the zealous preachers of total abstinence from fermented liquors. A judicious use of wine, the quantity and quality being duly regarded, is certainly beneficial in advanced life. No rule can be given with any approach to accuracy as to the kind and amount of wine which is desirable. So much depends upon previous habits. I, for my own part, as a physician, greatly prefer to prescribe the wine, and define the quantity, for an aged patient who has been in early and middle age extremely temperate. If wine or other stimulant has been indulged in excessively, it is rare, on careful investigation, to find a person at or beyond the age of 63 entirely free from some damage in one, or more organs. Still such damage, if not very considerable, admits of reparation, when there is a resolute will to abstain, or regulate the amount of stimulants by the real needs of the constitution.

As to food, common sense should suffice for every one to observe the effects of any course, or article of diet, and to avoid any which is felt to be injurious. Generally, aged persons require a diet containing most nutrition in the least bulk. Hence

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animal substances should preponderate. Generally they will have a preference for mutton, poultry, game, and often for gelatinous food, rather than beef, pork, lamb, or veal. And this preference is in accordance with physiology. Farinaceous substances, although not excluded from the role of diet, should be adopted sparingly; exceptions depending upon special conditions, such as morbid leanness, disorders of the kidneys, etc., which will be spoken of below. We often witness grave errors committed from want of correct information. For instance, arrowroot, or some form of starch, beef-tea, so called concentrated foods, etc., are taken for the muscular debility common in the aged. Under such a diet the weakness continues, and increases often to a fatal end. In the general defect of nutrition some one organ droops in function, and becomes disorganized, to the danger or loss of life.

As with the use of wine and stimulants, the diet of aged persons must be regulated by giving due consideration to their former habits, present mode of living, pecuniary means, and the like; but one rule may be suggested, namely, to divide

the amount of food taken into three or four meals, rather than one large one (dinner usually), in the day. A sense of fulness or oppression after eating should never be disregarded.

As the system in advanced life is more amenable to certain morbid influences from without than in early life, it is advisable for elderly people to be more watchful against them.

A wholesome dwelling, well drained, free from damp, its interior unaffected by changes of temperature without, and admitting free ventilation when artificially warmed, are certain conditions of prolonged life. Nothing is so fatal to old people as cold, and this is intensified by the addition of moisture. Therefore, when possible, a residence should be selected in an elevated position, on a sandy, or gravelly soil, where fogs are rare, and where exercise, walking or riding, can be taken in fine weather without getting chilled, or wetted. Night air, in our climate, ought never to be encountered. The evenings, if not the entire day, should be spent in rooms moderately heatednot too hot-and well ventilated. About 60° F. is the temperature most congenial. The bed

room especially should be kept at this heat both night and day. A glass-house for walking exercise during the cold of the winter is a great comfort. Exposure to cold with wraps about the throat and heavy clothing, should be decidedly avoided. Some people think it effeminate to have a fire in their bedroom in cold weather: this is a great mistake. Both for warmth and ventilation no means have yet been devised equally advantageous with an open fire and chimney; and by the use of certain species of coal, which burn slowly without requiring to be stirred, a tolerably equable temperature can be maintained through the night. When there is no fire the chimney should be kept open for the ventilation. Disturbed sleep and headaches in the morning are common consequences of the use of a closed register stove.

Of suitable clothing, varying with the seasons, it is unnecessary to speak.

With other misleading advertisements abounding in the newspapers, and trickling down whole columns of the Times in particular, hot or Turkish baths are recommended as infallible means of prolonging

life. With respect to the Turkish bath, elderly persons should, I think, never use it, since it is extremely exhaustive, and it is seldom they have any redundant muscular strength. If used, it should be very rarely, and only by advice of a physician.

Hot baths demand also great care. I have often known, and more frequently heard of, cases where they have proved fatal. When there are symptoms of head trouble, pains, dizziness, etc., suddenly depriving the brain of blood, immersion in hot water causes the blood to flow to other parts of the body, and induces cerebral collapse, and either immediate death, or fatal paralysis, or stupor (coma). For cleanliness, and to preserve a healthy state of the skin, I recommend all old people to employ hot water with soap and flannel or sponge (the flannel is best), using a moderate degree of friction. A foot-bath of hot water, with the addition of a table-spoonful of flour of mustard, is very useful when there is fulness of the vessels of the head, continued sleeplessness, or obstinately cold extremities.

The objections to the hot bath do not apply