic influence on the earth, arousing all animal life to activity, from the merest insect to the noblest work of God. The fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and all human beings who obey the laws of nature, feel inspired with new life when the golden rays of the rising sun radiate from the east. The activity of the animal fluids increases till he reaches his meridian, and then gradually decreases until he sinks to rest in the west. When "old Sol" retires, the colder magnetic currents of the earth prevail with greater power; animal life becomes more sluggish; the wearied body seeks repose; and the most perfect repose is obtained by reclining in a position consonant with the earth's currents.

Fast eating, a universal habit with Anglo-Americans, is highly injurious to the nervous and vascular systems, and induces those conditions in the stomach which usually ultimate in dyspepsia. It is eminently characteristic of the Yankee to do every thing in a hurry. Not satisfied with praying fast, walking fast, working fast, and travelling fast, he generally, and that, too, unconsciously, eats fast. jaws keep time with the locomotive's wheels, and his arms and His elbows with the rapid alternate movements of the piston rods. I was once much amused with an illustration an Italian gave of a Yankee at a steamboat table. Just previous to the sounding of the dinner gong, he was descanting most wittily in broken English on the customs of the Americans, and, when dinner was announced, he proposed to show how a Yankee enjoyed (?) a good meal. With true Yankee impetuosity he rushed to his seat at the table; knives and forks flew in every direction; one arm shot to the right for one thing, and the other to the left for another; while the fork was performing a rapid trip to the mouth, the knife, which had just discharged its load, was nervously returning to the plate. A few such spasmodic motions, and impulsive calls to the waiters, ended the repast, and with a whirl of his chair, he turned almost breathless