1822] On the Prevention 
‘obtained on this subject, we do not 
hope that our children will talk French 
so well as they would do if they were 
educatedin France. But, we believe, 
that they will understand and speak 
the language better than they could 
do by any other mode of instruction 
‘practised in England. , They daily ac- 
quire those minute turns of expression 
which are rarely obtained by a fo- 
reigner. The expense, we conceive, 
will be less than by the usual mode. of 
teaching the language. Now, that the 
first difficulties attendant on anew and 
untried plan are overcome, scarcely any 
inconvenience is felt in consequence of 
this mode of procedure ; especially as 
my wife -had previously determined 
herself, in a great measure, to educate 
her own children. 
As the credit due to a statement of 
this kind depends on the character of 
the narrator, I will give you my 
address for your private information, 
but beg leave here to subscribe my- 
self, your’s, &c. 
J.B. 
——_ 
Tothe Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N a late voyage from Calais to Lon- 
don, in one of the steam-ships, we 
experienced so rough a sea, that every 
passenger on-board, male and female, 
old and young, was in less than helf an 
hour affected by violent and unremitting 
sea-sickness: The scene itself was 
sufficient to affect me by a species of 
sympathy; but the general cause began 
to operate in swimming of the head, 
loss of strength and colour, accompa- 
nied by that overpowering nausea, the 
recollection of which will fill every one 
who has been at sea with associations 
of agony. 
Unwilling for some hours to suffer 
these tortures, I began to speculate on 
the cause, and, having no hesitation in 
referring it primarily to the motion of 
the vessel, I considered its proximate 
effect on the animal system, It was 
evident that, as the whole body was the 
patient of the rockings of the vessel, the 
stomach, and other moveable viscera, 
would librate within the cavity of the 
chest and abdomen without the usual 
energy of the will, and that corres- 
ponding muscular foree with which the 
actions and re-actions of all the parts 
‘are generally inharmony. ‘This unna- 
tural movement, and the resulting 
friction and irritation of the stomach 
and viscera, I consequently deter- 
: 2 
of Scea- Sickness. 295 
mined to be the immediate causes of 
sea-sickness. 
It appeared to me, therefore, that 
this phenomenon, like all other pheno- 
mena of matter, had its cause in certain 
special MOTIONS, and that the cure 
could only be found in counteracting 
motions... Without a delicate mecha- 
nical contrivance, (though a mere 
swinging hammock might have been 
useful,) the body could not be kept in 
a steady upright position; itstruck me, 
therefore, that a brisk muscular motion 
of the body, equal at least to that of 
the vessel, would either counteract or 
confer such novel direction of motion 
on the stomach and viscera, as would 
neutralize, if not destroy, the effect of 
the motion of the vessel. I amused to 
ride on horseback; and, for the sake of 
the exercise, prefer a trotting horse ; it 
appeared to me, therefore, that, if I 
imitated the action of the body in a 
brisk trot, I might have no other sen- 
sation than what that action usually 
produces. 
I seated myself in a chair upon the 
deck, and commenced a sharp libration 
of the body, such as it receives in trot- 
ting ; and, in a few minutes, the pre- 
vious nausea abated. Ina quarter of 
an hour I recovered my spirits; in half 
an hour felt a desire to eat; which I in- 
duiged, to the surprize and disgust of 
those who were vomiting around me ; 
in fine, I kept up the action more or 
less during the three hours in which we 
were in rough water, in which time I 
emptied my pockets of eatables; and, 
afterwards, I was as well as though I 
had merely taken my customary morn- 
ing’s ride. 
As innumerable speculations have 
been published on this subject, and as 
it concerns the convenience and com- 
fort of thousands who undertake sea- 
voyages, I consider it my duty to sub- 
mit these facts to the public. 
Oct. 1, 1822. ComMMON SENSE. 
a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
AM. quite. surprised and indig- 
nant that you haye rejected my 
sonnet... Know, Mr, Editor, that itis 
a fearful thing for any one to encoun- 
ter the scorn of an offended child of 
genius, and I am determined to make 
you feel it. You gentlemen who su- 
perintend the publication of periodical 
works are indeed mighty arrogant: 
you form a conspiracy to crush the 
fairest flowers and fruits of talent, and 
wantonly 
