IC-NRLF 
 
 71 EEM 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SALT; 
 
 WITH ' OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON ITS 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, 
 GEOLOGICAL FORMATION, 
 
 AND 
 
 MEDICINAL AND DIETETIC PROPERTIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 EVAN MARLETT BODDY, F.R.C.S., F.S.S., 
 
 LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OP PHYSICIANS ; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY 
 ETC., ETC., ETC. 
 
 "Salt is good." 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 BAILLIERE, TINDALL, AND COX, 
 20, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND. 
 
 1881. 
 [All Rights Reserved.} 
 
L ' 
 
 WILLIAM BAKNARD BODDY ESQ., 
 
 Formerly K.N., SURGEON; 
 
 THIS 
 
 TREATISE 
 IS 
 
 tction&ttlv 'jjtbicnttb 
 
 BY HIS SON, 
 
 EVAN MARLETT BODDY 
 
TN 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEB t'AOK 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION - 7 
 
 II. HISTORY OF SALT - - 9 
 
 III. SALT AS A CHEMICAL, THERAPEUTICAL, AND TOXICOLOG1CAL 
 
 AGENT - -25 
 
 IV. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION - 29 
 V. GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF SALT - 42 
 
 VI. EFFECTS ON ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE 53 
 
 VII. MEDICINAL AND DIETETIC PROPERTIES 61 
 
 VIII. PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES - 87 
 
 IX. CONCLUSION - - 92 
 
 APPENDIX - - - - - - - 94 
 
THE HISTORY OF SALT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 How frequently it happens that those natural productions with 
 which we are to a certain extent superficially familiar, are to a 
 great many not only uninteresting, but are regarded as subjects more 
 or less beneath their notice ; and by others as deleterious to the 
 human race, and therefore to be cautiously used or scrupulously 
 avoided. Another peculiarity is, that the more we are accustomed 
 to them, the more our interest wanes, and probably at last de- 
 generates into apathetic indifference. 
 
 We can only attribute these ignorant conceits and apparently 
 unaccountable obliquity of judgment to two causes : an assump- 
 tion of wisdom, and an unenlightened mind, unwilling to learn and 
 loath to improve. Another hindrance which to a considerable 
 extent precludes the study of what one may truthfully designate 
 every-day subjects, is the restless furor for artful counterfeits of 
 science, which are nothing else than the emanations of vain and 
 visionary minds mixing together, as it were, an amalgam of truth 
 and error. The present age is wonderfully productive of these 
 eccentric ideas, while at the same time it is unhappily pregnant 
 with the most unnatural and anti-healthful habits. The mystified 
 authors take good care to run into the wildest extremes, so that 
 their marvellous schemes and quaint devices (fortunately for their 
 fellow-creatures) cause them to be justly derided by the thoughtful 
 and disregarded by the sensible, though not a few are caught by 
 the tinsel. 
 
 The grotesque aberrations of thought which have so prolifically 
 
generated such an incongruous medley of medico-social phantas- 
 magoria, though considered by their promoters as wonderful 
 scientific projections, are rendered more ridiculous than they 
 really are, by their wild and unreasonable denunciations of those 
 who do not happen to coincide with their farcical puerilities and 
 whimsical crudities ; and their intolerant followers, with consider- 
 able more zeal than discretion, promulgate their doctrines with 
 voluminous additions and preposterous assertions mentis gratis- 
 simus error. 
 
 These parodies of science have exerted as yet no material in- 
 fluence on modern thought, though there is a visible impress ob- 
 servable here and there ; and they doubtless will ultimately collapse, 
 like alchemy and other illusions of a bygone age, and in due time will 
 fall as ignominiously before the resistless onslaughts of true science 
 and knowledge, as those deceptive will-o'-the-wisps were finally 
 extinguished, after whisking about for some centuries, by the calm, 
 dignified, and logical condemnation of philosophical and scientific 
 investigation. Need I remind my reader that I am referring 
 to spiritualism, homoeopathy, vegetarianism, and various other 
 bastard distortions of science, though their purblind believers 
 may regard them as legitimate offspring, and therefore deserving 
 of due respect and consideration. Such imaginative plerophory 
 is invariably antagonistic to scientific conclusions and common- 
 sense principles, beside being redundant of inane folly and trivial 
 hyperbole. 
 
 One of the peculiar crazes of the day, though it is not so 
 universal as those to which I have just referred, is the unhealthful 
 and insensate antipathy to salt, which has infatuated, in a greater 
 or lesser degree, the several strata of society : some going so far as 
 to proscribe it altogether, whilst others use it as if it were destruc- 
 tive to life, or at least subversive of health, and others assert 
 that it originates disease ! Some time ago I saw a letter in a 
 temperance journal (we know that the advocates of total abstinence 
 are frequently guilty of degrading their good cause by descending 
 to frivolity), advising total abstention from salt ; the writer, with 
 amusing self-complacency, accused it of producing evils of an 
 astounding nature such is the latitude of pragmatical ignorance 
 and silly egotism. The palpable absurdity of such an argument 
 must be apparent even to the most careless thinker ; it is with the 
 view of exposing such a fallacy, both injurious and irrational, that 
 I have written this treatise, and have been prompted to do so more 
 
especially as I find such ridiculous notions find great favour with 
 those from whom better things ought to be expected. 
 
 I have laboured under many difficulties, owing to the meagre 
 accounts concerning the history of this most important article of 
 diet ; no doubt arising from the fact that it has not been studied 
 with that attention which it manifestly deserves ; consequently I 
 have been obliged to allude to the pages of Holy Writ, not that I 
 wish to base my arguments on religion, but simply because we find 
 therein the primary mention of salt, both as a purifying agent and 
 as a condiment to food. 
 
 Reverting to the Bible on subjects of scientific import frequently 
 brings down upon the author ill-timed ridicule, especially from those 
 who profess a belief in nothing except their own crude notions ; a 
 fact which is surprising, for here we possess a Book which has 
 stood the test of ages, which has weathered many a storm, which 
 has victoriously emerged from many a conflict, and which has indeed 
 passed through an ordeal which no other volume has been called 
 upon to do all indicative that it emanated from a mind im- 
 measurably superior to that of man ; and thus I am quite con- 
 tent to bear with any amount of satire, however pointed and 
 keen, if I have it on my side of the question, which undoubtedly 
 is the case respecting the medicinal and dietetic properties of salt : 
 besides, when it is pronounced to be "good" by the Divine 
 Speaker, one need not care an iota for those who assert that it is 
 pernicious, however plausible or apparently logically conclusive their 
 arguments may be. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HISTORY OF SALT. 
 
 I AM approaching a subject somewhat novel and indeed difficult, 
 and very probably it may be regarded by some as one far from 
 being profitable or interesting ; therefore I shall endeavour, though 
 with some degree of diffidence, to consider it not only from a 
 medical point of view, but to glance at some facts, both historical, 
 geographical, and geological. By so doing, we shall be touching 
 upon other matters not only pleasing but instructive, and which to 
 a great many are but indifferently known ; for though salt is to be 
 almost universally seen on the tables of rich and poor alike, yet 
 
10 
 
 few are aware of its undeniable medicinal virtues, and many are 
 totally ignorant of the great sustenance they derive from this indis- 
 pensable and undoubtedly savoury condiment, besides being but 
 moderately acquainted with its history. At the present time it is 
 used nearly all over the world, and is acknowledged to be at least 
 adjunct necessary for perfect cookery ; it is in requisition in 
 fact everywhere, and even those who do not use it would be con- 
 sidered as lacking in taste were they to discard it altogether from 
 their tables. 
 
 'All, however, are to a certain extent cognisant of the fact of how 
 insipid the daintiest dishes taste, if salt is omitted in their prepara- 
 tion, and the cook, however expert he may be in the culinary art, 
 invariably fails in giving satisfaction (except to those whose 
 palates are deranged or vitiated) if they are not seasoned with 
 it; few, I think, will deny that animal food in particular is 
 deprived of its pleasing flavour if it be eaten without salt. Those 
 who have an unnatural aversion to it should bear in mind that 
 the ingestion of improper animal and vegetable food frequently 
 occasions many severe attacks of illness, and invariably provokes 
 and intensifies that universal complaint, dyspepsia. George Herbert 
 tells us in his Jacula Prudentum, that " Whatever the father of 
 disease, ill diet is the mother ;" and if food is taken into the stomach 
 without its proper portion of salt, it is not what one would consider 
 as wholesome; on the contrary, it is most decidedly "ill diet:" 
 and being such, the system does not derive that kind of nutri- 
 ment suitable for the promotion of a healthy action of the organs 
 of the body, neither are the secretions iii such a condition as is 
 compatible with health. Physiologists inform us that the saliva* 
 holds salt in solution, and that it is also present in the gastric 
 juice, which indicates at once how highly necessary it is for the 
 system to be regularly supplied with it ; for it is a physiological 
 fact that the process of deglutition and digestion is partly due to 
 the disintegrating and solvent action of these two secretions on 
 the food, especially the latter ; and consequently if the nutritious 
 particles are to be absorbed in a state fit to make up for the waste 
 of tissue, they ought to contain a sufficient amount of the chloride 
 of sodium to take the place of that which has passed off through 
 the media of the skin and the kidneys. 
 
 * The saliva, besides containing water, ptyaline, fatty matter, and albumen, 
 holds in solution chloride of sodium and potassium, besides the sulphate of 
 soda and the phosphates of lime and magnesia. The amount secreted during 
 twenty-four hours has been estimated at from two to three pints. 
 
11 
 
 With these self-evident facts and a few physiological data before 
 them (which really require no great effort to prove, so plain are 
 they in their simple truth), all indeed must, or should be, convinced 
 of the necessity of a liberal and judicious use of a substance which 
 plays such an important part in the animal economy, and into 
 which we shall enter more fully when we come to consider the 
 relation which salt bears to food while it is going through the pro- 
 cess of digestion. 
 
 Owing to the peculiar and incomprehensible prejudices of those 
 who labour under the false impression that they are wiser and more 
 discriminating than others, and who become proportionately obsti- 
 nate in their notions, we shall endeavour to bring forward unde- 
 niable evidence in support of our arguments, though it is possible 
 they may neither acknowledge that they are wrong, nor admit that 
 their preconceived ideas prevent them from arriving at an un- 
 biased conclusion. To such I have no hesitation in saying that 
 they are much deceived if they imagine that the habit of abstaining 
 from salt is contributivo to health; such crabbed and confined 
 views, however, are significant of the fact that human nature is 
 frequently antagonistic to, and at cross purposes with, that which is 
 ordained by the laws of nature to be beneficial. 
 
 I shall pass over the merits of salt as a seasoning to food, as it 
 is my object to consider it solely in its relation to the animal 
 economy, its operation in certain morbid conditions of the system, 
 and its great importance as a health-preserver. But before pro- 
 ceeding, it will be as well to give a passing glance at its 
 history and other attractive matter with which it is indirectly in 
 relation ; for though our investigations will be rather of a tentative 
 character, and in a degree speculative, they may at least be interest- 
 ing if not instructive. Perhaps others may be stimulated to 
 penetrate deeper into the almost impenetrable obscurity with 
 which the discovery of salt as a condiment is surrounded ; and 
 if they can bring to light who it was that primarily found out the 
 chloride of sodium and utilised it as an adjunct to food, they will 
 have solved a geological problem, and a long-standing historical 
 enigma will be elucidated. 
 
 We possess no distinct and reliable data, and in fact no infor- 
 mation of any kind, concerning salt in the early ages of the 
 world as an article of diet, outside the pages of Scripture : all we 
 really know, is, that in the infantile period of Europe, when the 
 Indo-Germanic tribes entered it from Asia, though they were un- 
 
acquainted with the sea, they were familiar with salt, as is proved 
 by the recurrence of its name ; yet whether they used it with their 
 food we are by no means so sure of. The Kitchen-Middeners, who 
 had their miserable dwellings on the wild shores of Jutland and 
 similar inhospitable localities, might have been acquainted with it ; 
 but when we call to mind the nature of the food* on which they 
 lived, we may, I think, fairly conclude that they were ignorant of 
 the use to which salt is now put; here again, however, we 
 have only vague conjecture to fall back upon. The founder of 
 Buddhism, Arddha Chiddi, a native of Capila near Nepaul, who 
 subsequently changed his name to Gotama, and afterwards to Chakia 
 Mouni, in his "Verbal Instructions," when dealing with his inquiry 
 into the nature of man, asks us to consider what becomes of a grain 
 of salt when cast into the ocean. Of the epoch of Gotama, or 
 Chakia Mouni, there is great diversity of opinion ; the Chinese, 
 Mongols, and Japanese fix it at B.C. 1000; the Cashmerians at B.C. 
 1332; and the Avars, Siamese, and Cingalese fix it at B.C. 600. 
 
 The reference which Gotama thus makes to salt shows us that 
 he was familiarly acquainted with it, otherwise he would not have 
 figuratively mentioned it. 
 
 We are completely in the dark regarding salt as a condiment till 
 Moses, in the Book of Job, asks the pertinent question, " Can any- 
 thing which is unsavoury be eaten without salt ?" As this book 
 was penned B.C. 1520, we may conclude with a tolerable degree of 
 certainty that it was so used in the time of the great Jewish Law- 
 giver, and as he was brought up in the court of Pharaoh, and 
 was skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, it would point 
 to the probability that salt was in common use in that ancient 
 country. 
 
 The first mention we possess of salt is when Moses refers to 
 the Vale of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea. This vast reservoir 
 was known as the Dead Sea,t and is so to this day : so the Jews, 
 who were commanded to use salt in their sacrifices, had a large 
 
 * Their food, according to geologists, consisted solely of shell-fish. 
 
 f This sea is called by several names, viz., " The Dead Sea," " The Sea of 
 the Plain," or "of the Arabah," and "The East Sea." In the 2nd Book of 
 Esdras v. 7, it is called the " Sodomish Sea." Josephus uses a similar name, / 
 ^odop-vTvg \ifivr]the Sodomite Lake ; he also calls it by the same name^as 
 Diodorus Siculus, the " Asphaltic Lake " rj 'A<r0aArt'ri Xifivr]. It contains 
 26 per cent, of salt, including large quantities of magnesium compounds ; its 
 weight is of course great, a gallon weighing almost 12| lb.; and its buoyancy 
 is proportionate to the weight, being such that the human body cannot sink in 
 it. At the south side is a mass of crystallised salt, and in it is a very peculiar 
 
13 
 
 natural depot' which afforded them a limitless supply of the necessary 
 material for carrying on their worship, and likewise for individual 
 consumption : they also mixed a certain amount of salt with their 
 incense. The second reference is in relation to one of those 
 extraordinary incidents with which the first five books of the Old 
 Testament teem, and that is during the destruction of the " Cities 
 of the Plain," when Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for 
 disobedience. 
 
 We also read of salt in the Iliad of Homer, and as he did not 
 flourish till about B.C. 850,* we must give the honour of marking 
 it indelibly on the pages of history to Moses the Jew, who lived, 
 if the above date is correct, 670 years anterior to the illustrious 
 Father of epic poetry, and, if the Cashmerians are correct in their 
 calculation, 188 years before Gotama gave to the world his eight 
 hundred volumes, pointing out the path towards individual ex- 
 tinction or " Nirwana." 
 
 We may likewise conclude that as it was known to the sagacious 
 Hebrew, the aesthetic Greek, and the imaginative Asiatic, it was no 
 doubt equally well known to the Egyptians, and probably amongst 
 the neighbouring African tribes, long before the arrival of Joseph 
 in the land of the Pharaohs, and centuries before the Oracle of 
 Delphi was instituted. t 
 
 From the following lines we may justly conclude that the Greeks 
 looked upon salt as sacred, and used it as a thank-offering, and 
 that it even was an absolute necessity to go through the ceremony 
 of washing their hands before touching it ; such extreme care and 
 scrupulous observance indicates that it was a substance held in the 
 highest reverence : 
 
 " At this the Sire embraced the maid again, 
 So sadly lost, so lately sought in vain. 
 Then near the altar of the darting King, 
 585 Dispos'd in rank their hecatomb they bring ; 
 
 cavern, extending at least five miles, varying in height from 200 to 400 feet. 
 This sea is 1312 feet below the level of the Mediterranean ; the river Jordan, 
 from the Sea of Galilee, flows into it, but no river flows from it. 
 
 * According to C. Velleius Paterculus of Rome, Homer flourished B.C. 968 ; 
 according to Herodotus, B.C. 884 ; the Arundelian Marbles fix his era B.C. 907. 
 
 f To show how acute the Greek mind must have been, and how alive the 
 philosophers of that classic country were to everything, whether beautiful or 
 useful, we need only call to mind the quaint observation of Zeno, the founder 
 of the Stoics, who was born about B.C. 300, and who says that "a soul was given 
 to the hog instead of salt, to prevent his body from rotting ;" by this we see 
 he was quite cognisant of the preservative properties of salt. 
 
u 
 
 With water purify their hands, and take 
 The sacred offring of the salted cake ; 
 While thus with arms devoutly rais'd in air, 
 And solemn voice, the Priest directs his pray'r." 
 
 POPE'S Homer's Iliad, book i. 
 
 485 " And Menalaus came unbid, the last. 
 
 The chiefs surround the destined beast, and take 
 
 The sacred off'ring ( of the salted cake : 
 
 When thus the King prefers his solemn pray'r." 
 
 Ibid., book ii. 
 
 " Achilles at the genial feast presides, 
 The parts transfixes, an$ with skill divides. 
 Meanwhile Patroclus sweats the fire to raise ; 
 The tent is bright'ned with the rising blaze : 
 Then, when the languid flames at length subside, 
 280 He strows a bed of glowing embers wide, 
 
 Above the coals the smoking fragments turns, 
 And sprinkles sacred salt from lifted urns." 
 
 Ibid., book ix. 
 
 At the time of the Exodus, Egypt was the great disseminator of 
 knowledge, the centre of civilisation, and the emporium of trade, 
 being then at its zenith of prosperity and power;* and the 
 countries which were conterminous no doubt regarded it with 
 feelings of admiration and emulation, and were only too desirous to 
 adopt its customs, as well as to avail themselves of the learning 
 and culture which were only to be found in the land of obelisks 
 and pyramids. Even the Greek philosophers were fain to acknow- 
 ledge that Egypt f was their storehouse of wisdom and aesthetic 
 art ; neither Athenian, Spartan, or Corinthian, ever disavowed his 
 presumed Egyptian descent : and if history is to be relied on, 
 the first King of Attica was a citizen of Sais; though this is 
 a disputed point, for not only is the country of Cecrops a 
 topic for controversy, but even his very existence is questioned, 
 and by some altogether denied. This legend, if it is such, how- 
 ever, tends to show that the communication between the two 
 countries (though of the two, Egypt was much more exclusive) was 
 frequent ; however, it is still a theme upon which classical com- 
 mentators continue to exercise their controversial dexterity, some 
 of whom affirm that there is no foundation for the myth. Yet 
 many philosophical authors who flourished in Athens believed im- 
 plicitly in the Egyptian genealogy of Cecrops ; so that there is no 
 
 * Between the Nile and the Eed Sea there are quarries of white marble, of 
 porphyry, of basalt, and the beautiful green breccia, known as Verde d'Egitto ; 
 in the same locality are found gold, iron, lead, emerald, and copper. 
 
 f A learned author states as follows : " We have seen, too, that the earliest 
 state of Egypt, as seen in the pyramids, and in the tombs of the same age, 
 reveals an orderly society and civilisation, of which the origin is unknown." 
 
15 
 
 reason why it should be stamped as fictitious, especially when it 
 is verified by those who lived closer to that period of time than 
 the incredulous moderns, whose great delight is to hint that many 
 past historical events are incredible, and therefore apocryphal. I 
 think we may certainly conclude that the sage discriminating 
 Athenians were acquainted with their Egyptian descent,* for they 
 were the last people to believe in uncertainties, save such as were 
 connected with their religion ; and what nation is there, I should 
 like to know, which is not similarly imposed upon by its own 
 strange credulity, and the artful designs of schemers in this par- 
 ticular ? 
 
 Cecrops, no doubt, while he introduced Egyptian arts and sciences 
 into his adopted country, was too wise, and too well conversant 
 with such an important commodity as salt, to forget both its 
 existence and utility, on his arrival in the peninsula. Presum- 
 ing for one moment that the emigration of Cecrops from Egypt 
 is a fable, it is indicative of the fact that a perpetual intercourse, 
 though of a modified nature, existed between that country and 
 Greece. We know, however, that both Egyptian and Grecian 
 histories, about the period of Cecrops, are involved in much ob- 
 scurity and uncertainty (particularly as regards dates); and if, 
 therefore, Cecrops and his foundation of a Pelasgic colony in Attica 
 is a mythological tale, we may justly infer that Greece, owing to 
 the greater antiquity of Egypt, imitated many of the social customs 
 which were in vogue in the ancient and luxurious cities of the 
 Nile. 
 
 We are also aware that at this early age, with a few brilliant 
 exceptions like Egypt (we possess no reliable records of China, 
 Japan, or Hindostant) the world was in a state of mental stagnation 
 chaotic is more descriptive : the thoughtful and mystical Egyptians 
 were really the only recipients and parsimonious (if historical accounts 
 are to be credited) disseminators of knowledge to their neighbours. 
 
 * No doubt they were proud of their African parentage, and looked upon 
 the hoary monarchy of the Nile with a sentiment of religious awe and un- 
 feigned wonder. Baron Biinsen graphically puts it : " Egypt was to the Greeks 
 a sphinx with an intellectual human countenance." 
 
 f Probably owing to the existence of salt in Western Thibet and in Lahore, 
 a province of Hindostan, also the Indian Salt Range, which stretches in a 
 sigmoid curve, according to the late researches of Mr. Wynne, from Kalabagh 
 on the Indus to a point north of Tank, both the Chinese and Hindoos may 
 have been equally cognisant of its virtues with the Egyptians, especially when 
 we have it recorded that the Celestials procured it by a process not only original 
 but in a certain degree characteristic of Asiatic combination of ingenuity and 
 clumsiness. 
 
16 
 
 Many centuries later, we find a very remarkable instance of this 
 influence of Egypt, which, though of a religious character, bears 
 indirectly on our subject, by exemplifying this intellectual supre- 
 macy ; the worship of Isis was established even in Imperial Rome 
 herself, a ad we are told that the goddess was a most popular 
 divinity amongst the wealthy citizens, a temple being erected to her 
 honour in the Campus Martius; while she was designated by 
 her enthusiastic worshippers, Isis Campensus. Xow, though an 
 Egyptian goddess was admitted with so much apparent readiness 
 to occupy such an exalted position in the capital of the empire, 
 when the Romans, with supercilious toleration, allowed the worship 
 of as many gods as the people chose to venerate, yet the fact of 
 building a temple for her exclusive worship, when all the other gods 
 and goddesses were mixed and scattered hither and thither, without 
 the slightest regard to order or attributes, is sufficient proof to sub- 
 stantiate the truth of my argument ; and again if we call to mind 
 the jealous pride of the Romans, and their disinclination to con- 
 form to the habits and customs of the countries which succumbed 
 to their iron will, the admission of Isis to such elevated and almost 
 unprecedented honours, would tend to show that many customs of 
 Egyptian origin were not only adopted by the haughty Roman, 
 but also by the Jew, Greek, Assyrian, and Persian, with a willing- 
 ness in proportion to their utility, ornamentation, and agreeable- 
 ness ; and in some instances in deference to the intellectual 
 ascendancy and scientific acquirements of this ancient people. 
 
 The Egyptians, owing to the central position of their country, 
 the knowledge they were known to possess, their unrivalled skill 
 in irrigation, the sublimity of their architecture, the abstruse 
 wisdom of their priests, the mysterious erudition of their astrologers, 
 and their wonderful agricultural proficiency and renown, caused 
 their country to be frequently visited (sometimes by stealth, owing 
 to their stringent laws against the admission of foreigners) by Greeks, 
 Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, and indeed by all who 
 professed the study * of science, learning, and philosophy ; so that 
 we may be sure they very naturally carried back to their respective 
 countries many of the domestic customs, as well as the knowledge 
 
 * Baron Biinsen says that " No nation of the earth has shown so much zeal 
 and ingenuity, so much method and regularity in recording the details of 
 private life, as the Egyptians." They were also most expert engineers ; the 
 canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, which may be called the canal of Ea- 
 meses II., being protected at the Suez mouth by a system of hydraulic appliances 
 to obviate difficulties arising from the variable levels of the water. 
 
17 
 
 of their learned entertainers and instructors. The great city of 
 Thebes stood to Ethiopia, as well as to Egypt, in the same relation as 
 that occupied by Rome to mediaeval Christendom : the construction 
 of her temples and palaces, and the vast population of priests and 
 their thousands of attendants, in addition to the presence of the court, 
 must have attracted thither multitudes of merchants, artists, artisans, 
 and indeed travellers from all parts ; for it was the centre in those 
 days of civilisation and commerce ; and it was easy of access, for 
 an opening in the Arabian Sea afforded communication with the port 
 of Kosseir on the Eed Sea ; while on the other side, the city was 
 the best starting-point for the caravan routes across the desert to 
 the three chief oases (the Greater, the Lesser, and that of Ammon), 
 and to the interior of Africa. Thus Egypt, through Thebes, com- 
 manded the trade with India, and with the gold, ivory, and 
 aromatic districts ; and the mines of the neighbouring limestone hills 
 added to her enormous wealth, and gave employment to thousands. 
 There is another point which we must not overlook, and that if, 
 the Egyptians did not remain secluded in their own country, though 
 they were jealous of the entry of strangers. They were a courageous 
 and seafaring people (though much inferior in that respect to the 
 adventurous Phoenicians), as far as the times went ; for they engaged 
 in many nautical enterprises after Psammetichus, about B.C. 670, 
 had completely overthrown the ancient system of isolation, showing 
 their dormant marine proclivities, which had hitherto been but 
 secretly indulged in.* Before these barriers had been broken 
 down, their expeditions, as far as we know, never extended beyond 
 the ancient Pillars of Hercules, which was regarded as an extra- 
 ordinary exploit in those days (so we are told). One thing we may 
 be practically certain of wherever they went they carried with 
 them not only their learning, but also their own peculiar customs 
 and habits ; and doubtless they experienced a satisfaction and pride 
 in displaying their superiority not only in matters appertaining to 
 knowledge, but also in civilisation. May we not justly infer that 
 in their peregrinations they promulgated the utility and advan- 
 tages of such a valuable commodity as salt wherever they went, 
 wherever they settled 1 And would not the various peoples whom 
 they visited, after having once experienced the palatableness of 
 salt, take to it with an eagerness approaching avidity 1 ? Thejfollow- 
 
 * " It is a strange fact that the early Egyptians, like the Hindoos, had a 
 religious dread of the sea,"(?); and yet in the reign of Necho, the son of Psam- 
 metichus, they actually accomplished the circumnavigation of Africa : the 
 voyage took three years. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 ing paragraph, which I have extracted in extenso from the work of 
 a highly gifted American author, and which is, I am proud to say, 
 confirmatory of my own observations, delineates in a most forcible 
 and graphic style the wonderful pitch of excellence in the sciences 
 to which the Egyptians had attained, and their remarkable approach 
 to the goal of indefectibility. 
 
 " The hieroglyphic writing had passed through all its stages of 
 formation \ its principles had become ascertained and settled long 
 before we gain the first glimpse of it ; the decimal and duodecimal 
 systems of arithmetic were in use ; the arts necessary in hydraulic 
 engineering, massive architecture, and the ascertainment of the 
 boundaries of land, had reached no insignificant degree of perfec- 
 tion. Indeed, there would be but very little exaggeration in affirm- 
 ing that we are practically as near the early Egyptian as was 
 Herodotus himself. Well might the Egyptian priests say to the 
 earliest Greek philosophers : ' You Greeks are mere .children, talka- 
 tive and vain ; you know nothing at all of the past.' " * 
 
 There is another channel which we will now take into considera- 
 tion : the Philistines, who are supposed to have been descended 
 from the Hycksos, or Shepherd Kings of Egypt, must have carried 
 with them not a few of those customs which were in fashion 
 amongst the sons of the founders of the gloomy temples of 
 Memphis and Luxor ; and on their expulsion by the regenerated 
 Egyptians they were probably much assimilated with them, owing 
 to many years' intercourse, and being located in the same country, 
 though their nationalities were entirely distinct and their habits 
 antagonistic, and notwithstanding the dislike the Egyptians had 
 for, and their abhorrence of all those who were connected with, the 
 grazing and the breeding of cattle ; for whenever two nations mix 
 promiscuously, however limited it may be, they are sure to adopt 
 more or less each other's peculiarities, both in language and customs. 
 These Philistines, when they emigrated on their defeat, took with 
 them Egyptian civilisation, and the various tribes surrounding their 
 newly acquired territory were very soon initiated into customs of 
 which, perhaps, they were previously ignorant. There is nothing 
 to prove this, but we may certainly surmise as much, if only by in- 
 ference, t 
 
 * Dr. Draper's " History of the Intellectual Development of Europe." 
 j- ' ' One momentous consequence of the Shepherd conquest appears to have 
 been that the expelled Shemites carried back with them into Syria the arts 
 and letters of Egypt, which were thence diffused by the maritime Phoenicians 
 over the opposite shores of Greece. Thus Egypt began at this epoch to come 
 in contact at once with the East and the West, with Asia and with Europe." 
 
19 
 
 Though we possess no historical record, we may, owing to the 
 influence which Egypt doubtless exerted over the civilised parts 
 of Europe, come to the conclusion that through her instrumentality 
 the use of salt was made known to the surrounding nations and 
 tribes ; the sons of Jacob and their families were not sufficiently 
 numerous to render them important in the estimation of their 
 neighbours, nor were they powerful enough to extort respect or 
 generate emulation. 
 
 We learn from Herodotus, who was born B.C. 484, that the 
 Egyptians eat salted food, but nothing as regards using it in the 
 same way as we do. He says, " They live on fish, raw, but sun- 
 dried, or steeped in brine ; they eat also raw quails and ducks, and 
 the smaller birds, salted beforehand." * The climate of Egypt, 
 being remarkably dry and hot, would soon cause the decomposi- 
 tion of fresh animal food, and the Egyptians doubtless were aware 
 of the fact that a prolonged immersion in brine or salt would be a 
 complete deterrent ; therefore there is no reason to doubt but that 
 it was as common a custom amongst them as it is amongst us at 
 the present day.f The "Father of History" does not mention 
 that salt was used as a condiment ; though we may presume as 
 much. 
 
 We might feel inclined at first to ascribe the honour of promul- 
 gating the utility of salt to the Hebrews, owing to the fact of one 
 of their nation being the first to mention it, and of our possessing 
 no other record of so early a date. Abraham was very probably 
 cognisant of the virtues of salt, but though he was the founder of 
 the people whose mission and chief delight was indiscriminate 
 massacre, he was not one of them, but a Chaldean, a people famed 
 for their wisdom ; besides, he was the progenitor of two nations, 
 viz. the Hebrews and the Ishmaelites, so that if Isaac was ac- 
 quainted with the properties of salt, his half-brother Ishniael was 
 equally so. Ishmael's descendants speedily developed into a free, 
 independent nation, while Isaac's became slaves, and were made to 
 construct costly monuments, build gigantic palaces, and raise 
 majestic temples for their highly-cultured and imperious oppressors. 
 
 Which branch was likely to be imitated ] Not the labouring, 
 
 * " Euterpe," book ii. chap. Ixxvii. 
 
 f Lord Bacon mentions somewhere in his works that the ancients discovered 
 that salt water will dissolve salt put into it in less time than fresh water. The 
 same great philosopher also affirms that " salt water passing through earth 
 through ten vessels, one within another, hath not lost its saltness ; but drained 
 through twenty, becomes fresh." 
 
 9 9 
 
20 
 
 ignorant Hebrew, smarting under the lash of servitude, but rather 
 the wandering Ishmaelite, who roamed at pleasure over the burning 
 solitudes of Arabia; still, we must remember they were like a 
 drop in the bucket when compared with their exclusive neighbours 
 over the Eed Sea. We are all aware that to this day the Eastern 
 custom of placing salt before a guest is a token of amity and good- 
 will, and is significant enough to tell the visitor that he is for the 
 time being in perfect safety; no Arab, even under provocation, 
 would injure his most violent enemy after having once eaten salt 
 with him under cover of his tent, till he was out in the desert. * 
 This custom has descended from generation to generation, and per- 
 haps was instituted by the exiled son of Abraham and Hagar. This 
 fact would seem to corroborate my hypothesis, that if the Jews, 
 through Abraham, were aware of the properties of salt, their wild 
 brothers of the desert were also acquainted with it, and from the 
 same source. Where Abraham obtained the knowledge of salt rests 
 in obscurity ; he may have acquired the secret from the Egyptians, 
 or, as he is termed the friend of the Founder of the Universe, pro- 
 bably he learnt it from a higher authority. I think we may dismiss 
 the idea that we owe the discovery of salt to the Hebrews. 
 
 Our speculations on this point are, however, comparatively vain, 
 for we cannot possibly determine who first discovered it, or who 
 first utilised it as a condiment to food : all we really know is that it 
 has become universal, and that from time immemorial; but whether 
 the Egyptians, Chinese, or Hindoos first made use of it, will be one 
 of those dark secrets the solution of which may interest the curious 
 and ingenious, and test the patience and erudition of the profound. 
 Such an investigation might probably be considered by some as 
 unprofitable, even if it were attended with success. To such I do 
 not think it will be unjust or irrelevant to observe that many 
 scientific discussions which from time to time have occupied the 
 learned world have been, as far as the results are concerned, not of 
 much moment to humanity at large. Eor instance, of what prac- 
 tical utility is the modern theory of evolution, upon which so much 
 erudition of a minute kind, and thought, is expended, except as 
 indicative of the ingenuity of the author 1 Is science at all ad- 
 vanced when we are gravely told that the human organism springs 
 
 * The Russians have a custom of presenting bread and salt to the newly- 
 married bride and bridegroom. In archaeology we have salt-silver, one penny 
 at the feast of St. Martin, given by the tenants of some manors, as a commu- 
 tation for the service of carrying their lord's salt from market to his larder ; 
 an old English custom. 
 
21 
 
 from protoplasm, and that plastidules consist of carbon, hydrogen, 
 oxygen, and nitrogen, and that they possess souls 1 It is true that 
 these abstruse inquiries have been productive of inciting a greater 
 desire for studying the workings of nature, and a great deal of 
 which previous generations were profoundly ignorant has been in- 
 geniously disclosed, and accurately elucidated, for one is bound to 
 admit that, though in many instances their researches have failed in 
 their ultimate results, they have been the indirect cause of giving a 
 remarkable impetus to scientific investigation. Many recondite sub- 
 jects have thus been exhaustively analysed, unintentionally, owing 
 to the anxiety and eagerness of the authors to arrive at the goal of 
 their wishes ; for while they are seeking for that which probably 
 will never be found, they discover others which, to all intents and 
 purposes, very likely would never have been conceived of. Perhaps 
 these remarks may be considered unjust and hypercritical as regards 
 their researches into the mysteries of life, and do not appear to 
 give sufficient importance to those philosophical deductions and 
 enunciations, which the authors no doubt demand as an imperative 
 right - } for scientific physicists are apt to be tyrannical, and are not 
 over-endued with the virtue of practicality, and naturally do not 
 like their opinions and metaphysical reveries relegated to that region 
 which Milton humorously baptized the " Paradise of Fools," but 
 prefer their speculations to be regarded as irrefragable facts. As 
 this is, however, the age for far-fetched theories, I think we may 
 be allowed with perfect fairness to discuss a subject which has par- 
 tially escaped the eyes of the inquisitive \ and if it is not treated so 
 elegantly as the learned theses of the leaders of science and philo- 
 sophy of to-day, I cannot help thinking that we may probably gain 
 considerably more by studying a subject which is practically of 
 interest to all, than attempting to penetrate into the invisible and 
 undefinable mechanism of biology. 
 
 Notwithstanding the proofs (vague though they be), which I have 
 already mentioned to show that we are indebted to the Egyptians 
 for the discovery of this most valuable substance, I nevertheless do 
 so with diffidence, because they are of a hypothetical tendency, and 
 consequently refutable.* We may endeavour to trace the custom 
 of using salt as a condiment to several nations, or even to one par- 
 
 * According to the researches of the late Mr. George Smith, Babylonian 
 literature is of a much more ancient date than the histories of the Bible ; which 
 fact would tend to indicate that the intellectual development of that Eastern 
 monarchy may have been coeval with that of the African. 
 
22 
 
 ticular nation, with as much earnestness as the modern speculatists 
 attempt to account for unaccountable phenomena appertaining to 
 the material and spiritual worlds ; but, as far as the real evidence 
 goes, we are as unsuccessful, and our inquiries almost as unsatisfac- 
 tory, as theirs have been hitherto. 
 
 There is great probability, however, that the Egyptians first made 
 known to other nations, directly and indirectly, the utility of salt, 
 and that through their sole agency it was introduced into Europe 
 through the media of commerce and other channels of communica- 
 tion, and no doubt, as I have previously stated, in deference to their 
 superior wisdom. We learn from those scholars who are giving 
 their attention to Egyptian remains, that Greece was indebted to 
 Egypt for all her science, architecture, literature, art, and mytho- 
 logy ; and, indeed, her domestic life was derived from that venerable 
 country. " Erom Egypt, it now appears, were derived the proto- 
 types of the Greek architectural orders, and even their monuments 
 and conventional designs ; thence came the models of the Greek 
 and Etruscan vases ; thence came many of the ante-Homeric legends 
 . . . thence came the first ritual for the dead, litanies to the sun, 
 and painted, or illuminated, missals j thence came the dogma of a 
 queen of heaven !"* 
 
 In confirmation of this we are told that Moses, as I have before 
 remarked, was skilled in Egyptian wisdom : this is most emphatic, 
 and we cannot but conclude that that wisdom was in a high state of 
 perfection ; and their works, which are still the surprise and admi- 
 ration of travellers, testify to the truth of Holy Writ. Do not their 
 monuments, which have set time at defiance, prove that they were 
 a people highly gifted 1 Their ruins are more sublime than any 
 other architectural remains which are extant, excelling, both in 
 magnificence and magnitude, the classic temples of Greece, and 
 the elegant buildings which once graced the banks of the golden 
 Tiber. In reference to this I may quote Dr. Lepsius, who states 
 that " all the principal cities of Egypt were adorned with temples 
 and palaces. . . . These temples were filled with the statues of 
 gods and kings, generally colossal, and hewn from costly stones." 
 
 Possibly, owing to the fact that salt is valued almost universally, 
 and is a substance which has been demonstrated by experience to be 
 necessary to humanity, it may have been, for all we can say, as well 
 known to the Antediluvians as it is to us ; and if so, then we are 
 indebted to Noah. But these are but surmises ; we really possess 
 Dr. Draper's " History of the Intellectual Development of Europe." 
 
23 
 
 no authentic record, except that which we find in Holy Writ : and, 
 with my reader's leave, we will now proceed to examine those 
 passages of Scripture in which salt is mentioned. 
 
 We find that whenever salt is named, it is done so in language 
 of a character stamping it as a most important essential ; and 
 especially do we notice this in the directions for the religious 
 services of the Israelites. They were commanded in the most ex- 
 plicit language that in all their offerings they should " offer salt." * 
 There is also another point which we must not omit, and that is, 
 whenever salt is referred to in the Inspired Volume, it is invariably 
 in connection with some important transaction : for example, when 
 Elisha sweetened the waters of the fountain of Jericho, he cast salt 
 into them ; this act of the prophet illustrates, figuratively, the 
 purifying properties of salt, for he said, " I have healed these 
 waters, "t When Abimelech captured Shechem, he strewed salt 
 over the ruins ;J and when Abijah harangued Jeroboam from the 
 Mount Zemaraim, he speaks of a " covenant of salt." We read 
 further on of this " covenant of salt " in the Book of Numbers. |( 
 In fact, in the Old Testament, as well as in the New, considerable 
 stress is laid on this evidently important substance, which shows 
 that nothing was considered as thoroughly accomplished if salt, in 
 some way or other, was not intimately connected with it. 
 
 It was also a custom amongst the Hebrews, which was never 
 departed from, to rub new-born infants with salt :1F this practice 
 was in every respect healthy and cleanly, and if we Christians were 
 wise we should, from a hygienic point of view, strictly follow a 
 custom which is so conducive to health ; for salt hardens the skin 
 of newly-born children and renders it more firm, and prevents 
 (unless there is an hereditary taint) any irritation or local eruption 
 of the skin. 
 
 The first mention of salt as a condiment is to be found in Job ;** 
 and as this beautiful book, which delineates the vicissitudes to 
 which life is subjected, is supposed to have been written by Moses 
 when he was dwelling amongst the Midianites, there is no doubt 
 but that it was in general use not only in Egypt, but also amongst 
 the surrounding nations. The answer to the question propounded 
 by the persecuted man of Uz is the same now as it was three 
 thousand years ago there is nothing savoury without salt, and to 
 a certainty there is no real permanent health without salt. 
 
 * Leviticus it. 13. f 2 Kings ii. 21. J Judges ix. 45. 
 
 2 Chronicles xiii. 5. 11 Numbers xviii. 19. if Ezekiel xvi. 4. 
 
 ** Job v. 6. 
 
24 
 
 The Jews, like all Asiatic races, were much afflicted with various 
 forms of leprosy, and as salt is an indirect antidote to cutaneous 
 eruptions, they used it not so much as a condiment, but as a shield 
 to ward off and protect them from those repulsive diseases which 
 rendered those who were attacked obnoxious to their fellow-country- 
 men, by whom they were treated as outcasts till they had recovered 
 from their loathsome maladies. To this day w r e find that by far the 
 greater number who suffer from cutaneous diseases hardly ever eat 
 salt with their food ; this is an unquestionable fact, and truly sig- 
 nificant of its inestimable virtue as an anti-morbific agent. 
 
 The Great Master says (and who will dispute such an unanswer- 
 able verity?) "salt is good;" and then He adds, "but if the 
 salt has lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it V* Address- 
 ing His disciples, He says : " Ye are the salt of the earth," and also, 
 "Have salt in y ourselves. "t These sayings prove in the most un- 
 mistakable language that salt is highly necessary. Our Saviour 
 applies it in a religious sense, it is true, but He was too much of a 
 philosopher, too great a logician, to use a metaphor of which the 
 application could be shaken and disproved in the abstract, if the 
 image or figure were fundamentally incorrect or inconsistent with 
 the lesson which it was intended to convey; besides, He never 
 would have declared it " good " had it been in the slightest degree 
 provocative of anything deleterious to the human race, neither 
 would He have made use of a figurative mode of speech if He 
 could not have based it on a physical fact. 
 
 We are thus told in three simple words the value of salt, and 
 none save the shallow, or the sophist, would attempt to prove the 
 contrary. All must acknowledge the fact that salt is equally 
 pleasant to the gourmand and the temperate ; and that animal and 
 vegetable food is not palatable without it. As it is pronounced to 
 be " good " by the highest authority, we must regard it as one of 
 Heaven's best gifts to man. It would be a comparatively small 
 matter were it but a condiment rendering food more pleasant to 
 the taste ; but when we know that it is indirectly a preserver of 
 health, and that it also contravenes the attacks of disease, its value 
 will, I hope, be considerably increased. 
 
 I shall be more than satisfied if I am able to persuade those un- 
 wise people who make it a rule never to use salt, to resort to it at 
 once without hesitation ; for if they wish to be in a fair state of 
 health, to have clear wholesome skins and fresh complexions, to be 
 * St. Mark ix. 50. f Ibid. 
 
25 
 
 free from intestinal parasites and cutaneous diseases, to have their 
 digestive organs perform their functions compatible with health 
 and personal comfort, they must have, practically speaking, salt in 
 themselves. 
 
 We have thus, from very scanty records concerning salt, essayed 
 to clear up, though very inconclusively, and I fear unsatisfactorily, 
 certain points which have been unnoticed, by reason, I think, of 
 the dense obtenebration with which the subject is surrounded ; for 
 it has hitherto baffled the researches of the geologist to discover its 
 pristine source, and neither do we know who first used it as a con- 
 diment. The chemist can experimentalise with this inorganic sub- 
 stance to detect the presence of other bodies, and he knows its 
 worth in the laboratory ; but as for its origin, he is as much in the 
 dark as the geologist. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SALT AS A CHEMICAL, THERAPEUTICAL, AND TOXICOLOGICAL AGENT. 
 
 As a chemical agent, and from the manufacturing uses to which it 
 is now put, salt is a most invaluable article from a scientific as well 
 as from a commercial point of view. I will therefore draw the 
 attention of my reader to its chemical properties ; I will then 
 allude to a few drugs which are partially derived from salt or the 
 chloride of sodium ; and will cursorily notice one great staple of 
 commerce which owes the rapidity of manufacture to its sole 
 agency, including some remarks on it as a poison. 
 
 Chlorine gas, which is obtained from the chloride of sodium, was 
 discovered by Scheele in 1777, who named it deplilogisticcded, 
 muriatic acid. Berthollet in 1785 termed it oxygenated muriatic 
 acid. Sir Humphry Davy called it chlorine (from x^upoz, 
 green) on account of its colour, and it has kept this name ever 
 since. We thus see that salt is of great use to the chemist, for he 
 not only obtains chlorine gas from it, but also hydrochloric acid, a 
 most useful and efficacious drug in the treatment of some hepatic 
 diseases. Chlorine also enters into combination with other chemical 
 substances known as chlorides and chlorates, sub-chlorides and per- 
 chlorides; for instance, we have the chloride of ammonium and the 
 chlorate of potash; we also have the sub-chloride of mercury, or 
 
26 
 
 calomel, and the perchloride 'of mercury, or corrosive sublimate, with 
 various others. 
 
 According to Pereira, hydrochloric acid was known to Djafar, or 
 Geber, an Arabian chemist who flourished in the eighth century, 
 and whom Eoger Bacon calls magister magistrorum. Everyone is 
 acquainted with the chloride of lime, a substance so generally used 
 for household and disinfecting purposes, that I need only mention 
 it ; besides this, there are other salts with which chlorine enters 
 into combination. 
 
 Formerly, to bleach cotton it was required to expose the material 
 to the action of the sun and air, rendering the process long and 
 tedious, as it took on the average quite six or eight months, and 
 likewise a large surface of land was necessary for the operation. 
 
 Now, owing to chlorine gas, the process is completed in a few 
 hours, and a comparatively small building is quite sufficient for the 
 purpose ; the fibre is beautifully and permanently whitened, and 
 the manufacturer experiences the pleasing satisfaction of a more 
 rapid remuneration. 
 
 Where would be our delicately white textile fibres were it not 
 for the abundant and inexhaustible supply of salt 1 How should 
 we be enabled to cause vegetable colours to vanish as if touched 
 by the hand of a magician were it not for the bleaching properties 
 of chlorine ? And how should we be able to procure this green- 
 coloured gas which produces these changes were it not for the 
 chloride of sodium ? 
 
 As a therapeutical agent chlorine possesses some characteristics 
 peculiar to itself : it is used as a lotion for cancerous growths and 
 foul ulcers, also for some cutaneous eruptions. It is likewise used 
 as a vapour-bath ; it has also been used in the treatment of chronic 
 bronchitis and phthisis, and as a gargle in certain morbid conditions 
 of the mouth. When chlorine is absorbed by the system it is sup- 
 posed to possess some antiseptic and alterative action, acting 
 specifically on the liver. 
 
 There is one more fact of a chemical nature in reference to 
 chlorine which it would be unwise to throw aside, as it possesses 
 some degree of interest. When the chemist wishes to decompose 
 water, or in other words to liberate hydrogen from oxygen, he has 
 no better agent to effect the purpose than this greenish-coloured 
 gas, because it has such a strong affinity for hydrogen, which is one 
 of the most characteristic properties of chlorine. Mix them together, 
 and they combine with explosive violence if they are exposed to 
 
27 
 
 the beams of the sun. By this process we obtain hydrochloric acid 
 gas, while the oxygen is liberated. 
 
 Chlorine only becomes active when it is associated with moisture ; 
 when dry it is quite inert as regards its bleaching powers, for 
 " when moist it gradually decomposes the water, combining with 
 its hydrogen, and disengaging its oxygen ; and it is this oxygen } at 
 the moment of its liberation, which is the really active agent in 
 bleaching."* 
 
 Salt, like other inorganic compounds, has been known to act as 
 a poison when taken in a large quantity, and Dr. Alfred Taylor, the 
 eminent toxicologist, mentions a case in which a table-spoonful 
 was taken by mistake for sugar ; there was no vomiting or purging, 
 but great pain in the region of the stomach, with dry ness of the 
 fauces, which lasted several days. Did not the above emanate 
 from so great an authority, one would feel inclined to question it. 
 Could anyone take such a large amount and swallow the same 
 without being immediately aware of his mistake 1 Surely he would 
 have immediately and spasmodically ejected it by reason of its 
 extremely pungent character, before it had even reached the fauces. 
 
 Dr. Taylor says that " in a toxicological view it is not easy to 
 distinguish the effects of common salt in these cases from the 
 poisonous action of salt of sorrel, or binoxalate of potash, which it is 
 well known may be taken with impunity in small quantity ;" the 
 symptoms are those of irritant poisoning, causing great pain and 
 intensely inflaming the stomach and intestines, and in those few 
 cases which we have on record the vomiting was excessive. 
 
 In France, though not hitherto, as far as I am aware, in Great 
 Britain, several instances have occurred of severe sickness in par- 
 ticular localities, which have been traced to the adulteration of 
 common salt with certain deleterious articles. In an investigation 
 conducted by M. Guibourt some years ago, in consequence of some 
 severe accidents which were presumed to have been produced ap- 
 parently by salt in Paris and at Meaux, oxide of arsenic was de- 
 tected ; and this discovery was corroborated by MM. Latour and 
 Lefran9ois, who ascertained that the proportion of arsenic was 
 sometimes a quarter of a grain per ounce. Another peculiar adul- 
 teration which was frequent was with the hydriodate of soda. At 
 a meeting of the Parisian Academy of Medicine, held in December, 
 1829, an interesting report was read by MM. Boullay and Delens, 
 subsequent to the inquiry by M. Serullas, into the nature of a 
 * Huxley's " Physiography." 
 
28 
 
 sample of salt which occasioned very extensive ravages. In the 
 year 1829 various epidemic illnesses in several parishes were sup- 
 posed to have originated from salt of bad quality, and in one month 
 no less than 150 people in two parishes were attacked, some with 
 nausea and pain in the stomach, slimy and bloody purging, some 
 with tension of the abdomen, puffiness of the face, inflamma- 
 tion of the eyes, and oedema of the legs ; and in some districts 
 of the Marne one-sixth part of the inhabitants were affected in a 
 similar manner. The salt being suspected, as it had an unusual 
 odour somewhat like the effluvia of marsh land, it was analysed by 
 M. Se"rullas, and after him by MM. Boullay and Delens ; the experi- 
 ments of all three indicated the presence of one hundredth of its 
 weight of hydriodate of soda, besides a small amount of free iodine. 
 Owing to the discovery of arsenic by other experts in different 
 samples of suspected salt, M. Serullas repeated the analysis, but 
 was unable to detect the slightest trace of that poison. 
 
 " M. Earruel states that he observed the occasional adulteration 
 of salt with some hydriodate accidentally in 1824, while preparing 
 experiments for Professor Orfila's lectures. He also found it in 
 two samples from different grocers' shops in Paris. No satisfactory 
 explanation has yet been given of the source of the adulteration 
 with arsenic ; but the presence of the hydriodate of soda has been 
 traced to the fraudulent use of impure salt from kelp."* 
 
 It will be as well for us to know what pure salt really consists 
 of, to the composition of which I now draw the reader's attention : 
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE PURE CHLORIDE OF SODIUM. 
 
 Atoms. Eq. wt. Per cent. Ure. Longchamps. 
 
 Sodium ... 1 ... 23 ... 39'3 ... 39'98 ... 39767 
 
 Chlorine ... 1 , 35'5 607 60'02 ... 60'233 
 
 2 58-5 100-0 100-00 lOO'OOO 
 
 MM. St. Claire Deville and Fouque have shown that common 
 salt can be resolved into its elements by the action of hot steam 
 alone, which Lussa and other chemists had thought impossible. 
 
 Prof. Meyer, of Berne, has lately demonstrated by experiments on 
 chlorine gas, that the assumption of its elementary character is an 
 error, and that it is nothing more or less than the oxide of a metal 
 which he calls murium. This discovery opens up an interesting 
 question for physiological chemists to investigate; for if he is 
 correct, chlorine is not an element, but is simply the oxide of a 
 metal. 
 
 * Sir Robert Christison's "Treatise on Poisons." 
 
29 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 SALT, fortunately for us, is a commodity remarkably easy to obtain ; 
 almost everyone knows it is in great abundance in the ocean,'" 
 and there are inexhaustible supplies of it in the earth; it is 
 also present in some rivers, and in no inconsiderable quantity. 
 Mr. John Ashley, in the Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society, 
 in his " Analysis of Thames Water," tells us the exact amount : 
 
 COMPOSITION OF THAMES WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE IN GRAINS PER GALLON 
 
 OF 70,000 GRAINS. 
 Carbonate of Lime 8'1165 
 
 Chloride of Calcium 
 Chloride of Magnesium 
 Chloride of Sodium (salt) 
 Sulphate of Soda 
 Sulphate of Potash 
 Silica 
 
 Insoluble Organic Matter 
 Soluble Organic Matter 
 
 6-9741 
 
 0798 
 
 2-3723 
 
 3-1052 
 
 2695 
 
 1239 
 
 4-6592 
 
 2-3380 
 
 28-0385 
 
 We may account for this great proportion of salts by the fact 
 that the Thames collects its water from the drainage of compara- 
 tively soft and soluble rocks j we should also remember the vast 
 amount of refuse organic and inorganic matter which is being 
 continually thrown into this river ; and we must also call to mind 
 that it is nothing more or less than the main sewer which receives 
 the ordure of the modern Baby Ion. t 
 
 We may naturally suppose that in those rivers which flow through 
 sparsely inhabited countries, where there is little or no traffic, the 
 amount of saline matter would be next to nothing, and probably 
 not a trace would be discovered. In a river like the Thames, owing 
 to the vast quantity of its shipping, the great percentage which 
 Mr. John Ashley has given us need not afford the least surprise. 
 Sea-water is deficient in its proper proportion of salt at the mouths 
 of great rivers, where the volume of fresh water displaces that which 
 properly belongs to the sea, and therefore a river does not obtain 
 much saline matter from that source. 
 
 * Sea-water contains 2 "5 per cent, of the chloride of sodium ; some say 4 per 
 cent.; according to others, 5 '7. 
 
 f It is well worth remembering that the Thames carries away from its basin 
 above Kingston 548,230 tons of saline matter annually. 
 
30 
 
 Before we pass on to consider the geographical distribution of 
 salt, we will just cursorily glance at the position it occupies in the 
 vegetable world. It is present in all plants growing near the sea, 
 and in variable quantities in some of those which are in or near 
 districts where the soil is mixed with salt; though its place is 
 taken by potash when they grow inland. Dr. Balfour writes as 
 follows : " Soda and potash occur abundantly in plants. They are 
 taken up with the soil in combination with acids. Those growing 
 near the sea have a large proportion of soda in their composition, 
 whilst those growing inland contain potash. Varidus species of 
 salsola, salicornia, halimcenenum, and kochia yield soda for com- 
 mercial purposes and are called halophites (>., salt, and tpvrov, 
 plant). The young plants, according to Gobel, furnish more soda 
 than the old ones. There are certain species, as Armeria maritima, 
 Cochlearia officinalis, and Plantago maritima, which are found both 
 on the seashore and high on the mountains removed from the sea. 
 In the former situation they contain much soda and some iodine ; 
 while in the latter, according to Dr. Dickie, potash prevails and 
 iodine disappears." 
 
 Soda being present in those plants growing near the sea, and 
 potash in those which are inland, are two points well worthy 
 of notice, and which we will now discuss. The number of vege- 
 tables which are cultivated near the coast shrink into insignificance 
 when compared with those which grow inland ; and naturally the 
 markets are supplied with inland produce on account of a larger 
 supply, therefore the consumption of those vegetables containing 
 potash is in the same ratio. This being unquestionably the case, 
 we ought, on that account alone, to use salt freely with our vege- 
 table food in order to supply that which is absent, arising from the 
 difference of locality and dissimilarity of the atmosphere. I shall 
 enter fully into the relation salt bears to vegetable food while it is 
 going through the process of digestion further on, when we come to 
 consider the effects which food salted beforehand has upon the 
 system when continued for any length of time, with little or no 
 variation, which dietary is supposed to be the sole cause of the 
 attacks of scurvy on board ship. 
 
 The sea is that grand reservoir which supplies the earth with its 
 fertility ; and the air and sun are mighty engines which work with- 
 out intermission to raise the water from this inexhaustible cistern. 
 The clouds, as aqueducts, convey the genial stores along the atmo- 
 
31 
 
 sphere, and distribute them in seasonable and regular proportions 
 through all the regions of the globe. 
 
 With what difficulty do we extract a drop of perfectly sweet 
 water from this vast pit of brine ! Yet the sun draws off, every 
 moment, millions of tons in vaporous exhalations, which, being 
 securely lodged in the clouds, are sent abroad sweetened and refined, 
 without the least brackish tincture or bituminous sediment ; sent 
 abroad upon the wings of the winds to distil in dews and rain, to 
 ooze in fountains, to trickle along in rivulets, to roll from the 
 sides of mountains, to flow in copious streams amid burning deserts 
 and populous kingdoms, in order to refresh and fertilise, to beautify 
 and enrich, every soil in every clime. 
 
 Though the ocean is salt, yet certain seas do not contain so much 
 as others ; my reader must not therefore conclude that the chloride of 
 sodium, or salt, is equally diffused in sea-water, for the atmosphere 
 receives a larger or lesser amount by reason of evaporation. Dr. 
 Draper writes that the "temperature of the Mediterranean is twelve 
 degrees higher than that of the Atlantic, and since much of the water 
 is removed by evaporation, it is necessarily more saline than that 
 ocean." 
 
 It is said that the southern seas are slightly more salt than the 
 northern, the reason for which phenomenon has not been, as yet, 
 satisfactorily explained. 
 
 It is strange that salt should determine the colour of the sea, 
 and that for centuries the cause of this peculiar natural phenomenon 
 of the ocean should have been a closed secret even to men of 
 science. Even from the earliest times, the origin of this marine 
 peculiarity has attracted the attention and wonder of navigators ; 
 yet, strange to say, it has only been discovered within the last few 
 years. The many expeditions which have been despatched by the 
 Governments of England, Germany, and others, for the express 
 purpose of oceanic discovery, have been the means of solving a 
 question which has perplexed all races of seamen from the time of 
 the Phoenicians, and which astonished Columbus on his voyage to 
 the Indies. 
 
 These recent scientific investigations have proved that the propor- 
 tion of salt held in solution by sea-water determines its blue or 
 green appearance, and also its specific gravity ; consequently, 
 when the water is blue, we may conclude that it holds a much 
 greater proportion of salt ; when it is green, it is indicative that 
 there is a decrease. 
 
32 
 
 There is one phenomenon which is peculiarly interesting. There 
 are two kinds of ice floating in the Arctic and Antarctic seas the 
 flat ice and the mountain ice. The one is formed of sea- water, the 
 other of fresh. The flat or driving ice is entirely composed of salt 
 water, which, when dissolved, is found to be salt, and is readily 
 distinguished from the mountain or fresh-water ice by its whiteness 
 and want of transparency. This ice is much more terrible to 
 mariners than that which rises in lumps. A ship generally can 
 avoid the one, as it is seen at a distance ; but it frequently gets in 
 amongst the other, which, sometimes closing with resistless force, 
 crushes the doomed vessel to pieces. 
 
 The surface of that which is congealed from the sea-water is not 
 only flat, but quite even, hard, and opaque, resembling white sugar, 
 and incapable of being slid upon. 
 
 Salt is found in variable quantities in different countries, and 
 in various conditions ; in one part it may be found as a huge 
 mountain, in which there are dark and lofty caverns ; in others it 
 is deposited in marshes and lakes, and in others in deep mines, 
 many hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the earth. 
 
 In some countries there are vast quantities of rock or fossil salt. 
 Salt has been divided into three kinds : native or rock salt ; 
 common or sea salt, also called white-salt ; and bay-salt. Under 
 the title of bay-salt are ranked all kinds of common salt, extracted 
 from the water, wherever it is dissolved by means of the sun's heat 
 and the operation of the air. If sea-water is evaporated by means 
 of a gentle heat we also obtain what is known as bay-salt. Common 
 salt, or sea-salt, or white-salt, which is extracted from the sea, is 
 composed of hydrochloric acid, saturated with soda, and is found 
 in salt water and salt-springs, also in coal and gypsum-beds. " The 
 sea itself, if desiccated, would afford a bed of salt five hundred 
 feet thick, one hundred for every mile." 
 
 In England, and especially in Cheshire, there are large salt-mines, 
 at Nantwich and Middlewich, which have existed ever since the 
 Roman occupation of Britain; and in the year 1670 the Stafford- 
 shire salt-mines were discovered, and accordingly excavated. Those 
 in Cheshire have been renowned for centuries ; their great extent 
 is such that the surface has subsided on account of its being under- 
 mined for so many miles. 
 
 " In England, the Trias is the chief repository of salt, or chloride 
 of sodium ; and brine-springs, which are subterranean streams of 
 water impregnated with salt from percolating through saliferous 
 
33 
 
 strata, are abundant in the great plain of the red marls and 
 sandstones of Cheshire. The salt, however, is not uniform in 
 extent, but occupies limited areas." The saliferous strata of North - 
 wich present the following series : 
 
 1. Uppermost calcareous marl .. .. 15 feet 
 
 2. Red and blue clays ... .. .. 120 
 
 3. Bed of rock-salt ... .. .. 75 
 
 4. Clay, with veins of rock-salt .. .. 31 ,, 
 
 5. Second bed of rock-salt .. .. 110 
 
 Droitwich, in Worcestershire, which is situated nearly in the 
 centre of the county, has been celebrated for the production of salt 
 from its brine-springs from the time of the Romans, who imposed a 
 tax on the Britons, who, it appears, worked the mines ; and also 
 made salt a part of the pay of their soldiers' solarium, or salary.* 
 Ever since, this inexhaustible fountain of saline water has continued 
 flowing up, and yielding salt in undiminished quantities. It is 
 very likely that the manufacture is coeval with the town itself; but 
 it was not till the year 1725 that the strong brine for which it is 
 now celebrated was discovered. From one spring, even, the enor- 
 mous amount of one thousand tons of salt are obtained every week. 
 At the depth of thirty or forty feet is a bed of hard gypsum, 
 about one hundred and fifty feet in thickness ; through this a small 
 hole is bored to the stream of brine, which is about twenty-two 
 inches in depth, and beneath this is the rock-salt. The brine rising 
 quickly through the aperture is pumped into a capacious reservoir, 
 whence it is conveyed into iron boilers for evaporation. It is sup- 
 posed to be much stronger than any other in the kingdom, con- 
 taining above one-fourth part its weight of salt. " One of the 
 shafts is sunk to a depth of nearly five hundred feet, and passes 
 through four layers of salt, eighty-five feet in aggregate thickness. 
 Some of the beds of salt in Cheshire are from seventy to one 
 hundred and twenty feet in thickness ;" and it is sometimes so hard 
 that it requires to be blasted with gunpowder. 
 
 In those districts where the marls of the Trias are covered by 
 other beds, and the salt-springs force their way through the super- 
 incumbent deposits to the surface, these solutions of the chloride of 
 sodium undergo a chemical change, acquiring other properties, and 
 are then called mineral waters. The Cheltenham waters originate 
 thus.f Eeneath the town of Cheltenham lie the Triassic deposits, 
 
 * Hence arose the custom of asking for salt at the Eton Montem. 
 f Sir R. S. Murchison, " The Mineral Springs of Gloucestershire and Wor- 
 cestershire." 
 
34 
 
 the reservoir of the rock-salt and brine-springs, which generate the 
 mineral waters, and from which they derive their saline ingre- 
 dients. In their passage to the surface they go through various 
 modifications, by reason of the superincumbent beds of Lias, which 
 are impregnated with iron pyrites and the sulphate of lime. 
 From the analyses of these waters, it appears that their principal 
 constituents are the chloride of sodium (muriate of soda), or sea- 
 salt, and the sulphates of soda and magnesia. Sulphate of lime, 
 oxide of iron, and the chloride of magnesium are present in some 
 wells only, and in much smaller quantities. Besides these ingre- 
 dients, iodine and bromine have been detected by Dr. Daubeny, who 
 instituted experiments to ascertain whether these two active prin- 
 ciples, which the French chemists had recently discovered in 
 modern marine productions, did not exist in mineral waters issuing 
 from strata formed in the ancient seas. As the saline springs of the 
 red marls rise up through the Lias they undergo certain chemical 
 changes. From the decomposition of the sulphate of iron which takes 
 place, a vast quantity of sulphuric acid must be generated, which, re- 
 acting on the different bases of magnesia, lime, etc., contained in the 
 strata, forms those sulphates so prevalent in the higher or pyritous 
 beds of the Lias ; the oxide of iron being at the same time more or 
 less completely separated. By this means the mineral waters,. which 
 are probably mere brine-springs at the greatest depths, acquire addi- 
 tional medicinal qualities as they ascend to the places whence they 
 flow. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that fresh water 
 is continually falling from the atmosphere upon the surface of the 
 Lias clays, and percolating through the uppermost strata.* 
 
 The medicinal properties which are peculiar to these mineral 
 waters will be considered further on, when we come to discuss the 
 action of salt on the system, in health and disease, and the resto- 
 rative results which are due solely to its instrumentality. 
 
 The salt district is in the line which joins the Severn, the Dee, and 
 the Mersey, and doubtless once consisted of lakes flooded at every 
 tide, which, drying at certain seasons and at low tides, deposited 
 beds of salt, from Droitwich in "Worcestershire, through Nantwich, 
 to the Mersey ; brine-springs flowing over beds of salt, or rock-salt, 
 being found at different places on the entire line. 
 
 In the year 1863 a bed of rock-salt was discovered near the 
 mouth of the Tees, at Middlesborough, and also on the Durham 
 side of the river. The boring at Middlesborough showed that it 
 * Dr. Mantell's " Wonders of Geology." 
 
35 
 
 was about 100 feet in thickness. Of late, borings have been made 
 near Port Clarence, on the Durham side, but with what result I am 
 not informed. 
 
 Scotland, as well as Ireland, is deficient in the more recent forma- 
 tions ; for salt, as well as chalk, does not occur. Both are entirely 
 absent; but geologists inform us that at one time chalk did exist, 
 judging from the presence of flints in considerable quantities in 
 Aberdeenshire, which they say affords unequivocal evidence of the 
 former presence of cretaceous strata now integrated; and they account 
 for it thus : the soft chalk being exposed to the action of the rain 
 and storms, has been gradually washed away, while the flints which 
 were embedded in it still remain. If this hypothesis is correct, that 
 at one time chalk existed and is now absent, we may by inference, 
 though we possess no evidence, presume that salt likewise, at some 
 period or other, was present in this part of the United Kingdom. 
 Chalk being entirely composed of the accumulation of marine 
 shells ground to impalpable powder, which has been gradually 
 consolidated, and being very rich in organic remains of shells, 
 star-fish, sponges, fishes, and lizards, must have been deposited by 
 sea- water, as its various ingredients indicate ; therefore, during 
 its deposition, salt, if originating from sea-water, must of necessity 
 have left some marks characteristic of itself, in conjunction with 
 the chalk ; both being, more or less, intimately connected with sea- 
 water, though the formation of one may not have been simultaneous 
 with the formation of the other.* 
 
 In our lately acquired " gem of the sea," Cyprus, there have been 
 found extensive lakes of salt near Larnaca, the capital, so that this 
 liberally-abused island possesses at least something which may prove 
 of pecuniary value to its present owners. Being for several centu- 
 ries under the benighted rule of the Turk, this staple of commerce 
 has been entirely neglected, so as not to have been of the slightest 
 use to the inhabitants or to the greedy pachas. 
 
 In the south of Western Australia there are vast salt marshes 
 which only require to be worked so as to become the means of en- 
 riching the colonists, and indirectly attracting emigrants to this 
 hitherto unprofitable portion of a dependency of England. The 
 principal, which is called Lake Austen, is 1400 feet above the level 
 of the sea. 
 
 * There are the noted salt-works near Portobello, Edinburgh, which have 
 been so truthfully presented to us on canvas by Mr. Edward Duncan. 
 
 32 
 
36 
 
 Salt is also to be found in our Indian Empire, in Rajpootana and 
 elsewhere, and is of considerable value to that country, especially 
 while it remains in the hands of the enterprising European ; 
 according to Mr. Wynne, there is a salt range which extends from 
 Kalabagh to a point north of Tank. After acquainting us with its 
 geographical position, he says : " The coincidence between the phy- 
 sical features and the geological structure of the ground is intimate, 
 the axial lines of the mountains carrying on the Salt Eange feature 
 being also axes of anticlinals lying for the most part along the 
 scarped acclivities presented towards the Indus plains. These 
 plains are part of the great quasi-desert flat over which the Indus 
 has in past times capriciously wandered towards the Arabian Sea. 
 Whether they are due in any degree to marine explosion is uncer- 
 tain, though the sea may very possibly once have covered the low 
 ground in question. The ridges of the Salt Range, as they exist at 
 present, doubtless mark the same great later, or post-tertiary, period 
 of mountain-forming activity, in which originated not only the re- 
 mainder of the Salt Range, but also the Western Himalaya and the 
 Suliman and Afghan mountains." When we come to consider the 
 geological bearings of salt, and its presumed origin, and other points 
 in connection with it, I shall again revert to this highly interesting 
 paper of Mr. Wynne's. 
 
 In the Deccan, half-way between Bombay and Nagpur, there is a 
 very remarkable salt lake. It is a circular hollow, about one mile 
 across, and from 300 to 400 feet deep, having at the bottom a 
 shallow lake of salt water without any outlet. This hollow, I must 
 tell my reader, is ascribed by scientific men to a volcanic explosion. 
 
 There are so many lakes of salt, which are completely isolated 
 and so many miles from the sea, that it is next to impossible to 
 account for their existence if we do not ascribe them to volcanic 
 action. If they are situated in low-lying districts, we may justly 
 presume that at one time the sea must have been present, or 
 that the deposition must have resulted from occasional, or tidal, 
 overflow of salt water ; but when they are many miles from the 
 coast, and many feet above or below the sea-level, then they may be 
 due to volcanic agency ; and we shall find further on several other 
 salt lakes of variable depths or altitudes which would seem to cor- 
 roborate this hypothesis. The sea is undoubtedly a most formidable 
 agent in the disintegration of land, and often destroys whole tracts, 
 forcing its resistless waves into the interior of continents, and then, 
 owing to some unexplained cause, retiring to its original boundary. 
 
37 
 
 This may take centuries to complete, for revolutions effected by 
 nature are not accomplished speedily, unless there is some sudden 
 spasmodic upheaving, arising from earthquakes or storms. In 1282, 
 the isthmus uniting Friesland with the north of Holland was totally 
 destroyed by violent storms. In our own country a similar pheno- 
 menon occurred in the year 1475, when a large tongue of land at the 
 mouth of the Humber was entirely broken up and carried away by 
 the sea. In 1510 an irruption of the Baltic formed the Frische-Haff, 
 an opening 6000 feet broad, and from twelve to fifteen fathoms in 
 depth. The eastern coast of England is continually receding, owing 
 to the encroachment of the sea. The rate of encroachment of the 
 sea at Owthorne, in Yorkshire, is reckoned at four yards in every 
 year, and several villages have been swallowed up by the ocean ; 
 and in like manner the cliffs of Norfolk and Suffolk are suffering a 
 continual decay. 
 
 Though the sea is so destructive an element, it is also an agent in 
 the reproduction of land. The rocks and sand washed away from 
 one place are conveyed by tides and currents far into the sea, and 
 are deposited in strata, and then, in course of time, form shoals and 
 banks, which subsequently become promontories and islands. Allu- 
 vial land has thus been formed, and in a similar way have many of 
 the stratified rocks been deposited ; and as animals and plants have 
 been carried away and imbedded in the deposits of rivers, or floods, 
 so at some future period, though countless ages may elapse during 
 the process, will such animals and plants be discovered deposited 
 in these newer strata, just as we find organic remains in the older 
 rocks. The gradual deposition of strata has been the work of an in- 
 calculable period of time, but the process may be traced every day in 
 the sections of marine estuaries and lakes. Owing to this continual 
 receding of the land in one part, and elevation of land in another, 
 there is an incessant change, from which, though occupying many 
 ages, and proceeding so slowly that it would be unobservable were 
 it not for accurate investigation, we may easily conjecture that 
 what is now land may at one time have been the bed of the oceau, 
 and where the sea now sweeps with overpowering fury, there may 
 once have been meadows and forests. The salt lakes, if not origin- 
 ating from volcanic force, no doubt are the remains of the great 
 ocean, which, when it receded, left here and there, in what once 
 were luxuriant valleys, large reservoirs, indicating that in bygone 
 ages it had covered the land. 
 
 In Germany, Spain, Italy, Hungary, and Poland, there are exten- 
 
38 
 
 sive mines of rock-salt, and also in various other parts of Europe.* 
 There are also large mountains wholly composed of this fossil salt, 
 two of which are in those provinces of Russia known as Astrakhan 
 and Orenburg ; and in the Crimea salt is said to be daily accumu- 
 lating in the inland lakes. In Asiatic Kussia there are extensive 
 beds of salt, near Lake Indur, in lat. 48 30', long. 69. The 
 Caspian Sea, called by the Turks " Cozgoun Denghizi," " the sea of 
 crows and cormorants," is "a great salt-water lake," according to 
 Dr. William Smith, though Dr. Lempriere says that " its waters are 
 sweet." 
 
 The most interesting salt-mine is that of Wieliczka, near Cracow, 
 in Galicia ; it has been celebrated for centuries, and has been worked 
 for the last six hundred years. This wonderful mine is excavated 
 in a ridge of hills at the northern extremity of the chain which 
 joins the Carpathian mountains. When the stranger reaches the 
 mine there bursts upon his view a little world, the beauty of which 
 is scarcely to be imagined. He beholds a spacious plain containing 
 a kind of subterranean city, with houses, carriages, and roads, all 
 scooped out of one vast rock of salt, as bright and glittering as 
 crystal, while the blaze of the lights continually burning for the 
 general use is reflected from the dazzling columns which support 
 the lofty arched vaults of the mine, which are beautifully tinged 
 with all the colours of the rainbow, and sparkle with the lustre of 
 precious stones, affording a more splendid and fairy-like aspect than 
 anything above ground can possibly exhibit. In various parts of 
 this spacious plain stand the huts of the miners and their families, 
 some single, and others in clusters, like villages. They have very 
 little communication with the world above them, and many 
 hundreds of persons are born and pass the whole of their lives 
 here. 
 
 Through the midst of this plain lies a road which is always filled 
 with carriages laden with masses of salt from the furthest part of 
 the mine. The drivers are generally singing, and the salt looks 
 like a load of gems. A great number of horses are kept in the 
 mine, and, when once let down, never see daylight again. 
 
 Such is the marvellous salt-mine of Wieliczka, which is more 
 renowned on account of its magnitude, its age, and the weird and 
 
 * In Prussia salt is obtained from the brine-springs of that part of Saxony 
 which is subject to her jurisdiction. It also exists in abundance in Bavaria 
 and Wiirtemberg ; and it is the chief mineral production of the Grand Duchy 
 of Baden. 
 
39 
 
 almost supernatural aspect it presents to the visitor, than any other. 
 Those subterranean palaces, with their magnificent appurtenances, 
 their fantastic occupants, and other dreams of the imaginative, are 
 not more strange or astonishing to the fascinated reader of romance 
 than this extraordinary, glistening, cavernous, mineral city, with its 
 numerous lamps, its crystallised walls, its roads, and the plaintive 
 songs of the drivers as they drive their horses through its sunless 
 thoroughfares, presents to the eyes of the surprised traveller. 
 
 There are valuable mines of salt in France, and in Greece, near 
 Missolonghi, but these have no special points of interest connected 
 with them. 
 
 In Abyssinia there are extensive and inexhaustible beds of salt, 
 which is used in quite a different way from what it is in other 
 countries, for little bars of it are circulated in place of small coin ; 
 but it is only when it reaches the Amhara and Galla districts that 
 it becomes valuable.* 
 
 In other parts of the African continent there are large mountains 
 of rock-salt, and those of Tunis and Algiers are especially notable. 
 
 Salt is also to be found in Asia, in large mountains, in marshes, 
 and in lakes, to some of which I have already alluded. In the 
 north of Persia there is a large salt desert, and near Ispahan there 
 are quantities of rock-salt. The island of Ormuz, in the Persian 
 Gulf, almost consists of fossil salt ; it is indeed so very plentiful 
 that the atmosphere is completely charged with it, so that the 
 dwellings of the inhabitants are encrusted with a tolerable thick 
 layer, giving them a peculiar glistening appearance ; this phenomenon 
 is owing to the small particles of salt continually floating in the air 
 and rising from the ground, much in the same way as we see dew 
 deposited on the top of a garden wall or on a lawn after a hot 
 summer's day. 
 
 We learn from Herodotus that there was a salt lake in Phrygia, 
 in Asia Minor. " Having so said, and fulfilled his promise, Xerxes 
 continued his route onwards. After passing by a city of Phrygia, 
 called Anaua, and a lake out of which salt is produced, he came 
 to Colossse, a large city of Phrygia." t I have previously alluded 
 to the Dead Sea and the interesting phenomena which it presents ; 
 due south of it is the Valley of Salt. 
 
 * " In one village they only found one earthen pot containing food, which 
 Bruce took possession of, leaving in its place a wedge of salt, which, strange 
 to say, is still used as small money in Gondar and all over Abyssinia." Bruce's 
 "Travels in Abyssinia." 
 
 f Polymnia, book vii. chap. xxx. 
 
40 
 
 There are salt' springs and springs from inflammable gas in China, 
 in long. 101 29', lat. 29, near Thibet ; and there is a large salt lake 
 possessing the strange name of Tsomoriri, many feet above the level 
 of the sea, in Western Thibet.* " The Chinese bore well through 
 the rocks, and prepare the salt by firing the gas of others, so that 
 one heats 300 kettles by gas-fire." The celestials, with their habitual 
 aptitude and industry, have obtained this salt for many centuries, 
 and simply byjthis ingenious method. 
 
 As a fact illustrating the value of salt in Siberia, I may as well 
 mention that in ourj'own country a ton of salt is sold for fifteen 
 shillings, whilst on the Yenesei river as much as fifteen pounds is 
 given for the same'quantity. The Muscovite we thus see is as acutely 
 alive to the beneficent results of a free use of salt as a dietetic, as 
 we English, and it would seem as if he were more so. 
 
 In some countries remote ' from the sea, which are devoid of 
 salt-mines, and where the water is not impregnated with it, the 
 inhabitants, aware of its usefulness, have a method of extracting 
 it from the ashes of vegetables. This fact would certainly seem to 
 indicate that salt has been used by various nations, as if mankind 
 had an intuitive knowledge of the benefits arising from the use of 
 salt, and that consequently, if there were no lakes containing it, or 
 mountains from which they could procure it, they were determined 
 to obtain it if even by artificial means. 
 
 As an illustration of the presence of salt in places distant 
 from the sea, I need only refer to the Great Salt Lake of Utah, 
 on the shores of which stand the Mormon city. Long before 
 the founder of the Latter Day Saints thought of establishing a 
 quasi-religious community, travellers who had the temerity to 
 wander over the wild prairies of the Oregon, the home of the 
 bison and the hunting-ground of the Indian, and who explored 
 the secrets of the then unknown land of the " Ear West," were 
 struck with amazement at the glistening aspect of the surface ; for 
 in many places it was covered over with an impure kind of salt, 
 apparently a combination of muriate and sulphate of soda, f or more 
 
 * The geographical features of this almost unknown country are peculiarly 
 interesting, and are unique when compared with others ; the great height of 
 its mountains, its remarkable elevation, the large rivers which take their rise 
 here, and the numerous salt lakes, the altitude of some being from 13,800 to 
 15,400 feet above the level of the sea, all combine to excite our curiosity, 
 which is increased by the fact that we know next to nothing of the interior 
 or of the habits of the people. 
 
 f " Many springs in Sicily contain muriate of soda ; and the ' fuime salso ' 
 in particular is impregnated with so large a quantity that cattle refuse to drink 
 
41 
 
 probably an impure form of the chloride of sodium. On tasting the 
 water which had collected in numerous little pools of no more than 
 a few inches in depth, they found it so bitter and pungent that it 
 acted on the mucous membrane almost as powerfully as a corrosive 
 poison. This large tract of country was at that time teeming 
 with life, for they daily saw vast herds of bisons, and frequently 
 came upon the hidden towns of the prairie-dog ; in fact, wherever 
 they went, they either crossed the path of these wild denizens of 
 the plain, or else the sky was darkened by innumerable flocks of 
 birds. The district was wonderfully healthy, and totally free from 
 malaria or other causes generative of disease ; the Indians, too, were 
 splendid specimens of humanity ; they had not as yet been tainted 
 by too close a proximity with the so-called superior civilisation of 
 the white man, neither had they been so unfortunate as to have 
 fallen a prey to the vices and diseases which generally accompany 
 the humanising European. 
 
 On the pampas of La Plata, which is the treeless abode of the 
 wild horses of South America, there are several salt lakes, not 
 many miles distant from the river Quinto, and over these boundless 
 wastes thousands of wild cattle and horses gallop at pleasure, and 
 afford an inexhaustible stock of game for the lasso of the fearless 
 and expert Gaucho. I^ow it is a well-authenticated fact that those 
 diseases which are so destructive to the horses and cattle of Europe 
 are almost unknown in these regions. I do not mean to assert that 
 these salt lakes of La Plata account for the exemption which this 
 district enjoys from equine diseases ; but there is no doubt that the 
 exhalations from them purify the atmosphere, and that their 
 influence extends for many miles because of the open nature of 
 the country. As a natural result, the whole region is constantly 
 kept in a healthy state; for air, charged with the chloride of 
 sodium, must of necessity act as a preventive to everything 
 inimical to health, and pure air we know (though how few really 
 know what that blessing is) is of a paramount importance in the 
 rearing of cattle. The foot-and-mouth disease, comparatively, has 
 never played such havoc as it does in Europe, and pneumonia, 
 which is almost intractable to treatment in this part of the world, and 
 which is frequently fatal when it is complicated with inflammation 
 
 it. There is a hot spring at St. Nectaire, in Auvergne, which may be 
 mentioned as one of many, containing a large proportion of muriate of soda, 
 together with magnesia and other ingredients." Sir Charles Lyell's "Prin- 
 ciples of Geology." 
 
42 
 
 of the pleura, hardly ever appears in these parts, where stables 
 and farms are not far off from being rudimentary in construction, 
 and would appear to an English farmer, accustomed to the cosy- 
 looking farmsteads of his own country, very ill-calculated for 
 successful farming, and not at all adapted for bringing his cattle 
 and horses to perfection ; yet it is just the reverse, for there is 
 no other part of South America so well fitted for the breeding of 
 cattle, and there is no other locality, whether in the Old or New 
 Worlds, so completely free from disease as the open pampas of La 
 Plata. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF SALT. 
 
 Sm ISAAC NEWTON, in his incomparable work upon Optics, likens 
 a particle of salt to a chaos, because of its " being dense, hard, dry, 
 earthy in the centre ; and rare, soft and moist in the circumference." 
 This ingenious definition is what one would expect from such an 
 observant and profound investigator ; and I do not think that we 
 shall be able to find a better description of a salt-crystal than that 
 which this great philosopher has bequeathed us. 
 
 Regarding the original formation of rock-salt, there are many 
 opinions, theories and conjectures, and to the present day it is an 
 undecided question. We are, as I have previously stated, in com- 
 plete ignorance of the origin of the chloride of sodium ; we must 
 consider it as one of those geological secrets upon which we shall 
 never be able to enlighten ourselves, if we cannot obtain stronger 
 evidence than that which we have at present. Science is at fault in 
 this, as she is in many other subjects which have perplexed and 
 interested from time to time those who study and seek to unravel 
 the various obscure and complicated phenomena of nature. 
 
 No satisfactory or elucidatory theory has, as yet, been advanced 
 to account for the occurrence of the formation of salt. Some 
 geologists have maintained that it was deposited from the ocean, 
 but in what way they do not explain; indeed, it is difficult to 
 suppose how it could have been so, for salt, or rather sea water, 
 holds in solution many ingredients which are not present in this 
 rock. Besides, the several strata above it contain organic remains, as 
 do also those below, though altogether of an entirely different kind ; 
 
43 
 
 rook-salt itself contains none whatever ; from this fact some have 
 inferred that the formation took place during the epoch which 
 elapsed between the destruction of one creation and the calling of 
 another into existence. Others suppose that it is simply the result 
 of volcanic action : this hypothesis is correct to a certain extent, as 
 far as isolated salt lakes like that of Tsomoriri in Western Thibet, 
 and that lake midway between Bombay and Nagpur, are concerned ; 
 or those huge mountains consisting entirely of fossil salt, like the 
 one near Cardona, fifty miles from Barcelona, in Spain, or those 
 in Lahore, or in Peru ; but it altogether fails as regards non-isolated 
 salt lakes and salt marshes, or such a large inland sea as the 
 Caspian. Some light may be thrown upon it by the recent ex- 
 plorations in the North- Western Provinces of India, for Mr. Wynne 
 tells us that " the geological structure " (of the Indian Salt Eange) 
 " of the trans-Indus extension of the Salt Range repeats in a great 
 measure that of the western portion of the Salt Eange proper, but 
 with some considerable differences. The Paloeozoic rocks, so far 
 as presented by the red-marl, rock-salt, and gypsum, are quite the 
 same, and so are the Carboniferous and Triassic groups, but others 
 of the sub-Carboniferous beds present themselves with a different 
 association from those of cis-Indus." Mr. Wynne also informs us 
 that the mineral productions of the range are valuable, and consist 
 of the salt of Kalabagh and the Lun Nullah, the alum of Kalabagh 
 and the Chichali Pass, the coal or lignite from the Jurassic* beds 
 of the Kalabagh Hills : we also learn that gypsum is present with 
 the salt, as it is in Poland, Transylvania, and Hungary; for in these 
 three countries there is a layer of gypsum between the stratum of 
 stone and the bed of salt. This gypsiferous layer is of various 
 colours ; it is crystallised, striated, and mixed with sea-shells : this 
 admixture would decidedly lead us to conclude that the salt was 
 originally deposited in bygone ages from the sea. On the contrary, 
 the salt in Cheshire is not accompanied by a bed of gypsum, there 
 are no vestiges of marine exuviae, nor indeed any organic remains 
 to be detected in any of the strata. 
 
 If the formation of salt (I am referring to mountains of rock-salt 
 such as we see near Cordova, in Spain,t and salt-mines as we see 
 
 * The Jurassic formation presents a remarkable contrast with that of the 
 Triassic, in the profusion of organic remains ; for while the latter contains next 
 to none, the former teems with marine fossils, a proof that the strata were 
 unfavourable for the preservation of organic structures. Dr. Mantell's 
 "Wonders of Geology." 
 
 f There is a mountain composed entirely of rock-salt not far from this old 
 Moorish city ; it is 500 feet in height and three miles in circumference ; it 
 
44 
 
 in Galicia, and Cheshire, and also isolated salt lakes, like that 
 which exists in Western Thibet) is solely due to volcanic action, 
 or marine explosion, we may easily account for its irregular and 
 unequal distribution; also for its elevation into mountains, and 
 as beds beneath the surface of the earth, by reason of the greater or 
 less force which was employed for its upheaval ; and also the thick- 
 ness or solidity of those strata of rocks through which it was 
 propelled in its upward course. If this were so, it is strange that 
 it should be entirely free from organic remains, whose absence 
 therefore is a formidable objection to this theory. Being accom- 
 panied by gypsum in some districts and not in others, would 
 decidedly point to the presumed fact that salt has been the result 
 of some volcanic agency ; for were it not so we should find, on the 
 contrary, owing to gradual formation, that gypsum would invariably 
 be present with it, in the same way as we find one stratum of rock 
 either above or below the stratum of another rock. 
 
 From the fact that deposits of salt are not confined to any par- 
 ticular group of strata for while the salt-mines of Galicia belong 
 to the tertiary formations, those in the State of New York are 
 found in the middle of the Silurian system we may say that 
 salt is not subject to geological laws by reason of its somewhat 
 erratic appearances in different strata. As the chlorides of sodium 
 and gypsum are frequently sublimed from volcanic vents, an igneous 
 origin has been ascribed to many of the beds of salt and gypsum ; 
 and Mr. Bakewell threw out the suggestion that the consolidation 
 of both salt and gypsum must have been effected by heat, because 
 the great deposit of gypsum that occurs with rock-salt at Bex, in 
 Switzerland, was found by M. Carpentier to be anhydrous when 
 exposed to the atmosphere. If this hypothesis is correct, and if 
 salt and gypsum* were at some period in a state of fusion, it is 
 difficult to believe that when consolidated they are so perfectly 
 distinct and in two different strata, so that one contains organic 
 remains, whilst the other is altogether free from the slightest 
 
 is completely isolated, and gypsum is also present. In other countries there 
 are similar enormous masses, which require to be dug out and pulverised by 
 machinery on account of their hardness. 
 
 * Gypsum, or sulphate of lime, consists of sulphuric acid 46 '31, lime 32 '90, 
 and water 2079. The massive gypsum is called Alabaster ; the transparent 
 
 fypsum Selenite ; powdered calcined gypsum forms Plaster of Paris. The 
 brous gypsum has a silken lustre, and is used for ear-rings, brooches, and 
 other ornaments. Fibrous gypsum of great beauty occurs in Derbyshire ; 
 veins and masses of this substance abound in the red marls bordering the 
 valley of the Trent. 
 
45 
 
 vestige. It may have been possible that one -was in a state of 
 fusion when the other was consolidated, and different degrees of 
 heat might have been necessary for the purpose. 
 
 We also may account for the absence of organic remains in rock- 
 salt to the following cause : the chloride of sodium, when in a 
 state of fusion, might have possessed the property of disintegrating, 
 dissolving, and absorbing within itself, however minute they might 
 be, all particles of organic matter with which it came into contact. 
 Dr. Mantell writes : " It cannot, however, be with certainty deter- 
 mined whether the absence or paucity of fossils in a deposit is 
 owing to the actual reduction of the amount of life in the seas of 
 a given area, or to the mineral character of the strata not having 
 been favourable to the preservation of organic remains." 
 
 A very serious difficulty presents itself in the great thickness of 
 many strata of salt j which, if regarded as the solid residuum of 
 sea-water, must have necessarily required a proportionate volume 
 of water, unless the seas of those distant periods contained a larger 
 amount of saline ingredients than they do at the present time : an 
 inference for which there are no reasonable grounds. 
 
 Wherever there are deposits of the chloride of sodium, they are 
 almost always accompanied with layers and intercalations of gypsum; 
 and the peculiar circumstance of two powerful acids, the sulphuric 
 (in the gypsum, or sulphate of lime), and the muriatic or hydro- 
 chloric (in the chloride of sodium), being so abundantly and uni- 
 formly present, seems to point to a common origin \ both are 
 productions of volcanic agency, though of the two I think salt 
 frequently owes its origin more to the subterranean activity than the 
 gypsum, because we find there are beds of salt where there is no 
 gypsum, and isolated salt lakes which might have been elevated 
 into mountains had the process, during their production, been of 
 the same force as that used in the formation of rock-salt, owing to 
 an unexplainable interruption and premature desinence. 
 
 The relation between the formation of gypsum and volcanic 
 action seems to be borne out by the fact that in North America, 
 where the coal measures are not associated with rocks resulting 
 from volcanic agency, there are no gypsum-beds ; while on the con- 
 trary, there are large deposits of gypsum, where igneous rocks are 
 interpolated beneath the stratum of coal, in Nova Scotia. * 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell, after a careful inquiry into the phenomena 
 
 * Geological Journal, vol. iii. p. 257. 
 
46 
 
 exhibited by these strata of gypsum, gives his opinion that the 
 production of these gypsiferous beds in the carboniferous sea was 
 closely connected with volcanic agency, whether in the form of 
 heated vapours or stufas, or of hot mineral springs, or some other 
 effects resulting from submarine igneous irruptions. 
 
 Salt or brine springs occur in various parts of the United States 
 in the old transition slate rocks. Sir Charles Lyell tells us that, 
 "in the middle of the horizontal Silurian rocks, in the State 
 of ]STew York, there is a formation of red, green, and blueish-grey 
 marls, with beds of gypsum, and occasional salt-springs, the whole 
 being from 800 to 1000 feet, and indistinguishable in mineral 
 character from parts of the Trias of Europe." Salt-springs also 
 occur in England in the coal measures. The rock-salt of Cheshire 
 and the brine-springs of Worcestershire occur in what is called 
 the old red sandstone group. The salt of Ischl, in the Austrian 
 Alps, belongs to the oolitic, as does also that found in the Lias of 
 Switzerland. The immense mass or bed of salt near Cordova 
 occurs in the cretaceous group ; while the salt deposit of Wieliczka 
 belongs to the supracretaceous group.* 
 
 The reader doubtless remembers, as I stated in the first chapter, 
 that the origin of salt is one of those enigmas of nature which, as 
 yet, has completely frustrated the most accomplished and scientific 
 geologists, and no suggestion has yet been made which will satis- 
 factorily and conclusively account for its formation ; for whatever 
 hypothesis has been stated, there is sure to be an objection so difficult 
 to overcome, that the author has been fain to admit that it is 
 thoroughly impracticable, and therefore inadmissible. That it is 
 decidedly not amenable to the received laws of geology, is apparent, 
 which all must admit ; therefore one cannot possibly apply them so 
 as to determine the place it occupies in relation to other strata, or 
 practically fix that period of time in which it was deposited ; for 
 it is erratic, and its position is anomalous erratic in the variety 
 of appearances it assumes in creation, and anomalous because it 
 belongs to no particular strata, and therefore no exact period of 
 time can be assigned to it as to other formations. 
 
 That salt is either due to volcanic agency, marine explosion, or 
 to overflow of sea-water and subsequent evaporation, or resilience, 
 and ultimate deposition, are the only three hypotheses which can 
 with any credibility be advanced to account for its formation. 
 
 That we have it presented to us in six different conformations 
 * Pereira's "Materia Medica," vol. i. p. 581. 
 
47 
 
 are facts which when considered separately seem to point to one 
 common origin, but when taken as a whole indicate a separate 
 inception. 
 
 Is it due to volcanic agency 1 In some respects it undoubtedly 
 is, otherwise how can we reasonably account for those gigantic 
 mountains of fossil or rock salt, which rise up isolated in the midst 
 of a country perfectly free for miles round of saline deposits, which 
 present not even the slightest trace of it ? How can we account 
 for it by any other means when we find it in intimate relation 
 with gypsum, which we know is solely the production of subter- 
 ranean activity? What reason can we possibly assign for those 
 salt lakes which are above or below the sea-level and are perfectly 
 solitary, and which have no communication with the sea or with 
 rivers, if they are not phenomena resulting from volcanic agency "? 
 And how can we account for those masses of salt below the earth's 
 surface which in some countries is of such adamantine hardness 
 that it requires to be blasted with gunpowder, if it is not the pro- 
 duction of volcanic force? If so, why is it that no remains of 
 organic matter are found imbedded in it ? How comes it, if it is the 
 result of subterranean agency, that organic remains are found in the 
 gypsum and none in the salt, when both are caused by volcanic 
 explosion 1 ? Thus we see the theory of volcanic explosion is met 
 with a most formidable objection. 
 
 If marine explosion is the sole cause of the formation of salt, 
 and if the sea has through rents and crevices of the earth forced 
 up its superabundant saline constituents wherever there has been 
 a vent for their egress, and which has in the course of time become 
 condensed owing to the evaporation of the water or through its 
 percolating into the lower strata, another difficulty crops up quite 
 as unanswerable seemingly as that which stands in the way of the 
 volcanic hypothesis : there are no remains of marine organisms to 
 be found, nor are there any traces of vegetable matter. 
 
 The overflow and evaporation of sea- water and the subsequent 
 deposition of salt holds good in certain respects as regards salt lakes 
 and salt marshes when they are in close proximity or in the same 
 locality; but then those other inorganic constituents which are 
 found as a general rule in sea-water are not present in those open 
 reservoirs, which' is a difficulty as formidable as the others, and 
 admits of no evasion. 
 
 These are the three hypotheses with their obstacles ; the hypo- 
 theses feasible, the obstacles apparently unanswerable. 
 
48 
 
 We have salt, or the chloride of sodium, presented to us in six 
 different conditions, viz. : sea or salt water, salt or brine springs, 
 salt lakes, salt mines, mountain or fossil or rock salt, and salt marshes. 
 The characteristics of salt are just the same fundamentally, whether 
 we extract it by evaporation from sea-water or salt lakes ; whether 
 we obtain it from salt-springs ; whether we dig it out of the earth or 
 by the excavation of salt mountains ; or whether we acquire it from 
 salt marshes : there is no alteration in its ingredients, though it 
 may be impure from the admixture of arsenic or the sulphates of 
 soda and magnesia, or other impurities, or it may be discoloured 
 red by the oxide of iron derived from decomposed trap-rocks ; still, 
 for all that, the chloride of sodium remains intact. The properties 
 of salt are not subject to the slightest change or modification : the 
 acid is the hydrochloric or muriatic, the base sodium, and the com- 
 bination, the chloride of sodium. 
 
 We find salt, or the chloride of sodium, in sea-water, the amount 
 averaging from 4 to 57 per cent., so that we see it is present in no 
 inconsiderable quantity ; it is more or less impure from other salts 
 being held in solution in conjunction : where it comes from no 
 suggestion has yet been broached. We know that it is present, 
 and we also know that it can be obtained by adopting certain 
 measures for extracting it \ and we are aware, from recent investi- 
 gations, that the colour and density of the sea is dependent on 
 the quantity held in solution. This is all we really know regard- 
 ing the presence of the chloride of sodium in the ocean. 
 
 The salt which we obtain from brine-springs contains the same 
 constituents as that which we extract from, the sea, though in their 
 course upwards they collect on their way soluble salts, and there- 
 fore the water goes through certain modifications, which the reader 
 doubtless recollects. For instance, the brine-springs of Lancashire 
 and Worcestershire rise up through strata of sandstone and red 
 marl, which contain large beds of rock-salt. The origin of the 
 brine, therefore, may be derived from beds of fossil-salt ; but as 
 the muriate of soda is one of the products in volcanic regions, the 
 original source of salt may be as deep as that of lava.* 
 
 We have also seen that the base of all mineral waters is the 
 chloride of sodium, and that their ingredients are collected and 
 dissolved as they ascend to the surface ; therefore they may pro- 
 bably both have the same origin as the sea, as regards the chloride 
 of sodium, which they both hold in solution. We can account for 
 * Sir Charles Ly ell's "Principles of Geology." 
 
49 
 
 their other characteristics by the wide expansiveness of the sea, 
 which is perpetually absorbing and emitting vapours, and by the 
 several strata through which the mineral waters pass. There may 
 be, though there is nothing that we can advance as corroborative, 
 a subterranean communication existing between them, which would 
 imply a common origin, the differences arising from the physical 
 surroundings, atmospheric influences, and the absorption of soluble 
 salts from the several strata. 
 
 What is the origin of salt lakes and salt marshes 1 This is, to a 
 certain extent, more easily explained. One theory as to the origin 
 of salt lakes (we naturally include inland seas, such as the Caspian 
 and the Aral) is the overflow and subsequent retirement of the sea- 
 water, their sites having been originally the bed of the ocean when 
 it receded to its present limits, leaving in its course depres- 
 sions of land, volumes of water of various depths, elevations, and 
 extent of surface, according to their deepness, altitude, or angles of 
 declivity.* Other ingenious hypotheses have been broached, which, 
 I need hardly say, are not worth considering, as they are entirely 
 visionary. In the case of isolated salt lakes, the above theory is 
 not applicable ; and geologists tell us that they are doubtless the 
 result of volcanic agency, but at what period of time it is im- 
 possible to estimate, for the density of the water found in them 
 is not equable, and neither is their specific gravity the same as 
 that of sea-water, nor are there any remains of marine organisms ; 
 and as their depth is variable, they are not confined to any parti- 
 cular strata. 
 
 I have hinted previously that these isolated salt lakes are (if I 
 may venture to designate them as such) geological abortions. Had 
 the power which forced them into their present situation been 
 accompanied by that agency which has raised such huge masses as 
 those near Cordova, in Spain, and by the Dead Sea, and which 
 probably brought about their present crystalline form, others by 
 reason of some unexplainable and gradual transition, by chemical 
 means, or decrease of temperature, which naturally would occur 
 the nearer it approached the earth's surface, these lakes might 
 have developed into beds or mountains of salt. 
 
 * In the great desert of Gobi, which is supposed to have been originally the 
 bed of the sea which communicated through the Caspian with the Baltic, as 
 confirmatory of this theory, salt is found in great quantities mixed with the soil. 
 To go a step further, we may infer that the lake in Western Thibet (called 
 Tsomoriri) may have been in prehistoric times joined with this vanished sea, 
 and if so would account for its being saline. 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 The salt which is dug out of the earth, and that which is exca- 
 vated out of isolated salt-mountains, are alike in every respect, and 
 are much more probably the result of volcanic explosion than of 
 the deposition of salt from sea-water, accruing from evaporation 
 while pent up in confined spaces. It may have been, though in- 
 calculable ages ago, deposited from the sea, and then in course of 
 time forced up while in a state of fusion by some internal dis- 
 ruption. 
 
 We thus see that the six conditions under which we find the 
 chloride of sodium more or less indicate a common origin from sea- 
 water, notwithstanding the absence of marine organisms. 
 
 If we take salt as a whole, leaving out of the question altogether 
 the different conditions in which it is found, and with no reference 
 at all to its existing either in the earth, above the earth, in lakes, or 
 in the sea, but looking at it simply as it is, a mass of rock, or a 
 volume of water holding it in solution, it inclines one to the belief 
 that it possesses a dual inchoation, though the original source of 
 both may have been connate ; but owing to extraneous causes 
 which were brought to bear, one branch became crystallised rock- 
 salt, while the other, through immaturity, remains in a state of 
 solution. One is rock-salt, which has been heaved up by volcanic 
 power, and the other is what is known as sea-water ; the former 
 has produced the mines, and the solitary mountains, and the 
 Indian Salt Eange, and that salt which generates mineral waters, 
 and, it may be, those saline lakes like that which exists between 
 Bombay and Nagpur. 
 
 According to Sir Charles Lyell, sea-water has access to volcanic 
 foci. He says : " Although the theory which assumes that water 
 plays a principal part in volcanic operations does not necessarily 
 imply the proximity of volcanic vents to the ocean, it seems still 
 to follow naturally that the superficial outbursts of steam and 
 lava will be most prevalent where there is an incumbent body of 
 salt water, or any regions rather than in the interior of a conti- 
 nent, where the quantity of rain-water is reduced to a minimum. 
 The experiments of the most eminent chemists have gradually re- 
 moved, one after another, the objections which were first offered 
 to the doctrine that the salt water of the sea plays a leading 
 part in most volcanic eruptions. Sir Humphry Davy observed 
 that the fumes which escaped from Vesuvian lava deposited 
 common salt." 
 
 All the principal volcanoes are situated close to the sea, and 
 
51 
 
 therefore the hypothesis that a communication exists between them 
 is practically certain ; their proximity to the sea, and the depo- 
 sition of salt from the fumes of lava, as Sir Humphry Davy noticed, 
 are two strong facts. But for all that, it does not prove satis- 
 factorily that salt is solely the result of volcanic agency, and indi- 
 rectly from the sea, because there is not the slightest trace of the 
 remains of marine organisms, unless they are totally destroyed 
 and obliterated when it is in a state of fusion ; if so, it is more 
 conclusive that salt such as we find it is solely due to volcanic 
 force. Salt may have been in times past, as the observations of 
 Sir Humphry Davy seem to corroborate, and as confirmed by 
 more recent chemists, deposited by volcanic agency in the same way 
 that salt is deposited by fumes of hydrochloric acid, which are 
 emitted with the lava during eruptions of such volcanoes as Vesu- 
 vius and Etna, by reason of some communication with the sea. 
 
 As hydrochloric acid is found in the vapours which are disen- 
 gaged from red-hot lava, and as magnesia, which is not volatile, is 
 left in the lava itself, constituting one of its most important ele- 
 ments, it would certainly lead one to surmise that there is a commu- 
 nication which, though not always in existence, may be periodically 
 caused by the action of the volcano. 
 
 Both MM. St. Claire Deville and Eouque have succeeded 
 in demonstrating the perfect accordance of the chemical composi- 
 tion of the products of volcanic eruptions, both gaseous and solid, 
 with the doctrine that salt water has been largely present in vol- 
 canic foci. If so, why are there no salts of magnesia in volcanic 
 fumeroles 1 ? These salts are readily decomposable by hot steam, 
 and when water and heat are present they produce hydrochloric 
 acid and magnesia. M. Fouque affirmed that he witnessed an 
 eruption of Mount Etna in 1865 ; the gaseous emanations agreed 
 in kind with those which we might have looked for if large volumes 
 of sea- water had gained access to reservoirs of subterranean lava, 
 and if they had been decomposed and expelled with the lava.* 
 We have obtained three facts, viz., that communications probably 
 exist between volcanic foci and sea-water ; that fumes of hydro- 
 chloric acid which accompany the lava deposit common salt ; and 
 that the salts of magnesia are decomposed by heat ; and what more 
 probable than that all living organisms which pass with the sea- 
 water are utterly obliterated 1 
 
 By the preceding observations, the reader will see that salt is not 
 * Sir Charles Ly ell's " Principles of Geology." 
 
 42 
 
52 
 
 subject to" geological laws, by reason of its being confined to no- 
 particular strata, and by the absence of organic remains ; and that 
 it is not derived from sea-water, because there are no marine organ- 
 isms to be found in it. 
 
 That though it may have a pristine source, it has (though it may 
 appear paradoxical) a dual inchoation by its being found as 
 rock-salt, and by its being present in sea-water, and, as I have- 
 stated, in a condition of immaturity. 
 
 Eock-salt appears to be the result of volcanic agency, from its- 
 being almost invariably (with but few exceptions) in juxtaposi- 
 tion with gypsum, which is known to be of volcanic origin ; by its 
 being found forced up independently of other formations, even 
 through the crust of the earth ; by the presence of fumes of hydro- 
 chloric acid with lava during volcanic eruptions. 
 
 It has undoubtedly an^ igneous origin, and the entire absence of 
 organic remains may be accounted for by the fact that while in a 
 state of fusion it may have disintegrated, absorbed into itself, or 
 altogether obliterated all remains of living organisms with which it 
 may have come into immediate contact. All other formations have 
 preserved the impress and structure of vegetable and animal life ; 
 salt is the sole exception to the rule ; and if while in a state of 
 fusion it possessed the property of destroying and obliterating all 
 marks of animal and vegetable remains, we can easily account for 
 their absence.* 
 
 We have also seen that sea-water has access to volcanic foci, by 
 reason of fumes of hydrochloric acid, which deposit common salt, 
 and by the proximity of the volcanoes to the sea. 
 
 One question is naturally evolved fout of this : does the sea 
 obtain its saline constituents from vast reservoirs, or beds of salt, 
 through the medium of communication with volcanic foci 1 
 
 This question I leave unsolved, for were we to discuss it, we 
 should probably have to enter into other matters which would be 
 somewhat foreign to my subject. My opinion is that sea-water (if 
 my hypothesis that it is nothing else than salt in a state of imma- 
 turity is correct) obtains its chloride of sodium in this way; and, 
 if so, it accounts at once for the absence of marine organisms, upon 
 which phenomenon geologists have always laid so much stress. 
 
 * In rocks of igneous origin, of which there are many and varied sorts in 
 Australia, no fossils are found except in those rare cases where animal or 
 vegetable bodies have become invested in a stream of lava or overwhelmed by 
 a volcanic shower. 
 
53 
 
 Besides, if salt is derived from evaporation of sea-water, and sub- 
 sequent deposition of salt, we should be able to obtain remains of 
 marine organisms, if not those of land animals. This one fact 
 alone would tend to prove that sea-water is the result of some sub- 
 terranean communication with reservoirs of salt, through the media 
 of volcanic foci. 
 
 "We have thus before us certain geological facts relative to salt, 
 which show that though it has not been discovered in the old strati- 
 fied rocks, it is nevertheless met with in nearly all the Jater forma- 
 tions, and also that it is in process of formation, and notably so in 
 the Crimea. This undoubtedly is the case ; but still we cannot 
 apply any of the laws of geology so as to make our conjectures 
 confirmative by certain facts which support one hypothesis and 
 -overthrow another. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EFFECTS ON ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 
 
 As salt is one of the principal constituents of the blood, and as it 
 is present in the various tissues of the body, and as its ingestion is 
 necessary for the animal economy, for the maintenance of its health, 
 and consequently for the due development of the several organs, 
 and the invigorating effects it exerts over their functional activity, 
 we will now consider it in the relation it holds to animal and vege- 
 table life. 
 
 By the great majority of land animals salt is evidently an article 
 much relished, for in those districts where salt springs and lakes are 
 prevalent, many quadrupeds and birds are invariably to be seen.* 
 They frequent these spots in great numbers, and very seldom migrate 
 to those districts which are deficient in salt, or, if they do, very 
 speedily return ; these animal instincts are indicative that they are 
 aware of its bracing qualities, and experience the salubriousness of 
 the atmosphere, which naturally is impregnated with a fair amount 
 of salt, which has risen through the media of exhalations from the 
 water or evaporation of the same. 
 
 In the Euminantia the beneficial and, indeed, the salutary action 
 of salt is remarkably observable, for it counteracts in this class of 
 animals the deleterious effects of rainy weather, damp pasturage, 
 
 * Pigeons are always attracted by a lump of salt, and there is a kind of 
 bait called a salt-cat which is usually made at salt-works. 
 
54 
 
 and damaged fodder. It also imparts a consistency to the fat, and 
 renders the meat more palatable and wholesome. All cattle, with- 
 out an exception, thrive best if they are supplied with salt ; and 
 they will consume no small quantity. Horses will, on the average, 
 consume daily six ounces ; cows, four ounces, and will, it is said, 
 secrete a larger quantity of milk, and of a much richer quality, than 
 those from which salt is usually withheld. Sheep will consumer 
 half an ounce daily, and they are not affected with the rot, as is so- 
 frequently the case in low-lying marshy districts where they drink 
 water in which there are myriads of the fluke-worm, embryonic and 
 developed, especially after heavy rains or inundations, as, for in- 
 stance, a river overflowing its banks. It is a fact which farmers 
 and graziers should by no means lose sight of, that these worms are 
 totally destroyed by giving sheep a certain amount of salt during 
 moist and wet seasons, and in those localities which are generally in 
 a state of humidity. 
 
 In marine animals common salt is a necessary constituent of their 
 drink, and in fact it is the preserver of their life ; but it is injurious, 
 if not certain destruction, to many fresh-water fish, though some 
 live both in the sea and fresh water as the salmon^, sturgeon, and 
 some species of lamprey. The male salmon, on entering the 
 mouths of rivers in order to spawn, follow the females, and fecun- 
 date the ova which they have deposited in little pools, or kinds of 
 nests. They, therefore, are hatched in rivers. After the first year 
 they remove to the sea, and, remaining in it for about two months 
 to ten weeks, return to fresh water. Such is the alternate fresh and 
 salt-water life of the salmon, showing us that some fish can live in 
 the sea and breed in fresh water. 
 
 Reptiles and animals of an^inferior class are deprived of life by 
 the action of salt water ; and such organisms as the amoeba, hydra, 
 rotifer, and others of a similar grade which we see in stagnant 
 ponds, are speedily killed if put into water in which salt is dis- 
 solved ; this is also the case with earth-worms, snails, and indeed 
 all insects as a general rule, especially if generated by animal and 
 vegetable decay. 
 
 Owing to the antagonism of salt to life produced by putrefaction, 
 it is frequently rubbed into meat to prevent it from being attacked 
 by putrescent larvae ; and even if decomposition has commenced, it 
 arrests for a long time its further progress. We all know what an 
 intense irritant it is to leeches, and how they immediately vomit if 
 some salt is sprinkled upon them when they are engorged with blood. 
 
55 
 
 Land shells are rapidly killed by sea- water, and so are their eggs ; 
 this fact has been demonstrated by Darwin, who says : " Their eggs, 
 at least such as I have tried, sink into it and are killed." From 
 experiments performed by Baron Aucapitaine, we find the above 
 corroborated. He placed in a box, pierced with holes, one hundred 
 land shells belonging to ten different species, and then immersed it 
 in sea-water for a fortnight ; only twenty-seven recovered. 
 
 These experiments are conclusive, and prove that salt destroys life 
 of an inferior grade, probably owing to the fact that, generally, it is 
 calculated to produce results of a nature somewhat disposed to 
 become an annoyance, or even inimical to the vitalisation of superior 
 organisms, and tends to arrest their progress and due development. 
 We must remember that these two experiments of Mr. Darwin and 
 Baron Aucapitaine were with sea-water, consequently the other 
 salts which it holds in solution (the sulphates of soda and mag- 
 nesia), and the organic matter which it contains, very probably 
 hastened the progress. 
 
 The Batrachians, a class of animals allied to the reptiles, but 
 undergoing a peculiar metamorphosis, have an antipathy to salt, 
 and consequently cannot live in salt water \ it is death to them 
 sooner or later. 
 
 We cannot say that reptiles, as a rule, frequent fresh water in 
 preference to salt, some being found only in sea-water, and in 
 those parts of the ocean where there is a greater quantity of 
 saline matter than in others. There is the marine Chelonia, 
 for instance, commonly known as turtles (Chelones); one sub- 
 group, the common green turtle, so well known for its 
 palatable qualities, is composed of species altogether herbivorous, 
 and of gregarious and innocent habits, "These animals may be 
 seen in herds at the bottom of the sea, quietly browsing on the 
 weeds growing there. Sometimes they enter the mouths of large 
 rivers, and are occasionally seen to make their way ashore, appa- 
 rently in search of food."* Like the salmon, it is a habitat of both 
 fresh and sea water, though under different conditions ; one frequents 
 fresh-water for food, the other for breeding. Another sub-group 
 comprises turtles of carnivorous habits, active, and, when attacked, 
 fierce ; such is the loggerhead turtle and the hawksbill ; the latter 
 is the animal which furnishes the arts with the elegant substance 
 called tortoise-shell. There is also a genus of carnivorous habits, 
 called the Sphargis, or coriaceous turtle. 
 
 * "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation." 
 
56 
 
 There are likewise the river tortoises (Tryonices), which are con- 
 spicuous tenants of the Ganges, the Euphrates, the Niger, the Nile, 
 the Mississippi, and the Ohio. These reptiles are next in size to 
 the turtles, some being three feet long ; they are very fierce, and 
 do not even scruple to attack the young alligators. They live 
 principally on fresh- water fish and small reptiles ; sometimes they 
 will venture into sea-water in quest of food, though not far, as we 
 may suppose. There are also the Emydes, which are sometimes 
 called fresh-water tortoises, sometime? marsh tortoises, which are of 
 many different species. They haunt lakes, marshes, and small 
 rivers in Asia, Africa, and Australia, but more particularly America, 
 where the proper habitat is represented. In the North American 
 rivers there is found the Emysaura serpentina, which has a large 
 head and crocodilian tail; it feeds on fishes and small birds. 
 Another species, called Chelys fimbriata, or Matamata, belongs ex- 
 clusively to the rivers of Guiana. 
 
 We thus see that the Chelonia, which are remarkable for the box- 
 like case in which most of them are enclosed, are inhabitants of the 
 sea, while their -near relations, the tortoises, are only partially 
 aquatic in their habits. 
 
 Reptiles are therefore neither land, sea-water, nor fresh-water 
 animals, if we view them as a whole ; but if we divide them into 
 orders, we shall be able to see at once which are fresh-water, which 
 are terrestrial, and which are inhabitants proper of the sea. Firstly, 
 there is the Amphibia (doubled-lived), which live and breed in 
 fresh water, such as rivers, lakes, ponds, and ditches, and which are 
 killed if put into salt water. Secondly, there is the Ophidia (snake- 
 like order), which are peculiar to the land, though there is a fresh- 
 water snake in the East Indies, and which the natives will boldly 
 attack with sticks. The Sauria (lizards) next claim our attention. 
 The alligator is a native of North America, and is very abundant in 
 the Mississippi. It is very seldom seen near the mouths of rivers, 
 and in winter it buries itself in the mud, and continues in a torpid 
 etate till spring. Then there are the crocodiles, which are natives 
 of Africa, the West Indies, and America. Their habits are some- 
 what similar to those of the alligator, frequenting the creeks of 
 rivers by night in search of food ; they are sometimes seen near the 
 mouths of rivers, but not as a rule. We have already remarked 
 upon the Testudinata, or the turtle kind. 
 
 Eeptiles, therefore, either frequent the land or the water ; some 
 are purely aquatic, others purely terrestrial, the remainder are both ; 
 
57 
 
 one order is altogether marine, though frequently they are seen on 
 shore, where they are caught. 
 
 Salt water is death to one order, but affords the means of life to 
 another ; to yet another order, with but few exceptions, both salt and 
 fresh water are deleterious, and, in fact, death ; whilst still another 
 order frequents both elements, just as the chances of obtaining food 
 may direct them. 
 
 Such animals as the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros, the tapir, and 
 the elephant, and a few others belonging to the Pachydermata, fre- 
 quent the banks of rivers and fresh-water lakes, where they wallow 
 in the mud, and now and then, as fancy takes them, splash about 
 in the watsr ; but they, like the crocodile, have never been known, 
 as far as I can gather, to make for salt water, and therefore they 
 are seldom, if ever, seen near the mouths of rivers, or by the coast. 
 
 Salt is therefore not avoided, almost as a rule, either by animals 
 or birds ; and in those districts where salt lakes are situated (to 
 which interesting fact I have already alluded) are to be in- 
 variably seen, not only great numbers of animals, but large flocks 
 of birds of different kinds, showing conclusively that they possess 
 an instinctive preference for those localities where the atmo- 
 sphere is more or less filled with saline matter, than for those places 
 where it is entirely absent. It is but seldom that animals frequent 
 those spots which are injurious to them ; they take good care to 
 avoid them, if possible, and if they detect anything deleterious, 
 whether it be in the air, soil, or water, they migrate to more genial 
 quarters ; instinct indicates this necessity, and they accordingly 
 act upon it. It is strange that mere animal instinct should be 
 superior to human reason, and that animal sagacity should be more 
 far-seeing than human forethought ! Nothing is more strongly 
 confirmative of this anomaly, if I may call it so, than the par- 
 tiality which animals entertain for those districts which abound with 
 salt lakes, and the antipathy, or utter indifference, with which 
 some people regard that substance which keeps the body pure, 
 healthy, and, I may say, clean, and which plays such a highly- 
 important part in the animal economy. 
 
 In the vegetable kingdom salt is by no means an inconsiderable 
 item, and as an agricultural agent it is most invaluable, though its 
 operation therein varies in a remarkable degree ; in small quantities 
 it is injurious only to a few plants, while to some it appears to be 
 beneficial in every way. In moderation it is an excellent manure, 
 especially if the soil is of a sandy nature ; but in large quantities 
 
58 
 
 it is decidedly pernicious to all plants, without an exception, though 
 unequally so. According to experiments made by Dr. Balfour and 
 other eminent botanists, it appears that a solution of the chloride 
 of sodium does not act so deleteriously as solutions of other inor- 
 ganic substances, and the same effect is observable with a solution 
 of the phosphate of soda : the strength of these solutions, we are 
 told, varied from half a grain to five grains to the ounce of water ; 
 the sodium combined with the chlorine forming the chloride of 
 sodium, and with the oxygen forming soda; the potassium, com- 
 bined with the chlorine, forming the chloride of potassium, and 
 with the oxygen forming potassa. The combinations take place, 
 according to Johnston, in the living plants owing to the natural 
 affinities of these inorganic substances. 
 
 Darwin writes : " In botanical works, this or that plant is often 
 stated to be ill-adapted for wide dissemination, but the greater or 
 less facilities for transport across the sea may be said to be almost 
 wholly unknown. Until I tried, with Mr. Berkeley's aid, a few 
 experiments, it was not even known how far seeds could resist the 
 injurious action of sea-water. To my surprise I found that out of 
 87 kinds, 64 germinated after an immersion of 28 days, and a few 
 survived an immersion of 137 days. It deserves notice that certain 
 orders were far more injured than others ; nine Leguminosse were 
 tried, and, with one exception, they resisted the salt-water badly ; 
 seven species of the allied orders, Hydrophyllaceae and Polemonia- 
 cese, were all killed by a month's immersion. For convenience' sake, 
 I chiefly tried small seeds, without the capsules or fruit ; and as all 
 these sank in a few days, they could not have been floated across 
 wide spaces of the sea, whether or not they were injured by the 
 salt-water. Afterwards I tried some larger fruits, capsules, etc., 
 and some of these floated for a long time. It is well known what 
 a difference there is in the buoyancy of green and seasoned timber; 
 and it occurred to me that floods would often wash into the sea 
 dried plants or branches with seed capsules or fruit attached to 
 them. Hence I was led to dry the stems and branches of 94 plants^ 
 with ripe fruit, and to place them on sea-water. The majority sank 
 quickly, but some which, whilst green, floated for a very short time, 
 when dried floated much longer ; for instance, ripe hazel-nuts sank 
 immediately, but when dried they floated for 90 days, and after- 
 wards when planted germinated; an asparagus-plant with ripe 
 berries floated for 23 days, when dried it floated for 85 days, and 
 the seeds afterwards germinated ; the ripe seeds of Helosciadium. 
 
59 
 
 sank in 2 days, when dried they floated for above 90 days, and 
 afterwards germinated. Altogether, out of the 94 dried plants, IS 
 floated for above 28 days; and some of the 18 floated for a very 
 much longer period. So that as If kinds of seeds germinated after 
 an immersion of 28 days ; and as yf distinct species with ripe fruit 
 (but not all the same species, as in the foregoing experiment) floated, 
 after being dried, for above 28 days, we may conclude, as far as- 
 anything can be inferred from these scanty facts, that the seeds of 
 T Vo kinds of plants of any country might be floated by sea-currents 
 during 28 days and would retain their power of germination." 
 
 We have thus sufficient evidence before us to prove that salt or 
 sea water does not totally destroy the vitality of seeds when they 
 are in a dry state, that some of them will float for 90 days, and 
 when planted subsequently will germinate ; but that when not dry 
 they will sink immediately. We may, therefore, justly conclude 
 from the result of these experiments that salt is not noxious to 
 vegetable life, neither does it destroy the latent principle of procrea- 
 tion which exists in them ; and that though the process of germi- 
 nation may be retarded, and kept in a state of abeyance, it is not 
 virtually annihilated, as one would feel inclined to predict, by the 
 prolonged immersion of seeds in salt-water, be they dried or fresh. 
 
 Darwin's experiments were afterwards verified, for he states that 
 subsequently M. Martens tried " similar ones, but in a much better 
 manner, for he placed the seeds in a box in the actual sea, so that 
 they were alternately wet and exposed to the air like really floating 
 plants. He tried 98 seeds, mostly different from mine ; but he chose 
 many large fruits and likewise seeds from plants which live near 
 the sea ; and this would have favoured both the average length of 
 their flotation, and their resistance to the injurious action of the 
 salt water. On the other hand, he did not previously dry the plants 
 or branches with the fruit ; and this, as we have seen, would have 
 caused some of them to have floated much longer. The result was 
 that irt of his seeds of different kinds floated for 42 days, and were 
 then capable of germination. But I do not doubt that plants ex- 
 posed to the waves would float for a less time than those protected 
 from violent movement as in our experiments. Therefore it would, 
 perhaps, be safe to assume that the seeds of about TOO parts of a 
 flora, after having been dried, could be floated across a space of 900 
 miles in width, and would then germinate. The fact of the larger 
 fruits often floating longer than the small, is interesting ; as plants 
 with large seeds or fruit which, as Alph. de Candolle has shown, 
 
60 
 
 generally have restricted ranges, could hardly be transported by 
 other means." 
 
 Darwin's experiments show us that salt or sea water does not 
 entirely extirpate the life which is dormant in seeds, and those of 
 Martens prove that seeds may be immersed in sea-water itself and 
 yet retain the power of germination ; and that when dry they may 
 even float for 900 miles, and germinate when planted ; developing 
 into plants at the usual period of time allotted by nature ! 
 
 In Cheshire it is a custom to let out the water of the salt-springs 
 after rain, in order to improve the character of the soil and make 
 it more productive. If we call to mind the preservative properties 
 of salt and the purifying action which it possesses, with regard to 
 animal and vegetable substances, we need not at all be surprised 
 at the above use to which it is put by the agriculturists of Cheshire. 
 The reader, perhaps, would like to know why it is used after rain. 
 After a heavy shower, and more especially in the country, every 
 insect leaves its little secluded habitation : the bee is once more on 
 the wing ; the spider resumes his usual central position in his web ; 
 flies of all sizes buzz here and there in search of food or for more 
 secure homes ; every bush is alive with its usual occupants ; the 
 lofty tree is once more the tenement of song ; the caterpillar crawls 
 on his solitary way ; the ant trudges along on the gravel-path ; the 
 snail emerges from his retreat and plods slowly to another home ; 
 and the earth-worm raises itself on the lawn ; all with one accord 
 hail the reappearance of sunshine, and show signs, however feeble, 
 of joy that the rain-cloud has passed and that the landscape has 
 resumed its beauties, and the sky its gold and azure. The earth 
 after rain, and particularly in spring and summer, teems with 
 almost reanimated life, both with that which is harmless and with 
 that which is hurtful, so that the Cheshire custom is one which 
 cannot be too highly recommended, for when the soil is saturated 
 with moisture, a soluble salt like the chloride of sodium, already 
 in a state of solution, sinks in more rapidly, and permeates it more 
 thoroughly than if it were merely sprinkled over the surface ; and 
 such insects as are associated with or which live in the earth are 
 speedily eliminated, or are forced to seek shelter at a greater depth, 
 where they ultimately die by reason of their inability to obtain 
 their proper sustenance or the unsuitableness of their new 
 abode. 
 
 There is a plant called Halimodendron which only grows in the 
 dry, naked salt-fields by the river Irtysh, in Siberia ; it is a genus 
 
61 
 
 of the Leguminosae, and has purple flowers. Saltwort, or Salsola, 
 (salsus, salt) is chiefly maritime, and the kelp of our shores is 
 principally obtained from it. At one time the carbonate of soda 
 was derived from this kelp or barilla, the ashes being obtained from 
 burning sea- weeds and a species of Salsola ; but now it is almost 
 invariably made from common salt, by adding sulphuric acid, and 
 so converting the chloride of sodium into a sulphate, and after- 
 wards, by combustion with chalk and small coal, resolving it into a 
 sulphide, and then into a carbonate. It is manufactured on a very 
 large scale, and is an important staple of commerce. From it is 
 obtained a most important drug, the bicarbonate of soda, the 
 efficacy of which everyone, more or less, has once in a lifetime 
 experienced. 
 
 This kelp has been put to a fraudulent use, for Sir Bobert 
 Christison tells us that disease has been traced to an impure kind 
 of salt, in which, when investigated, the hydriodate of soda was de- 
 tected, resulting, he says, from an inferior salt obtained from kelp.* 
 
 In all those districts which are intersected by salt marshes, there 
 is almost a complete absence of miasmatic effluvia, though, as a 
 natural consequence, the vegetation is not of that rank luxuriance 
 which is invariably to be seen in other marsh lands ; because,, 
 whenever the soil is in a state of moisture, it is always covered 
 with all kinds of weeds and useless plants, which altogether stop 
 the growth of those which nre of utility to the agriculturist. 
 
 In the case of salt marshes it is the reverse, and the neighbour- 
 hood is perfectly free from those endemic diseases which are 
 prevalent in such localities as the fen-country, and other similar 
 districts ; for the atmosphere is pure, and the soil comparatively 
 dry, and intermittent fever is unknown. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 MEDICINAL AND DIETETIC PROPERTIES. 
 
 SALT, except by the ignorant, is generally acknowledged to be a 
 condiment, not only requisite as an adjunct to food, but also for 
 the animal economy ; this fact is not to be lost sight of, and there- 
 fore I lay much stress on it, and in the next chapter we shall see 
 
 * See page 28, chap. iii. 
 
62 
 
 that physiologically it holds no mean position amongst those other 
 substances which are found in the human body. 
 
 There are a number of facts of physiological import, at which it 
 is necessary to glance, and which are indissolubly connected with 
 its medicinal and dietetic properties ; and there are various others 
 illustrative of the absolute necessity of salt, which are self-evident 
 to those who think and observe, and which we will now proceed 
 to lay before the reader. 
 
 In human blood, salt is a most important constituent where 
 there is disease, there is a diminution of salt, with corresponding 
 nervous depression, and the individual experiences a want of power : 
 if this want continues for any length of time, the health is gradu- 
 ally undermined ; the blood loses its richness and is deprived of its 
 vitalising property ; various symptoms finally show themselves, 
 and probably develop into some phenomena of a serious signifi- 
 cance all, indeed, indicative that the system is deficient of a most 
 important essential in its economy. These symptoms may prognos- 
 ticate the approach of various diseased conditions, partly owing to 
 the habits, constitution, or surroundings of the patient. In all 
 morbid conditions, and particularly in those which owe their origin 
 to an unhealthy state of the blood, we may, to a considerable 
 extent, be certain that there is a deficiency of the chloride of 
 sodium. In proof of this, patients never, as a rule, object to salt ; 
 they actually relish it. Why 1 ? Because there is a deficiency, and 
 nature intuitively excites the desire. We often find that patients 
 Tefuse sugar ; indeed the very mention of it produces a feeling of 
 nausea and extreme disgust : with salt it is entirely different they 
 take it, and, in most cases, enjoy it in the same way that fever- 
 -stricken patients long for, and relish, a draught of cold water, if 
 they are able to obtain it. 
 
 Were the human race once deprived of the chloride of sodium, 
 even for a limited period of time, we should not only lose a natural 
 heathful incentive for our food, but disease, with all her attendant 
 miseries, would spread with such relentless impetuosity as would 
 defy, and even paralyse, the efforts of the most skilful physician, 
 the ingenuity of the surgeon, and the scientific improvements and 
 hygienic precautions of the sanatarian.* The strength and vigour 
 of manhood would fade as if blasted by disease, food would act as 
 a poison ; the blood would not be replenished with the salt which 
 
 * During the famine in Armenia in the year 1880 the people were most 
 distressed because they had no means to supply themselves with salt, the want 
 of which they felt even more than the lack of food. 
 
63 
 
 it requires, and consequently our skins would soon be covered with 
 corruption ; our cattle would die, our crops would be nipped in the 
 budj the air would be full of offensive insects; the soil would 
 become foul and barren, the sea a waste of stagnant waters ; and 
 all the beautiful productions of nature would wither and decay, 
 and our glorious earth would degenerate into a hideous solitude, 
 solely inhabited, very probably, by monsters horrible to behold, and 
 more repulsive than those gigantic reptiles which once roamed by 
 the dreary marshes of an incomplete world. 
 
 Those who take pleasure in decrying the inimitable works of 
 nature, and affirm that they are provocative of evil, can only support 
 their arguments by brazen assertions and subtle paralogisms. 
 
 Common salt is considered by most persons as a mere luxury, as 
 if its use were only to gratify the taste, although it is essential to 
 health and life, and is indeed as much an aliment or food as either 
 bread or flesh. It is a constituent of most of our food and drinks, 
 and nature has kindly furnished us with an appetite for it, though 
 there are not a few who regard it quite in another light : that 
 quadrupeds and birds (as I have before stated) should be fully 
 alive to the vivifying properties of salt, and that mankind should 
 be indifferent to, and in many instances totally ignorant of them, 
 is somewhat curious and incomprehensible, but it is so. 
 
 Another strange fact is, that savage nations use it freely with 
 but few exceptions : on the other hand, in civilised life there are a 
 great number who never touch it ; but these abstainers little think 
 that they carry in their countenances visible signs of ill-health, and 
 their impurity of skin indicates that at some future time disease, 
 in some form or other, will cause them to regret, in more ways 
 than one, that their short-sighted neglect has prepared a soil ready 
 to receive the seeds of some fever, and other maladies more deadly 
 and obstinate. 
 
 Cutaneous eruptions, so distressing to the patient, and so dis- 
 gusting to an observer, flourish when they attack those who have 
 abstained from the use of salt. 
 
 Everyone perspires or sweats : the indolent perspire, the laborious 
 sweat. This distinction will be regarded as too fine by those who 
 entertain the opinion that perspiration and sweat mean the same 
 thing; this, however, is a great error; there is a marked 
 difference between perspiring and sweating, as much difference, 
 indeed, between these two processes of the elimination of refuse 
 animal matter, as there is between walking and running. It is true 
 
64 
 
 the same laws of nature are brought into play ; but one is a modi- 
 fication of the other. Those of a spare habit are seldom in a state 
 of general diaphoresis, and are only so when the weather is sultry, 
 or when they have taken a walk on a hot summer's day. The 
 stout or plethoric, on the contrary, sweat copiously, even on the 
 slightest movement; and it is really a good thing for them that 
 they do, for otherwise they would very likely be attacked with a fit 
 of apoplexy, or would fall down from syncope ; the former arising 
 from the flow of too much blood to the brain, or from rupture 
 of an artery ; the latter resulting from an insufficient supply ; or 
 the blood owing to its circulating in an impure state, which is 
 practically the case if there is a deficiency of salt, would generate, 
 not what is generally considered disease, but a condition which 
 would render the system prepared for the reception and develop- 
 ment of morbific influences. 
 
 During perspiration the blood is deprived, in proportion as the 
 diaphoresis continues, not only of the liquor-sanguinis, but of the 
 chloride of sodium which it holds in solution. Though to a certain 
 extent perspiration is an act of nature necessary for the continuance 
 of health, yet, if it goes beyond a point which is consistent with 
 an equalisation of the several secretions, the individual experiences 
 a diminution or loss of power, and nervous exhaustion or irritability 
 is the result. In natural diaphoresis the only way in which the 
 system can recuperate itself is by quenching the thirst j for free 
 perspiration is generally or almost invariably succeeded by a corre- 
 sponding thirst, varying in intensity according to the peculiar 
 idiosyncrasy of the individual. 
 
 Thin people do not perspire so copiously as those who are more 
 stoutly built, therefore they do not lose so much and neither do 
 they require so much fluid. Their blood, by reason of its retaining 
 its liquor-sanguinis and its chloride of sodium, does not require 
 salt as an aliment so freely as those who, owing to their profuse 
 perspiration, are in constant want of it. Stout people, or those who 
 have a superabundance of adipose tissue (for I must observe there 
 is a great difference between stoutness and obesity, though in 
 common parlance the two words are synonymous), require salt in a 
 greater degree than thin people. Well-developed muscles covering 
 a well-made frame, accompanied by a proper and due proportion of 
 fat, constitute stoutness of a healthy standard ; but small muscles 
 covered with an overdue amount of fat, with an abdomen distended 
 to an offensive jsize (which is so frequently seen), seem, in my 
 
65 
 
 opinion, to determine a habit of a Vitellian obesity, if I may so 
 apply the name of that Roman epicure. 
 
 Owing to the fact that stout and fat people perspire freely and 
 profusely, and to a much greater extent when undergoing fatigue, 
 they must necessarily lose a great amount of salt ; for as it is held 
 in solution by the liquor-sanguinis, which passes through the pores 
 of the skin in the form of sweat (the word perspiration is not suffi- 
 ciently emphatic when we are speaking of stout and fat individuals), 
 it must naturally pass out with it, and thus they experience thirst 
 and a desire for salt which desire is strongly indicative of a healthy 
 state of the secretions. If there is no wish for salt, then we may 
 conclude that disease in some form or other is lurking unsuspected 
 in the system, ready to break out, either by an act of indiscretion, 
 poisoned atmosphere, or because of a taint of an hereditary cha- 
 racter. We may compare this condition of things to a barrel of 
 gunpowder, ready on the application of the faintest spark to ignite, 
 and spread confusion and death far and wide, with a fury pro- 
 portionate to the amount of the inflammatory material. If these 
 people do not take salt with their food they allow their blood to 
 become impoverished and more unhealthy than it already is, and 
 their constitutions materially suffer in consequence, their skins are 
 ultimately affected, the complexion frequently becomes sallow, and 
 appears discoloured, and in some severe cases we have that skin 
 disease called acnae, indicative of the poor and unwholesome state 
 of the blood ; they are affected with intestinal parasites, they do 
 not digest their food, their breath has a most disagreeable odour, 
 very unmistakable, and they are more or less out of health. 
 
 Those of a scrofulous habit require salt to a much greater extent 
 than even the gross, because the blood of scrofulous or strumous 
 persons does not possess its due proportion of salt ; and the only 
 way to make up for this deficiency is to use it freely, otherwise 
 the system does not derive the support and nourishment from that 
 source which vitalises the whole frame. We may justly infer that 
 if the blood is deficient of a most important constituent the system 
 must, as a matter of course, degenerate into a condition not only 
 ready to receive disease, but into one which reduces the strength 
 and undermines the nerve-power, and this in a scrofulous habit is 
 fraught with serious consequences. 
 
 The chronic inflammation which attacks the joints in scrofula 
 sometimes occurs, not so much from the unhealthy low state of the 
 system, but rather from the impure condition of the blood, result- 
 
 5 
 
G6 
 
 ing from the partial absence of salt. This must be the case, because 
 the sufferer experiences an increased vitality if salt is used more 
 abundantly ; the change of course is gradual, and therefore Ve 
 must not expect to see one's efforts immediately crowned with 
 success. It is sometimes necessary to explain to scrofulous 
 patients the unhealthiness of a persistent avoidance of salt, and to 
 point out to them the benefits accruing from it, and also to insist 
 upon their using it, because, owing to their ignorance of its opera- 
 tion and their unwise dislike, they look upon it in the light of a 
 noxious compound. 
 
 I have frequently noticed (and I dare say others have observed 
 the same thing) the disfiguring eruptions with which many people 
 (and especially the young) of a scrofulous habit, and even some 
 who are free from this taint, are afflicted about the face and neck. 
 These pimples and blotches, when not caused by constipation, are 
 generally accompanied by a swollen condition of the glands, which 
 are sometimes acutely sensitive to the slightest pressure. 
 
 If we were to question them closely we should find that salt is 
 to them an almost unknown article of diet, or distasteful to them, 
 though no doubt it is, in some few instances, used but sparingly 
 and seldom. 
 
 The blood, more or less, is always undergoing a change, even in 
 health ; the nitrogenised and non-uitrogenised substances are in- 
 variably variable, and at no two moments are the salts of the same 
 proportion, its alkalescence always being in a constant state of vari- 
 ation. Notwithstanding our increased facilities for obtaining a better 
 acquaintance with disease than formerly, the few facts which have 
 been satisfactorily made out show us that as yet we have made but 
 little progress as regards the morbid conditions of the human blood, 
 and that a great deal remains to be accomplished before we are 
 masters of the subject. 
 
 Amongst the chief diseases in which a pathognomonic condition 
 of the blood has been discovered is the increase of the fibrine, which 
 always takes place in inflammatory diseases, such as acute rheuma- 
 tism and inflammation of the lungs; in low fevers it is diminished; 
 it is also subject to variation in other diseases. In typhoid fever 
 the diminution of salt and the increase of fibrine is very marked ; 
 and indeed in all inflammatory states of the system, especially of a 
 sthenic type, the partial absence or variation of the amount of the 
 chloride of sodium is a most important characteristic. No attention 
 has, up to the present time, been given to the relation which the 
 
67 
 
 presence of the chloride of sodium in the blood bears to disease, at 
 least not that I am aware of; and from what I have noticed it 
 opens up a question which in time will be considered of some 
 moment. As the chloride of sodium obviates the tendency of the 
 fibrine to coagulate, and as its coagulation or solubility is quite 
 dependent on its normal amount in the blood, it presents to us 
 many varied points of interest, not only physiologically, but medi- 
 cinally, though in this respect it has not yet been recognised as a 
 curative agent. 
 
 Whenever the blood is impoverished we may be tolerably certain 
 that salt is, in a greater or lesser degree, absent, or below the 
 standard, and that it is variable. 
 
 ]S~ow in scrofula the blood is not only vitiated, but poor in the 
 extreme, and there is a decrease of the fibrine ; and that being the 
 case, the constitution suffers in proportion, the affection showing 
 itself in various ways, which unmistakably indicate the adynamic 
 state of that fluid which permeates the whole frame. 
 
 Scrofula and her twin sister struma, for there is a difference, are 
 low forms of chronic inflammatory cachexia, and are never entirely 
 recovered from. We may justly term them systemic diseases 
 originating local morbid phenomena, and which are always liable 
 to give rise to obscure attacks of an apparently serious nature, but 
 which are considerably modified if the treatment be simply 
 hygienic, judicious, and practical ; scrofula is always tedious and 
 prolonged, and therefore, as I have said before, we must not 
 anticipate that because salt is of 'a nature somewhat antidotal to it 
 and its attendant evils, that its effects are to be observable instan- 
 taneously, or that any very remarkable results must necessarily be 
 obtained. It is the reverse ; the effects are slow in the extreme, but 
 the benefit is permanent that is, if the treatment adopted be calcu- 
 lated to restore to the blood that constituent so necessary for health. 
 
 This is easily explained the unhealthiness of the system arising 
 from mal-nutrition, owing to the blood being more or less deficient 
 of a constituent which is necessary for the promotion of health, 
 and being solely constitutional, it takes some time to make up for 
 that deficiency, and to supply that which is lost. A disease of 
 long standing, and of an hereditary character, is not speedily 
 recovered from, particularly if the mischief is caused by, or is de- 
 pendent upon, an impure state of the blood, and if there is not the 
 normal amount of the chloride of sodium it must of necessity be 
 corrupt. 
 
 52 
 
68 
 
 Though salted provisions are apt to produce scurvy if continued 
 for too long a time, yet in the case of those on board ship I do not 
 think it arises exclusively from the salt itself, but by the unwhole- 
 some food upon which the toilers of the sea are obliged too often 
 to subsist. The biscuits, which are of the coarsest kind, and some- 
 times worm-eaten, are certainly not calculated to keep up the 
 stamina of the men ; and the salt pork which they have three or 
 four times a week is not exactly the food to promote a healthy 
 condition of the blood ; neither is the soup, which is little better 
 than rice water, capable of even satisfying the cravings of hunger. 
 Besides, there is a very miserable custom, and which tends to 
 ruin the health of our sailors, and that is the drink which is, I may 
 say, encouraged on board ship, and officially served out to them 
 daily, in the shape of rum, though of late they can have cocoa if 
 they prefer. So habituated have they become to this that no 
 captain would think of suggesting a diminution of the supply. 
 Our sailors, poor fellows ! will stand anything but the deprivation 
 of their "grog;" they do not mind being crowded like beasts of 
 burden in a close, stifling forecastle, eating coarse biscuits or un- 
 wholesome pickled pork, so long as they are duly supplied with 
 their "grog" and allowed to go "ashore" and spend their con- 
 temptible pittance on poisonous compounds which burn their 
 stomachs and sow the seeds of some deadly disease, and especially 
 if they happen to be in the tropics. 
 
 All these inseparable accompaniments of nautical life are, with- 
 out doubt, provocative of scurvy to a certain extent, and I am sure 
 do not help to stave it off. If rum is taken on an empty 
 stomach, day after day, as regularly as clockwork, we cannot expect 
 that the men should be in a state of sound health, or that their 
 blood should be pure ; particularly if the voyage is long, the 
 biscuits worm-eaten, the pickled pork of a questionable condition, 
 sometimes even approaching putridity, and the rice-soup upon 
 which I shall abstain from passing any remarks, further than by 
 saying that it is decidedly not of that quality tending to act as a 
 substantial sustentation of men who work hard, and who are ex- 
 posed to all weathers, both by night and by day. Indeed it is 
 surprising that they can perform their duties as they do when we 
 call to mind their irregularities, their daily use of spirits, and their 
 periodical alcoholic indulgences when ashore, combined with their 
 abominable diet on board ship. 
 
 Though salted provisions solely are not altogether conducive to 
 
CD 
 
 health, or contributive towards preserving tlie due equalisation of 
 the constituents of the blood, I cannot see that they entirely 
 originate scurvy, as some assert ; I am of an opinion that this 
 disease is caused principally by seamen's peculiar habits, and the 
 surroundings belonging to a seafaring life, joined, much more 
 frequently than some would like to confess, with the ingestion of 
 animal food just rescued from putrescence by a timely immersion 
 in brine. 
 
 Everything, as is well known, can be used and abused, and salt, 
 like other natural productions, owing to human avarice, can be put 
 to a purpose so as to derange and render nugatory the laws of 
 health. We know full well that salt completely arrests the 
 formation of putrescent Iarva3 in meat, if it is rubbed in when 
 fresh, or if it is well soaked in strong brine ; and if the meat is 
 bordering on decomposition, we may prevent it proceeding to a 
 more advanced stage by immersing it in brine ; still it is not in a 
 condition fit for human consumption. Such food in my opinion is 
 of a nature calculated to produce disease of a, most virulent type ; 
 indeed it is quite sufficient to produce the worse form of scurvy, let 
 alone the outbreaks of a milder degree. 
 
 I am acquainted with the fact that a diet consisting exclusively 
 of salt pork and salt beef, with very little variation or change, 
 would be, if continued for any length of time, combined with the 
 absence of fresh vegetables, productive of much mischief, and in 
 the end no doubt scurvy would be the result ; but for us to assert 
 that every outbreak of this disease is produced by salted provisions, 
 is to run into a very ridiculous error, and we fall into a trap cun- 
 ingly laid for us by those whose interest it is to keep up this pre- 
 posterous imposition in the eyes of the not too discerning public. 
 If shipowners took more care in provisioning their ships with 
 wholesome food, instead of allowing them to be stored with bad 
 pork, putrid beef, and rotten biscuits, we should not read the 
 heart-sickening accounts so frequently in the newspapers. It is 
 all very well for them to assert that the disease springs from salt, 
 and the absence of vegetable food ; it is to their interest to say so. 
 We can cast their flimsy statements to the winds, however, and give 
 them an emphatic contradiction, for their proceedings in this matter 
 will not bear even a partial investigation. 
 
 I have gone more fully into this part of my subject than I 
 intended, for the following reason : the advocates of total absten- 
 tion from salt invariably bring forward scurvy as a conclusive proof 
 
of their argument, and as unanswerable ; they have not looked at 
 it, I am afraid, from the above standpoint, and I think if they 
 will take the trouble to go into the matter more thoroughly, they 
 will find that scurvy originates, not from wholesome salted pro- 
 visions and the want of vegetables, but from impure and putrid 
 food, which too many owners of ships, from pecuniary motives, 
 prefer to supply, not for the passengers that would of course be 
 unwise policy but for the men who labour for them on the 
 waters, and who are at the mercy of employers as insatiable and 
 inexorable in obtaining their pounds of flesh as the storm-tossed 
 ocean yawning for its victims. 
 
 " Digestion is the 'process by which those parts of our food 
 which may be employed in the formation and repair of the tissues, 
 or in the production of heat, are made fit to be absorbed and added 
 to the blood." 
 
 I do not think it will be out of place to make a few cursory 
 observations on the process of digestion, for as scurvy is the result 
 of the ingestion of unwholesome food, we cannot do better than 
 consider the process in relation to salt, and its action on animal 
 and vegetable food while it is in the stomach. 
 
 When this organ is empty it is completely inactive ; there is no 
 secretion of the gastric juice, and the mucus, which is slightly 
 alkaline or neutral, covers the surface ; but immediately food is 
 introduced, the mucous membrane, which was pale, at once be- 
 comes turgid, owing to the greater influx of blood ; because when 
 any organ has work to perform, it requires an increased supply. 
 
 The amount of the gastric juice secreted has been variously esti- 
 mated to be from ten to twenty pints a day in a healthy adult, and 
 by the following table, we find that salt, or rather the chloride of 
 sodium, is present in a considerable quantity. Looking, then, at 
 the immense secretion of the gastric juice, salt is really in con- 
 tinual requisition, making it self-evident that if the supply is not 
 kept up in the same ratio, digestion is retarded, the food passes 
 out of the stomach in an undigested state into the duodenum, and 
 the stomach is consequently overstrained because of the loss of one 
 of its most important constituents ; the supply of salt not being 
 equal to the demand. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF GASTRIC JUICE. 
 Water ... ... ... ... ... <J94'40 
 
 Solid Constituents 5 '59 
 
 Ferment, Fepsirie (with a trace of Ammonia) ... 3 '19 
 
71 
 
 Hydrochloric Acid ... ... ... ... 0'20 
 
 Chloride of Calcium ... ... ... ... O'OG 
 
 Chloride of Sodium ... ... ... ... T46 
 
 Chloride of Potassium ... ... ... 0'55 
 
 Phosphate of Lime, Magnesia, and Iron 0'12 
 
 In a sheep's gastric juice there is to 971 '17 of water, 4-36 of 
 chloride of sodium, showing at once how highly necessary it is for 
 cattle to be supplied with it ; a sheep will consume on the average 
 half an ounce of salt daily ; that it tends to prevent an outbreak 
 of the rot, I have already drawn the attention of the reader.* 
 
 There is we see 0.20 of hydrochloric acid to 994.40 of water in 
 the gastric juice, though some are of an opinion that it is lactic 
 acid; the weight of evidence is decidedly in favour of free hydro- 
 chloric acid. 
 
 Food when it is going through the process'of digestion is reduced 
 to a pulp by the solvent properties of the gastric juice, which are 
 due to the presence of the animal matter or pepsine, and the 
 hydrochloric acid; neither of these two constituents can digest 
 separately, they must be together ; and they must be in that pro- 
 portion as we have before us in the preceding table ; to act as com- 
 plete disintegrators and solvents. 
 
 The general effect of digestion is the conversion of the food into 
 what is called chyme ; and though the various materials of a meal 
 are entirely dissimilar in their composition, whether they are 
 azotised or nitrogenous, and non-azotised or non-nitrogenous j when 
 they are once reduced to this condition, viz., chyme, they hardly 
 admit of recognition. 
 
 The reader may naturally suppose " that the readiness with 
 which the gastric fluid acts on the several articles of food, is in some 
 measure determined by the state of division, and the tenderness and 
 moisture of the substance presented to it," and he may also be 
 aware of the fact, that the readiness with which any substance is 
 acted upon by the gastric juice, does not necessarily imply that it 
 possesses nutritive characteristics, for it stands to reason that a 
 substance may be nutritious, and yet hard to digest ; and when 
 this is the case, the gastric follicles supply a greater quantity of 
 fluid, in order to effect the conversion of the food into chyme. 
 
 * It is an interesting fact that the gastric juice varies in different classes 
 of animals, according to the food on which they subsist ; thus in birds of 
 prey as kites, hawks, and owls, it only acts on animal matter, and does not 
 dissolve vegetables ; in other birds, and in all animals feeding on grass, as 
 oxen, sheep, and hares, it dissolves vegetable matter, as grass, but will not 
 touch flesh of any kind. 
 
Pepsine and the hydrochloric acid, the two indispensable and in 
 separable solvents, are consequently secreted in greater abundance 
 in order to meet and overcome the difficulty, so that the food 
 may be in a condition fit for assimilation with the various tissues. 
 Man requires a mixed kind of aliment, therefore he must have 
 animal as well as vegetable food, though there are many instances 
 of people who live wholly on animal or vegetable substances ; these 
 of course are anomalies, and therefore their habits are unnatural. 
 Vegetarianism is a foolish freak of the weak-minded and semi- 
 ignorant ; the structure of the teeth of man points conclusively 
 to the fact that he is both carnivorous and herbivorous ; though 
 these vegetable philosophers would have us believe that he is 
 destined to feed upon cabbages ! 
 
 Food is divided into two groups, nitrogenous and non-nitro- 
 genous, or animal and vegetable ; the only non-nitrogenous organic 
 substances of the animal, or nitrogenous, are furnished by the fat, 
 and in some few cases by those vegetable matters that may happen 
 to be in the organs of digestion of those animals who are eaten 
 whole. 
 
 Nutritive or plastic, is given to those principles of food which are 
 converted into fibrine or albumen of blood, and being assimilated 
 by the various tissu es through its medium, and those principles 
 comprising the major part of the non-nitrogenous food, in the form 
 of fat, gum, starch, and sugar, and other substances of a similar 
 nature, are supposed to be utilised in the production of heat, and 
 are termed calorifaciant, or sometimes respiratory food. The prin- 
 cipal ordinary articles of vegetable food contain identical substances, 
 in composition, w ith the fibrine, caseine, and albumen, which con- 
 stitute the chief nutritive materials of animal food j for instance, 
 the gluten which is present in corn is identical in composition with 
 fibrine, and is therefore called vegetable fibrine ; legumen, which 
 exists in beans, peas, and other seeds of the leguminosse, is similar 
 to the caseine of milk ; and albumen is most abundant in the seeds 
 and juices of nearly all vegetables. 
 
 On carefully analysing the preceding remarks on food and some 
 of its uses after it has been digested, and the composition and 
 properties of the gas trie juice, it is obvious that salt is not only a 
 simple adjunct to food, and therefore not of much importance, but 
 is an article of diet in every sense of the word, and as necessary, 
 if not more so, than many aliments which are regarded as 
 essential. 
 
73 
 
 In its relations to animal or nitrogenous, and vegetable or non- 
 nitrogenous, food, salt is in every respect important. 
 
 The hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice, which is so bounti- 
 fully secreted by the glands of the stomach, of course drains the 
 whole system of its salt, and especially does it draw the chloride of 
 sodium from the blood, which contains 3'6 in 1000, being held in 
 solution by the liquor- sanguinis. 
 
 Animal or nitrogenous food contains only a minimum of "salt, 
 which chiefly exists in the' muscular tissue, its principal consti- 
 tuents being albumen and fibrine ; if, therefore, it is eaten as a rule 
 without salt, digestion is by no means facilitated, because meat 
 being comparatively tough, the glands have to secrete an increased 
 quantity in order to break down or disintegrate it, and there is, as 
 I have observed, a greater drain on the system. 
 
 Vegetable or non-nitrogenous food contains potash ; only those vege- 
 tables growing near the sea contain soda. The same reasons which 
 apply to animal food hold good as regards vegetable, with this differ- 
 ence : the gluten, the legumen, and their other ingredients are acted 
 upon by the gastric juice more rapidly, and that being the case, a less 
 amount is required, and as a natural consequence less salt, or rather 
 chloride of sodium, is abstracted from the blood ; because the more 
 the stomach is called upon to exert itself, a greater flow of blood 
 to that viscus is the result, which takes place only when the food 
 to be acted upon is of a harder or tougher material than ordinary, 
 when the organ is filled to repletion, or when salt is omitted as 
 a rule. 
 
 Another fact should be borne in mind : cellulose is a substance 
 invariably present in the vegetable kingdom, and is found both 
 in low and high plants ; it is present in the fungus as well as in 
 the palm, in the lichen as well as in the oak ; it is not subject to 
 climatic influences nor to atmospheric changes, so that its quantity 
 in all plants is always the same. This cellulose is almost identical 
 in its composition with starch, which is a substance entirely non- 
 nutritious. When in the system starch undergoes a transformation, 
 by some process not as yet clearly defined, into sugar ; whether in 
 the stomach or by some action of the liver, physiologists are un- 
 certain, but it is an unexplained physiological fact, nevertheless. 
 Sugar, we know, is a very active agent in the production of fat; 
 therefore it is not desirable for us to have an overplus, but rather 
 to keep it under. Salt is not a fat-producer ; it has an opposite 
 
74 
 
 effect ; therefore it should be used plentifully with vegetable food 
 in order to neutralise the effect of the starch or cellulose. 
 
 We thus see that this substance cellulose is identical with starch ; 
 that starch is turned into sugar, and that sugar promotes the 
 growth of fat. I have already mentioned that stout and fat 
 persons require more salt than those who are spare ; therefore we 
 may see at a glance how necessary it is for us to use salt liberally 
 with oleaginous food, and indeed with all which tends to increase 
 the adipose tissue. 
 
 Those who have a predisposition to obesity, and who wish to 
 reduce their bulk, cannot take better means to obtain the object of 
 their desire than to use salt at all their meals, and to take care 
 that their food is of the plainest ; then with a proper amount of 
 exercise and attention to the secretions, they will find that instead 
 of carrying a distended, cumbersome abdomen about with them, 
 attended with miserable inconveniences, they will have the felicity 
 of experiencing not only a diminution of size, but a more easy and 
 expeditious locomotion ; and they will be enabled to 
 
 " Cleanse the stuff 'd bosom of that perilous stuff 
 Which weighs upon the heart." 
 
 If they wish to effect their purpose more speedily, Glauber's salt 
 waters, which contain salt, can be taken with advantage, for they 
 decrease the fat and assist digestion and assimilation. " In the 
 same way chloride of sodium may be shown to be a more im- 
 portant ingredient than is sometimes supposed. It stimulates 
 gently the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal, and also the 
 muscular fibres of the intestines ; when absorbed it promotes tissue- 
 change, and apparently aids the cell formation. Its digestive 
 action is well known."* 
 
 According to Dr. Rawitz, who has examined microscopically the 
 products of artificial digestion and the excreta after the same food, 
 cells, both animal and vegetable, pass through the alimentary 
 canal completely unchanged, such as cartilage and fibre-cartilage, 
 except that of fish, which fact is indicative that it is more diges- 
 tible than any other aliment ; elastic fibre is also unchanged, and 
 fat-cells are frequently found altogether unaltered ; also after eating 
 fat pork, the pabulum of the lower classes, crystals of cholesterine 
 are invariably to be obtained from the excreta. 
 
 Quantities of cell-membrane of vegetables are found in the alvine 
 
 * The Medical Press "Analytical Reports on the Principal Bottled 
 Waters," by Professor Ticheborne and Dr. Prosser James. 
 
-evacuations, likewise starch- cells, with only part of their contents 
 removed, and the green colouring principle, chlorophylle, is never 
 changed. 
 
 From the foregoing we see at once the kind of food necessary, 
 as regards its sustentative and nutritious properties, and that 
 which merely serves as an unimportant adjunct. 
 
 Dr. Rawitz does not inform us whether a greater or lesser 
 .amount of salt was used in his experiments; being regarded as 
 an unimportant item, he prohably may have been indifferent 
 as to whether it was used or not, and took no note of the 
 quantity. As nothing was found in the excreta belonging to fish, 
 we may regard it as favouring the view, that being impregnated 
 with salt, and living in salt water, the facility with which it is 
 digested is mainly owing to the presence of salt. Fresh- water fish, 
 as is well known, are not digested so easily and thoroughly as 
 those which live in the sea. Again, Dr. Rawitz does not tell us 
 whether the fish used in his experiments were salt or fresh; I 
 conclude that they were salt, because the consumption of fresh- 
 water fish is considerably below the number of that caught at sea. 
 
 Those who believe that man is an organism of vegetable procli- 
 vities, and would have him live upon vegetables exclusively, who 
 point with a triumphant smile to scurvy as resulting solely from 
 long-continued abstention from vegetable food, combined with the 
 ingestion of salted meat, should remember that any kind of food 
 indulged in to the exclusion of others injures the health, reduces 
 the physical strength, and deteriorates the blood. They are right 
 .as far as their argument goes, but they lose sight of some very 
 remarkable facts when they describe scurvy as originating from 
 salt. 
 
 Vegetables which are generally used as aliment are young and 
 fresh ; on board ship, and especially in long voyages, they are 
 in nine cases out of ten old and musty, and those belonging to the 
 compositse, such as cabbages, rapidly degenerate into decomposi- 
 tion, generating a very poisonous gas, viz. sulphuretted hydrogen ; 
 while those belonging to the leguminosse, as peas and beans, lose 
 their great nutritious principle, legumen, which is identical with 
 the caseine of milk, and which renders them such invaluable articles 
 of diet. Besides, if vegetables are kept for any length of time, 
 even if excluded from the air, they are liable to rapid decomposition 
 immediately they are exposed to its influences. I therefore think, 
 as I have asserted already, that salted meat is not wholly respon- 
 
76 
 
 sible for scurvy, and that it much more frequently arises from it& 
 being salted in the early stages of putrescence. 
 
 These vegetable reformers and abstainers from salt are, I am 
 afraid, ignorant of these facts. 
 
 If mankind were to act in accordance with the wishes of vision- 
 aries, and those who are prone to scientific credulity, and who look 
 upon themselves as philanthropic philosophers, we should speedily 
 be reduced to the unenviable condition of the Frenchman's horse ;: 
 for to some, animal food is pernicious, salt is in some respects 
 poisonous, water is to be discarded as worse than useless, stimu- 
 lants in the hour of sickness are to be avoided, and are never to be- 
 touched ; vegetables are mere woody fibre or starch-cells. They 
 are considerate, however ; they have left us fish ! This staple of 
 food is not yet ostracised. 
 
 Happy is the man who lives according to the dictates of nature, 
 temperately and wholesomely, and who does not run like a thought- 
 less being into extremes, originating from hare-brained fanatics, 
 and from unpractical utilitarians. 
 
 Salt is a preventive of those disfiguring eruptions which frequently 
 affect the young about the face and neck, and which in the majority 
 of cases arise from a defective state of the blood. One need only 
 take a stroll through a crowded thoroughfare to find that this 
 is the fact. These young people, instead of possessing complexions 
 which are indicative of health and purity of blood, carry in their 
 countenances unmistakable marks which cannot escape the eye 
 of an observant and discriminating passer-by. If we were to 
 make inquiries, we should find that they are, with few exceptions, 
 absolute strangers to salt, and that probably they have been 
 brought up from their infancy by their parents never to touch it. 
 
 This neglect shows the grossest ignorance on the part of these 
 people, and calls for the most stringent censure ; it is almost in- 
 credible, to find so many unaccustomed to the use of salt, and 
 who never impress upon their children the need of it, and that 
 the continuance of their health is partly dependent upon a daily 
 use of a substance which is a highly important constituent of the 
 blood. 
 
 I have drawn my reader's attention to the facts that the blood 
 of scrofulous persons is deficient in salt, that the amount is vari- 
 able, and that the deficiency is at once discernible in the objec- 
 tionable condition of the skin of the face and neck ; but here we 
 have people enjoying a fair share of health, who, owing to igno- 
 
77 
 
 xance or indifference, are reducing themselves to a state bordering 
 on disease, and who would otherwise be total strangers to those 
 ailments which only attack the impure, the luxurious and intem- 
 perate. 
 
 We have seen that salt is necessary in the animal economy, other- 
 wise it would not exist as a constituent of the blood. It is 
 equally necessary for the preservation of health ; for in the blood 
 of those people who are suffering from disease, we detect a visible 
 decrease. In some cases of fever the diminution is remarkable ; 
 if the febrile symptoms increase in severity, we find that there is 
 a corresponding loss of the chloride of sodium. This simple fact 
 alone shows that it is the imperative duty of those who have at 
 heart the well-being of their fellow-creatures, to impress upon them 
 in emphatic language, that if they wish their blood to be in a 
 pure healthy condition, and to be able to ward off the insidious 
 attacks of disease, they must make it a frequent article of diet. 
 
 We are all cognisant that disease will be to the end of time one 
 of the scourges of humanity ; and at the present day certain 
 maladies are spreading amongst us with the greatest rapidity, all 
 our efforts to eradicate them having been hitherto altogether futile, 
 and the results far from promising. All our medicines, our im- 
 proved modes of treatment, and our hygienic schemes, ingenious 
 as they undoubtedly are, reflecting the highest honour on their 
 philanthropic originators, have been, and still are to a considerable 
 extent, abortive, and we are still combating with, and succumbing 
 to, this inveterate enemy of mankind. 
 
 We do not diet ourselves as we should j in this respect we are 
 far behind the veriest savage, cannibal though he be : he in his 
 natural state obeys the laws and dictates of nature, which we in 
 our civilised state decidedly do not, notwithstanding the assertions 
 of the dreamy philosophers of the day. He sleeps when nature 
 prompts him, regardless of the sun's heat or midnight dews ; he 
 eats when he is hungry, and drinks when he is thirsty ; he goes 
 through a certain amount of physical fatigue ; his clothing is of the 
 simplest kind j his food on the average is the purest ; his drink is 
 that natural fluid which we, owing to our high state of civilisation, 
 so pertinaciously and foolishly discard ; he roams at pleasure either 
 on the desert or in the forest j and his impulses, though savage, are 
 never at variance with nature ; he is, in fact, as real a child of 
 nature as an average civilised European is the slave of a falsified 
 nature. 
 
78 
 
 Those who have travelled in the islands of the Pacific Ocean 
 have informed us that their inhabitants, with but few exceptions, 
 possess the secret of extracting salt from certain substances, which 
 indicates that even they are fully alive to its virtues, and proves to 
 us, who boast of our superiority, that we are deficient of natural 
 acumen, or that it is marred and stultified by those silly customs 
 arising from that curse of civilisation, fashion, which makes slaves- 
 of us all, at least of the weak-minded and frivolous. 
 
 At the tables of the wealthy it is perfectly absurd to see the 
 small amount of salt which is placed in the smallest receptacles, as 
 if it were the most expensive article ; and it is equally ridiculous to 
 see the host and his guests, in the most finical grotesque manner, 
 help themselves to the almost infinitesimal quantities of salt, as if 
 it were a mark of good breeding and delicacy. This is how we 
 pervert nature ; our civilisation is a great good, undoubtedly, but 
 at the same time it is frequently at variance with what is good for 
 us. If the blind votaries of fashion think that it is polite to use 
 the gifts of nature in such a way as to render them comparatively 
 useless, let those who wish to enjoy the blessings of health, pure 
 blood, and a wholesome, transparent skin, refrain from those stupid 
 customs of " good society," which are truly indicative of mental 
 weakness and most profound ignorance. 
 
 I have known people who accustom themselves to the use of salt 
 baths, and who talk very glibly of the luxury of sea-bathing, who 
 yet are in complete ignorance of the virtues of salt as a condiment 
 and as a preserver of health, and who try to prove that salt so 
 used is obnoxious, and consequently to be avoided. These salt 
 baths are popular, not because they are beneficial, but by reason of 
 their comparative novelty ; and accordingly, many who would not 
 think of using salt with their food, plunge headlong into the sea 
 or into a salt-water bath, with all the vigour possible. 
 
 Salt baths are presumed by some to be of great value in gout ; 
 Droitwitch in particular is famous for them ; many who were con- 
 sidered as incurable have alleged that after having used them, they 
 have returned home cured. 
 
 The topical application of salt water to weak joints, etc., has 
 only just come to the front ; and by many it is regarded as quite a 
 new remedy ; and I have heard some very disparaging observations 
 on the medical profession regarding its negligence to, or indif- 
 ference of, the restorative properties of salt water, alleging that it 
 has been reluctantly forced to advise it, in deference to the popular 
 
opinion in its favour. It is indeed a fact that until a few years 
 ago, medical men as a rule were utterly unacquainted with salt 
 water as a remedial agent; and the idea no doubt would have 
 been denounced with as much asperity and contumely as the 
 hydropathic treatment is at the present day, and with as much 
 reason. It is a mistake, however, to assume that it is of recent 
 origin, for my father, Mr. Wm. Barnard Boddy, has been in the 
 habit of advising it for over the last sixty years, and with almost 
 uniform success. 
 
 Intestinal worms, which so frequently infest the impure, render- 
 ing them somewhat offensive to themselves, generate much moro 
 rapidly, and take a firmer hold on their victims, even if there is 
 but partial absence of salt in the blood, and particularly if pork 
 is frequently an article of diet. I have known many instances in 
 which they have been expelled, and the intestines thoroughly 
 freed from them, on a more liberal use of salt, for it is certain 
 death to these parasites, helping to root them out, and destroying 
 them, whether they belong to the tape, the round, or the thread 
 variety. 
 
 Children, we know, are more liable to have these parasites than 
 adults, with the exception of the tape-worm ; particularly is this 
 the case with those of the labouring and agricultural classes, 
 and with children who are fed upon rich dainties. "With regard 
 to the agricultural class, it is, I think, easily explained. People 
 who live in the country I refer, of course to the poorer sort 
 allow their children to run about wherever they please, espe- 
 cially in the spring and summer time ; the cottage door and 
 the small garden are generally the places where they assemble; 
 or the neighbouring lane or meadow, if the weather is at all 
 favourable ; where they may be seen rolling and tumbling about, 
 picking up what they can find if at all edible, and soon putting 
 their discoveries into their mouths with apparent relish. The 
 British cottagers, not being at all particular as to whether their 
 vegetables are clean or not, swallow, as well as their children, any 
 insect that may be ensconced in the half-cooked cabbage, or un- 
 washed celery or water-cress. Another reason is, I think, of more 
 weight than the preceding two, and that is, they very seldom think 
 of using salt at meal-time, though it is sometimes to be seen on 
 their tables. The English working-classes are nearly, if not alto- 
 gether, unacquainted with the benefit of salt, and very few indeed 
 utilise it as they should ; so that we can easily understand why 
 
80 
 
 they are so infested with intestinal parasites, which thrive in 
 such a soil, and increase, in some instances to an enormous ex- 
 tent. 
 
 The embryo of the tape- worm, called the echino-coccus hominis, 
 in such cases finds a fitting and a secure home, and soon develops 
 into its tape-like form, and with wonderful tenacity keeps firm 
 hold ; so that sometimes it is difficult, or even impossible, to effect 
 its entire removal, especially if it has existed for any length of 
 time, and particularly if the individual indulges often in pork ; for 
 as its source is undoubtedly measely pork, such a course of diet 
 nourishes it and imparts an increased vitality. I have known 
 them to exist in some people notwithstanding the most energetic 
 and judicious treatment, not only for many years, but for a life- 
 time ; and in the end to cause the death of their victim. Sailors, 
 by reason of their wretched diet, are frequently troubled with this 
 parasite. 
 
 Whenever these intestinal parasites exist they are indicative, 
 not only of foul diet and abstention from salt, but also of impure 
 habit, and prove conclusively that the individual is more or less a 
 stranger to salt. 
 
 The latter is more commonly the origin of these pests, and shows 
 us how careful we ought to be as to what we eat j for we may 
 well suppose that the ingestion of pork, vegetables half-washed, 
 and abstention from salt is just the kind of diet favourable for the 
 reception of the embryo, and for its speedy development. 
 
 Lord Somerville, in his address to the Board of Agriculture 
 some years ago, states that the ancient laws of Holland " ordained 
 men to be kept on bread alone, unmixed with salt, as the severest 
 punishment that could be inflicted upon them in their moist 
 climate : the effect was horrible ; these wretched criminals are 
 said to have been devoured by worms, engendered in their own 
 stomachs." 
 
 In the Medical and Physical Journal (vol. xxxix.) Mr. Marshall 
 tells us of a lady who had a " natural " (I should say unnatural) 
 aversion to salt, and who was afflicted with worms during the whole 
 of her lifetime. Can we imagine anything more horrible or more 
 disgusting than a person, owing to a foolish prejudice, being in 
 such a foul and impure condition 1 The enjoyment of life was out 
 of the question, and there can be no doubt that she was in a con- 
 stant state of ill-health ; she must have been, if she had any refined 
 feelings, loathsome to herself, and yet, at the present time, there 
 
81 
 
 are many in the same plight, who would not touch the smallest 
 particle of salt on any account whatever, or probahly would do so 
 with extreme reluctance. 
 
 There is another very interesting parasite called the cysticercus 
 celluloscc, originating from diseased pork ; it is found in subjects of 
 the leuco-phlegmatic temperament ; it is met with in the muscles 
 of the thigh, in the muscular tissue of the heart, and in the brain 
 and eye. If the pork containing this parasite is well soaked in 
 strong brine and thoroughly cooked, no harm will accrue ; another 
 fact, I must observe, showing the great importance of salt as an 
 edible. 
 
 The thread-worm, technically termed the ascaris vermicularis, 
 generally met with in children, is speedily got rid of if a solution 
 of salt is injected into the rectum, combined with the administra- 
 tion of an anthelmintic and pure diet, with a regular use of salt, 
 and a little attention to cleanliness. 
 
 While we are upon this question of worms we may with some 
 advantage consider that modern disease if we may designate para- 
 sitical development in muscular tissue as such which has for 
 some time riveted the attention of scientists, and has all but 
 foiled their endeavours to elucidate; I refer to trichinosis^ a con- 
 dition caused by the introduction of a most minute organism, 
 called the trichina spiralis (from its being coiled up in transparent 
 capsules), in various muscles of the body, and particularly in the 
 deltoids and other muscles of the arms. Sporadic outbreaks of 
 this incurable disease have occurred at various times and of variable 
 intensity, but always with the most alarming results. 
 
 Unfortunately we possess no means of detecting the trichince 
 when they have once been introduced into the system ; we may 
 by the symptoms be led to suspect that they are present, but that 
 is as far as we can go ; and if we are to believe Professors Delpech 
 and Reynal it is utterly impossible to discover them ; they affirm, 
 however, that in cut meat the larval capsules, or lemon-shaped 
 cases, can only just be seen by the aid of a powerful lens. 
 
 In the outbreak which took place in the year 1863 at Heltstaadt, 
 28 out of 153 persons succumbed; sufficiently exemplifying the 
 fatal character of these infinitesimal organisms; for they may 
 exist in thousands, and even in millions some say twenty millions 
 in their miserable victim. So virulent is the disease originating 
 from this parasite, and so insidious in its operation, that in its 
 primary stage it is liable to be mistaken for rheumatism, on account 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 of the severe muscular pain ; and in fact the sensitiveness of this 
 tissue is so much increased that those muscles which are concerned 
 in the mechanism of respiration give rise to such excruciating 
 pain that the sufferer is quite unable to sleep ; indeed, so extreme 
 is the muscular sensibility that the slightest pressure causes acute 
 suffering. 
 
 The latter stages simulate typhoid fever, or more correctly, the 
 disease drifts into a typhoid condition, for the symptoms are of 
 that peculiar exceptional character which are presumed to be indi- 
 cative of this much misunderstood fever. It has, however, been 
 ascertained that those attacked are rarely, if ever, able to endure 
 the long and exhausting course of this disease, but break down, 
 utterly worn out by the unceasing ravages of these prolific and 
 voracious little parasites. 
 
 The French, with that acuteness which is natural to them, soon 
 discovered that by good and thorough cooking the trichinae can be 
 destroyed ; and they further ascertained that they cannot survive 
 a temperature of 167 Fahrenheit, and also discovered that if 
 meat is well salted the trichinae are rendered perfectly harmless; 
 in fact, they are killed by the chloride of sodium quite as effec- 
 tively as by the application of heat. 
 
 This is another unanswerable argument in favour of a more 
 general use of salt, quite sufficient to convince the most stubborn 
 disbeliever ; for here we have a parasite which may at any time 
 be introduced into the stomach, let us be as careful as we may; 
 capable of generating myriads in an almost incredible short space 
 of time, and which it is next to impossible to effect the removal 
 of; in the end causing much physical suffering, and producing 
 symptoms liable to be mistaken for those of a dangerous disease ; 
 and finally disintegrating those muscles in the fibres of which 
 they live, procreate, and gradually destroy the life of a human 
 being. 
 
 The greatest triumph of engineering skill the world has ever 
 seen, the St. Gothard railway tunnel, was the cause of a great 
 sacrifice of life and health owing to a disease engendered by the 
 presence of intestinal parasites, resembling the trichina; and we 
 learn from Professor Calderini, of Parma, and Professors Bozzolo 
 and Pagliani, of Turin, that from 70 to 80 per cent, of the miners 
 suffered from this complaint, which they have designated ancemia 
 anJcylostoma. Among the men who worked in the tunnel for about 
 one year 95 per cent, were more or less affected ; they likewise 
 
83 
 
 discovered that those who are thus attacked never entirely recover. 
 Many reasons for this enormous fatality have been assigned, such 
 as the vitiated state of the atmosphere, the difficulty of ventilation, 
 the continual explosions of dynamite, the consumption of which 
 was 660 Ib. per day, the smoke and smell from 400 to 500 oil- 
 lamps, and the exhalations from the men and horses. There was 
 an entire absence of sanitary appliances, and the temperature was 
 generally between 80 and 95 Fahrenheit. These surroundings 
 were quite sufficient to account for this great sacrifice of human 
 life, not to mention other causes. 
 
 The diet of these men was probably insufficient and of inferior 
 quality, and I dare say if more crucial inquiries were instituted we 
 should find that these miners were as a rule inattentive to personal 
 cleanliness, and that they never used salt at any of their meals ; 
 if this were so, and I cannot help thinking that my surmises 
 are correct, we have one great cause all but sufficient for bringing 
 about a condition of the system favourable for the development of 
 ancemia ankylostoma. 
 
 The presence of these parasites in the intestines of the men who 
 worked in the St. Gothard Tunnel has been proved beyond 
 question by a careful and prolonged series of microscopic examina- 
 tions by Dr. Giaccone, a physician in the employ of the contractors 
 at Airolo. It is stated that Dr. Sonderreger, of St. Gall, who has 
 been assisting Dr. Giaccone in his experiments, has discovered a 
 process by which these parasites may be completely extirpated. 
 
 A pestiferous atmosphere is bad enough in itself, but when it is 
 associated with impure diet and food I maintain is impure if it 
 is cooked and eaten without salt we have a state of things which 
 will prepare a soil where intestinal parasites will develop to a 
 marvellous extent. 
 
 It is somewhat interesting to know that a similar disease is 
 endemic in Egypt and Brazil, and that it arises from the presence 
 of the ankylostoma in the intestines. 
 
 Poor diet no doubt is the real cause of this condition, and a 
 great proportion of the inhabitants, as is well known, of these two 
 countries subsist principally on food, not only non-nutritious, but 
 impure in the extreme, which being coupled with the fact of 
 habitual abstention from salt, brings about, as I have said before, 
 a condition of things very favourable for the reception, generation, 
 and development of parasitical organisms. 
 
 The outbreak which .occurred in the St. Gothard tunnel origi- 
 
 62 
 
84 
 
 nated from the impurity of the food with which the workmen were 
 supplied, and the ahsence of salt, could we but fathom the real 
 truth of the matter, though we must not lose sight of the fact that 
 the surroundings were every way calculated to facilitate the growth 
 of disease. 
 
 The medicinal properties of mineral waters are of great value in 
 some conditions of the system, especially those resulting from high 
 living and when associated with habitual indulgence in those 
 alcoholic beverages which tend to cause congestion of the liver. 
 These people are not what one would designate as intemperate, 
 but whose partial physical prostration and irregularity of the secre- 
 tions have been brought about by luxurious living and the un- 
 necessary use of stimulants, combined with unhealthful indolence, 
 and other pernicious habits, which are considered to be of the 
 highest importance by those unhappy votaries of fashion. 
 
 Thousands of patients, and many who fancy that they are such, 
 flock to those localities which are famous for their mineral waters ; 
 thousands go and thousands return, some better, some worse, and 
 some in the same state of health as when they started : all declare 
 that they are better for their trip, and it may be only a few are 
 acquainted with the constituents of the water they have been 
 drinking; many, if they knew that they are all derived from 
 rock-salt, and that the other constituents to which their curative 
 powers are ascribed are only added as the brine ascends to the 
 surface, would be not a little amazed at their inconsistencies : to 
 refuse to eat salt at meal-time because it is supposed to be dele- 
 terious, and then to drink, it may be, tumblerfuls of the solution, 
 is somewhat curious. 
 
 As all mineral waters originate from rock-salt, and as they all 
 owe their other constituents to superincumbent strata, it would not 
 be unreasonable to suggest that the chloride of sodium is, prwm 
 facie, their principal ingredient, and that their beneficial effects 
 are to a certain extent due to it, more than to the presence of those 
 from which their names are derived ; though of course there is no 
 denying the fact that some mineral waters are more suitable for 
 some constitutions than others. 
 
 One would not advise individuals of plethoric habits to drink 
 those waters which are termed chalybeate, nor those whose kidneys 
 are affected to drink acidulous or carbonated waters ; we should 
 recommend quite the reverse. 
 
 Mineral waters have a somewhat evanescent popularity ; one is 
 
85 
 
 rapidly succeeded by another: one that was highly eulogised is 
 now neglected, and those which are now in favour will be, in all 
 probability, discarded in a few years. At the 'present time there 
 are many, though not a few holding a very precarious position in 
 public estimation. 
 
 Glauber's Salt Waters, as the name indicates, owe their medi- 
 cinal properties to the presence of the sulphate of soda, chloride of 
 sodium, and other salts. They are more nauseous than Epsom 
 salts, and slightly more irritating ; the first may depend upon the 
 condition of the palate, the other on the weakness or obstinacy of 
 the alimentary canal. These waters contain saline aperients which 
 exercise no little influence on the change of tissue ; a result which 
 should make them find great favour with patients who wish to 
 diminish their bulk without affecting their muscles. 
 
 These waters contain the chloride of sodium, the presence of 
 which is, in my opinion, of more benefit than all the other salts 
 put together, and which, if absent, would deprive the waters of 
 their efficacy, or at least effect such modifications as would render 
 them practically of but little use. 
 
 All these mineral waters come from brine-springs, and whether 
 they are called chalybeate, carbonated, saline, or hepatic waters, 
 whether they come from Spa or Tunbridge Wells, from Carlsbad 
 or Ilkestone, from Piillna or Cheltenham, Buxton, Friedrichshall, 
 Droitwich, or Wiesbaden, their common origin is rock-salt, and to 
 that mineral alone their virtues are principally due; the iron, 
 magnesia, lime, and the other salts which they collect on their 
 upward course are merely accessories, and are more useful to the 
 proprietors than to the credulous recipients. They are purged 
 freely, they are dieted carefully, and the blood is purified, and the 
 result is of course beneficial ; they could do the same at home, but 
 then a weak solution of salt and magnesia or iron looks very 
 homely when put side by side with some Carlsbad* or Friedrichs- 
 hall waters : there is a great deal in a name, and the more nauseous 
 a compound is the greater are its medicinal virtues; so think 
 some. 
 
 * An alkaline spring has just been discovered in Bunhill Row which 
 possesses most of the constituents of Carlsbad water, but in a dilute 
 degree. A tube well, 217 feet in depth, has been recently completed on 
 the premises of Messrs. Le Grand and Sutcliff, artesian well engineers. 
 From an analysis which has been made of the spring found in the chalk it 
 appears to be soft water possessing the characteristics which are peculiar to 
 the above-mentioned famous German Spa. The well, although artesian, is 
 only so to a partial extent, and a pump of a novel construction raises the 
 water from 128 feet, and delivers it at the surface. 
 
80 
 
 In all fevers, whether epidemic, endemic, or sporadic, the blood 
 is thicker than ordinary, by reason of an increase of the fibrine and 
 a decrease of the chloride of sodium ; because the fibrine, which 
 always has a tendency to coagulate, is not _kept in check by the 
 solvent properties of the chloride of sodium ; this alone accounts 
 for their partiality for salt. 
 
 In rheumatic fever the blood is even thicker than it is in other 
 fevers ; in acute rheumatism the patient is generally bathed in 
 profuse perspiration night and day, and the sweat contains a good 
 deal of lactic acid. The acid in the gastric juice is supposed by 
 some physiologists to be lactic acid, whilst others affirm that it is 
 hydrochloric acid ; there is, however, such a similitude that one 
 acid is barely distinguishable from the other. The blood in this 
 fever therefore loses much more salt than in other febrile condi- 
 tions, which explains the acute pain in the joints and the desire 
 the patient has for salt. Blood in a thickened condition cannot 
 pass through the blood vessels near joints without giving much 
 pain, owing to the unyielding nature of the parts j and the fibrine 
 also has a tendency to stagnate if the blood does not flow as it 
 should. 
 
 In some cases of sickness, when not accompanied with vomiting, 
 half a teaspoonful of salt in a little water is sometimes most effec- 
 tive. Whenever there is a feeling of nausea the stomach is relaxed, 
 there is the usual amount of the gastric juice, but it is deficient of 
 the hydrochloric acid ; therefore a small solution of salt takes the 
 place really of the acid, and the sickness is relieved, it likewise 
 supplies the chloride of sodium, which has been abstracted from 
 the gastric fluid. 
 
 In violent attacks of colic, if there is no other remedy at hand, 
 a teaspoonful of salt in a pint of cold water, which the patient 
 may sip, is most speedy in relieving the sufferer. The same will 
 also relieve a person who has had a heavy fall and is partly un- 
 conscious. 
 
 In haemorrhage from the lungs, when the usual remedies have 
 failed, a solution of salt will sometimes arrest it. When applied 
 to a cut the bleeding ceases. These little facts are well worth 
 knowing, because salt is always to be found in every home, and so 
 may be given or applied in case there is no medical man at hand ; 
 matrons and nurses of small hospitals, infirmaries, and workhouses 
 should be acquainted with them in case of an emergency. 
 
 We have now before us the properties of salt in a medical and 
 
87 
 
 dietetic sense ; that indirectly it is a therapeutical agent of some 
 value cannot be denied : that it is an important aliment is a fact 
 which cannot be explained away ; and that it is a preserver of 
 health all must allow. 
 
 That it is of a deleterious tendency is a mere assertion as unsub- 
 stantial as " thin air," and as flimsy ^ as gossamer magno conatu, 
 magnas nugas. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES. 
 
 PREJUDICE is the daughter of ignorance ; and nothing exemplifies 
 the truth of this more thoroughly than the senseless repugnance to 
 salt which is now so remarkably prevalent. Ask these persons for 
 their reasons, if we can dignify them as such, for disliking salt ; 
 their answers, as a rule, will be trifling platitudes, altogether un- 
 worthy of refutation, or even of moderate attention. 
 
 Objections founded on imperfect, or an affectation of knowledge, 
 are not worth the trouble of confuting, even if they be supported 
 by a fair amount of intelligence ; but when the opponents of salt 
 begin to base their assertions upon science, and demur on medi- 
 cinal, dietetic, and physiological grounds, then we must meet them 
 armed with similar weapons to those they have chosen, with the 
 handling of which they are but imperfectly acquainted, and which 
 therefore recoil upon them in such a way as prove that though 
 they may be shrewd, they are but badly informed and credulous 
 scientists. 
 
 At the present day the science of physiology has arrived at such 
 a pitch of perfection that there is not a single secretion, tissue, or 
 organ of the body, with the exception of the spleen, which has not 
 been investigated, and the functions divulged and made so plain 
 that it is quite divested of that apparent mystery which formerly 
 enshrouded it; though our kind friends, the anti-vivisectionists, 
 would willingly adopt the most unjust measures to prevent the 
 study of life from being more perfect than it already is : they pro- 
 test with well-feigned horror at a frog or a rabbit, under the in- 
 fluence of chloroform, being experimented upon for the benefit of 
 humanity, while they see, without allowing a sign of disapproba- 
 tion to escape from them, an inoffensive hare chased to death for 
 
the amusement of gentility, and probably gloat over, with plea- 
 sure, the dying agonies of a stag : a sight which gratifies the 
 somewhat questionable proclivities of refined and elegant ladies, 
 who race their horses out of breath to gaze on the sanguinary scene. 
 
 Had it not been for physiological research we should not have 
 known that the chloride of sodium was such an important consti- 
 tuent in the animal economy; we should have been in utter 
 ignorance of the science of life, and we should never have known 
 how man is begotten, how developed, or how he dies. With 
 regard to the two processes of decay and repair, or how the human 
 organism, from a mere cell, gradually becomes a being highly or- 
 ganised, mentally as well as physically, we should have known 
 nothing. Physiology has been a boon to humanity and an inex- 
 haustible field of research to the scientific. 
 
 In a chemical point of view there is no more important mineral 
 constituent in the human body than the chloride of sodium, for it 
 occurs nearly in every part of the system, both solid and fluid, in 
 close and intimate relation with the organic compounds, and it 
 materially influences their chemical and physical properties; for 
 instance, the albumen partly owes its solubility to the presence of 
 salt, the quantity of which causes the differences which it presents 
 as regards its coagulation ; pure caseine, which is quite insoluble, is 
 dissolved at once on the addition of common salt ; and if it is 
 added in increased proportions it impedes the coagulation of the 
 fibrine. Another remarkable physiological fact is that the chloride 
 of sodium is not only uniformly present, but its various proportions 
 are nearly definite and constant, both in the fluids and tissues ; 
 and the existence of a provision for the limitation of the quantity 
 kept in the system causes the proportions to be little affected, in 
 the way of excess at least, by the amount of salt the food may 
 contain, that is, if the diet is wholesome and the individual healthy. 
 
 According to Lehmann, who experimentalised on himself, the 
 blood may contain in a normal state 4*14 parts of the chloride of 
 sodium in 1000, and after a meal of very salt food it may be only in- 
 creased to 4*15 ; he says it only rose to 4 '18 when two ounces of salt 
 had been taken an hour before, and two quarts of water had been 
 drunk in the interval. The blood will not receive more than a 
 certain amount; and as an over-amount of salt will produce extreme 
 thirst, a quantity passes through the kidneys with the water that has 
 been drunk ; frequent drinking of course causes frequent micturi- 
 tion. If we take the mean of numerous observations by several 
 
89 
 
 experimenters, the average quantity of urine voided "by healthy 
 adult males is about 52 J fluid ounces; this quantity may contain 
 urea to the amount of 51 2 '4 grains, chlorine 105-0 grains, and soda 
 125' grains, besides other salts and extractives. If such an amount 
 passes out with the urine we can easily account for the slight in- 
 crease in the blood of Lehmann. 
 
 The quantity of the chloride of sodium in the blood is liable to 
 great variation in different diseases ; and there can be little doubt 
 that this variation is closely connected (though whether in the 
 relation of cause or in that of effect, we are not exactly entitled to 
 surmise) with the histological and other transformations of the 
 component parts of the blood. The proportions of salt greatly 
 differ in several tissues, and also at different periods of the deve- 
 lopment of the same tissue. " Thus in muscle," according to 
 Enderlin, "100 parts of -the ash left after incineration of ox-flesh 
 yielded nearly 46 per cent, of the chloride of sodium and potas- 
 sium; which, as this ash- constitutes 4'23 per cent, of the dried 
 flesh, would give 1*94 as' the proportion of the chloride of sodium 
 in 100 parts of the latter; and reckoning this dried residue to 
 constitute 28 per cent, of the whole substance of the muscle (the 
 remaining 77 parts being water) the proportion of chloride of 
 sodium in the latter will be 0*44. These . figures, as will be 
 presently seen, bear a remarkably close correspondence to those 
 which represent the proportion of chloride of sodium in the ash, 
 solid residue and entire mass of the blood."* 
 
 Next to muscle, cartilage contains the largest amount of the 
 chloride of sodium, and this especially in the temporary cartilages 
 of the fostus, its place being taken by the phosphate of lime as it 
 approaches the time of birth. The percentage of the chloride of 
 sodium contained in the ash of the costal cartilage of an adult is 
 about 8-2 ; in the laryngeal cartilage 11*2 ; but as the ash does not 
 constitute above 3 '4 per cent, of the entire substance the percentage 
 of the chloride of sodium in the latter is, at the most, 0'3S of the 
 whole, or less than that of blood and muscle. Only from 0*7 to 
 1 -5 per cent, could be extracted from the ash of bone. 
 
 Besides the important uses of the chloride of sodium in the 
 blood to which we have already adverted, it serves the purpose of 
 furnishing the hydrochloric acid required (by many animals, at 
 least) for the gastric secretion ; and it likewise supplies the soda- 
 base for the alkaline phosphate, whose presence in the blood ap- 
 * Dr. Carpenter's "Human Physiology." 
 
DO 
 
 pears to serve a most important purpose in the respiratory process. 
 Moreover, there is reason to think, from the experiments of Bous- 
 singault upon animals, as well as from other considerations, that 
 the presence of salt in the blood and excreted fluids facilitates the 
 deportation of excrementitious substances from the blood. Tha 
 proportion in which it occurs in the principal animal fluids is 
 represented by the following table, constructed by Lehmann chiefly 
 from his own analyses ; it is highly interesting, and shows us at a 
 glance that it is more important in the economy than any other 
 substance, and is significant of the fact that health cannot exist 
 long if the chloride of sodium is below the normal amount. 
 
 PERCENTAGE OF CHLORIDE OF SODIUM IN VARIOUS ANIMAL FLUIDS, THEIR 
 SOLID RESIDUE AND THEIR ASH. 
 
 Human Blood ... 
 Blood of Horse 
 Chyle 
 
 Liquid. 
 0-421 
 0-510 
 0'531 
 
 Solid Residue. 
 1-931 
 2-750 
 C.QIQ 
 
 Ash. 
 57-641 
 67-105 
 
 fi7'fi^4. 
 
 Lymph (Nasse)... 
 Serum of Blood (Nasse) 
 Blood of the Cat (Nasse) 
 Chyle (Nasse) ... 
 Human Milk 
 Saliva ... 
 
 0-412 
 0-405 
 0-537 
 0-710 
 0-087 
 0-153 
 
 o 010 
 
 8-246 
 5-200 
 2-826 
 7-529 
 0-726 
 12'988 
 
 U / OOTC 
 
 72-902 
 59-090 
 67-128 
 62-286 
 33-089 
 62*19^ 
 
 Gastric Juice of Dog ... 
 Human Bile 
 Mucus (Nasse) ... 
 Serum of Pus (Nasse) 
 
 0-126 
 0-364 
 0-583 
 1-260 
 
 12-753 
 3-353 
 13-100 
 11-454 
 
 \J<u l7t) 
 
 42-089 
 30-464 
 70-000 
 72-330 
 
 "We have thus proved physiologically that the chloride of sodium 
 holds a most prominent position among the other constituents 
 of the body; that it is present in considerable quantities in 
 muscle as well as in the blood ; and that it furnishes the acid,, 
 which is necessary for the stomach to perform its functions of 
 digestion. It holds the albumen partly in solution, and its coagula- 
 tion is dependent more or less on the amount of salt which is 
 present in the blood, and it also possesses the power of preventing 
 the coagulation of the fibrine. In fevers the blood is generally 
 thicker, and has a tendency to coagulate by reason of the partial 
 absence of salt, because a good deal passes off with the perspiration ; 
 and fever patients always prefer salt to sugar, for while one re- 
 freshes them and helps to restore the usual healthy tone of the 
 palate, by constringing the papillae of the tongue, the other raises 
 feelings of disgust. 
 
 It is also present in cartilage, though in a lesser degree than in 
 blood or muscle, because in cartilage there is no disintegration or 
 
91 
 
 waste of tissue, and therefore it does not require such a perpetual 
 supply; there is, on the contrary, a continual loss going on in 
 muscle, especially during exertion. Perspiration is to a certain 
 extent the principal medium which carries off the chloride of 
 sodium, owing to its being held in solution by the liquor-sanguinis ; 
 during fatigue, particularly if prolonged, a greater quantity passes 
 off, producing various degrees of thirst. That the normal propor- 
 tion of the chloride of sodium should be regularly maintained must 
 be obvious. 
 
 In febrile disease the fibrine of the blood is materially increased, 
 and there is also a marked decrease of salt, which is dependent on 
 a greater or lesser intensity of the attack, rendering the blood 
 denser, owing to the fact of the tendency of the fibrine to coagulate 
 by reason of the diminution of the chloride of sodium, causing the 
 blood to circulate slowly and with difficulty. 
 
 In some other morbid conditions, which we have already 
 noticed, the blood becomes thinner and poorer ; and consequently 
 the system degenerates, and we get an anaemic, or chlorotic ten- 
 dency, especially if there is a scrofulous diathesis. There are 
 other blood diseases, as the reader may suppose, and which are 
 more truly such, than those to which I have just alluded, into the 
 phenomena of which it is not necessary to enter. 
 
 In health what a decided difference ! the specific gravity of 
 the blood is uniformly equable ;* it circulates with comparative 
 ease ; and the whole system is permeated with the life-giving and 
 health-preserving chloride of sodium, and the coagulation of the 
 fibrine is prevented by nothing else but that mineral and inorganic 
 substance salt, which at the same time purifies and maintains the 
 equalisation of the constituents of the blood. By it also the hydro- 
 chloric acid is supplied to the stomach, enabling that organ to 
 perform its functions of digestion in accordance with the laws of 
 health ; and it likewise furnishes the alkaline phosphate " whose 
 presence in the blood appears to serve the most important purpose 
 in the respiratory process." 
 
 What stronger evidence do we require to prove the salutary 
 efficacy of salt 1 No wonder that it is so frequently reverted to in 
 Holy Writ; neither can it be a source of surprise that it has 
 been so carefully cherished and extensively utilised from time 
 immemorial. What is to be regarded as an extraordinary anomaly 
 is that there are not a few who are entire strangers to its virtues, 
 * Specific gravity of the blood, 1 '035. 
 
92 
 
 and who prefer impurity and defilement to the luxury of health 
 and cleanliness. 
 
 Those who desire more conclusive proof of the utility of salt, of 
 its necessity in the animal economy, and of the peculiar morbid phe- 
 nomena to which its absence in the system gives rise, I would refer 
 to two articles which appeared at different times in the Medical 
 Press and Circular, and in the Medical Times and Gazette.* The 
 cases I there mention occurred in different localities, and they de- 
 monstrate incontestably that parasites, especially the lumbrici (the 
 tcenice are well known to infest adults of impure habit), are some- 
 times the origin of strange and incomprehensible symptoms of a 
 deceptive character, rendering diagnosis extremely difficult and un- 
 satisfactory, and frequently endangering the lives of the sufferers. 
 Is it not a blessing to know that nature has munificently provided 
 a means whereby these distressing evils may be checked and 
 definitely eradicated by a daily use of such an enemy to, and 
 destroyer of, disease as the chloride of sodium, universally known 
 as common salt ? 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 _ CONCLUSION. 
 
 IT is invariably a relief when one's task is completed, and more so 
 when it is self-imposed. Putting our thoughts and opinions upon 
 paper for others to peruse and to criticise, is pleasure combined with 
 not a little anxiety ; for one cannot with any degree of certainty 
 predict what kind of reception one's efforts may have from the 
 public, who are frequently led to a choice of books on the recom- 
 mendation of critics and reviewers ; so that an unknown author is 
 placed at a great disadvantage, and at the mercy of those who may 
 laud a book to the skies if they please, satirically criticise another, 
 and pass over a third with a sarcastic smile or a significant shrug of 
 the shoulders. I am afraid that my little volume will unfortunately 
 be found amongst the latter, but I candidly acknowledge that I 
 hope it will be regarded as belonging to the first, or at least to the 
 second. 
 
 * "Observations on the Symptoms arising from the Ascaris Ltimbri- 
 coides," Medical Press and Circular, March 13, 1878; ''On a Form of 
 Pyrosis caused by the Ascaris Lmnbricoides," Medical Times and Gazette, 
 June 7, 1879. 
 
93 
 
 As I have simply written it in order to point out the virtues of 
 an aliment of the greatest interest in whatever light we may look 
 at it, I trust that if I have not instructed, I have at any rate 
 afforded pleasure to those who have thought it worth their while 
 to glance over its pages ; and I shall be quite contented if they 
 have derived as much satisfaction in reading, as I have experienced 
 in writing it. 
 
 I have tried to impress upon the reader the advisability, and 
 indeed the necessity, of using the bountiful gifts of nature in a man- 
 ner consistent with common sense, and not to follow blindly and 
 credulously the whims and conceits of others, but to regard their 
 frantic efforts to indoctrinate the thoughtless, with that dispassion- 
 ate iDdifference which is the sign of philosophical complacency and 
 superiority. Lucretius says truly that " nothing is more delightful 
 than to occupy the elevated temples of the wise, well fortified by 
 tranquil learning, whence you may look down upon others and see 
 them straying in every direction, and wandering in search of the 
 path of life." 
 
 Approbation is pleasing, and particularly so when it comes from 
 those who are more able to judge impartially and correctly than 
 others ; and censure, if deserved, though far from gratifying, is not 
 of a nature to intimidate or to create discouragement. 
 
 With these concluding remarks, and certain misgivings, I now 
 submit my short work to the indulgent consideration of those who 
 read for the sake of obtaining information, those who read for 
 amusement only, and to those who peruse literary productions 
 with the eye of criticism. Lord Bacon advises us to " Eead, not 
 to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor 
 to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some 
 books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to 
 be chewed and digested. That is, some books are to be read only 
 in parts ; others to be read, but not curiously ; and some few to 
 be read wholly, and with diligence and attention." 
 
 In conclusion, I must say that I sincerely hope that the candid 
 reader has reaped improvement where the critic may have found 
 only matter for censure. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 1 A., page 38. " Occasionally lakes are found which have streams 
 flowing into them, but none flowing out. Such lakes are usually 
 salt. The Caspian Sea in Asia is an example. It is called a 
 sea from its great extent, but it is in reality an inland lake of 
 salt water." 
 
 B., page 80.' Mr. William Barnard Boddy on " Diet and 
 Cholera" : " The nourishment we derive from the flesh of some 
 animals is not so compatible with the well-being of our consti- 
 tutional wants as others, particularly the swine, which was alto- 
 gether prohibited by the Jewish lawgiver, independent of its 
 spiritual enactments, because it produced ' leprosy.' Now pork is 
 largely consumed in England, especially by the poorer classes, and 
 in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred is almost invariably suc- 
 ceeded by diarrhoea ; and we need not be surprised at this when 
 we look at the filthy habits of this animal ; its impure feeding 
 and liability to the diseases of measles and scarlet-fever. But 
 when we know that they are often in this state killed and sold 
 as an article of food, the liability to disease of course is much 
 greater. But this is not all, as relates to this class of society, for 
 almost I might say positively so every article upon which they 
 subsist is impoverished by vile adulterations, and worse, putrefac- 
 tions ; their limited means enabling them to procure only the half- 
 decomposed refuse of the vegetable market, and the half-tainted 
 meat from the butchers' shambles. 
 
 "The'more wealthy command all the luxuries of life in abundance, 
 and, agreeable to their inclinations and appetites, feast accordingly. 
 Over-indulgence however, often repeated, at last exhausts the 
 healthy tone of the stomach, and blunts the keen edge of desire ; 
 and in order to produce a false appetite, condiments of various 
 
95 
 
 kinds and degrees are substituted; so that, in fact, the food be- 
 comes nearly as vitiated by these additions as that of the poor 
 man's by subtractions the one of necessity, the other of choice. 
 Extremes meet, and here ' the rich and poor meet together ;' for 
 under both circumstances the animal economy must severely suffer, 
 and the ' blood, which is the life,' becomes weak and serous j and 
 though for a time, from the great reluctance health has to depart, 
 the growing evils of an impure and unwholesome diet may not be 
 perceived or apprehended, yet insensibly, from the perpetual inroads 
 made upon the constitution, and the delicate seat of life, the efforts 
 to resist disease become weaker and weaker, till at last the whole 
 mass is left without any internal active principle of sound health 
 available to resist or overcome its effects." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BAILLIERE, TINDALL & COX, 20, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND. 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF AUTHORS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ABERCROMBIE (J.) On Tetany in Young Children 14 
 
 ADAMS (W.) Deformities (in Gant's Surgery) 26 
 
 AMORY (R. ) Translation of Kuss' and Duval's Physiology 25 
 
 ANDERSON (M. F.) Phosphates in Nutrition 15 
 
 ANN ANDALE (Thos. ) Abstracts of Surgical Principles 27 
 
 ATKINSON ( W. B. ) Therapeutics of Gynaecology and Obstetrics 24 
 
 BAKER (Benson) How to Feed an Infant 24 
 
 BARNES (Robt.) Diseases of Women (in Gant's Surgery) 24 
 
 BARTLEY (R. T. H.) Companion to the Visiting List 25 
 
 BELL (J). Manual of Surgical Operations 27 
 
 BELLAMY (E.) Text-book of Anatomical Plates , 9 
 
 BERNARD (Claude) and HUETTE'S Text-book of Operative Surgery 26 
 
 BLACK (C). Atlas of the Organs of Generation (Male) II 
 
 BLACKLEY (C. H.) Hay Fever, its Causes and Treatment 19 
 
 BLAKE (Carter) Translation of Fau's Anatomy for Artists II 
 
 BROCHARD (J.) Practical Guide for the Young Mother 24 
 
 BROWN (George) The Student's Case-book 13 
 
 Aids to Anatomy 9 
 
 Aids to Surgery 26 
 
 BROWNE (Balfour) Mental Responsibility and Disease 13 
 
 BROWNE (Lennox) The Throat and its Diseases 28 
 
 Forms for taking Throat and Aural Cases 13 
 
 Movable Atlas of the Throat and Tongue 10 
 
 Movable Atlas of the Ear and Teeth 17 
 
 BURNESS (A. G.) The Specific Action of Drugs 17 
 
 BURNETT (S. M.) The Examination of the Eyes 17 
 
 CAMERON (Chas. A.) Manual of Hygiene and Public Health 20 
 
 On Disease Prevention 20 
 
 CARTER (R. Brudenell) Training of the Mind 22 
 
 CASSELLS (J. Patterson) Translation of Politzer's Diseases of the Ear 17 
 
 The Auriscope, a Handbook of Aural Diagnosis 17 
 
 Clinical Aural Surgery 17 
 
 Deafmutism and the Education of the Deaf mute 16 
 
 CHARCOT (J. M.) Bright's Disease of the Kidneys 20 
 
 CLARKE (E. H.) The Building of a Brain 12 
 
 COCKLE (John), Contributions to Cardiac Pathology 19 
 
 Insufficiency of the Aortic Valves 19 
 
 COHNHEIM (Prof.) On the Contagiousness of Consumption 15 
 
 COLES (Oakley) The Dental Student's Note Book 27 
 
 COLLENETTE (C.) Chemical Tables 13 
 
 CULLIMORE (D.H.) Consumption as a Contagious Disease 15 
 
 CUNNINGHAM (D. J.) The Dissector's Guide ... 17 
 
 DARLING (W. ) Anatomography, or Graphic Anatomy 9 
 
 The Essentials of Anatomy 9 
 
 DELAFIELD (F.) Handbook of Post Mortems 26 
 
 DENNIS (Hy. J.) Second-Grade Perspective Drawing II 
 
 Third-Grade PerspectiveDrawing n 
 
 DICKINSON (J.) The Tonic Treatment of Gout 19 
 
 Suppressed Gout 19 
 
 Tropical Debility 16 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 DOLAN (T. M.) Nature and Treatment of Hydrophobia 19 
 
 DOWNES (A. H.) Typhoid Fever and Allied Diseases 18 
 
 DOWSE (T. Stretch) Neuralgia ; its Nature and Treatment 23 
 
 Syphilis of the Brain and Spinal Cord 12 
 
 Skin Diseases from Nervous Affections 26 
 
 Brain Exhaustion 12 
 
 Movable Atlas of the Brain 10 
 
 DRYSDALE (John) The Protoplasmic Theory of Life 27 
 
 Life and the Equivalence of Force 27 
 
 Germ Theories of Infectious Diseases 27 
 
 DUFFEY (G. F.) Text-book of Materia Medica and Pharmacy 21 
 
 DUVAL (M.) Text-book of Physiology 25 
 
 EVANS (C. W. De Lacy) Can We Prolong Life? 27 
 
 FAU (J.) Artistic Anatomy of the Human Body II 
 
 Anatomy of the External forms of Man 1 1 
 
 FEARNLEY (W.) Text-book for the Examination of Horses 29 
 
 Lessons in Horse Judging 29 
 
 FISHER. Hints for Hospital Nurses 23 
 
 FLAXM AN (J.) Elementary Anatomical Studies for Artists 1 1 
 
 FLEMING (G.) Text-book of Veterinary Obstetrics 29 
 
 Text-book of Veterinary Pathology 29 
 
 Veterinary Sanitary Science and Police 29 
 
 Practical Horse-Shoeing 29 
 
 Animal Plagues, their History, Nature and Treatment 29 
 
 Contagious Diseases of Animals 29 
 
 Manual of Veterinary Surgery 29 
 
 Nature and Treatment of Hydrophobia 19 
 
 FLINT (Austin) Essays on Conservative Medicine 22 
 
 FOTHERGILL (Milner) Aids to Diagnosis (Semeiological) 1 6 
 
 Aids to Rational Therapeutics 28 
 
 The Physiologist in the Household , 28 
 
 G ANT (F. J. ) Text-book of the Science and Practice of Surgery 26 
 
 Guide to the Examinations at the College of Surgeons 17 
 
 GOODELL (Wm.) Lessons in Gynaecology and Obstetrics 24 
 
 GORDON (Chas.) Our Trip to Burmah , 13 
 
 Life on the Gold Coast , 9 
 
 Lessons in Military Hygiene and Surgery 19 
 
 Experiences of an Army Surgeon in India 20 
 
 Notes on the Hygiene of Cholera 15 
 
 A Manual of Sanitation 20 
 
 GORE (Albert A.) Our Services Under the Crown 23 
 
 Medical History of African Campaigns 9 
 
 GRAY. The Pocket Gray, or Anatomist's Vade-Mecum 9 
 
 GRIFFITHS (W. H.) Text-book of Materia Medica and Pharmacy 21 
 
 Posological Tables 25 
 
 A System of Botanical Analysis 12 
 
 H ALTON (R. J.) Short Lectures on Sanitary Subjects 20 
 
 HARRIS (C. J.) The Physiology of Intestinal Obstruction 25 
 
 HARRIS (Vincent) Manual for the Physiological Laboratory ... 25 
 
 HARTMANN (Prof.) On Deafmutism, Translation by Dr. Cassells 17 
 
 HEMMING (W. D.) Aids to Examinations 17 
 
 Aids to Forensic Medicine 18 
 
 Tinnitus Aurium 1 7 
 
 Otorrhoea 17 
 
 HILL (J. W.) Management and Diseases of the Dog 30 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 HILL (J.) The Diseases of the Ox, Causes, Symptoms and Treatment 30 
 
 HIME (T. W.) Cholera: How to Prevent and Resist It 15 
 
 HOGG (Jabez) The Cure of Cataract 18 
 
 The Impairment of Vision from Shock 18 
 
 HOGG (Jabez) Parasitic, or Germ Theory of Disease 27 
 
 HOWE (J. W.) The Breath, and Diseases which give it a Foetid Odour 13 
 
 HUETTE (Chas.) Text-book of Operative Surgery 26 
 
 HYSLOP (W.) Sermons for Hospitals, Gaols, Asylums, etc 23 
 
 JACOB (A. H.) The General Medical Council 22 
 
 JAMES (M. P.) Laryngoscopy and Rhinoscopy in Throat Diseases 28 
 
 JUKES-BROWNE (A. J.) Palaeontology (in Penning's Field Geology) 18 
 
 KENNEDY (Hy.) An Essay on Fatty Heart 19 
 
 KINGZETT (C. T.) Nature's Hygiene 20 
 
 KUSS (E.) Manual of Physiology 25 
 
 LAFFAN (T. ) The Medical Profession of the United Kingdom (Second Car- 
 
 michael Prize Essay) 22 
 
 LANDOLT (Prof.) The Examination of the Eyes 17 
 
 LEONARD (H. C.) The Hair in Health and Disease 19 
 
 LETHEBY(Hy.) A Treatise on Food 18 
 
 The Sewage Question 26 
 
 LOWNE (B. T.) Aids to Physiology 25 
 
 LUNN(C.) The Philosophy of Voice 30 
 
 MACBRIDE (J. A.) Anatomical Outlines of the Horse 30 
 
 MACDONALD (Angus) Materia Medica and Therapeutics 21 
 
 MACKENZIE (M.) Diseases of the Throat (in Gant's Surgery) 28 
 
 MAHOMED (F. A.) The Sphygmograph (in Gant's Surgery) '. 26 
 
 MASSE (J. N.) Text-book of Anatomical Plates 9 
 
 MAYER (T. W.) Anatomical Outlines of the Horse 30 
 
 MILLARD (H. B.) Bright's Disease of the Kidneys 20 
 
 MILNE (Alex.) The Child, and How to Nurse it 24 
 
 MOORE (E. H.) Clinical Chart for Hospital and Private Practice 15 
 
 MUCKLEY (W. J.) Student's Manual of Artistic Anatomy II 
 
 A Handbook for Painters and Art Students on the Use of Colours II 
 
 MUTER (J.) Key to Organic Materia Medica 21 
 
 Introduction to Analytical Chemistry 14 
 
 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Chemistry 14 
 
 MURRAY (R. Milne) Chemical Notes and Equations 14 
 
 NAPHEYS (G. H.) Modem Medical Therapeutics 27 
 
 Modern Surgical Therapeutics 28 
 
 . Handbook of Popular Medicine 23 
 
 NORTON (A. T.) Text-book of Operative Surgery 26 
 
 Osteology for Students 24 
 
 Affections of the Throat and Larynx 28 
 
 ORMSBY (L. H.) Deformities of the Human Body 16 
 
 OWEN (Lloyd) Translation of Giraud-Teulon's (Anomalies of Vision) Eye ... 17 
 
 PAINTER (J. T.) Ethnology 17 
 
 PALFREY (J.) Atlas of the Female Organs of Generation 10 
 
 PALMER (J. F.) How to Bring up Young Children by Hand 24 
 
 PARRISH (Ed.) A Treatise on Pharmacy 25 
 
 PENNING (W. H.) Text-book of Field Geology 18 
 
 Engineering Geology 18 
 
 Notes on Nuisances, Drains, and Dwellings 
 
6 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox s Books. 
 
 PETTENKOFER (Von) Cholera : How to Prevent and Resist it 15 
 
 POLITZER (Prof.) The Ear and its Diseases (in the Press) 17 
 
 POWER (Hy.) Movable Atlas of the Eye, and the Mechanism of Vision 18 
 
 (Hy.) Diseases of the Eye (in Gant's Surgery) 26 
 
 POWER (D'Arcy ) Handbook for the Physiological Laboratory 25 
 
 PRATT (W.) A Physician's Sermon to Young Men 23 
 
 PROCTOR (Richd.) The Stars and the Earth 12 
 
 PURVES (L.) Aural Diseases (in Gant's Surgery) 17 
 
 REMSEN (Ira) The Principles of Theoretical Chemistry 15 
 
 REYNOLDS (J. Emerson) Lectures on Experimental Chemistry 14 
 
 RICHARDS (J. M.) A Chronology of Medicine 22 
 
 RICHARDSON (Thos.) Chemistry in its Application to the Arts and Manu- 
 factures 21 
 
 RIVINGTON (W.) The Medical Profession (First Carmichael Prize Essay)... 22 
 
 Medical Education and Medical Organisation 22 
 
 ROTH (M.) Works on Deformities, Exercises, etc 16 
 
 ROUTH (C. H. F.) Overwork and Premature Mental Decay 24 
 
 On Fibrous Tumours of the Womb 24 
 
 On Checks to Population 25 
 
 SCORESBY-JACKSON (R. E.) Note-Book of Materia Medica 23 
 
 SEMPLE (R. H.) Diphtheria, Its Causes and Treatment 16 
 
 Movable Atlas of the Human Body (Neck and Trunk) 10 
 
 SEMPLE (C. E. A.) Aids to Botany 12 
 
 Aids to Chemistry . 13 
 
 Aids to Materia Medica . n 
 
 Aids to Medicine 22. 
 
 SE WILL (Hy.) Movable Atlas of tlie Teeth 10 
 
 SIMSON (J.) Contributions to Natural History , 23 
 
 SMITH (C.) Mental Capacity in Relation to Insanity, Crime, etc 13 
 
 SPARKES (J.) Artistic Anatomy * n 
 
 STARTIN (J.) Lectures on Ringworm 26 
 
 STEAVENSON (W. E.) The Medical Acts and Medical Reform 22 
 
 STRANGE WAYS (Thos.) Text Book of Veterinary Anatomy 29 
 
 TELLOR(L. V.) The Diseases of Live Stock 30 
 
 THIN (George) Introduction to Practical Histology 19 
 
 THOROWGOOD ( J. C .) Consumption ; its Treatment by the Hypophosphites 15 
 
 Aids to Physical Diagnosis 1 6 
 
 TIDY (Meymott) On Vitiated Air 20 
 
 TIMMS (G.) Consumption ; its Nature and Treatment 15 
 
 Alcohol in some Clinical Aspects, a Remedy, a Poison 9 
 
 TOMES (C. S.) Dental Surgery (in Gant's Surgery) 27 
 
 TYSON (J.) The Urine, a Guide to its Practical Examination 28 
 
 VAUGHAN ( J. ) Strangeways' Veterinary Anatomy 30 
 
 WALLEY (Thos. ) The Four Bovine Scourges 30 
 
 WATTS (Hy.) Chemistry in its Application to the Arts and Manufactures ... 14 
 
 WILLIAMS (R.) Hints for Hospital Nurses , 23 
 
 WILLIAMS (W.) The Principles and Practice of Veterinary Surgery 29 
 
 WILSON The Principles and Practice of Veterinary Medicine 29 
 
 WILLSON (A. Rivers) Chemical Notes for Pharmaceutical Students 14 
 
 WILSON (Erasmus) Diseases of the Skin (in Gant's Surgery) 26 
 
 W r ILSON (J.) A Manual of Naval Hygiene 20 
 
 WINSLOW(L. S. Forbes) Manual of Lunacy 21 
 
 Chart of the Lunacy Acts 21 
 
 Handbook for Attendants on the Insane 21 
 
 Spiritualistic Madness 21 
 
 WITKOWSKI (G. J.) Movable Atlases of the Human Body 10 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 .THE FULL TITLES OF BOOKS, PEICES, ETC. 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 9 
 
 Africa. A Contribution to the Medical History of our West 
 African Campaigns. % Surgeon-Major ALBERT A. GORE, M.D., 
 Sanitary Officer on the Staff. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 " Dr. Gore has given us a most interesting record of a series of stirring events in which he 
 took an active part, and of elaborate precautions for the maintenance of health." Medical 
 Press. 
 
 Africa. Life on the Gold Coast. Being a full and accurate Descrip- 
 tion of the Inhabitants, their Modes and Habits of Life ; 
 interspersed with amusing Anecdotes, Hints to Travellers and 
 others in Western Africa. By Surgeon-General GORDON, M.D., 
 C.B., Hon. Physician to Her Majesty the Queen. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Alcohol, in some Clinical Aspects : A Eemedy, a Poison. By 
 GODWIN TIMMS, M.D. r M.R.C.P. Lond., Senior Physician to 
 the North London Consumption Hospital. Price Is. 
 
 Anaesthetics. The Dangers of Chloroform and the Safety and 
 Efficiency of Ether in Surgical Operations. By JOHN MORG-AN, 
 M.D., F.R.C.S. Second thousand, price 2s. 
 
 Anatomy. Aids to Anatomy. By GEORGE BROWN, M.R.C.S., Gold 
 Medalist, Charing Cross Hospital, Formerly Demonstrator of 
 Anatomy, Westminster Hospital. Fifth thousand, price Is. 6d. 
 cloth, Is. paper wrapper. 
 
 "The little book is well done." Lancet. 
 
 " With this little work students need have no dread of College Examiners." Medical Press. 
 
 Anatomy. Text Book of Anatomical Plates, designed under the 
 direction of Professor MASSE, with descriptive Text. By 
 E. BELLAMY, F.R.C.S., Surgeon to Charing Cross Hospital, 
 Examiner in Anatomy, Royal College of Surgeons, Professor of 
 Anatomy, Government Science and Art Department. Second 
 edition, price, plain 21s., hand-coloured 42s. 
 
 " Undeniably the most beautiful plates we have." Lancet. 
 
 " With these plates, the student will be able to read up his anatomy almost as readily as 
 with a recent dissection before him." Students' Journal. 
 
 Anatomy. The Essentials of Anatomy. Designed on a new and 
 more easily comprehensible basis, as a Text-book for Students, 
 and as a book of easy reference to the practitioner. By W. 
 DARLING, M.D., F.RC.S. Eng., Professor of Anatomy in the 
 University of New York, and AMBROSE L. RANNEY, A.M., M.D., 
 Adjunct Professor. Price 12s. 6d. 
 
 _ " The arrangement of the subjects, their detailed treatment, and the methods of memo- 
 rising, are peculiar to the authors, and are the results of long experience i:i the teaching of 
 students. There is, in fact, an individuality about the work, which gives it a peculiar valua 
 to the student and practitioner." New York Medical Record. 
 
10 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Anatomy. The Pocket Gray, or Anatomist's Vade-Mecum. Com- 
 piled specially for Students from the works of Gray, Ellis, 
 Holden, and Leonard. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 " A marvellous amount of information has been condensed into a remarkably small space." 
 Medical Press. 
 
 Anatomy. Human Anatomy and Physiology, illustrated by 
 
 a series of Movable Atlases of the Human Body, showing the 
 
 relative positions of the several parts, by means of Superposed 
 
 Coloured Plates, from the designs of Prof. G. J. WiTKOWSKi,M.D. 
 
 *#* A Companion to every work on Anatomy and Physiology. 
 
 Part I. Neck and Trunk. With Text Descriptive and Ex- 
 planatory of the physiology and functions of the several parts. 
 By EGBERT HUNTER SEMPLE,M.D., F.R.C.P. Lond. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Part II. Throat and Tongue, showing the Mechanism of 
 Voice, Speech, and Taste. Text by LENNOX BROWNE, F.K.C.S. 
 Edin., Senior Surgeon to the Central London Throat and Ear 
 Hospital. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Part III. The Female Organs of Generation and Reproduc- 
 tion. Text by JAMES PALFREY, M.D., M.RC.P. Lond., Senior 
 Obstetric Physician to, and Lecturer on Midwifery and Diseases 
 of Women at, the London Hospital. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Part IY. The Eye and the Apparatus of Vision. Text by 
 HENRY POWER, F.R.C.S., Senior Ophthalmic Surgeon to, and 
 Lecturer on Opthalmic Surgery at, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 
 Senior Surgeon to the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital. 
 Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Part V. The Ear and Teeth. The Mechanism of Hearing 
 and of Mastication. Text of the Ear by LENNOX BROWNE, 
 F.R.C.S. Edin., Senior Surgeon to the Central London Throat 
 and Ear Hospital; Text of the Teeth by HENRY SEWILL, 
 M.R.C.S., formerly Dental Surgeon to the West London Hospital. 
 Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Part VI. The Brain (Cerebrum, Cerebellum, and Medulla 
 Oblongata) and Skull. Text by T. STRETCH DOWSE, M.D., 
 F.R.C.P. Edin., Physician to the Hospital for Paralysis and 
 Epilepsy, formerly Medical Superintendent of the Central 
 London Sick Asylum. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Part VII The Male Organs of Generation. Text by 
 D. CAMPBELL BLACK, M.D. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 ** No such simple, reliable, and comprehensive method of learning the 
 several parts, positions, and functions of the body has hitherto been attempted ; 
 the entire Series being unique, will be most valuable to the Teacher, the 
 Student, and to all who wish to become acquainted with the anatomy and 
 physiology of the human economy. 
 
Bailli&re, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 11 
 
 Anatomography ; or, Graphic Anatomy. A new method of 
 grasping and committing to memory the most difficult points 
 required of the student. By W. DARLING, M.D.. F.B.C.S. Eng., 
 Professor of Anatomy in the University of New York. 
 Price Is. 
 
 " We heartily commend the work to the attention of students." Students' Journal. 
 
 Artistic Anatomy, for the use of Students in Schools of Art. By 
 JOHN SPARKES, Head Master of the National Art Training 
 Schools, South Kensington. Shortly, price 5s. 
 
 Artistic Anatomy. Anatomy of the External Forms of Man, 
 designed for the use of Artists, Sculptors, etc. By Dr. J. FAU. 
 Used at the Government School of Art, South Kensington. 
 Twenty-nine plates. Folio ; price, plain 24s., coloured 42s. 
 
 Artistic Anatomy. Elementary Artistic Anatomy of the Human 
 Body. From the French of Dr. FAU. Text, translated by 
 Dr. CARTER BLAKE, Lecturer on Anatomy at the Westminster 
 Hospital School of Medicine. Used at the Government School 
 of Art, South Kensington. Price 5s. 
 
 Artistic Anatomy. The Student's Manual of Artistic Anatomy. 
 With 25 plates of the bones and surface muscles of the human 
 figure ; together with a description of the origin, insertion, and 
 uses of the muscles. By W. J. MUCKLEY, Principal of the 
 Manchester School of Art. Used at the Government School of 
 Art, South Kensington. Price 5s. 6d. 
 
 Artistic Anatomy. Elementary Anatomical Studies of the Bones 
 and Muscles, for the use of Students and Schools, from the 
 drawings of J. FLAXMAN, E.A. Lately used as a Text-book of 
 Anatomy in the Art Schools at South Kensington. 20 plates, 
 with Text, price 2s. 
 
 Artistic Drawing 1 . Third Grade Perspective, comprising Angular 
 and Oblique Perspective, Shadows and Reflections, specially 
 prepared for the use of Art Students. By H. J. DENNIS, Art 
 Master, Lambeth School of Art, Dulwich College, etc. Used 
 at the Government Science and Art Schools. Second edition. 
 In 12 parts, Is. each, or in 1 vol., half-bound, price 15s. 
 
 Artistic Drawing. Second Grade Perspective (Theory and Prac- 
 tice), containing 21 block illustrations, 12 well-executed plates 
 on Parallel and Angular Perspective, and many examination 
 exercises; especially prepared for the use of Art Students. 
 Used at the Government Science and Art Schools. By the 
 same Author. Third thousand, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Artists' Colours. Their Preparation, Uses, etc. By W. J. 
 MUCKLEY. (See Colours.) 
 
12 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Astronomy. The Stars and the Earth; or, Thoughts on Time 
 Space, and Eternity. Revised and enlarged, with Notes by 
 K. A. PROCTOR, B.A., Hon. Sec. to the Eoyal Astronomical 
 Society. Thirteenth thousand, price Is. 
 
 Atlases. A Series of Movable Atlases showing the relative position 
 of the several parts of the Human Body by means of super- 
 posed coloured plates, from the designs of Prof. G. J. WIT- 
 ZOWSKI. (See Anatomy.) 
 
 Botany. Aids to Botany. Outlines of the Elementary Facts in- 
 eluding a Description of some of the most important Natural 
 Orders. By 0. E. ARMAND SEMPLE, B.A., M.B. Cantab., 
 M.E.C.P. Lond., Examiner in Arts at the Apothecaries' HalL 
 Second thousand, price Is. 6d., cloth, Is., paper wrapper. 
 
 " The student who can commit this to memory will doubtless be proof against pluck." 
 Medical Journal. 
 
 Botany. A System of Botanical Analysis, applied to the Diag- 
 nosis of British Natural Orders. By HANDSEL GRIFFITHS, 
 Ph.D., M.R.C.P., late Professor of Chemistry in the Ledwich 
 School of Medicine. Price Is. 6d. 
 
 " The author has placed the student under considerable obligations by his system of 
 botanical analysis." Pharmaceutical Journal. 
 
 Brain. The Building of a Brain. By E. H. CLARKE, M.D. (author 
 of " Sex in Education "). Price 5s. 
 
 " We are much pleased with the little work, which is carefully and elegantly written, and 
 full of sound physiology." Lancet. 
 
 Brain. The Brain and Diseases of the Nervous System. 2 vols. 
 
 Vol. I. Syphilis of the Brain and Spinal Cord, showing the part 
 which this agent plays in the production of Paralysis, Epilepsy, 
 Insanity, Headache, Neuralgia, Hysteria, and other Mental and 
 . ' Nervous Derangements. By T. STRETCH DOWSE, M.D., F.K.C.P. 
 Ed., Physician to the Hospital for Epilepsy and Paralysis ; for- 
 merly Medical Superintendent of the Central London Sick 
 Asylum. Second edition, illustrated, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Vol. II. Neuralgia : its Nature and Curative Treatment. By the 
 same Author. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Brain. Neurasthenia, or Brain and Nerve Exhaustion. A Paper 
 read before the Medical Society of London. By the same 
 Author. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Brain. Movable Atlas of the Brain and Skull (Cerebrum, Cerebel- 
 lum and Medulla Oblongata). By Prof. G. J. WITKOWSKI. 
 (See Anatomy.) 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 13 
 
 Brain. On Mental Capacity in Kelation to Insanity, Crime, and 
 Modern Society. By CHRISTOPHER SMITH, M.D. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Brain. Kesponsibility and Disease : Moot-points in Jurisprudence 
 about which Medical Men should be well instructed. By J. H 
 BALFOUR BROWNE, Barrister-at-Law, author of " The Medical 
 Jurisprudence of Insanity." Price 2s. 
 
 Breath. The Breath, and the Diseases which give it a Foetid Odour. 
 By J. W. HOWE, M.D., Professor of Surgery in the University 
 of New York. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 "The appropriate treatment is pointed out in a manner quite intelligible to the non-medi- 
 cal reader." New York Medical Journal. 
 
 Burmah. Our Trip to Burmah, with Notes on the Ethnology, 
 Geography, Botany, Habits and Customs of that Country, by 
 Surgeon-General GORDON, C.B., M.D., Principal Medical 
 Officer, Madras Presidency, Physician to H.M. the Queen. 
 Illustrated with numerous Photographs, Maps, Coloured Plates, 
 and Sketches by native Artists. Price 21s. 
 
 "We lay down this book, impressed with its many beauties, its amusing sketches and 
 anecdotes, and its useful and instructive information of that comparatively unknown 
 country." The Times. 
 
 "A wonderful book, full of interest, instruction, and amusement." -Saturday Review. 
 
 "A beautiful and intelligent book for. a present." Morning Post. 
 
 Case-Books. Students' Case-book. For recording hospital cases 
 as seen, with full instructions for methodising clinical study. 
 Second edition, revised and enlarged by GEORGE BROWN, 
 M.E.C.S., Gold Medalist, Charing Cross Hospital, late Demon- 
 strator of Anatomy, Westminster Hospital. Price Is., cloth 
 limp. 
 
 Case-Books. Forms for the taking of Aural Cases. By LENNOX 
 BROWNE, F.E.C.S. Ed., Senior Surgeon to the Central London 
 Throat and Ear Hospital. 25 in boards, price 2s. 
 Forms for the taking of Throat Cases. 25 in boards, price 2s. 
 Throat and Ear Cases. 50 in boards, combined, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Chemistry. Aids to Chemistry. By C. E. ARMAND SEMPLE, B.A., 
 M.B. Cantab., M.E.C.P. Lond., Examiner in Arts at the 
 Apothecaries' Hall. Third Thousand. 
 
 Parts I. and II. Inorganic. Price Is. 6d., each, cloth; Is. paper 
 wrapper, or in one vol., cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Part III. Organic. Double part, cloth, 2s. 6d. ; paper, 2s. 
 
 "Students preparing for Matriculation at the London University, and other Examinations, 
 will find it simply invaluable." Students' Journal. 
 
 Chemistry. Chemical Tables : Oxides, Sulphides, and Chlorides, 
 with Forms for other Compounds. For the use of Teachers 
 and Students. By Prof. COLLENETTE. Price 6d. 
 
14 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Chemistry. Chemical Notes for Pharmaceutical Students, including 
 the Chemistry of the Additions to the Pharmacopoeia. By 
 A. RIVERS WILLSON. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Chemistry. Short Lectures on Experimental Chemistry. Intro- 
 ductory to the general course. By J. EMERSON REYNOLDS, 
 F.R.S., F.C.S., Professor of Chemistry, Koyal College of 
 Surgeons, Professor of Analytical Chemistry, and Keeper of the 
 Minerals, Royal Dublin Society. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Chemistry. An Introduction to Analytical Chemistry for Labora- 
 tory Use. By JOHN MUTER, Ph.D., M.A., F.C.S., President of 
 the Society of Public Analysts. Third edition, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Chemistry. An Introduction to Pharmaceutical and Medical 
 Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical. With Analytical Tables 
 and copious Index. By the same Author. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 "The book is one of a very useful and original kind, and is brought up to the latest date, 
 tests and processes published only a few months since being described in their proper places." 
 Chemical News. 
 
 Chemistry. Chemical Notes and Equations : for the use of 
 Students. By R. MILNE MURRAY, M.A, M.B., C.M. Edin. 
 Price 2s. 
 
 Chemistry. Chemistry in its Application to the Arts and Manu- 
 factures. A Text-book by RICHARDSON and WATTS. 
 Vol. I. : Parts 1 and 2. Fuel and its Applications. 433 engrav- 
 ings, and 4 plates. Price 1 16s. 
 
 Part 3. Acids, Alkalies, Salts, Soap, Soda, Chlorine 
 and its Bleaching Compounds, Iodine, Bromine, 
 Alkalimetry, Glycerine, Railway Grease, etc., 
 their Manufacture and Applications, price 
 1 13s. 
 
 Part 4. Phosphorus, Mineral Waters, Gunpowder, Gun- 
 cotton, Fireworks, Aluminium, Stannates, Tung- 
 states, Chromates and Silicates of Potash and 
 Soda, Lucifer Matches, price 1 Is. 
 Part 5. Prussiate of Potash, Oxalic Acid, Tartaric 
 Acid, many tables, plates, and wood engrav- 
 ings, price 1 16s. 
 
 Chemistry. Practical Treatise on Acids, Alkalies, and Salts : their 
 Manufacture and Application. In three vols., being Parts III., 
 IV., V. of the previous work, price 4 10s. 
 
 Chemistry. The Principles of Theoretical Chemistry, with special 
 reference to the constitution of Chemical Compounds. By 
 IRA REMSEN, M.D., Ph.D. Price 6s. 
 
 " Worthy of careful perusal." New York Medical Record. 
 
 Children. On Tetany in Young Children. By J. ABERCROMBIE, 
 M.D., M.R.C.P. Lond., Medical Registrar to the Hospital for 
 Sick Children. Price 2s. 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 15 
 
 Children. The Feeding and Nursing of. (See Nursing.) 
 
 Cholera. Cholera : how to Prevent and Resist it. By Professor 
 VON PETTENKOFER, University of Munich, President of the 
 Sanitary Department of the German Empire ; and THOMAS 
 WHITESIDE HIME, A.B., MB., Medical Officer of Health for 
 Sheffield, Lecturer on Medicine at the Sheffield School of 
 Medicine. Illustrated with woodcuts and diagram, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Cholera. Notes on the Hygiene of Cholera, for ready reference. 
 Prepared from Official Returns, for the use of Army Medical 
 Officers, Medical Officers of Health, and others. By C. A. 
 GORDON, M.D., C.B., Hon. Physician to the Queen. Price 5s. 
 
 Clinical Charts for Recording the Range of Temperature, Pulse, 
 Respiration, History, Progress, and Treatment of Cases, for 
 use in Hospitals and in private practice. By E. W. MOORE, 
 M.D., M.R.C.P. Price Id. each, 9d. per dozen, or mounted, 
 similar to a blotting-pad, in 50, 3s. 6d.; 100, 7s. 
 
 Colours. A Hand-book for Painters and Art Students, on the use 
 of Colours, Vehicles, etc. By W. J. MUCKLEY, Principal of 
 the Manchester School of Art (Author of " The Students' 
 Manual of Artistic Anatomy "). Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Consumption. Consumption, as a Contagious Disease, with Treat- 
 ment : including an Inquiry into the Relative Merits of the Air 
 of Mountains and Plains; to which is prefixed a translation of 
 Cohnheim's Pamphlet. By D. H. CULLIMORE, M.K.Q.C.P., 
 F.R.C.S.I., Physician North-West London Hospital, formerly 
 Consulting Physician to the King of Burmah ; Surgeon H.M. 
 Indian Army. Price 5s. 
 
 Consumption. Consumption and its Treatment by the Hypophos- 
 phites. By JOHN C. THOROWGOOD, M.D., F.R.C.R Lond., 
 Physician to the City of London Hospital for Diseases of trie 
 Chest, Victoria Park. Third edition, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Consumption. Consumption, its True Nature and Successful 
 Treatment, with Appendix of Cases. By GODWIN TIMMS, 
 M.D. Lond., M.R.C.P., Senior Physician to the North London 
 Consumption Hospital, Consulting Physician to the Western 
 City Dispensary, etc. Second edition, price 10s. 6d. 
 
 Consumption. Phosphates in Nutrition : the Mineral Theory O A 
 Consumption and Allied Diseases. By M. F. ANDERSON, 
 L.R.C.P. Ed., M.R.C.S.E. Price 5s. 
 
 " Characterised by a considerable degree of original and painstaking work." Metical Press, 
 "Certainly deserves the serious attention of all." Chemist and Druggist. 
 
16 Bailli&re, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Debility. On Tropical Debility, its Causes and Treatment. By 
 JAS. C. DICKINSON, M.R.C.S., late of Her Majesty's Bengal 
 Army. Price Is. 6d. 
 
 Deafmutism. On the Education of the Deafmute. By Professor 
 HARTMANN. Translated by Dr. PATTERSON CASSELLS. (In the 
 Press.) 
 
 Deafness. (See Ear.) 
 
 Deformities. The Nature and Treatment of Deformities of the 
 Human Body. By LAMBERT H. ORMSBY, M.B. Univ. Dub., 
 Surgeon to the Meath Hospital and County Dublin Infirmary. 
 Crown 8vo., illustrated, price 5s. 
 
 Deformities. 1. A Short Sketch of Rational Medical Gymnastics ; 
 or, the Movement-Cure. By B. M. Roth, M.D., F.R.C.S. Eng. 
 With thirty-eight engravings, price Is. 
 
 2. The Prevention and Cure of Many Chronic Diseases by Move- 
 ments. By the same Author. With 90 engravings, price 10s. 
 
 3. The Hand-book of the Movement-Cure. By the same Author. 
 With 155 original engravings, price 10s. 
 
 4. Contribution to the Hygienic Treatment of Paralysis, and of 
 Paralytic Deformities. By the same Author. With 38 en- 
 gravings, illustrated by numerous cases, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 5. On Paralysis in Infancy, Childhood, and Youth, and on 
 the Prevention and Treatment of Paralytic Deformities. By 
 the same Author. With 45 engravings. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 6. The Prevention of Spinal Deformities, especially of Lateral 
 Curvature, with notes on the causes, the artificial production, 
 and the injurious modes of treatment of these complaints. By 
 the same Author. With 53 engravings, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Diagnosis. Aids to Physical Diagnosis, for the use of Practitioners 
 and Students. By J. C. THOROWGOOD, M.D., F.R.C.P. Loncl, 
 Physician to the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the 
 Chest, and to the West London Hospital, Lecturer on Materia 
 Medica at Middlesex Hospital. Price Is. and Is. 6d. 
 
 Diagnosis. Aids to Semeiological Diagnosis, for the use of Prac- 
 titioners and Students. "By J. MILNER FOTHERGILL, M.D., 
 M.R.C.P. Lond., Assistant Physician to the City of London 
 Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, and to the West London 
 Hospital. Price Is. and Is. 6d. 
 
 Diphtheria. Diphtheria, its Causes, Pathology, Diagnosis, and 
 Treatment. By R. HUNTER SEMPLE, M.D., F.R.C.P. Lond., 
 Physician to the Hospital for Diseases of the Throat and Chest. 
 Second edition, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 <c It is satisfactory to know that the doctrines laid down by the author, many years ago, do 
 not need negation in any sort of way in the new edition." Lancet. 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. IT 
 
 Dissections. The Dissector's Guide, a Manual for the use of 
 Students. By D. J. CUNNINGHAM, M.D., Senior Demonstrator 
 of Anatomy, University of Edinburgh. Part I. Upper Limb, 
 Lower Limb, Thorax. Illustrated, price 4s. 6d. 
 
 Drugs. The Specific Action of Drugs. An Index to their Thera- 
 peutic Value, as deduced from experiments on man and animals. 
 By ALEXANDER G. BURNESS, M.D., and F. MAYOR, President 
 of the Central Loud. Veterinary Society. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 Ear. Aural Surgery. By W. LAIDLAW PURVES, M.D., Aural 
 Surgeon to Guy's Hospital. (See chapters in Gant's Surgery.) 
 
 Ear. Movable Atlas of the Ear. Superposed Coloured Plates. 
 By Prof. G. J. WITKOWSKI, Text by LENNOX BROWNE, 
 F.K.C.S. Ed. Price 7s. 6d. (See Anatomy.) 
 
 Ear. Otorrhcea ; or, Discharge from the Ears : its Varieties, Causes, 
 Complications, and Treatment. By W. DOUGLAS HEMMING, 
 F.RC.S. Ed. Price Is. 
 
 Ear. Tinnitus Aurium ; or, Singing in the Ears : remarks on its 
 Causes and Treatment. By the same Author. Price Is. 
 
 Ear. Text-book of the Diseases of the Ear and adjacent Organs. 
 By Professor POLITZER, of Vienna. Translated by JAMES 
 PATTERSON CASSELLS, Fellow of the Faculty of Physicians and 
 Surgeons, Glasgow, M.D., and Consulting Physician to the 
 Glasgow Ear Infirmary. Profusely illustrated with coloured 
 plates and woodcuts. (In the Press.) 
 
 Ear. The Auriscope, a Hand-book of Aural Diagnosis. By J. PAT- 
 TERSON CASSELLS, M.D. Shortly. 
 
 Ear. Clinical Aural Surgery, a Practical Treatise on Diseases of the 
 Ear in Infancy, Childhood and Adult Life. Shortly. 
 
 Ethnology. The History and (genealogy of the Human Race from 
 the Creation ; showing how the nations of the world can be 
 traced from the sons and grandsons of Noah. By J. T. PAINTER. 
 Price 3s. 6d, 
 
 Examinations. A Guide to the Examinations at the Royal College 
 of Surgeons of England for the Diplomas of Member and 
 Fellow, with Examination Papers. Third edition, revised and 
 enlarged, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 " In truth a most useful Guide to the Examinations." Guy's Hospital Gazette. 
 
 Examinations. Aids to Examinations. By W. DOUGLAS HEM- 
 MING, F.R.C.S. Ed. Being Questions and Answers on Materia 
 Medica, Medicine, Midwifery, Pathology, and Forensic Medicine. 
 Price Is. 6d. cloth, Is. paper wrapper. 
 
 Eye. A Manual of Examination of the Eyes. By Professor C. 
 LANDOLT, of Paris. Translated, with the Author's permission 
 and revision, by SWAN M. BURNETT, M.D. Price 12s. 6d. 
 
 " For those who have a taste for examining Eyes, this will prove most helpful. "-Lancet. 
 " The author gives with the greatest care and minuteness his methods and results, which 
 render the book an eminently valuable one for practitioners." Medical Press. 
 
18 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Eye. The Cure of Cataract and other Eye Affections. By JABEZ 
 HOGG, M.R.C.S., Consulting Surgeon to the Royal Westminster 
 Ophthalmic Hospital, Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Eoyal Masonic 
 Institutions. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Eye. On Impairment or Loss of Vision from Spinal Concussion or 
 Shock. By the same Author. Price Is. 6d. 
 
 Eye. The Functions of Vision and its Anomalies. By Dr. GIRAUD- 
 TEULON, Member of the Academic de Medicine. Translated 
 from the Second French Edition, by LLOYD OWEN, F.R. C.S.I., 
 Surgeon to the Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital, Oph- 
 thalmic Surgeon to the Free Hospital for Sick Children, Bir- 
 mingham. Illustrated, price 5s. 
 
 Eye. Movable Atlas of the Eye and the Mechanism of Vision. 
 By IProf. G. J. WITKOWSKI. Text by HY. POWER, M.B., 
 F.R.C.S., Senior Ophthalmic Surgeon to, and Lecturer on Oph- 
 thalmic Surgery at, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Senior Surgeon 
 to the Eoyal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital. Price 7s. 6d. 
 (See Anatomy.) 
 
 Fever. How to Avoid Typhoid Fever and Allied Diseases, with 
 Plain Rules on House Drainage, etc. By ARTHUR H. DOWNES, 
 M.B., M.D., Medical Officer of Health for the Chelmsford 
 District. Price Is. 
 
 Food. Food ; its Varieties, Chemical Composition, Nutritive Value, 
 Comparative Digestibility, Physical Functions and Uses, Pre- 
 paration, Preservation, Adulterations, etc. By the late HENRY 
 LETHEBY, M.B., M.A., Ph.D., etc. Second edition, enlarged, 
 price 5s. 
 
 " Dr. Letheby's position and authority on the subject of food is so pre-eminent, that a book 
 from his pen is above criticism." Lancet. 
 
 "Either as a text-book for schools or as a Household guide, it is excellently adapted." 
 Public Opinion. 
 
 Forensic Medicine. Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. 
 By W. DOUGLAS HEMMING, F.R.C.S. Ed. Second thousand, price 
 Is. 6d. cloth, Is. paper wrapper. 
 
 "We have no hesitation in recommending Mr. Hemming's book." Lancet. 
 
 Geology. Field Geology, with a Section on Palaeontology. By 
 W. HY. PENNING, F.G.S., of H.M. Geological Survey, and 
 A. J. JUKES-BROWNE, B.A., F.G.S., of H.M. Geological Survey. 
 Illustrated with woodcuts and coloured map. Second edition, 
 revised and enlarged, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 " Satisfies a want which has long been felt and frequently expressed." Nature. 
 " Others have taught us the principles of the science, but Mr. Penning, as an accomplished 
 field-geologist, introduces us to the practice." The Academy. 
 
 Geology. Engineering Geology. By the same Author. Illustrated 
 with coloured map and woodcuts, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 " A full and lucid description of surveying and mapping, the diagnosing of the various 
 minerals met with, the value of sites and rocks for engineering operations, etc." Popular 
 Science Review. 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 19 
 
 Gout. On the Tonic Treatment of Gout. With Cases. By JAMES 
 C. DICKINSON, M.R.C.S., late of H.M.'s Bengal Army. Second 
 edition, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 "A thorough and practical work." Public Opinion. 
 
 Gout. Suppressed Gout : its Dangers and Treatment ; with an 
 Appendix on the Uses of the Vals Waters. By the same Author. 
 Price 2s. 
 
 Hair. The Hair : its Growth, Care, Diseases, and Treatment ; 
 with Historical Chapters on Fashions in Hair and Beards from 
 the Assyrian to Modern Times. By C. H. LEONARD, M.A., 
 M.D. With 116 engravings, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 " Is entertaining reading, will afford many useful hints to the practitioner, and be much 
 appreciated by the public, especially the fashionable portion of it. " Lancet. 
 
 Hay Fever : Its Causes, Treatment, arid Effective Prevention ; Ex- 
 perimental Researches. By CHAS. HARRISON BLACKLEY, M.D. 
 Second edition, revised and enlarged, price 10s. 6d. 
 
 "A piece of real honest work, original and instructive, and will well repay perusal. " 
 Lancet. 
 
 " The treatise before us is one of the fullest that we are acquainted with on this subject ; we 
 recommend it cordially to all who may wish for a practical work on this once mysterious 
 disease." Medical Times. 
 
 Heart. On Insufficiency of Aortic Valves in Connection with Sudden 
 Death : with Notes, Historical and Critical. By JOHN COCKLE, 
 A.M., M.D., F.R.C.P., Physician to the Eoyal Free Hospital, 
 late President of the Medical Society of London. Second edi- 
 tion, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Heart. Contributions to Cardiac Pathology. By the same Author. 
 Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Heart. An Essay on Fatty Heart. By HENRY KENNEDY, A.B., 
 M.B. Dub. Univ., Physician to the Whitworth Hospitals. 
 Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 " We have no hesitation in recommending it as a most valuable contribution to the literature 
 of the all-important subject of which it treats." Mtdical Press and Circular. 
 
 Histology. Introduction to Practical Histology. By GEORGE THIN, 
 M.D. Price 5s. 
 
 " No more valuable text-book for the student will be found, nor one containing a greater 
 amount of useful information." Medical Press. 
 
 Hydrophobia. The Nature and Treatment of Rabies or Hydro- 
 phobia, and those Diseases resembling it. Report of the Special 
 Commission appointed by the Medical Press and Circular, with 
 valuable additions. By T. M. DOLAN, L.R.C.P., F.R.C.S. Ed., 
 and GEORGE FLEMING, F.R.C.V.S. Second edition, price 5s. 
 
 "The most valuable and complete treatise on the subject; one which we can highly 
 recommend." Veterinary Journal. 
 
 " This laborious work is a credit alike to the writers, and the journal which first published 
 it." The Doctor. 
 
 Hygiene. Lessons in Military Hygiene and Surgery, from the 
 Franco-Prussian War. Reports prepared while on Special 
 Service with the French Army in Paris, on behalf of Her 
 Majesty's Government. By Surgeon-General GORDON, M.D., 
 C.B., Hon. Physician to the Queen. Illustrated, price 10s. 6d. 
 
 11 A treatise of exceptional merit, drawn from personal experiences in the greatest war of 
 modern times." Army and Navy Gazette. 
 
20 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Hygiene. A Manual of Sanitation ; or, First Help in Sickness and 
 when Wounded. A pocket companion for officers and privates 
 in the army or volunteer forces in peace and in war. By the 
 same Author. Second edition, price, cloth 2s. 6d., or cheap 
 edition, paper wrapper Is. 
 
 "It is a most useful and practical manual, and, as the instructions are simple and reliable, 
 it should be placed in the hands of officers and men alike." Medical Press, 
 
 Hygiene. A Manual of Hygiene, Public and Private, and Com- 
 pendium of Sanitary Laws, for the information and guidance of 
 Public Health- Authorities and Sanitarians generally. By CHAS. 
 A. CAMERON, M.D., F.R.C.S., Professor of Hygiene, Royal 
 College of Surgeons, Medical Officer of Health and Public 
 Analyst, Dublin. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 " By far the most comprehensive work on hygiene for health officers and others, which we 
 have met with." Pharmaceutical Journal. 
 
 Hygiene. On Disease Prevention. A Practical Treatise on Dis- 
 infection. By the same Author. Price 6d. 
 
 " Contains practical directions for disinfecting rooms, clothing, bedding, etc., with chapters 
 on vaccination, water impurities, and other important sanitary matters." Sanitary Review. 
 
 Hygiene. On Vitiated Air. A Paper read before the Association 
 of Medical Officers of Health. By C. MEYMOTT TIDY, MB., 
 F.C.S., Professor of Chemistry and Medical Jurisprudence in the 
 London Hospital. Price 6d. 
 
 Hygiene. Short Lectures on Sanitary Subjects. By RICHARD J. 
 HALTON, L.K.Q.C.P., L.R.C.P. Ed., L.R.C.S.I., etc., Medical 
 Officer of Health to Kells. Price 5s. 
 
 "A book well adapted to popular reading, and replete with sound knowledge promotive of 
 good health and long life." Sanitarian. 
 
 Hygiene. Nature's Hygiene : A Series of Essays on Popular 
 Scientific Subjects, with special reference to the Eucalyptus and 
 the Pine. By C. T. KINGZETT, F.I.C., F.C.S. Demy 8vo., 
 price 7s. Cd. 
 
 " These highly interesting and instructive pages." Standard. 
 
 " Scientific, yet withal most interesting reading. It were well if the public would study 
 it themselves." Graphic. 
 
 Hygiene. A Manual of Naval Hygiene, with Instructions and 
 Hints on the Preservation of Health and the Prevention of Disease 
 on board Ship. By JOSEPH WILSON, M.D., Medical Director 
 of the United States Navy. Second edition, price 10s. 6d. 
 
 " No ship should be allowed to leave port without this valuable manual; yachtsmen will 
 also find it a most readable and useful companion." Medical Press. 
 
 India. Experiences of an Army Surgeon in India. By Surgeon- 
 General GORDON, M.D., C.B., Hon. Physician to the Queen, 
 A Concise Account of the Treatment of the Wounds, Injuries, and 
 Diseases incidental to a Residence in that Country. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Kidneys. Bright's Disease of the Kidneys. By J. M. CHARCOT, 
 Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Paris. Translated by 
 H. B. MILLARD, M.D., A.M. Revised by the Author, with 
 coloured plates, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 " We doubt very much if there exists in the English language any monograph in which the 
 various forms are so accurately and concisely described." Medical Press. 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 21 
 
 Life. (See Theories of Life.) 
 
 Lunacy. Handbook for Attendants on the Insane, their duties and 
 liabilities ; instructions for the management, artificial feeding, and 
 mechanical restraint of the insane ; legal documents required for 
 their confinement, etc. By L. S. FORBES WINSLOW, M.B., 
 D.C.L. Oxon. ; M.R.C.P.; Lecturer on Mental Diseases, Charing 
 Cross Hospital (Editor of The Journal of Psychological Medicine}. 
 Price Is. 
 
 Lunacy. Manual of Lunacy. A Handbook relating to the Legal 
 care and treatment of the Insane. By the same Author. Price 
 12s. 6d. 
 
 "A comprehensive digest of every subject connected with the legal care of the insane." 
 Medical Times. 
 
 Lunacy. A Lunacy Chart : being a Synopsis of the Lunacy Acts, 
 
 and having special reference to the management and care of 
 
 persons of Unsound Mind. By the same Author. Price Is. 6d., 
 
 varnished and mounted on canvas and rollers, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Lunacy. Spiritualistic Madness. By the same Author. Price Is, 
 
 Materia Medica. Aids to Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 
 
 Part I. The Non-metallic and Metallic Elements, Alcoholic and 
 
 Ethereal Preparations, etc. By 0. E. ARMAND SEMPLE, B.A., 
 
 M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P. Lond., Examiner in Arts at the 
 
 Apothecaries' Hall. Price, cloth Is. 6d., paper wrapper Is. 
 
 Part II. The Vegetable and Animal Substances. Double Part, 
 price, cloth 2s. 6d., paper 2s. 
 
 Materia Medica. Note-Book of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 
 By R. E. SCORESBY- JACKSON, M.D., F.R.S. Revised by 
 ANGUS MACDONALD, M.A., F.R.S. (New edition, in the Press.) 
 
 " A work we can recommend with the utmost confidence." Students' Journal. 
 
 Materia Medica. A Key to Organic Materia Medica. By JOHN 
 MUTER, Ph.D., M.A., F.C.S., President of the Society of Public 
 Analysts. Third edition, price 12s. 6d. 
 
 Materia Medica and Pharmacy. A Text-Book for Medical and 
 Pharmaceutical Students preparing for Examination. By W. 
 HANDSEL GRIFFITHS, Ph.D., F.C.S., F.R.C.P. Ed. Edited, and 
 in part written, by GEORGE F. DUFFEY, M.D. Dub., Fellow and 
 Examiner K.Q.C.P., Examiner in Materia Medica, Queen's 
 University of Ireland, Lecturer on Materia Medica in the 
 Carmichael College of Medicine, etc. Price 9s. 
 
 " A book of great value to the profession. . , . Will undoubtedly become a standard 
 text-book on Materia Medica." Edinburgh Medical Journal. 
 
 " Conveys a large amount of reliable information in a clear and attractive form." Dublin 
 Journal of Medical Science. 
 
 " One of the ablest, if not the best, work on the subject in the English language." Medical 
 Press and Circular. 
 
22 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Medical Education. Medical Education and Medical Organization. 
 The Hunterian Oration for 1880. By WALTER RIVINGTON, 
 B.A., M.B., F.R.C.S., Surgeon to the London Hospital, Examiner 
 in Anatomy and Physiology, Royal College of Surgeons, England. 
 Price Is. 
 
 Medical Profession. The Medical Profession : being the Essay to 
 which was awarded the First Carmichael Prize of 200 by the 
 Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, 1879. By 
 WALTER RIVINGTON, B.A., M.B., F.R.C.S., Surgeon to the 
 London Hospital, Examiner in Anatomy and Physiology, Royal 
 College of Surgeons, England. Price 6s. 
 
 Medical Profession. The Medical Profession in the Three 
 Kingdoms in 1879 : being the Essay to which was awarded the 
 Second Carmichael Prize of 100. By THOMAS LAFFAN, 
 L.K.Q.C.P.I., M.R.C.S. Ed., Physician to the Cashel Union and 
 Fever Hospitals. Price 4s. 
 
 Medical Profession. Medical Men and Manners of the Nineteenth 
 Century. By a Physician. Third Thousand, price 3s. 
 
 " At times scathing, at others amusing, the author is never dull, and writes withal, as one 
 who knows from experience the many blots on our system, and honestly tries to remedy 
 them." Medical Press. 
 
 " A most amusing satire, brimful of humour even when dealing with unpleasant facts." 
 Students' Journal. 
 
 Medical Reform. The General Medical Council : Whom it repre- 
 sents, and How it should be re-constructed. By ARCHIBALD 
 HAMILTON JACOB, M.D. Dub., F.R.C.S., Member of Council in 
 the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, Surgeon-Oculist to His 
 Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Price Is. 
 
 Medical Reform. The Medical Acts Amendment Bill and Medical 
 Reform. A Paper read before the Abernethian Society at St. 
 Bartholomew's Hospital. By W. E. STEAVENSON, M.B. Cantab., 
 M.R.C.S. Ed. Price Is. 
 
 Medicine. Aids to Medicine. Parti. General Diseases. Diseases 
 of the Lungs, Heart, and Liver. By C. E. ARMAND SEMPLE, 
 B.A., M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P. Lond. Price Is. 6d. 
 Part II. Pathology of the Urine, Diseases of the Kidneys, 
 Pancreas, Spleen, Stomach, Peritoneum, Throat, and (Esophagus. 
 Price Is. 6d. cloth, Is. paper wrapper. 
 
 Medicine. A Chronology of Medicine from the Earliest Times. 
 By J. MORGAN RICHARDS. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 Medicine. Essays on Conservative Medicine, and kindred topics. 
 By AUSTIN FLINT, M.D., Professor of the Principles and Practice 
 of Medicine in Bellevue Hosp. Medical College, New York. 
 Price 5s. 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 23 
 
 Medicine. Handbook of Popular Medicine for family instruction 
 and reference ; for colonists, travellers and others out of reach 
 of medical aid. By G. H. NAPHEYS, A.M., M.D. With movable 
 plate and 100 illustrations. Price 6s. 
 
 "We have rarely read any form of domestic medicine so simple, yet reliable." Public 
 Opinion. 
 
 Medico-Military Services. A Contribution to the Medical History 
 of our West African Campaigns, by Surgeon-Major ALBERT A. 
 GORE, M.D., Sanitary Officer on the Staff. Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 " Dr. Gore has given us a most interesting record of a series of stirring events in which 
 he took an active part, and of elaborate precautions for the maintenance of health." 
 Medical Press. 
 
 Medico-Military Services. Our Services under the Crown. A 
 Historical Sketch of the Army Medical Staff. By the same 
 author. Price 6s. 
 
 Military Surgery. Lessons in Hygiene and Surgery, from the 
 Franco-Prussian War. Prepared while on Special Service with 
 the French Army in Paris, on behalf of Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment. By Surgeon-General C. GORDON, M.D., C.B., Physician 
 to Her Majesty the Queen. Illustrated, price 10s. 6d. 
 
 Mind. The Training of the Mind for the Study of Medicine. A 
 Lecture delivered at St. George's Hospital. By ROBERT BRUDE- 
 NELL CARTER, F.E.C.S., Surgeon to the Hospital. Price Is. 
 
 " A remarkable address." The Lancet. 
 
 " No one can read it without learning and profiting much." Students' Journal. 
 
 Morals. Cheerful Words : Short Sermons for Asylums, Hospitals, 
 Gaols, and other Public Institutions. By Dignitaries of the 
 Church, and Clergymen. Edited by WM. HYSLOP, Superinten- 
 dent of Stretton House Asylum. Vols. I., II., price 5s. each. 
 
 Morals. A Physician's Sermon to Young Men. By WILLIAM 
 PRATT, M.A., M.D., etc. Second thousand, price Is. 
 
 "The delicate topic is handled wisely, judiciously, and religiously, as well as very plainly." 
 The Guardian. 
 
 Morals. Revelations of Quacks and Quackery. A Directory of the 
 London and Provincial Quack Doctors ; with Facts and Cases 
 in Illustration of their Nefarious Practices. By " DETECTOR." 
 Twenty-fifth thousand, price Is. 6d. 
 
 Natural History. Contributions to Natural History, and papers on 
 other subjects. By JAS. SIMSON (Author of " History of the 
 Gipsies"). Second edition, price 6s. 
 
 Neuralgia. Its Nature, Causes, and Curative Treatment. By THOS. 
 STRETCH DOWSE, M.D., F.E.C.P. Ed., Physician to the Hospital 
 for Epilepsy and Paralysis, formerly Medical Superintendent of 
 the Central London Sick Asylum. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Nursing. Hints for Hospital Nurses. By RACHEL WILLIAMS, of 
 St. Mary's Hospital, London, and the Edinburgh Royal Infirm- 
 ary, and ALICE FISHER, of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Fever 
 Hospital. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
24 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Nursing". How to Feed an Infant. With an Appendix on the 
 Common Ailments of Infancy, with their Hygienic and Curative 
 Treatment. By BENSON BAKER, M.D. Price Is. 6d. 
 
 " Popularly written, and sensible in the highest degree, its widespread perusal would help 
 to bring about a more rational system of bringing up infants." Graphic. 
 "Based upon the wide and practical experience of the Author." Society. 
 
 Nursing". How to bring up Children by Hand. By J. FOSTER 
 PALMER, L.E.C.P. Price 6d, 
 
 Nursing". Practical Guide for the Young Mother. From the French 
 of Dr. BROCHARD, Director-General of Nurseries and Creches, 
 with Notes and Hints by a London Physician. Price 2s. 
 
 Nursing". The Child, and How to Nurse it. By ALEX. MILNE, 
 M.D., Vice-President of the Obstetrical Society of Edinburgh. 
 Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Obstetrics. Lessons in Gynaecology and Obstetrics. By WILLIAM 
 GOODELL, A.M., M.D., Professor of Clinical Gynaecology in the 
 University of Pennsylvania. Second edition, with ninety-two 
 illustrations, price 18s. 
 
 Obstetrics. The Therapeutics of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, com- 
 prising the Medical, Dietetic and Hygienic Treatment of Diseases 
 of Women, as set forth by distinguished contemporary Specialists. 
 Edited by WILLIAM B. ATKINSON, A.M., M.D. Price 15s. 
 
 Obstetrics. Obstetrics and Diseases of Women. By EGBERT 
 BARNES, M.D., F.E.C.P. Lond., Obstetric Physician and Lec- 
 turer on Diseases of Women, St. George's Hospital (see chapters 
 in Gant's Surgery). 
 
 Obstetrics. On Fibrous Tumours of the Womb : Points connected 
 with their Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment. Being the 
 Lettsomian Lectures delivered before the Medical Society of 
 London. By C. H. F. EOUTH, M.D., M.E.C.P. Lond., Senior 
 Physician to the Samaritan Hospital for Women. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Osteology. Osteology for Students, with Atlas of Plates. By 
 ARTHUR TREHERN NORTON, F.E.C.S., Surgeon to, and Lecturer 
 on Surgery at, St. Mary's Hospital. Atlas and Text in one 
 volume, 7s. 6d. ; in two volumes, 8s. 6d. 
 
 . " The handiest and most complete hand-book of Osteology." The Lancet. 
 
 Overwork. Overwork and Premature Mental Decay : its Treatment. 
 By C. H. F. EOUTH, M.D., M.E.C.P. Lond., Senior Physician 
 to the Samaritan Hospital for Women and Children. Third 
 edition, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Palaeontology. A Treatise on Palaeontology. By A. J. JUKES- 
 BROWNE, B.A., F.G.S., of Her Majesty's Geological Survey (see 
 Field Geology and Palaeontology, by PENNING and JUKES- 
 BROWNE). 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 25 
 
 Pharmacy. A Treatise on Pharmacy. A Text-book for Students, 
 and a Guide for the Physician and Pharmacist. By EDWARD 
 PARRISH. Fourth edition, enlarged and revised by T. S, 
 WIEGAND, F.C.S. With 280 illustrations, half-bound morocco, 
 price 30s. 
 
 " There is nothing to equal Parrish's Pharmacy in this on any other language." Pharma- 
 ceutical Journal. 
 
 Physiological Laboratory. A Manual for the Physiological 
 Laboratory. By VINCENT HARRIS, M.D., M.R.C.P. Lond., 
 Demonstrator of Physiology at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and 
 DARCY POWER, B.A. Oxon., Assistant Demonstrator. Price 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 " A book which should be in every student's hands.' Medical Press. 
 
 Physiology. Aids to Physiology. By B. THOMPSON LOWNE, 
 F.R.C.S., Arris and Gale Lecturer and Examiner in Physiology, 
 Royal College of Surgeons of England. Price 2s. 6d. cloth, 2s. 
 paper wrapper. 
 
 "As 'aids ' and not substitutes, they will prove of real value to students." Medical Press 
 " Certainly one of the best of the now popular ' Aid Series.' " Students' Journal. 
 
 Physiology. Manual of Physiology. By Professors Kuss and 
 DUVAL, of Strasbourg. Translated by Professor AMORY, M.D. 
 Illustrated with 150 engravings, price 10s. 6d. 
 
 " The best Students' Manual we have seen." Medico- Chirurgical Review. 
 " One of the best in the English language." Medical Press. 
 
 Physiology. Movable Atlases of Anatomy and Physiology. Super- 
 posed coloured plates. By Prof. G. J. WITKOWSKL A Com- 
 panion and Supplement to every work on the subject. (See 
 Anatomy.) 
 
 Physiology. The Physiology of Intestinal Obstruction and Con- 
 stipation. ByC. J. HARRIS, M.RC.S. Price Is. 
 
 Physiology. The Physiologist in the Household. By J. MILNER 
 FOTHERGILL, M.D., M.R.C.P., Lond. Part I. Adolescence. 
 Price Is. 
 
 Population, On the Evils, Moral and Physical, likely to follow, 
 if practices, intended to act as checks to population, be not 
 strongly discouraged and condemned. Read at the Annual 
 Meeting of the British Medical Association, with the discussion 
 thereon. Second thousand, price Is. 
 
 Posology. Posological Tables : a Classified Chart of Diseases, show- 
 ing at a glance the Dose of every Officinal Substance and 
 Preparation. For the use of Practitioners and Students. By 
 HANDSEL GRIFFITHS, Ph.D., L.R.C.P., etc., late Professor of 
 Chemistry, Ledwich School of Medicine. Fourth edition, 
 price Is. 
 
 Posology. The Pharmacopceial Companion to the Visiting List. 
 A Posological Table of all the Medicines of the British Phar- 
 macopoeia, arranged according to their action. By R. T. H, 
 BARTLEY, M.D., M.B. Lond., Surgeon to the Bristol Eye 
 Hospital. Second edition, price 6d. 
 
26 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Post-Mortems. Hand-book of Post-Mortem Examinations, and of 
 Morbid Anatomy. By FRANCIS DELAFIELD, M.D., Curator to 
 Bellevue Hospital, New York. Price 15s. 
 
 Protoplasm, See Theories of Life. 
 
 Sewage. The Sewage Question : Eeports upon the Principal 
 Sewage Farms and Works of the Kingdom, with Notes and 
 Chemical Analyses. By the late Dr. LETHEBY. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 " These Reports will dissipate obscurity, and, by placing the subject in a proper light, will 
 enable local authorities, and others interested in the matter, to perceive the actual truths of 
 the question, and to apply them practically." 
 
 Skin. Diseases of the Skin. By ERASMUS WILSON, F.R.S., 
 F.R.C.S., Vice-President of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
 England. (See chapters in Gant's " Surgery "). 
 Skin. Some Diseases of the Skin which are produced by derange- 
 ments of the Nervous System. By T. STRETCH DOWSE, M.D., 
 F.E.C.P. Ed., Physician to the Hospital for Paralysis and 
 Epilepsy, and Physician, Skin Department, Charing Cross 
 Hospital. Price 2s. 
 
 Skin. Lectures on Eing-worm and other Diseases of the Skin, due 
 to Yegetoid Parasites. By JAS. STARTIN, M.RC.S. Price Is. 
 SphygniOgraph. The Use of the Sphygmograph in Surgery. By 
 F. A. MAHOMED, M.D., M.R.C.P. Loncl, Medical Registrar, 
 Guy's Hospital. (See chapter in Gant's " Surgery.") 
 Surgery. The Science and Practice of Surgery, being a Complete 
 Text-book. With special chapters by 
 
 Wm. Adams, F.R.C.S., Deformities. 
 
 Robt. Barnes, M.D., F.R.C.P., Obstetrics. 
 
 Morell Mackenzie, M.D., The Throat. 
 
 F. A. Mahomed, M.D., The Sphygmograph. 
 
 Hy. Power, F.R.C.S., Ophthalmic Surgery. 
 
 Laidlaw Purves, M.D., Aural Surgery. 
 
 C. S. Tomes, M.A., Oxon, F.R.S., Dental Surgery 
 
 Prof. Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S., The Skin. 
 
 By FREDERICK J. GANT, F.R.C.S., President of the Medical 
 Society of London, Senior Surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital. 
 Second edition, illustrated by nearly 1000 engravings, new and 
 original, in 2 vols., price 31s. 6d. 
 
 " Gant's able and laborious work must be commended." The Lan&t. 
 " Does credit to the author's thorough surgical knowledge." British Medical Journal. 
 " Will become one of the most popular Surgical Text-books in the English language." 
 Medical Press. 
 
 "A very complete and trustworthy guide to practice." Medical Times. 
 
 Surgery. Aids to Surgery. By GEORGE BROWN, M.R.C.S., Gold 
 Medalist, Charing Cross Hospital, Author of "Aids to 
 Anatomy." Price Is. Gd. cloth, Is. paper wrapper. 
 
 Surgery. The Text-book of Operative Surgery. From the French 
 of Professors CLAUDE BERNARD and HUETTE. With 83 plates. 
 Text edited and re-written, by ARTHUR TREHERN NORTON, 
 F.R.C.S., Surgeon to, and Lecturer on Surgery at, St, Mary's 
 Hospital. Price, plain, 25s. ; coloured, half-calf, 50s. 
 
 " Of the highest merit as a guide to operative surgery." Students' Journal, 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox s Books. 27 
 
 Surgery. Abstracts of Surgical Principles for Medical Students. 
 By THOS. ANN AND ALE, F.R.C.S., F.R.S., Surgeon to, and 
 Lecturer on Surgery at, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. Price 
 7s. 6d. 
 
 Surgery. A Manua.1 of the Operations of Surgery, for the use of 
 Senior Students, etc. BY JOSEPH BELL, F.R.C.S., Lecturer on 
 Surgery, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. Third edition, price 6s, 
 
 Teeth. Dental Surgery. By CHAS. S. TOMES, M.A. Oxon, F.R.S. 
 (See chapters in Gant's " Surgery.") 
 
 Teeth. Movable Atlas of the Teeth and Ear. By Professor WIT- 
 KOWSKI. (See Anatomy.) 
 
 Teeth. The Dental Student's Note-Book. By OAKLEY COLES, 
 L.D.S. Second thousand, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Theories of Disease. The Germ Theories of Infectious Diseases. 
 By JOHN DRYSDALE, M.D., F.R.M.S., President of the Liver- 
 pool Microscopical Society. Price Is. 
 
 Theories of Disease. A Parasitic or Germ Theory of Disease : 
 the Skin, Eye, and other affections. By JABEZ HOGG, M.R.C.S., 
 Consulting Surgeon to the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic 
 Hospital. Second edition, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Theories of Life. The Protoplasmic Theory of Life. Containing 
 the Latest Researches on the subject. By JOHN. DRYSDALE, 
 M.D., F.R.M.S., President of the Liverpool Microscopical 
 Society. Price 5s. 
 
 "Subjects beyond the pale of precise knowledge are treated of in a manner which will 
 quite repay perusal." Nature. 
 
 Theories of Life. Life and the Equivalence of Force. By the 
 eame Author. 
 
 Part I. Historical Notice of the Discovery of the Law of 
 Equivalence of Force. Price Is. 
 
 Part II. Nature of Force and Life : containing the Harmony 
 of Fletcher and Beale. Price Is. 6d. 
 
 " We cannot part from this work without praising the calm and excellent spirit in which 
 the subject is handled. " The Examiner. 
 
 Theories of Life. Can we Prolong Life 1 An Enquiry into the 
 Causes of Premature Old Age and Death. By C. W. DE LACY 
 EVANS, M.R.C.S. Price 5s. 
 
 "A good account of the somatic changes which occur with the advance of age." 
 The Lancet. 
 " This is a very ingenious and interesting book." Chemist and Druggist. 
 
 Therapeutics. Modern Medical Therapeutics. A compendium 
 of recent Formula and Specific Therapeutical directions, from 
 the practice of eminent Contemporary Physicians, English, 
 American, and Foreign. Edited by G. H. NAPHEYS, A.M., M.D. 
 Seventh edition, price 18s. 
 
 " No one who carefully peruses this work can feel surprised at the demand for it; edition 
 after edition sells with great rapidity." Medical Press. 
 
 "A summary of the best modes of treatment." Practitioner. 
 
 " The volume will supply what many practitioners are often anxious to possess for reference 
 in the practice of their art." Glasgow Medical Journal. 
 
28 Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox s Books. 
 
 Therapeutics. Modern Surgical Therapeutics. A Compendium 
 of the most recent Formulae, and specific Therapeutical directions; 
 from the Practice of eminent contemporary Physicians and 
 Surgeons, English, American, and Foreign. Edited by G. H. 
 NAPHEYS, A.M., M.D. Sixth edition, price 18s. 
 
 " Of much value to the surgeon and general practitioner." New York Medical Journal. 
 ' ' Invaluable to every practising physician. " New York Medical Record. 
 " All that is in the book is good." Philadelphia Medical Times. 
 
 Therapeutics. Aids to Eational Therapeutics, for the guidance of 
 Practitioners and Senior Students. By J. MILNER FOTHERGILL, 
 M.D. Price 2s., paper wrapper ; 2s. 6d., cloth. 
 
 Therapeutics. The Therapeutics of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 
 comprising the Medical, Dietetic and Hygienic Treatment of 
 Diseases of Women as set forth by Contemporary Specialists. 
 Edited by W. R ATKINSON, A.M., M.D. Price 15s. (See 
 Obstetrics.) 
 
 Throat. Movable Atlas of the Throat, and the Mechanism of 
 Voice, Speech, and Taste. By Prof. WITKOWSKI. (See 
 Anatomy.) 
 
 Throat. Diseases of the Throat. By MORELL MACKENZIE, M.D. 
 (See chapters in Gant's " Surgery.") 
 
 Throat. The Throat and its Diseases. A Practical Guide to Diag- 
 nosis and Treatment. With 100 typical illustrations in chromo- 
 lithography (seven colours) and 50 wood engravings, designed 
 and executed by the Author, LENNOX BROWNE, F.R.C.S. Ed., 
 Senior Surgeon to the Central London Throat and Ear Hospital, 
 Surgeon and Aural Surgeon to the Royal Society of Musicians, 
 etc. Second Edition, price 18s. 
 
 Throat. Affections of the Throat and Larynx. By ARTHUR 
 TREHERN NORTON, F.R.C.S., Surgeon to St. Mary's Hospital. 
 Second edition, illustrated, price 6s. 
 
 "Short, simple, and thoroughly practical instruction." Medical Times. 
 
 Throat. Lessons in Laryngoscopy and Rhinoscopy : including the 
 Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases of the Throat and Nose. 
 Illustrated with hand-coloured plates and woodcuts. By 
 PROSSER JAMES, M.D., M.R.C.P., Lecturer on Materia Medica 
 and Therapeutics at the London Hospital, Physician to the 
 Hospital for Diseases of the Throat, etc. Third edition, price 
 5s. 6d. 
 
 Urine. The Urine. A Guide to its Practical Examination. By 
 Prof. J. TYSON, M.D., Professor of Morbid Anatomy in the 
 University of Pennsylvania, and President of the Pathologial 
 Society of Philadelphia. With numerous illustrations, price 5s. 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 29 
 
 Veterinary. A Text-book of Veterinary Obstetrics, including the 
 diseases and accidents incidental to pregnancy, parturition, and 
 early age in the Domesticated Animals. By GEORGE FLEMING, 
 F.RC.V.S., F.G.S., President of the Eoyal Veterinary College, 
 (Editor of " The Veterinary Journal.") Price 30s. cloth, copiously 
 illustrated. 
 
 "Every page impresses upon the reader the highest sense of the exceptional learning and 
 consummate skill of the author." The Lancet. 
 
 " Has filled up a void in a more satisfactory and complete way than any other member of 
 his profession could have done." The Field. 
 
 "No man who makes any pretensions to Veterinary Science or Stock-breeding can dispense 
 with this work." Live Stock Journal. 
 
 Veterinary. A Text-book of Veterinary Pathology and Practical 
 Therapeutics. By the same Author. (In preparation.) 
 
 Veterinary, Animal Plagues, their History, Nature, and Treat- 
 ment. By the same Author. Price 1 5s. 
 
 Veterinary. The Contagious Diseases of Animals : their influence 
 on the wealth and health of the nation. Read before the 
 Society of Arts. By the same Author. Price 6d. 
 
 Veterinary. A Manual of Veterinary Sanitary Science and 
 Police, embracing the nature, causes, and symptoms of Diseases 
 in Cattle, their prevention, treatment, etc. By the same 
 Author. 2 vols., price 36s. 
 
 Veterinary. Practical Horse-Shoeing. By the same Author. 
 Third edition, price 2s. 
 
 Veterinary. A Manual of Operative Veterinary Surgery. By 
 the same Author. Shortly. 
 
 Veterinary. The Principles and Practice of Veterinary Surgery ; 
 embracing the Surgical Pathology of all the Domesticated 
 Animals. By WM. WILLIAMS, F.RC.V.S., Principal and Pro- 
 fessor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at the New Veteri- 
 nary College, Edinburgh. With 140 illustrations. Third 
 edition, price 30s. 
 
 Veterinary. The Principles and Practice of Veterinary Medicine. 
 
 By the same Author. Second edition, with plates, price 30s. 
 Veterinary. A Text-book on the Examination of Horses as to 
 
 Soundness. A course of Lectures delivered at the Royal 
 
 Veterinary College, Edinburgh. By Professor FEARNLEY. 
 
 With an Appendix on the Law of Horses and Warranty. 
 
 Illustrated, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Veterinary. Lessons in Horse- Judging, with instructions on the 
 Summering of Hunters. By the same Author. Illustrated, 
 price 4s. 
 
30 Baiiliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 
 
 Veterinary. The Four Bovine Scourges : Pleuroneumonia, Foot 
 and Mouth Disease, Cattle Plague, and Tubercle ; with an 
 Appendix on the Inspection of Live Animals and Meat. By 
 THOS. WALLEY, Principal and Professor of Veterinary Medicine 
 and Surgery, Edinburgh Royal Veterinary College. Price 16s. 
 
 Veterinary. The Management and Diseases of the Dog. By 
 J. W. HILL, F.R.C.V.S. Copiously illustrated, price 10s." 6d. 
 
 " Contains much valuable information." The Field. 
 "An excellent and complete manual." The Standard. 
 
 Veterinary. Principles and Practice of Bovine Medicine and 
 Surgery. By the same Author. Copiously illustrated. (In 
 the Press.) 
 
 Veterinary. The Diseases of Live Stock, and their most Efficient 
 Remedies ; including Horses, Cattle, Sheep, and Swine : being 
 a Popular Treatise, giving in brief and plain language a descrip- 
 tion of all the usual diseases to which these animals are liable, 
 and the most successful treatment of English, American, and 
 Continental Veterinarians. By LLOYD V. TELLOR, M.D., V.S. 
 Price 10s. 6d. 
 
 Veterinary. Strangeway's Veterinary Anatomy. Revised and 
 Edited by J. VAUGHAN, F.L.S., F.Z.S. Second edition, price 
 24s. 
 
 Veterinary. Anatomical Outlines of the Horse. By J. A. 
 McBRiDE, Ph.D., M.R.C.V.S. Second edition. Revised and 
 enlarged by T. WALTER MAYER, F.R.C.V.S., Examiner at the 
 Royal Veterinary College. Illustrated, price 8s. 6d. 
 
 Veterinary. Horses : their Rational Treatment, and the Causes ot 
 their Premature Decay. By "Amateur." Price 5s. 
 
 Veterinary. An Abridgment of the Above. By the same Author. 
 Price Is. 
 
 The Philosophy of Voice. Showing the right and wrong Action 
 of the Breath and Vocal Cords in the Production of Articulate 
 Speech and Song. By CHARLES LUNN. Fourth Edition. 
 Price Is. 6d. 
 
 PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 The Medical Press and Circular. Established 1838. Published 
 every Wednesday in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh. One of 
 the oldest and most influential Medical Journals. Price 5d. ; 
 1 Is. per annum, post free, in advance. , 
 
 The Student's Journal and Hospital Gazette. A Fortnightly 
 Review of Medicine, Surgery, and the Collateral Sciences. The 
 only Paper that represents the whole body of Medical Students. 
 Price 4d. ; 7s. 6d. per annum, prepaid. 
 
Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox's Books. 31 
 
 The Veterinary Journal, and Annals of Comparative Patho- 
 logy. Edited by GEORGE FLEMING, F.R.C.V.S., President of 
 the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Monthly, price 
 Is. 6d. ; 18s. per annum, prepaid. 
 
 The Analyst. The Official Organ of "The Society of Public 
 Analysts." The best Journal for Medical Officers of Health, 
 Sanitarians, and those interested in the purity of Food, Drugs, 
 &c., monthly. Price 6d. 5s. per annum, if paid in advance. 
 
 Quarterly Journal of Inebriety. Published under the auspices 
 of The .American Association for the Cure of Inebriates. Price, 
 2s. 6d. each; 10s. per annum, post free. 
 
 The Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Patho- 
 logy. Edited by LYTTLETON S. FORBES WINSLOW, M.B., 
 D.C.L. Oxon., Lecturer on Mental Diseases. Charing Cross 
 Hospital. Half-yearly, April and October, price 3s. 6d. ; 7s. 
 per annum, post free, prepaid.- 
 
 DIRECTORIES. 
 
 The Irish Medical Directory (Annual). A Directory of the 
 Profession in Ireland ; their Residences and Qualifications ; the 
 Public Offices which they hold, or have held ; the Dates of 
 Appointments ; and published writings for which they are dis- 
 tinguished, etc., together with the various Acts of Parliament 
 relating to the Medical Profession at large, price 6s. 
 
 The Medical Register and Directory of the United States of 
 America. Containing the Names and Addresses of about 
 70,000 Practitioners. Second issue, price 30s. 
 
 Anuario del Comercio. Commercial Directory for Spain, its 
 Colonies and Dependencies. Containing 500,000 Names and 
 Addresses of the Commercial Houses, Public Officers, Offices, 
 etc., etc. Annual, price 20s. net. 
 
%* Single copies of any work sent post free in the United Kingdom on receipt 
 of published price. 
 
 Any work not on this Catalogue, will be procured and sent immediately on 
 receipt of order with remittance or reference. 
 
 Special terms made for large purchases, the furnishing of libraries, and shipping 
 orders. 
 
 Messrs. Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox have special facilities for the disposal of 
 author's works in the United States, and abroad j being in almost daily com- 
 munication with the principal houses and agents. 
 
 Messrs. Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox are the specially appointed Agents for 
 k 'The Revue des Deux Mondes." 
 
 Revue Seientifique de la France et de PEtranger. 
 Revue Politique et Litteraire. 
 
 Revue Philosophique de la France et de 1'Etranger. 
 Revue Mensuelle de Medecine et de Chirurgie. 
 Le Progres Medical. 
 
 THE FOLLOWING VALUABLE SCIENTIFIC DICTIONARIES ARE IN COURSE 
 OF PUBLICATION IN FRENCH. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Dictionnaire de Chimie pure et appliquee, en livraisons ... o 4 6 
 
 Dietionnaire de Medecine, de chirurgie, et d'hygiene 
 veterinaires. Edition entierement refondue par A. Zundel, en 6 
 parties ... ... ... ... .. ... ... 300 
 
 Dictionnaire Eneyelopedique des Sciences Medicales 
 public par demi-volume de chacun 400 pages et en quatre series 
 simultanees : la premiere, commen9ant par la lettre A ; la deu- 
 xieme, par la lettre L ; la troisieme, par la lettre Q, et la qua- 
 trieme par F. ... ... ... ... ... - .... o 6 o 
 
 Nouveau Dictionnaire de Medeeine et de chirurgie 
 
 pratiques, d'environ 32 volumes, chaque ... ... ... o 10 o 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, 
 or on the date to which renewed. Renewals only: 
 
 Tel. No. 642-3405 
 
 Renewals may be made 4 days priod to date due. 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 81970 > 
 
 
 REC.CIR. 
 
 LD21A-60m-8,'70 
 (N8837slO)476 A-32 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
YC 61431 
 
Bl