The latter depends often on serious disease. We see it in consumption, and in certain disorders of the heart. It should be regarded with anxiety, and means adopted to restore the general health.

Pale lips betoken general feebleness of circulation. They are very common in young girls inclined to chlorosis or green-sickness. Generally, a judicious course of tonics with bathing and exercise will remedy them. Some girls bite and suck their lips in order to make them red. It is a foolish habit, which may injure their shape. No coloring matter should be put on the lips, as it may be too readily swallowed. But if persons will employ something, then the least injurious is the rouge en feuilles, of Monin of Paris. A soft, moist, woollen cloth is pressed on the paper, and then passed gently over the lips. This gives them a rosy tint, which is tolerably durable and very natural. What cautions are necessary in using rouge, and which are the best preparations, we shall discuss in full when we treat of the skin.

Dryness, brownness, and cracking of the lips, when obstinate, usually depend on some disorder of the stomach or internal organs. We were recently consulted on this account, by a lady who had tried in vain sundry "lip-salves," which her druggist had in his shop. On inquiry, we found she was suffering from one of those numerous complaints peculiar to her sex. We treated her for this, and when it was

remedied, the trouble with the lips passed away under the use of simple glycerine. So important is it, in even the most trifling blemishes of the face, to investigate the workings of the whole system!

Nearly all the lip-salves sold under whatever highsounding names and in whatever elegance of wrappings, are of spermaceti ointment, colored, perfumed, sweetened, and occasionally with the addition of a small quantity of alum or borax, and of glycerine. The last-mentioned substance in the form of “glycerine cream," that is, well beaten with lard, or with castor oil, and scented, is an excellent application, provided the glycerine is chemically pure, which, we regret to say, is rarely the case. Persons prone to irritations of the lips should provide themselves a supply of some such salve from a first-class druggist, and use a little every night and morning during the winter. Bathing the lips, before applying it, in water in which some alum or borax has been dissolved (a teaspoon even full to a tumbler of water) will be found of great service.

An unsightly spot occasionally forms at the corners of the mouth, moist and reddish, with a tendency to crust over and be tender. This arises usually from acidity of the saliva, and is connected with indigestion and "heart-burn." It can be temporarily helped, and sometimes cured, by rinsing the mouth several times a day with a solution of bicarbonate of soda,

FEVER-BLISTERS.

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(teaspoonful to a pint of water), and anointing the

spot with this preparation :

When this does not give satisfaction after a week's trial, a physician should be consulted, in order that the digestive functions be looked after.

"Fever-blisters" is the popular name given to an eruption on the lips, very troublesome to some persons, arising from a cold, a slight feverish attack, or an irregular or excessive meal. It commences as a hard, hot, painful lump on the lip, and soon changes into a vesicle or blister. In a week or ten days it disappears, leaving for a while a red spot But this is too long a time to remain disfigured, if there is any help for it. There is help in various ways. In the first place, the sore spot should never be rubbed or scratched. At the very outset, it should be cautiously touched with this preparation every few hours :—

If this does not check it, the little blisters should be moistened with a solution of one grain of permanganate of potash in a tablespoonful of rose-water, and not wiped, but dusted with fine starch, or French chalk (which is better). This shortens the duration of the

complaint, and prevents the red mark from remaining so long as it otherwise would.

Sores of any kind about the lips are almost as disagreeable to one's companions as to one's self. The perfumed oxide of zinc ointment mentioned above will be found of real value in most of them. The lower lip is a favorite seat of one of the varieties of cancer, and then must either be treated by subcutaneous injections, with which we have witnessed at least one most admirable cure; or else the lip has to be removed by the knife. The former method should always be tried first, as in case of success the face is much less disfigured.

While upon this subject we wish to impress upon our readers the imprudence and dangers they run in using cups, tumblers, towels, or anything which others have used, without a thorough washing. Diseases of the most disgusting and frightful character have been often contracted by so doing. Nor should they ever allow themselves to be kissed by acquaintances in whom they have not the fullest confidence. There is related in a recent medical periodical, the story of a young lady of Pennsylvania, who, from the innocent kiss of a young gentleman at a picnic, became the victim of the most hideous disease, perhaps, known to medicine. Let her case be a warning to all others to reserve this favor for the dearest and the most worthy only.

What beauty is there in a smile, unless it discloses two symmetrical rows of

"Delicate, little, pearl-white wedges,

All transparent. at the edges?"

There is no excuse in our day, when dental surgery is practised with such signal success, for marring the pleasure of the beholder by their absence. Bad teeth do worse than this. They cause foul breath, they give rise to wrinkles and falling in of the cheeks, they excite atrocious neuralgias, they disturb the digestion, disorder the sight, and not unfrequently deprave the whole system. It is the first precept of health and beauty to put them in the best order, and to keep them so.

This branch of cosmetic medicine has been so thoroughly studied, and is exclusively practised by such scientific and capable men in all our large cities, that we shall say nothing about the means adopted to repair, or to extract, or to manufacture, or to allay pain in teeth, but confine ourselves wholly to their preservation.

To begin at the beginning, the child during teething should be surrounded by those precautions with regard to diet, etc., which pertain to the hygiene of infancy, and which need not be rehearsed here. The permanent teeth commence to appear at the age of