Moreover, this volume treats of Human Temperaments, not only of their influence upon mental characteristics and bodily susceptibilities, but also of their vital and non-vital combinations, which transmit to the offspring either health, hardihood, and longevity, or feebleness, disease, and death. It clearly points out those temperaments which are compatible with each other and harmoniously blend, and also those which, when united in marriage, result in barrenness, or produce in the offspring imbecility, deformity, and idiocy. These matters are freely discussed from original investigations and clinical observations, thus rendering the work a true and scientific guide to marriage. While instruction is imparted for the care of the body, those diseases (alas how prevalent!) are investigated which are sure to follow as a consequence of certain abuses, usually committed through ignorance. That these ills do exist is evident from the fact that the Author is consulted by multitudes of unfortunate young men and women, who are desirous of procuring relief from the weaknesses and derangements incurred by having unwittingly violated physiological laws. Although some of these subjects may seem out of place in a work designed for _every_ member of the family, yet they are presented in a style which cannot offend the most fastidious, and with a studied avoidance of all language that can possibly displease the chaste, or disturb the delicate susceptibilities of persons of either sex. This book should not be excluded from the young, for it is eminently adapted to their wants, and imparts information without which millions will suffer untold misery. It is a _false_ modesty which debars the youth of our land from obtaining such information. As its title indicates, the Author aims to make this book a useful and practical Medical Adviser. He proposes to express himself in plain and simple language, and, so far as possible, to avoid the employment of technical words, so that all his readers may readily comprehend the work, and profit by its perusal. Written as it is amid the many cares attendant upon a practice embracing the treatment of thousands of cases annually, and therefore containing the fruits of a rich and varied experience, some excuse exists for any literary imperfections which the critical reader may observe. THE AUTHOR. BUFFALO, N.Y., July, 1875. * * * * * INTRODUCTORY WORDS.