AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 10, ISSUE 268, AUGUST 11, 1827***


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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. 10, No. 268.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1827. [PRICE 2d.



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HOSPITAL OF ST. THOMAS, CANTERBURY.

[Illustration]


The subject of the above engraving claims the attention of the
antiquarian researcher, not as the lofty sculptured mansion of our
monastic progenitors, or the towering castle of the feudatory baton, for
never has the voice of boisterous revelry, or the tones of the solemn
organ, echoed along its vaulted roof; a humbler but not less interesting
trait marks its history. It was here that the zealous pilgrim, strong in
bigot faith, rested his weary limbs, when the inspiring name of Becket
led him from the rustic simplicity of his native home, to view the spot
where Becket fell, and to murmur his pious supplication at the shrine of
the murdered Saint; how often has his toil-worn frame been sheltered
beneath that hospitable roof; imagination can even portray him entering
the area of yon pointed arch, leaning on his slender staff--perhaps some
wanderer from a foreign land.

The hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge, is situated on the
King's-bridge, in the hundred of Westgate, Canterbury, and was built by
Becket, but for what purpose is unknown. However, after the
assassination of its founder, the resort of individuals being constant
to his shrine, the building was used for the lodgment of the pilgrims.
For many years no especial statutes were enacted, nor any definite rules
laid down for the treatment of pilgrims, till the see devolved to the
jurisdiction of Stratford, who, in 15th Edward III. drew up certain
ordinances, as also a code of regulations expressly to be acted on; he
appointed a master in priest's orders, under whose guidance a secular
chaplain officiated; it was also observed that every pilgrim in health
should have but one night's lodging to the cost of fourpence; that
applicants weak and infirm were to be preferred to those of sounder
constitutions, and that women "upwards of forty" should attend to the
bedding, and administer medicines to the sick.

This institution survived the general suppression of monasteries and
buildings of its cast, during the reigns of Henry VIII. and the sixth
Edward; and after alternately grading from the possession of private
families to that of brothers belonging to the establishment, it was at
last finally appropriated to the instruction of the rising generation,
whose parents are exempt from giving any gratuity to the preceptor of
their children.

Its present appearance is ancient, but not possessing any of those magic
features which render the mansions of our majores so grand and
magnificently solemn; a hall and chapel of imposing neatness and
simplicity are still in good condition, but several of the
apartments are dilapidated in part, and during a wet season admit the
aqueous fluid through the chinks and fissures of their venerable walls.

SAGITTARIUS.

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THE LECTURER.

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MINOR AFFECTIONS OF THE BRAIN.


Pain _in the head_ may arise from very different causes, and is
variously seated. It has had a number of different appellations bestowed
upon it, according to its particular character. I need not observe that
headach is a general attendant of all inflammatory states of the brain,
whether in the form of _phrenitis, hydrocephalus acutus_, or _idiopathic
fever;_ though with some exceptions in regard to all of them, as I
before showed you. It is often also said to be a symptom of other
diseases, of parts remotely situated; as of the _stomach_, more
especially; whence the term _sick headach_, the stomach being supposed
to be the part first or principally affected, and the headach
symptomatic of this. I am confident, however, that in a majority of
instances the reverse is the case, the affection of the head being the
cause of the disorder of the stomach. It is no proof to the contrary,
that _vomiting_ often relieves the headach, for vomiting is capable of
relieving a great number of other diseases, as well as those of the
brain, upon the principle of _counter-irritation_. The stomach may be
disordered by nauseating medicines, up to the degree of full vomiting,
without any headach taking place; but the brain hardly ever suffers,
either from injury or disease, without the stomach having its functions
impaired, or in a greater or less degree disturbed: thus a blow on the
head immediately produces vomiting; and, at the outset of various
inflammatory affections of the brain, as _fever_ and _hydrocephalus_,
nausea and vomiting are almost never-failing symptoms. It is not denied,
that _headach_ may be produced through the medium of the stomach; but
seldom, unless there is previously disease in the head, or at least a
strong predisposition to it. In persons habitually subject to headach,
the arteries of the brain become so irritable, that the slightest cause
of disturbance, either _mental_ or _bodily_, will suffice to bring on a
paroxysm.

The _occasional_ or _exciting causes of headach_, then, are principally
these:--

1. _Emotions of mind_, as fear, terror, and agitation of spirits; yet
these will sometimes take off headach when present at the time.

2. Whatever either increases or disorders the general circulation, and
especially all causes that increase the action of the cerebral arteries,
or, as it is usually though improperly expressed, which occasion a
determination of blood to the head. Of the former kind are violent
exercise, and external heat applied to the surface generally, as by a
heated atmosphere or the _hot bath_; of the latter, the direct
application of heat to the head; falls or blows, occasioning a shock to
the brain; stooping; intense thinking; intoxicating drinks, and other
narcotic substances. These last, however, as well as _mental emotions_,
often relieve a paroxysm of headach, though they favour its return
afterwards.

3. A disordered state of the stomach, of which a vomiting of _bile_ may
be one symptom, is also to be ranked among the _occasional causes_ of
_headach_.

These _occasional causes_ do not in general produce their effect, unless
where a _predisposition_ to the disease exists. This predisposition is
often hereditary, or it may be acquired by long-protracted study and
habits of intoxication.--_Dr. Clutterbuck's Lectures on the Diseases of
the Nervous System_.


HYDROPHOBIA.


There is no cure for this disease when once the symptoms show
themselves. A variety of remedies have from time to time been advertised
by quacks. The "Ormskirk Medicine," at one time, was much in vogue; it
had its day, but it did not cure the disease, nor, as far as I know, did
it mitigate any of its symptoms. With regard to the affection of the
mind itself in this disease, it does not appear that the patients are
deprived of reason; some have merely, by the dint of resolution,
conquered the dread of water, though they never could conquer the
convulsive motions which the contact of liquids occasioned; while this
resolution has been of no avail, for the convulsions and other symptoms
increasing, have almost always destroyed the unhappy sufferers.
--_Abernethy's Lectures_.


EFFECTS OF KINDNESS ON THE SICK.


Under all circumstances, man is a poor and pitiable being, when stricken
down by disease. Sickened and subdued, his very lineaments have a voice
which calls for commiseration and assistance. Celsus says, that knowing
two physicians equally intelligent, he should prefer the one who was his
friend, for the obvious reason that he would feel a deeper interest in
his welfare. Kindness composes, and harshness disturbs the mind, and
each produces correspondent effects upon the body. A tone, a look, may
save or destroy life in extremely delicate cases. Whatever may be the
prognosis given to friends, in all febrile cases, the most confident and
consoling language about the ultimate recovery should be used to the
sick, as prophecies not unfrequently contribute to bring about the event
foretold, by making people feel, or think, or act, differently from what
they otherwise would have done. Again, in chronic cases, as time is
required for their cure, by explaining to the patient this fact, we
maintain his confidence, we keep his mind easy, and thus gain a fair
opportunity for the operation of regimen or remedies; in short, the
judicious physician, like the Roman general, Fabius, conquers through
delay, by cutting off the supplies, and wearing out the strength of the
enemy. In large cities, where the mind is so much overwrought in the
various schemes of private ambition, or of public business, anxiety is
very frequently the grand opposing circumstance to recovery; so that
while the causes which produced it are allowed to operate, mere medical
prescription is of no avail. The effects of this anxiety are visible in
the pallid face and wasted body. But if the patient be possessed of
philosophy enough to forego his harassing pursuits; if he have not, from
the contact and cares of the world, lost his relish for the simple and
sublime scenes of nature, a removal into the country is of the utmost
efficacy. The deformity and conflict of the moral world are exchanged
for the beauty and calm of the physical world; and surrounded by all the
poetry of earth and heaven, the mind regains its peace, and the health,
as if by magic, is perfectly restored.--_Dr. Armstrong's Lectures_.


DIET.


Experience has taught us that the nature of our food is not a matter of