Cold bathing may be taken either in spring-water, or in sea or mineral water. Experience has satisfactorily proved, that the effects of immersion in pure water, and in water containing salts in solution, are different. Sea-waters, and mineral-waters, particularly such as contain sea-salt or iron in solution, are more tonic, bracing, and stimulant, than river water, and when used as a cold-bath are productive of greater reaction than the latter.

The period of the year best adapted for sea-bathing is, of course, the summer and autumn, at which seasons the temperature of the sea on our shores varies from 55° to 70°. The time of bathing in the open sea must depend, in many places, on the state of the tide. It deserves to be remembered that the temperature of the water may be very different at different times, according to the circumstances of the locality, the hour of the day, and the period of high water. If the shore consists of level sand or shingle, the tide which flows in the afternoon, over a large expanse of surface heated by the noonday sun, will often be a good many degrees higher than the morning tide in the same place.

The following memorandum shows the temperature of the sea at Bognor, on the coast of Sussex, in the summer and autumn of the year 1831:

On the 4th of July, at mid-day, the temperature of

the atmosphere being 72°, the sea was 69°.

July 12. 7 A.M. atmosphere 63° sea 66°

Sept. 5. 8 A.M. atmosphere 64° sea 65°

Oct 29. 11 A.M.

60°

54°*

When the bather is not in the strongest health, the temperature of the water is an important subject of consideration. For this reason, from eleven to midday may be preferable to the early morning; as well as because the system, recruited by the first meal, now digested, has reached perhaps its greatest diurnal strength.

The most convenient form of cold bathing is the shower-bath, which, already in frequent use, deserves to be more generally employed. In it every element that is of use in cold bathing may be accurately adjusted to the wants of the bather. The temperature of the water; its state, whether pure or mixed with salts; its quantity; add to which even the combination of warm bathing with it, (for example, the patient standing in warm water while the shower of cold water pours upon the head and shoulders,)-admit of being infinitely varied: and the bath is in your dressing-room.

In all forms of hysteria the shower-bath is of the greatest efficacy. I have seen cases of contracted and painful joints, which presented several of the characters of structural disease, in which the pain and contraction have vanished under the use of the showerbath.

* Forbes's Cyclopædia of Medicine. Art. BATHING.

I KNOW not under what other head than the present to introduce rules for the conservation of different parts.

"To restore TEETH in age," observes Lord Bacon, "were magnale nature; it may be thought of."What the philosopher anticipated, modern art has accomplished; and an element towards lengthening the duration of life has been added by the increased power of masticating and improved digestion, which the aged thus obtain.

However, Dr. Rush remarks, "I have not found the loss of teeth to affect the duration of human life so much as might be expected. Edward Dunker, who lived to be one hundred and three years old, lost his teeth thirty years before he died *."

Dr. Sayre, of New Jersey, mentions one man, aged eighty-one, whose teeth began to decay at sixteen; and another of ninety, who had lost his teeth thirty years.

In age, the gums, by becoming hard, perform in part the office of teeth.

Nevertheless, it is a most important object to preserve the teeth, which Nature gives us, as long as possible. For this purpose the teeth should be brushed at least three times a day, water with the chill off being always used; and the more effectually to clean

* Dr. Rush_observes, “I have not observed baldness or gray hairs, occurring in early or middle life, to prevent old age." One of the instances given by Dr. Sayre, is an account of a man of eighty-one, whose hair began to assume a silver-colour when he was only one-and-twenty years of age.

the teeth, as well as to strengthen the gums, it is desirable to employ, night and morning, a toothpowder (consisting, for example, of an ounce of prepared chalk, half a drachm of myrrh, and two drachms of orris-root). The tooth-brush should be moderately soft.

Perhaps the spread of habits of personal niceness cannot be better exemplified than by the following extract from Sir John Sinclair's Treatise, published only thirty years ago.

"The Chinese recommend it as an important rule to wash the mouth, and to rub the gums and teeth with a brush, before going to bed. This gives the mouth and tongue an agreeable freshness; and, though the practice seems at first a little troublesome, you will soon become accustomed to it, and feel uncomfortable if it is omitted, more especially as it has a tendency to promote sound sleep."

The EARS often require attention in childhood, and in persons advancing towards age. In strumous children a discharge of matter is liable to take place from the ear, which, unless checked, leads to thickening and early deafness. Syringing the channel of the ear with warm milk and water, and lightly cleansing it with soft lint, is always the safest, and generally the best method of locally treating this ailment; which sometimes, however, requires other means to dry up the moisture. In aged persons the cerumen of the ear, drying and accumulating, often occasions a deafness, which may be removed by the removal of the

wax; this cannot be done by the ailing person himself.

Deafness is hereditary in some families, coming on usually between twenty and thirty years of age.Deafness of one ear is exceedingly common. Instruments to assist hearing have been much improved of late. The best instrument for conversation with a single person is the ear-trumpet with an elastic tube; for society, the ear-cornets recently introduced are very convenient and useful. All persons moderately deaf hear with facility a single person speaking, while they are distracted by the buzz of general conversation, of which they hear nothing. There is a singular difference, however, among the deaf; and unexplained, as to this point. Some hear best in perfect silence and tranquillity; others, on the contrary, have their hearing improved when their frame is in the greatest jar and vibration, as in a carriage driven over the stones. Deaf persons distinguish more easily the words of familiar voices than of strangers; and their hearing is really capricious, being influenced, not by their attention alone, but by some unexplained cause besides.

The EYES require the greatest care. In the morning, in the afternoon, after exposure to sun or dust, or to the glare of snow, and at night, it is desirable to bathe the eyelids with tepid water, drying them gently with a soft towel. The eyelids should never be rubbed. After first using warm water, bathing the eyelids with very cold water is strengthening and salutary.