PRACTICAL FARMER. 



189 



-ribing a new and successful mode of treating 

 that alarming disease of childhood, the croup, 

 which ought to be generally known. The pre- 

 scription is siuiple, and easily applied, and it must 

 be evident that if it should not afford effectual 

 relief to the sufferer, it will not increase the dis- 

 order. In tlie absence of a regular ))hysician, this 

 application may in some cases prove of immense 

 benefit. The following is the statement by Dr 

 Fisher : — 



" I was called, at five o'clock last evening, to a 

 (^hild which was laboring under a severe attack of 

 the croup, consequent upon a sudden disappear- 

 ance of the eruption of measles. The croupy 

 symptoms appeared suddenly, and had existed 

 one hour before I was called. The child, on my 

 arrival, Avas in extreme agony, struggliug and 

 gasping for breath ; and J thougiitthe littie sufferer 

 was in danger of immediate suffocation. The 

 first means I emi)loyed was the application of very 

 hot, almost boiling, water to the throat and upi)er 

 ])art of the chest, by means of large sponges. — 

 These applications I repeated every two minutes, 

 and immediately the skin became coated and very 

 red, and in the course of a quarter of an hour the 

 little girl breathed much easier, and her croupy 

 cough and respiration became less shrill and tubu- 

 lar, and much modified. Soon after making the 

 fii-st applications of the sponges to the throat, I 

 wrapped the child in a woollen Jj'anket wrung out 

 in hot water, as a substitute for a warm bath, and 

 gave it twenty drops of the wine of antimony, in a 

 little sweetened water, which she swallowed with 

 difficulty. I persevered in the applcations of the 

 hot moist sponges for an hour, when the child was 

 so much relieved that I ventured to leave it for 

 half an Lour — ordering the remedy to l)e contin- 

 ued. On my return, I found the patient breathed 

 with comparative freedom, its respiration and 

 cough less sonorous and shrill, and its pulse softer 

 and more natural. I recommended the applica- 

 tions to be continued until the child should be 

 decidedly re]i.eved, and prescribed six drojis of 

 antimonial wine to be given every hour in a littlo 

 water. The mother of the child informed me, 

 this morning, that she continued to apply the hot 

 Avater remedy for five hours, but not so often as I 

 ajiplied them — that the child continued to im- 

 prove, and fell asleep soon after 1 left it. This 

 morning she is bright and playful, and asks for 

 food. The respiration is quite easy — pulse soft 

 and natural ; cough humid and loose ; its sounds 

 having lost the shrill croupy character. 



I was induced to einploy the above remedy, in 

 consequence of having lately read in a foreign 

 journal that it had been, suggested and emjiloyed 

 by a German physician with decided and uniform 

 success. As the remedy is simple, and is at ready 

 command, an(i| as its applicalion in the present 



case was attended with such decided and" imme- 

 diate hap|)y effects, I would, with a good deal of 

 confidence, advise mothers and nurses in similar 

 cases to apply it early and pcrseveringly until 

 medical aid can be obtained. The sponges should 

 be gently squeezed before they are applied, so that 

 the water shall not ooze from them, and should 

 be gradually compressed during the time they are 

 applied, so as to continue the temperature up to 

 the highest degree that can be sustained by the 

 ]iatient.- Shoidd S])onges not be at hand, napkins 

 wrung out in the boiling water may serve as good 

 substitutes." 



Remedy for, the Lock Jaw. — We are inform- 

 ed by a friend that a sure preventive against this 

 terrible disease is to take some soft soap, and mix 

 it with a sufficient quantity of ))u]verized chalk, 

 so as to make it of the consistency of buckwheat 

 batter ; keep the chalk moistened with a fresh 

 supply of soap until the wound begins to dis- 

 charge, and the patient finds relief. Our friend 

 stated to us that implicit confidence may be placed 

 in what he says, that he has known several cases 

 where this remedy has been Successfully applied. 

 So simple and so valuable a remedy, within the 

 reach of every person, ought to be universally 

 known. — A". Y. Ev. Post. 



British Manufactories. — A good deal was 

 published so,,ie 3 or 4 years ago, touching the 

 wretched condition of the laborers in these great 

 establishments of industry. A commission was 

 instituted by Parliament to inquire into tlieir con-, 

 dition on the spot. The investigation appears to 

 have been conducted with care and fidelity. The 

 result of the inquiry was that the condition of tlie 

 o])erations, of all ages, especially in the large es- 

 tablishments, was far from being miserable, 'i heir 

 lalior is higlier than that of the cultivators of the 

 soil. Adults earn per day from 3s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. 

 sterling, and some more. Their employment is 

 not unfavorable to health or longevity. 



Another fact of great importance is announced, 

 — " that improvenients in machinery invariably 

 increase, at one and the same time the profits of 

 t!ie mill owner and the wages of the workmen." 

 With this im[)roved machinery, the manufacturer 

 can afford to pay his workmen a higher price. 



LFiom the' Maine Fanner j 

 SCOTCH OATS. 



Mr Holmes : — It is a well known fact to you 

 that the Kennebec County Agricultural Society, of 

 which you were corresponding Secretary, and of 

 course did the business, imported via JNew York 

 from Scotland, a number of bushels of Oats, ii>- 

 liopcs that seed brought from that mountainous 

 country to this might be useful. The seed was 



