An autobiography, by John Smedley, written 1868
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taken from "Practical Hydropathy" by John Smedley 1869
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PREFACE.
Having, about five years ago, printed (mostly for gratuitous distribution)
an edition of 30,000 of a pamphlet on " Hydropathy, and
Its Application to the Cure and Prevention of Disease," I have
since been asked to publish another edition, giving the
unproved methods discovered and the experience we have had in the
treatment of the many hundreds of cases which have passed through
our hands, since that pamphlet was published. I have long been
desirous of doing this, but the incessant calls upon my time have
put it out of my power, and now I can only accomplish my work by
using that time which should be allowed to the repose of the body.
The many very gratifying testimonies which I have received, both
from this country and from other parts of the world, to the usefulness
of my former pamphlet, and the valuable improvements we
have been enabled to make in the application of Hydropathic treatment,
have induced me, now that we have removed to our summer
retreat, at Riber Hall, on Riber Hill,* within view of the Hydropathic
Establishment at Matlock Bank, to devote some of the early
hours of the morning in endeavouring, by God's guidance, to make
this pamphlet more generally useful. Here-where the sun at this
* I have since built a lodge on the summit of the hill.
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season has risen high in the heavens at five o'clock, and the chorus
of the birds has commenced still earlier, -where there is a very
extensive and beautifully-varied landscape of mountain, valley, and
wood,-there is every inducement to throw off drowsy feelings, and
rise to work for the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind. Yet
sometimes, even in this charming spot, melancholy thoughts will
cross the mind, especially when I reflect that many of the former
inhabitants of this ancient and beautiful Hall may not have been
wise, in the day of their pilgrimage, in securing the salvation of
their immortal souls, by being " born again of water and the Spirit,"
without which. none who have heard the Gospel tidings, the Scriptures
say, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Should there have,
been such, I sometimes think, when viewing the grand panorama of
mountains around, how dreadful must be their remorse and self
reproach now they have discovered that they might have had, by
a life of faith and obedience, the blessings of this life , and the fruition
of that which is eternal; for all the treasures of earth, and all its
beauties and its pleasures, are but shadows of happiness in comparison
with the great realities to be enjoyed in the regions of the blest.
May such thoughts of such possibilities quicken the living to a
lively sense of the realities of the same. Here also is the site of a
Druidical temple, the remains of which, standing on the summit of
the hill overlooking Darley Dale, were, by barbarous hands, removed
but a few years since. It was, indeed, a commanding spot for such
a purpose. The mind is led back to the time (probably more than
two thousand years ago) when the inhabitants of the surrounding
district, far and near, might be seen on the first day of November
ascending the steep mountain side from the surrounding district,
bringing their offerings to the priests, ,and carrying back the sacred
fire, to relight their family hearths, which had all been extinguished
by the priests' command the evening before; and no doubt also
often to witness human sacrifices. This worship was put an end to
by the Romans, who came into this country BC. 55; and who, on
this hill, in aftertimes, made large fires, when the south wind blew,
not for sacrifices, but to smelt the lead ore so abundantly found in
this locality.
Very frequently my patients have requested me to print my personal
experience of Hydropathy, and the reasons which induced me
to have a Hydropathic Establishment. I promised to do that when
I brought my new pamphlet out, and, at the risk of incurring
criticism, I now perform my promise.
It may seem to some persons presumptuous in me,having, had no
regular medical education, to write on the curative principles of any
treatment; but very gratifying success of our efforts, however, for
the benefit of our fellow-creatures, has emboldened me to go on with
my work. We may truly say, we have seen so many hundreds
restored or relieved, without any serious errors, that we cannot
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doubt we are in the path God designs us to pursue. Our time, health,
and strength, and all the means of a not inconsiderable property, are
by us willingly, and even thankfully, devoted to our work, with a
single eye to live to the glory of God and for the welfare of mankind.
My wish is to encourage others to work and stand by the
true principles of the Gospel, and leave the result to God, without
any fear of the consequences.
After devoting many years to a manufacturing business, and
having accumulated more than sufficient for ordinary wants, it was
my intention to manage my business principally by deputy, and
retiring from it to see foreign countries, making England occasionally
my home. The idea of repose and leisure, after labour which
few, in my circle, have gone through, was the bright time I had in
anticipation viewed with pleasure; and many a dark fatiguing day
has that pleasant prospect helped to cheer. A regular attendant at
the Established Church and the sacrament of the Lord's supper,
on terms of close intimacy with those ministers and such persons as
had the reputation of being evangelical in their doctrine and practice,
self-satisfied with obeying the outward forms of religion, and
having the reputation of being both religious and charitable, I believed
I was quite justified in looking forward to enjoy the fruits of
my labour in ease and self-gratification. "Man proposes, and God
disposes." We took a journey through France, Germany, and
Switzerland; and on our return I was seized with typhus fever.
The great varieties of temperature I had gone through, the fatigue,
and more than all, the unwholesome food, and worse, the wine and
malaria met with in some parts, had caused that fever which brought
me to the brink of the grave. My doctor visited me on my arrival
home; said I was in a bad state; gave me medicines, and told me a
short time would develope my complaint, which indeed that short
time soon did. Instead of our soothing wet-sheet envelope, to
relieve the parched hot skin, I had only an aggravation in the shape
of drugs. Soon the fever rose to madness and delirium; I entreated
the doctor to give me something to cool my parched mouth, but all
his accumulated knowledge of the London Pharmacopoeia, with his
certificate of qualification for the treatment of disease, given to him
by the examiners of Surgeons' and Apothecaries' Halls, availed not
for my relief : the overruling hand of God, and a healthy constitution,
carried me through that fiery ordeal. Once the servant bathing
my arms in cold water, I exclaimed, "What a relief!" It was the
only agreeable relief I experienced. but of course only being done
locally, it had no control over the fever, which. was burning throughout
my whole body. I was exhorted to look to Christ for the repose
of my mind. I replied, I had no hope. My time of trial was come,
and I found no witness in my own heart that I had ever been any
thing but a formal, professing Christian. I soon became insensible
to all outward and bodily sensations; but my mind was often
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exquisitely alive to the whole course of my past life. I saw my character
clearly, and it was that of a hypocrite. I believed I was shut out,
from the presence of God for ever; and felt the justice of my
doom. God mercifully brought me back to outward consciousness,
but I was long in arriving even at a low state of convalescence. My
mind, however, was fully awakened to the awful folly of living for
the gratifications of this life; but how to find peace, I saw not.
In a very few months after, being somewhat convalescent, I, with my
wife, left home to seek for repose of mind in travel and change of
scene. Some good, sincere Christian workmen in my employ pointed
out to me the simple means of gaining peace; I tried it, and failed,
because I was yet unacquainted with my own unchanged heart. There
Was yet disappointed ambition, and love of this world's good opinion,
ruling in it. I found it was indeed a strong man armed keeping the
house, and holding me in an iron cage of misery. Travel again
brought no relief; and in a condition hopeless of life, I was advised
to go to a Hydropathic Establishment, which my state of desperation
only would have induced me to try. There, in November, worn as I
was to a skeleton, and distracted in mind, the bitter cold-water treatment
aggravated my sufferings at first considerably; had I but commenced
with our mild system instead until the body had somewhat
recovered its tone, I should have been saved much unnecessary suffering.
I had not slept above an hour or so at once for months. How
ever, after a few weeks at the establishment, I slept pretty well, I
got tolerably good functionary action of the stomach, &c., and after
nine weeks returned home. Here, however, old recollections soon
threw me down again, I had not yet learned to count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. In nine months
I returned again to the Water Establishment for three months, and
regained bodily health, but no relief to my mind. We set out on a
tour to Cheltenham, the coast of Devonshire; then to Dover, and
crossed over to France; came back to England, and returned to
Malvern, and thence to Cheltenham, where I took No. 11, Suffolk
square, for the winter. I purchased the estate of Rose Hill, near
Pitville, then the residence of Admiral King. Shortly after this, I
found peace in believing. I had been labouring a good deal in visiting
the poor and schools, and practising self-denial in those things I
formerly rejoiced in; determining to seek for happiness in the favour
of God, through the merits of my Redeemer, and knocking in humble
sincerity, the door was at length opened to me. I entered the fold
of the great Shepherd., and experienced unbounded joy and confidence.
My wife, I was thankful indeed to find, heartily reciprocated my feelings.
We then determined to return amongst our work-people, and
try to live that life of usefulness God had so graciously laid out for
us, but which I had formerly neglected to realise for the vanities and
unsatisfying things of this world. I immediately went by London to
Ben Rhydding near Leeds, purposely to kneel down in the room in
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which I had suffered so much from bodily ailment and despair of
mind, to thank God for all his goodness to me, and to dedicate myself
and all I possessed to His service.
I returned to Lea Bridge (seventy miles), and sat up part of the
same night burning my foolish ballads and light books, upon which
even clergymen had with me often wasted precious time. I locked up
my extravagant plate, ornaments, equipage, &c., until I could give
them away or sell them for the benefit of religious societies, which I
did shortly after. I then brought my wife from Cheltenham, and
we commenced our new and better work. Soon, however, we found
that we had crosses to take up, when we would no longer comply
with the customs of our former circle, in giving or attending dinner
or evening parties, and in keeping our house exclusive for a certain
class. We found instead ample consolation in the peace within, and
in the communion of humble and sincere Christians. I built six
chapels and two school-rooms in different parts of the country,
some where I had work-people. I assisted many poor societies, and,
worshipped with our own people in one of the chapels I had built
here, imposing nothing but the simple word of God on the congregation.
It is now seven years since we embarked on this
course, and we have found every year to bring more solid peace and
joy; and we know it will be thus with us until God shall take us to
serve him in a brighter sphere.
On returning home I took in a few men, upon whom to try the
Hydropathic remedies, which proved successful; and many more
making application, I made a place for the free board, lodging, and
baths of a certain number of males and females: and hundreds since,
have here found restoration to health of body, and peace of mind,
through the renewal of the Spirit. Persons in our own station then
applied for advice, seeing such wonderful effects being produced,
sometimes on their own servants. We did not know where to recommend
them to go, as we had little confidence in the mode of treatment
pursued at some establishments, which is often indeed the "cold
water" practice. Some could not afford the expense (which at all the
principal establishments is about £18 for the first month) ; so we
made our house a free hospital, until we found we could not afford
room enough. I then bought a small house at Matlock Bank for
six patients, board, lodgings, and treatment at 3s. per day. Uniform
success in the treatment soon brought more; the place was enlarged.
Soon again we had to refuse applicants; and thus has it grown until
We have had one hundred and ten at one time under treatment.
Although I have not had a regular medical education, human physiology
has long been a pursuit of much interest to me, and I now find
the benefit of my early studies of these subjects. The feeling of
responsibility, from the great number who have been at our establishment
and the free hospitals, has also induced me to labour hard, and
spare no expense, in the acquirement of physiological knowledge;
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and the actual practice, in seeing the application of Hydropathic
treatment to so many hundreds during the last six years, has given
us confidence in our plan of treatment, from the great success in so
many cases of persons who had tried medicine and even Hydropathy
before, without good effect. Our system of mild treatment, with the
application of bandages, not used in the same way elsewhere, and
some newly invented baths, have gained such celebrity, that we are
now compelled to limit our admissions. I could refer to physicians,
surgeons, homeopathic practitioners, clergymen, dissenting ministers,
military and naval officers, merchants, manufacturers, from whom
I have often received testimony, acknowledging the benefits derived
from our mild practice. In the case of females especially, this treatment
has done wonders. (My wife has sole charge of female invalids.)
The charge at the establishment is fixed with an intention to
make it neither a source of pecuniary emolument nor of loss. A
large sum of money has now been invested; and the baths are models
for Hydropathic Establishments or Public Baths, and I am very
desirous of calling the attention of the patrons of the latter to their
superiority over the ordinarily-constructed baths, which not unfrequently
cause irreparable injury to the body. No person can use a
plunge bath without risk. We could refer to patients who have
come to the establishment for relief, whose maladies have been caused
by plunging into a cold bath, or into the sea. Many escape injury
by such bathing, but none practise it without the risk of being
invalids for the rest of their lives, from congestion of the brain,
asthma, or internal tumours, caused by the blood being suddenly
driven on the internal organs and certain weak parts which are not
able to return it. Females, especially, are liable to danger from
plunge baths (see Mrs. Smedley's Manual, 1s. 6d).
One of the principal objects I have in view in this work is to teach
Hydropathic remedies for self- application, and to show the labouring
classes how to manage many of the processes by the simple means
within their reach, which, if acted upon, would often stay the progress
of fever, consumption, and inflammation, or prevent their proceeding
beyond the first symptoms. Resolution, and not sparing trouble,
alone are necessary.
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AFTER SEVENTEEN YEARS' PRACTICE OF HYDROPATHY
(not the cold water system), and the distribution by sale
or gift of forty thousand of this book on "Practical Hydropathy",
and of thirty thousand of my wife's "Manual for Treatment of
Ladies and Children," another edition of this work is unexpectedly
called for, the last two editions of five thousand each having gone
off rapidly. We had not the slightest idea or intention of having
such a practice on our hands; and certainly, if we had thought
it would have enlarged to its present extent, we should have
shrunk from the work. God, however, has given us health and
success; and so far from regretting having such an undertaking,
we are unboundedly thankful, and willingly give up all our time
and energies to it. We have not been away from home, with one
exception of thirty-six hours, for many years; but the gratification
in being instrumental in restoring or relieving so many hundreds of
our fellow-creatures from suffering, and in many instances wresting
them from the jaws of death, whose cases previous to applying to us
were pronounced hopeless by the medical profession, fully rewards us
for any amount of labour, and the deprivation of social intercourse
with friends, or recreation abroad. Life is short with all, and
wherever and in whatever way a sphere of usefulness is found, which
promotes the spiritual and physical welfare of mankind, those who
find such a work will find that it brings daily pleasure with pleasant
retrospective and a joyful prospective. It is a work for the benefit
of our species, and will last for an almost unlimited time, when the
workers have passed away. Not so where worldly ambition and
aggrandisement of families are the aim of life. How few, especially
young people born to wealth, are a blessing, to society! How often
the contrary does the society round every locality bear melancholy
witness! Yet the object of life with many seems to be to work hard,
save money, and get estates for their descendants. "By the sweat of
thy brow shalt thou eat bread"" &c., is God's decree. Providing for
descendants leading an idle life is poor man's idea, and it bears fruit
accordingly, when set in opposition to God's law : hunting, shooting,
often leading to racing, county balls, and - ruin. I am lead to make
these remarks from having had hundreds of suffering, ruined patients,
who have been brought up not with an expectation to work, but of
independence; and it is melancholy to see how the getters of wealth
try to deceive themselves and others by an affectation of self-denial,
and of working for their children or relatives, when, in fact, it is
their own love of money. They die often in harness, and their
descendants squander the gains which should have equally benefited
their relatives and the necessitous in the land. God gave no man an
exclusive right to the fruits of the earth, and it is no mere accident
of birth that one man is a labourer and another in other circumstances.
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The often-repeated declaration in God's word, and from
teachers of religion, that we are only stewards, is little regarded.
That God gives and that God can take away is mostly ignored, except
the first. Man goes on with his projects for enriching his family,
thoughtless that he has not one hour's surety of life : he returns to
his dust and his thoughts perish ; but his works, good or bad, follow
him. "Work while it is day, before the night comes, when no man can
work." Work for the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind, and
all will be well both for present enjoyments and when the time of
departure comes. Our motives have never been pecuniary profit -
far from that. I have sacrificed a fortune in the undertaking.
For the first few years of our practice we averaged from two to
three hundred patients per annum, and these mostly at our free
hospitals, Lea Mills. These numbers gradually increased to about
sixteen hundred per annum, and last year about two thousand. But
for some years our want of bedrooms has kept the numbers about
stationary. We have so repeatedly tried medical assistants and failed,
that we were unwilling to increase our accommodation. The last
year, 1867, however, we had to refuse so many that were hopeless of
cure or relief by any other means, that we decided to build a new
wing to our Establishment, and trust to Providence for help. Now,
March, 1868, the building, 200 feet long, 50 feet wide, and four
storeys high, is being rapidly completed. Every appliance and convenience
our long experience has taught us will be brought into
operation. It is not that medical professors are deficient in knowledge
that they have not succeeded in taking part or all of our work:
far from it. They have, as a matter of course, more knowledge of
the nature and functions of the body than any lay persons can
possibly have, or education is of no use. But medical professors
from the highest to the youngest- Allopathic, Homeopathic, and even
cold-water doctors - start from an unsound basis, and therefore cannot
arrive at a successful result. They look upon disease as something to
be driven out or stifled; hence purgatives, blisters, leeches, cupping,
setons, issues, cauterising, tonics, morphia, &c. &c.; and so long as
disease is not considered and treated as want of vitality, and nothing
given or applied that will not only not farther lower, but will increase
the vital heat of the body, so long will it be striking in the dark.
Witness the continual alterations and disagreements in medical practice.
We have a staff of bath-men and bath-women whom we have
no difficulty in teaching and qualifying to go out to most critical
cases, and hundreds of cases in various parts of Great Britain and
abroad have given testimony to their unerring sound judgment.
When sent to critical cases, in no one instance have they failed to
cure or relieve, They have not the prejudice of the profession to
overcome, but act on Nature's laws, taught them at our establishment.
We have not altered any of our principal applications since we began
practice, and believe we could not now invent any more efficacious,
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The amount of superstition, however, in favour of legalised doctors
secures them from having their plans brought to the test of reason
and common sense, except to a very limited extent; and patients
rarely indeed apply to any but the regular doctor. If they knew how
often these doctors are driven in their extremity to come to us, and
send their families and relatives where they find restoration, perhaps
people might doubt if the old traditional practice was quite correct.
But superstition holds minds in bondage who, in business or legislation,
are eminent for their astuteness. The fact is, the community
are brought up under the impression that the structure and
functions of the body are too abstruse for any one to understand but a
doctor. The extent of this trusting, unreasoning confidence is marvellous.
The friend of an eminent man, some years ago, came from
under the hands of doctors at home and abroad not only without
benefit but much injured. He got well with us. His friend was
taken ill suddenly, and the former persuaded him to allow our applications
to be used, which immediately gave him relief, and if they
had been continued a few hours longer would have cured him; he
felt the comfort and relief, but true to the superstition about doctors,
he ordered the appliances to be removed and the doctor to be sent for,
who of course discarded all the comforting, and put him under his
own regimen to his immediate sorrow. Still he stuck to the good
old way, and is now an invalid. A friend of mine, seized with congestion
of the liver, scoffed at our treatment as being ridiculous in
urgent cases; he was previously a remarkably stout man, but
leeches, blisters, cupping, calomel, &c, killed him in a few months.
Another case has occurred very recently, where exactly the same
course of treatment was taken with the same fatal result. A
friend of mine, in this neighbourhood, was seized similarly with
congestion of the liver about Christmas. He was attacked with cold
shivering, and severe pain and sickness. I had a few weeks
before, given him some pads, mustard, and fomenting can, and
begged of him, if ever he was ill, to use them instantly. He
so to his immediate relief, and was well in two days ; he was
fully satisfied with the results. Another case, a female aged forty
six, had erysipelas in the face and head, which became alarmingly
swollen, closing the eyes. She sent for one of my wife's bath-women,
who, knowing it was only obstructed circulation from cold, steamed
the head and face by putting hot water in a vessel with a blanket
over the head to keep the steam in. After an hours steaming, a
bread poultice in a bag, was put over the face, and the head was
packed in a cloth wrung out of hot water, with flannel and mackintosh
over all to keep the warmth in. By the next day the swelling was
nearly gone, and all the heat and uncomfortableness. A spongiopiline
mask damped with warm water was put on, and flannel over
the head. Her old mother said she had never heard of St. Anthony's
fire being cured in that way, and would not believe it. She sent for
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a doctor, who had the mask removed, and applied the orthodox
lotions and aperients to "cool the blood." The poor patient was soon
cold enough, for she died in thirty-six hours. The doctor's prescriptions
brought back the obstructions to circulation by weakening
her vitality. I could give many such cases in our seventeen years,
practice, yet exactly the same course is taken by the doctors, without
the slightest regard to the oft-repeated fatal result. A gentleman came
to me last spring who had lost the sight of one eye. His doctor did
not give him much hope of saving the other, as his mixtures, dropped
into the eye, with blisters on the temple and behind the ear, had not
saved the other, but destroyed the sight of it. I could tell him with
confidence, if he would stay with us he would have the sight of both
eyes restored, and also regain his general health; he left us quite
well. We comforted nature, made healthy blood, and that cured
when the doctor's course, as it always is, diametrically opposite, failed.
A gentleman, age fifty-four, came at the same time with a chronic
disease, for which he had consulted the most eminent surgeons, who
said an operation was necessary, but that it would be all but certain
to be fatal. I could see no difficulty in the case, and he was thoroughly
cured without any operation, merely by comforting the part and getting
up the general health in a very simple way.
We are most anxious to have helpers in our work, or would
willingly be superseded, as we cannot always go on, and as at present,
we see this Establishment will be at an end when we cannot longer
attend to it. I could give scores of cases in which our acquaintances
and friends have stuck to the old original doctoring system, and lost
their lives, or been made cripples and sufferers for life, when they
have witnessed the success of our treatment. Superstition and
obstinacy is inherent in the human mind, and mankind will pursue
it and suffer for it to the end of time. I am glad this is the case in
manufacturing operations, or I should not have had the monopoly
of our own manufacture, which I have had the last thirty years.
Man is not generally a thinking animal, as Professor Huxley says
he is, and which distinguishes him from the apes. Apes would not
take a second dose of physic willingly, nor be blistered a second time
without a hard fight for it, and would especially shun the society of
doctors after one experiment. I have two letters to-day - a sample
of hundreds I receive. The person mentioned in one had hurt his
knee by falling on a piece of iron. The doctor leached the part and
painted it with iodine, which made the injured part weaker, and, as
a consequence, the lameness was worse. Then a celebrated surgeon
in a large town said the ligament was torn: he must have the limb
strapped to a board, and lie in bed three months, and use lotions.
He lay nearly the time, but found he was no better, and, at a loss
what to do, applied to me. I offered him my free hospital, where
we have never failed to cure such cases. (See case, page 12g, and
146½ Bath list.) The other letter is from a medical student, who
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has neither taken stimulants or tobacco and has always been steady.
He had a weak stomach, and was otherwise naturally weak in body
The doctors gave him tonics, which caused sickness and headache and
constipation, and soon required purgatives. Thus he says, he has
tried all things recommended by surgeons and the professors in the
university, who all tell him he has no disease, yet he is suffering and
unfit for duty. This is another illustration of the doctors' idea of
drugging out disease; when, in fact, the young man's stomach simply
wanted vitality, which cannot be given to it by anything the doctors
can find in all their pharmacopaeias - it wanted natural nourishment,
which cannot be had from physic. Scarcely a day passes but we
have letters illustrating how poor humanity is brutally treated under
the pretence of scientific, orthodox, legal practice. It is really
disheartening to contend with educated people for submitting to it, and
not using their common-sense-it is Naaman the Syrian and the
little Israelitish maid over again. If they were asked by us to
swallow some potion of the contents of which they were ignorant,
or be immersed in cold water, there would be some reason for their
hesitation; but their faith in doctors is so strong that they frequently
take potions containing the most deadly poisons, and at the
same time are aware that such poisons are known to be used in the
practice of these learned doctors; but they suffer for it, and yet
go on. oh, immortal superstition! It is in the nature of mankind.
Mankind like to throw the responsibility, as they think, upon others.
As to the destruction of life by caustics, internally and externally,
in males and females - the latter more especially - it is shocking to
think of; for caustic destroys the organic nerves and causes cancer
in healthy persons. Thousands of females are victims to caustic.
How few use the brains God has given them to guide them! Men
with brain of a high order we see led to folly by those of a lower
type. Well might the Swedish statesman say to his son, "Behold
with how little wisdom the world is governed!" But what is, or can
be, the result of being governed by prejudice and ignorance?
JOHN SMEDLEY.
Riber Castle, 2nd March, 1868.
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