of drugs, in the whole of the pharmacopeia, is capable of producing—in this case, again, little lowering of strength is produced, and the stomach is again saved from the injurious and irritating effects of Tartar emetic and other drugs; instead of the fever raging for a period of three weeks, it is generally subdued in as many days, when the patient goes forth, but little reduced in strength, instead of weak, miserable, and emaciated with the prospect of some six weeks elapsing before he is restored to his wonted strength. Sir Bulwer Lytton thus describes, from personal experience, the process of wet-sheet packing:— “The sheet, after being well saturated, is well wrung out—the patient quickly wrapped in it—several blankets bandaged round, a down coverlet tucked over all; thus, especially where there is the least fever, the first momentary chill is promptly succeeded by a gradual and vivifying warmth perfectly free from the irritation of dry heat—a delicious sense of ease is usually followed by a sleep more agreeable than anodyne ever produced. It seems a positive cruelty to be taken out of this magic girdle in which pain is lulled and fever cooled, and watchfulness lapped in slumber.” In the effects of wet-sheet packing in cases of congestion of the liver and other internal viscera, we fear an unfavourable comparison must again be drawn between the effects of the allopathic and hydropathic modes of treatment. In these cases the object to be effected is to relieve the oppressed and congested organs from the superabundance of blood with which they are gorged; and it appears to us that this effect is produced more certainly, more quickly, and more permanently, without subsequent injurious effects, by the wet-sheet packing and other hydropathic appliances, sitz baths amongst the rest, than could possibly be effected by all the drugs in the Apothecary’s Hall. In fact, hydropathy appears to possess greater power in controlling the circulation and regulating the currents of the blood than any other system of therapeutics yet revealed to us; it can stimulate the circulation when low, reduce it when excited and disordered, determine it from the head in cases of apoplexy and cold feet, and drive it to the surface of the body in cases of visceral congestion. An engine capable of producing these effects without weakening the constitution, and possessing, in addition, the power of bracing and stimulating the nervous system when weakened, and of soothing and allaying irritation wherever it may exist, more effectually than any opiate; such a system we say, must ever occupy a high, if not the foremost place amongst all existing systems of Hygiene. The physiological effects of wet-sheet packing are thus described by Dr. Wilson:—