60 



Consumptive Patients. — Indian Corn. 



Vol. XI. 



sufBcient to contain a bed, a table, and allow 

 a little room to move about in. Its floor, 

 formed of rough boards, was raised a few 

 inches above the ground of the stable. The 

 windows were ill-placed ; they faced the 

 north, on account of the convenience of 

 communicating with the house. They 

 should have faced the south. 



Two cows were placed in it for a month, 

 and three cows for the remaining five months. 

 There was a small stove in the part where 

 Mrs. Finch lay, which was used for two 

 months, for nearly half the day, but after- 

 wards only in extreme frost, or on the room 

 feeling damp. 



The temperature for two months was kept 

 from 60° to 65°, afterwards fi-om 65° to 70*, 

 but in general at 68°. The temperature was 

 found best between the two latter temper- 

 atures, and the air at a medium between ex- 

 cessive damp and too dry heat of a stove, 

 The stove lighted in the morning to dry a 

 little of the moisture collected during the 

 night, was pleasantest to her feelings. Suc- 

 cessive generations of flies were found to be 

 a great nuisance, and the cordage and other 

 parts of the bed were speedily rotted. The 

 vapors, however, gave nobody cold, nor did 

 any attendant suffer from a longer or shorter 

 continuance in a medium so much warmer 

 than the external atmosphere. On the con- 

 trary, one lady who paid many and long 

 visits, had her symptoms of chronic rheuma- 

 tism much alleviated. 



The management of the cows was found 

 to be a matter of some importance. For a 

 month or six weeks they were allowed very 

 little straw, nor was their standing cleaned; 

 afterwards they had plenty of straw, and 

 their beds were kept tolerably dry. Hay of 

 the best quality and free from dust, was 

 found preferable on all accounts, and straw 

 that was clean and dry. The cows were 

 watered twice a day, but not so sparingly as 

 they might have been. The better the hay 

 they were supplied with, the less water was 

 necessary. Their horns were noisy, par 

 ticularly during the night; on that account 

 young cows without horns would have been 

 more desirable, and such as were young in 

 calf; and halters better than chains to tie 

 them with. 



Mr. Finch observed, that if the patient 

 could have been on a low floor above the 

 cows, many disagreeable circumstances 

 would have been avoided. 



The eff'ect of their wet was all along- 

 nauseous to a stranger, but the feelings of 

 the patient should alone be consulted. The 

 genial warmth relieved oppression on the 

 chest, took off restlessness, and produced a 

 feeling the lady described by comparing it 



to nourishment conveyed through the pores 

 of the skin ; and so different were her feel- 

 ings in the cow-house to what they were j 

 before, that she would have been reluctant j 

 to have changed her apartment for the night, ; 

 however she might have wished a cleaner ! 

 and more cheerful one for the day. After 

 the first night, the air was, to use her own 

 expression, balsamic. 



In this she remained through autumn and , 

 winter, for six months, with three excep- \ 

 tions. About a week after her entrance, ' 

 she slept a night out of the cow-house, i 

 when the hectic symptoms and night sweats \ 

 which had left her, returned. Six weeks 

 afterwards, she lived for three days in an : 

 apartment three degrees warmer than the 

 cow-house. The night sweats did not re- ; 

 turn until the third night, and her breathing 

 became laborious ; instantaneous relief took i 

 place on returning to the cow-house. On a ' 

 subsequent removal for a week no relapse 

 occurred. 



The effect on the cows living in a climate 

 at this temperature was not observed by the ! 

 doctor, but it is pleasing to reflect that while i 

 alleviating human suffering, the second mo- 

 thers of mankind were benefited them- '■ 

 selves. "A cow," says Anderson, "to enjoy 

 existence, requires a temperature not lower \ 

 than 50 degrees, nor higher than 70." But \ 

 he sets one limit too low: a cow does not! 

 appear to feel pleasure in a climate under 60 j 

 degrees; and we have seen them in a north- j 

 easterly wind prefer a moist warm cow- i 

 house at 75 degrees, to one 10 degrees j 

 lower. 



During the following winter, Mrs. Finch 

 confined herself to an apartment heated ar- ■ 

 tificially by a stove; but she then said, "Ii 

 still prefer the air of the cow-house to my ; 

 warm room, although it is of a good size, and j 

 lies to the sun." 



Indian Corn. — We have more than once ' 

 recently referred to the popularity which | 

 Indian corn, as an article of food, is attain-; 

 ing in this country. It will prove, ere long, ! 

 a valuable export. The Government is mostj 

 anxious that it should supersede, to a great i 

 extent, the potatoe amongst the labouring j 

 poor, and the recent scarcity of that escu-i 

 lent is favourable to its introduction. Car- 

 goes of Indian corn are daily reaching the j 

 British ports from the United States, and ; 

 large quantities have been released from \ 

 bond, dutyfree, under the Treasury order. j 

 Shops for its exclusive retail sale, are being i 

 opened in many of the large towns, and the ! 

 American mode of using it is generally. 

 I adopted. — Liverpool Times. \ 



