280 Cure for the Dropsy. — Craniognomy . 



CURE FOR THE DROPSY. 



The following letter has been received by the editor of 

 the Readinp: Mercury, from Mr.T. H. Shrinipton, governor 

 of the house of industry at Faringdon, dated August 30, 

 1803 : — " in your paper a few weeks since I observed that 

 bohea tea, and the leaves to be eaten, was recommended as 

 a cure for the dropsy ; and as I had a pauper in the house 

 at the time, I ventured the experiment, and, to my astonish^ 

 ineht, found an almost instant relief. I repeated the dose 

 but once; and the woman, in the course of a week, was 

 able to go out to haymaking, and will begin reaping for me 

 next week, if the weather continues fine. The woman's 

 name is EHzabeth Austin, and her age is 62 years." — The 

 recipe alluded to above is as follows : — Infuse two large tea- 

 ciipfulls of the tea in about a quart of water : let the decoc- 

 tion be drunk during the day, and the leaves eaten at short 

 intervals. 



Since the above made its appearance in different news-r 

 papers, another instance of the good effects of the prescrip- 

 tion has been published : — A woman in Anderston, in the 

 neighbourhood of Glasgow, who has been afflicted with a 

 dropsical complaint since the month of June, has received 

 great relief, and there is a fair prospect of a cure, from 

 eating the leaves of Bohea tea. 



CRANIOGNOMr. 



Doctor Gall, the craniographic lecturer, is now giving 

 lectures in Denmark, and counts among his approvers \\\ 

 Copenhagen, the philosophers Kallisin, Scheele, P'enger, 

 aud others. 



TO THE EDITOR. 



SIR, 



Dining a few days ago with a friend, and being asked the 

 reason why potatoes were sweet after being frosted, I found 

 myself somewhat at a loss to give a satisfactory answer. If 

 any of your correspondents, through the medium of your 

 useful magazine, can give a rational description of the 

 process by which the efiect of cold disengages the saccha- 

 uine principle of potatoes, more particularly than of other 

 vegetable rroots, it will very much oblige a constant reader, 

 and may perhaps be useful to some more important pur- 

 pose in domestic or rural oecouomy. 



Bedford-row^ 



December, 1805. 



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