Vol. XL-No. 6. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



43 



oeas did not get into the Quebec market until the 

 20th of June; at Montreal, however, vegetation is 

 nearly or quite a fortnight in advance of Quebec ; 

 liere at Newburg green corn is in market and ripe 

 apricots. The severe past winter was not in the 

 least injurious to fruit trees, from Hartford via. 

 New York to nearly Albany ; as when I went 

 that route in May, trees were all in blossom then, 

 and now abounding in fruit. But from Albany to 

 Quebec it was about as injurious as near Boston, 

 some places more so. But neither in IMontreal or 

 Quebec was there a single apple tree, of the Si- 

 berian crab kind injured in the least, while all oth- 

 er kinds were nearly destroyed. 



Mr Corse desires to be remembered to all his 

 horticultural friends near Boston, and tenders his 

 thanks to all those who kindly assisted to furnish 

 him with scions, all of which he has successfully 

 grafted. 



SECOND REPORT 



Of the Consulting Physicians of Boston, 

 The Consulting Physicians, having reason to be- 

 lieve that errors exist, in the minds of many per- 

 sons, in regard to the means of preventing Chol- 

 era, have availed themselves of a meeting called 

 for other purposes, at the request of the Health 

 Commissioners of the Middle District, to express 

 their opinion on the points alluded to. They per- 

 form this duty with some hesitation, lest they 

 should be thought to obtrude their opinions un- 

 asked. 



1. Use of Vegetables. There seems to exist a 

 belief that vegetables should be abstained from du- 

 ring the existence of the epidemic disposition to 

 cholera. The consulting physicians, in their first 

 public rejiort, advised their fellow citizens to ab- 

 stain from all uncooked vegetables, such as cu- 

 cumbers, and all salads. They did not advise ab- 

 stinence from vegeiables, when of good quality, 

 and properly cooked. These, on the contrary, 

 they recommend, as a salutary provision of na- 

 ture, at this season, to cool and regulate the diges- 

 tive system. 



2. Ripe Fruits. A similar error prevails as to 

 fruits. This board are aware that the use of fruit 

 has been wholly proscribed by some writers on 

 the subject of cholera. To tliis injunction they 

 cannot assent. They believe that a moderate use 

 of our own ripe fruit is one of the means of pre- 

 vention, by removing that state of the digestive or- 

 gans which would disorder the secretions of those 

 organs, and thus prepare them for the disease. It 

 may be stated, as a general truth, that the exciting 

 cause of the epidemic more frequently lies in an 

 improper quantity of food, than in any jieculiar 

 quality, although the quality should by no means 

 be regarded with indifference. 



3. Use of Spirits to prevent Cholera. A notion 

 has been taken up by some individuals, among the 

 well informed part of the community, that a mod- 

 erate use of stimulants, such as wine, and even 

 brandy, is beneficial, as a preventive of cholera; 

 and not only has the opinion been adopted, but a 

 practical application of it has been made, by ha- 

 bitual spirit drinkers, to a great extent. The ori- 

 gin of these errors has been attributed to the ad- 

 vice of a Southern physician ; and soma persons 

 have intimated a suspicion that they have arisen, 

 in part, from the direction of tliis board to use 

 brandy and water as a vehicle for giving laudanun), 

 in the case of violent and sudden attack of cholera, 

 before the advice of a physician could be obtained. 



The opinion of this board is clearly that all 

 kinds of ardent spirits and other strong stimulants 

 are not useful hi preventing cholera ; but that they 

 dispose to its attack. This opinion they mean to 

 express in the most unqualified manner; and they 

 wish to advise and to warn all |)ersons to abstain 

 wholly from their use. Those who are accustom- 

 ed to an intemperate use of ardent spirits and 

 wine, may safely leave off these habits by attend- 

 ing to the following cautions. 



1. To diminish their common food considera- 

 bly below the usual quantity ; and to let it consist 

 of animal rather than vegetable substance. A light 

 brolh taken in small quantities, at short intervals, 

 is particularly proper. 



2. To use a strong decoction of the vegetable 

 bitters as a substitute for alcohol — such, for exam- 

 ple as wormwood, chamomile, horehound, south- 

 ernwood and tanzy. The aromatic herbs, spear- 

 mint and peppermint, may suit some constitutions 

 more than the bitters. Under the direction of a 

 physician, preparations of bark and quinina may be 

 advantageously employed for the same purpose. 



The Board take this occasion to state for your 

 satisfaction, that the city, so far as they are inform- 

 ed, is more healthy than usual at this season 

 Slight affections of the bowels are not unfrequent ; 

 and within a few a days there have appeared a 

 number of cases of Cholera Morbus, which yield- 

 ed readily to medicine. These attacks we believe 

 can in all cases be traced to one of the following 

 causes. 1. Indulgence in eating. 2. Excessive 

 use of cold liquids. 3. Extraordinary exposure 

 10 wet. 4. A confined state of the digestive or- 

 gans. Signed, 



John C. Warren, 

 Benj. Shurtleff, 

 George Hatward, 

 George C. Shattuck, 

 John Randall. 

 Boston, August 10, 1832. 



contrary, as far as contracts have been made, ihcy 

 have been made at an average rate of 15 1-2 per 

 cent less than the estimate. The iron can be 

 purchased now for £1 10s. less per ton than the 

 estimate — and the duty has been repealed amoun- 

 ting to .S'll a ton ; these together make a difference 

 of rising $120,000, which will provide for any con- 

 tingencies, and gives confidence that the work 

 will be constructed within the estimate. — Boston 

 Courier. 



Timidity. — We have heard of a case recently 

 which illustrates the folly of violent apprehensions 

 in regard to cholera. A physician, of this town, 

 was called to visit a patient, a young girl, who, on 

 bis arrival, appeared to be in a state of collapse 

 from the real epidemic. A short time however, 

 satisfied him that such was not the case ; on ex- 

 amination, he discovered that she had been dosing 

 herself with laudanum ; which she had taken so 

 freely as to endanger her life. The girl was by 

 some exertion revived; when she stated that she 

 had been reading a good deal about the cholera ; 

 fancied that she had the symptoms, and, as lauda- 

 nuni had been highly reconmiended, resorted to 

 that extreme remedy at once. Readers must rec- 

 ollect that a certain dose of laudanum is as bad as 

 the cholera; and that fear is rather worse, if pos- 

 sible, than either. — Kewhuryport Herald. 



Boston and Worcester Rail-Road. — The work of 

 constructing this road has begun, with a prospect 

 of its favorable termination, and under circum- 

 stances that may properly justify the stockholders 

 in anticipations of effecting a public benefit, with- 

 out a sacrifice of individual property. Should the 

 road hereafter be extended to Hartford, we know 

 of no direction in which one could be laid out si; 

 likely to derive a profit from passengers. Besides 

 the fact that it would run through the best popu- 

 lated part of New England, whose business 

 requires constant intercourse with the capital, it 

 would probably secure a very considerable portion 

 of the passengers between Boston and New-York, 

 to whom it would present a safer and more agree- 

 able mode of travelling than that of steam-boats. 



The Engineer's estimate of the cost of the rail- 

 road, in his report, which was laid before the 

 stockholders in March last, is .$883,904, if construct- 

 ed in the most expensive mode, and including 

 the cost of the necessary engines and cars and the 

 cost of land for the road ; the estimate of the annual 

 expenses, after the completion of the road, was 

 $34,148. 



The estimate of the produce of the road, in the 

 report of the directors, founded on the present 

 amount of transportation and travelling, was .$149,- 

 500 per annum, or §108,352 net income, after de- 

 ducting the estimate of annual expenses. 



Since those estimates were made, nothing has 



Extraordinary Instance of Somnambulism. — A 

 short time since, a lady in Liverpool had a servant, 

 who u|ion coining down stairs every morning, 

 found the fire lit, the kettle boiling; and all other 

 things in a state of readiness. For some time, she 

 did not communicate this singular fact to any one, 

 but atlengthlslie told her mistress, who immediately 

 set to work to inquire into the matter. One morn- 

 ing she rose early, and took her station in the 

 parlor. After waiting a short time, she saw her 

 servant come into the room, fast asleep, but dress- 

 ed, and itnmediateljr proceeded to perform her 

 various occupations, which, having effected, she 

 went off to bed again. The next morning she 

 repeated this extraordinary feat, when her mistress 

 awoke her, showing w ho it was that performed 

 her work for her. — Manchester paper. 



Domestic Silk Manufacture. — J.. H. Cobb, Esq. 

 of Dedham, has left with us two specimens of Silk 

 Handkerchiefs, made at his manufactory in Ded- 

 ham — the first that have ever been woven in the 

 United States. One of them is made of India 

 Silk, imported in its raw state, but spun and woven 

 at Dedham ; the other is entiiely of American pro- 

 duction; frotri worms of 18;U. The texture is 

 fine and beautiful, and we cannot but tliink that 

 impartial observers will give Mr. Cobb the credit 

 of wonderful success in this first exjHriment. 

 Specimens of the sanie manufacture are deposited 

 with Mr. E. K. Whitaker, at his rooms in Wash- 

 ington street, where the friends of the American 

 System, and those who are favorably disjiosed to 

 the infant manufactures of the country, are re- 

 quested 10 call and examine iheiu. — Boston Cou- 



The editor of the Lancaster, Pa. Journal took 

 from his garden of Thursday last, some apricots; 

 fom- of them weighed a pound. The largest 

 W( ighed more than a quarter of a pound, and 

 measured seven inches and nine-tenths in circum- 



occurred to show that they are insufficient ; on the fcrence. 



