To this low orb is lost a shining light. Useful, resplendent, and tho' transient, bright! For scarce has soaring genius reach'd the blaze Of fleeting life's meridian hour, Than Death around the naming meteor plays, And spreads its cypress o'er the short liv'd flower. The great projector of that grand design,[1] In time's remotest annals, long will shine; While sons of toil aloud proclaim his name, And _life preserv'd_ perpetuate his _fame_. [1] The Safety Lamp * * * * * SODA WATER. (_To the Editor of the Mirror._) The following extract from a medical periodical on _Soda Water_, will not perhaps be deemed _mal-apropos_ at the present period of the year, and by being inserted in your widely circulated work may be of some service to those who are not aware of the evil effects produced by a _too free_ use of that beverage. M.M.M. On this fashionable article, the editor remarks, Dr. Paris makes the following observations:--"The modern custom of drinking this inviting beverage during, or immediately after dinner, has been a pregnant source of indigestion. By inflating the stomach at such a period, we inevitably counteract those _muscular_ contractions of its coats which are essential to chymification, whilst the quantity of soda thus introduced scarcely deserves notice; with the exception of the carbonic acid gas, it may be regarded as water; more mischievous only in consequence of the _exhilarating_ quality, inducing us to take it at a period at which we would not require the more simple fluid." In all the waters we have obtained from fountains in London and other places, under the names of "Soda Water" and "_double_ Soda Water," we have not been able to discover any soda. It is common water mechanically super-saturated with fixed air, which on being disengaged and rarified in the stomach, may, as Dr. Paris observes, so over distend the organ as to interrupt digestion, or diminish the powers of the digestive organs. When acid prevails in the stomach, which is generally the case the day after too free an indulgence in wine, true soda water, taken two or three hours before dinner, or an hour before breakfast, not only neutralizes the acid, but the fixed air, which is disengaged, allays the irritation, and even by distending the organ, invigorates the muscular coat and nerves. As the quantity of soda, in the true soda water, is much too small to neutralize the acid, it is a good practice to add fifteen or twenty grains of the carbonate of soda, finely powdered, to each bottle, which may be done by pouring the contents of a bottle on it in a large glass.