ULCERS, &c. External sores are constantly feigned by mendicants to obtain relief, or by soldiers to procure their discharge; and for this purpose various acrid applications as well as pressure have been resorted to. _Galen_ detected an imposture of this kind, where a slave, in order to avoid accompanying his master on a long voyage, produced tumours in his knees by the application of _Thapsus_. Ulcers, says _Dr. Hennen_, were formerly extremely prevalent in the army, and were often produced by various acrid substances, but, by the adoption of _Mr. Baynton’s_ practice, they are now rendered much more manageable; where the ulcer is supposed to be excited by unfair means, surgeons are now in the habit of sealing the dressings, and so effectually preventing any improper tampering with them, without immediate discovery. _Dr. Hennen_ says, “I had some time ago a case in a recruit, reported to be _Pompholyx Diutinus_, and resembling that species of Bullæ in a very remarkable degree; after several weeks _Dr. Bartlett_ of the 88th regiment, into whose charge the man was at length transferred, detected a shining particle of the powder of cantharides adhering to an unctuous dressing, which had been purposely applied loosely to the limb, in order that the patient might not be prevented from managing his case in his own way.” On some occasions the _Ranunculus Flammula_ has been employed for these iniquitous purposes; in others, _Verdegris_, or a copper coin, has been bound tight on the sore. HERNIA has been sometimes simulated by blowing air into the cellular membrane; and PROLAPSUS ANI has been successfully imitated by introducing a foreign gut into the rectum. We shall now dismiss the subject of simulated diseases, leaving such deceptions as that of _Miss M’Avoy_ of Liverpool, to the fate which must await them; and the professional men who have aided them by their credulity, to the contempt which they so richly merit, from the more enlightened part of their medical brethren. OF THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD.