out of doors, regular hours, plain light aliment, frequent ablutions, a well-regulated mind, and animated piety, are the best cosmetics, and give a charm superior to all the blandishments of art and tricks of fashion. The eruptions which are thrown from the skin are the process by which nature frees herself for a time from the effects of superabundant nutrition, by which means she often saves internal organs from a dangerous irritation. This is proved by the certainty and safety with which the whole of these cutaneous affections may be speedily removed by improving the state of the digestive organs, lessening the quantity and simplifying the quality of the food, and by the judicious use of the warm bath. On the other hand, when nature is interrupted in her work, and these cutaneous blemishes are incautiously repelled by external applications, the irritation is almost certain to fall on some internal organ, and there cause a painful sensation or an inflammatory action, according as the nervous or vascular structure of the part be predisposed to disease. Thus in one constitution, on the repulsion of an eruption from the skin, the irritation is transferred to the lungs, and there excites pulmonary consumption; in another it is transferred to the mucous membrane of the stomach, and heartburn, or pain in the stomach, or indigestion, or even chronic inflammation of this organ, may ensue; in a third the liver becomes the seat of the translated irritation, and the various phenomena of bilious or hepatic derangements are developed. The intestines, the kidneys, nay, the coverings of the brain itself, may, and often do, suffer in this way, with a host of corresponding miseries. All these, however, may be avoided by removing the cause or origin of the cutaneous eruption as seated in the digestive organs, when the effect will soon cease. An efficient agent for removing freckles is a solution of the liver of sulphur, in the proportion of ten grains to an ounce of water. The drawback to the use of this is the odour, which is exceedingly disagreeable. When FRECKLES AND CHAPS. other applications fail it may, however, prove of service. By using it at night the disagreeable odour may be prevented from annoying others. Mr. Erasmus Wilson gives the following recipe:-Elder-flower ointment, one ounce; sulphate of zinc, twenty grains. Mix it well. Rub this well into the skin at night, and in the morning wash it thoroughly away with an abundance of soap, and apply a lotion made as follows:-Infusion ́of rose leaves, half a pint; citric acid, thirty grains. -mixed. If these applications should irritate and cause roughness of the skin use as a lotion-Almond mixture, half a pint; Goulard's extract, half a drachm -mixed. If the spots are attended with constitutional derangement a physician should be consulted. In treating chaps the first thing necessary to be done is to soothe the irritated state of the skin. To do this the affected surface should be kept at one uniform temperature as much as possible. In washing the part neither cold nor hot water should be used, for the one would for a time depress and the other elevate the temperature, and the consequent reaction would increase the affection we wish to combat. The best temperature is that at which the part would feel the least shock on being touched with the water. is required the soft creamy lather made by putting Castile soap into warm water is the best. It should be smeared on gently with a soft linen rag, and after a minute or two as gently removed by similar means. If soap Having cleansed the part to reduce the inflammation, in some rare cases a poultice may be necessary, and, if so, one of bread and milk will serve best; but, generally, smearing the surface with warm mutton tallow or fresh oil of sweet almonds will prove equally efficacious, and much more convenient. When so smeared the part should be covered with a soft rag, but not warmly wrapped up. Having thus reduced all the adventitious inflammation, and merely left that which is incidental to the exposure of the scarf-skin, the affected surface should be bathed with some weak astringent fluid—tea of the strength usually drunk would be useful. Persons troubled with chaps should protect the part liable to be affected from atmospheric influences. If the lips, they may be smeared before going into the cold with almond oil. The hands should be defended by the softest and warmest gloves. Mr. Erasmus Wilson gives the following receipt for obstinate chapped hands or lips :-Pure olive oil, one ounce; yellow bees' wax, half a drachm. Melt the bees' wax in the oil with a gentle heat, taking care not to burn it, and when melted stir in new honey, one drachm; white flowers of zinc, half a drachm. Keep stirring until cold, or the zinc will fall to the bottom. This should be briskly rubbed in, and the part then wiped with a soft towel. When the hands are the seat of the trouble the most convenient course, though liable to some objection, is to wear during the night gloves saturated with oil of sweet almonds. The hands should be washed before putting on the gloves. Chafes of the Skin, that is, a removing of the epidermis by some violent friction against it, with possibly bruising and irritation of the sensitive skin, resemble chaps somewhat in the condition of things existing, and should be treated much in the same way. If there is simply a raw surface use astringents alone. If there is an inflamed surface use cloths dipped in cold water until the inflammation is reduced. If the parts beneath the surface are inflamed a poultice will be necessary; but take care not to keep it on longer than is sufficient to reduce the inflammation. When the inflammation is reduced the raw surface should be treated with an astringent wash. Children and old people, or those who are weak and delicate at any age, particularly females, are most subject to chilblains, which arise from deficiency of vigour in the fibres of the feet. Exposure to great cold, or currents of cold air, will produce chilblains even in the most robust. At first there is redness, swelling, a sense of tingling, and intolerable itching, which is increased by heat. As it proceeds the part becomes blue, and the painful itching excessive. Then little vesicles arise, burst, and leave the part sore and ulcerated, often eating deeply into the flesh, and even to the bone, and in this stage the sores are extremely obstinate and difficult to cure, and mortification may ensue. Such is the course of the disease if neglected or badly treated. To prevent chilblains never run rashly to the fire when your hands or feet are very cold, nor expose your hands and feet suddenly to cold when they are warm and perspiring, as in either case chilblains will probably arise. Hence a cold current of air let into a warm room by the opening of a door is, among delicate females, the most common cause of the complaint; or sitting much by the fire in cold weather, as a current of cold air is always blowing towards the fire even when the doors are shut. Strengthen the feet and hands by sponging them night and morning with cold water, and vinegar or salt added to it, rubbing them for some time with the hands afterwards. When the tingling and itching are first felt bathe the part with ice-cold water, or rub it with snow till the itching ceases. When proud flesh arises, and in all cases where the chilblains assume a serious character, the best medical advice should be obtained. CHAPTER II. BATHING. "This is the purest exercise of health, The kind refresher of the summer heats; Nor when cold winter keens the bright'ning flood, "How many a time have I THOMSON. Cloven with arm still lustier, breast more daring, BYRON. THE BATH naturally claims our early attention; and here we may notice how important this essential requisite to health was considered by the ancients. The accounts of the Roman baths appear almost fabulous, did not vestiges still remain to prove they were worthy of a people who boasted of conquering the world. It is said that in the imperial city there were 856 public baths. Fabricius adds that the excessive luxury of the Romans appeared in nothing more visible than in their baths. Seneca complains that the baths of plebeians were filled from silver pumps, and that freedmen trod upon gems. Macrobius tells us of one Sergius Oratus, a voluptuary, who had pendent baths hanging in the air. Pompey's time the mania for bathing was carried to great excess, by which many persons were ruined. After |