All that is requisite to stop the bleeding, after the leech is taken away, is constant pressure on the spot; a piece of sponge or cotton, the size of a pin's head, is to be put upon the aperture, and kept there by cross slips of adhesive plaster spread upon linen, or the surgeon's strapping: if greater pressure be necessary, some linen may be placed between the stopper and the plaster. 392. _A useful embrocation for Rheumatism, Lumbago, or Strains._--Half an ounce of strongest camphorated spirit, one ounce spirits of turpentine, one raw egg, half pint best vinegar. Well mix the whole, and keep it closely corked. To be rubbed in three or four times a day. For rheumatism in the head, or face-ache, rub all over the back of the head and neck, as well as the part which is the immediate seat of pain. 393. _For Gout and Rheumatism._--Mix in one pound of honey one ounce of flour of sulphur, half an ounce of cream of tartar, two drachms of ginger, in powder, and half a nutmeg, grated: for rheumatism, add half a drachm of gum-guaiacum, powdered. The full dose is two tea-spoonsful at bed-time and early in the morning, in a tumbler of hot water. This is "the Chelsea Pensioners' recipe." 394. _Influenza._--Influenza is an Italian word, and means what we express in English by almost the same word, influence. The word as applied to this disease, originated from the belief held by our ancestors, of the influence of the stars upon human affairs. When a complaint suddenly appeared, and affected great numbers without an obvious cause, the visitation was ascribed to the stars. Whatever might have been the origin of the name, it is an appropriate one, for the Influenza certainly springs from some pervading influence. It may, for anything we can prove to the contrary, be occasioned by some subtle poison diffused throughout the atmosphere, which medical men call a _miasm_. Bad air, rising from marshy ground, occasions ague; and bad air arising from drains in towns, from cess-pools, and other collections of filth, gives rise to the worst kinds of fever. And it is not a matter of chance: the ague will continue in marshy countries till these are drained; and in the dirty quarters of a large town, there is sure to be typhus fever. If we cannot, in these cases, see, taste, or touch the bad air, or even smell it, we know that fens poison the air with a matter that causes ague, and animal refuse with what causes fever and many other diseases. But, the existence of a peculiar poison in the air in influenza, is very doubtful. It is likely, however, and generally believed by medical men, that influenza arises from certain states or changes in the air connected with heat and moisture. Now, though it appears in hot weather and cold, in dry and wet, it may still depend on certain conditions of the weather, just as a person will sometimes take a cough in a warm moist day, and again in a dry east wind; and just, in fact, as we see