streets and the closeness of the buildings. The free current of the air is impeded; and, being thus confined, it soon becomes loaded with unwholesome particles. The evil is aggravated by the vast quantities of smoke issuing from so many thousands of chimneys, and incorporating itself with the air. It is made still worse by the effluvia from cesspools and drains, and from innumerable uncleanlinesses and nuisances of every description, exposed in the open air. There remain to be added the number of unhealthy trades, and, recently, that worst of all nuisances, the escape of the nauseous gas from the pipes, both by day and by night, the danger of which is doubled when it is introduced into the interior of our houses; for, although the carbonated hydrogen (which is a deadly poison) is somewhat diluted, still it has a baneful effect upon the nerves. Considering these ingredients, the citizen may well be assured,

"It is not air

That from a thousand lungs reeks back to thine,

Sated with exhalations, rank and fell,

The spoil of dung-hills, and the putrid thaw
Of nature."

Many of the immense multitudes who labour for their subsistence in the metropolis and other large cities and towns, and who are consequently under the necessity of living in them, submit to the disadvantages of their condition, as though it were

impossible to counteract them. I myself am an instance of the erroneous character of such conclusions for a long series of years I resided in London, and was sedentarily employed; but, convinced that inactivity, and the perpetual respiration of contaminated air, must be prejudicial to health, I resolved to pass all the time I could in pure air. I therefore rose early in the morning, and either rode or walked as far into the country as time would permit, repeating the exercise after my daily occupation. Continuing this wholesome practice without interruption, I soon found my health as sound and uninterrupted as it could have been had I resided altogether out of town.

The unhealthiness of large towns appears in the cramped growth of trees, shrubs, and flowers, when planted in London gardens. Nothing, of course, can prevent them from exhibiting their natural luxuriance but the insalubrity of the atmosphere; for, though tended with the utmost care, planted in the richest soil, supplied with excellent manure, and disposed in the most favourable aspect, they nevertheless languish and decay.

BATHING.

"Even from the body's purity, the mind

Receives a secret sympathetic aid."-THOMSON.

THE indifference of the inhabitants of this country, so cleanly in many respects, and so fond of comfort, to that most effective means of preserving health and prolonging life, bathing, is as much to be wondered at as to be deplored. It was not so in ancient times. The Mosaic laws enjoined frequent bathing. In Egypt the means of total ablution are provided for at the public expense. The Romans had a high opinion of the benefit of the practice. From Fabricius we learn that in Rome itself there were no fewer than eight hundred and fifty-six public baths, many of which were of such immense size as that eight hundred persons might bathe in each of them at once. Why are not public baths as numerous in this great metropolis, and, indeed, in due proportion, in all large towns? Want of

ours.

such conveniences is a disgrace to a country like. Were the sympathetic influence of the functions of the skin over the interior organs generally known, or would people take the trouble to inquire into the origin of cutaneous diseases, they would then learn that what purity of heart is to the mind, that is cleanliness to the body. Bathing is uniformly recommended by the faculty as a remedy in many diseases; but its utility as a remedy is as nothing compared with its powerful preventive agency. Bathing is, perhaps, the best preservative of a strong constitution; and yet how few have recourse to it, unless it be prescribed by the physician, for the restoration of impaired health.

Much evil has resulted from the prevalent notion that bathing is not beneficial to all persons. Hearing this asserted, many persons have been led to regard it as even positively dangerous; but the fact is, that, a very few peculiar cases excepted, bathing is of essential service to all persons; bracing the nerves, renovating as it were the mind and spirits, invigorating the whole frame, and giving to the entire system an unspeakable sense of "refreshing." A convincing proof of its beneficial tendency is seen in the cheerfulness, activity, and ease, which are its invariable and immediate effects. The skin being the outlet of one of the

most important secretions, it is obvious that its pores should be kept perpetually open, and entirely free from obstruction. Now, this can be effected by no means so readily, or so completely, as by frequent ablutions; and no form of ablution is so effectual as bathing. When it is recollected that in order to health the insensible perspiration daily thrown off from the body ought to equal in amount all the other excrementitious matter put together, the essential importance of habitual bathing will be at once appreciated. It will be still further manifest from the consideration that concentrated animal effluvia form a very active poison, which, if permitted to remain on the surface of the skin, will be re-absorbed, and must of course act with destructive effect upon the system. Sponging the feet with cold water every morning, winter and summer, is a most beneficial practice; and once a week at least the whole body should undergo a similar ablution: attention to this rule is of material importance to the maintenance of a sound and robust state of health.

No excuse can be alleged for the exclusion of baths from the habitations of the wealthy; and the expense of the establishment of institutions for the purification by water of the poorer classes, insuring, as it would, an incalculable diminution of disease, might be defrayed out of the savings