the Senegaroos, a tribe of Indians, that he obtained a knowledge of this their secret remedy; which they 
applied externally and internally. Dr. Tennant himself saw, or thought he saw, beneficial effects ensue: 
but when we consider the number of cases of recovery from the bite of this serpent, under every variety of 
treatment, as recorded in many American publications, we naturally infer that spontaneous recoveries are 
perhaps as frequent as those which are promoted by medicine. 
More certain success appears to attend the use of Senega in pneumonia and some diseases related to it. 
In the advanced stages of pneumonic inflammation, after venesection and the other usual remedies have been 
carried to their proper extent, and the cough still remains dry and painful, the debility of the patient for- 
bidding further depletion, it is said to afford very marked relief by promoting expectoration and relieving 
the tightness and oppression of the chest. Various medical writers have spoken favourably of its employment 
in these cases, amongst whom are Bigelow, Bouvart, De Jussieu, and Lemory. 
Benefit has been derived in asthma from the use of the plant. “Decoction of Seneka,” says Dr. Bree, 
is eminently useful in the first species, administered to old people; but in the paroxysms of young persons 
I have found it too irritating. This distinction applies to convulsive asthma purely uncomplicated, but the 
disease is frequently observed in middle-aged and elderly persons to take the character of peripneumonia 
notha in the winter and spring, and seneka is then the most useful medicine that I have tried. In such 
cases it should be united with the acetated ammonia, during the febrile state, and as this state gives way, the 
addition of squill and camphorated tincture of opium will be found to promote expectoration, perspiration, &c. 
Sir Francis Millman, Dr. Percival, and others, have spoken highly of it as a diuretic in dropsies; and 
in consequence of its well ascertained power of exciting salivation, it was introduced into notice by Dr. 
Archer of Maryland, as a remedy of great power in croup. In the early stages of this complaint, however, 
it may be questioned, as Professor Bigelow justly observes, how far a medicine, which acts as a stimulant 
to the fauces and neighbouring organs, is entitled to reliance in a local inflammation of the trachea. Dr. 
Barton and other celebrated medical practitioners in America, place great reliance on it as an auxiliary to 
the other remedies that are usually employed in croup ; and a series of well-conducted experiments by any 
able man in our country, to ascertain its real merits in this disease, would be a boon gratefully received by 
the profession. Dr. Archer’s mode of administering it is, to give a tea-spoonful of a strong decoction once 
or twice in the hour, according to the urgency of the symptoms; and during the intervals, a few drops 
occasionally, to keep up a sensible action upon the mouth and throat, until it acts as an emetic or cathartic. 
In consequence also of its universally stimulant and diaphoretic effects, it has been found a powerful remedy 
in the treatment of chronic rheumatism. 
Dose. — In powder, from twenty to thirty grains. 
Decoctum Senega:. L.E. 
“ Take of the root, one ounce, water, two pints. Boil down to a pint and strain.” Dose, one to three 
ounces three or four times a day. 
Beautiful! 
How beautiful is all this visible world! 
How glorious in its action and itself; 
But we, who name ourselves its sovereigns, we, 
Half dust, half deity, alike unfit 
To sink or soar, with our mix’d essence make 
A conflict of its elements, and breathe 
The breath of degradation and of pride, 
Contending with low wants and lofty will 
Till our mortality predominates, 
And men are — what they name not to themselves, 
And trust not to each other. Byron. 
Seasonable Desires. With the incoming of spring there is an outgoing from town, or a wish 
to do so. We all love what nature proffers to our enjoyment. Now — the humble tenant of the lofty attic 
in the metropolis, cultivates a few flowers in garden pots, within the ridge of the parapet that bounds the 
eye from all things but sky and clouds; and when he can, walks with his wife in search of fields where 
grass grows and cattle feed. Now — the better conditioned take a trip a few miles beyond the suburbs, 
and all manifest hopes or wishes for prolonged enjoyment of the country in the approaching summer. 
Now — ready furnished cottages and lodgings, which have been “ to let” throughout the winter in the 
villages near the metropolis, find admirers, and some of them find occupiers. Now — the good wife re- 
minds her good man — “My dear it’s very hard, after so many years not to be able to afford a little comfort 
at last — we can’t, you know, live in this way for ever. What a charming day this is. Let us see and get a 
little place a little way from town against the fine weather comes ; the walk there and back will do you good; 
it will do us all good ; and the expense won’t be miss’d in the long run.” Now the thoughtful and thrifty, 
and the unthoughtful and the unthrifty, of certain and uncertain income, begin to plan or scheme where to go 
“ after parliament’s up,” or in what neighbourhood, or on what site, to hire or build a house suitable to 
their real or imaginary wants. Now, in other words, “all the world ” in London is thinking how or where 
“to go out of town bye-and-bye.” 
