and, where bribery begins, extortion,
partiality and tyranny to those who cannot
bribe soon follow. I wish I could acquit the
hospital nurse of these weaknesses, but I
cannot. And this is why I hail as excellent
and hopeful the recent introduction into some
hospitals of superintendent nurses, called
Sisters, superior in intelligence and education
to the average class of attendants.

As nursery-maid; as nurse-girl; as wet-nurse
("with a good " &c., a lady generally
sensitive as to diet, and whose daily pints of
porter are with her points of honour); as
schoolroom-maid: all these "want places"
speak for themselves. They are buds and
offshoots and twigs of the nurse-tree proper,
and as such are highly useful, each in their
distinctive sphere, but beyond that they do
not call for any detailed notice here.

SICK GRAPES.

For two years the country round Naples
has been suffering from the Vine Malady.
Not only husbandmen but proprietors have
become indigent, and there is no hope of
improvement. The promise in spring was
good. Many Vines, it is true, had died off
during the winter, but those which remained,
as if last year's attack had not impaired their
vigour, gave out their leaves as gay and
green as ever, sent forth their branches long
and strong, and hung out their wealth of
fruit most temptiing to the eye. The aspect of
things is now, however entirely changed; and
so thorough is the ruin, that, whilst people,
sober as well as thirsty; are considering what
beverage to substitute, the priests declare that
it will be necessary to send out of the country
for pure wine; the very purest being required
for the right performance of the offices of
their religion.

Looking out from my windows as I now do
on most lovely scenery, and on land which
generally at this season of the year is teeming
with the rich promise of the grape, nothing
can be more melancholy than its present
appearance. Winds from the Dead Sea might
have swept over it and blasted it, so withered
are the trees. But instead of dealing in
generalities, I will enter into details as to the
origin and progress of the malady. The first
perceptible symptom of the coming disease
was a certain loss of vigour in some of the
vine leaves, they hung down like so many
pieces of green silk, so flaccid had they
become: my impression at first was that they
were suffering from a hot sirocco; but, as
there was no revival, it. was very evident what
had come upon them. From tree to tree the
malady extended with incredible rapidity of
infection: so rapid, that one could almost see
its progress, until whole plantations appeared
as if they were suffering from dearth of water.
About the same time, the backs of the leaves
became white, as if covered by a fine cobweb
or finer flour; and then they withered up like
a scroll, and I plucked them from the vines
and crumpled them into powder with my
hands, like a last year's leaf which had been
spared by the storms of winter. The next
phasis of the disease was a change in the
surface of the new shoots, which were marked
lik the marks on a human face of the small
pox; small brown and red pustules covered
each branch, and will no doubt remain; as
they do upon the old wood which was
similarly affected last year.

No sooner had the grapes attained the size
of a pin's head than many of them lost all
vigour, and dried to a powder. Such as
remained had just strength enough to blossom
—at all times a very trying season for the
grape—and then for the most part withered,
whilst the bunches which still struggled on
are covered with what to the naked eye
appears a very fine flour. Flip them, and a
cloud falls off, without, however, in the slightest
degree relieving the plant. Their fate will
be doubtless that of the fruit which lingered
on last year until the end of the season. As
they attain their natural size, the juice will
all flow out; leaving nothing but the skin
and seeds; which become a hard as stones.
There is, therefore, less reson for hope this
year than there was last.  In eighteen
hundred and fifty-two, the produce of wine was
one-seventh or one-eighth of what it usually
has been, and that was above the average;
this year it will be much less, and will
probably fall to zero. One most provoking
feature of the disease is, that it will force
itself upon the attention of more than one
sense; for so strong and offensive is the
odour, that the air around a vineyard is
impregnated with it. As all the wine made last
year was made—even the best—of infected
grapes, and was therefore of an inferior quality,
great fears were entertained at first that it
might prove prejudicial to public health, and
orders were issued to destroy the most diseased
grapes; but, as the malady spread more
rapidly and extensively than was expected,
the precaution, I suppose, was deemed the
greater evil of the two, and people were
permitted to poison themselves if they chose.
The wine, however, has proved perfectly
innocuous. I do not know whether the
following facts will have any novelty in
them; yet, as they are the result of close
observation during the last two years, I will
communicate them, if only to swell the mass
of information which has been gathered on so
widely interesting a subject.

It has been a common prejudice in this
neighbourhood—che l'aria la porta—that the
air brings the malady—and whilst some have
placed their hopes of relief in heavy rains,
others have, as confidently prayed for hot suns.
I have never, however, perceived that any
change of wind, or weather, or temperature,
has arrested the malady. It has ever pursued
its sure and silent course, unaffected by climateric
influences, and baffling all speculations