room it has been warmed to the same temperature
as the rest of the atmosphere. A small
spirit lamp, placed under any part of the tube,
which is of metal, would make the current of
air as warm as can be wished, should that be
deemed desirable.

Perhaps there, is no illness, if illness it can be
called, in ordinary circumstances, the management
of which has been so beset by blind and
stupid prejudices as the lying-in of a woman.
This has been partly occasioned by the fact that
monthly nurses have been formerly excessively
ignorant persons, and that old women have
been looked up to as the only infallible guides.
The great bugbear was always catching cold,
and to avoid a chance of this, the most absurd
plans were in vogue, some of which still remain,
particularly amongst the poorer classes. Some
hundred years ago, no lady was allowed to have
her cap changed during the time of bed, without
having every curtain closely drawn, and a warming-
held over the head. Every window was
constantly kept closed, fires were perpetually
burning, "heaps of blankets piled on, and even
the handles of the knives, forks, and spoons to be
handled by the poor lady were covered up with
flannel or silver paper; even the little hand-
bell placed on the bed to summon an attendant
had its neat flannel jacket, for fear the touch of
the cold metal should make her catch cold.
Cold water, cold air, cold drinks, anything cold
that could be touched with the fingers, were all
most scrupulously guarded against. Thanks to
the improved education of the nurses, and the
greater attention of the doctors, these absurdities
have of late nearly disappeared; but it has been
only a change of very recent date, and not yet
completed. The bills of mortality still show a
large proportion of deaths from what are
properly called avoidable diseases; but year by
year matters are changing for the better, and
the value of human life from infancy to old
age is continually increasing. "Whilst in our
variable climate warm clothing is always
desirable, to protect the body from the sudden
changes and from the effects of protracted
chills, the system of sweltering in hot bedding
though the night, with closed windows and
closed curtains, is decidedly injurious to health,
and the result is a languid awaking in the
morning, a much greater susceptibility to catch
cold, and a diminished vital energy. Hospitals,
barracks, schools, orphan and other children's
asylums, are now constructed on improved
principles; and instead of trying how many
unfortanate individuals could be crowded into the
smallest possible space, and the buildings
erected on the cheapest plans, care is now
taken that dormitories should be lofty and well
ventilated, and that a certain number of cubic
feet of air should be preserved for each inhabitant.
One may refine to any extent on the
luxuries of beds and bedrooms for those who have
the means, but, for the good of the whole
community, certain correct, principles as to sanitary
arrangements are fully recognised, and are
rapidly coming into use. Each nation will have
its own ideas of comfort, but throughout the
world health is equally important, and the rules
which will preserve it and promote it cannot be
too extensively known or more powerfully
recognised. One might extend these remarks to
various other circumstances connected with beds
but we would only name the question of fires
in bedrooms as to be deprecated in health on
many accounts, though there can be no doubt
that fires in dressing-rooms are great additions
to comfort. In illness a fire may sometimes be
neccessary, and then, where gas is to be had, a
gas fire in an open grate is by far the best. All
other fires more or less disturb rest or fail; a
coal drops on the fender, and awakes the poor
invalid with a start. The fire blazes too much
the early part of the night, and the room gets
too hot; then, unless replenished, it gradually
expires, and the room becomes colder and
colder as the night goes on. If it be replenished
and watched, there is all the noise and disturbance
of poking the fire and supplying fresh
coals. A gas fire can be set at any degree of
flame and heat, requires no watching, no poking,
no fresh supplies, but continues the same
throughout, and should the night become colder
or warmer, can be raised or lowered to the feelings
or the thermometer by a mere turn of a
handle. A well-constructed gas fire, with an
open chimney, is as safe, as salubrious, and as
free from unpleasant smell as any coal fire, gives
no trouble, keeps always clean, and makes no
blacks.

To habitual invalids, still more to healthy
active people confined to bed through some
accident, the bed is an important matter, and
not only comfort, but health and life may depend
on the power of obtaining sleep; and to such
the observations in this article are addressed.
A healthy man, actively employed through the
day, with no cares to agitate, and no irritable
nerves, can sleep, and soundly sleep, anywhere;
though the shepherd's boy said he never knew
what it was to enjoy a good night, as no sooner
was his head on the pillow than it was time to
get up.

A GAME OF ÉCARTÉ.

WE were in France, in pleasant lodgings,
at a short distance from the Channel coast.
My party consisted of my daughter Margaret,
then in her teens, small, clean-limbed, and,
though I say it, pretty; an ancient governess,
good Miss Chalker, fresh in mind though faded
in person; and myself. Of our fellow-lodgers I
make no account, as they took no visible part or
share in what occurred afterwards.

Our landlady, Madame Dupuis, was a woman
of forty-eight or fifty, long, of warm temper, vain,
and jealous of women younger than herself; of
plausible and pleasant manners, but with tact and
shrewdness, not to say cunning. She had one
grown-up son, Louis, the sole survivor of a large
family. Possibly, she might entertain for him
an ordinary amount of motherly love: she kept
him under, and compelled him to remain quite in