We have only to glance at the columns of our newspapers, and the covers of periodical publications, for illustrations of the extent to which the system of scheming, falsehood, and trickery, termed puffing, is carried. In one specious and lofty-toned announcement we are told that the most splendid discovery of the present age is now admitted, by the most unquestionable (?) testimonials, to be “Grindstone Snuff,” which is warranted to cure gutta serena, cataract, and all other diseases of the eyes, while a single pinch scares away headache and nervousness! Another startles the weatherwise by his impudent pretension to be the _only_ maker of barometers and thermometers in London; whereas, if the real truth were disclosed, it would be found that his connexion with the trade consisted in some such occupation as engraving the index plates of the instrument for his employers, who surely have the greater right to be considered real makers. Balsams, cough drops, rheumatism and gout dispersers, pills, cerates, syrups, shaving soaps, cornplasters, and heal-alls—all boast of the wondrous cures effected, and testimonials received. The long list of essences and decoctions, from vinegar to honey, also have the names of distinguished gentlemen of the faculty, the royal family, nobility, clergy, and gentry, appended as bearing testimony to their surprising virtues. “Highgate’s universal irresistible Ointment” we are informed, is an invaluable specific for all disorders. “But who shall decide when doctors disagree?” A counter address denounces the same individual as an _uncertificated impostor_, who has no testimonials of his own, but has filched extracts from the only real original certificates and testimonials of “Monsieur Holabolo’s genuine Panacea,” which alone is a radical cure for all internal and external complaints. Another ointment puffer, whose nostrum is warranted to cure the plague and cholera, among other evils, occupies two columns of a newspaper with cures said to be effected by it; and these are flanked with no less than seventy-six names of surgeons and oculists, who, among others, testify to its monstrous virtues!![6]