238 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



some of these Coleoptera eject by the anus a caustic liquid which, 

 vaporizing suddenly, detonates with intensity, like an explosive ; 

 whence the Brachini have been called bonibarders. 



THE PEARL OF PRACTICE. 



By ELIZABETH BOBINSON. 



THE Wakefield family have always been very proud of tracing 

 their descent from an old English doctor who came to this 

 country in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Proudly 

 they show the various relics of this highly respected ancestor his 

 old battered silver snuff-box, with dim, worn inscription, telling 

 that it was a gift from a scion of nobility, who thus rewarded his 

 medical man for service done in his cause ; the comical night-cap 

 which once covered the dear doctor's revered head, a pair of shoe- 

 buckles, a few buttons from his small-clothes, and last, but not 

 least, an old account-book and book of prescriptions. The ac- 

 count-book opens of itself at the pages where noble names are 

 most often inscribed: "A purge for Lady Mary Brown"; an 

 emetic (the good doctor uses a more Shakespearean word) for 

 Lady Betty Smith, a draught for this lord, a blister for that, etc. 



We turn with due consideration the thin, yellow pages, cov- 

 ered with fine, faded writing, still perfectly legible, queerly spelled. 

 The book of prescriptions, The Pearl of Practice, is so old, so 

 near dropping in pieces, that it surely has to be taken up tenderly, 

 handled with care. It has every appearance of great age, and we 

 are not surprised to learn that it was printed in London two hun- 

 dred and seven years ago. The ancient volume shows evidence 

 of much consultation. We open it with respect, which quickly 

 turns to righteous horror and indignation as we peruse the crum- 

 bling pages. We can only hope that this venerated disciple of 

 iEsculapius practiced mostly in his own country, and did not 

 work fell disaster in the struggling colonies of America. Truly 

 British brawn and the accessory of England's climate were needed 

 even for the " survival of the fittest " if many of these strange 

 and wonderful prescriptions were followed. Even so early in our 

 history the Americans were far too " nervous " to bear many such 

 heroic doses, even if the true nature of the ingredients could have 

 been concealed. Perhaps we have always had a leaning toward 

 the " new school " of medicine ; a little study of these old pages 

 quite convinced us of it. But we fancy the most conservative 

 physician of the " old school " to-day would not go very far by 

 this queer little book. 



In the first place, one would have to be the happy possessor of 



