* * * * *

_Claret_ has been accused of producing the gout, but without reason.
Persons who drench themselves with Madeira, Port, &c. and indulge in an
occasional debauch of Claret, may indeed be visited in that way; because a
transition from the strong brandied wines to the lighter, is always
followed by a derangement of the digestive organs.

* * * * *

_Quarantine in America_.--Dr. Richard Bayley is the person to whom New
York is chiefly indebted for its quarantine laws. His death was, however,
by contagion. In August, 1801, Doctor Bayley, in the discharge of his duty
as health physician, enjoined the passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant
ship, afflicted with the ship fever, to go on shore to the rooms and tents
appointed for them, leaving their luggage behind. The next morning, on
going to the hospital, he found that both crew and passengers, well, sick,
and dying, were huddled together in one apartment, where they had passed
the night. He inconsiderately entered this room before it had been
properly ventilated, but remained scarcely a moment, being obliged to
retire by a deadly sickness at the stomach, and violent pain in the head,
with which he was suddenly seized. He returned home, retired to bed, and
in the afternoon of the seventh day following, he expired.

* * * * *

_Shaving_ is said to have come into use during the reigns of Louis XIII.
and XIV. of France, both of whom ascended the throne without a beard.
Courtiers and citizens then began to shave, in order to look like the king,
and, as France soon took the lead in all matters of fashion on the
continent, shaving became general. It is at best a tedious operation.
Seume, a German author, says, in his journal, "To-day I threw my powder
apparatus out of the window, when will come the blessed day that I shall
send the shaving apparatus after it."

* * * * *

_Book Morality_.--Dr. Beddoes wrote a history of Isaac Jenkins, which was
intended to impress useful moral lessons on the labouring classes in an
attractive manner. Above 40,000 copies of this work were sold in a short
time.

* * * * *

_The Bedford Missal_ throws even the costly scrap-books of these times
into the shade. It was made for the celebrated John, Duke of Bedford, (one
of the younger sons of Henry IV.) and contains 59 l