bad consequences of cold and moisture by their effects on such individuals; it is on the delicate their baneful influence becomes daily evident; who are, in fact, a kind of test to the rest of mankind, by which they are enabled to judge of the salutary tendency of the place they live in, and the habits they practise.

I am fully aware, that the time here pointed out for washing the main and quarter decks, will be objected to by many officers, on account of its breaking in upon the forenoon; but, magna est veritas et prevalebit. Let such individuals recollect, that every thing in the shape of show or parade, and even ordinary duty itself, ought to be sacrificed to the most important of all purposes; viz. taking care of the health of our brave seamen, the real source of strength and national independence.

*

But, unfortunately, we seldom hear the interrogatory-under what regulations will a ship be most healthy? The great consideration is, generally-under what system will she look best?

Of the Means of preventing Drunkenness, and ascertaining the Air's capacity for Moisture.

"O'er the dread feast malignant Chemia scowls,
"And mingles poison in the nectar'd bowls;
"Fell Gout peeps grinning through the flimsy scene,
"And bloated Dropsy pants behind unseen;
"Wrapp'd in his robe, white Lepra hides his stains,
"And silent Frenzy writhing bites his chains."

DARWIN.

To trace out the extent of human calamity produced in the different classes of society by the varied effects of wine, spirits, and malt liquor, would furnish materials for one of the most melancholy tales ever heard by the human ear: for, alas! there are too many "who drown the memory of the past, the frightful anticipations of the future, the remains of moral feeling, and the bloom of health, in the ocean of ebriety. There is an external character, a manner, an aspect in the inebriate, even when sober, which stamps him from the man of habitual temperance; he becomes heavy and awkward in his gait, bloated in his countenance, his eyes and eyelids are inflamed, he falters in his speech, his nose is red, his complexion sallow, his face covered with

eruptions, his breath fetid, his skin and muscles are flaccid, and his hands tremble."*

Yet, with this most frightful picture of human misery before our eyes, there are a great many who maintain that drinking to excess, occasionally, has a salutary tendency on the human constitution:

"Qu'il faut à chaque mois

"S'enivrer au moins une fois."

And having this belief confirmed by its temporary soothing effects on the sensorium, they are soon induced to consider chaque jour a more agreeable period to repeat the stimulus, than chaque mois, and thus the habit becomes established.

It will be found more difficult to remove drunkenness from a ship than any other evil of the present day: for it is neither to be cured by actual punishment, nor by any other means whatever, when it has once taken deep root in human nature. Yet, a well regulated and effective police, under the immediate direction of a patient and judicious first lieutenant, will greatly lessen the unequal distribution of grog, and prevent, at least, tumultuous drunkenness.

Particular care ought to be taken, that every one drinks his own allowance, or that it be stopped; and, thus, the possibility of borrowing and

* Medico-Chirurgical Journal.

ing, buying and selling, will be effectually checked. The bad effects arising from, and the great extent to which these practices were car ried on in many ships, during the late war, were truly wonderful, and difficult to detect.* If espionnage is to be tolerated on any occasion, this is where it would have the most salutary effect. In some ships, I have observed that the first lieutenant had a few sober and confiden tial men to help him to unriddle the drunken mysteries of the lower deck, by which means he was enabled to detect, regulate, or punish the offenders. dolgor

It is interesting to know, that large potations do not exert an uniform influence over the same individual. This seems to be owing to the state of the atmosphere at the time; for instance, dur ing the continuation of moist or foggy weather, a greater quantity of ardent spirits may be drank without producing the same baneful effects on the brain or constitution, that would have taken place under a cold, dry atmosphere.†

* During the late war, (when prize money was plentiful,) a private marine informed me, he was in the habit of saving thirty pounds per annum by selling his grog.

+ Sir Walter Scott has observed that, in the Hebrides, where moisture is frequent, less harm is sustained by drink ing spirituous liquors than elsewhere.

H

This, I believe, is to be accounted for on the well-known chemical principle, "that all condensation produces heat, and all evaporation cold." Hence, it will follow, that the greater capacity the air has for moisture, the greater will be the abstraction of heat from the body by it. On the contrary, when the air is nearly saturated with humidity, little heat will be evapo rated; and, when fully saturated, none at all: the point of saturation being where the cooling process stops. And thus the sensation of cold is produced not altogether from the low temperature of the atmosphere, but, partly, from the difference there is between the air and the point at which condensation of vapour takes place; and, partly too, from the strength of the wind at the time.

These observations are important, as, by the

"Water, in being converted into vapour, combines with more than five times the quantity of caloric that it required to bring ice-cold water to a boiling heat, and occupies a space 800 times greater, than it does when in the form of water."

"The natural heat of the human body is 98° of Fahrenheit's thermometer-any temperature applied to it lower than 98°, gives a sensation of cold, but if the temperature applied is not below 62°, the sensation of cold will not continue long, but be soon changed to a sensation of heat; and in this climate, air, &c. applied to the living man, does not