of place in a work designed
for _every_ member of the family, yet they are presented in a style
which cannot offend the most fastidious, and with a studied avoidance of
all language that can possibly displease the chaste, or disturb the
delicate susceptibilities of persons of either sex.

This book should not be excluded from the young, for it is eminently
adapted to their wants, and imparts information without which millions
will suffer untold misery. It is a _false_ modesty which debars the
youth of our land from obtaining such information.

As its title indicates, the Author aims to make this book a useful and
practical Medical Adviser. He proposes to express himself in plain and
simple language, and, so far as possible, to avoid the employment of
technical words, so that all his readers may readily comprehend the
work, and profit by its perusal. Written as it is amid the many cares
attendant upon a practice embracing the treatment of thousands of cases
annually, and therefore containing the fruits of a rich and varied
experience, some excuse exists for any literary imperfections which the
critical reader may observe.

THE AUTHOR.

BUFFALO, N.Y., July, 1875.

* * * * *

INTRODUCTORY WORDS.

Health and disease are physical conditions upon which pleasure and pain,
success and failure, depend. Every _individual_ gain increases public
gain. Upon the health of its people is based the prosperity of a nation;
by it every value is increased, every joy enhanced. Life is incomplete
without the enjoyment of healthy organs and faculties, for these give
rise to the delightful sensations of existence. Health is essential to
the accomplishment of every purpose; while sickness thwarts the best
intentions and loftiest aims. We are continually deciding upon those
conditions which are either the source of joy and happiness or which
occasion pain and disease. Prudence requires that we should meet the
foes and obviate the dangers which threaten us, by turning all our
philosophy, science, and art, into practical _common sense_.

The profession of medicine is no _sinecure_; its labors are constant,
its toils unremitting, its cares unceasing. The physician is expected to
meet the grim monster, "break the jaws of death, and pluck the spoil out
of his teeth." _His_ ear is ever attentive to entreaty, and within his
faithful breast are concealed the disclosures of the suffering. Success
may elate