THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds;" " Birds of Passage ; " "Instinct and Reason;" " The Aviary," &c. 



"tee OBJECT of our work is to make men WISER, without obliging them to turn over folios and 



OUARTOS. — TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING." — EVELYN. 



No. 40.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2. 



Price 3d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Is. Id. 



OUK CODE OE HEALTH. 



Oh, blessed Health ! thou art above all gold and trea- 

 sure, ' lis thou who enlargest the soul, and openest all its 

 powers to receive instruction, and to relish virtue. 

 He that has thee, has little more to wish for; and he 

 that is so wretched as to want thee, wants everything 

 with thee. — Sterne. 



Our joyous flow of animal spirits, 

 and the uniform cheerfulness which ever 

 guides our pen, appear to excite no little 

 surprise. People are amazed at " the even- 

 ness of our temperament" — the more so, as 

 we advocate abstemiousness, and preach up 

 a crusade against the indulgences of the 

 table, and the use and abuse of fermented 

 liquors. " Therein, good masters, lieth 

 (half) the secret." 



During the past month, several appeals 

 have been made to us to write an " Essay on 

 Health," and to give our views upon the 

 causes of illness generally. What an odd 

 idea ! However, we are the willing servant 

 of the Public ; and if any remarks of ours 

 can in any way tend to their benefit, how 

 freely are they at their service ! 



Just now, we apprehend, a few hints will 

 be serviceable. The Cholera, in its direst 

 forms, is at our very doors — aye, within sixty 

 hours' distance of our shores, and only waiting 

 for certain winds to bring it here. We need 

 not dwell on this ; but we may allude to it, 

 as affording a theme for " reflection " of no 

 common kind. Once here, we too well 

 know its devastating effects, to make light of 

 it. It is a mortal, uncompromising foe. 

 Hitherto, we have been the most favored of 

 nations. Where very many thousands have 

 perished abroad, here during its ravages, we 

 did not average as many hundreds. This 

 may not occur again. " To be forewarned 

 is to be forearmed." We have read what is 

 going on abroad ; and have trembled. May 

 God, in his infinite mercy, preserve England 

 from suck an awful visitation ! This ought to 

 be " a Universal Prayer." 



It will not do for us to be alarmists ; but 

 irrespective of cholera, we may just mention, 



casually, the many escapes that we all daily 

 experience in this country, without at the 

 time giving them a thought. " In the very 

 midst of life we are in death." Listen ! 



Our household apparel is, week after week, 

 sent away to the various laundries in town 

 and country without consideration. It is 

 there mingled with the raiment of — how 

 many other families ? Some clean, some 

 unclean ; some healthy ; some leprous ; and 

 many suffering from the most infectious dis- 

 eases. The same process, the same water, 

 the same manipulation await all and every 

 article that is sent out and sent home again ! 

 We avoid these evils, of course, by seeing 

 that the necessary performances take place 

 chez nous. " Prevention is better than cure." 

 We owe our family doctor much gratitude 

 for this hint. 



Then again — we call a cab. We get into 

 it, with a happy ignorance of who was there 

 last. Perhaps, and very likely, some persons 

 suffering from scarlet or typhus fever had 

 just been consigned in it to the hospital — 

 leaving behind them the elements of infec- 

 tion. The same with all our omnibuses ; in 

 which, as our medical men tell us, diseases 

 out of number are from day to day unspar- 

 ingly imparted.* As for the " Penny " 



* All persons — females not excepted— who 

 are in the habit of travelling in omnibuses — at this 

 season more particularly, should make a point 

 of sitting next to the door if possible. If not, as 

 near to it as may be. People who travel in these 

 vehicles are very obstinate. They will have all 

 the windows up\ and so prevent the air from 

 without, entering within. The consequence is, 

 — all the foul breath that has been exhaled, 

 continues to be inhaled and re-inhaled. This 

 goes on, at compound interest, to the end of your 

 journey; and if disease be in the omnibus, and 

 contagious — why, then, you are a partaker of it. 

 Many free-livers, bon-vivants, and drunkards re- 

 gularly use these conveyances. Some of them 

 smell like rum-casks, and carry a kind of pesti- 

 lence in their wake. One single sniff is enough 

 for us; their entrance and our exit take place 



Vol. II. 



