_The best way of covering the taste of_ SALT, is to put a lump of _Sugar_ and a bit of thin-cut _Lemon Peel_[98] into the hot water, for a few minutes before you stir the Salt into it,--to which you may add a few grains of grated _Ginger_. EPSOM SALT is _a very speedy laxative_, often operating within an hour,--does the business required of it with great regularity,--and is more uniform in what it does,--and when it does it,--than any Aperient;--ten minutes after you have taken it, encourage its operation by drinking half a pint, or more, of warm water--weak Broth--Tea--thin Gruel (No. 572), with some salt and butter in it--or _Soda Water_ (No. 481.*) See Index. "_Nil tam ad sanitatem, et longevitatem conducit, quam crebræ et domesticæ purgationes._"--LORD BACON.--_i. e._ "Nothing contributes so much to preserve Health, and prolong Life, as frequently cleansing the alimentary canal with gentle laxatives." We perfectly agree with Lord Bacon, and believe that in nine cases out of ten, for which TONIC MEDICINES are administered, _Peristaltic Persuaders_ will not only much more certainly improve Appetite,--but invigorate the Constitution; by facilitating the absorption of nutriment,--which, in aged and debilitated people, is often prevented by the mouths of the vessels being half closed by the accumulation of viscid mucus, &c. APERIENT MEDICINE does enough, if it increases the customary Evacuation,--and does too much,--if it does more,--than excite one additional motion. Bowels which are forced into double action to-day--must, consequently, be costive to-morrow, and Constipation will be caused by the remedy you have recourse to to remove it,--this has given rise to a _Vulgar Error_,--that the use of even the mildest Laxative is followed by Costiveness. _Rhubarb_ is particularly under this prejudice,--because it has been more frequently employed as a domestic remedy,--and unadvisedly administered in either too little, or too large a Dose. It has, however, been recommended by a Physician of acknowledged Ability, and extensive Experience. "If the Bowels are constipated, they should be kept regular by a Pill of Rhubarb of five grains every morning."--PEMBERTON _on the Abdominal Viscera_, p. 113. People are often needlessly uneasy about the Action of their Bowels.--If their general Health is good, and they have neither Head-ach nor other deranged sensations, and they live temperately, during the second period of Life, whether they have two motions in one day, or one in two days, perhaps is not of much consequence;--however, that the Alvine Exoneration should take place regularly is certainly most desirable;--especially after _Thirty-Five_ years of age[99], when the elasticity of the machinery of Life begins to diminish.