DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE SULPHUR

WATER.

An early hour in the morning, before breakfast, is, generally speaking, the best time for drinking this water. The patient should not, however, rush from his bed to the well; but should previously so amuse or employ himself awhile, that the energies of the system may be fully aroused. If he reside at a distance from the well, he should be careful not to heat himself by walking too quickly, nor fatigue himself before drinking. Walking exercise, however, is much preferable to riding on this occasion; and should be continued in the intervals of taking the water. The proper quantity to be drunk at once is about half a pint, (or a common tumbler-glassful) which should be repeated, at intervals of from fifteen to twentyfive minutes-the interim being employed, as before mentioned, in taking gentle exercise on foot. The dose must be repeated twice, or three times,

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according to its effect. Some persons may be briskly moved by one glass-two are more generally required; and in some cases, when the bowels are torpid, three. The patient must not, however, be discouraged if, at a first trial, even this quantity should not be effectual. In such cases, indeed, it would be advisable to employ some simple purgative pill over-night; or else to add a tea-spoonful of Epsom or Glauber salts to the first glassful, rather than distend the stomach with so large a quantity of liquid.

In many constitutions the water will act both more pleasantly and more efficiently when warmed by the addition of a little of the same water heated. This, indeed, is often necessary in delicate persons, and those especially who suffer from headache and eructations after drinking it cold. The dose of a quarter of a pint recommended by Dr. Granville is too small, when the object is to purge briskly; notwithstanding his notion about that being the precise quantity the stomach can get rid of in twenty minutes; and as to the slight degree of nausea and uneasiness sometimes caused by a larger quantity, it should be remembered that purgative draughts, whether from a mineral spring, or a chemist's shop, are not precisely the

kind which furnish gratification at the moment, either to the palate or the stomach. It is quite marvellous that a reflection so obvious should have escaped one whose three weeks' experience and observation enable him, with a modesty peculiarly his own, to correct and improve upon Mr. Richardson's practice; and, at the same time to make the discovery that "cold winds and frequent showers render Harrogate ineligible as a residence in July for people of 'gentle blood.""

We may here remark, once for all, that it would be to the credit of their own reputation, and for the interests of science, if these flying philosophers would take the pains to obtain the requisite information, before they dogmatically venture upon broad assertions, and then set up conjectures and theories to prove them, thus mystifying the subject and ingeniously contriving

In the first place, is it an ascertained fact that the stomach takes just twenty minutes to absorb four ounces of water; that time and that quantity and no other? Is it not, on the contrary, well known that different stomachs, and indeed the

same stomach at different times will digest larger or smaller quantities of the same fluid, and this too in an extensive range? If this be so, Dr. Granville's assertion is naught, and the advice founded upon it goes also for nothing.

The observation also about cold winds and frequent showers-with its application, that they render Harrogate ineligible for people of gentle blood, in July—is one, the flippancy of which is only equalled by its absurdity; but which might yet mislead those who rely upon medical authorities such as this. The result would be, not only the injury of the place itself during the earlier months of the season (for that is a secondary consideration) but to deprive themselves of the alleviation and cure of many diseases, most prevalent at that particular time, and to which these waters are especially adapted.

Every medical man who really knows anything of the subject, is aware that a visit to this place either in May or June is very desirable, and even more beneficial than at any other time for vast numbers of patients, whose complaints are of the kind usually excited or reproduced by the return of spring or the influence of hot weather. And further, as it is not the mere coldnesss of the

atmostphere, but the combination of cold with damp that is hurtful to invalids, and as the air of Harrogate is remarkably and proverbially dry, the most delicate patients need entertain no apprehension of injury from an early visit, notwithstaning Dr. Granville's assertions, or his correspondent's very lean and rather vulgar wit about "red noses and livery hats." In fact, so much of "The Northern Tour" as relates to Harrogate, though amusing enough as a light and frothy species of literary gossip, is by no means to be regarded as an authority in matters of so serious a nature as the treatment of disease.*

* Dr. Clanny, of Bishop-wearmouth, whose well-known name as a scientific and philosophical physician, and who has had actual experience on the subject, writes thus :

"I have visited Harrogate in the winter season, and in the months of May, June, July, August, and September, and I candidly acknowledge—that I prefer the months of May, June, and July, to all other months of the year; for after backward springs, the foliage and flowers as well as the 'hedge rows green and meadows bright' of Harrogate are quite refreshing to me as a resident in the winter months in a densely populated seaport town. Add to this, that disorders called skin-diseases, are generally now more rife, as our planet approaches the sun, than at any other time of the year. I need scarcely remark that the rural attractions and well-known virtues of the different mineral waters of Harrogate, have long maintained pre-eminence in the cure of