part of citron ointment and four of spermaceti,
well rubbed together, and smear along the edge of the eyelid. Give a
grain or two of calomel with 5 or 8 grains of rhubarb, according to the
age of the child, twice a week. The old-fashioned and apparently absurd
practice of rubbing the stye with a ring, is as good and speedy a cure
as that by any process of medicinal application; though the number of
times it is rubbed, or the quality of the ring and direction of the
strokes, has nothing to do with its success. The pressure and the
friction excite the vessels of the part, and cause an absorption of the
effused matter under the eyelash. The edge of the nail will answer as
well as a ring.

2631. INFLAMMATION OF THE EYELIDS.--The following ointment has been
found very beneficial in inflammations of the eyeball and edges of the
eyelids:--Take of prepared calomel, 1 scruple; spermaceti ointment, 1/2
oz. Mix them well together in a glass mortar; apply a small quantity to
each corner of the eye every night and morning, and also to the edges of
the lids, if they are affected. If this should not eventually remove the
inflammation, elder-flower water may be applied three or four times a
day, by means of an eye-cup. The bowels should be kept in a laxative
state, by taking occasionally a quarter of an ounce of the Cheltenham or
Epsom salts.

2632. FASTING.--It is said by many able physicians that fasting is a
means of removing incipient disease, and of restoring the body to its
customary healthy sensations. Howard, the celebrated philanthropist
(says a writer), used to fast one day in every week. Napoleon, when he
felt his system unstrung, suspended his wonted repast, and took his
exercise on horseback.

Fits.

2633. Fits come on so suddenly, often without even the slightest
warning, and may prove fatal so quickly, that all people should be
acquainted at least with their leading symptoms and treatment, as a few
moments, more or less, will often decide the question between life and
death. The treatment, in very many cases at least, to be of the
slightest use, should be _immediate_, as a person in a fit (of apoplexy
for instance) may die while a surgeon is being fetched from only the
next street. We shall give, as far as the fact of our editing a work for
non-professional readers will permit, the peculiar and distinctive
symptoms of all kind of fits, and the immediate treatment to be adopted
in each case.

2634. APOPLEXY.--The