The Clothes-Moth 



313 



cheerless weather, for it was in mid-winter, 

 we next cut a third of the case off entirely. 

 Nothing daunted, the little fellow bustled 

 about, drew in a mass of the woolly fibres, 

 filling up the whole mouth of his den, and 

 began to build on afresh, and from the in- 

 side, so that the new-made portion was 

 smaller than the rest of the case. The 

 creature worked very slowly, and the 

 addition was left in a rough, unfinished 

 state. 



"We could easily spare these voracious 

 little worms hairs enough to serve as food, and 

 to afford material for the construction of their 

 paltry cases ; but that restless spirit that ever 

 urges on all beings endowed with life and 

 the power of motion, never forsakes the 

 young clothes-moth for a moment. He will 

 not be forced to drag his heavy case over 

 rough hairs and fuzzy wool, hence he cuts 



his way through with those keen jaws ; thus 

 the more he travels the more mischief he 

 does. 



" After taking his fill of this sort of life he 

 changes to a pupa, and soon appears as one 

 of those delicate, tiny, but richly variegated 

 moths that fly in such numbers from early 

 spring until the fall. Very many do not 

 recognize these moths in their perfect stage, 

 so small are they, and vent their wrath on 

 those great millers that fly around lamps jn 

 warm summer evenings. It need scarcely be 

 said that these large millers are utterly guilt- 

 less of any attempts on our wardrobes ; they 

 expend their attacks in a more open form on 

 our gardens and orchards. The clothes-moths 

 begin to fly in May, and last all through the 

 season, fluttering with a noiseless, stealthy 

 flight in our apartments, and laying their eggs 

 in our woollens." 



TREATMENT OF CHOLERAIC DIARRHOEA. 



SIR THOMAS WATSON, Bart., whose 

 lectures on medicine have most influ- 

 enced the practice of this half-century, writes 

 in the " British Medical Journal" : — "I find it 

 necessary to modify considerably some advice 

 which I formerly gave my auditors as to the 

 treatment of a disorder which appears to be 

 again increasingly prevalent throughout the 

 country. The form and features of this 

 dreaded pestilence have," he says, " been the 

 same in all its visitations to this country. 

 Must we still, as heretofore, make the morti- 

 fying confession that our art is unable to 

 cope with it successfully? Not so, I trust. 

 Among the many and discordant experiments 

 which have been brought forward, and fairly 

 tried for the cure of cholera, one, long since 

 suggested, and almost scornfully rejected, has 

 emerged of late into clearer significance and 

 more intelligible and ascertained value. I 

 mean the method, recognised as legitimate 

 and reasonable in various other maladies, of 

 ' ehmination,' of which the main advocate 



has been Dr George Johnson, Professor of 

 Physic in King's College." After comment- 

 ing upon the facts and principles involved, 

 Sir Thomas Watson lays down the following 

 rules in language partly his own and partly 

 that of Dr George Johnson :— Diarrhoea 

 ought not to be neglected even for an hour. 

 One important and guiding rule of treatment 

 is, " not to attempt by opiates, or by other 

 directly repressive means to arrest diarrhoea, 

 while there is reason to believe that the 

 bowels contain a considerable amount of 

 morbid and offensive materials. The purg- 

 ing is the natural way of getting rid of the 

 irritant cause. We may favour the recovery 

 by directing the patient to drink copiously 

 any simple dilutent liquid (cold or tepid), 

 toast-water, barley-water, or weak tea; and 

 we may often accelerate the recovery by 

 sweeping out the alimentary canal by some 

 safe purgative, and then, if necessary, sooth- 

 ing it by an opiate. Castor oil, notwithstand 

 ing its unpleasant taste, is, on the whole, th 



