with a very little wood or coal, he can distil 

 twenty-four French pots of water in a day ; 

 for the cooking of which lie hath this new 

 invention, that, instead of making the worm 

 pass through a vessel full of water {as is the 

 ordinary practice), he maketh it pass through 

 one hole, made on purpose out of the ship, 

 and to enter in again through another, so that 

 the water of the sea performeth the cooling 

 part ; by which means he saveth the room 

 which the common refrigerium would take 

 up, as also the labor of changing the water 

 when the worm hath heated it. But then, 

 thirdly, he joineth to the two precedent ope- 

 rations filtration, thereby perfectly to correct 

 the malignity of the water; which said 

 filtration is made by means of a peculiar 

 earth, which he mixeth and stirreth with the 

 distilled water, and at length suffereth to 

 settle at the bottom. He maintaineth that 

 his distilled sea-water is altogether salu- 

 brious ; he proveth it first from experience, 

 it having been given to men and beasts 

 without any ill effects at all upon them. 

 Secondly, from reasons grounded on this, 

 that that peculiar earth being mixed with the 

 distilled water, blunts the points of the 

 volatile spirits of the salt, and serveth them 

 for sheaths, if I may so speak, taking away 

 their force and malignant sharpness." 



Such is Mr. Hanton's plan of sweetening 

 sea-water — the secret which he at length 

 condescended to reveal ; and when he had 

 revealed it, we will wager heavily that his 

 secret was still safe, and as much a secret as 

 ever ; for if any one can turn the above 

 recipe to any advantage, or even set about 

 the experiment from the information therein 

 afforded, then we will admit him to be a very 

 clever fellow, and Mr. Hanton not quite such 

 a goose as we are at present inclined to 

 imagine him. But the same periodical, and 

 in the same column, gives us another pre- 

 scription for purifying sea-water, as invented, 

 or discovered, by another sage — one Dr. 

 Martin Lister. And this is it : — " It seems 

 probable to me that the sea -water was the 

 only element created at the beginning, before 

 any animal or vegetable was created, or the 

 sun itself. But upon the creation of these, 

 the fresh water had its rise accidentally, 

 because it owes its being in a great measure 

 to the vapors of plants, and the breath of 

 animals, and the exhalations raised by the 

 sun. Now that the sea- water is made fresh 

 by the breath of plants growing in it, I thus 

 demonstrated : I took a long glass body, and 

 having filled it pretty full with sea-water 

 taken up at Scarborough, I put therein 

 common sea-weed {alga marina) fresh and 

 newly gathered, some with the roots naked, 

 and some growing on, and adhering to stones. 

 The glass body being full, I put thereon a 

 head, with a beak, and adapted a receiver 

 thereto, all without any lute or closing of the 



joints ; from these plants I did distil daily 

 (though in a small quantity,) a fresh, very 

 sweet, and potable water, which hath no 

 empyreuma, or unpleasant taste, as all those 

 distilled by fire necessarily have. This I take 

 to be the most natural, the most easy, and 

 most safe way of having sweet water from 

 the sea, and which may be of great use even 

 to supply the necessity of navigators ; and I 

 do not doubt but there may be found other 

 plants growing in or near the sea, which 

 would yield fresh water in much greater 

 quantities." 



These learned Thebans propounded their 

 discoveries in 1772, and in 1852 we do not 

 appear to be in any way the better for them. 

 But our antique periodical will furnish us 

 another recipe or two, wherewith we can 

 make ourselves merry. Let us see what is 

 the remedy offered for chilblains : — " 1. Apply 

 salt and onions pounded together. 2. Or a 

 poultis of roasted onions hot. Keep it on 

 three or four days, if not cured sooner. 3. 

 Or hot turnip parings roasted, changing them 

 twice or thrice a day. 4. Wash them, if 

 broke, with tincture of myrrh in a little 

 water. To prevent chilblains : — 1. Wear 

 flannel socks. 2, Or wash the hands with 

 flour of mustard." Another column of the 

 same periodical tells us, that " a cancer of 

 twelve years 1 standing was cured by fre- 

 quently applying red poppy water, plantain, 

 and rose-water, mixt with honey of roses. 

 Cold-water baths cured Mrs. Bates, of Leices- 

 tershire, of a cancer in her breast, a consump- 

 tion, a sciatica, and rheumatism, which she 

 had had for twenty years." And we are then 

 told that this complication of long pro- 

 tracted maladies, was cured by one month's 

 bathing, and drinking only cold water. Only 

 conceive a cancer, a consumption, a scia- 

 tica, and a rheumatism, of twenty years' 

 duration, cured in one month. Morison's 

 pills and Holloway's ointment are nothing to 

 the cold water, which did such wonders for 

 Mrs. Bates of Leicestershire ; but as Leices- 

 tershire is somewhat, a large county, and 

 Bates rather a common name, it would pro- 

 bably have been more satisfactory had the 

 narrator of this miracle condescended to tell 

 his contemporaries in what town and street 

 the aforesaid Mrs. Bates resided. Other 

 methods of curing cancer mentioned in this 

 periodical, are thus detailed: — " Take a 

 mellow apple, cut off the top, take out the 

 core, fill the hole with hog's grease, then 

 cover it with the top, and roast the apple 

 thoroughly ; take off the paring, beat the 

 pap well, spread it thick on linen, and lay it 

 warm on the sore, putting a bladder over it ; 

 change this every twelve or twenty-four 

 hours. Or take horse-spurs, and dry them 

 by the fire, until they will beat to powder. 

 Sift and infuse two drams in two quarts of 

 ale ; drink half a pint every six hours with 



