supersede medical advice, but it teaches what is the nurse's duty after the medical attendant has done his part, or before the doctor has been called in. We are tempted to quote the description of that new and terrible complaint, diphtheria :

"DIPHTHERIA is a name which, a few years ago, would have hardly been familiar to any of our readers, but now recalls to many of them terrible memories of happy voices silenced in a few brief days, and bright forms cut down by the scythe of early death. If it were not too sad, we could name instances in which these dear children died, humanly speaking, simply because the complaint was not understood; especially in country villages, where it had never, before the last few years, appeared as an epidemic.

"It generally begins with sore-throat, often very slight, which is followed by the appearance of white spots on the tonsils, or back of the throat and mouth, which, if neglected, spread and run into each other, forming a thick white coating, like the false membrane described in croup, which lines the tonsils. This may spread to the windpipe, giving rise to fatal croup. It is frequently attended with fever and swelling of the glands outside the throat. But the peculiar characteristic of the disease is the extreme and deadly prostration which accompanies it, which seems to result from the poisoned state of the blood.

"The hope of recovery seems to depend, in great measure, upon suitable remedies being early applied, as there is a marked connexion between the early checking of the deposits or spots, and the speedy recovery of the patient, though it sometimes happens that death occurs after all traces of the throat complaints have disappeared.

Blistering, bleeding, emetics, and whatever comes under the head of lowering treatment, are now condemned by all doctors who have had much experience of the disease. The great objects are, to sustain the patient's strength, and to check the local mischief. The last is best done by a direct application of caustic in some form or other, which seems to have the power to kill the disease to a certain extent.

"In illustration of the connection between the arrest of the deposit and cutting short the disease, M. Trousseau relates the story of the prevalence of diphtheria in a village, where all the cases treated by the medical men, who confined themselves to the use of constitutional remedies, proved fatal; while the only cures were wrought by an old woman who despised the doctors and their remedies, and applied indiscriminately to everybody's throat a rough and rather violent corrosive."

"It is scarcely less important to keep up the strength by food and stimulants. The doctor will order the right quantity of wine,-it is surprising how much may be given with benefit when exhaustion really sets in. He will also prescribe quinine, or some suitable tonic; but it will be your part to give as much nourishing food, in a light form, as you can provide, or beg, or borrow, for your sick child. Beef-juice, essence of beef, wine jelly, brandy and egg beaten up, new milk and isinglass, coffee, &c., may all be taken. Another point of importance about the food is, to give it at short intervals. The patient must take something every hour, and must not be allowed even to sleep at night longer than two hours without food. If the formation of the false membrane has early been cut short, and the strength can be sustained for the first few days, the case will probably end favourably, but will require constant care and nourishment for weeks afterwards.

"You will remember how careful you ought to be, if your child complains of any sore-throat, to examine its mouth and throat minutely, and if you see any white spots, to call in advice."

We add as a proof of the excellent spirit of the work the author's remarks upon another disease, to which children more especially are liable-inflammation of the lungs :

"INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.-Do you want to know whether this is a dangerous complaint? Consult the register of deaths in Great Britain for 1839 alone, and you will find that in this one year 18,151 children died from this disease. It very frequently occurs with bronchitis, and the same general laws must be laid down for its treatment. It is especially to be guarded against in the course of other complaints, as whooping-cough, fever, measles, and croup.

"One thing to be carefully attended to in inflammation of the lungs, is the position of the child. People labouring for breath generally sit nearly upright. If

you prop up your little patient, he will breathe much more easily. The reason is plain enough. Don't you know if you have a whitlow, if you hang down your finger, the blood will run into it more, and it will throb worse? Just so when a child is laid flat, the blood runs more into its sore chest, and presses, on the little cells of the sponge-like lungs, so that the child cannot fill them with air, in other words, he cannot draw a deep breath.

"Another thing is to keep him quiet. If a limb is bad, you rest it, exercise makes it worse. When the chest and throat are sore, they must rest, not talk or cry, which is their way of being exercised. A mother knows a hundred nameless ways of keeping her baby quiet and happy; she has her ways of rocking and soothing, singing and cheering. An older child will enjoy being talked to when it cannot talk. Your Bible will furnish it with the tales it loves best, from David the giant-killer to the sick child raised from death by the loving voice and touch of her Saviour. There is music in the very name of Jesus to a little one who has learned in health to thank Him for all its little joys."

PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

THE history of nations never afforded a more remarkable contrast than that which now presents itself between Great Britain and the rest of Europe, we might say the rest of the world. At home, we enjoy profound repose. England was never so great, yet never was she governed with so much ease; never did she exhibit, in all classes, so much contentment. The Queen and Prince Consort spend three weeks in Germany, her Ministers are at their country seats, parliament is closed; yet the government noiselessly goes on, and the great machinery seems to move as well as ever, and almost of its own accord. The elements of discord are not wanting, if there were a disposition to use them. The harvest is indifferent, the price of food rises; the poor have the prospect, not, we hope, of much real suffering, but of a pinching winter. Yet all is still. We have some discussion in our country towns, at various social and agricultural meetings, but no real dissatisfaction anywhere. The orators who threatened us with an autumn of political agitation have abandoned their intention. The British nation, England, Ireland, and Scotland, is at rest; and the Queen returns home from her short absence to meet with as hearty a reception from her subjects as if she had been three years, instead of as many weeks, a stranger.

But this happy state of things is not without its perils. There is some danger lest it should be taken for granted that we have attained a state of political immunity, in which a careful attention either to the improvement of our institutions or the working of government is unnecessary. Such periods of tranquillity ought to be wisely employed. Who does not now deplore the negligence and apathy of the long administration of Lord Liverpool in the peaceful days of George the Fourth? How many wholesome reforms might have been quietly introduced; how much fresh life might have been thrown into many a mouldering institution! But the time was lost, and we shall perhaps never cease to feel the injury which these neglects inflicted upon us, both in church and state. Taking higher ground, there is some

danger, too, lest, to borrow the language of holy writ, we should begin to sacrifice to our net and burn incense to our drag.

We see with pain the indications of this already. We grow vainglorious. Public lecturers, who should know better, are too fond of flattering the vanity of "the great Anglo-Saxon family" (which, by the way, we take leave to remark, would have been a boorish race to this day but for the happy commixture of its Norman blood); newspapers, of course, are eloquent upon the same key, for the people love to have it so. But we should like to hear from our public speakers something much more frequently upon the subject of national responsibility upon the foulness of national ingratitude; upon the duty of giving God the praise which is His due.

Beyond our own shores this scene of quietude and repose is almost everywhere reversed. Continental Europe seems to be in one universal ferment. In Spain, an attempt is made to assassinate the queen. Constantinople trembles for the consequences which may follow the presence of a French army and a British fleet. Her empire seems to be on the verge of dismemberment, and the first bold tread may bring down the tottering edifice. Denmark is again anxious for her two duchies, which Sweden covets. Russia, torn with internal dissension, is alarmed by the progress of revolutionary principles in neighbouring states. Austria cringes to Hungary; fearing that while Italy occupies her armies, the down-trod nation may assert its independence. Prussia betrays a deplorable want of firmness or want of principle. Her interests have always been found to lie on the side of Protestant Germany and the English alliance. Yet this week a conference of the two emperors of Russia and Austria, with their ministers, sits at Warsaw, and to this the prince regent of Prussia has accepted an invitation. From the fact that the emperor of France has not been invited, it may be inferred, with some degree of confidence, that the design is to unite in an armed interference in the affairs of Italy; and this conjecture is almost reduced to a certainty from the fact that within the last few days the Russian ambassador has been withdrawn from Turin, and the Sardinian ambassador from St. Petersburg. Prussia, no doubt, is angry with us that we will not plunge into a war with France, from whom she has much to fear. She may rest assured, however, that with continental politics England will not soon embroil herself. The lessons of the last great war are not yet forgotten. We shall leave other nations to fight their own battles, and win if they can their own freedom; praying only that God will defend the right, and interfering only, if we interfere at all, as in the instance of the late king of Naples, with remonstrances, repaid with insolence at the time, and remembered when sorrow comes too late. If I'russia should throw herself into an alliance with Russia and Austria to maintain the papacy, the Neapolitan tyranny, or even the milder despotism of Austria below the Alps, her infatuation must be great indeed. The success of these powers would recoil upon her, and make her the mere vassal of her two arrogant allies.

The state of Italy at the present moment is easily described: what it may be a month or a week hence is a mystery,-buried deep in the impenetrable reserve of Napoleon the Third, the proud but silent arbiter of her destiny. Without any formal declaration of war,

Victor Emmanuel has marched his army into the dominions of the king of Naples. Garibaldi, acting on his own authority, has done the same. The king of Naples, contrary to all expectation, made a stand, and hazarded a battle on the Volturno, on the 1st instant. He was defeated by Garibaldi with great loss, and retired on Gaeta and Capua, which he still holds; and it seems probable that he will risk another battle before he finally abandons the hope of being still a king. But his subjects have already determined the question in their own way. It has been left to the issue of a national vote, and the unanimous voice of the people has declared in favour of an united Italy under the king of Sardinia. The pope's army had been already disposed of, and the subjects of his holiness would be only too happy to transfer their allegiance to the same new master; but the mysterious emperor forbids the banns. He who owes his own throne to the popular vote, doubles his army of occupation at Rome, and at present maintains his spiritual puppet in his temporal throne. An Austrian army once more hurries to the Po, and it is evident that another great conflict is near. At present the Italians are moderate and united. Mazzini and the republicans at Naples made a feeble attempt to establish a diversion in favour of a republic, but were scarcely heard. The voice of Italy is unanimous; but who shall tell us how long this unanimity will last, or how soon external forces may not rush in upon the scene and dissolve the fair vision, like a summer's cloud?

Yet the seeds of freedom are sown, and will never perish from the soil. Italy can never be the base thing she has now been for many centuries. The correspondent of the Times reports, that he saw a copy of Diodati's Bible on a book-stall at Naples; he inquired how many had been sold, and was answered, "A great many, perhaps two hundred." This was within about a week of the king's flight; before which, we need scarcely say, no copy of the Bible was ever sold in Naples. Pursuing his inquiries, he learned that two thousand copies had arrived, and all met with a ready sale. This writer cautions "the fanatics of Exeter Hall" not to mar the work by sending controversial preachers to arouse the jealousy of the priests and people. The advice seems good at the present juncture; and the fanatics meanwhile may be grateful for the success which has already blessed their labours. Exeter Hall influences have been at work; for the Bibles, he tells us, bear the imprimatur of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

The remote Chinese world is not less disturbed than Europe. The great rebellion, crushed or suspended for a time, again makes head, and left to itself would probably have soon accomplished the destruction of the ruling dynasty. But the English and French armies have landed without opposition, and are now on their way to Pekin. At the last tidings the Chinese army was near, and every day the news of a battle is expected. The one anxiety of England is to see this miserable Chinese quarrel brought to a close, and our brave soldiers once more at home.

Our pen is weary of this catalogue of wars and horrors. But the tale runs on. The New Zealanders have surprised and defeated our English troops, and, right or wrong, must now no doubt be made to feel the penalties of armed rebellion. Archdeacon Hatfield has pub

lished a statement of the case, showing how grievously they were wronged in the first instance; and the Governor of New Zealand has at length done that which he ought to have done long since he has sought an interview with the Maories, and listened to their own statement of their grievances. We fear the cause of religion amongst the heathen will suffer much, and the cause of humanity amongst the settlers scarcely less, in consequence of his rashness. May He, who can bring good out of evil, cause that even this may, in some way unknown to us, be made to promote His glory!

The Prince of Wales, travelling without state as Lord Renfrew, has been received throughout the United States, not merely with respect, but with perfect cordiality, and in many instances with warm affection. We make no account in England of the impertinence of a few of the lowest of the people at Richmond, the capital of a slaveholding state; and still less, if less were possible, of the studied insults of the recreant Irish papists of New York. America is no more to be judged of by such specimens than the morals of London by those of its " Hyde Park mobs." Every great country has its ruffians whom it feels to be its disgrace; and they are noisy, not in proportion to their influence, but to the freedom of the institutions of the country they disgrace. The cordial reception of the heir of the British throne by the greatest republic the world ever knew, is an event which will find its place in history as marking the growth of national courtesies and of a moderation hitherto unknown in theories of government.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

WE have to thank an American correspondent for sending us a number of extracts from various periodicals in answer to our remarks upon American Slavery; but we have no wish to prolong the controversy. The subject is now assuming a formidable shape; and English Christians have but one wish, that America may act towards her slaves in a manner worthy of herself and the religion she professes.

We regret that our pages should have worn of late so much of a controversial aspect; but the fault is none of ours; we are "set for the defence of the gospel," and, painful as it often is, we must be true to our vocation.