institutions are regularly resorted to, the number of students bears no comparison to the increasing population; at the most they but supply the wants of the larger cities. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, &c., have experienced physicians. Several of them have studied in London or Paris, the greater number in the American Universities; and though these latter might be rather called surgeons than physicians, yet many of them have acquired by private study that information which the universities are not able to afford them. But the number of physicians is wholly inadequate to the demands of the country, and even in the cities, only the wealthiest people can apply to physicians, who are paid for their visits at an enormous price. Persons of less fortune must therefore resort to family medicines or to druggists.

In the country, however, there is an evil beyond all bounds, every quack being freely allowed to practice. The generality of "doctors," as they call themselves, are Irishmen or Germans, who have served in some foreign troops, and who begin their career either with false testimonials, or with none. They usually announce themselves as coming from London, Edinburgh, or Paris, to offer the benefit of their experience to the inhabitants of the county. If the medical vagrant happens to be questioned about his credentials, he regrets having lost them during a stormy passage at sea, but he will write immediately for duplicates to the medical faculty in Paris or Edinburgh, the members of which are all on most intimate terms with him, and will not fail to give ample testimonials of his great abilities. Whatever may be the complaints of his patients, he never fails to administer his sovereign remedy -mercury. The mischief which these quacks are doing in the country is incredible. An amiable young couple in A-g county, lost, by the ignorance of a would-be doctor of this kind, two of their children in four weeks; the third and last was at the point of death, when the parents sent for a physician to Pittsburgh, who restored the child to health in less than twenty-four hours. I shall abstain from mentioning any other victims of these empirics; suffice it to say that the evil exceeds all bounds, and that there is assuredly no civilized nation where the life and health of its citizens are less secure than in the United States of North America.

In the Western States, Ohio, Kentucky, &c.

the physicians, or rather surgeons, have formed societies after the manner of the clergy, into which none are received until duly examined and approved of. Although the knowledge of these soi disant doctors is confined to a little surgery and the administering of drugs, this measure has already been attended with salutary effects to the States. In the legislature of Pennsylvania, a motion which had been made on the subject, of not being allowed to practise without proper testimonials, was thrown out.

The foregoing is a short but a true sketch of a profession so respectable in itself, and so important to the welfare of the human race. To the scarcity of well-educated medical men, may be attributed that mortality which is far greater in the Union than in any portion of the European continent, Holland excepted. Much of it may be owing to the variations of climate, manner of living, &c. The want of proper physicians however, may be another cause; but the principal reason may be found in the ignorance of these quacks, who, administering nothing but calomel, destroy a great part of the younger population when yet in its infancy. Very few Americans are found to retain their teeth to the age of thirty. Rheumatisms and consumptions are the frequent and ordinary consequences of perverted medical treatment.

Few people are more indifferent to the preservation of their health. However willing an American may be to pay the exorbitant charges of his pseudo-doctor, and the expenses of his sickness, he is reckless of its result. His life has been exposed to so many hardships, dangers, and hair-breadth escapes, that he looks with a certain degree of resignation, or rather apathy, on its termination; and even when it has not been so adventurous, his cold and indifferent nature never forsakes him in his last moments.

CHAPTER XVII.

Manufacturers-Tradesmen.

NOTHING can exceed the admiration with which everything from England is regarded by the Americans. From a pin, to the splendid dress, all is universally sought for; and an American lady would think herself exceedingly unfashionable, if she could not sport even a second-hand reticule from England, and display it to public gaze. However Jonathan may pride himself upon his own unlimited freedom, and despise the rest of mankind whom he deems slaves, to England he pays the utmost deference, though much against his inclination, and English manners and (in fashionable houses) English furniture and dress prevail to the absolute exclusion of those of every other nation. In this he differs widely from the English ladies, who think themselves quite out of fashion, unless France has contributed to their embellishment. That the superiority of England is shewn by this predilection