of proper remedies, or by the remedial operations of nature, the rush of blood diminishes by degrees, till the parts resume pretty nearly their former state. Often, however, a thickening or bump remains in some particular spot, generally on the outside of the nose or its neighbourhood, arising from blood or other matter having oozed out and escaped from the vessels, into which it cannot again get access. This may continue for a long period without causing much uneasiness. A still more common circumstance arises from the blood having been withdrawn from many small vessels into which it had forced itself, as it is seen to do into the ves sels of the white of the eye when it is bloodshot. Many of these small blood-vessels run through the outer skin; and when gorged with blood, this skin is, of course, raised somewhat from its connexions; consequently, when the tide of blood subsides and leaves the small vessels of this skin empty, the skin itself, being in a great measure disunited from the parts it covers, peels off in the form of thickish scales, precisely in the same way as a scab is cast off from a healed or healing sore.

Such is the general history of the affections produced in the nostril by a common cold. An additional flow of blood, or, in other words, inflammation, more or less violent, changes the healthy structure of the parts, and gives rise to obstruc

tion. Inflammation, indeed, changes the structure of all parts of the body. The hard bone, by inflammation, becomes soft; the firm sinew becomes spongy; the transparent membrane becomes thick and opaque; and the pliant parts become firm.

If

The cause of the hard bump remaining after inflammation, requires farther explanation. you ever ruffled a bit of skin on your finger, you must have remarked, after the blood ceased to ooze out, that the wound was covered with a clear watery-looking fluid, which thickened on exposure to the air. Now, in inflammation, even where the skin is not broken, this fluid, which is drained off from the blood, escapes into every cranny and interstice between the blood-vessels, the skin, the fat, and the muscles; and it is the accumulation of this which causes the hardness. It is precisely the same thing which you may observe in the more external case of the scar left by a cut, which is always hard, and different in appearance from the surrounding skin. This explains most satisfactorily the cause of eruptions on the skin, and soreness in the nostrils, which arise during or after a cold.

* "La flogosi," says Professor Tommasini, of Bologna, "dice egli, tende sempre a disorganizzare o in una o nello altra maniera le parti che sono da usa attacate."

From this plain sketch you may infer, that the sooner you can draw off the increased tide of blood from the nostrils, forehead, and throat, the more powerfully you will prevent the cold from sitting down, as it is called,—that is, establishing the inflammation and swelling of the blood-vessels, which, after a space, will not, even by the withdrawal of the blood, return to their healthy calibre. This may be accomplished in two ways; as you may either carry off the accumulated blood by leeches applied to the forehead and roots of the nostrils, or drive it downwards, by applying cold water to the face and forehead, and immersing the feet in warm water, into which a handful of mustard has been thrown. The leeches carry off the blood entirely, but it will require at least a dozen or twenty to make any impression. The cold water makes the blood-vessels contract, and the warm water to the feet makes the blood-vessels there expand, to receive what has been withdrawn from the head.

When the throat and ears are much affected, it is best to draw off the blood to the outer skin, by wrapping up the throat in warm flannel by day, and at night wearing a woollen nightcap, with a lamb's wool or fleecy hosiery stocking wrapped round the throat, and pinned to the nightcap. We have ourselves employed this with uniform

success, in preventing colds, for many years. It is necessary, however, that it be done the very first night you feel a cold coming on; because, if you delay, you will find the disease has got too powerful for this simple remedy.

When a cold is once established, it will, in spite of remedies, run a course of about ten days or a fortnight, and will then usually subside, whether remedies be used or not-a circumstance which often gives the credit to particular medicines, which is in truth due to nature. In this state of things, confinement within doors is advisable, and the treatment just recommended may be pursued, together with every means for getting the blood out from the inflamed membrane to the outer skin. If the pain is severe, leeches may, with this view, be applied to the forehead, or you may use the following warm lotion:-Take one or two teaspoonfuls of the juice of horse-radish, or flour of mustard; the same of the spirit of rosemary; an ale glassful of hot brandy. Mix, and apply to the brow, with a linen cloth; or, in slighter cases, sponge the parts with hot vinegar, into which a little of the spirit of rosemary has been put.

When there is troublesome hoarseness and roughness at the top of the throat, or back part of the nostril, chew a bit of horse-radish frequently. It is very powerful in dissolving recent inflamma

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tions of these parts. Cayenne pepper and mustard have a similar effect.

SNUFF-TAKING.

No public speaker, professional singer, or teacher of languages, ought to indulge in the practice of taking snuff, as it infallibly injures the articulation and weakens the force of the voice, by not permitting a free exit for the air from the lungs; which, of course, it must cramp and confine in the action of breathing. Besides, as the nerves then of the nostrils are more naked, or thinly covered than in any other part of the body, they are extremely sensitive; and when snuff is applied to them, all the nerves of the system become affected by sympathy; hence the taking of snuff has, like smoking, a narcotic effect on the brain, and, through it, on the mind itself, and particularly tends to weaken the memory.

If used as a medicine only, and on occasions that require such a stimulus, the taking of snuff may be of some advantage; though in such cases, some physicians prefer a liquid snuff. If the stimulus, however, of the snuff be too violent, it may bring on so profuse a discharge from the nostrils as may relax and corrode them, and produce an incurable polypus, or a concretion of clotted blood, so as to block up the nostrils altogether. In se