It is hurtful also to the patient, from its influencing so far those, who, by relationship, by previous terms of friendship, and by duty, are bound, by every moral obligation, to assist him, now helpless, sick, and perhaps expiring,—as to forget their most sacred duties as to make them disregard his forlorn situation, and indeed to induce them to fly from and desert him; thus sacrificing every good principle and wholesome consideration, (as they erroneously think) to make their own lives the more secure. Such contingencies are of frequent occurrence; and the result is, that many unhappy persons are left to perish, their thirst unslaked, their latest requests unheard, and their last moments unwitnessed. Parents have been known to forsake their children, and the offspring their parents, whom, at all hazards, they were bound to serve,—by every holy affection, to assist the more diligently, the more they were pressed with adversity. But alas! the affections, the instincts of Nature, the dictates of gratitude, have been thrown aside, and every thing fair and holy in the human soul has been foully stained, in the almost universal wreck, attendant on the course of pestilence. The history of the cholera visitation affords many examples of perishing persons deserted and left to the mercy of a cruel scourge; and we are familiar with many instances which have come under our own charge, where it has been found impossible to procure the attendance of relations, or even the mercenary aid of hirelings, although extraordinary remuneration has been offered. Last winter, the father and mother of a family were seized with fever, and their sole attendants were their infant children. There were several relatives of the family not far off, but none, not even one, could be persuaded to lend assistance. Their neighbours refused to hold any communication; and, notwithstanding repeated and continued attempts by the Author to induce those who make it their business to wait upon the sick, the family had to struggle on, without the least attention being paid, saving by the almost useless children, to their wants, to cleanliness, and to the administration of the remedies. It was truly a deplorable scene, such as made the Author reprobate that cowardly desertion, and regret the operation of a doctrine so baneful, and moreover so groundless. Yet we know not whether to blame most the people or the doctrine. Did those see the scenes, the distress and cruelty inflicted through the operation of infectious air, who believe in it, and preach its avoidance; surely, did they possess one spark of humanity, it could not fail to manifest itself, by causing them to institute, or at least to listen to, an inquiry touching its evidence.