Hemorrhage, when caused by an artery being divided or torn, may be known by the blood jumping out of the wound, and being of a bright scarlet color. If a vein is injured, the blood is darker, and flows continuously. To stop the latter, apply pressure by means of a compress and bandage. To arrest arterial bleeding, get a piece of wood (part of a mop-handle will do), and tie a piece of tape to one end of it; then tie a piece of tape loosely over the arm, and pass the other end of the wood under it; twist the stick round and round until the tape compresses the arm sufficiently to arrest the bleeding, and then confine the other end by tying the string round the arm. If the bleeding is very obstinate, and it occurs in the arm, place a cork underneath the string, on the inside of the fleshy part, where the artery may be felt beating by any one; if in the leg, place a cork in the direction of a line drawn from the inner part of the knee a little to the outside of the groin. It is an excellent thing to accustom yourself to find out the position of these arteries, or, indeed, any that are superficial, and to explain to every one in your house where they are, and how to stop bleeding. If a stick cannot be got, take a handkerchief, make a cord bandage of it, and tie a knot in the middle; the knot acts as a compress, and should be placed over the artery, while the two ends are to be tied around the thumb. Observe always to place the ligature between the wound and the heart. Putting your finger into a bleeding wound, and making pressure until a surgeon arrives, will generally stop violent bleeding.

Bleeding from the Nose, from whatever cause, may generally be stopped by putting a plug of lint into the nostrils; if this does not do, apply a cold lotion to the forehead, raise the head, and place both arms over the head, so that it will rest on both hands; dip the lint plug, slightly moistened, into some powdered gum-arabic, and plug the nostrils again; or dip the plug into equal parts of powdered gum-arabic and alum, and plug the nose. If the bowels are confined, take a purgative. Violent Shocks will sometimes stun a person, and he will remain unconscious. Untie strings, collars, etc.; loosen any thing that is tight and interferes with the breathing; raise the head; see if there is bleeding from any part; apply smelling-salts to the nose, and hot bottles to the feet.

In Concussion, the surface of the body is cold and pale, and the pulse weak and small, the breathing slow and gentle, and the pupil of the eye generally contracted or small. You can get an answer by speaking loud, so as to arouse the patient. Give a little brandy and water, keep the place quiet, apply warmth, and do not raise the head too high. If you tickle the feet, the patient feels it.

In Compression of the Brain, from any cause, such as apoplexy, or a piece of fractured bone pressing on it, there is loss of sensation. If you tickle the feet, he does not feel it. You cannot arouse him so as to get an answer. The pulse is slow, and labored; the breathing slow, labored, and snoring; the pupils enlarged. Raise the head, unloose strings or tight things, and send for a surgeon. If one cannot be got at once, apply mustard-poultices to the feet, and leeches to the temples. Choking. When a person has a fish-bone in the throat, insert tho fore-finger, press upon the root of the tongue, so as to induce vomiting;

if this does not do, let him swallow a large piece of potato or soft bread; and if these fail, give a mustard emetic.

Fainting, Hysterics, etc.-Loosen the garments, bathe the temples with water or eau de Cologne: fresh air; avoid bustle, and excessive sympathy.

Drowning. Attend to the following essential rules: 1. Lose no time. 2. Handle the body gently. 3. Carry the body with the head gently raised, and never hold it up by the feet. 4. Send for medical assistance immediately, and in the mean time act as follows: First. Strip the body, rub it dry, and then rub it in hot blankets, and place it in a warm bed in a warm room. Second. Cleanse away the froth and mucus from the nose and mouth. Third. Apply warm bricks, bottles, bags of sand, etc., to the arm-pits, between the thighs and soles of the feet. Fourth. Rub the surface of the body with the hands inclosed in warm dry worsted socks. Fifth. If possible, put the body into a warm bath. Sixth. To restore breathing, put the pipe of a common bellows into one nostril, carefully closing the other and the mouth; at the same time drawing downward, and pushing gently backward, the upper part of the windpipe, to allow a more free admission of air; blow the bellows gently, in order to inflate the lungs, till the breast be raised a little; then set the mouth and nostrils free, and press gently on the chest; repeat this until signs of life appear. When the patient revives, apply smelling-salts to the nose, and give warm wine or brandy and water.

Cautions.-1. Never rub the body with salt or spirits. 2. Never roll the body on casks. 3. Continue the remedies for twelve hours without ceasing.

Hanging. Loose the cord, or whatever suspended the person, and proceed as for drowning, taking the additional precaution to apply eight or ten leeches to the temples.

Apparent Death from Drunkenness.-Raise the head, unloose the clothes, maintain warmth of surface, and give a mustard emetic as soon as the person can swallow.

Apoplexy and Fits generally.-Raise the head; unloose all tight clothes, strings, etc.; apply cold lotions to the head, which should be shaved; apply leeches to the temples, and send for a surgeon.

Suffocation from Noxious Gases, etc.-Remove to the fresh air; dash cold vinegar and water in the face, neck and breast; keep up the warmth of the body; if necessary, apply mustard-poultices to the soles of the feet, and try artificial respirations as in drowning. Lightning and Sun-Stroke.-Treat the same as apoplexy.

THE MEANS OF PRESERVING HEALTH. HEALTH is indispensable to happiness and success. The capacity either to act or to enjoy, is dependent upon the measure of health which each individual possesses. A healthy family, other things being equal, has a decided advantage, in the race of life, over one the health

of whose members is feeble. Hence it is of the first importance to know, and to practice, the means for its preservation. Were proper attention given to this subject in our families, a vast sum of suffering and misery would be avoided, many valuable lives prolonged, and the anxieties, cares, loss of time and expense, resulting from unnecessary sicknesses, would be saved.

The object of the following pages is to place within the reach of American families plain rules, easy of comprehension and practice, for the preservation of their health and vigor to the latest period of life. In a matter so important as human health, which also involves human happiness and life, it is scarcely necessary to apologize for the space we devote to it, or to urge attention to it as of the highest interest. If it be important to know and to practice the rules by which domestic animals can be reared with the greatest vigor and health, it is certainly quite as important that we should be equally well informed as to the means best calculated to rear properly our own offspring!

This department of our work has been prepared by a distinguished physician, and will be found entirely reliable and worthy of the fullest confidence of the reader.

Health is that state of the human body in which the structure of all the parts is sound, and their functions regularly and actively performed, rendering the individual fit for all the duties and enjoyments of life. When a person has received a sound constitution from nature, his health is to be preserved by a proper regulation of the various circumstances, internal and external, on which animal life is dependent. These are principally, air and exercise, clothing, food and drink, the excretions. and discharges, sleep and waking, and management of the passions of the mind.

Air is that invisible, transparent, compressible, and elastic fluid which everywhere surrounds our globe, generally denominated the atmosphere. It is the medium in which we live and breathe, and without which we could not for a moment exist. Air is not a simple but a compound body consisting at least of four distinct substances, viz., oxygen, azote, carbonic acid, and aqueous vapor.

The two former substances, however, constitute almost the whole of the atmospheric air near the surface of the earth; the other two are variable in their proportions; the first exists only in minute quantities which it is difficult to appreciate. Vital air, or oxygen, which forms one-fourth of the atmosphere, is necessary to respiration and combustion, and an animal immersed in it will live much longer than in the same quantity of common air. The remaining three-fourths, called azote or mephitic air, is totally incapable of supporting combustion or respiration for an instant.

If a candle be included in a given quantity of atmospheric air it will burn only for a certain time and then be extinguished as the oxygen is all consumed, and that which remains is incapable of supporting flame. If an animal be put in a given quantity of common air, it will live only a certain time, at the end of which the air will be found diminished about one-fourth, and the remainder will neither support flame nor

The oxygen which is received into the lungs of animals from the atmosphere communicates the red color to the blood, and is the principal agent which imparts heat and activity to the system. When animals die for want of vital air their blood is always found black. Independently of its destruction by the respiration of men and other animals, there is a constant consumption of the oxygenous portion of atmospheric air by the burning of combustible bodies, by the fermentation and putrefaction of vegetable substances, and by the calcination of metals.

A diminished proportion, therefore, of the oxygen of our atmosphere, and an increased amount of carbonic acid, and other deleterious gases, is undoubtedly produced from the innumerable processes of combustion, putrefaction, and respiration of men and animals, particularly in populous cities, the atmosphere of which is almost constantly prejudicial to health. The atmospheric air is never absolutely pure and salubrious in any situation, but is always mixed with heterogeneous particles, and these different states and changes produce very perceptible effects on the constitution.

In the open country there are few causes to contaminate the atmosphere, and the vegetable productions continually tend to make it more pure. The winds which agitate the atmosphere, and constantly occasion its change of place, waft the pure country air to the inhabitants of the cities, and dissipate that from which the oxygen has been in a great measure extracted. Were it not for this wise provision of the author of nature, from the daily combustion of an immense quantity of fuel, the numerous substances constantly undergoing putrefaction, the respiration and exhalations of a large number of men and animals, the air in populous towns would soon become unfit for the purposes of life.

The air of any place where a numerous body of people is assembled together, especially if to the breath of the crowd there be added the vapor of a great number of candles or lamps, is rendered extremely prejudicial, as these circumstances occasion a great consumption of

oxygen.

The practice of burning lamps with long wicks, and thereby filling the room with smoke, is very detrimental to health; and it is not a little surprising that common sense is so devoid of all philosophy as not to detect and avoid a vapor so pernicious and poisonous when received into the lungs.

The fact is well known, that when air has been long confined and stagnated in mines, wells, and cellars, it becomes so extremely poisonous. as to prove immediately fatal to those who imprudently attempt to enter such places. No person should descend into a well or cellar which has been long closed, without first letting down a lighted candle; if it burns clear there is no danger, but if it ceases to burn, we may be sure that no one can enter without the utmost danger of immediate suffocation. It sometimes happens, also, that when air is suffered to stagnate in rooms, hospitals, jails, ships, etc., it partakes of the same unwholesome or pernicious quality, and is a source of disease. It is obvious, therefore, that in all confined or crowded places the correcting of vitiated air, by means of cleanliness and frequent ventilation, is of the highest importance to health, and the most effectual preservative from

disease. No accumulation, therefore, of filth about our houses, clothes, or in the public streets, should on any pretense be suffered to continue, especially during the heat of summer.

It is a very injurious custom for a number of persons to occupy or sleep in a small apartment, and if it be very close and a fire be kept in it the danger is increased. The vapor of charcoal, when burnt in a close apartment, produces the most dangerous effects. Our houses, which are made close and almost air-tight, should be ventilated daily, by admitting a free circulation of air to pass through opposite windows; and even our beds ought to be frequently exposed to the influence of the open air.

Houses situated in low marshy situations, or near lakes or ponds of stagnant water, are constantly exposed to the influence of damp and noxious exhalations.

Among the most powerful means furnished by nature for correcting air which has become unfit for respiration, is the growth and vegetation of plants. The generality of plants possess the property of correcting the most corrupt air within a few hours, when they are exposed to the light of the sun; during the night or in the shade, however, they destroy the purity of the air, which renders it a dangerous practice to allow plants to vegetate in apartments occupied for sleeping.

Marshes. The neighborhood of marshes is peculiarly unwholesome, especially towards the decline of summer and during autumn, and more particularly after sunset. The air of marshy districts is loaded with an excess of dampness, and with the various gases given out during the putrefaction of the vegetable matters contained in the waters of the marsh. Persons exposed to this air are liable to various diseases, but especially ague, bilious fevers, diarrhoeas, and dysenteries. They who breathe it habitually exhibit a pallid countenance, a bloated appearance of the abdomen and limbs, and are affected with loss of appetite and indigestion. Health is best preserved in marshy districts by a regular and temperate life-exercise in the open air during the middle of the day, and by retiring, as soon as the sun sets, within the house, and closing all the doors and windows. The sleeping apartment should be in the upper story, and rendered perfectly dry by a fire, lit a few hours before going to bed, and then extinguished. Exposure to the open air should, if possible, not take place in the morning before the sun has had time to dispel the fog, which, at its rising, covers the surface of the marsh.

Night Air.-Many diseases are brought on by imprudent exposure of the body to the night air; and this, at all seasons, in every climate, and variety of temperature. The causes of this bad property of the night air, it is not difficult to assign. The heat is almost universally several degrees lower than in the day-time; the air deposits dew and other moisture; the pores of the skin are open, from the exercise and fatigues of the day; the evening feverishness leaves the body in some degree debilitated and susceptible of external impressions; and from all these concurrent causes are produced the various effects of cold acting as a check to perspiration; such as catarrhs, sore throats, coughs, consumptions, rheumatisms, asthmas, fevers, and dysenteries. In warm