1E^
WQ
1837
 
ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED 1836
   ANNEX
WASHINGTON, D.C. 
DUE |        fc)M LAST DATE




MAR 3©
 
 
MOTHER'S B
OF
HYGEIAN   MIDWIFERY;
BEING
ON THE
       SECURITY  OT HEALTH  TO FEMALES,

During that most interesting period of their lives, the state of Pregnancy ;
WITH
lUmgrftg on the MmuQmwt of Xnftmts =
FOUNDED ON THE
DOCTRINES OF THE BRITISH COLLEGE OF HEALTH.
BY
V
H. SHEPHEARD MOAT,
          HYGEIST.
" In the Hygeiah theory you have ijope ; in its practice you will find security."
             _______________I



          D. MITCHELL, PRINTER, 265 BOWERY.
                      1837. 

MUU, 
TO  THE  LADI
     Ladies :
                I dedicate to you, who are most interested in the investi-
gation, this attempt to induce a knowledge of the means of ameliorating
the trials apportioned to the most important periods of your lives.
                I take this opportunity of addressing myself exclusively
to you,  First, That I may apologize for my familiar manner of handling
the subject I have endeavoured to illustrate ;—that apology must rest on
the difficulty of making myself understood by any more refined mode of
expression, and the conscious purity of my intentions; Secondly, That I
may invoke your aid in  carrying out the great principles I  advocate,
namely, of ensuring your greater  safety at  the hour of trial, and  the
future health and happiness of yourselves and little ones ;  and Thirdly,
The banishment from your bedsides of that anomaly so offensive to the
refined  delicacy of  your natures, the Man-Midwife, and the substitution
of a qualified female in  his place.   I speak to you as a husband and a
father, and well assured am I from a long intercourse with my fellow-men,
that if you will but  allow your own feelings of self-respect to exercise their
due  influence, and induce you  to proclaim your reluctance (rather your
abhorrence) to have the privacy of such sacred moments invaded by the
disgusting presence of a strange man, your husbands  will be foremost
to second you in your resolutions and in securing your welfare, and will
not fail  to appreciate by their increased regard for you, the aspirations of
such true delicacy.
                If it should not be permitted  you to reap the full harvest
of enjoyment, confidently held to  be attainable, by following the rules
here  laid down, that you may  at  any rate reap some portion of the
advantages here sown, is the sincere prayer of
                                  Your most devoted servant,
                                                THE  AUTHOR.
 
             o
                        PREFACE.


  In  offering this little work for  the perusal and  consideration of the
friends of the Hygeian Theory and Practice, I trust that in its way it may
be found useful.   I have waited some time in expectation that something
of this kind would, ere now, have been before the public from the expe-
rienced minds  and  prolific  pens of Mr. C. Moat and  Dr.  Greer, the
Scottish champions of Ifygeianism.  But as it was with the first periodical
devoted to the cause, so with this Manual of Midwifery, it was reserved to
the friends  of the  Hygeian Cause, on this side of the Atlantic, to be the
first publishers.   In the early part of this  year,  I wrote  two  essays for
the Hygeian Record and Family Adviser,  in which  I treated the subject
generally ;  but as many friends expressed a wish for a further explanation
of the subject,  and the matter entered into in detail, I felt that a small
work devoted exclusively to the subject would best meet the views of the
well wishers of the great cause.
  This work  is the result of some experience and research, and the
materials have been collected from a great variety of sources.   Ancient
and modern authors have been referred to and analyzed,  and every
thing valuable retained.   I  have  examined  most of the late works  on
the subject, from  the press of this  country and Europe, but have been
able to glean but little from them.    Their authors never knew the prac-
tical  application of the theory, that the  "Blood is the  Life," and have
been wandering in consequence  in erroneous theories  and  practical
absurdities.  The  veil  of  mystery,  which formerly hid from  general
scrutiny the  science  of medicine, has  been  fearlessly rent by  Messrs.
Morison and Moat, and  exposed  to  public  view  in all its com-
plicated forms and  deformity,  and  a just and  rational system, and a 
V
 sure and certain method of treating disease, laid before the eyes of an
 enlightened community.   The public have appreciated  their works, and
 an extended sale  of their publications,  and an unprecedented demand
 for the Universal Medicines are the best test of their efficacy.  Laws, in
 almost  every  country, have  been obtained by the medical profession to
 secure  to those who follow the old  formulae and  established  system,
 exclusive rights, and peculiar privileges.   This has been the great bar to
 the advancement of medical knowledge; as an art founded on observation,
 can never arrive any high degree of improvement, while it is confined to
 the  few who  make a trade  of it.   It is well known  that most of the
 alterations and improvements in the science of medicine, came from men
 not brought up to  the profession, and the united  observations of all the
 ingenious and sensible part of mankind will best confirm the truth of any
 theory.  Any man can tell when a medicine gives him ease as well as  a
 physician, and if he knows where to obtain the medicine and the quantity
 required, he can, after use, give his testimony of its efficacy in his parti-
 cular case.
  It is upon a volume of recorded and innumerable unrecorded testimonies,
 that the Hygeian  Theory is based  and confirmed; and, by the way, I
 would observe, that the man or woman who adduces a  single fact to the
 stock, does more real service  to  society than he who  writes a volume in
 support of the theory.
   Secrecy  is  one  of the  strongholds  of the medical  profession; they
 cannot  bear the public should know these things.  Even their prescrip-
tions  are  written  in Latin,  and this  mysterious practice  is not only
ridiculous,  but dangerous.   However capable physicians  may be  of
writing Latin, I  am certain many apothecaries are not in the condition to
read it, and that dangerous  mistakes  in  consequence of this frequently
occur.  Often this is left  to the apothecary's  apprentice,  and when a
person employs a first-rate  physician, in reality, often trusts his life in the
hands of a careless boy, and frequently  withal very ignorant.   This great
evil is obviated by the use of the Universal Medicines. 
iv
   I  trust that this work will be particularly acceptable to the female
friends of the Hygeian cause, and I hope, confirm them in this important
truth,  " that a female only is elegible for a midwife."
   With respect to the publication of a work of this kind, I would remark,
no reasonable man ought to withhold from his sister, daughter, or wife,
any  ascertained fact.   It should be to them a duty and pleasure to instruct
and  improve ; and it is an insult to  their understandings and their hearts
to imagine, that their virtue would diminish as their knowledge increased.
Vice is never the offspring of just knowledge;  and they who say it is,
slander their own nature.  The virtue of ignorance is  a sickly plant, ever
exposed to the caterpillar of corruption, liable to be scorched even by the
free  light of heaven ; of precarious growth; and even if at last artificially
matured, of little or no real value.
   I  know that parents often think it right and proper to withhold  from
their children, especially from  their  daughters, facts, the  most influential
on their future lives, and the knowledge of which is essential to every
man and woman's well-being.   Such a course it must be obvious, is ill
judged and  productive  of very injurious effects.  A girl  is surely  no
better  for  believing,  until  her marriage,   that  children are  found
among the cabbage leaves in the garden.   The imagination is excited,
the curiosity kept continually on the stretch, and  that which if simply
explained, would have been recollected  only  as any other physiological
phenomenon,  assumes all the  rank and importance,  and engrossing
interest of a mystery.
   In the arrangement, perhaps, the order is not so methodical as may  by
some be deemed advisable, yet I think in so small a work, it is sufficient
to render any part easily found.  Many things are necessary for a female
in this  delicate period, besides medicine, and I have enumerated some of
those little attentions which may sometimes  escape the memory of the
most considerate.
   I  trust I  shall meet the indulgence of the judicious and experienced
friends of the Hygeian  Theory in this first edition.   I  feel confident that 
vi
there  is no  material errors to mislead the reader.  Friends may flatter,
and enemies may detract:  but the advocates and friends of the cause of
truth, as promulgated by Messrs. Morison and Moat, will do justice to this
humble endeavour.  In conclusion I would say, that this work was written
with but little assistance from others, and  without the patronage of the
powerful.  It was produced in the hours snatched from business, and in
the haste attendant on other occupations.
THE AUTHOR. 
 
IT^^IB®©^©^!!®^
tO THE
STUDY   OF   MIDWIFERY.
  Every intelligent observer must have remarked the slavery in which
custom and fashion bind the human race, and the mass of restrictions
which  surround those in advanced stations in civilized life.   We hear of
one class spoken of as the necessitous class ;  but there is no class more
necessitous than the highest; no people on the face of the earth so much
under  the dominion of the word  must as the  fashionable world.  They
must regulate every movement by what the professional men choose to fix
as law, or they may and will be pointed at as singular characters.   In
matters of the greatest importancehow is this exemplified, and particularly
in the  practice of midwifery.
   I am fully aware of the difficulty of finding language sufficiently explicit
to convey the  necessary information to enable  a  person to attempt  this
practice, without some  previous personal experience.  To unlearn more
than to learn is, however, one of the requisites to become a useful assistant
to a female at this important period.   Midwifery appears at this time to
be altogether a matter of speculation with the  medical  faculty, as if their
assistance  was absolutely  necessary;  and that it is a matter of profit to
them is evidenced by their exorbitant charges for attendance.  This tax
falls extremely heavy on the industrious classes, and it often is  not the
greatest  grievance they have to  bear;  they are often, alas!  deprived of
their wives and offspring, by  the ignorant and unnatural, falsely called
scientific practices resorted to by male practitioners. 
10
   Formerly the practice of midwifery was  in the hands of experienced
females,  who, by attending to  the  personal wants of their patients, and
leaving nature to perform her  own work,  considered they did all really
required.   Scarcely was an instance known in those days  of  a  woman
dying in  childbed, and the loss of a child was a rare circumstance ;  but in
the present time it is no unusual occurrence.  There must be some cause
for this difference,  and I cannot account for it in any other way than the
unskilful treatment females experience from the Doctors, who have mono-
polized the practice.  In many sections of this country, until this few
years,  families were brought into the world without the  consultation  of
the Doctor.   A midwife  was all  that was  thought necessary, and  the
instances were very rare, where  they were not successful.  They used but
little art, and afforded only such assistance  as nature required;—gave
herb tea to excite perspiration and to allay nervous irritation ;—and were
content with a moderate compensation for their services.   I believe in this
country the price was  about a dollar.   But when the Doctors commenced
the practice of midwifery, they began at three dollars, and soon increased
the charge to five.   Many of them charge from twelve to twenty dollars,
and there is still the same charge for the female attendant.  If they go on
at this ratio in charges,  it will soon take all the money a poor man can
earn (if he  is blessed with a prolific wife) to pay for the children.   But as
the science of medicine is developed by the  Hygeian theory and practice,
this subject cannot long remain unnoticed,  and I  trust this may  be  the
means of awakening reflection in the minds of the fair sex, on this to them
the most  important circumstance in life, their management  in pregnancy
and child-bearing.   It is preposterous that females in  that  most delicate
and critical period, cannot rely  on  the assistance  of their own sex.   A
woman, on the ground of experience in such matters, must be far superior,
as she must  have  personal  experience, such as a man never can or will
acquire.  It is a practice of late invention for men to  assist nature in
parturition ; and the plea used for their employment was, that in difficult
and monstrous births, they had  greater nerve, that is, less feeling for the
sufferings of those  in  travail, than women, and  that consequently they
were more useful where manual assistance was required.   This was  the
plausible reason assigned for their first employment,  but  it  is contrary to
common observation, and an erroneous opinion, that females are ineligible.
Medical men tell you in their works, and it is well  known that  it is a
difficult task for a man to assist at a labour with decency, and if that is
the case,  it is obvious a female must be the proper assistant at this period.
No one can read the awfully numerous cases of deliveries by instruments 
11
used by the man-midwife, without feeling a wish at least to correct the
barbarous practice of such mock-professional science, and substituting in
lieu a rational practice.
  I have witnessed numerous instances, and many others upon record
have satisfied me,  that the Universal Medicines are all the medicines re-
quired during pregnancy, whether a fulness or determination of blood in
the early stages, accompanied with nausea, or costiveness, or as is  some
times the case, relaxedness in the later stages.   Experience teaches, that
gentle cleansing medicines are the natural and reasonable method to keep
the blood  in healthy action,  and the mind temperate and calm.  A con-
tented mind is a prelude to a safe delivery.
   Reason, analogy, and common observation, will convince any one who
fairly considers  the subject, that monstrous births and unnatural labours
proceed from an impure state of the blood.   Ancient medical writers have
ascribed them  to the imagination of the  female being depraved, and
modern writers have re-echoed their opinions ; but it was left to  Messrs.
Morison and Moat to show that an impure state of the blood was the cause
of a  distempered imagination.  All bodily and mental  derangements may
be traced to the impurity of  the blood, and to those mineral poisons that
have been  used by the doctors to extirpate it,  or  the narcotics that
have been  used to deaden the  feelings when in pain.  In females, an
impure state of blood produces  a  disordered imagination, that occasions
the  monstrous birth, which  is the only time a  man-midwife is required
according to the doctor's own showing, and that they are not then requisite
is evident.
   Formerly it would have been considered a violation of decency for a
man to be consulted on the  occasion.  The company of an experienced
matron was all that was required to assist a female at  this period, as
nature, never deficient, or rarely so, has made  ample provision for the
 birth of the child.  Dr. Buchan, a member of the Royal College  of Phy-
sicians in Edinburgh,  and who, in fifty years'  practice, endeavoured to
extirpate  some of the craft and mystery from medical subjects, especially
in midwifery,  makes this assertion : " Nature, if left to herself, will seldom
fail  to  expel  the  fetus;"—so  that, according to the doctor,  it  is to not
leaving nature to  herself she fails to expel  the child from the womb.
   The attendance of one female on another is all that is required in many
nations at the present day; and even in one of the most difficult of cases,
one that has been shown about as a wonder, I  mean the Siamese twins,
 the  phenomena were brought into the world by  female aid only, without
 instruments.   Ancient historians only mention  the assistance  of females, 
12
 and I will just call to remembrance the Old Testament account, that when
 Pharoah ordered the nurses to destroy the Israelitish infants, it was to
 female kindness  they  owed their  lives,  and it was female  ingenuity
 prompted  them to excuse themselves from the anger of the king,  by
 referring to the well known quick and easy delivery the Hebrew females
 were favoured with.  So that a saving of life, and an easy delivery were
 the accompaniments of employing  females. The custom  of employing
 females was not confined to Egypt or Palestine ;  there is not on record
 IN HISTORY, ANY ACCOUNT OF MALES  BEING  EMPLOYED AS MIDWIVES.   The
 consequence of their employment has been a number of deformed beings,
 who are disfigured by  the indecent and unnatural means used to bring
 them into the world ; and the mother,  if she  escapes with life, suffers a
 long and protracted weakness by their improper treatment.
    It is very important to keep up the strength of the  female as she
 advances in pregnancy, so that at the time  of labour she may be in  pos-
 session of all her powers.  To effect this, she  should use the Universal
 Medicines from time to time, as they will carry off the humours which
 weaken the  system;  they will also  open the pores  and keep the body in
 a good  state of perspiration during labour,  and prevent severe afterpains,
 which arise from  an improper  state  of the  stomach.   The doctors  give
 opium  to stupify, and by bleeding  weaken the frame and deaden the
 feelings, instead of such medicines as invigorate the faculties of body and
 mind, to increase the efforts nature is called upon to perform.  I will
 relate a case to show this point: " A woman was taken in travail, and a
 doctor was  sent for:  when he came,  the prospect was she  would  be
 delivered  in two  hours;  he  gave  her some medicine which caused
 vomiting and turned the pains to the stomach; she continued in this
 situation for twelve hours.  When her  strength was nearly gone, he then
 bled her, and gave her so much opium as  to cause  such a stupor, that it
 required all the exertions of the women to keep the  breath of life in her
 throughout the night ; in the morning she remained weak, and so con-
 tinued till the afternoon, when she was delivered with instruments.  The
 child was dead, and the woman continued weak for six months."  Many
 instances might be given of the bad success of the bleeding and opium
 treatment, instead of strengthening the  system by cleansing and purifying
the blood by the Universal Medicines.  If married men were to persuade
their wives to pursue the course  laid  down in this work; they would  find
it more  proper and safe, than to trust them in the hands cf the doctors.
Often they are young  and inexperienced, and  their cruel  and  harsh 
13
treatment would induce the husband to forcibly expel them, were they
permitted to be present;  but this is not allowed for that reason.
   So long as there  is no obstruction or  hindrance to the operations of
nature, she performs her work with unerring precision.  In case of any
obstruction, a female may require assistance, but never more than females
can give.   Obstructions will be very rare where the practice now recom-
mended is pursued. I will not here describe the cases where a man-midwife
was supposed to be required, as these will be detailed in a further part of
the work, and sufficient will be shown to satisfy the most sceptical  that
men are inefficient as midwives.  It is not by a familiarity with rules alone,
that a knowledge of the practice of midwifery is to be obtained.   It is not
sufficient to have a knowledge of, and exact acquaintance with the struc-
ture, situation, and functions of the different organs which constitute the
living body.  It is not sufficient to have surmounted the disgust, difficulty,
and fatigue, which must  necessarily be endured by such as investigate the
cold remains  of mortality,  and with a view to learn from the dead body
the structure of the living.   It is not this that makes a successful  assistant
in labour.  This study on the dead has often  led  to scientific operations
on the living, to the prejudice of both mother and child.  This scientific
parade, and useless number of attendants, have been more injurious than
no attention at all.   This was  the case of the Princess Charlotte of
England, wife  of  Prince Leopold, now king of the Belgians.  It was in
measure the indecent presence of the ministers of state, who, with the royal
physicians, are obliged by  law to  be present at the accouchement of a
Royal Princess, that brought  on that anxiety of mind  and excessive
fatigue, followed by haemorrhage and convulsions, and which terminated
in a fatal syncope, which all their united skill, it  appears, could neither
prevent nor cure.  I quote this case, because the rank of the sufferer made
it a matter of public notoriety,  although far from a solitary instance of
females who have  died from the excitement  and distress  occasioned by
the unseemly presence of too many attendants.
   The employment of men as  midwives, in addition to the  reasons
previously  stated,  is tolerated  on the ground  that it  is difficult to find
females who  have studied the subject sufficiently to acquit themselves
with propriety.  This may be an evil, but it is not without a remedy.  When
females have a sufficient inducement in the shape of remuneration, it will
cause  many intelligent females better qualified to follow  midwifery as a
profession, who are now deterred by the fact, that the male practitioner
receives the greater  part of the emolument, while indifferent wages, and
the drudgery part  only, are  the lot of the female.
   The essential requisites in a female practitioner arc, patience, cleanli- 
14
 ness, attention, and watchfulness, accompanied with experience, and that
 presence of mind, which are peculiar to  a well-regulated  female.   The
 work must be left to nature.  Labour is a natural act. It docs not require
 the interference of art for its promotion or accomplishment, especially when
 the female  is previously prepared by a proper  course  of  the Universal
 Medicines.  We have been told of the improvements made  in this branch
 of medical science; but it is notorious, that as the science of anatomy
 advanced to what is called its present splendid development, labours were
 taught by the professors  fo  be more  difficult,  and needed  mechanical
 assistance to perfect.  But this is easily refuted  by fact, by referring the
 reader to the quick and very easy deliveries which the Indians in this
 country are  well known to  have ; and that when the pangs of parturition
 come on them, they fly to solitude and retirement, and refuse the assist-
 ance of'either male or female; and a speedy labour, and a quick  return to
 convalescence, are the result of leaving nature to her own unassisted
 operation.   This is also the course pursued by the females at the South,
 and, indeed, in every part of the globe, av here what the doctors call great
 ignorance prevails.   But they are  also in happy ignorance of the
 separation of the bones of the pelvis, the inversion of the uterus, and the
 numerous excruciating tortures and fatal results  which have followed the
 unnecessary deliveries by  instruments,  and  the  hasty efforts  of  male
practitioners.  The Caesarian operation is unknown to them, and  those
 useless and  cruel experiments which  have been brought into practice;
 because the  powers of nature were not understood, and the powers of art
 too much relied  upon.
  One of the great difficulties in  labour  appears  to be a  contracted or
 deformed pelvis ; but this rarely occurs in this country ; and  I will take
the liberty to quote a highly respectable authority on the  subject, I mean
W. P. Dewecs, M. D.  In his " System of Midwifery," he says,  page 31,
 " I believe that the united experience  of all the American practitioners,
would not have led to a correct conclusion on the subject;  as the occur-
rence of deformity of the pelvis in this  country is so very rare, as never to
 have been encountered by some practitioners of pretty extensive experience.
As far as regards my own, I must declare,  I have  not met  with extreme
deformity in American women three times in my life."    So that this is a
case of so rare occurrence, as seldom to have come under the notice of men
of extensive  practice.  Had this doctrine been understood by practitioners,
 we should not have heard of the numerous instances of instruments bein»
 applied to separate the bones of the pelvis, which  is followed by a melan-
 choly train of evils. 
15
  And now, reader, if I have succeeded in awakening your attention and
enlisting your feelings on a subject important to  you, to me, to all our
fellow-creatures.   Reader !  if you be a woman, forget that I am a man;
if a man, listen to me as you would to a brother.   Let us converse, not as
men, not as women, but as human beings, with common interests, instincts,
wants,  weaknesses.   Let us  converse without  prejudice, and without
passion ;  let the poet's exhortation be applied to the investigation.
           " Retire! the world shut out; thy thoughts call home :
           " Imagination's airy wing repress.
           " Lock up thy senses;  let no passion stir;
           [' Wake all to reason: let her reign alone."
V 
     QUALIFICATIONS  OF,

                   AND

ADVICE  TO  NURSES.
  The  character and  qualifications of the female midwife,  or  nurse,
require  some attention.   Relying on her at the critical period  of labour,
the life  of both  the mother and  the  frail  little being  she is about to
give birth to, depend greatly on her character and conduct at the critical
period of labour.   First and foremost,  she should be firmly convinced of
the theory of health and cause of disease, as pointed  out  by the British
College of Health, and from actual experience on herself and others, be
convinced of the  efficacy  of the Universal Medicines ; and that they are
all the medicine required to cure any disease incident to the human frame.
She should not be addicted to quackery,  that is, prescribing different
remedies, according to the varied forms disease assumes in mother  and
child.   The Universal  Medicines are all the medicine that in  any
complaint at this or any other period  can be required, and of this she
ought to be fully convinced, as it is improper for other medicines to be
used with the Hygeian Medicines.    She should be sober,  temperate  and
honest, cleanly in every habit, quiet in her movements, no gossip, and not
addicted to finery.  It is  to be lamented, that in this  country, as well as
in  Europe, that  nurses  are often deficient in  these, as  well as other
essential qualifications.
  Often when they commence their career,  they are utterly ignorant: a
nurse, before she  takes this office, ought to obtain experience from others.
In France, young females are selected in each of the  departments, to be
educated for this service.   They are sent to Paris, where in the establish-
ment, "L'Hospital de la Maternity," they receive every instruction requisite
to  prepare them for their vocation,  at least so far as  relates to  the 
17
theoretical and  manual  part  of the  profession.   It  is to be hoped the
friends of the Hygeian system will imitate the French  medicists, as it  is
truly necessary to assist in the full development of the Hygeian theory and
practice.   At present, the most we can hope for in the female attendants
is,  a willingness  to  follow conscientiously the instruction here directed,
a practical acquaintance with the operations of nature in labour, and  a
personal experience of the use of the Universal Medicines.
  A  nurse should not exceed sixty years of age ;  but it is still better if
she be  between thirty and fifty years of aga.  She should possess bodily
strength to enable her to assist her charge,  and to lift her and the child
with ease.  She should require  but little sleep, and  this  is incompatible
with  habits of intemperance, towards which  she ought  not to have any
inclination.   She should be tender, kind and gentle in her manners, and
withal cheerful, and should have  complete self-possession and command
over her own temper, under any circumstances, even the most  alarming
that can occur.   She should be able to maintain a cool and  collected
manner, arid  a perfect confidence in her own ability  to render what
assistance may be required by her charge in the pangs of labour.
  She  should be careful to have  the lying-in-room well ventilated, and
kept neat and clean;  and  she should always  be prepared to  anticipate
those little wants of the mother in nursing,  &c. &c.   She should be duly
impressed with the conviction that an infant is the creature of habit, and
that great care should be used to  practise  early habits of regularity and
cleanliness;   Some nurses have been  so expert in this, that the infant from
the first, has been laid awake in its crib, and has quietly  composed itself
to sleep in obedience to this tacit  word of command.  By this means,  a
housekeeper will get rid of those worse than useless articles, a cradle and
a rocking-chair, as it is only use that induces the habit which prevents  it
closing its eyes, unless lulled  in  this manner.  There  are also habits
connected with  cleanliness, which the nurse has greatly  in her power to
form.
  A nurse should understand the emptying the  mother's breast by suction,
when the  supply of milk is greater than the infant requires, as it must be
obvious it is better to have the breasts drawn by the human mouth, than
by any of the  contrivances invented for that purpose.   By the use of the
Universal Medicines previous to the birth, this will not be a  common
complaint, nor will sore nipples, which are so painful and disappointing to
the young mother, who is anxious to fulfil every part of the maternal duty,
if the corrupt humours, which are the cause of the inflammatory tendency
in the breast, be expelled by a sufficient use of the Universal Medicines.
                                                       2 
13
  A nurse need not, or will excuse being reminded, that  as the  time of
confinement approaches,  every thing should be  in readiness, so that no
hurry or bustle occur at that period.  A friend  who possesses some con-
siderable decree of fortitude, can be with the  nurse during the labour,
and whatever conversation is  permitted, should be  of a cheerful  and
encouraging description;  a due consideration of the  ability of nature to
perfect her own work  is desirable.  A want of confidence in the nurse,
and alarm of any description, are to be avoided, as they weaken the powers
of the animal economy, and protract the time and sufferings of labour.
Whatever tends to ivritate  the mind should be  carefully avoided,  as it
interrupts the natural  steps of the process, and causes difficulties which
would not otherwise occur.   It cannot too often be considered by the nurse,
and impressed on the mind of the pregnant  female,  that unless some
unforeseen difficulty present itself, the child of a well-formed woman may
be born without assistance, and, therefore, the less interference the better.
Where  malformation,  or other causes present obstacles to the natural
progress, then unquestionably manual assistance is necessary, but no more
than  a competent female  can render.   When the  child is born,  it is
advisable to restrain from violent  expressions of joy ; for though it is right
and natural to feel gratitude for the deliverance, yet the expression of joy
would be injurious  to her  at a time when  so much of her strength is
exhausted.  Many ill  effects have arisen from want of precaution in this
matter in child-bed.  Rest,  and if possible sleep, should  be obtained for
two or three  hours before  the  mother be  laid comfortably  in bed  after
delivery.  After this,  the child should be brought to her, and should be
applied to the fountain of its natural and only proper food.  Should  there
be  any necessity for  medicine under symptoms  of fever or otherwise, as
will afterwards be  more fully  explained,  the  nurse  will  give to either
mother or infant, or both, the Hygeian Medicine.  There can be no fear
of,  and ought to be no hesitation  in, administering  them to the infant at
this early period.
  It is a very erroneous practice  resorted to by some nurses, to keep an
infant from its mother's milk.  Some nurses are foolish enough  to do so
for  three or four days,  but this is injurious to parent and child.   The first
milk of the  mother acts  as  a purgative to the child, whilst suckling
keeps the parent's breast soft and pliable, and brings the milk in the proper
channel;  except in a very strong inflammatory disposition in the breast
of the mother, and the  child is not sufficient to reduce the milk, assistance
ought to be rendered by the nurse.  In some cases it will be advisable to
keep the  child from the  breast till the milk and breast are cooled by the 
19
use of the Universal Medicines, but this will rarely occur when the blood is
previously purified by their use ; indeed never will.
  In washing the infant, the water should be tepid, for water too hot or
too cold  is equally injurious.  The whole body of the infant should be
immersed in the water;  and to remove the white mucous matter which
occasionally adheres to the body  of a new-born infant, first  loosen it by
rubbing the part over with lard or fresh butter, after which a little soap will
remove the whole.
  Care should be taken that the bowels of the infant are cleansed in less
than twelve hours after birth; and not knowing a better remedy, nurses have
been in the habit of giving sugar and butter, some molasses and water, to
purge off the meconium, or black matter, which is found in the bowels.
Haifa No. 1 pill, dissolved in water, is the best aid, and is usually sufficient;
but if not, let it be repeated at intervals till the required evacuation occurs.
   There are many minor matters, which it is advisable for nurses to attend
to, but which do not  come under  regular rules; such as the time a female
should keep her lying-in-room: this must depend on her personal feelings
and the state of the weather.  In this  state, a  female is susceptible of
cold, and some caution is required in removing to a different temperature;
still  change of air  will  assist  the  recovery,  provided the period has
proceeded without any serious drawback. In twenty  days, and in some
instances less, gentle exercise is beneficial, because whatever gives her
strength will render the female better able to perform the duty of suckling
her baby.  Violent exercise would be injurious, as it  would inflame the
milk, or diminish its quantity.
   But some mothers, and I am sorry to write it,  consider  the office of
suckling as troublesome and irksome : unless a mother can give up some
portion  of her time to the performance  of this  dutyAvith something like
regularity, so as to be beneficial to her baby and herself,  she had better let
the  infant be supplied by a hired nurse ; for late  hours, much dancing,
violent exercise, frequent and long absence from the child, will render it
puny and delicate.   But I am  persuaded  that few mothers would not
willingly yield up these gratifications, if they were sufficiently aware of the
comfort they might procure themselves and offspring,  by discharging this
duty instead of delegating it to some other female.
   It is  also desirable, that a young married female should in some degree
be previously acquainted with the circumstances connected with childbirth,
which, the first time it occurs, forms an epoch in the life of a woman, and
must necessarily engage much  of her attention, both in respect  of the
event itself and the requisite preparations.  It is natural and proper she 
20
should view this event with considerable anxiety, as soon as she becomes
aware  of its probable occurrence, and the best feelings of human nature
induce us often to consider domestic happiness as incomplete, if children,
the objects of our best affections, are wanting.
  At the same time it is very natural for a young woman to look forward to
the approach of her first confinement Avith anxiety, because she is ignorant
of the  degree of suffering she has to surmount before her moment  of
rejoicing can  arrive,  and this  suffering Avhen left to the imagination  to
pourtray, will  never  picture  the  real truth, whether it  describes her
pleasures or her pains.  It requires some  nerve to divest the mind at this
period of the idea of the peril she must encounter on becoming  a parent;
but reasoning justly on her situation will carry conviction to her mind, that
there is more cause to indulge hope, than fear.  What she  has to undergo
is no disease, but a natural event, for which her frame is formed;  and
she will better endure the pains Avhich attend it, if she discipline her mind
by thus considering the necessity of  her situation to  support it.   Indeed,
there is no event the result of Avhich is so dependent on the state of mind
with which it is met as this ; and this being the case, it is  doubly  Avise  in
every female in this situation to take a proper view of the subject, Avhich
will give her fortitude and composure at the time  of her greatest sufferings,
and when her feelings are peculiarly excited.
  The doctors generally say that the child should sleep apart from the
nurse ; as they run off with the  foolish idea that it is prejudicial to its health
to sleep within the reach of  the breath  of a grown up person, or to be
within the influence of that degree of bodily heat which might occasion it
to perspire.   Some talk of the danger of overlaying the child—that is,  of
the nurse lying on the child and causing its suffocation.  Analogy would
teach that infants thrive  faster,  and sleep sounder, who have warmth
imparted to  them.   We can instance, as examples, our domestic animals,
who shelter and strengthen their young by the warmth of their own bodies,
when their feeble state requires such care.  Warmth seems desirable and
consonant with the habits  and situation of an infant  in its previous state
of existence before its birth.
   There is  one thing Avith the use of Avhich I must find fault, I mean a
cradle, which I consider prejudicial to a child, often lulling it into a state
of torpor, when nature would indicate its having a  sufficient  portion  of
sleep,  thus  enabling a nurse to indulge herself at the expense of her
nurseling's welfare.   Another objection is, that  a rocking motion has a
tendency to injure the head. If the nurse would be persuaded to begin the 
21
habit of laying the infant awake in the bed, it would be productive of much
convenience to herself, and save much future trouble to the parent.
   The cry of an infant ought never to be disregarded, as it is nature's
voice which speaks some pain or suffering.  Their various cries may soon
be known by  a little observation ; for example, hunger, a sort of wrangling
cry;  but Avhen it is a continued cry, and the legs are  drawn up, it must
be in pain, generally in the intestines : whatever part may be  affected, it is
from acrimonious humours, which can only be removed by the  Universal
Medicines.
  One opinion seems to be general respecting the food of infants,  that
immediately after weaning it should be  of a light and  vegetable nature :
but prudence will naturally suggest this to both nurse and mother.
   I will again suggest to your attention, a summary of the rules  laid down
in this work.  Let a due attention be paid to the use of the medicines up
to the time of delivery, when  required upon this principle, that if the
intestines are cleansed and strengthened by the vegetable medicines, more
freedom and  power of delivery must be obtained.  The sickness,  and
attempt to vomit, Avhich  is one of the inconveniences and early signs
attending the state of pregnancy, as Avell as the  pains in the  bones  of the
head, are best counteracted by using frequent doses of the No. 2  Pills.   In
all cases of costiveness, or relaxedness, before quickening or after, resort
to the box, No. 2, regulating the number  of the Pills according to your
feelings, remembering you  cannot take them  to excess, and  you may
place implicit confidence in their good effects.
   Indeed, it must be gratifying to the female followers of  the Hygeian
theory and practice, to be able in this interesting period to be their own
doctor, and to have with them a safe and certain remedy for those peculiar
unpleasant feelings  incident to a female in the prospect of  becoming
a mother.
  After accouchement, it will contribute to recovery and benefit the babe,
to continue the Pills, as they will purify the milk and make it more rich and
nourishing;  and the rest and comfort experienced, the growing strength
and activity of the child, will be the reward of the confidence and attention
to the Hygeian Medicines.  They will prevent that scourge of the human
race, the Small  Pox, ever  attacking any child, whose parents use the
medicines, and cleanse the blood of the child with them, without having
occasion to resort to those absurdities, inoculation or vaccination, whieh
will not mitigate or prevent disease. 
22
                           CONCEPTION
   In every healthful female there is a periodical discharge, called cata-
menea, or menses, Avhich  ceases on conception taking place.  The com-
mencement  of this secretion is termed puberty,  and it occurs at various
ages, according to the constitution and climate. Thus, as far as climate is
concerned, it  commences in some latitudes at eight or ten, and in others
not until fifteen or sixteen years:  earlier in Avarm climates, later in cold.
They constantly keep pace with the development of the body ; Avhcn this
is  rapid, they will appear proportionably earlier; Avhere this process is
slower,  they will appear later: but AvheneA er the menses appear, they
mark the period of puberty.  In hot climates, where females  commence
to menstruate at eight or nine years of age, they are not unfrequently
mothers  at ten.   In the more northern, as in Lapland, this evacuation is
sometimes delayed until the female has attained her nineteenth year.  In
the temperate latitudes, the average period Avill be found from the thirteenth
to the fifteenth year.  A difference may be accounted for by constitutional
circumstances, or a city or country residence  in any portion of the globe.
As soon as conception or pregnancy commences, this discharge changes its
course, and goes to the support of the foetus or forming child.
   The first intimation of conception, by  cessation of the menses, maybe
determined or confirmed by a few doses of four to six  No. 1,  and No. 2
taken alternately, Avhen, should they  not appear, it may be presumed
impregnation has taken place.
   When a Avoman begins to breed at any early period, as at fifteen, and
has her children fast, she seldom breeds longer than thirty, or  thirty-five ;
if older, she is  liable to  impregnate to forty-four or fifty.
   We are told by respectable authority that impregnation has taken place
before the eruption of the menses, as Avell as after their cessation, and that
some have borne children avIio have never menstruated.  W. P. Dewees,
M.D., has  mentioned  a case of  a  woman having twelve,  and  another
eighteen children, who  have never menstruated ; but these are  exceptions
to the general rules of nature.  I remember a case where a female of forty-
six,Avho had borne nine children, and av hose catamenea had ceased, (at least
she supposed so,) aftenvards delivered of a  child, but it Avas puny and
sickly, and soon died.  That a healthy menstrual  action is an essential to
impregnation as a general rule, no one  can question, as it is indispensable
to this end, where impregnation takes place in the great majority; and  I
cannot but think that it has been preceded, though  slightly, with this action
in all cases. 
23
  There is one fact established by Mr. Morison, and confirmed by Scripture*
and experience, that is, "the blood is the life," and from the instant concep-
tion has taken place, a communication is established between the embryo
in uterus and the blood of the mother ; which blood formerly evacuated as
useless, or not required in the womb, now goes to perfect the child.   The
seed of the male, as well as of the female, is the purest of the blood ; and this
purest or vital part of the blood, by the operations of nature in the womb,
forms  the child. This goes on  progressively during the nine months of
pregnancy, the blood of the mother perfecting and carrying on the work,
strengthening and sustaining the infant for the future life it is in due time
to enter.
   At  the expiration  of about forty weeks, nature,  or to speak more
properly,  the blood of the mother, has formed the child,  and its time is
come to change its dependant situation, (something resembling a vegetable
life,) and  it needs air and a change of food.  It has  lungs, but it does
not breathe;  a  mouth and stomach, but it neither eats or digests.   But
after birth, when it is  detached  from the  support  it  received by  the
■umbilical  cord from the blood of the mother, and its lungs are set in motion
by the air—the heart beats—the stomach  craves a different food,  and
digests—and the bowels evacuate ;—it is furnished with the first power to
make  its oavh blood to support its  new existence, and every faculty of body
and mind.
   Conception is first evidenced by a suspension of the menses, and various
other symptoms; but this  is not  ahvays the case.  In a few persons of a
plethoric  habit of body, the menses continue to flow periodically during
pregnancy, especially in young females, with their first and second child;
but this is an exception to the general rule.
   The time of pregnancy is liable to variations, and it cannot be precisely
determined  even when the woman is  placed under  the most favour-
able circumstances  for ascertaining it.  It seems, however,  from the
best calculations that can be  made, that forty weeks,  or nine  calendar
months, approaches the truth so nearly, that we scarcely need require more
accuracy  could it be  obtained.  Many  circumstances  may provoke  or
procrastinate the period.  The frequency of abortion proves the first, and
the numerous and well-authenticated instances of prolonged  gestation
evidence the latter.  With some it habitually occurs at the seventh month ;
and in numerous instances, when circumstances and calculation rendered
it nearly certain, that the children were carried even ten  months.  I know
* Deut. 12, 23. 
24
I am differing in this from the opinion of many on this point; but I must
leave it to the charitable conclusion, that ten months is not impossible for a
female to carry her child.  Often the uncertainty of the moment at which
conception  takes place, Avill with many embarrass calculation, and Avhen
accurately ascertained  the time of  pregnancy is known  so to vary, as
to put to flight the ingenious speculations of many theorists.  Be the exact
period Avhat it may, sufficient has  been  ascertained to fix the common
one at about nine months ; and in making calculations, it is ahvays best to
allow a little latitude beyond the time which the mere stopping of the
menses would indicate, for as a general rule it will be found, that more
women are impregnated afeAv days after the evacuation of the menses than
at any other period.
                           PREGNANCY.
  Various neAV symptoms denote to  the  female,  that some change  has
taken place in her system, such as sickness at  the  stomach, heartburn,
peculiar longings, indigestion, head-ache, tooth-ache, giddiness, &c. &c.
  The breasts become enlarged, shooting pains extend through them, and
the circle of the nipple alters to a dark brown colour ; and where the health,
previous to conception has been indifferent, and the evil humours have not
been expelled by the previous use of the Universal Medicines, there is  a
feverish disposition, irritability, and a peevish temper.  When females are
in good health, these latter named symptoms do not accompany them in
pregnancy, and they experience but little inconvenience;  while those
Avhose systems are deranged for the want of proper  purgative medicines,
are incapable of retaining their food on their  stomach,  and are conse-
quently reduced to extreme weakness.  With  such, the vomitino- will
sometimes continue during  the Avhole state of pregnancy, or  nearly so.
Partial suppression of urine, with a frequent inclination to void it, without
the ability to  do so,  irritation about the external  parts of generation,
costiveness and the piles, are the complaints that incommode such during
that period.  But these symptoms are not entirely to be relied on  as proof
of pregnancy, however strongly they may be marked, or hoAvever numer-
ously they may be combined.  Till the fourth  month,  i.e.  in the early
advancement  of  this process, the  difficulty  of arriving  at  an  entire
certainty,  is acknowledged  by  all  who have any experience  on  this
Bubject.   When the time of quickening  arrives, which is  about sixteen
weeks after conception, no one can mistake the motions of the child in the
womb; therefore, after  that time,  there  can be little difficulty in dis- 
25
tinguiming the pregnant condition of the Avomb;  but up to that time it
may, and will be involved in doubt with some females of irregular habits
of body.
  According to the common received opinion, quickening, so termed, has
been generally understood  to mean the particular sensations which are
perceived by the mother, occasioned by the apparent first motion of the
child.   I  do  not  mean that the embryo did not, previous to this motion,
possess  life, or exist;  or to  explain the form  of quickening, by saying, as
some  of the  doctors do,  "that it was owing to life suddenly imparted to
the embryo;" this Avould in itself be absurd,  and  contrary to the Hygeian
theory to say so.  The Hygeian theory is, " the blood is the life," or living
principle, and it is erroneous to suppose that the embryo did not possess
life from the  instant it obeyed the stimulus of the  male semen for develop-
ment ;  and for this plain and simple  reason, that  if it Avere not alive, it
must be dead, and if dead, it must be cast from the Avomb as an extraneous
substance.  There  is a period  Avhen the  embryo is not sufficiently
developed to move ;  another, when  this can  be but  feebly and imperfectly
performed ;  and another, when it can move Avith sufficient force  to give
evidence of this increase of power.  This moment is recognized by the
mother, who then says she has quickened.   I wish to  be  understood by
the term  quickening, that moment at which the embryo gave the first
physical proof of life, and not the moment it received it.
   The  usual time this sensation is first felt,  is about sixteen weeks after
conception,  and this by some is a confirmation that they have not erred in
their reckoning, or fixes  it with something  like  certainty when there  is
previous  doubt on  the  subject.   This  is  what is  usually termed the
second  state of pregnancy, and the  last three months the third state.   As
this is written for,  and may be read by some in a pregnant state, who
have  not prepared themselves by  the use  of the  UniA'ersal Medicines,
perhaps it will be well to speak of the diseases which accompany a state
of pregnancy in such, but which those whose systems are purified by the
previous use of the Universal Medicines,  rarely experience, and those
who do experience, will find relief by  their using the No. 2 medicines in
larger or smaller doses as circumstances point out.
                    SICKNESS AND NAUSEA.
  Some females are incessantly harassed by sickness of the stomach in
the early stages, and some during the whole period of pregnancy.   For
this, take doses of four to six No, 1 and No. 2, alternately for four nights, 
26
to fix the certainty of conception as previously stated, and  if confirmed,
then continued doses of No. 2, till these  unpleasant symptoms cease.
These  medicines are of a brisk  purgative  nature, and will in this case
carry immediate conviction of their utility.  On no account listen to those
foolish advisers, avIio recommend  salts,  or  any  saline mixture, as they
cannot give adequate relief.   Some practitioners recommend emetics, but
these are dangerous, and may cause abortions inAveak and feeble frames.
                          HEARTBURN.
  When a  pregnant female is  incommoded by heartburn, Avhich arises
from the acidity of the stomach, let her take four of the Pills, No. 2, each
night at bedtime, and  a tea-spoonful of the Powders, in  Avater, in the
early part of the succeeding day, continuing this for several days, until
this unpleasant sensation is abated.
                          HEAD-ACHE.
  The head-ache is often accompanied Avith an apparent fulness of blood,
and a determination to the head, but this is not the fact.   No person ever
has too much blood;  and it is some obstruction in the blood vessels, by
corrupt humours, Avhich creates this appearance  and sensation.  Begin
with four Pills, No. 2, for a dose, and increase the dose a pill per day till
relief is obtained.
                  COSTIVENESS,  AND PILES.

  These  usually  attend the second  stage of pregnancy, and prove  a
source of pain and uneasiness in this  state.   To  obviate  this, (for they
proceed from the same cause, although they may not always accompany
each other,) the laxative and cooling qualities of the Universal Pills will
effect this, in doses of five to seven Pills, No. 2, till the boAvels are brought
to a healthy action ; and  a dose of four pills, every tAventy-four hours, for
a feAv days afterwards. Use the cleansing Powders—a tea-spoonful in a
glass of Avater, tAvice a day, in a constipated state of the bowels.
  The haemorrhoids,  or  piles, sometimes proceed from the  use  of im-
proper medicine; but these medicines, especially  the No. 2, which are
most expedient in this case, will soon  remove the cause. 
27
                          TOOTH-ACHE.
  The tooth-ache, when not arising from a carious tooth, is a nervous
affection,  and is to  be cured *by the quieting and soothing effects of the
No. 2 Universal  Pills, in small doses, a few nights at bedtime, till the pain
is removed.
  When decayed, the best remedy is to fill the cavity Avith white wax, or
resort to some skilful dentist, and if necessary, have it extracted;
                            LONGINGS.
  It is considered desirable by some, to gratify the peculiar longings of
pregnant females, when it can be consistently complied with, as disap-
pointment occasions them considerable mental irritation.   But that the
child in the Avomb can be marked by any restrictions to the wishes of the
mother,  is  an old wife's  fable*  This  will never occur in  a healthy
state of the bowels.  To prevent a repetition, take a few doses, say six or
seven, No. 2 Universal Pills, and occasionally the Aperient Powder.
                            DIARRHCEA.
  Diarrhoea, in pregnancy, should be treated with the same remedy as
in any other state.  It arises from an effort of nature to relieve herself.  In
this she should be assisted by doses of four to six, No. 2 Universal Pills,
till relief is obtained, and the intestines resume their natural tone.
                            CRAMPS.
  For cramps of the legs and thighs, which sometimes occur, use doses
of six  or seven, No. 2 Pills, and where convenient, a Avarm bath will, in
this case, assist the Pills in their beneficial effects; but  the  Avarm bath
is of no use Avithout the medicines.
                           SWELLINGS.
  In ill-regulated systems, there will arise swellings  in  the breast, legs,
and other parts of the body, occasioned by an impure state of the blood
and fluids ;  but a few doses of No. 2, say 5 or 6 Pills  for a dose,  will
carry off" this unnecessary increase of the fluids in a short time. 
28
                   FITS,  OR CONVULSIONS.
   Sometimes, in  advanced stages of pregnancy, hysteric and other fits
occur, but they are not peculiar to this state alone.   They arise from the
action of the heart being impeded and accompanied by a  contraction of
the muscles, and are sometimes similar, and not to be distinguished from
fainting. The doctors have used local applications to the chest, shoulders
and feet;  such as  mustard plaster, and lotions,  spirits and vinegar to the
head, to give relief: but it is only by cleansing the stomach, and purifying
the blood, that a proper action to the heart can  be restored.  Sometimes
they arise from proper haemorrhage; but as previously stated, they rarely
affect those who have  used the Universal Medicines ; indeed, we may say
never.  But to those who are  thus afflicted, I  Avould recommend a free
use of the medicines,  say  eight  or nine pills for a dose  in tAventy-four
hours, and the warm bath would not be an improper auxiliary in restoring
the system  to a proper tone ;  but the medicines will give relief by their
own powers alone.
   Some medical writers,  puzzled Avhat  to do, recommend injecting cold
alum  water, the solution of acetate of lead,  the introduction of ice into
the vagina; but the merits of such applications need no refutation  here,
nor should  I be  tempted to mention them, Avere it not to  shoAv on Avhat
ridiculous  means  medical men  are  taught to rely in  very  pressing
cases.
   I have now mentioned some of the principal forms of disease in  preg-
nancy, and I would anxiously impress on the reader,  the importance of
keeping in  mind the theory of health and disease, as promulgated by the
British  College of Health.  That disease is one and the same, whatever
form it  assumes, and that  it originates in the impurity of the blood ; and
that as  the Hygeian Medicines purify the  blood they cannot injure, but
must benefit the system.   They are beneficial, and peculiarly so, in  preg-
nancy.  They have, to my knowledge, been used in numerous cases, with
unvarying success, and give by their cleansing and strengthening powers,
an assurance of strength to support the female in the pangs of parturition.
                           ABORTION.
  Miscarriage, or the expulsion of the  foetus from the womb before the
seventh month, is called abortion—after which,  premature labour.   It
most commonly occurs at the early period of pregnancy, and in some
females it will take place repeatedly at a particular period  of gestation, 
29
perhaps, till it gets confirmed like all other bad habits.  In an early stage,
the ovum sometimes comes off entire, sometimes the foetus is expelled first,
and the placenta afterwards.  It is preceded by floodings, pains in the
back, loins, lower parts of the abdomen, evacuation of the Avater, shivering,
palpitation of the heart, syncope, subsiding of the breasts, &c. &c.  The
doctors say that abortion happens  sometimes Avithout a cause, but this is
a gross error; although it is not obvious, still there  must be a cause. One
of the causes, and, indeed, the principal cause of abortion is to be found
in the impurity of the blood, and  derangement of the stomach ;  and I will
quote a sentence of W.  P.  Dewees, M. D., in his remarks on the general
condition of the system during pregnancy, confirming this opinion:  he
says, " We know a lady that is easily provoked to abortion, who can tell
soon after  the  stopping of her  catamenea, or  menses, Avhether she will
carry her child or not,  by the state  of her stomach.''''   Now I am quite
satisfied, that it is to this state  of the  stomach being  impure,  many
cases of abortion are to be ascribed. It is essential for  the nourishment of
the foetus, that a regular supply of pure and Avholesome blood should  be
conveyed to the womb, and  this is imperfectly performed when the stomach
is clogged with gross and acrimonious humours, and, as  a consequence,
the supply of blood is imperfect as to quantity, and  impure in quality.
May Ave  not, to this impure and improper state of the  blood, trace the
mischievous effects of fevers, and inflammations of the womb, or in those
local determinations which precede abortion 1  Have not ignorant nurses
recommended females to eat and drink to excess, on the plea that she has
two  to maintain, instead of one;  and this is sometimes done until the
system is loaded to fever,  and abortion, or premature delivery, has been
the consequence 1
   I  remember  an instance lately, where a female Avas reprehended  for
living so abstemiously by her adviser, as  she Avas  told by doing so, she
would  Aveaken  herself and  expected child; she obeyed the advice of her
ill-judging  adviser; the consequence  Avas, convulsions, from which she
escaped from death Avith difficulty—but her child perished.
   So,  to those who are liable to abortion* it is particularly desirable that
the bowels  be kept in proper action by occasional doses of the Universal
Medicines, No. 2, as I am satisfied, that in numerous instances of abortion,
it  is caused  by the impurity of the blood.  I have  known females so
regardless of consequences, as to allow this constipated state of the bowels
to continue for ten or tAvelve days, and have with  reason attributed their
miscarriage to  costiveness.  Some have  concealed this condition from
their friends, from an aversion to take medicine at  this period; but this is 
30
a mistaken notion, as far as the Universal Medicines are concerned, in a
confined state of the boAvels, or indeed at any period of pregnancy.
  The prevailing outward causes of miscarriage,  arc  falls  and Hoavs,
great exertion or fatigue, sudden frights, and other violent emotions of the
mind, excessive use of spirituous liquors, bleeding, and immoderate venery,
the  use of lobelia, and such medicines  as produce vomiting, as avcII as
violent purges, which ought to be avoided.  When  a female has suffered
abortion, a repetition at the same period in a subsequent pregnancy is not
improbable.  Nothing,  hoAvever, Avill be  so successful in preventing a
similar misfortune, as a Avell-regulated habit of body, which, in cases of
outAvard  causes, may be the means of preventing inflammation.
  In cases of inflammation of the uterus, as well as fluor albus, which
often folloAv in the Avake  of abortion,  commence Avith  doses of  six
universal pills, No. 1 and 2 alternately, increasing the dose till the inflam-
mation has subsided with doses of the aperient powders during the day:
in some cases, two or three doses of No. 1 in succession are advantageous.
                             LABOUR.
  I remember an old nurse, but a very  experienced woman, describing
the time when labour Avould occur, by saying, "when the fruit is ripe, it
falls," and this is the appointed  time by nature.   I have heard many
opinions on the point,  but none that threw much greater light on it than
this vieAV: speculation  has folloAved speculation on this subject, and  one
theory has been displaced to give room to another.  I need not detail the
numerous opinions Avhich have been entertained on this point.   We know
that the child is formed by the blood of the mother, and we may naturally
conclude, when the child is ripened for its new state, it is expelled by the
action of the blood, causing that exertion of the uterus necessary to expel
the child. The various other changes of the foetus in the womb are effected
by the blood, and the blood is the active power in labour.  This will also
account for the pains in labour;  for it is the blood that  feels.   This will
account for a healthy person, or one Avhose blood is pure, having a better
time than one who is unhealthy, or whose blood is impure.  But Avhatever
uncertainty may exist as to the efficient cause of labor,  we are taught by
the united experience of all ages, that at about the fortieth Aveek of gesta-
tion, there is, for the  most part,  a  painful effort made by the  uterus to
expel its contents, and this effort is called labour.
   This event is  preceded by symptoms,  Avhich may be considered as part 
31
of the  process ;  such as nervous symptoms, and affections of the uterine
system, a violent trembling, and, in some, inclination to hysterical affec-
tions, are the premonitory symptoms of approaching lab6ur;  but all of
which are almost sure to disappear, as soon as the labour is  advanced,
and the pains succeed each other quickly.   Under such circumstances;
the nurse is fully justified in giving the patient a reasonable assurance of
a happy termination of her pangs, and that there is nothing uncommon in
her situation.
   There is, in many females, an erroneous opinion,  that labour is more
completed by art than nature.  Hence they have been induced to apply
to men as accoucheurs,  and as their interest is  concerned, professional
men have no inclination to undeceive them.   There  is not one case in a
thousand in which any one is of any use but as a select spectator.  The
mischief and injury  that is done by the untimely interference of art, is
incalculable.  The doctors first recommend bleeding till the female has
not strength for the  delivery, and  then the forceps must be used, Avhich
often prove fatal to mother or child, or both.
   The secretion and discharge of the mucus always take place before
any other symptoms declare labour  to be at hand.   It is frequently tinged
with blood ;  but when not, resembles the  white  of an egg.  This fluid
answers two important  purposes: it lubricates the vagina, which permits
the foetus to pass more easily, and it  acts  as  a topical application to the
parts, and facilitates their relaxation, and for which no artifical means are
adequate.   Such being the case, beware and  not interrupt its formation
by uncalled for  handling  and irritating, Avhich will cause it to cease, and
inflammation to ensue.
   The next sign of labour is the opening the os uteri, i. e., that the womb
may  expel its  contents,  its body  and fundus must contract,  while its
neck must dilate.  To  manage labours  with propriety, much judgment
and caution only are required.  Ill-directed measures will  always  have
penalties attached to them ; and it is only by viewing labour as a natural
act, that the little assistance required, can,  Avith judgment, be properly
rendered.   There is nothing  so  ill-judged, or which contributes more to
divert nature from her proper course, as the ill-directed manoeuvres of an
ignorant accoucheur, or midwife,  acting  under  the  mock scientific per-
suasion,  that  art  can always benefit nature.   Unfortunately for  the
interests of humanity, a feeling has been instilled into the minds of many,
that great and  constant  benefit  can be derived  from the presence and
assistance of others; and this feeling is too often  encouraged by the
ignorant  and designing  to the injury of the female.   It requires some 
3^
discipline, accompanied Avith  knowledge, to abstain from useless inter-
ference.  To conduct a labour with safety, a person should be acquainted
with its phenomena, and this can only be acquired by previous observation.
The female, Avho is qualifying for a practitioner of midwifery, should well
consider this.   Confidence in her OAvn talents and experience, will enable
her  to give such  assurances  to  her patient as  will free her from much
anxiety, which a vacillating and doubtful mode  of reasoning  and  pro-
 ceeding Avould increase.
  In all the assistance requisite, as well as such examinations as are
required, it is needless, I trust, to recommend decency to a female ; but as
it may be a useful hint, 1 would recommend the Avell-meaning practitioner
to recommend this.
  No man  should be permitted  to enter the apartment of a female in
labour, except the husband;  and  in any consultation with the Hygeian
agent, it ought to  be by the nurse in another place.
   The patient should not be allowed Avine, or any exciting drink, or any
thing that Avill stimulate the system.
   She should be kept as quiet as possible, and the preposterous  custom of
obliging her to Avalk the floor, and other motions, with a view to increase
the  pains Avhen tardy, should not be allowed.   In those who have pre-
viously used the Universal Medicines, a costive state of the bowels is not
to be expected ; but should it be so, give a dose  of No. 2, or an injection,
as  previously recommended,  6 Pills,  No. 2, and a  half pint of warm
water.
   Her dress should he so arranged as to require no  alteration  after
 delivery, and placed so that there is no  chance of becoming wet from the
discharges.   The  bed should be so made as to preserve  it from the dis-
 charges ;  for this purpose, a blanket should be folded several times, and
placed  beneath the under sheet, at that part of the bed on which the
 woman will permanently lie ; a  sheet  as often folded, should  be placed
 over the under sheet so as to correspond with the blanket below ;  on this
the  woman will be placed after delivery.  A dressed skin is sometimes
used, or an oiled cloth, for the female to lie on previous to delivery.   The
 female  will be most conveniently placed for  labour  if  put  on her left
 side, at the foot of the bed, in  such a manner as  will enable her to fix her
feet firmly against the bed post, her hips within ten or twelve inches of the
 edge of the bed, her knees bent,  her body Avell forward upon the thighs.
 This position will bring the head and shoulders near the centre of the  bed ;
 and pillows may be placed to raise them to  a comfortable height.   The
 part of the bed on which the patient is now laid, must, like the part on 
33
which she is permanently to rest, be secured by the dressed skin, oil cloth,
or folded blankets placed over the under sheet.   Perhaps it is unnecessary
to enter further into the minute details of the arrangements which expe-
rience will best dictate to  enhance the comfort of the patient.
   Should the os uteri dilate, the pains and contractions  of the uterus
increase  considerably, the patient  should by all means be  encouraged
to favor them: her pulse becomes  stronger and more frequent, her face
is  animated, her eyes shine, her Avhole  body  is  in extreme agitation,
perspiration flows in abundance, and the head of the child  is engaged in
the pelvis.
   After some short apparent quietness, the pains and expulsive contrac-
tions resume all their activity, the head  presents itself, and passes, as
soon as there is a pang and contraction sufficiently strong to produce this
effect.  The head  being disengaged, the remaining parts  of the  body
easily follow, on account of their smaller volume.
   When the head is in this situation, it should not be meddled with, or at
least no effort should be made to withdraw the child; its delivery should
be trusted to subsequent contractions of the uterus, that this organ be not
too suddenly emptied, and by this means give rise to flooding.
   This is the  completion of Avhat is termed a natural labour, with the
exception of tAvins, or two or more children in the womb, and this a little
observation  will soon enable  a nurse to ascertain by  the reneAval of labour
pains, and a second presentation a short time after the first birth.  Should
manual assistance be required, through both presenting at once, remember
to ascertain the situation of and distinct parts of one only :  thus, if both
present the feet, in  order to be convinced that they are both the feet.of the
same child, carry  the fingers up as high as the  hips.  If both heads
present themselves  at the same time, press one back a litile ;  and if one
presents  the head and the other the feet, perhaps, if the head has not so far
descended as to render it convenient, it is  best to assist the  presentation
of the feet first.
   When  manual assistance  is required, which is  the case  Avhen the
presentation is not  natural, such as  the feet, arms, shoulders, or back
presenting, in this case the nurse should after using some fresh butter, oil,
or lard on her hand, endeavour to bring the child in the womb to a natural
presentation by turning it; and this, in many cases, is readily performed.
If the feet present, and to turn the child is found to be difficult, it is best
to assist, but let the assistance be gentle.  When the head  presents, and
but one hand, it is best, if possible, to bring the  other hand to a proper
position by manual assistance, but  this a little experience will enable a 
34
female practitioner to perforin Avith as much certainty and more feeling
than by a male practitioner.   Immediately after delivery, a moderate dose
of No. 1  Pills is advisable in all cases
   The placenta, or afterbirth, must be detached or removed, if nature does
not accomplish it in a short period.   Generally  after about ten to twenty
minutes,  or  half an hour, a pain is felt, Avhich is in healthy  persons
sufficient to expel it; should there be no pain, gentle  manual attempts may
be made to remove it.  Perhaps it is as  well immediately after delivery
before the womb contracts, for  the  nurse to pass her hand, and gently
detach the afterbirth Avith the immediately succeeding pain.  If there is
any difficulty in removal, it must be left a kw  hours, Avhen the natural
contractions  of the  uterus will, Avith  moderate  assistance  expel  it,  using
doses of four to five  No.  1  Pills, every three hours till  the placenta is
discharged.
   I have affixed two plates to this work to assist the memory of a female
practitioner;  one a skeleton form of the pelvis  and adjacent bones, the
other a natural presentation of a child at the rim of the pelvis.   Perhaps
this is unnecessary, but my  object  Avas to assist the young  practitioner
with some idea of the form of the part, Avhere the difficulty, if any exists
in delivery, or generally so.   This can only be the case in Avhat are termed
preternatural labours—I mean such labours in Avhich some other part than
the head  presents.   No certain  reason can  be assigned for such occur-
rences, nor can the female by any sensation previous to, or at the time, be
assured that  the presentation is  unusual.
  Apprehensions of this kind should neither be encouraged or indulged in.
If the feet or breech present, the delivery is to be accomplished by properly
accommodating the uterus and the child to the capacity of the pelvis, but
no force  should be  employed.  There is  some  slight risk in this case to
the life of the infant, but none to the mother.
  If the arm, shoulder, or  side of the child present,  the delivery is almost
impossible until it be turned, and the feet brought down into the passage ;
this, as before stated, is an operation Avhich may be done with comparative
ease and safety, if the position of the infant be discovered before the waters
are discharged, and Avhich  an attentive nurse will  well look to.  If the
Avaters are all discharged previous to birth, there is considerable danger to
both mother and child.   In this  case, let considerable doses  of the No. 2
Pills,  dissolved, be administered, which will increase the circulation of the
blood, cause  an increased action of the  uterus, assist in bringing  to a
proper position, expel the child, and prevent inflammation.
   It may here not be amiss to notice the weight of  infants.  This differs 
35
according to the conformation and habits of the parent, and sex of the
child.  Healthy females generally have the finest children.  Male children
generally weigh more than females.   In Germany, Roederer found the
weight in one hundred and thirteen children, to vary from seven to eight
pounds;  and he lays it down as  a  rule, that it is rarely  less  than six
pounds.  Dr. Macauley examined the bodies of several thousand new-born
and perfect children at the British lying-in-hospital, and found the weight
of the smallest was about four pounds, and the largest eleven pounds two
ounces ;  but by far the greater number was from five to eight pounds, and
numerous  inquiries furnish similar results.  Dr.  Merriman mentions in
his lectures, one that he delivered that Aveighed fourteen pounds;  and Dr.
Croft mentions one that weighed eighteen pounds.  Dr.  W. P.  Dewees
says, " I have met with two cases ascertained to Aveigh fifteen pounds, and
several I believed to be of equal weight."  As  a general rule,  seven or
eight pounds may be taken as the average weight.  The  length of the
infant, perhaps, varies less than  the weight; it is ordinarily from nineteen
to twenty-two inches, and seventeen and twenty-six inches will  exclude
the two extremes, while the length of a female is from seventeen to twenty-
one, and nineteen inches about  the average.
   After  the  labour is completed, and the female has taken the requisite
rest, let the  bed be properly prepared for her reception, as previously
directed, and a suitable piece of cloth, or muslin, be laid to the parts to
absorb the discharges.  A bandage may be made moderately tight round
the abdomen, or belly, but not so as to render her uncomfortable.  A tub
previously well dried, maybe placed by the side of the  bed, and when the
female is  lifted up, her feet may be placed in it, and  every thing that is
around her that is Avet may be passed into it.  It prevents the necessity of
afterwards washing the floor and carpet,  Avhich causes trouble, and perhaps
may  be  injurious by  causing perspiration.  The labour being  accom-
plished,  it will be necessary to guard against any subsequent  symptoms
which may occur.
   With respect to  cutting the navel,  or  umbilical cord, Avhich by some is
looked upon as a  material matter, and  which I ought to have noticed
before, the nurse  will pass a narrow  piece of tape around the cord, or
navel string, about  an inch or tAvo from the body, and tied as tight as it
can be  drawn  to  prevent bleeding, and  another  must be tied a  little
distance from it above, and be separated betwixt the ligatures with a pair
of scissors.  This is all that is required in this affair, upon which so much
has been written and superstitious observances employed by many authors.
   Let it be remembered, a dose of No. 1 Pills as soon as  convenient after 
36
delivery, will induce rest and quietness from their Avell-knoAvn soothing
effects.
        MANAGEMENT  AFTER DELIVERY.

  Young  women, or healthy  women of more advanced age, are rarely
troubled with severe afterpains, because, when the blood is  in a healthy
state, it causes the uterus to contract with the same facility as it does
the parts to dilate previous to labour.   Women with their first child are
seldom  much troubled with afterpains;  but the  uterus is thought to
contract less readily after each future labour, so they are more liable to
occur in any succeeding delivery than in the first.
  When afterpains occur, so as to deprive the female of her rest, it will
be advisable to resort to the Universal Medicines, in doses of five or six
Pills, taking alternately doses of No. 1 and No. 2 till relief is obtained,
and which they Avill not fail to give.  A sufficient pressure on the stomach
by means  of a broad bandage will  be a useful assistant.
  Costiveness  is  apt to  prevail after delivery, and should always be
removed by small doses of the No. 2 Universal Medicines;  if severe, an
injection will assist, as previously recommended.
  Flooding, Flow of the Lochia, fyc.—A certain degree  of haemorrhage
usually  takes place after delivery.   This is caused by the removal of the
placenta, which thereby lays bare the mouth of the blood-vessels in the
inside  of the  uterus,  and this commonly continues until the womb
contracts to such a size as to close them up again.   This discharge, for
four or five  days, consists chiefly of florid blood, after which it assumes a
mucus appearance, and gradually ceases.  In weak and relaxed  habits
this discharge is sometimes violent;  it is not, however, to be expected by
those who have strengthened  their systems by the Universal Medicines;
but when  it does occur, I should recommend doses of No. 1 and 2 alter-
nately, using seven or eight pills for a  dose.  Some  have applied cold
fomentations to the parts,  and a  solution of alum, but these  are best
avoided.
  The Milk Fever, as it is  commonly called, is too large a  secretion of
milk in  the breasts, and they become hard and SAvelled, accompanied by
febrile appearances, such as restlessness, pains in the head and back, and
considerable thirst. 
37
   To remedy this, take five to seven pills or thereabout, No." 2 twice, and
then a dose of the same quantity of No. 1, repeating the dose till the fever
is  abated, and the breasts restored to a natural state.
   Inflammation and  Tumours in the Breast.—This is  treated on  in
another part of the work, and is not peculiar to the child-bed state ; I
would  refer the reader to the remarks there made on the subject.
   The Swelled Leg.—This disease folloAvs tedious  and difficult labours,
and improper treatment after delivery ; and when not properly  treated,
seldom returns to its original size, but remains enlarged through life.—
When  this occurs, doses of the No. 2 Pills are the best beginning to
effect a cure  ; afterwards take moderate  doses of No. 1 and No. 2 alter-
nately, with the Aperient Powders, several times during the day.
   Prolapsus, or falling of the  Womb.—This complaint is frequently met
with among Avomen  who have  had many  children, or  frequent  mis-
carriages, particularly those of delicate  constitutions,  and loose fibres.
Sometimes it has occurred through rising too soon after childbirth, before
the parts have regained  their  usual tone and strength, and the fibres
relaxed for want  of the strengthening powers of the Universal Medicines.
In some cases the  womb only falls lower  than it  ought to do ; but in
others, it protrudes beyond the external parts.  It is accompanied by a
mucus discharge resembling the fluor albus, or whites.   This is called by
the doctors a local  complaint, and treated by them as such: but  it arises
from a neglected state of the body, and it will be found on inquiry, that
this never occurs but  when the functions of the stomach and bowels are
impaired, and there is generally a costive habit of body with it, or at least
irregularity of the bowels.
   The remedy for this complaint is to be found by taking the Universal
Medicines, in doses of five pills to begin with, increasing the dose a pill a
day till they arrive at doses  of fifteen to twenty pills per pay, using two
doses of the No. 2 to one dose  of No. 1. and plentiful drinks of the mixture
made  by the Aperient PoAvders.
   A recumbent posture is the best to be  kept in, and injections  of tepid
water  to assist the  outward cleansing.   When  the womb protrudes, it
ought to be replaced  by  placing the woman in a lying position, applying
the fingers and thumb to the lower part of the protuberance, and then by
a gradual  and gentle pressure, carried to its natural place.   This being
effected, a proper  sized  sponge  is to be introduced as high up as the
vagina as can be borne easily, and it can occasionally be removed, and
one someAvhat of a smaller size substituted.  A bandage must be worn as 
38
in female complaints.  Let her not be in too much  of a  hurry to quit u
recumbent posture, and avoid all active exertion, or much exercise.
   Inflammation of the  Womb is a dangerous, and  not unfrequent com-
plaint after delivery.  It is known by the pains in  the region about the
womb,  and a foetid discharge.  Doses  of No. 2  Pills  for tAvo nights
successively, and  one  dose  of No. 1 the folloAving night, repeating the
doses in this proportion will  remove the cause; begin Avith six pills, and
increase a pill every dose.
   Sore  Nipples.—These occur from an inquire state of the blood, and do
not require any outward application, except Avashing a feAv times in the
day with cold water.  Purify the blood by the Universal  Medicines, and
the soreness will soon be removed.
   These are the principal forms of sickness attendant  on a child-bed
woman  ; but should any thing occur, not here specified, remember the
theory of disease as pointed out by Mr. Morison and the British College of
Health : fix this in  memory, and you can rarely err.   Recollect that
disease  is one and  the same whatever form it  assumes ;  and the remedy
is to be found by cleansing  the system by the free use of the Universal
Medicines. 
TREATMENT OF  INFANTS.
  Infants are born sometimes without shoAving any appearances of life;
but this is  often  only suspended,  and  the  apparent cessation of  the
action of the heart and lungs may be oAving to various causes, such as a
collection of glairy matter in the windpipe, or  the neck of the infant being
tightly encircled by the navel string, or the mouth of the Avomb, so as to
stop circulation.
  When the infant shows no signs of life after birth, it is Avell not to apply
a ligature to the navel string soon, or  to  detach  the after-birth too soon
from its connexion Avith the Avomb.  Endeavours should be made to inflate
the lungs by breathing in the mouth, or blowing Avith  a small tube, imita-
ting natural respiration.   Besides these, the infant may be immersed in
a warm bath, in  order  that a proper  degree  of heat may restore it  to
animation.
  The boAvels of infants at the time of their birth,  are  filled Avith a
blackish coloured matter.  The efforts  of nature are, in general, sufficient
to carry this from the intestines, and the first mother's milk, which is of a
laxative quality, assists this necessary discharge.  Should  it be retained,
or not sufficiently carried  off,  half a  No. 1  pill, dissolved in a small
quantity of warm water,  will carry it off;  if not, repeat it.
  Most  of  the complaints of children, are  flatulency, acidity, griping
pains, and evacuations of a green colour;  and fasting is one remedy that
nature points to as the means of clearing the  system ; but  the  Universal
Medicines are better.   I will, with permission, quote a feAV of Mr.
Morison's remarks on the treatment of infants as peculiarly applicable in
this case: he says, in Morisoniana, page 62, "The neAv-born infant either
sleeps or cries;  if he sleeps, and  which he should do, for a great length
of time, his attendants  become  uneasy,  and think he  is going to pass
away for want of nourishment, and seize the earliest opportunity of forcing
it upon him.  If the child cries, the manner in which we treat him is ten
times worse : he cries only because he has  pains, and suflers.   This
Buffering and pains can  only proceed from acrimonious humours in his
6tomach and bowels. 
40
   " Reason with yourself if it can be any thing else at this stage of life ;
if, when in this state, those about him reconciled tliemsehes to  let him
fast, the action of the stomach and bowels Avould  soon Avork oft the slight
acrimonious humours that Averc giving him pain,Avhcn he Avould soon fall
asleep,  and aAvaken  in a proper state to take food."
   If they are costive, a feAv doses of one dissolved pill, No. 1 and No. 2
alternately, will remove this and all the other previously mentioned com-
plaints.
   Teething, or Dentition.—Children of a sickly habit of body suffer most
in teething.   The action of cutting the teeth, causes an irritation of the
tender nervous  parts of the  jaAvs, and Avhen the  blood is in an impure
state, creates inflammation, convulsions, gangrenes, and death.
   Several things have been used as outward applications, but to no real
benefit: rubbing the gums with a polished ivory ring is the best outward
application.   But doses of two or three Pills, No.  1 and No. 2 alternately,
are the  best, and indeed only  efficient remedy, to soothe the irritation and
allay the inflammation attendant  on teething.
   Convulsions.—Children,  when  their stomachs  are out  of order,  are
subject  to convulsions;  but  this will  rarely occur Avhen  the Universal
Medicines are given  upon the first manifestations of disease.   When this
is neglected and convulsions  occur, administer doses of three or four No.
2 Pills,  till a copious evacuation  has  given immediate relief, and then
continue daily doses  of No   1 and No. 2 alternately for some days after.
   Tongue tied.—In  almost every case this is  an imaginary complaint,
and requires no notice; although the  doctors  charge half a dollar to a
dollar, to draw the blunt part of the lancet near the tongue of the infant
to satisfy the clamorous nurse.
   Imperforated Vagina.—Sometimes a thin membrane forms across the
mouth of the vagina, which partially or Avholly closes it.    This is easily
divided  by a pair of scissors.
   In  the management of children, the foundation of a good  or bad con-
stitution is generally laid.  If mothers and  nurses  would  attend to this
one simple point, that is, the cleansing and purifying the blood by the
Universal Medicines, Ave should not have to deplore the deaths of so many
infants,  or witness so many, avIio, from improper  treatment when young,
drag on a wearied existence till a  premature grave receives them.  I will
now call the attention  of the reader to the subject  of vaccination and
inoculation.    For ages the  small-pox was considered an irremediable
disease, and  the  grim harbinger of death Avas irresisted in his devastations
on  the  most lovely  and innocent of the human family.  But  there is 
41
nothing in the small-pox that should surprise more than any other form
disease assumes : it is only one of its varieties springing from bodies kept
in  a neglected state.   At length the scheme  of inoculation was intro-
duced, coupled with the judicious plan of preparing the body by the use
of purgative medicines.   Purging with proper medicines Avould have been
sufficient  to  have rendered children invulnerable to the disease ;  but the
doctors, Avho love slow and  outward applications, resorted to the  forcing
the humour of one child into the body of another by incision, as  a remedy.
Inoculation,  as a preventive, or remedy, unless  the system is prepared
by cleansing of the intestines, is injurious,  and when this is done, in-
oculation  is  not required.    Next came vaccination as the height of
discovery.   This wild fallacy, this scraping  up  the scabs of the beasts
of the field,  (to use the Avords of Mr. T.  Moat, senr., of England, in his
celebrated letter to  Mr.  Morison, on the small-pox virus,) and extracting
from thence the previous  juice that should  counteract the virulence of
those viscous humours of the juvenile frame  which the frail inoculating
system had failed to effect, and thus seeking  to mingle the scabby juices
of the  beast Avith those of our children, with a view of forcing a modified
small-pox into the body.
   The preventive to the small-pox humour is to be found in the mother's
cleansing and purifying her blood by the Universal Medicines.  Should
this  have  been  neglected, then let the child take frequent doses till the
blood is properly purified, and there is no fear from its attacks.
   When it occurs,  let the person afflicted take  doses  of the medicines
according to the age and habit of body : beginning with five or six pills,
and increasing a pill every dose till relief is obtained.  Do not use  any
remedies to  check  the  appearance, as no marks will remain on the face
permanently, Avhere the medicines are used  copiously; proper light diet
administered, and the light  excluded as much as possible, even by cover-
ing the face, as well as  all other parts, as  long as a  due current of fresh
air is admitted into the room. 
REMARKS
On the peculiarity of, and Diseases incident to,  Females, and pat ticularly
                on Obstructed Menstruation and Cancer.
   However marked the distinctive  characters and peculiarities of the
female  frame,  still the same theory and practice  is  available  in  her
peculiar complaints, as Avell as those she has  in common Avith the other
sex.  Woman  has a great  share in reproducing her  species,  and the
intentions  of nature  cannot be fulfilled by one  sex alone ;  both must
concur  in  this great object; and Avhere physical defects exist in either,
confusion must ensue.  Participation is essential  to the end in vieAv,  and
to each is allotted respective duties, and where there is a  defect,  or want
of due exercise in the functions of one agent, barrenness must ensue, or
at least  a diseased offspring follow.
   Mr. Morison has pointed out, and clearly so, that disease in its varied
form is  to  be traced to the female; and with a view to follow  more
effectually  in the  labyrinth of human economy, it  appears necessary to
study that of the female.  Moreover, the degeneracy of the species always
begins in  nature  with  the female.  To study the diseases of them, is to
arrive at the source of many that visit the human  race
   I would wish to say a few words on the peculiarities of the female, which
distinguish  her from  the male—peculiarities  which  impose  on  her
functions, and visit her  with diseases altogether her  own.   Her tempera-
ment and  particular  organization are made  subservient to her destined
part : upon her devolves conception, gestation, delivery, suckling, and all
the contingencies connected with these processes.  From mere structure,
she is obnoxious to painful and sometimes fatal diseases.
   To her, for want of proper  medicines to regulate  the  system, the
period of puberty is oftentimes replete with  evils ;  she is constantly liable
to irregularity  in her monthly courses, and  to suffer severely by  such
irregularity; she maybe debilitated by their quantity or frequency, or they
may be withheld so long  as to involve her  health in ruin.  She  may, by
the uncertain mode of treating disease by the medical men, be obliged by 
43
their representations to submit, if not to dangerous, perhaps, to indelicate
operations, to compensate for  the  one or the removal  of the other.—
Besides these, she is liable to most of the diseases of the male, that do  not
depend on the sexual  distinction,  and thus is visited on her the evils of
the two sexes.
   Anatomists have clearly defined the difference of structure in the female
frame ; but Ave will only notice  the formation of the chest, by the angular
disposition of the ribs, and the difference in the formation of the pelvis, are
the most peculiar to the sex. The pelvis is that bone Avhich gives a steady
bearing to the trunk, and to connect it with the lower extremities  by a
sure and firm joining, to form the centre of all the great motions of the
body.  In the male, the pelvis is large and strong, Avith a small cavity,
 narrow openings,  and bones  of greater strength.  The female pelvis is
 very shallow and wide, Avith a large cavity and slender bones, and  every
 peculiarity which may facilitate the easy passage of the  child from the
 womb.  (Vide plate, pelvis.)
   In bodies  and skeletons found, the marks of the sex have been sought
 for in the skull;  but the most evident marks are those which are  to be
 found in that great function by Avhich chiefly the sexes are distinguished,
 and this is no where so plain as in the form of the pelvis.
   A distinguishing peculiarity of the living female sex, is the menstrual
 discharge, which takes place in different climates from ten to fifteen years
 of age, and ceases at from forty to fifty years.   At the first appearance of
 this discharge, the constitution undergoes a  change when the person is
 healthy,  for the better;  but  when the  system is  clogged by impure
 humours, .for  the  worse.   A due  attention  to  the use  of the Universal
 Medicines is at this period peculiarly necessary, as the future health and
 happiness of the female depend in a great measure upon her conduct at
 this time.   Mothers and those intrusted with the education of girls, ought
 to instruct them early in the management of themselves  at this period.
    I have previously stated in  some remarks on menstruation, that it takes
 place at  puberty, or  that period at which  the female is first capable of
 propagating the species.  This period is  varied by previously  stated
  circumstances.
    Before they make their appearance, they announce themselves in the
  altered appearance of the female; the voice undergoes a  change, the
  pubes, or external parts of the membranes are  covered with hair, and the
  best proportions the individual is  susceptible of,  are now suddenly and
  successfully developed.   The mind is also replete with changes,  puerile
  amusements now yield to maturer enjoyments and rational enquiry-in a 
44
 word,  a new  creature seems suddenly to  be formed.   Tin; mcnstruous
 period is usually from three to six days, and during this time from four
 to six ounces of fluid are discharged: in this it must be obvious, there is
 some variety depending on constitution and habits.
    After it ceases, the woman is exempt from a repetition for twentv-ei^ht
 days, or a lunar month, including the time it is floAviug ; at which time,
 in a healthy female, it returns with marked regularity.   After conception
 it ceases.  The moon Avas formerly supposed to influence this habit ol
 body, and this opinion is not entirely exploded at  the  present time ;  but
 the fact that there are women menstruating every day of the  year, and
 every hour of the day, is quite sufficient to destroy this hypothesis.
    False  modesty,  inattention, and ignorance of the proper mode of
 relieving  the  system at this period, are  the sources of many diseases in
 after life, and have  been the means of rendering  the  female  ever after
 incapable of procreation.  After a female has arrived at that period of life
 when the  menses usually flow, her health and spirits sometimes decline ;
 and  I Avould advise, instead of shutting her up in the house, and dosing
 her with steel and asafoetida, and other noxious drugs, to  place her,  as
\ well as circumstances will permit, where she can have  the benefit of free
J air and exercise, and occasional doses  of the  Universal Medicine, No. 1
 and  No. 2 alternately.  I speak to those who have never used the medi-
 cines previously: when this is the case, Ave have no reason to fear but that
 nature will bring a  proper and healthy flow of the menses in due season.
    When  the  discharge is of an immoderate  quantity, or returns  more
 frequently than is natural, the treatment of this state must be the same, as
 it arises from a corrupt  state of the  blood, and which nothing will purify
 so well as the Universal Medicines.   Restore the blood to a healthy state,
 and the action of the system will be healthy.   The  same applies to the
 fluor albus, for which the doctors give astringent medicines and poisonous
 washes;  but in this case I have never known the Universal Medicines to
 fail,  and in a recent instance, where  this was distressing, and accom-
 panied by pregnancy, they Avere eminently successful.
   They are equally beneficial at the period  of life Avhen the menses cease
to flow, and promote a vigorous and healthy change, and lay the founda-
tion for strength and vigour, and a green old age.
   There is another complaint, which, though not peculiar to the female,
still attacks with greater virulence—I mean cancer.   Cancer is  generally
met with in persons of the middle age in life, and particularly Avomen at
that critical period usually called the turn of life.   Many females at this
time, not having any family, have been found subject to cancer;  it has 
45
been  thought by  some,  that  celibacy  predisposes to the complaint-
Women who have  had no children, and those who  have had them and
not suckled them, are frequently  affected with  cancer.   Some medical
writers, from the circumstance of several of a family having been afflicted
with the complaint, have supposed there was a hereditary predisposition
thereto, arising from some peculiarity of structure.   Others have supposed
it to arise from some external injury, such as a Woav.  But the doctors
have  been unable to cure them, although they have tried many experi-
ments : cutting  them out—burning them  out with caustics—alterations
and restrictions  in diet—depression—topical applications to loosen the
fibres, and then  to pluck them out as a root.
   The knife is held by some as a  sure remedy; yet Dr. Beach says in
his late work, the  American Practice of Medicine, " 1 have never seen a
solitary instance cured by it;" and if we consider the state, the system of
the patient, and the true  nature of disease, it must be clear that cutting out
a portion  of the  diseased mass is no service ; but on the contrary, must
irritate and augment  the diseased part.   Dr. Beach says, " I have seen a
cancer grow more in  a  month, after an operation, than it  did in three
previously;" and as  long as the system retains the cancerous matter, or
 humour, cutting  out a  portion can only aggravate the diseased part, by
 causing increased inflammation.   The blood and the whole mass of fluids
are contaminated, and it must either betray consummate ignorance, or the
 love  of the  unfeeling, though  scientific display of the knife, to resort to
 this  method to remove  the disease.  The blood and fluids, indeed the
 whole system is polluted, and there is no prospect  of success when such
 means are resorted to.   I know well that tumours, or the cancer, have
 been removed in their early stage; and after removal, I have seen many
 instances, when in a short time a  number of small cancers formed in the
 adjacent parts,  accompanied Avith all the pain of the  first, and who have
 afterwards been cured by the use of the Universal Medicines.
    Cancer is found on various parts of the body, sometimes in the lower
 lip in the  angle of the eyes, the nose, the tongue, &c.  &c    At its
 commencement,  it  usually appears in the  form of an enlargement  or
 elevation of the skin.  Sometimes  it is hard to the touch, almost like horn;
 on other  occasions  it will resemble a  common wart;  in  others, like a
 discoloured pimple.   But under whatever form it may appear, it will be
 found to spring, as all disease does, from the impurity of the fluids.  It is
 not till it has arrived at a state of ulceration some time, that it puts on those
  characters of malignity sufficient for it to be classed as a decided case of
  cancer   But the Hygeist, who looks to the cause of disease, and not to 
it)
the various shapes and form it may assume, to alter his remedy as disease
appears to change, goes at once to the root which  produces it, Avhich  is
the blood, and you can only purify the blood by cleansing the stomach
and bowels.  This disease  has, through the improper treatment  of the
medical profession,  been thought incurable;  and they have told their
patients, amongst other causes,  it Avas hereditary, and that  no care or
attention on the part of parents would prevent their transmitting it to their
children.   The  Hygeian  theory  and practice  will  emancipate  many
families from this unpleasant predicament.   Many family alliances have
been rejected where this disease has visited one of the family.  It must
be  afflicting to  parents to fancy their offspring may be the victims of such
an  evil;  it has caused bitter reflections through the  promulgation  of the
absurd idea of hereditary cancer.   But this is entirely obviated by the
invaluable discovery  of the  theory  of disease, and its remedy by Mr.
Morison.  Noav the Hygeian mode of treating cancer is, that the patient
should begin Avith small doses of five pills, increasing one pill a day up to
fifteen or sixteen pills, using two doses of No. 2 to  one dose of No. I  in
daily rotation,  and by perseverance in this course,  the disease will be
eradicated.   A small  plaister of  yellow wax and oil, is useful to protect
the cancerated part from the air.  The warm bath is  a useful  assistant,
where it  can be  conveniently resorted to, but  perseverance in the use of
the Universal Medicines Avill extirpate the obnoxious humour which is the
cause of cancer.
    ON  MOLES,  FALSE CONCEPTIONS, POLYPUS, AND
           HYDATIDES  OF THE UTERUS, &c. &c.

  These forms of disease are found to exist in the uterus of females who
have been mothers,  and those who are virgins, and have led to unpleasant
surmises where they have occurred in unmarried females, as the symptoms
of disease (whatever various names may be given by the doctors) resemble
very much  those of  incipient pregnancy.  Various causes have  been
assigned for these diseases, and still unsatisfactory, until we come to the
Hygeian theory, Avhich points, and justly too, to the one source of disease,
the impurity of the  blood.
  In cases of hydatides of the uterus, they are a sort of globular bodies of
various sizes attached to the  internal face  of the uterus,  resembling  a
bunch of grapes;  they  have  been found in  the uterus  in a  state of
pregnancy. 
                                    47

   Polypus of the uterus in some cases arises from some accident to the
uterus by the improper  use  of instruments;  but in general it is spon-
taneous, proceeding from a depraved  state of the blood, and exists in the
Avomb of those Avho never have been pregnant, and even in virgins.
   The medical  men  in  these cases talk about  a morbid action of the
uterus, and one thing or other, but there can be no hesitation in ascribing
these productions to an impure state of the blood, and by purifying the
blood  by the Universal Medicines, you will enable it to throw out of the
system these unnatural  occupants.  I should advise the female to use
doses of No. I and 2 Pills alternately,  in  doses of ten to fifteen pills every
day, and increasing the  doses should  this not effect a removal.  A spare,
diet and forbearance from  sexual intercourse  is obviously required in
these cases.
                                  NOTE.
  I have been compelled to use some Latin terms, and 1 would have avoided these, but
the employment of the  customary names will, in  this instance, perhaps, be excusable.  1
would observe, that by Pelvis is meant the lower bone, described by plate 1—it is taken from
the Greek word, signifying a basin, because it is shaped  like a basin used in former times.
By Uterus, is meant the womb.  By Vagina, the canal which leads from the external orifice
to the uterus. The child in the womb is called a fetus, from the fifth month after pregnancy
till birth; previously to that time the  ovum.  But I have used the term foetus indiscrimi-
nately, as 1 wish not to  confuse by a multiplicity of terms. 
TESTIMONIALS.
  I do not deem it necessary to apologize for the introduction in this
place of the  folloAving Certificates  of Cure, in cases analogous to the
forms of disease heretofore treated of.   Indeed,  as  I  have the ability,
from possessing ample stores of such certificates, I feel it only due to my
readers to lay before them  testimony amply confirmatory of the truths
advanced—fully demonstrating the beautiful harmony subsisting between
the Hygeian  Theory and its Practice.
  The cases  which follow have been mostly taken from the publications
of the British  College  of Health, and  should  further  testimony  be
needed, the inquirer is referred to those publications, which will be found
well worthy the time bestowed in their perusal.
       Cure of the Fatal Effects of a Mismanaged Accouchement.

     To Mr. Morison,
   Sir,—Having heard of some of the effects produced by your valuable
Vegetable  Pills, I was anxious that my  wife, who had  kept her  bed
nearly five years out of seven that we had been married, should try them ;
but, Sir, I  must  acknowledge that I had but very little faith with regard
to the effect they might produce on her constitution.   I beg to state  that
I have every reason to believe that her severe afflictions sprang from the
neglect and ignorance of the medical man who had been  recommended
to my wife to attend her in the hour of nature's soitoav and severe trial.
Very quickly there  appeared reasons for  supposing that nature  was
completely organized, which evidently was the case ;  and were I now to
write to the faculty, I could state the case as it is, Avhich I think would
cause surprise,  even  in their minds, to  know that so many disorders
reckoned by them to be fatal, should concentrate in the body of a human
being who  still lives, and who has a hope ere long, to enjoy her wonted
health.  But, Sir, I think it  will not be improper to mention some of
those disorders referred to,  as there are  many persons, like as I was 
                                  49

myself opposed to that medicine which is said to cure all diseases; but,
Sir, I am now convinced that my opposition  sprang from my ignorance
and the want of a fair trial  of your valuable pills.   The doctor who
attended her first, declared that she had an ulcer upon her liver, two
inches in circumference, and that it had grown to her side, consequently,
almost motionless.  I  also had  occasion  to  take her in a spring cart to
an institution in the Poultry, for what purpose I leave you, Sir, to judge.
She was subject to faintingfits, loss of appetite, very great embarrassment
in her respiration ;  if  she  attempted to Avalk across her bed-room, was
compelled to do so with her  body bent double, and her  hands having
hold of the chairs, or whatever might become subservient.   I took her to
several of the most noted among the physicians and surgeons, but to no
avail;  she made up her mind and went  to  the hospital, but came out
apparently worse than when she went in. None of them gave her any
hope of living long, or even should this be the case, she must make up
her mind never to be free from pain.  These, Sir, were cheerless words
for  a young woman to hear, who was just  in the prime of life, only
twenty-three years of age.   About seven months ago she had another
severe  attack ; the doctor gave but very little hopes of her recovery.  He
attended her seventeen weeks, out of which time she had been in bed
fifteen.  He  applied leeches, made incisions one after the other ;  some
of the  most powerful  emetics and purgatives  were also given ;  and with
regard to the poison which was administered, she really took more than
would destroy life in another.  This I suppose was on account of her having
taken so much in the  course  of her severe afflictions, as  you are aware,
Sir, that the Turks, for instance, will take as much poison as would kill
two or three persons, and the only effect it would produce at the time is
giddiness, or something similar  to intoxication from the  use  of ardent
spirits ; but, Sir, although nature can be used to the taking of these things,
yet this is no proof of its being beneficial, as the effects are felt at a future
period, and in many cases premature death is the result.   Three months
ago, your agent, Mr. Haydon, of Wheeler-street, Spitalfields, heard of my
wife ; he came to my  house with the Pills, also a book published by you,
and read some interesting accounts therefrom. My wife was persuaded
to take them—and to bring my letter to a  close, Sir, I send you my
address, so that any person may come and see for themselves ; but, Sir,
I must tell a little of their effects.  It is true that Mr. Haydon had a deal
to do in persuading me of their efficacy; but now there is no need for
him to speak, as the Pills speak  for themselves;  although my wife has
not taken them more than ten or twelve weeks, yet she. is better now than
                                 4 
50
she has been since she became the partner of my life :  she now walks
upright, has got  a good appetite, and Avhat is very astonishing, can now
attend to  her domestic concerns herself.   It is true  she  is not free from
pain ; but a vast change has been effected, and I iioav possess- such faith
as to belieA-e that in a few Aveeks she will be free from  those disorders
which made life so unpleasant.   I assure you that life iioav appears like
Avhat it is in the possession of health.   She does not say now, " Oh !  that
it were morning," or in other words, " when shall I be released from this
body  of suffering'? when will the end come'?"  and,  Sir, judge what are
my feelings under such a happy change.  No more 25. 6d. bottles, no
more reasons to  fear the approach of Christinas, with its customary bills ;
as a matter of course,  I make it my  business to recommend them  Avhen
an opportunity presents itself.  I am aAvare, Sir, nature produces nature,
and that means  are  used in  order to gain certain ends ; yet,  although
this be the case, vain are the efforts of mortal man.  To produce such a
change as that  effected  on  the  constitution of my Avife, without the
blessing of Him  who alone can bless  and build up when all the skill and
efforts of man fail, and when the human body has been pulled down by
lingering diseases to the margin of the grave.  Oh, Sir, what shall I say
to express my gratitude to God for his blessing on the means.   I, with
my dear Avife, feel more than ever  determined to devote our lives to his
honour and glory, and give proof of our gratitude by our deportment and
demeanour of life, our love to his house, his people and his ways.  And
with regard to yourself, Sir, I will pray the blessing of God may  dwell
upon you and your's in life and in death, for evermore.   Should it meet
your  approbation to publish any part of this my letter, you are at liberty
so to  do, as perhaps it  may come under  the notice of some avIio, like my
wife,  have thought, and may be thinking their case a hopeless one, and
who, like her, may providentially be led to buy your valuable pills, and
may  be  spared  a little longer to comfort their  partners, and to  act a
mother's part to their offspring.

                         I am, Sir,  your's very truly,

                                 WILLIAM HENRY SANSOM.

20, Brunswick-row, Brunswick-street,
   Hackney-road, Jan. 12, 1832. 
51
                    Male Accoucheuring Decried.

                                         119, Causeyside, Paisley.

       To Dr. Greer, Agent for Morison's Medicines :

  Sir,—I never knew what  the word Hygeist meant, till you told me it
was the name of Esculapius's daughter, who, in contradistinction to her
father and brothers, wandered through the woods for herbs to cure and
prevent disease,  Avhile they cut up the human body in search of disease.
That your system is a system of preAention as well as of cure, the case of
my wife fully illustrates.   After she had been in labour two days, without
any appearance  of  relief,  the midwife, (which you admit is very sensible
and prudent) recommended me to  call a Surgeon,  as  she  thought it
impossible  she could be delivered Avithout the child being turned.   The
right clavicle (shoulder) first presented—this Avas the case once before—
and the Surgeon avIio officiated, with another similar case, got the praise
of all who heard of what he  did to save her life.  When you came to see
her,  the midwife thought the  sooner assistance Avas afforded, the more
chance she would  have of recovery;  you  remarked that the  time was
when you Avould agree Avith her, but now you Avere quite of a different
opinion, for you  did not like to interfere with the work of Nature, while she
was able to do her own business.   The midwife said that Dr. Burns, and
the late Surgeon  Armour,  of  Glasgow, under whom she was taught,
would have immediately ordered the child to be turned and delivered, as
the Avoman's life was in imminent danger.  Your reply, Sir, I never will
forget,  which was, that Dr. Burns and the whole Accoucheuring Faculty
knew better how to do than Avhat not to do, in such cases ;  and that Dr.
Burns' Midwifery,  though the best in print, still  it interfered  too much
with the LaAVS of Nature,—and you Avould show them, for once, that the
Accoucheuring art, in nine cases out of ten, was an insult on  common-
sense ;  and that no department of the medical profession stood in so much
need of reform as that of Midwifery.   On leaving my wife in her distress,
Avith  instructions  to  let  her  alone, without  any annoyance,  save the
midwife, who was to remain, to give a drink if required, &c. we Avere all
very much offended ; and had it not been for the great esteem in which
you,  and the medicines  you  sold, were held in, I would certainly have
gone directly for a surgeon  to do, as I and every neighbour thought it an
imperative duty ; but noAV I have the pleasure to state, that Nature did
her  own work,  in her own time ; and how, or in what manner the child
was turned, I knoAV not;  but this I know, that by the use of Morison's 
52
Pills, and your directions, my Avifs is recovering better than ever she did
before, for which I am very  thankful,  and beg to inform you that I noAV
and again peruse your pamphlet Avith great delight;  and so soon as you
give a lecture, and take doAvn names, to relieve Scotland of the enormous
tax, IOOjOOOZ.  annually, Avhich the anatomy bill Avill cost us to keep the
dissecting  tables in subjects, which blindfolds all dissectors regarding
either the cause or cure of disease, you  shall have my name, and those of
all my acquaintances, to your petition.
                               I am, Sir,
                                    Your indebted servant for ever.
  Broomland Street, Paisley,
    lOfA January,  1832.
                                     (My name is at your disposal.)
  N. B.  It is hoped the very great necessity there is for reform in this
department of medical science, to prevent surgical interference, Avhich, in
nine cases  out of ten, violates the laws of true physiology, will  be a
sufficient apology for unmantling this spurious delicacy, to the preserva-
tion of many lives, Avhich the untaught in the laws of nature, physiology,
reason,  and religion, deem  necessary to be  sacrificed, to  establish  the
honour  of an  antiquated universal dream, and  which the power of the
Universal Medicine only can rouse from the slumber.           J.  G.

  I  am the midwife Avho  attended the  above case, and believe this
extraordinary report to be correct, and 1 sincerely recommend all females
of families to make use of Morison's Pills.
                                                   MRS.  KERR.
  41  Broomland'Street, Paisley.
            A Secure  Birth, from the Universal Medicines.
       To Mr. Gray.
  Sie,—Your invaluable advice and medicine, introduced to Scotland by
the providence of God, through the instrumentality  of Mr.  C. W. Moat,
and  found out by you under  his  directions, has been the means of my
sending to  the  public the following statement:—1st,  Child-birth.  I am
noAV the mother  of five children ; two  of them had  to be delivered by
surgical instruments, and death ensued; the other two with severe pain 
53
for weeks before the birth.  The approaching time filled me with grief;
and upon real chance, not with any belief in the medicine, I tried it;  and
now comes the truth.  I am safely delivered of a fine child—I had almost
said prodigy—for now without surgical aid, I have been safely delivered.
  The poor old woman who attended me in my  fourth child refused to
attend me this time, unless a surgeon was to be  in readiness.  Having
told her of this medicine, she reluctantly consented ; and the fact is, one
hour's illness, forth came the consummation of all my worldly happiness;
and as I am now a living witness of the efficacy of Morison's Universal
Medicine, I trust, I hope, I pray, that all women may, in such cases, live,
and with me, proclaim love to God for your medicine.
  Mr. C. W. Moat will excuse this scrawl, and make your own use of this
letter; and if any person wishes either to get information, or to  contradict
this, they may call at Mathieson's-lane, Monteith-row.
                                     I remain your's,
                                                AGNES  YOUNG.
  Glasgow, April 13,1832.
       Cure of the Fatal Effects of a Mismanaged Accouchement.
    To James Morison, Esq.
  Sir,—In gratitude for the great and  miraculous cure performed on my
wife, by Morison's Pills only, I beg you will make this case as public as
possible, as I think it a duty I owe  to you, for the invention of this
invaluable medicine, and the blessing of God on the means for performing
this wonderful  cure.  In January last, I resided at a village about ten
miles from York, when my wife, being taken in labour, had occasion to
call in a medical man, who had  not been long a resident there, to attend
her.   She began to be ill on the Monday, and on Tuesday  morning he
was called in to attend her ; she was from that time until the Thursday
following in extremity, when, after trying every means in his poAver, and
had recourse to instruments, but without effect, an aunt of her's Avho Avas
there, begged he would give up, and call in further advice ; he then owned
he could do no more,  and he sent for a surgeon from a market toAvn four
miles from there, who came,  and brought  with him his assistant;  as for
himself, he was a little the Avorse for liquor;  but they came in to lend
their assistance;  they first  gave  her  a teacupful or two of some  dark-
coloured stuff, she supposed it to be laudanum, which entirely stupefied
her;  he then  ordered her to be walked about the room as long as she 
54
could bear it, till at last, poor soul, she cried out that the use of her  leg*
was gone, and she was again put to bed where they endeavoured, by every
means, to deliver her, but could not, and they left her in that distressing
situation, with the child  dead in the Avomb.   You may judge, Sir, the
state of her feelings, Avhen she heard one of the medical men tell the other
to take it from her side ;  but they did not, but left her, and sheAvas in that
wretched state until the Sunday morning following, Avhen I Avas forced to
go to the  surgeon again  avIio came to  her  at the first,  to come  and
deliver her, Avhich he did at last of the dead child.   She Avas in  a  very
weak state for a month after, as  you may suppose, and, had it not been
for a good constitution, she could  not have borne up Avith it, being in  such
a weak state ; a violent haemorrhage came on for two days, when she
thought all Avas over; indeed, the  doctor said she would die in half an
hour, and the clergyman was called out of bed, at three  o'clock in the
morning, to administer the Sacrament to her;  but she again revived, by
the goodness she received from  some  kind  friends, avIio  gave her good
support, for which she feels particularly  grateful.  A short time after we
removed to the present situation I hold near York ; she Avas laid on a bed,
and brought in a cart.  I then had to get  a medical man  from York, as
she could not do Avithout some one, as nature could not perforin her office
without assistance, from the cruel treatment she had received before ;  and
the torture  she  went  under for  seven  weeks, from the means used to
relieve her, she says is beyond the power of describing: it was dreadful
in the extreme, and only partially relieved  after all.   She was then left
without any  one  to attend her, and Avas left in a complete  hopeless state.
The  lady I live with, and by the  recommendation of some other kind
friends, wished her to go to the York County Hospital, that she might
receive the best medical advice ;  she was taken in a chaise, and I carried
her in  my arms to the  ward-bed.   She was questioned  by all the first
medical gentlemen who  attend there, and they all were  shocked at the
treatment she had received, and said it was not in their power to  do her
any good, and said her case Avas a hopeless one, as she never could get
well again.   She stopped two days, when  I removed her back again on a
bed, as she thought it was no use to stop there, as she was deemed incurable.
It was a terrible stroke to a young woman only twenty-four years of ao-e,
and to live hi that misery, she could not enjoy comfort any more.   Another
medical man,  who kindly called  in to see her,  having heard  of her
unfortunate situation, told her if she gave the cap off her bead, she would
never get better again; but thanks to a kind Providence,  it was ordered
otherwise;  as on the 4th of July, 1832, after she had laid altogether 23 
55
weeks, your worthy and attentive Agent, Mr.  J. Webb, of York, whom
she says she shall always have reason to pray for, happened to come by
to a field which she has near  my  house, when my wife, whom I had
placed in an arm chair at the door, for a little air, challenged him, and
asked him if he did not remember  her living  with him as  servant some
years ago, Avhen a girl, which induced him to ask if she was lame :  having
told him her situation, he said he would lend her some books that you
wrote, and if she could find a case that was like her OAvn, she had better
try your Pills,  as  he said, if any thing on earth would do her good, they
would,  as he had  a case  similar to her's under his care, and who had
received great benefit.  The next day, in reading one of the books, she
found a case that was nearly like  her own; it was the cure of Mrs.
Sansom, of Brunswick-square, Hackney-road London, in January, 1832.
When  he called for the book,  she told him she would place her entire
confidence on that case, and put herself entirely under his direction, and
got a packet of No. 1 and 2, at 5s. 6d., and began by taking two at night
and morning alternately, increasing until she got to six pills.   Before she
had taken them three days, she found herself relieved by natural evacua-
tions, Avhich had  not taken  place for twenty-three weeks before;  from
that time she every day got better.   My wife wished  me to mention, that
 the first motion she got from the use of the Pills, gave  her great pain, as
 she had no doubt it had laid in her boAvels a great length of time, as she
 got ease instantly  ; she had very little medicine given her that even opened
 her bowels at all during the whole time she had lain in bed.  In nine days
 her bed was taken away that she laid in below in the daytime, as she felt
 no more occasion for it, and walked from it to the fireside by the help of
 the table  and  chairs.  Your agent, who constantly gave me a call, was
 astonished, as were  my neighbours, and every one who kneAV her ; he
 begged of her to persevere, and she has up to this time.  I made her two
 sticks  to assist her to walk with, and before she had taken them a month,
 she washed a whole week's washing, without feeling the least tired from
 standing.   She has now thrown  by her sticks, and is walking about the
 garden, and all over the neighbourhood, to the astonishment  of  all who
 knew  of her misfortunes.   Nature is now performing her own natural
 functions, which  she never expected even herself, and will continue to
 take them a short time longer :  having had a costiveness for such a length
 of time, she wishes to keep a right state of body, and feels to gain strength
 every  day, and can eat every  thing Avith such a good  appetite, which
 before only increased her  pain.  If this unhappy case should meet the
  eye  of any unfortunate female who may have fallen under the same
v 
56
treatment as herself, it may induce them to try the same means as she has
been so  fortunate to  do, and prove a blessing to her husband, as is the
case Avith me, and for the small price of lis., which  is the Avhole of the
money paid for the medicines.   I am afraid I have trespassed too long
on your  time, but wished to state every particular of so extraordinary a
case.   My  wife joins Avith  me,  Sir, in wishing every  blessing may attend
you through life, and remain your grateful debtor,
                                              JOHN FARROW.
  Gardener to Miss Chomley, Fulford road, York.
             August 24th, 1832.
  P.S. Any personal applications will be attended  to, or by letter, post
paid, or by application to Mr. J. Webb, sole Agent for the city.
                                      New- York, August 22,  1832.
       Dr. H. Shepheard  Moat :

  Dear Sir,—Understanding that you are aobut committing to the press,
a fourth edition of the " Practical Proofs," I am desirous to make known
through its  means, the great benefits myself and family have received
from the use of the Hygeian Medicines of the  British College of Health,
London.
  I had been for many years afflicted with nervous debility, constant
headaches, irritability, and melancholy.
  My Avife had been afflicted about seven years, with dropsy through her
whole  system,  and the same length of time with a catarrh of the worst
kind, a gathering in the morning of matter or humour near the brain,
which Avould discharge the  same night into tne stomach whilst asleep.
This continued for Aveeks Avithout intermission, when it would cease for a
time and return again.  It impaired her faculties; her  head became so
tender  that she could not bear the least pressure on it, and she thought
she should soon become deranged by its effects  on the brain.  About
twelve  months  ago, the dropsy became  chronic, or fixed in her chest,
which created an abscess or unnatural hollow space, from  the swallow to
the pit  of the stomach,  Avith a burning  heat, pain, and difficulty of
breathing.
  Myself and wife commenced taking the Pills about the first of January
last, four  of No.  1 at bedtime, and  the two  following nights the same
amount of No. 2, increasing one pill each night, we took No. 1.   We 
57
continued to take them every night, going up regularly myself as high as
twelve, and my wife to eighteen or twenty pills a night.  In  six weeks,
to our astonishment, we found all our disorders gone, all loosened and
drained off by this constant purgation.   We then reduced  the  doses in
the same proportion as Ave had increased them, and  left off at  the lowest.
This appears to regulate the system so as not to leave it costive.
   So  far from being weakened under this constant  operation as  we
expected, (judging from other purgatives,) Ave grew stronger, with increas-
ing appetite ;  and during the same time it did not hinder us from one
hour's work.  My wife  says, she has not felt so Avell, or as able to work,
in twenty years.   It is now five months since Ave have been restored, and
have had no relapse.  At times we take a few of the pills as physic ;  for
our system may be  compared to  a vessel that  is  used, it wants  to be
occasionally Avashed out, to keep the body healthful.
   My three daughters have also experienced great relief from  the use of
the Hygeian Medicines.
   The eldest  daughter had been afflicted for some years with weak and
inflamed eyes, arising from the effects of ill-cured measles.  She took the
pills, from  four to sixteen a night.   In two months her eyes were well.
   My two  other daughters,—one was very greatly afflicted  with indiges-
tion and violent headaches,—the other suffered much pain from a catarrh
in the head, arising from a fall when a child.
   Each of them took the pills, from six  to  twelve a night, and in four
weeks were restored to perfect health.   It is now four months since, and
they have had no relapse whatever.   I  have constantly used  the pills in
my family for all disorders, and have never found them to fail in removing
all their diseases.
  I am therefore convinced, Sir, Mr. Morison's theory of purifying the
blood from all its acrid humours, loosening and detaching them from every
part of the system  where they were fixed, and carrying them off by these
purgative medicines, is the only true and correct practice of physic, and
must finally triumph over all the false theories now in the world.
                     I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
                                       B.  S. HENDRICKSON,
                                               No. 15 Sullivan-street
                                          Lowville, June 20, 1833.
  This is to certify that I have made  use  of Morison's Pills  for a pain
that I have had in my side for a number of years, and could only lay on 
58
one side in bed,  and by the use of the Hygeian Medicine, I think I have
obtained permanent relief, and can rest on either side as  well as ever 1
could.  I have also given it to a little girl,  four years old, that is living
with  me,  for a bad humour, and breaking out about her face and  neck;
it is only tAvo weeks since I commenced giving the pills to her, and she has
got well and hearty.  I am oftentimes called upon to officiate as Doctress
in the neighbourhood Avith vegetable Medicines,  Avhich I have been
accustomed to use.   I haA^e given the pills to a number of persons, young
and old, in different complaints, such as  Colics,  Fevers, Inflammations :
—I here recommend them in all cases, and they have proved to have  a
good  effect in all complaints.   I can recommend to the public this  Medi-
cine to be  the best I am acquainted Avith, and consider it one of the greatest
discoveries made known to the human family.   The greatest difficulty I
have  fjund, is to convince people to take the medicine according to the
directions :  some take a feAv doses  and give it up, but I would say to all
those avIio wish to regain their health, persevere in taking  the Medicine.
                                               ALICE ROGERS.

       Mr.  Bim.vdley:
  Sir,—It Avould be  a considerable  gratification to me, should 1 be
enabled through my giving the  case of my  Avife, who was  so speedily
cured by  the  use of Morison's  Universal Medicines,  to induce other
sufferers, in a like condition, to take so great a benefit to themselves;  for
this purpose I have  recommended  very  many to apply to you for  the
medicine.   In  June  last,  she  was  suffering  extremely,  and  almost
constantly, by a fixed pain in the stomach, and had been so for eight
months,  during Avhich  time I used  all means that came within  my
compass,  to alleviate her suffering, which was attended with a consider-
able expense.  The doctors did every thing for her that they conceived to
be necessary.  It was supposed her malady arose from an affection of the
spine, but it proved otherwise, as will be shown by the sequel.  At this
time  I accidentally  heard  of the astonishing cures Morison's Pills had
effected;  and after  consulting you on the subject, I purchased a  dollar
packet, Avhich she began to take, and after two or three doses,  the pain
that had been fixed so long was removed to another part of the stomach,
which you  remarked  Avas  a  very favourable  symptom ; hoAvever,  she
persevered in taking the medicine, to the amount of only tAvo one dollar
packets, and in  three  weeks she was completely restored to ease and
health, and is now better than she has been for twelve years past.
                                    I remain, Sir, yours, &c.
  Lombard-street, Philadelphia.                               p. g. 
59
                                     Newport, R. I., May 10, 1834.
                           Case of Croup.
  Friend Melville,—As the blind spirit of prejudice still opposes itself
to the already Avell-attested and superior efficacy of the Hygeian  Pills,  I
deem it my duty, in addition to the certificate of my own case  and cure,
as published in the Providence Journal about two years since, to record
one  which fell under my immediate observation in a case of the Croup,
in which a niece of mine, about three years old, Avas the subject.  On the
first symptoms of the disease, the mother commenced giving apothecary's
stuff agreeably to medical prescription ; notwithstanding, the child grew
rapidly Avorse.  On ascertaining the fact, I hastened to the house of the
child ; she was breathing Avith much difficulty, and presented a dark and
livid appearance.  I took the responsibility into my own hands—ordered
double doses of pills, after very short periods of time, so that in the short
space of twelve hours, seventeen pills of Nos. 1 and 2 had been adminis-
tered, and the relief and recovery of the child were  as rapid as was  the
coming on of the malady.  While this case of cure Avas being effected by
the  Hygeian Pills, five children lay dead in the neighbourhood,  two had
died within forty-eight hours of each other of the same inveterate disease,
and under the best medical treatment that could be procured.
   The child has since been similarly attacked,  and relief sought and
found from the same means.
   For  my OAvn  part,  since I took from seven to eight hundred pills in
rapid succession, for a disease of the head and eyes, of long and extremely
painful standing, I have had not much cause to use them since, though I
fail not to do so when any necessary cause presents itself.
                                                Your  friend,
                                          CHAS. B.  PECKHAM.
                       Cure of the Small-Pox.
                                           Albany, May 24, 1834.
       To Mr. H. S. Moat :
  Sir,—I beg leave to lay before you a statement, the facts of which will,
I think, indisputably confirm the high character attained by Morison's
Hvceian Universal Medicines
  TTne circumstances of the case having occurred under my own eye, and
in my own family, contribute in no small degree to heighten the estimate
I had  previously formed  of the medicines, and will authorize me in the 
60
most unequivocal and earnest terms to  recommend them for public use
in repelling that dreadful scourge of human life and human beauty, the
Small-Pox.
  On Sundav, the 11th of this month, my eldest son  complained that he
felt very unwell, and at my request took eight pills ; on the day following
(.Monday) he  took ten more, and the  next morning the small-pox had
made its appearance.  By Wednesday his face Avas  completely covered
Avith pustules ; and tAvo medical  friends of mine having called to see him,
pronounced the case to be a bad  one, strongly advised me to discontinue
administering the pills.  I  hoAvever, neglected this advice, and gave him
from ten to twenty daily, which, under God's blessing, had so beneficial
an effect as to enable my son, in  eight days  from the  appearance  of the
disease, to resume his attention to my business.
  In the face of such evidence, Avhat can be said, but that the Medicines
are every thing they profess to be ?  They are, indeed, Universal  Medi-
cines, and, by general use, would become universal blessings.
                               I am, Sir, respectfully yours,
                                      EBENEZER MURDOCK.
       Mr. N. Felch :
  Dear Sir,—Gratitude to my Maker gloAvs within my heart, and moves
me to offer a public tribute of praise to Him, for his infinite goodness
manifested to me and all his creatures.   From the brink of the  grave,
from the very gates of death  I am raised up,  and am a monument and
witness of the health-restoring poAver of Morison's Vegetable Hygeian
Universal  Medicines.  I present  my sincere thanks  to you,  to Dr.  H.
Shepheard Moat,  General  Agent for the United States of America, to
Mr. James Morison,  Thomas Moat,  and all  the Members,  Active and
Honorary, of the British College of Health,  London.  Wisdom, useful-
ness,  health, long life, and all blessings attend  and crown you and them.
It is  not  only a duty, but  is a pleasure,  and I glory  in bearing a public
testimony  in favour of the NeAV Hygeian School of Medicine.  For many
years I have been one  of the most Avretched sufferers Avith disease ; my
mind  suffering equally with my body.  I have taken pounds of solid and
gallons  of liquid poison, while under the treatment and advice of the
medical faculty.   Hundreds of dollars have their attendance, advice, and
drugs cost, and have done me thousands of dollars' harm.  My medical
advisers, no doubt, endeavoured to  do me good, while they were doing
me hurt.   How can men see who are surrounded Avith darkness ?  What 
6i
a poor guide is ignorance.   Can error lead  to  truth?  What  can false
and idle theories do, but produce mischief and misery 1  So I found it by
actual and  woful  experience.  I deem it as important a duty to expose
and cry down error, as to maintain truth and advocate utility.  I no more
look upon medical men as the saviows ufmen, but as their fell destroyers.
They  are  armed  with  lancet and poisons, the most dangerous  and
destructive  of all weapons;  the  laAv protects them in using them; they
are, therefore, the most dangerous of all butchers, assassins and murderers.
Would to God, that I  could think and speak better things of them, but I
cannot—conscientious conviction forbids it—stern matter-of-fact forbids it
—all-powerful  truth forbids  it—love  to mankind forbids  it—all that is
good forbids it.  I must, therefore, beg all men to think and know for
themselves, and to shun their most  dangerous and fatal enemies ; let
them  be worshipped no more as  infallible  medical gods,  since  they
cannot save us from disease !
   My condition was  as follows:—from my  infancy I never enjoyed
 perfect health, owing to corrupt, bad and stagnant humours in my blood ;
 almost any little excess in exercise  or eating, brought the bad matter into
 action and caused pain, sometimes through  my whole system.   At other
 times, the  noxious materials in  my  blood settled in some part, affecting
 that part more sensibly.   The medicines which were administered to me,
 instead  of  carrying those poisonous corruptions out of my system,  only
 added to them/  My blood and other fluids,  humours, and juices, became
 more and more corrupted ;  these corrupted all  my solids too.   " A little
 leaven leavens the whole lump."   I at length  became almost an  entire
 mass of corruption ; the whole system was defiled; nature was overloaded,
 burdened, weakened,  and almost totally deranged; life remained in me,
 but was almost exhausted;  my  physical powers were so destroyed that I
 was next to one dead, or dying; "my head was sick,  my  heart was
  faint •" neither food, drink, or medicine did me any good ;  I was at the
  point'of death, nature was so far exhausted ; I was nearly devoid of hope
  or fear   O, that I had language to paint to you my condition and my
  sufferings! I was racked with pain in every  part; my  blood would at
  times become almost stagnant; my Avhole frame would become cold; it
  was only by severe rubbing, pinching, and even beating, that my corrupt
  and stagnant blood could be again forced to circulate and g.ve me a little
  warmth and energy. About the region of my heartwas the seat of my pain ;
  mv heartpalpitated, throbbed, fluttered, andthemost dreadful burning pain
  of my heart and stomach was continually felt.    My medical  attendants
  failed me; my friends and neighbours gave  me  up as hopeless; nay, 
62
 often for hours in succession, thought me dying.   While in this, I may
 say, dying condition, Mrs. Felch and you advised me, yes, begged of me,
 to try the Universal Medicines, declaring you had  not  yet given up all
 hope.  My mother,  avIio had  used those  medicines, and had  received
 astonishing benefit from them, gave me five pills, No. 2 ; in one hour five
 more ; and in another five more, making fifteen.   This  Avas the first that
 I took of the medicines ;  they operated, and  I Avas relieved.   The same
 day my brother Avent to your house, and procured me a package of the
 medicines: in  less than a Aveek,  I took fifty Pills in tAventy-four hours;
 I passed the most astonishing quantities of corrupt and putrid matter.   I
 have  often thought it next to impossible, that  any one should believe the
 fact unless they Avere Avitnesses of it, or their experience had proved it. On
 this subject, I shall make a feAv explanatory  observations.  Suppose my
 actual weight to have been  at  the time of taking the  first dose of the
 medicines, 1251b.; if four-fifths of our weight be fluids, then  my  fluids
 must  have weighed 1001b.  Ill suppose one-half only of those fluids Avere
 only corrupt matter,  then  I should have had 50lb. of bad and  corrupt
 matter to pass off.   This supposition is by no means correct.  Another
 nearer the truth Avould be, that only one twenty-fifth part of my  fluids
 were  pure; and in   that case, 961b. would be  the Aveight for such
 discharges.   I  doubt  not, that I had a very  little pure  blood  and other
 fluids in my system ;  yet I doubt  having as much as last supposed.   In
 addition to what has been supposed,  I conclude my solids were sadly
 corrupted by the impurities  lodged in them from the fluids.  In this
 manner I  have satisfied myself on this subject, though the  quantities
 seemed  to exceed all these calculations.   Every dose  of the medicine
 carried off some, and in proportion to its discharge,  I became relieved.
 So enormous was the load that nature groaned under it;  so universal was
 the corruption and so deeply fixed,  that a constant and persevering course
 was necessary  to carry  this  cause of all  my trouble out of my  system.
 After  three months'  use of the medicine,  1  found myself wonderfully
relieved ; yet I feared that I had so  long been taking bad medicines, before
 I procured and used the universal ones, that I was past being cured.
  Some may be anxious to enquire what Avas my disease  ?  As a Hygeist,
 I have told you in my oavh way.   If you  ask for the  opinions of  my
medical advisers and have them,  I  fear you will be no wiser as to my
distressful situation.   Their opinions differed.  One said I was troubled
 with  nervous affection ; another that I was in a decline.   Some said I
was hysterical; some that I had the consumption fully seated :  some that
 I had the liver complaint; that  I had the asthma, that my complaint was 
63
 dropsy, &e. they declared they could not cure me.  If any of them did
 know my complaint and the cause of it, they knew not how to cure me ;
 of course their knoAvledge did me no good, but a great deal of harm.
   I am not sensible now of any disease afflicting me ; my pain is gone,
 body and  mind are at ease, my  appetite is good, my food digests well, I
 eat of any kind of food in  moderation,  nothing hurts me, my  sleep is
 sweet, I expose myself Avithout fear of colds.  If I have not regained my
 natural strength,  it is daily increasing.  In one year and four months
 the medicines which have  done me all tliis good,  have cost only the
 trifling sum of forty dollars, when a thousand dollars Avould be a sacrifice
 only trifling to procure it.  One  dollar's Avorth, in many cases, restore to
 health.  But in my case more was required.  Excuse the length  of this
 communication ;  long as it  is, I  have not written one-half of what I wish
 all the world knew.   Before I close, I wish to  offer a few more observa-
 tions.   1. Small _li^lit_doggs,  Avhere  the  system  is  much  corrupted,
 disturb and ¥ring into action the  corrupt matter,  in Avhich  case, they
 cause extfej^fijjausea- sickness  and pain ;  for this plain reason, because
 they are not powerful enough to carry off those corruptions of the system.
 TAvice oTlnTeetimes the quantity Avould have  done the Avork, and the
""'ner,son^Ttmplea^ntlv7  2. Small doses are not sufficient to cure obstinate,
 deep-rootejii-di5ease.   The  stronger the enemy, the stronger power  is
 necessary  to overcome it. When I took fifty Pills Per day, soon after
 commencing with the medicines, their operation was more pleasant, gave
"me"les'rpaTn,  and  did not  make  m?  so "sick"asi when! Only took five.
"Had I not then resorted to brisk doses, I should long before this have been
 in my grave.   It Avas those  doses that removed the -cof^upt^^tter that
""was"destroying all the powers* of nature ; "they threw  off the load that
 struggling  nature  could not, Avithout powerful help.  3. Though  my
 stomach digested the medicines better than anything else; yet my power
 of digestion was so dreadfully deranged, that for some time  I could not
 but partially digest the  pills, and sometimes passed a part of them as
 when SAvalloAved.  To me, this does not seem strange,  since the stomach
 may be in such a state as not to  di^eMat_ all.  There is one lady of my
 acquaintance,  whose experience  was the same as  mine  in this  respect,
 who will soon lay her case before the public.  Should  any poor sufferers
 be so far gone as to be in the same condition, I pray let them not to de-
 spair.  4.  Three nr four pills will? (now the enemy is  expelled,) operate
 on me more bristly thanjwenjy, tbJg^.ar.Wfin, forty &&, when myjsys^
 tern  was so filled" with  qQjauMfl&g&gnant  humours.^  This disproves
 the  assertion, that the more  we use them, the more through habit willbo^ 
64
 necessary to operate.  5. T ^guld nnt ndgjse those who are going through
 a course of the medicines of any great length, to take them fostin^orjni
 an empty-stomach.  TafctTtlfem. savabout one hour after eatiqg ;  their
 operation aviII be more pleasant and do more good.   My,X!$^expcrieuce
 has taught me this.  In cases of dyspepsia, a light dose after every meal
 hasibe^rrftnind very beneficial, regulating nature by degrees.  6. As to
 eating, I have followed this rule, to eat moderately of anything my appe-
 tite craved, even green cucumbers cut and used Avith vinegar.   If anything
 disagreed with me, I abstained  from eating it.   7.  I  Avould advise the
 sick to exercise very moderately, never to fatigue, to  keep the mind calm
 and serene, if they wish to  recover  their health quick, or at all.  8.  I
 think highly of friction, rubbing with the  hand, flesh brush, a rough cloth.
 even pinching and beating the parts affected;  this promotes the circulation
 of the blood, and helps the medicines to detach and remove the impure
 and. stagnant matter.   Let no r"3^firl'i'ffpf    j  ng tney w^ for a cure.
 9. None are too Aveakto nave the cause or weakness removed.   When I
 could not sit up a moment without fainting, I took my largest doses and
grained strength.  10. Let none be frightened by any symptoms or feelings
 while the medicine are searching, detaching, drawing out, and evacuating
 the impure and noxious matter from the system.   When their operation
 is felt the most, they do the most good.  Would any one expect to have
 a thorn or splinter extracted from their flesh and not feel it?   What gives
 great pain often does great good.  Brisk doses  will soon remove those
 bad feelings, and they  will then learn what I have learned, that it is the
 bad humours, and not  the medicines, that cause the pain and uneasiness.
 11. After more than a year's use of the medicines, I passed  several
 pipes or tubes, as to form, composed  of tough elastic  matter, and of a
 whitish color, which the medicines had detached from some of my inward
 parts ; the removal of which afforded me uncommon relief.  These were,
 no doubt, formed from the corrupt humours  accumulating,  and were  a
 source of much of my dreadful sufferings. Thus have I endeavoured ho-
 nestly to discharge a duty which I owe tojhe British College of HeaJlh, to all
 mankind, and to my Maker.   May I be the instrument of leading some
 of my fellow-sufferers out of the evils of disease into the blessings of health.
                    I remain yours, most gratefully,
                /foy-t^rt** //n^*~<MARY  M. GRIFFIN.
  Mamakating, Sullivan County, N. Y.        y - ' sC* ...:?-< ,/   ^ Ui»
            13th Sept., 1834.                                        ' 
a feav
CHAPTERS  FOR   MOTHERS

                       ON THE

        MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN.
                        ON NURSING INFANTS,
  It may be supposed that nothing remains to be said on the subject of
nursing; but it is otherwise;  many of the bad moral habits of children
are produced by the present mode of nursing,  and consequently, if that
mode be changed or modified, it is reasonable to hope that the formation
of such habits will also be prevented.
  The accustoming children  to  be  so much on the arm, is so general in
this country, as to be almost universal, except  in  the lower order of
society.  Whence has it arisen, and what are the advantages to be gained
by it 1   It is useful, and in the world's opinion essential, on three accounts;
it facilitates the preservation of a due degree of warmth in the child; it
affords an excellent opportunity for the nurse to give her charge exercise,
and it secures a proper degree of attention to the infant in other respects.
But the first of these  objects may be  gained by additional clothing, and
by the warmth of a fire, the child being ordinarily placed, when awake,
in a basket, which may  stand  on  a chair, or on a table  at the nurse's
elbow ; the second will be better done by the child's OAvn  exertions than
by  the  nurse's interference,  especially  when  old enough to  be on  the
carpet; and the third is one which  a nurse would not dare to name.
  What are the disadvantages  of  the  practice 1  The child  is always
placed  in an uncomfortable position, and often in a hurtful  one—he is
constantly irritated by the arbitrary and sudden, and probably unwished
for changes of position, which the necessities or the caprices of the nurse
occasion ;  if the nurse's temper be bad, he is  thus too made  to feel  the
effects of her ill-humour ;  and the due exercise of his limbs is improperly
interfered with.  It will be necessary,  however, to discuss the subject
more in detail.
  The only proper position for a mere infant, is the horizontal one.  His
body is made of the most yielding  materials.   What are afterwards to
become bones, are still composed, in a great part, of gristle ; and the back
                                                       5 
66
 especially, which bears  the principal stress of the body when erect, is
 perhaps, less ossified, comparatively speaking, than the other bones arc.
 Hence then, the bones of an  infant are not calculated for  bearing the
 erect position ; and  as if to  show beyond all doubt, that that position is
 improper, nature has made his muscles so feeble, and indeed so inactive,
 that he has no poAver of  sustaining the weight even of an arm or a leg;
 much less, then, can he support the body and head when held upright.—
 Moreover, if the  experiment be tried, what happens? the back is bent,
 and the head falls.
   After thus proving that nature objects to an infant being placed in an
 erect position, it is not an unfair assumption that this position is improper
 and hurtful: but this point will be mentioned again.  The horizontal
 position then, is decidedly the only proper one for an infant.  But it may
 be said, that infants  lie  on the nurse's knee as well as on a bed.  They
 do  lie there because they are taught and obliged to do so, but not so
 comfortably.   The unevenness and  hardness of the surface sufficiently
 distinguish it  from that  of a bed or a mattrass ;  but  after all, the great
 objections to the practice are,  that it subjects the child  to all the caprices
 of the nurse, and interferes with his proper growth.
  It may, perhaps, be accounted ridiculous,  to allude  to the reasoning
 powers  of an infant; but as  its  mind  is in  a state of  formation  or
 improvement from the time of birth,  it must be occupied in some way or
 other while awake.   It  is,  at least,  using its eyes ;  it is observing the
 surrounding objects,  and making itself acquainted with them.   But it
 cannot  do this with any effect, if it be  constantly interrupted by the
 attentions of the nurse.   How often  must it happen, that Avhen the child
 has formed an acquaintance with some object, the whole train of its new
 associations is destroyed by a violent and unlooked for change of position
 on the part of the nurse, though it may be accompanied by " God bless
 its little heart, it shall go  and look out of the window," or by some other
 expressions of endearment, equally unintelligible to the  child, and equally
 detrimental in its effect.
  Let it not be said,  this  is a ridiculous mode of putting the question.  It
is a true picture of what  happens in the best regulated nurseries every
day, and it loudly calls out both for reprehension and alteration.  But the
evil  of  rendering a  child dependent on a  nurse, does not rest here.
 Nurses are not always the most philosophical persons in the world ; they
 may be ill-tempered;  and if so,  their ill-temper may, by chance, be
visited on the infant.  At all events, the capriciousness  of the  infant
 treatment,  to which this custom gives  rise, must have some effect in
 forming the child's temper;  and, doubtless, the passions of infants are 
67
much fomented by the inconveniences Avhich arise from such a mode of
nursing.
  This, then, is one great reason why infants should be allowed to lie on
a bed or mattrass, and not on the nurse's arm or knee.   Good temper, as
has been said before, is formed by the child's being constantly kept in an
agreeable state ; bad temper by the opposite circumstances being allowed
to exist.
  A feAV Words may be said here on  a collateral  branch of the subject.
Good nurses are in the habit of talking to infants;  and  no one can
attend to an infant of only a few days old, Avithout being assured that this
attention is very agreeable to it.  The practice, is, therefore, a useful one ;
especially as much instruction is doubtless given in that way, or, at least,
the connexion between the mother or nurse, and the child, thus becomes
closer and more endearing; but it is not necessary that an infant  should
lie  on the knee to be thus attended to.   If the basket or tray in which it
lies be placed on a table, the nurse can speak to her  infant just as conve-
niently as if it lie on her knee.   Again, the exercise which an infant takes
when lying horizontally, and with an opportunity of freely extending his
limbs, is much more beneficial than when he is confined in the uncom-
fortable hollows of a nurse's knee.  It will  be  seen  below how true this
is,  and hoAV much stronger  children, who have been differently brought
up, are, than under the present system.
   It only remains to consider whether the existing practice be  necessary.
It cannot be necessary  for  the infant to lie always on the knee,  even
though they do cry when laid on a bed ; because  they may be taught to
do  otherwise, just as easily  as they were  tutored into their present habits.
The  bed and  the nurse's  knee  have equal attractions to a new-born
infant ; and children only prefer the latter because they are taught to do
so, and are thus led to acquire one of the worst and most inconvenient
habits which belong to them: for nothing is so difficult as to put a child,
when he gets  older, out of the arms of his attendant.
   The  children of the poor, however,  learn that from necessity, which
those of the rich are seldom taught at all.  An ignorant nurse said to an
infant the other day, " you  little  thing, you will never lie  down for a
moment; if you were a poor man's child, you would do so fast enough :"
and yet she could not draw the conclusion, that it was she herself who
had created the difficulty ;  as the child did not, of course, differ in its
nature from the infant of the poor person.
   The  children of the poor, then, are taught better habits in this respect,
than those of the rich.
   The  Hindoo nurses manage admirably in this respect.  They let their 
68
 children roll constantly on the floor, or on a mat, and they have very little
 trouble Avith them.  When quite young the infants lie on their backs as
 quietly as turtles, and this, merely because they have been taught to do
 so.  Children, under such nursing, are said to be the finest in  the world ;
 and it is likeAvise said, that Avhen European children leave their Hindoo
 nurses, Avhich they constantly do  Avhen about tAvo years  of age, they
 become sickly.  It is true that this ill  health is attributed to the influence
 of the climate ; but as their mode of life is then changed, it is, perhaps,
 more reasonable to suppose that it arises from that as a cause, rather than
 from the climate, Avhich ought to have acted on  them as universally
 before, as after that period.
   A lady Avho had been in  India, corroborated the above statement, and
 bore ample testimony to the advantage which arises from the  good prac-
 tice here alluded to.   It seems that the children are placed on the ground
 with a quilt about a yard  square under them.   This quilt is  called a
 Goodray ;  at least the sound suggested that mode of spelling the word.
 They are seldom, if ever, in the arms ; and, Avhen carried into a room to
 company, they are laid on  a  tray, often  quite naked, and Avith only a
 piece of muslin thrown over their bodies.   This lady said, that children,
 when so nursed, acquire the use of their limbs much earlier  than such as
 are brought up in a different manner; and in corroborating the fact, as
 well as the more interesting circumstance, that the plan  is equally appli-
 cable to the education of European children Avhen in their own country,
 the lady entered into some  details of the manner in which she had treated
 her own children.
   They were scarcely ever permitted to be on the knee, but were laid on
 the floor, or on a crib, during almost the whole day, and they were all of
 the most healthy description.   The  eldest child raised himself from  the
 horizontal  position  and sat upright, before he was four months old :   at
between  nine and ten  months, he had  taught himself to get up by  the
 help of a chair, and to travel  round the room from chair to chairt  The
 three other children Avere equally forward.
   The Italian mode  of nursing is less philosophical, though it is not less
 explanatory of the  ease children  may be taught to submit almost to
 anything.  It  is the custom  in Italy, and many parts  of France  and
 Germany, to swathe  the children with bandage after bandage, until they
 have the appearance of a large doll, and are equally incapable of bending
 their limbs.  When  thus confined, and converted into  mummies, their
 nurses, it is said, stick them between their arm and body, and  leave them
 there unnoticed during almost the whole day.   If children can be taught
 to submit to treatment  like this without repining, there  can be no doubt 
69
of their being easily led to perform the more agreeable office of lying at
their ease on a bed, or rolling about their carpet.
  " In Canada, Virginia, the Brazils, and other American Provinces," says
Dr. Willich, " children  are  generally  laid  naked on  raw  cotton, in
hammocks or cradles covered Avith fur."   In Peru, children  are placed
with a few clothes  round them, in shallow pits dug in the earth.   " In
some parts of North America, infants are generally laid on couches filled
Avith the dust of worm-eaten timber;  this simple contrivance answers the
useful purpose of keeping them dry and cleanly;  as the powdered wood
absorbs all moisture."
   " When they are able to move, the solicitous mother incites them to
meet her, by presenting the food appointed by nature.  Thus, it is almost
inconceivable,  that little savages at the tender age of a  few months,
especially  in Africa, should possess  such  strength  and  agility as to
embrace the waist of the mother with their  arms and legs, without the
least fear, and imbibe the maternal gift, while she is engaged in fatiguing
pursuits.  In that country, it  is truly  astonishing to see infants, two
months old, creeping about, and others, somewhat older, walking upon
their hands and knees almost as speedily as adults."  "On the contrary,"
says Dr. Willich, " in our quarter of the globe, it is not uncommon to see
boys, several years old,  nursed either by the breasts of an ill-advised
mother, or with spoon-meat on  the lap of an effeminate nurse."
   It seems to be  unnecessary  for a child to be nursed at all, at least, as
the expression is commonly understood.  Of course, the nurse is some-
times  obliged to take the children on  her  knee, for the  purposes of
cleanliness and of the toilet, but for all other purposes it is evident that a
bed on the floor, or basket with a  mattrass  or pillow in  it, is the best
situation in which it can be placed.
   When the child is dressed, then, for the first time, it should be placed
either in bed, or what is better, in a warm cot, and be only taken out of
it for the purpose  of being fed, or dressed, or made clean.  It will soon
become as much attached to this domicile, as it would have been to the
knee of its  nurse.  At convenient periods, however, and especially after
a few weeks have passed away, it may be placed on a pillow or mattrass,
on a low basket or high tray, and then the nurse may pay the necessary
attention to it when awake, by placing the basket on the table, or on a
chair by her side.   In this way the child will get air ;  and, if opportu-
nities be taken of uncovering it,  exercise in  abundance, and of the very
best kind, may be taken.   In like  manner,  if the weather be cold, by
placing the basket on the rug before the fire, the child may be sufficiently
Avarmed without difficulty. 
70
  All the other little difficulties, which nurses will assuredly raise againet
this plan, may be considered in a similar way.  It would seem as if nurses
were fond of trouble ; for it is almost impossible to make them alter old
customs, however inconvenient those customs may be to themselves.  It
might be supposed that a nurse Avould be glad to escape from the trouble
of having a child constantly in the arms; but no, it is generally in vain
to show them hoAv they may remedy the inconvenience.

                              NURSES.

  Nurses are of three  kinds, monthly nurses, wet nurses, and common
nurses.
  The present system of monthly  nursing is far from being a good  one :
and this partly arises from a fault for which the ladies themselves are a
little responsible.  Monthly nurses have too much  influence; they are
made too much of.   It  is the fashion to give  more importance to the
business of lying-in than belongs to it.  It certainly happens, that some'
times a lying-in room is a scene of great distress and of danger, but in
the majority of cases, to bring a child into the world is an action of health
rather than a process of disease.   Women in  such  a situation require
abundance  of care  indeed ;  because  the constitution  is  then  very
susceptible of receiving  impressions of every kind ; but, it is a species of
care, which may be administered by any ordinary female of good sense,
who is willing to receive  instruction.  In  like manner, the care of an
infant is a very simple matter, which requires no particular abilities for
its  proper  administration.   And yet, both  with  regard to mother and
child,  a great mystery is made of the business, and a degree of importance
is given to nurses which by no means belong to them.
   It  is certainly convenient to  have females about at such times, who
understand what is commonly required, and can fulfil certain necessary
but really humble duties, promptly and Avithout any particular directions
being given at the time.  There are certain peculiar details  as relating
both to mother and child, which  require, in the same way, to be known
before they  ean be  conveniently  performed;  and  hence, it is  almost
necessary to have a person at such times in attendance, who has acquired
the customary knowledge by practice and experience. It is proper also,
as  the attendance on  a lying-in woman is often a part of great fatigue as
well as anxiety, that a monthly nurse should be well paid for her trouble  ;
 but none of these circumstances form a  reason why she  should  be
 magnified into a person of great importance;  into one, against whose
dicta there is no appeal. 
71
  It is true, indeed, that cases do exist where it would be  advantageous
if she were made thus important;  as where inattention to directions on
the part of the patient is likely to be attended by inconvenience or danger;
but then it must be under a very different order of things than the present.
Nurses  must be better qualified to give advice before they can act the
part which they at present assume.  Ignorant, as almost all of them are,
of the principles which ought to guide practice in such cases, or rather,
when we  find  them thoroughly imbued by  the prejudices and vulgar
errors of former times, it is not wonderful  that they exert a deleterious
influence  wherever they put themselves fonyard beyond  their sphere;
and that the great majority of them, by dint of mysticism and delusion,
have succeeded in  making themselves  very important personages in a
lying-in room.   It is incredible the evil they often do, not to mention the
ridiculous restraints which they lay on their patients.
  It appears to be almost  absurd to mention some of these follies.   A
practitioner the other day found  his patient and her monthly nurse  in
high dispute, whether her gruel should be sweetened with brown sugar or
white.   The lady, with natural good  sense as well as a  Highgate-like
preference for white sugar, was not able to  understand  Iioav  it was of  so
much consequence  for her to take brown—but the nurse  would have
carried her point, if the practitioner had not sided Avith the lady, and put
the whole matter in a point of view too ridiculous to be discussed. Indeed
it would be highly amusing to hear the extreme absurdity  of the reasons
which nurses often give for their opinions;  but when the  influence that
these opinions  exert is hurtful, as it is in very many ways, it becomes
necessary to discuss the matter with becoming gravity.
  Perhaps the only curious part of it is, that well-informed  women should
thus suffer themselves to be the dupes  of opinions and dicta, the fallacy
of which  they would certainly perceive were they hazarded on any other
occasion ; but the fact is, they are spell-bound by the operations of their
own fears.   Let them consider their situation in its right  light, let them
only take the bringing a child into the world for as much  as it really is
worth, and they will cease to be the victims of such follies  as these.
  But how does it happen that nurses set themselves against improvement,
and give themselves  so much unnecessary trouble ?—The fact itself forms
the reason—for if they did not give an undue importance to the perform-
ance of trifles,  if they permitted the subject to be looked on as a plain
matter  of common  sense,  their reign would be at an end.   Hence, they
make a great point  of performing for their patient the most silly offices,
and hence the process of nursing, and dressing, and taking care of an 
72
infant, becomes mysterious in the highest degree, and much evil ensues
therefrom.
  With regard to the mother, as the Avhole of the evil is perhaps resident
in the inconvenience to which she subjects herself unnecessarily, it is not
of great consequence to remedy it, unless she likes ;  but with regard to
the child the case is very different.
  In penning this  anathema against nurses, it Avould be very unjnst to
many individual monthly nurses, if the good sense they carry into a lying-
in room, the intelligence which they display in cases of emergency, and
their readiness to receive  and  act on the directions Avhich are given to
them, were not mentioned and  acknowledged  with gratitude.  A really
good nurse is a very valuable person, one indeed who cannot be too highly
prized.
  Monthly nurses do indeed exert much  influence over the infants with
whom they are connected.  Infants will  be lively and quiet under one
nurse, whilst under another the same infant would  probably be dull, and
would constantly cry.   But if the processes of dressing and nursing were
simplified in  the way which has been recommended, and especially
if ladies would teach themselves how simple and  easy to be understood
all these matters are, the influence of nurses Avould soon cease to be
deleterious, and the comfort of both mistress and child, yes, and  even of
the nurse, would be greatly increased.
  With respect to wet nurses, some remarks will be made in another
chapter; and with regard to common nursery servants, it will be unne-
cessary to say much.   If mothers  superintend their own nurseries, and
have only resolution enough to see that a rational system  be acted on in
the care of their children, almost every nurse-maid may be made a good
servant, if she be good-tempered, and the nursery will become a sort of
comfort to the household,  instead of being, as  it usually is, a scene of
contention and confusion, and the cause of great discomfort to all parts
of the general  establishment.
  As it is, the management of  nurseries  is left too much in the hands of
the head nurse, as she is called ; a person who is chosen as the superin-
tendant,from the supposed advantages of her having had much experience
in the care of children.  When a person is experienced in the ways that
are good, the more  extended her experience  may be, the better person  she
is ; but the converse of this proposition holds equally true ; and, therefore.
as the generality of nurses are unskilled in the proper mode of managing
children, extent  of experience must be  an evil, instead of an advantage.
   Observe minutely  the affairs of any  nursery;  take notice why  the
children are fractious, and see  the mode in which they are treated when 
73
thus obstinate and self-willed;  mark, also, the language which is held to
them ; the food which is placed before them, and the general habits which
are, hour by hour, inculcated, and then it will be no mystery why children
should be as faulty beings as we generally find them, and that their health
should be so almost universally deranged.   But as the practices of the
world are improving in this respect, many nurseries noAV exist in which the
business is carried on in a very different way, and the alteration Avhich may
be perceived in the  tempers and health of the children is very great.  In
several instances the early branches of a family have been unhealthy, and
the medical man has been in almost constant attendance on the children.
Two striking instances of this kind occur to the writer's recollection.  In
both these, the first children were unhealthy,  and difficult to be managed,
and almost  constant medical attendance was  required.  Gradually, how-
ever, a better system was introduced, and now month after month passes
away without the  medical man's  attendance  being  desired, and this
although the number of children has been proportionably increased;  the
children, indeed, are  the picture of health, and, as an almost corollary,
their dispositions and tempers have  undergone a corresponding improve-
ment.
   But, in both these cases, the female head  of the family has been the
superintendent of the nursery ;  and whilst her good sense has led her to
the improvements which have taken place,  the nursery  servants have
unconsciously become very good servants.   They are really good servants,
without being aware of it: they are not, in their own opinions, experienced
nurses although they are so in reality.
   It is  easy, then, to deduce from these details how infants ought to be
nursed.  As has been said, they should never be on the knee,  except
when they are dressed or fed ; they should be constantly in the horizontal
position, at least till their own feelings of strength prompt them  to  roll
over and stand upright:  they should be treated like rational beings, be
spoken the truth to, and  be never deceived nor permitted to find that they
can avoid the  necessary evils by which they are surrounded.  On the
other hand, they should be put to as little convenience as possible, and be
talked to and amused as much as can be conveniently done; but still they
should be alloAved, as it were, time for reflection: objects should be placed
before them, and within their reach, and time should be given them that
they may observe and  contemplate them at their  leisure; when carried
about, it should be rather on a tray than in the arms;  and thus, as far as
can be done, they should be made independent and rational beings.
   Were children nursed in this way, it would be an easy thing for one
experienced person to  take excellent care of many infants.   She would 
74
have each  in  its separate cot or basket, and as near to her as possible ;
she AArould  perform the necessary offices for each in succession, and still
abundance of time would remain for amusing them, and giving to each
such mental instruction as its slender powers would fit it for receiving.
  Even the whole party might be duly  exercised in the open air, under
this arrangement; for if all the trays were carried out of doors, and a
sufficient increase of covering made to provide against the cold, the infants
would receive  all the advantages of the free air as well when  their tray
was motionless, as if they were carried about in the arms of a nurse.
  Children, nursed in this way,  Avould very seldom  or  ever cry;  their
health would be perfect, at least, if they were fed properly, and not exposed
to cold or other causes of disease ; and their bodily as well as Avell as their
mental powers would be  developed much earlier than if educated in the
old principles.   By the time the teething commenced,  at seven or eight
months old, they would have become little sturdy active creatures, able to
roll about the floor, and move themselves from place to place, and before
the  expiration of the first year they would walk alone, and be in other
respects very intelligent little beings.

                      ON THE FOOD OF INFANTS.

  This is a part of the subject which requires the most attentive consider-
ation, when it is seen daily  and hourly, that the stomach is the grand
route by which disease enters into the human constitution; when they
observe  that a  healthy action of the digestive organs  secures  health
throughout the constitution,  and,  on the contrary, that derangement of
these parts predisposes the body to receive  morbid impressions, and thus
forms the avaunt-courier to numberless diseases, and to states of perma-
nent ill health, they will feel anxious to  acquire accurate notions of what
the proper  food for infants may be.
  If man, meddling man, would have humility enough to feel and believe
that the Almighty power, which created the world, knows better what is
right than he can do, it would be evident to him, that the only proper food
for an infant is its mother's milk.
  Animals give nothing else to their young, for a certain time after birth;
this  period  being quite as long in comparison, as that which nature has
pointed out for the human infant.   An animal never takes solid food until
it has got  teeth—why should  a child do more ?  In fact, no  other food
than the mother's milk is required.   Dr. Clarke, in his Commentaries on
the Diseases of Children, (page 47) says, "The practice of giving  solid
food to a toothless child, is not less absurd than to expect corn to be ground 
75
where there is no apparatus for grinding it.  That which would be consider-
ed as an evidence of idiotism or insanity, in the last instance, is defended
and practised in the former.  If, on the other hand, to obviate this evil,
the solid matter, whether animal  or vegetable, be previously broken into
small masses, the infant will instantly sAvallow it; but it will be unmixed
Avith saliva.  Yet, in every day's  observation it will be seen, that children
are  so  fed in the most tender age ; and it is not wonderful that present
evils are, by this  means, produced,  and the foundation laid  for future
disease.
   " The power of digestion is very weak, and the food designed for them,
in the earliest period of their existence, by the Author of Nature, contains
but a very minute quantity of nutritious matter, diffused through a  large
quantity  of water, yet quite sufficient for all the purposes of life.  It is
taken very slowly into the stomach, being procured by the act of sucking,
in which a great quantity of saliva is secreted and swallowed with it.
   " To give an infant the best chance of health, it should live exclusively
upon the milk of a healthy woman, and thatAvoman should be its mother,
if she be  healthy and capable  of nursing it.  Scarcely any thing will
 compensate for the want of this  natural support.   Multitudes of children
 die, literally starved, under  the eye of parents  who  would shudder at
 infanticide and the exposure of children as it is practised in China; as if
 a speedy death were not preferable to a life cruelly protracted, in distress,
 pain, disease, and agony, and at last miserably terminated.
   u Such truths are very unAvelcome, but  they should be told and felt.
 The occurrence of the facts is not rare ; but it is an evil of great magni-
 tude and extensive operation,  and  every measure should  be taken  to
 discourage it.   It is  a  lamentable  reflection that civilized society  is
 inferior to that  of barbarians, and even brutes, in that respect, who look
 generally  to the preservation of their young; and the lower  order of
 animals will even endanger their own to protect the lives of their helpless
 offspring."
   Happily, it is now unnecessary to use the strong terms, respecting this
 point, which Dr. Clarke found himself obliged to employ in his  lectures.
 It seems now to be generally understood, that its mother's  milk is  the
 most proper food for a child.  And yet it is not generally acknowledged,
 how necessary it is that the principle should be acted on to its full extent,
 during the early months of the  lives of children brought up  in cities.
 Medical men are still in the habit of recommending that infants should be
 fed, in part, even from the birth ; on the principle, at least, as  so  stated
 to mothers,  of initiating the children early to take  food, and thus to
 obviate the supposed difficulty or danger of a child's beginning it at a 
76
more advanced age:  as if it Avere not as dangerous to begin it at one age
as another, and even  more dangerous, the earlier the period after birth.
  "From an authentic calculation made in Fiance," says Dr. Sturve, "it
appears  that more than  one half of those infants avIio Avere entrusted to
the care of nurses, died previous to the third year of their age.  Fourcroy,
on the other hand, assures us, that of one hundred children reared at the
maternal breast, not one lost its life during infancy."
  Immediately after the child  is born, it is customary to give it food.
  The argument for feeding  an infant  is, that as the secretion of the
mother's milk does not take  place until  the  second or third day after
birth, the child's  constitution requires support during that period.   This
argument is  probably fallacious.  It cannot  but be, that, if food were
really required during that interval, it would  be provided by the Author
of Nature.   No artificial proceeding of this kind is perceived in  the case
of any of the other animals which suckle their young; the secretion of
milk is late in some,  and  early in others; but in none of them is that
impatience displayed, which leads the human subject to anticipate nature,
and  thus interfere with  an  order which is  doubtless the proper one.
Neitherisit an argument that an infant will swallow the food which is put
into its mouth.  It has no power of selection,  and Avould swallow poison
as readily as  food.
  Eruptive disorders  scarcely ever rise in children, except  when  the
stomach is deranged,  and  therefore it is probable that the red-gum is
occasioned by the indiscreet feeding of the infant.
  The most reasonable course, then, to pursue with a new-born infant is,
to give it nothing; but to wait  patiently until  the secretion of the  milk
takes place in the mother's breast.  This  generally commences on the
second day, and becomes more perfect on the third;  but it will be proper
to put  the child  to the breast soon  after birth.  It will  generally get
something; but were  it only to excite the breast to a due performance of
the natural actions, it  will always be advisable to let the child  suck at an
early period.
  An infant requires food very  frequently during the day, and it is difficult
to determine how often it may be allowed to suck ;  but, as doing things
in a certain order is not only the way to  do them well,'but to discover if
any fault exist in  the adopted plan, and  whether  every possible  good be
derived  from it, so it will be proper to suckle the infant at stated periods.
For instance, if it awake, it may be put to the breast once in every two
hours during the day,  and that the mother may be regular in so doing, she
should always recollect the hour at which the child is suckled.  By so
doing, it will  be  soon discovered whether the child requires the breast 
77
oftener or scldomer than this, and the process will become precise as well
as perfect, because it will be founded on experiment.
   It is neither necessary nor proper to suckle an infant so frequently during
the night.   An infant will soon learn to sleep during the whole night, if
it be properly managed ; and not only will much fatigue be thus saved to
the mother, but a necessary period  of rest will be  given to the child's
stomach ; and what  is better, the formation of many bad habits will be
prevented.
   A very great evil results from allowing an infant to sleep  in the  same
bed with the nurse.  The latter is not so decidedly awake to the calls of
the child as she ought to be; hence the child is put to the breast; when it
cries, the nurse goes to  sleep, or is half asleep at the time, the child sucks
itself also to sleep, and thus it lies  all night suckling  and  wetting  itself
until in the morning it is in a deplorable state.   A habit like this is bad
enough in itself;  but Avhen it is considered that delicacy of bodily feelings
 may be taught to an infant as easily as anything else, and that delicacy
of mind is but as a corollary to proper  corporeal habits, the evil will be
sufficiently apparent.
   However frequently, then, an infant may be suckled  during the day, let
him be fed for the evening,  about 7  o'clock, after having been  previously
washed and dressed in his night-clothes.   Let him then be put to bed, and
 he Avill sleep till eleven o'clock.  If he do not wake, he should be taken
 up  and suckled, he being disturbed as little as possible.  He should then
 be  laid down again, and it  will not be necessary to  take  him up again
 until  he wakes of his own accord.   This  will probably occur before
 morning, but not oftener; and indeed, if the infant wake oftener than this,
 he  should  be left to go to sleep again unnoticed, unless some obvious
 reason of cleanliness exist  for his wakefulness, but even then he should
 be  laid doAvn again,  and  made to go to sleep Avithout being suckled,
 otherwise he will expect it again on other similar  occasions,  and thus a
 bad habit will be easily taught.
    It appears that infants swallow a certain quantity of air with their  food;
 and therefore, after sucking, they should be induced to throw it up, which
  they will generally do if they be rubbed or patted on the back immedi-
 ately after suckling, especially, too, if a little pressure be  made on the
  stomach, by making the child lean forward on the nurse's  hand.   At all
  events this should be done after an  infant has suckled in every instance.
    It is hoped that many readers of these pages will be convinced, by the
  facts and arguments which have been adduced, that it is better to  make
  an infant lie down constantly than be nursed on the lap ;  but those Avho
  may  not be so convinced, will do well to adopt the practice of laying an 
78
infant doAvn in all cases immediately after it have sucked and broken
Avind.   An infant at  such a moment is satisfied, and he  will be more
certainly induced not only to alloAv his nurse to take a little rest, which the
said nurse will  be very glad to  do, although she may quarrel with the
idea of making her nursing duties still more easy, but the child's digestion
will go on more  perfectly if he be at rest for a short time  after feeding,
than if he be moved about on the nurse's knee.

                  ON AIR AND  EXERCISE IN INFANCY.

   Infants require much sleep.  A healthy and well-taught infant sleeps
almost entirely during the first month of its existence; but even then, if
care be not taken, it will acquire bad habits.   A mother complained that
her infant of ten  days  would not sleep at night, and would not be laid
doAvn for  a moment;  and yet this  child  had been  properly fed, and it lay
down  contentedly enough on the day  of its  birth.  The  cause  of the
difficulty was pointed out, and the  remedy suggested.
   An infant, two months old, ought to sleep several times in the day, but
still he should be kept awake long enough to oblige him to sleep at night.
No child should be allowed to be awake and troublesome during the night;
for by proper management it may  always be prevented.
   It is remarkable, moreover, how soon an infant may be taught to sleep
at regular intervals during the day.   Indeed,  many persons teach their
children habits of this kind, without being aware that they have done so;
and then  all the credit is  given to the child.  " Oh, sir!"  one said, "it
always goes to sleep at this hour; it is  a very good  child for that,"—
which  means, in that particular.
   With regard to  air and exercise,  a mere infant, although  it requires
plenty of the one, much more than it is generally allowed to enjoy, is not
so dependent for health on the other as  is commonly supposed.  Infants
are almost always kept in the house too  much.  In large cities, they are
very seldom sent into  the open air during the first month, even in summer.
This is an injurious custom.  A lady, who lived in the country, and who
had reared eight or nine children, invariably sent them out on the day of
their birth, the nurse being even directed to take them to a certain place,
which was at least a mile and a half off.  City ladies Avould not approve
of this, and yet all these children lived and were healthy, although, of
course, some of them were born in the winter.   During the fine weather
of summer, all infants should be  taken into the open air during the first
Aveek,  and on every  day aftenvards.   Fresh  air is the  child's dearest
cordial; and it has been before shown, that the unhealthiness of childre11 
79
in large cities is, in a considerable degree, produced by their being kept
too much within doors.
   It is not enough that an infant be taken out into the air for a few minutes
in the day.   His time in early infancy should be almost divided between
sleeping and being taken out.   Let ladies who live in large towns,  and
who find such difficulty in getting their children dressed  in their  fine
clothes, and taken out once or twice a day, recollect what they have seen
those do Avho live in the country.  In fine weather, little or no additional
clothing is put on them, whilst at colder seasons the necessary clothing is
kept at hand, and the children are ready to sally forth in a moment.
   Again, exposure to the open air is the best anodyne for  a  cross infant.
How uncommon it is to see a mere infant awake in the street;  the fresh
air composes him, it makes him feel comfortable, and he falls asleep as a
matter of course.   Even adults feel this charmed power of the open  air.
A nervous lady can find no more effectual remedy for her uncomfortable
feelings  than  a long drive  into  the country ;  the studious  man, too, feels
how a  walk in  the fresh  air clears  his intellects, and drives away an
incipient headache.
   Exercise is not essential  to the welfare of infants.   During the first one
or two months, they should be merely carried from place to place, in the
horizontal position,  and be neither shaken  nor allowed  to be  upright.
Even as the infant increases in  age, it is not proper to toss him about too
much.  A mother reported a few days  ago that  her  infant's illness, a
bowel complaint of some danger, immediately followed a fright, which it
received from being suddenly tossed up  in the air as nurses usually do.
The child is nearly three  months old, and the mother stated that it had
always been afraid of falling, so that she had not exercised it as violently
as she had done her other children; but,  that a friend took the infant,
and unwarily threw it up  twice ; it instantly changed colour, it became
very pale, and immediately afterwards its complaint began.
   The  best exercise an infant can take, is  that which nature dictates,
when the child is allowed to lie  on the ground, or on a mattrass, with as
few clothes on as possible.
   The impropriety of allowing an infant to be for many minutes together
in the upright position, has  been alluded to.   It was there  stated that the
bones of an infant, and especially the bones of the  back, are not calcula-
ted to bear a considerable weight; and it will be recollected, that the back
of an infant always bends when he is placed upright, and  his  head falls
doAvn on his chest or back, just  as the child is leaned forwards, or in the
opposite direction.   The head is the heaviest part of the body, and it has 
80
not the power of keeping itself erect independent of the action of the mus-
cles.   Hence the head falls doAvn when fainting, or death takes place, or
the person sleeps.   Muscles are fixed to bones, and those which support
the head are principally attached to the back-bone :  and as the back-bone,
during infancy, is almost entirely formed of cartilage, or gristle, as it is
commonly called, it would be unable to afford the necessary  support to
those muscles when in action.  It  is, perhaps, for  this reason that  the
muscles themselves have not yet acquired the power of acting with energy
sufficient  to  support  the head; as if to prevent the child from  making
such exertions as Avould tend to derange and injure the back-bone in its
still soft state.
  If a child be allowed to take exercise in its own way, it will not attempt
to raise its head until the parts have acquired strength enough to support
the necessary exertion ; but, after that time, he will turn himself over on
his carpet, and gradually learn to raise himself into the upright position.
  A gentleman  of great observation  had suggested a very important
argument in favour of the system of nursing which has been recommended.
He says in allusion to the prominent breast-bone and narrow chest, which
are so frequently seen in weakly children, that this species of deformity is
produced  by  the erroneous mode of nursing Avhich has been pointed out;
and he refers for his proof to the fact, that the impressions of the nurse's
thumbs may  be found on the ribs of such infants, as may be  seen by any
one who will take up a child in the usual way of embracing his  chest with
the hands ; for he says, that the thumbs will naturally fall into the artificial
hollows made by  previous pressure in the ribs on each side of the breast-
bone.
  The only artificial exercise which an infant can take with advantage, is
that of being well rubbed.  This  species  of exercise,  however,  is very
advantageous, and it should be repeated at least two or  three times in the
day.  Either the hand or flesh brush may be used, and it should be
continued for several minutes at each time  of rubbing.   Infants  like to
have their skins rubbed before a fire ; and all persons conversant with the
subject have  agreed in recommending sedulous and frequent friction, as
being highly conducive to the health of children.
  The question  of walking scarcely ever comes to be considered during
the period of infancy proper.  In the late months, however, a lively infant
likes to feel his legs on the ground, as it is called, and no harm can arise
from the  practice of occasionally holding children by the  shoulders, with
their feet touching the ground; but it is not necessary, if nursing be
conducted on the principles pointed out in a former chapter;  and, indeed,
they should  not be permitted, in any  case, to bear on their legs with the 
81
full weight of their body ;  for the bones even of the larger limbs are still
very soft, and not fit to bear the weight of a heavy child's body.

                     ON CLEANLINESS IN INFANCY.

   Personal cleanliness of infants, as it  concerns their evacuations, is
attended  to much less than  it ought to be; some nurses have, indeed,
found out, that by holding out a very young child, it may be taught to pass
its evacuations periodically;  but  the generality of persons do not attempt
to regulate  the  actions of infants in that  particular,  although they are,
probably, as much under control  as any other of the infant's habits.  Dr.
Underwood mentions one lady, who held her children over a pan from the
time  they were a month old, and at four months old they used it with
great regularity.  Most infants wet themselves very frequently ; but still
it will be found that this is  done at tolerably regular intervals ;  and, there-
fore, if these stated intervals are ascertained by observation, it will be easy
to anticipate the  period;  and then, if care be taken to hold the child in
the necessary position, until he does what is required, and then to remove
him immediately in all cases, he will soon learn to connect his being held
out  with  his performing the action in question.    When this point is
gained, a little more perseverance will make the ehild feel that the two
circumstances  are not to  be  separated; and, therefore, he will not only
wait  until he is held out, on the one hand, but he will, on the other,
perform his  part whenever his attendants perform theirs, by  holding him
out.
   There is nothing difficult either in the conception or the performance of
this.  Infants very soon learn that they are going to suck when they are
placed in a certain position ;  and why should they not be as easily taught
to connect other things with certain positions as that ?  The advantage of
creating such a habit in infants would be very great.  As it is, infants are
always  wet; but, in that  case, they would not only be dry  and com-
fortable, but the night also would be passed as comfortably as the day:
for an infant so taught, would invariably wake and give notice, by crying,
of his distress ; and if he were then taken up and immediately laid down
again, this process would not materially interfere with  his night's resk*i.
   It would require, however, great attention on the nurse's part to keep a|j,t
so good an order of things, and it will be right to  say here,  that nT^r*
depends on an  infant's being allowed to be surrounded by wet clothes for
as short a time as  possible.  His napkins should be changed directly after
                                                     6 
82
they become wet, and the skin should be washed by means of warm Avater,
and afterwards be made perfectly dry.
  A second napkin should never be alloAved ;  it affords  so excellent  an
excuse for not changing  them so often as necessary, that, as all tempta-
tions  to do Avrong  should be avoided, it will be better for mothers not to
permit their nurses to use  it.

                          ON AVET-NURSES.

  Wet-nurses are, unfortunately, a necessary evil.   Without them the
children of the better classes Avould suffer very materially; and although
many persons believe that society Avould ultimately be benefitted,  if Avct-
nurses were  prohibited by laAv, yet they form one  of the conveniences
which money will command.  Indeed, as long as women can be found
who will sacrifice the health  of their children for the sake of gain, it is not
surprising that those who  can afford it, will thus purchase health for then-
own offspring.
  Nevertheless, although  the existence of wet-nurses is so convenient to
one part of the community, it should not be forgotten at what a high price
the advantage is procured.   It is probable that the  majority of city wet-
nurses, at least those who  go  out at an early period after lying-in, lose
their own infants.   It is certain, however, that health, if not life, is lost to
all of them ;  for, as proper food is so important to the Avelfare of infants,
it must folloAV, that children  Avho are not only deprived of that food,  but
are moreover committed  to  the care  of persons in Avhom  ignorance,
cupidity, and want of affection for their little charges, stand in the place
of a proper knoAvledge of the mode of rearing children,  and a desire to
perform their engagements faithfully, must be materially injured by  the
sad change to which they are subjected.   How common  it is to bear that
the children of wet-nurses  have died soon after their mothers have deserted
them !  It indeed scarcely ever happens, that a month passes over, when
a Avet-nurse takes a place, without her being summoned  to the bedside of
her sick infant.
   But it is needless to  say more on this subject: for it  is true,  that as
long  as there is money enough to bribe, there will always be found  a
sufficient number  of unnatural or distressed mothers by whom the bribe
will be accepted   There   still remains, however, one point of view, in
which the subject should  be  placed, and it is this.   It behoves those who
thus bribe their fellow-creatures to become unnatural mothers, to mitigate
the consequent evils as  much as possible, and many ways of doing this 
83
lie open to  us.  The most obvious plan, and one indeed Avhich may be
easily carried into execution, is to institute an asylum for the children of
wet-nurses.   Were such an institution in existence, not only might the
lives of very many  infants be  saved, but the  health  of many  more
preserved ;  and what is scarcely  a minor advantage, a facility Avould be
offered to the majority of wet-nurses, which they greatly require, namely,
the power of providing for their infants at a moderate expense.
   Wet-nurses are  supplied from more than one class of Avomen.   They
consist partly of  married  women, but principally  of those unfortunate
persons whose  chastity  has fallen a sacrifice to  the persevering arts of
designing men.  Wet-nurses of this latter class are much to be pitied, and
their situation, generally speaking, is a very hard one.  Deserted, as they
commonly are,  by their  seducers,  destitute of the means  of supporting
themselves  and  their infants, and incapable of engaging  in any employ-
ment, on account of their time being fully occupied in attending to the
infant,  their situation becomes one of the most deplorable distress.
   A young woman offered herself as Avet-nurse.   She stated that her
distress was extreme.  She had  been a  lady's maid, and  was respected
by her employers ;   but on account of her  misfortune,  the means of
supporting  herself and infant had failed.  It was impossible for her to
undertake any employment, on account  of the attention Avhich her child
required ;   she  had  therefore sold all her clothes,  and Avas at  last so
distressed for even food,  that she was willing to take the wet-nurse's place
for any thing, or  for nothing,  if her child only  could be provided for.
The misery of this poor creature's countenance and general appearance,
was a sufficient  guarantee  of the  truth  of her story, even  if the earnest
simplicity of her manner had not  spoken sufficiently in her favour, and
yet she was  not hired—-and why ?—because she was an unmarried woman.
It was in vain to plead the circumstances  of this young woman's case, in
vain to  paint out how inevitably her Avants must lead her to prostitution,
in vain  to  show  how entirely her fault had been  washed out by the
distress which it had brought upon her; the answer Avas—she was un-
married, and it was necessary to make an example of such persons, and
prevent them from polluting the more respectable servants of the family.
Polluted indeed  !  as if the tale of woe, which  a wretched being like this
would relate in the kitchen,  Avould  not probably  be instrumental in
keeping others from a similar lot; as if the culprit herself had not received
a lesson which could never be forgotten.
  From whatever rank of life a wet-nurse is chosen, she should be young
and healthy, and of good manners as well as good tempered. 
84
  It is in general proper  to choose a wet-nurse, Avho'se child's age is as
near as possible to that of the child avIio is to be suckled. This is, hoAvevcr,
more important when the child is young than Avhen it is older.  The milk
of a female who has lately been brought to bed  is more opening and
richer in cream than it becomes aftenvards ;  Avhilst, in the latter months,
the proportion of coagulable matter or curd, which it contains, is said to
be larger.   Perhaps these diflerences are not important, if the nurse be
healthy.  In several instances, nurses have suckled two or more children
in the  same family in succession.   In one case, at present in progress, the
nurse's milk is about two years old,  and the second child is now ten
months old, fat and healthy, and without having been seriously indisposed
since its birth.   The nurse has plenty of excellent milk.  In another case,
the nurse was obliged to give up suckling  a third child, on account of her
milk proving deficient.
   The diet of a wet-nurse should be nutritious and abundant:  but it need
not be stimulating.  Many women suckle children  admirably without
porter  forming a  part  of their  diet;  A  large  proportion  of fluid  is
necessary; but many nurses report that gruel increases the quantity  of
milk as much as porter.   Either  ale or porter, once in the day, cannot  in
general injure  a suckling woman; and it  may, in  many cases, be advan-
tageous ;  as where the nurse, although free  from disease, is weak, and
seems to require support.  In short, if a nurse be active at the same timo
that  she  have the  appearance of being in high health, she is in the  best
 state of suckling an infant, and therefore, as her diet is probably such  as
 agrees with her, it  should be continued.
   Acids  are prejudicial, as they will generally gripe the children, and
 undressed vegetables will do  the same thing in some cases. But,  with
 these exceptions, all kinds of plain food are proper for wet-nurses.  Many
 nurses, indeed, object to eat salted  meat, on account of its disagreeing
 with the  child. But salted  meat  in such  proportion as it is generally
 dressed in the familes of those of the middle rank, cannot be hurtful, and
 therefore the objection is only one of the many ways, in which those who
 have the care of children improve the good feelings of their employers, as
 respects  children,  to their own  advantage.   A Avet-nurse is often more
 dainty than a  fine  lady ; although it probably happened that a short time
 before she became a wet-nurse, she  had gladly accepted the most homely
 food.  In  the  same Avay that nurses can live  on the plain food which
 agrees Avith other people,  they are not injured by engaging  in the
 customary occupations of- female  servants.   The mothers  of the  poor
 work as hard  when suckling  as at any other  time, and without injuring 
85
their children; so do the  females of those nations, amongst whom the
chief household and agricultural labours fall  on  the  Avomen.   Were
children nursed in the Avay pointed out in a  former part on nursing,
wet-nurses would have abundance of time for household  occupation, and
it Avould be advantageous for themselves to be so employed.
  The generality of mothers are fearful of changing their wet-nurses, lest
it  should injure  the child; and wet-nurses are not deficient in taking
advantage of this circumstance.   There is no  reason for this fear; for
although it is unpleasant to change a servant, and the child dislikes it for
a short time, yet it is scarcely more important to change  a wet-nurse than
to change a butcher or a dairyman.

            ON THE  INJURIOUS SYSTEM OF  ROCKING  INFANTS.

   The agitations Avhich infants sustain by the rocking of their cradles, are
 regarded by many matrons, and other equally sage  observers, as having
 very beneficial effects on  their health and comfort.  All  agitations of this
 kind, however, must be gentle indeed, if they pass not the point at  which
 they are  simply harmless.  It is no argument in favour of rocking in a
 cradle, that a crying child becomes silent immediately  on this charming
 operation being resumed or continued :—the fact only proves that infants
 are quite  susceptible of  being trained to bad habits ; and, like some of
 their mothers, can express with a smile their satisfaction when the desires
 arising out of such  habits are gratified.  If, then, the mildest possible
 motion in a cradle be at best but harmless, it is not so with those violent
 agitations which multitudes  of idle and unthinking nurses employ habi"
 tually Avith the design of lulling into quietness and silence, children crying
 aloud perhaps by reason of internal illness, or of the torture inflicted by
 the inadvertent, though not the  less cruel, misposition  of  a pin.   Than
 such a  practice, scarcely any thing  can be more pernicious:   it is a
 practice  utterly inconsistent with humanity, and, of course, in the highest
 degree reprehensible.  The  stillness that folloAvs it, is seldom a manifes-
 tation of true and refreshing sleep:—it is oftener a kind of lethargic
 oppression induced by an irregular distribution of the blood in the brain*
 Violent  rocking  is particularly  mischievous during the  progress of
 teething:—its readiest  effect then is, to produce  convulsive affections,
 which lead to fits of excessive drowsiness, to indigestion and emaciation;
 and, too often, in spite of the best treatment, terminate in death.  Frequent
 repetition  of it, moreover,  seldom fails of determining blood in  undue
 proportion to the brain, together with every sort  of internal disorder; and, 
86
  in an especial manner, of originating accumulations of water in the head,
  with all  their most excruciating and deadly accompaniments.  Were it,
  therefore, for no other reason than the prevention of these inconsiderate
  and  fatal doings, the use of cradles should  be altogether abolished.   As
  an inducement to their admitting this necessity,  it might be avcII if all
  mothers, Avho are partial to the practice of briskly rocking their children
  for the sake of silencing them, would but for one half hour only submit to
  become  themselves the objects of such  delightful  discipline;—and if,
  after this, they continued to be enamoured of the exercise, it will of course
  be natural for them to desire imparting the benefits of it to the darlings of
  their affection.
     It is  very true that adults, Avhen rocked  in a cradle,  successively
  experience sickness, ringing in the ears, giddiness, headache, and vomit-
  ing.  Instances  are known,  wherein this  act,  the consequence of idle
  levity, induced a state of lethargy, which terminated in brain fever, and
  long resisted  appropriate and  vigorous  treatment.  " Noav, if mothers
  recollect," says Dr. Kennedy, " that the brain, in grown individuals, is
  much firmer, and less susceptible of mechanical  impression,  than in
  infants and  children,  they  Avill be convinced,  that what  produces  such
  injuries  on a mature organ, must inflict incalculable mischief on one that
  is tender and incomplete."  He affirms,  and Avithout  any -qualification,
  that multitudes of children, especially in the inferior classes of society,
  perish at a  premature age by  diseases having their first origin in the
  rouo-h rockings  employed  by  nurses, with the  view  of promoting an
   unnatural inclination  to  sleep.  If this really be the  case, and  it is
   impossible to question such respectable authority, the practice should
   forever  be abolished,  and cradles either altogether proscribed in families,
   or only  used simply as small and convenient beds.

                      ON THE EDUCATION OF INFANTS.

      Nature,  in its operations, does certainly endoAV  children with various
    degrees of sensibility, or of that poAver, Avhich, by cultivation, becomes
/   afterwards  intellect;   but  it is we  ourselves  who  direct Avhether that
    sensibility shall lead to the forming of a good or  bad disposition.  We
    unconsciously direct our children into the paths along which they are to
    go. By false kindness, and the Avant of a steady  good principle in our
    mode of educating them, Ave teach them to be  self-willed, passionate, and
    tyrannical: by  a contrary treatment, by  having  precise ideas on the
    subject, and by following steadily a plan of  education which  has been
    formed on  good principles, we ensure, to a  considerable  extent, good 
87
temper, obedience, and many other good qualities, as the attributes of our
children.
   We know a mother, whose child is happy, and she herself not put to
inconvenience, because the whole affairs of her nursery are carried on as
if by clockwork.  Although the child is washed  twice a day with cold
water, it scarcely ever cries, because the whole toilet is made subservient
to  a continued conversation  between the  mother  and  her infant three
months old ; the part of the latter being kept up by constant smiles and
occasional noises, expressive of its pleasure.   In the evening, too, after
 undressing, the child is put into  its cot aAvake ;  it goes to  sleep almost
without crying ;  it sleeps invariably for four hours ; is then taken up, or
wakes, and is fed ; it is again laid down, and sleeps for four hours more,
when it awakes, and is again fed ;  it then sleeps till it is time to get up.
This process has invariably taken place since the child was a month old,
and is an excellent illustration of what good management may do.
   It is  very different from the effect which is produced by the more usual
plan of letting  infants go to sleep in the arms or on the lap.  Who  has
 not witnessed the trouble, the scolding, the crying, the passion, both on
the nurse's and child's part, and the wasting of hour after hour in fruitless
 endeavours, which so often occur, where children  are hushed to sleep in
the ordinary way ?—not to mention the attendant evil of the nurse's being
obliged to get up ten times in the night to rock them again to sleep.
   The majority of the evils of children arise from the ignorance of nurses,
 whilst  infants, in general, learn  so few bad habits,  Avhen taken care of by
 the superior intelligence of their mothers, that it is impossible not to
mention the subject in this place.
   It will now, however, be easily  understood, that much of the  future
character of the  man is formed by the early moral treatment of the infant.
   It has frequently been remarked, Iioav often great men have oAved their
 greatness to the  superior intelligence of their mothers;  and the reason of
it will now appear with sufficient distinctness. An intelligent person acts
properly without knowing any reason of his  conduct.   So mothers treat
children with  propriety,  partly  from having had  the  sense to  perceive
that evils follow an opposite conduct, and partly from reasoning correctly
 on the  subject.

 ON  THE MANAGEMENT  OF CHILDREN FROM THE  PERIOD'OF TEETHING TO
               THE COMMENCEMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION.
   The selection of plain  and wholesome food ; the observance of regular
hours, both as to food and rest;  the clothing, so free  as  not to impose 
88
restraint, and so warm as to make the individual  in  a great  measure
independent of the fire in the colder season of the year ; the furnishing
motives and means for abundant and safe exercise in the open air, Avith
the occasional use of the cold or tepid bath ; or in the absence of bathing,
frequent and strict ablution of the whole body, are the chief physical
circumstances to  be attended  to in the  preservation  of the health  of
children.
  It is essential to the happiness and future welfare of children, that the
conduct of those to Avhose care they are entrusted, should be governed by
reason and not by passion.  Every kindness, every indulgence compatible
with  propriety,  should be freely  conceded:  a child should never be
alloAved to entreat, or even to request a second time, without compliance,
that which it is proper to grant at once; neither should any entreaty  of
the child extort indulgences which may be either detrimental to himself or
others.
  By mild and firm conduct in carrying into effect these simple principles,
habits of content and of rational submission are established, and many
causes of discomfort avoided:—for parents avIio indulge their children
beyond measure, forget that they are laying up stores of disappointment
for them when  they meet with others in the Avorld, who, in common
intercourse, will not concede  more than they expect to have conceded to
themselves in return.
  The influence of  moral treatment in the early periods of infancy, is
still greater as  the  child advances in years;  and the foundation for
intellectual education must  also be  laid by the intelligent  parent long
before the usual commencement of school education.   Were parents
sufficiently aware of the advantages, nay, of the necessity, of combining
the physical, moral, and intellectual education of children, to insure
healthy bodies  and sound minds in their offspring, many  of the evils
which embitter life at later periods might be avoided.
  The  usual diseases of childhood, such as measles, hooping-cough,
scarlet fever, &c, may be attended Avith danger; but the danger of these
and other diseases is much diminished by the previous state of health, if
that has been generally good.   That great care is often required in the
treatment of such diseases, cannot be doubted, for though in some mild
instances, the disease  would probably run a  favourable course without
assistance, yet it more frequently happens that the inflammatory symptoms
attending these diseases being but imperfectly subdued, protracted illness
is the consequence.   It is a common observation, that the sequela:  of
measles are more to  be dreaded than the  measles  themselves ;  and the 
S9
reason is  obvious—the  morbid matter remains  lurking in the system,
when it ought to have been expelled by vegetable purgatives.

ON PREPARATORY SCHOOLS, AXD ON THE PRECAUTIONS AND MANAGEMENT
                    REQUIRED TO PROMOTE HEALTH.

  Arrived  at an age Avhen children are usually  sent  to  preparatory
schools,  the daily  superintendance  of  parents ceases: it,  therefore,
behoves them to examine well, and to assure themselves, that the arrange-
ments of the establishment selected, be compatible with health.
  Generally the time applied  to  book-learning is too long, and  that
allotted for  exercise in the open air too short.  Frequently the hours of
application  are made irksome  by their continuance, whilst a much
greater and more solid progress maybe effected, by strenuous application,
continued but a short time at any one period.
  The simple Avalking,  or marching in ranks,  at a measured or drawling
pace, as often observed when the children of a school are allowed to take
the air, is not the kind of exercise fitted to promote health and strength.
  The  more  active games, so delightful to  childhood, should be freely
permitted and encouraged—gymnastic exercises should form a part of
the arrangements of every establishment for the instruction of children,
or of youth.
  The  clothing is  very often  inadequate, and  in females  particularly,
warmth and comfort are too often sacrificed to  a barbarous taste, called
fashion, by which  the  arms, neck, and  a great part of the chest, are
wholly uncovered;  whilst  the tightness  of the stays impedes the free
motion of the chest, so essential to free and healthy respiration.  When
to these circumstances, the effects of  the confinement in the school-room,
without brisk  exercise, are added, it is  not  surprising that, in  severe
weather, colds, chilblains, inflammations of the  chest, and other diseases
should be the result.
  Many of the affections of the joints, swellings of the glands of the neck,
and the varied forms of disease comprehended  under the general  term
Scrofula (seldom even hinted at in the hearing of.parents), are induced
by errors in diet, clothing, and general management, and occur in the
children of parents who have never laboured  under any scrofulous taint.
The commonly received notion that scrofula  is  an hereditary disease, is,
in  the  majority  of instances,  a  vulgar error, which  saves the trouble of
investigating  the causes of disease in each individual patient.  The fact
is,  that the healthiest  child  may, by  improper management, be  soon 
90
reduced to the condition of one afflicted with scrofula;  whilst, on the
other hand, children of Aveakly constitutions, when organic disease does
not already exist, may very generally be rendered healthy, by  judicious
care and management, Avhenever the means of parents may enable them
to carry into effect ameliorations  adapted to the peculiar state of the health
of the individual.
   Schoolmasters  and  mistresses ought, therefore,  to  receive  strong
injunctions from the parents to take care that the blood and fluids of the
children be  kept in a state of purity, and this can only be the case when
purgatives are frequently used.
   Errors of diet in establishments for the instruction of children, are not
unfrequent, even Avhen no doubt can be admitted of the kind intentions
Of the conductors of such establishments.  The most common  error is a
too limited  proportion of animal food, and a too  great  proportion of
broths, puddings, &c.;  whilst many improper  indulgences in fruit, in
pastry, &e.  occur without the knoAvledge of the principal.   Digestion is
impeded by bodily or by mental  exertion, therefore a moderate interval
should be alloAved after each meal, before either active exercise or appli-
cation to study be enforced, or even permitted.
   Whilst strict cleanliness should be observed, the floors of the sleeping-
rooms should not  be  too frequently washed, particularly in winter, the
damp atmosphere produced thereby being very injurious.  The boards
absorb a considerable quantity of moisture, Avhich is slowly  given off to the
surrounding air.
   By painting the floors, the absorption of water by the wood is prevented,
and cleanliness may be effected  with much greater ease and safety. This
plan is adopted in the hospitals in Holland, and they are kept remarkably
clean and dry.
   The use of the cold or tepid bath, according to the season, is of great
use in preserving health.  The body should not be allowed to be chilled,
the  clothing being carefully  adapted to the vicissitudes of the season.
When the Aveather does hot admit of exercise in the open air, provision
should be made for active amusements under shelter.
   A very common error in the  dormitories or sleeping-rooms of some
boarding schools, is the insufficiency of bed-clothing.  It is essential to
health, that the body should not be long reduced to a lower temperature
 than is consistent with comfort; whilst excess of heat, on the other hand,
 enervates the body. Between these extremes, a judicious medium should
 be observed.  Great care should be taken that too great a number be not
 crowded together; an  ample cubic space  should be allotted,  to prevent 
91
the air from becoming speedily  deteriorated by respiration.   It is to be
feared the attention of parents has not been sufficiently directed to the
early choice of a profession, or calling, for their children, and the advan-
tage that may be derived from  forming the  habits and pursuing those
studies Avhich may be  most useful to the individual in a more advanced
period of life.  Habits, good or bad, may be acquired, even in infancy,
whilst the pliancy of childhood is so generally admitted as to be proverbial. 
   TESTIMONIALS OF MEDICAL MEN OF EMINENCE,

                       IN FAVOUR OF THE

       HYGEIAN  SYSTEM  OF MEDICINE,

                       AS PROMULGATED BY

 M&v  MKSHSHfl®^  ASS"® 1EW ©@i!IE)£OT®IBSa

                            OF THE

               BRITISH COLLEGE OF  HEALTH.



          Letter from Dr. Greer, of Glasgow, to the Public.

  In entering upon the important  task of criticising the works of the
Medical Profession,  my motive  is threefold:—First, so many of the
inhabitants of the Avorld as  are unacquainted with me, either personally
or by character, will expect this duty at my hand.  Second, my conscience,
which 1 cannot with  any degree of propriety resist, is, night and day,
exciting me forward by every allurement of happiness, to accompany the
embarking in this glorious cause, and by every degree of unhappiness, if
I faifftheartedly shrink back into apathy, after being so long  as seventeen
years using every means in my poAver, both in and out of the profession,
to stir up some more able hand to undertake this of all reforms the most
necessary;  and,  Third, my God, whom I incline  to serve with all my
heart, soul, strength, and mind, says, (Exodus xx.)  " Thou shaft not
 kill."  Hence, if I suffer any false system to oppress the human family,
 and countenance the same, and do not lift up my voice against it, He will
 rank me as a murderer, and punish me accordingly.   See the 27th and
 28th chapters of Deuteronomy :  read also the 25th chapter of Matthew,
 where every one of us  are called  upon, not to hide our talents, be they
 ever so  few or weak; and hence, I contend, that, if I possess only one
 talent as a qualification to eradicate only one error of medical practice, or
 estabUsh only one truth of medical theory, and not make a proper use of 
93
that talent, I am as culpable as if I had five  talents rolled in a napkin.
Many are the arguments in favour of my attempting to reform the Medical
Profession; one of which is, that no professional man, so  far  as I am
acquainted, is engaged in this cause.   It is true there is scarcely a popular
character belonging to the profession, but can tell us he is anxious to see
his profession reformed ; and I must admit that a great many well-mean-
ing zealots are reforming it in  their oavii way, Avith all the talents they
possess ;  but this reform is analagous to that of plastering and repairing
an old zigzag reclining edifice—every cast and sketch of the trowel and
brush to beautify, and every prop to  uphold it,  only tends to aggravate
the danger of the fabric.  Review, my rational  readers, the  Medical
Journals, and contrast them with your own common sense, and you will
perceive not one sentence of radical reform in any of them,  otherwise
than that of their technical garnish and literature; and in this itself they
 are, even in this advanced stage of intellect's march, lamentably deficient.
Were the errors of the profession confined to its letter, although the letter
 itself killeth some, yet I would not urge so incessantly for its radical
 reform.  But when  its principles are wrong: when  we perceive it is
 built on the sand, it is high time for us to fly from the  danger.   Some
 systematic short-sighted  creatures may  ask, how do  I  know  that the
 Medical  Profession is built on the sand?  Willing to become all things
 to all enquirers after truth, I will digress a liitle from the intended propo-
 sitions, and inform the enquirer thus :  Men, women,  and  children, are
 prematurely launched into eternity, in ratio as the Medical Profession is
 cultivated  in any land.   Those who are content with the present system
 of medical jurisprudence, imagine,  that, at least,  constitutional diseases
 are peculiar to  man's nature, and that  Hygeists labour in vain  by
 attempting to establish the general health of the human family, upon as
 secure and permanent principles as what those of the other families of the
 animal creation are.  They tell us  that measles, small-pox,  scarletina,
 and also scrofula, rickets, gout, and many other diseases are providentially
 entailed from father  to  son!  and it is almost presumptuous in Hygeists
 to dare to interrupt or eradicate that entailment.   If disease be a part of
 the nature of man, his  Creator must have been awfully mistaken when
 He pronounced him very good.  The latitudinarian in medical lore may,
 in his interested ingenuity, direct me to the curse  entailed  on man, and
 also  on  the earth, in consequence of his rebellion;  and Avith  some
 propriety might he do so, had we not the fact authenticated that the curse
 was removed; (see the  ninth chapter of Genesis,) besides it would be
  difficult for Esculapians and all their coadjutors to prove that hereditary 
94
and constitutional diseases were the curse which God inflicted on Adam.
When Adam had sprung forth by Almighty fiat from the pure loam clay
of mother earth, he was stamped Avith the royal signet of infinite wisdom,
(very good,) and Avhich comprised his physical as Avell as his intellectual
constitution.  Ifthe curse consequential of breaking the badge of bis moral
responsibility, in  eating the forbidden fruit, Avere disease, then disor-
ganization of bodily  members,  or imbecility of some  of its  poAvers  in
propagating its species, and in providing for their sustenance, Avould have
characterized  Adam's offspring; but no such derangement, or physical
imbecility present themselves in the human family, more than in  any
other of those which propagate and provide for their species by the same
powers.   Hence, I again infer, there is nothing peculiar to man's consti-
tution, the laAVS Avhich govern it, nor is the means by Avhich his species
are propagated calculated to engender disease.   The curse, then, cannot
be physical, but intellectual;  nor is the curse hereditary in this respect
either, but acquired, otherwise  Hygeists  would be as  blind regarding the
cause and cure of disease as Esculapians are.  The  curse Avhich Adam
entailed on his posterity is  not corporeal  but intellectual ;  nor even there
is it of a positive, but  of a  negative quality ;  nor  is  it  hereditary, intel-
lectually considered, either, as Esculapian atheists and Antinomians aver,
but in every clime, sect, and grade, it is passive  and capable  of being
supplanted by  a blessing.  Therefore,  I  am emboldened to meet this
negative curse, which is engendered from imbecility of mind, and  by
supplanting it in  teaching  true knowledge,  or rather true science, to be
the honoured  and happy  instrument of  conferring a blessing, and a
blessing, too, of no mean  magnitude, because  from it shall  spring  all
other terrestrial blessings,  too  numerous to detail.   When the curse of
disease is supplanted  by the blessing of health, is not this the father of all
other blessings under  the sun ?   Hygeists, you are the light of the world!
be  patronized in all your demeanour by the  discoverer  of the Universal
Specific for every bodily ailment, as he  stands pre-eminently the monu-
ment of general  gratitude. Had I known there was a man of his head
and heart in Britain,  he should not have been  subjected  to such horrid
experimental cruelty as he  was,  during the number of years I was lifting
my voice against  all  such  demoralizing experiments.  Had it  not been
for the trueness of his  heart, he never could have been made the subject of
such surgical barbarity, as to submit  to have the ensiform cartilage, or the
ascending aorta exposed,  and attempted to  be rectified ; and had it not
been  for the clearness of  his head, he  never  could have discovered a
medicine adequate to  sustain the theory of Hygeian practice.   Hygeists ! 
95
let  the  Esculapian worldling envy your goodness in  preserving health
rather than your greatness in amassing wealth.  It will noAV be necessary
to give  the reader a point  how he  may  distinguish betAvixt the political
measures of  Hygeianism and  those of  Esculapianism.   Hygeianism
always adopts  its measures  to  provide for health, but Esculapianism
always  provides  for disease.  On  Hygeianism pitching its camp in any
city, town, or district, it makes no preparation for disease ;  it builds no
hospitals, provides no surgical implements, nor chemical apparatus, nor
confines men  to SAvallow drugs, nor locates them within doors for fear of
cold.   The only Hygeian drug in  use by them is  rather a dietetic than
organic medicine.   It is not circumscribed by any dogmatic  cordon.
The patient may, if his  physical  powers permit, when under the use of
the Hygeian  specific, eat, drink,  walk, ride, lie,  stand, sit, sleep, and
wake at pleasure.  Dare the same be said of the other  system.  Is it not
the second, and'not the least important  part of the old  system, to assidu-
ously study such chicanery as will ensnare the credulity of the  patient,
that he dare  not gratify one of his  appetites on  any laudable  object,
without first obtaining a medical permit ? and is it not the doctor Avho can
most adroitly convert the credulous into the hypochondriac patient that
soonest rides  in his carriage ?  My readers, Hygeianism  sees  no  remote
cause of disease in man,  nor no remote cause of disease in those neces-
saries of life which a wise and beneficent  Providence daily  procures  for
his sustenance.  Disease  is, in every sense of the word, a creature of
man's  creating.  He who provides  drugs, hospitals, coffins, &c. &c. at
the expense of the necessaries of life,  must increase disease, and the
necessaries of life will become unnecessary, because the man cannot use
them.  Suppose society to be one large  family, all  in health, but many of
them scantily provided Avith the  necessaries of life,  and on these who
are scantily supplied  with the  necessaries of life depends the increase of
the necessaries  of life.  Now, if these lose their health,  the necessaries of
life must decrease.   The  grand  object  to be kept  in  view  now  is, the
preservation of the health of those  on whom depends the necessaries  of
life ;  recollect they are in  a good state of health, but merging on disease,
from being scantily supplied with the necessaries of life.  Whether shall
we now prolong their hours of labour, and curtail their wages, by lifting
a small cess off them, to provide drugs, doctors, and hospitals, against the
day of  disease,  or shall we, Hygeian-like, shorten   the hours  of labour,
raise the wages, and give more of the comforts of life to ward oft' disease ?
Viewing these two sides  of the  question, you will be  enabled to  decide
Avhether Esculapianism  or Hygeianism has  the stronger claim on you,r 
96   ,
patronage.  The one lays up, even off scanty earnings, against the day
of disease ;  the other increases the necessaries of life to prolong life, by
securing  health.   But  Esculapians may object, that, though they do
provide for disease, hospitals, doctors,  and drugs, yet that  provision is
cessed off those  who are in affluence.  This objection once passed for
orthodoxy, but happy for the producer, that once is folded into the map of
eternity, never again, I hope, to be unfurled.  You  are too  well  aware
that all taxes, whether voluntary or involuntary, Avhether raised off the rich
or off the poor, the producers are, if not directly, the payers.  The man
must be blinder than the bat, if he does not see  that every effort to ward
off disease by adding  to the miseries, or deducting from the necessaries
of life, must hasten the very evils he intended to prevent.  If a rich man
subscribes 10?., or gives the same from taxation to the  funds  of a Board
of Health to purchase drugs, medical attendance, or lazarettos, &c. will
this sum answer the same purpose as if given to the individuals whom
want is the cause of driving to the hospitals ?   And  again, Avhen  the
subscriber of the 101. hands in the money to the institution, does  his
private charity increase also ?  Docs he say to himself, I intend to be ten
pounds poorer than I Avas before I gave the money ?  If he does so, he is
certainly above human nature, and his moral worth is more enviable than
common; but is it not more likely that he will use some means to replace
the ten pounds, and probably to add ten other to his stock ?  IIoav he
does this is a nice point to investigate.   He will not go to the poor man
and tell him he  gave ten pounds to provide drugs, &c. for him when he
is indisposed, nor will he make a contract to have the money refunded ;
no, if he be a landlord he will only endeavour to have his ten pounds by
raising the tenant's rent.   If a farmer, or victualler,  or merchant, or
manufacturer,  he will only raise his wares to increase his funds  in ratio
to the sums  he loses.  Now, say if you can, whether the rich  or the poor
builds the hospital, pays the doctors, or buys the drugs—and that, too,
before there is need for any one of them ?  Witness the soup-kitchens;
did the subscribers  invite  the poor back to their doors when the broth
was  done 1  Does not voluntary or involuntary taxes paralyse the giver's
hand, and clasp  the purse  against the private mendicant ?   In a word,
whether  is it better to prevent the blind from  falling  into  the pit by a
timely trifling aid, or to be at great trouble and expense pulling him out
after  he has fallen into it?   Whether is it better to give 1,000/. to assist
the industrious community of Glasgow, while they are able to provide for
themselves, and which will preserve them from having necessity for drugs,
&c.  or to expend ten times this sum on them when their very existence is 
97
a burden to  themselves, and  also a heavy tax on  the humane who in
charity support them.  Now, I hope this transient digression will afford
you some idea of the point of demarcation betwixt Hygeianism, Health—
and Esculapianism, Disease.   The one considers the human family to be
in possession of every means to preserve health, if they had the common
sense to avail themselves of these means  in a philosophic  manner to
appropriate the same to their proper uses.  The other considers man to
be heir to disease, and that to provide drugs, hospitals, and doctors before
he ails, is but humanity legitimately exercised.  Form your own opinions,
and may you co-operate as intelligent Scotsmen to establish that system
Avhich will add  to your happiness, is in reality, the sincere wish of, my
common-sense readers,                                       J. G.
CASE OF CURE OF MR. JOHNSON LINCOLN, SURGEON,R.N,

                     Northallerton, Yorkshire, February 25*A, 1836.
  Mr. Morison,—I consider it the duty of every person who has been
under medical treatment for a great number of years, and whose case was
hopeless,  to  come boldly forward with an open testimony of the truth,
particularly so at this important period, when you are meeting with such
strong opposition :  and I say it is a gross fabrication to assert, that the
" Universal Medicines" caused  death in  any one  instance, when  left
alone ; so far from causing inflammation, their nature is to subdue it.
What will  these noodle doodles say, Avhen I tell them, that for three
months I have been taking  these  medicines, never  less than sixty pills,
and  frequently as high as a hundred and  ten daily, for many days, and
with the best results.   The truth  might  be  testified  without the least
degree of prejudice either to one party or the other.  I will herein give a
true  statement of my afflicting case, and nothing but the truth, and leave
the rest to the public to judge.  Twelve years I served in the East Indies,
as Surgeon, in various of his Majesty's ships of Avar, where my constitu-
tion  was  entirely ruined, and on my return to England I had a severe
rheumatic fever, which confined me five months, and on partly recovering,
I was attacked with  dangerous epileptic  fits,  which have  ever  since
endangered my life;—from that period, subject to  frequent  and violent
attacks of rheumatic gout, which confine me three parts of the year, and
from excessive pain, the joints of my knees, feet, elbows, hands, &c. &c
are much enlarged and contracted ; from eight to ten years I have been
afflicted  with erysipelas, inflammation, and diseased liver;  repeated 
9S
 bleedings, &c. &c. Avith mercury, the usual medical treatment, gave me
 only partial relief.  I had the  best medical advice  in London, Bristol,
 Cheltenham, and this part of the country, for which I shall ever feel truly
 grateful,  but all I took only tended to debilitate me more and  more.
 The last two years I have had blood taken from me six or eight times, and
 my system constantly under the influence  of mercury.   Last October I
 had a severe attack of diseased liver, with violent spasms in the chest; I
 could not bear the least  pressure.   I again  lost blood, was blistered, &c.
 which gave me a little ease.  Early in November these symptoms returned
 with redoubled  violence, and severe erysipelas, inflammation of the left
 leg and foot, side, &c.  I Avas dreadfully emaciated and Aveak, obliged to
 walk Avith crutches  ; my left leg and foot were twice the usual size, with
 bloody foetid ichorus discharge ;  my left  knee, hip, elbow, and  hand
 greatly enlarged, inflamed, and painful with the gout; such was my
 afflicting situation, Avith no hopes of recovery, and an early grave before
 my face, Avhen I saw the case of Lady Grey in the papers  I determined
 to try the Universal Vegetable Medicine,  and I shall ever  bless the day
 when I got a supply from Mr. Webb, to whom I owe  a large debt  of
 gratitude ; he Avas the means of saving my life, by the clear instructions
 he gave.—On the 10th of November last, I  began the medicine, and had
 only taken four doses in twenty-four hours,  when I found my liver much
 easier, and  the  discharge  from my leg in a healthy state.  I took ten
 pills at a time, tAvice in twelve hours, and finding they did not poison me,
 I increased the dose from ten, fifteen, to  thirty-five pills  twice a day.
 My liver got perfectly easy, and remains so  to this day.  Finding myself
 still in the land of the living, Avith my complaints mitigated, and to  sheAV
 my faith  in the Universal Medicines, I speedily ran up to as  high  a
number as a hundred and ten pills in eighteen hours ; that is, twenty-five
 No. 1 at  eight in the morning, ditto at two p. m., ditto at eight p. m., and
thirty-five No. 2 at three in the  morning. What was the consequence 1
I had several evacuations, eat a hearty breakfast, dinner, and tea.   After
I had taken these large doses for three or four days, I awoke in the  night
with a violent pain in the loAver part of the  abdomen, could not bear the
least touch :  my family wished to call in a medical man ;  I said if you
do, order my coffin  at the  same time.  My  confidence in the Universal
Medicine was not to be shaken.  1 immediately took thirty-five of No. 2
bruised, and in a short time I had several black foetid bilious evacuations.
I went to bed and slept  soundly until ten noxt morning, when I made  a
good breakfast.  Had a medical man been  called in, it would have  been
pronounced violent inflammation, and remedies applied which Avould  have 
9&
checked the free operation of the medicine, and caused that inflammation
they came to prevent, and I make no doubt that has been the case with
all those that have died ;  and I pray the Lord that you may be long
spared to  bless my fellowrbeings:  and allow  me to  conclude with
acknowledging my gratitude to you for your kind attention and encou-
raging letter, which added much to my comfort while taking the Universal
Medicine.   That your  cause may continue  prosperous,  is the earnest
prayer of one who has received such great relief.   I am  progressing to
as good a state of health  as  I can expect at ray  years, after such great
suffering.                  I am, Sir,
           Your most obedient and ever grateful servant,
                                   JOHNSON LINCOLN, R. N.

  P. S. Why are not the medical men examined who  attend these men
that die ?  Let their remedies and mode of treatment  be made  public,
their books examined, and if an assistant, let him be examined likewise,
then the public may judge.  In the East Indies, in acute inflammation of
the bowels, &c. I always  gave brisk purges,  and ninety cases  out of
every hundred recovered.
          DR. LYNCH'S LETTER TO  MR. MORISON.

   Sm>__To a mind properly constituted, there can be no greater satis-
 faction than affording to our suffering fellow-creatures, ready and c*:.'
 relief.
   For the purposes of affording such was medicine studied, and'
 laws  established, in order to secure the better regulation of its ir
 whose modern  improvements  in science  have  tended,  it  1
 announced, to the rendering medicine a study of more decided pT
 induction than hitherto ; at the same time, it cannot be denied, '..-.-.< v \
 cast a veil of mystery over that which ought to be simplified.
  However, those boasted strides in science, and the march •
 are rapidly leading the nations of the earth  to embrace anc
 true and scientific light, which has nature for  its instructor
 and experience for its guides, backed by the soundest phih
will guide them into the temple of health and felicity.
  As  it is the duty of every man to know himself physi 
100
 morally, imposing on us a due  sense  of the importance  of becoming
 acquainted with the simplest  laws of health, induced me to inquire into,
 and study  attentively, the Hygeian theory, and treatment of diseases, viz.
 —that  all diseases to which  the  human frame  is  subject,  arise  from
 impurity of the blood and  fluids; and that purgation, and consequent
 purification, Avas  to be  rendered  effective in the cure of all maladies.
 The numberless records of cures laid before me, and the  cases I have
 seen and  had under my care, have established a conviction firm  and
 unshaken  as to  its  superior excellency,  determining on no  longer
 adhering to the trammels of  system and the rules of profession, but at
.once adopt and practice that theory, Avhich should add to my pathological
 information, the simplest remedial knoAvledge.
   According to the plan which I have laid down for my guidance, it
 would seem necessary that I  should anticipate the seventy of criticism,
 by an elaborate justification of the criminality of my apparent presump-
 tion, in throAving off the mystic forms which encircle the medical graduate;
 and Avhich is inspired by the latent hope of disarming by propitiatory
 offerings the supposed malignancy of our opponents.
   To apologize, indeed, for  efforts which  originate in the simple  and
 natural wish to become  a  felloAv  labourer in the grandest of all works,
 doing good,  implies, at first sight, a superfluous degree of modesty ;  yet,
 when we consider the vast and formidable host of medical aspirants, who
 profess the same laudable motive, our surprise  at this timidity vanishes
 before the  still greater temerity, which urges a fresh candidate to bespeak
 the interest of an experienced and enlightened public.   Still, whilst a hope
 that such  a consummation may  aAvait in  the rear, (however faint  and
 distant) lingers around my imagination, vanity will rather be encouraged
 by one  solitary instance of brilliant success attending upon the production
 of genius,  than the judgment  be deterred by  the numerous melancholy
 examples of ignorant or unsuccessful speculators.
   In abandoning my  profession  as at  present  practised, I shall wave,
 therefore, an  exculpatory defence, which might lead to tiresome  and
 egotistical  verbiage, better suited to more public opportunities of explana-
 tion, and trust to the interest attached to the subject of Hygeianism, for
 that modicum of patronage which, in this enlightened country invariably
 attends the efforts of private individuals to establish public benefit.
   In ccnclusion, permit me to  offer my thanks  for  the readiness with
 which ycu have supplied me opportunities of convincing my mind of the
 correctness of Hygeian doctrines,  and in the certainty that you will enjoy
 the greatest blessings in the sunset of life, the happiness  of having 
101
rendered much service to your suffering fellow-creatures.   Permit me to
subscribe myself, your's very sincerely,
                                    ROBT. LYNCH,  M. D.,
                               15, Somerset-street, Portman-square.
  To James Morison, Esq. British College of
             •Health, NeAV-Road.
                    MR. TOTHILL'S LETTER

To James Morison, Esq. the Ilygeist, Hamilton-place, New-Road, London.

  Sir,—I  am  a  member of the  medical profession.  The following
cursory observations will explain the reason Avhich induced me to follow
the doctrine of Hygeiaism ;  my example,  and  that of many  other
professional gentlemen, avIio have become staunch supporters  of your
simple, yet admirable  system, may serve as an encouragement, if such
were necessary, to continue pursuing, with the same determined perseve-
rance, " the even  tenor of your way."   May your honest zeal increase
by opposition; and let  not the frigid sneer, or the arm of ridicule,  arrest
the progress of your labours for the benefit of mankind: even the Avisest
among us oppose innumerable prejudices to the acknoAvledgment of a
new truth,—yet, I  do not hesitate to proclaim  that, ere long, you will
witness, by universal support and approbation, the triumph of the painful
struggles you have undergone in the promulgation of Hygeiaism.
  My numerous friends and acquaintances residing  in the city of Exeter,
can testify that, about four years  ago,  my  bodily appearance strongly
indicated that I Avas not long to be  a sojourner on this  earth.  I am now
convinced, that the cause of my disease was acrid  and offensive  matter,
either in the stomach or duodenum ; the  symptoms being—in the tongue,
foulness and thick  sloughs ; in the mouth, a taste somewhat bitter, rancid,
putrid ;  nausea and loss of appetite; pain in the  left orifice and upper
part of the stomach, Aveight and oppression about the prsecordia, foulness
of the hypochondria; heaviness, giddiness and pain in the head ; shivering
and coldness of the extremities, Avith lassitude and loss of strength—added
to these not unusual  concomitants of disturbed health,  the muscular part
of my body was particularly affected ; my legs were  unable to support my
enfeebled  frame, and my left arm became so  contracted,  that  I was
incapable of making any use of it.  At this period of my  sufferings, one 
102
of your publications  fell in my Avay,  and after an attentive perusal, I
could not  but agree  with you, that  morbid phenomena can only  be
explained by a reference to the'fluids, and that it is evident when much
phlegm is  collected in  the stomach and intestines, the absorbent vessels
become obstructed, and the  gastric  and intestinal  lymph are more
sparingly secreted, or, at least, become  more viscid.  To clear the bowels
of this  acrid  bilious  matter, it now appeared to me indubitably certain,
that drastic purges must be used, for by them only can Ave arrive at  the
living fibre, and no beneficial effect can be produced till this is the case.
It is  almost unnecessary to add,  that  being a medical man, I employed
for my own relief every supposed  remedial agent I had administered in
similar  cases  to  other  patients.   So far  from any improvement taking
place, my  disease increased, until, by the persuasion of relations and
friends, other medical advice was called for.   And now blood-letting was
resorted to  ; consequently weakening and  relaxing  the  system, injuring
many of its functions,  gradually  rendering  the circulation  languid, of
course impeding the various secretions  and excretions, particularly by the
skin,  and  rendering the blood thin and pale, whence frequently proceed
various severe diseases,  partly owing to the fluids being too much attenu-
ated and their motion  languid, partly, also,  to the relaxed state of the
solids.  But the above observations on blood-letting had not, at the period
of my illness, been made by me ; indeed,  my opinion accorded with that
of the medical world, that it was a certain means for the subduction of dis-
eases.  But now, in consequence of being fully convinced of the truth of
your  theory, I cannot  but  regard the blood  as the most important fluid
of the animal machine ; from it, all the solids are derived and nourished,
and all other fluids are secreted ;  and it hence forms the basis or common
pabulum of every part; and as it is the source of general health, so it is
also of general disease.  If imperfectly  elaborated, or with a disproportion
of some of its  constituent principles to the  rest, the Avhole system partakes
of the evil, and dythesis  or morbid habit is the consequence.  And if it
becomes once impregnated with a peculiar taint, it is wonderful to remark
the tenacity with which it retains it, though often in a state of dormancy
or inactivity for years, or  even entire  generations.   For, as every germ
and fibre of every other part is formed and regenerated from the blood,
there is no other part  of the system we can so well look to, as the seat of
such  taints, or the predisposing  cause of disorder;  often corporeal, as
gout, struma,  phthisis; sometimes mental,  as madness ; and occasion-
ally both, as cretinism.  Pardon me this digression, and let me return to
my cure.   Unknown to my medical attendants, I commenced a course of 
103
the Universal Vegetable Medicine ; I soon experienced much relief; in a
Very short period, I was restored to perfect health.
  My kind medical attendants, very naturally ascribed the cure to their
prescriptions; but when  quite well,  I Avas obliged to undeceive them;
and they learnt, Avith surprise, that to the  Hygeian system  alone was I
indebted for an almost miraculous restoration to  health,  both bodily and
mental.  From this moment I became a staunch believer in, and deter-
mined advocate for, your doctrine.  My success with the Hygeian practice
was beyond measure great; the conquest of disease was not the effect of
accident nor of the application of a single remedy, but it was the triumph
of a principle in medicine !   Subsequently to the above distressing malady,
while the cholera was fiercely raging throughout England, I  was attacked
with  this dreadful scourge.  Again, the Universal Medicine restored  me
to health.   My wife, of an extremely delicate constitution, was attacked
with confluent small-pox,  and afterwards with hooping  cough ;  and
notwithstanding the accounts  of the York doctors, that purgative medi-
cines  ought not  to be employed in the former disease, I  administered
nothing to her but the Universal Vegetable Medicine ; and she soon reco-
vered.  My children, one aged seven, the other three years,  have recently
had an attack of hooping cough; to them my wife administered as many
as twenty or twenty-five  pills, No. 2, every  day.  The cough ceased, and
they are nearly well.   These  children have been in the custom of taking
 great quantities of those  pills almost from their birth.   My wife takes any
 number, and always with manifest benefit,  sometimes as many as sixty in
 six hours.   For myself,  during  the  different maladies with  which I have
 been afflicted,  I have often taken as many as one hundred, and I always
 found  that  the greater  the number, the more  rapid was  my recovery.
 From the  above statement,  no surprise need be evinced by my friends, or
 patients,  when I  express my determination to continue to practice upon
 Hygeian principles.  To these principles I am indebted for  sound health,
 which I had reason to expect I could never enjoy.  My wife  and family—
 my numerous patients, are under the same debt of gratitude to Hygeiaism ;
and I beg to conclude this desultory epistle, with expressing the deepest
thanks for the benefit I have received from your  admirable discovery.
                   I remain, Sir,
                           Your obedient Servant,
                                       RICHARD TOTH1LL,

                         Member of the Royal College of Surgeons,  &c.
Dated Heavitree, Exeter, Jan. 26, 1636. 
104
            TO JAMES MORISON, THE  HYGEIST:

  Sir—With a view to satisfy my mind upon the effect of " Morison's
Pills, of  the British College of Health," in their operative and curative
process, I take leave to give you an ungarnished account of circumstances
which have occurred within the pale of  my  own practice.   A patient,
labouring under chronic inflammation of  the mucous  membrane of the
intestines, from boyhood up to the age of fifty-five years, states—" I have
suffered from childhood a periodical attack in my boAvels and head,  of
the most distressing kind, that  almost  renders life insupportable.   I
believe it is generally brought on by eating  vegetables ; it commences
with flatulency, enlargement of the  abdomen, and the most  acute  pain
about the lower region : and after continuing in this distressing state for
hours, I am in some  degree  relieved, though violently and copiously
purged.  The pain, depression, and singular feeling increases to such a
miserable degree,  as  to  compel me to take to my chamber, wishing no
one about me for the day, so that I may endure my sufferings unmolested.
After these first sufferings subside,  complete relaxation of  the system
ensues;  the "action" is  violently  accelerated, attended by pain  too
agonizing to paticularise : and in this state I generally continue for days.
I have been under the hands of Mr.  Phillips,  a surgeon, who considered
I was labouring under a morbid disease of the liver, and I went under a
course of blue pill with ipecacuanha, chalk draughts, &c, which afforded
me temporary relief, and  passed off the paroxysms for a longer period,
during which interval I  suffered from a fixed and dense pain on the
right side  of my forehead, with  horrible dreams, obliging  me  to the
application of cupping, &c ; yet, notwithstanding, my appetite Avas good,
but  my  case  rendered all application to business abortive.   I  could
mention  other medical men Avho attended  me without receiving any
relief."  Under these circumstances I took  the patient in hand, and
ordered him light  mercurial preparations and ipecacuanha, with neutral
salt,  tonic aperients,  and the warm bath;  possessing  a  confidence  of
belief I  should get the patient better.  He  Avas, and continued so  for
some months by this treatment,  and 1 lost  sight of him for some time,
when he called upon me  with his  usual complaint.   I then having heard
but little about Morison's Pills but from  a Captain  Upjohn, of the Life
Guards, with whom I was the medical officer of a regiment serving together,
and Avho had been under my medical guidance occasionally for years, also
under Dr.  Batty, for dyspepsia, Avithout doing him any permanent good;
 seeing him look so well, and asking him Avhose care  he had been under 
105
during  his  sojourn  at Cambridge, Avhere he  had gone to  reside,  he
unequivocally said, " I have cured myself by taking Morison's Pills, and
I have  strongly recommended them to  many  other highly respectable
persons who have received singular benefit."  These expressions coming
from a man of strict integrity, education, and fortune, left upon my mind
an impression they did possess curative properties, and I felt inclined to
administer them to the patient above-mentioned, commencing with small
doses;  and, to my utter astonishment, in open defiance of a thorough
investigation of the man's case, and the application of scientific treatment
generally followed by the best practitioners, he Avas decidedly cured by
taking Morison's Pills.  I have no cause to espouse quackery—I despise
it with the ignorant pretenders, but Avhen a case presents itself cured by
the use of these  Pills, I think it but justice to  you and the public to lay
before them such facts as have come within the reach of my own obser-
vation.   I have been forty years in the profession,  and practised in all its
branches, both at home and abroad.  As I have confined myself to facts,
and could, if necessary, state other things much in favour of the treatment
of diseases, as practised by  the  late Dr. Hamilton, upon your system
of " humoral pathology," that is to say, by keeping the bowels in a gentle
state  of solution, with a well regulated aperient, combined with curative
vegetable and tonic matter,  no physician can  conscientiously deny it to
be good.   I shall  take an opportunity of speaking professionally, more
pointedly, upon the modus operandi of all purgatives, and what would
or would  not be  the  result even of over doses.  I shall noAV conclude
those observations with a recommendation to you to impress on  the
minds of the venders of your medicine, strictly to adhere to punctuality
in their administration, and engage an efficient medical  man to inspect
such  cases as may present themselves  during a process of taking your
Pills, as then, in all probability, the prejudice existing in the minds of
some few, will and must subside.   Many important discoveries have been
made by what are termed  quacks, which is not very likely to take place
by medical men, because there is a pertinacious adherence in the beaten
path  of physic, from  Avhich they make no  deviation;  and, lastly, the
practice of physic, although strictly a science, is at most conjectural, for
no physician can depend on the modus operandi of his prescription.  The
late Dr. Armstrong fancied he had  discovered a remedy for pulmonary
consumption, in the medical prussic  acid; but he, I  am sorry  to say,
died of the complaint.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
                                         G. VILLERS, M. D.
                                    Charlotte-street,  Portland Place. 
106
  ADDITIONAL  TESTIMONY OF THE EFFICACY  OF THE
                    UNIVERSAL  MEDICINES.
               Received while these pages are in (he press,
                                        Baltimore, September Jl, 1837:
       Dr. Moat :
   Sir,—I think I  am in duty bound to make known to the  public  at
 large, the great benefits which we have received  from the use of Mr,
 Morison's invaluable Universal Pills.  I will endeavour to be as concise
 as possible in giving you but a brief outline,  from  the time I first intro-
 duced the Pills into  my  family.  It Avould not,  hoAvever, be a very
 arduous task for me, Avere I so disposed, to fill a tolerably sized volume,
 by  giving but a very limited sketch of the  numerous cases which have
 come under my observation, of the benefits resulting from the use of these
justly  praised Pills, in restoring bed-ridden patients from their  weary
 sickness to their wonted health, and to their anxious relatives and friends.
 At present, Sir, I shall merely relate  what has transpired within my own
 family.  Previous to making use of the Pills, 1 obtained a copy of Mr.
 Morison's works, and from the plain common sense view of facts therein
 disclosed, I at once became a convert to the  Hygeian theory, and waited
 only the opportunity to test its practice on myself, and in so doing, I have
 not been deceived;  and I rejoice that Providence has  seen proper  to call
 into existence such a benefactor to the human race  as a Morison.
  In the fall of 1833,  I was attacked with  a violent bilious fever, and
 immediately took twelve pills of No. 2, and repaired to  bed. In the course
 of an hour, I discharged from my stomach a very great quantity of what
 is termed black bile: this gave me considerable relief, and during the
 latter part of the day, the pills operated doAvnwards.  At eight o'clock the
 same night, I took twelve more of No.l ; next day I made use of one box
 of Powders,  and felt greatly relieved : at bed-time took twelve No. 2, and
 next day I went to my usual labour,  and felt perfectly free from pain.  I
 used the  Pills for one week after, decreasing two pills every night.  Again
 in the fall of 1834, I had a slight attack  of ague and  fever.  In 1831, I
 had this disease very bad, and then made use of a great quantity of dele-
 terious drugs (misnamed medicine), and the cause of the disease had
 never been properly eradicated out of my system, but I determined to go
 through the proper course  of the Pills.  This I commenced with, taking
 five pills every night, increasing one pill every third  night, until I reached
thirty. This number  I took for two weeks, and then decreased in the
 same ratio.  This  mode of treatment  fully  realized my most sanguine
 expectations, and completely purified the whole mass of fluids in my
 system.  During the whole time  I Avas using the Pills, I never lost  one 
107
hour from my employment by indisposition.  I made use of ten boxes of
the Powders, and found  them greatly to assist the Pills.   Ever since, I
have enjoyed excellent health and a lively Aoav of spirits.
  I occasionally take from five to six pills,  perhaps twice  a  month, but
particularly in the spring and fall; this I think, as a  precautionary
measure, is very beneficial, if adhered to : in my opinion, it would prove
a preventive to disease. About the same that I  had the bilious fever in
1833, my wife was attacked with the same disease, but she did not use the
Pills in time to produce the  same effects.  She had a great aversion to
medicine of any kind, and it was with great difficulty that I persuaded her
to use the Pills, and when she did use them, whenever she found herself
a little better, she would  discontinue their use, and then the fever would
return with redoubled force. This state of things lasted for about a month,
and consequently she became much weaker. At  length the fever reduced
her so low, that she was unable to rise in bed, and Avould sometimes faint
away  for a considerable time.   Many of our friends became alarmed for
the consequence, and used  their influence with me  to  send for a M. D.
This I had made up my mind not to do, feeling  satisfied within my OAvn
mind that they could do  her no good, and believing as I do, that their
theory (if they have any) is founded in error, and consequently the super-
structure thereon  based must be false.  With due deference to them as
gentlemen, I beg to differ from them in opinion.   I had every confidence
that if the Pills were  properly used, they would restore her, and if not
I was willing to abide the consequence, believing as I do that if they had
failed to effect a cure, that it could not be performed by any other medi-
cine.   At this juncture, the matter  had assumed a rather  serious aspect,
and she consented that I  might administer the Pills in the way I thought
best calculated to effect a speedy recovery.  I commenced, and gave her
twelve pills of No. I the  first day, and twelve of No. 2 for two days in
succession, increasing three pills every third day, until  thirty, and then
decreasing in the same ratio.  In one month after this treatment, she was
able  to be up, and was  tolerably well; she  had, however, left  off the
medicine too soon, for in  a few weeks  she  had the ague : this continued
with her some time, and several of our friends advised her to try some
nostrum which a Frenchman was famed for giving to cure that complaint.
I had no belief in his remedy at the time ; however  she called on him,
and he again gave her his stuff, with directions how to use it, and curious
 as it may appear, the ague did cease for about a  week, and then returned
 as bad as ever. He was  called on again,  and gave the same deleterious
 poifson as before,  which I believe  since to have been the solution of 
108
    arsenic and antimonial wine.  In a few days after taking it, her lower
    extremities  became  dreadfully savoIIcii, and her  skin  assumed a dark
    yelloAv colour.   She began now to see that his remedy Avas all moonshine,
■ ■•  and returned to her old friends, the Pills, the only safe medicine;  and in
    the course of one month's copious use of them, from fifteen to thirty a
    day, it was astonishing to see their effects : the Avater came from her in
    shoals,  the swelling abated, and  her appetite gradually returned.  She
    continued to take from  twenty  to  thirty for some time, still  she expe:
    rienced a languid, heavy, and disagreeable feeling.   I advised her to
    increase in  quantity Avith the pills, which  she did gradually  until she
    attained from thirty to forty a day: the  fourth day she had taken forty,
    Avas seized  with sudden sickness, and discharged from her stomach a
    piece of matter about five inches in length and one in diameter, of a dark
    yelloAv  colour.   We  showed it to  various persons ;  the fluid which it
    emitted was of a dark green colour, and in quantity about half a pint.
    Every day after this her general health improved, and in a short time she
    was entirely free from disease of any kind, and  as Avell as she ever was.
    During the time my Avife had the bilious fever, Ave had an only child, nine
    months old, and  the  milk which she  had sucked, being bad, and not
    being able to bestow that care and attention which is necessary for a child
    of so tender an age, and Avhich a mother is only calculated to  do,  we lost
    our beloved child; her  disease was  a severe  dysentery.  In the  fall of
    1836, my wife became pregnant, and the mode she pursued  with regard
    to using the pills when pregnant, Ave feel it our duty to make knoAvn for
    the benefit of those who may be in the same condition: during the first
    month,  she took from six to  eight pills  at a  time ; four times a week
    for three Aveeks; and as occasion would require after that time, she took
    from four to six, particularly if costive, until the third month, and then
    took from six to eight three times a Aveek for three weeks, and occasionally
    after as before, until within three weeks of the time of her delivery, and
    then she took from six to eight four times a Aveek up to the day of her
    delivery; and for four weeks after the same Avith this difference,that after
    her delivery she took the No. 1 and No. 2 alternately, and before she took
    twice of the No. 2's for once of the No. 1.  I  feel satisfied that if this, or a
    similar mode of treatment were pursued  by females while in  this con-
    dition, that the benefits resulting to them would be beyond all price.  The
    pills, in this case, cannot be too highly appreciated, when Ave contemplate
    the amount of misery  and pain which the female sex generally suffer
    while in this condition,  and almost invariably from the want of a  proper
    knowledge  hoAv  to treat themselves.   My Avife, during pregnancy; from 
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