We should have thought it superfluous to make any observations on the evil effects of mercury, which we thought were acknowledged by everybody, were it not that we recently heard it designated by a much respected physician as “a most wholesome substance,” the chief objection to it being “that persons got too fat upon it.” This opinion astonished us not a little, and we felt that when habit [5] and prejudice could so pervert the mind of a physician as to make him look upon a poisonous substance as a positive good, we could easily account for the difficulty which has been always experienced in converting a medical man—for the unsatisfactory state of the medical art, and its having so long pertinaciously followed the routine practice of our ancestors. When a mind cannot perceive the difference between black and white, it is in vain to place less obvious differences before it. We now quote the opinion of Dietrich as to the effects of this “wholesome” ingredient, mercury, for the benefit of the physician in question, and such of our readers as may hitherto have agreed with him. He tells us that— “Soon after salivation has been established, the blood exhibits an inflammatory crust; at a later period its colour deepens, and its coagulability is diminished; the proportion of clot, and, therefore, of fibrin, to serum (or watery part) becomes smaller; the formation of albumen and mucus sinks to that of serum; the whole organic formation of the patient is less consistent and cohesive.” Which opinion is right, let the public judge. We will not prejudice their verdict by any further observations of ours, but will merely ask them, if mercury be proved unnecessary, how can its continued use be defended? Dr. Farre writes sportively as follows:— “A full, plethoric woman, of a purple-red complexion, consulted me * * * I gave her mercury, and in six weeks blanched her as white as a lily.” If this be what the Allopathist boasts of, and one of the effects he aims at producing, we congratulate him on the melancholy success which usually attends his efforts.