of uneasiness, scarcely amounting to actual fear, which pervades the generality of travellers by rail. The possibility of collision is constantly present to such persons. So, too, the frequent lateness of trains, and the bad time which they keep, are causes of anxiety.

Effects on the eye.-Objects on the road are passed with such velocity that they only produce momentary impressions on the retina, and thus the visual powers are severely tried. The rapidity with which the brain is necessitated to take cognizance of the retinal images taxes it also more or less heavily. When the traveller sets himself to read, he imposes yet further labour on the eye in tracing the shifting characters of his book or newspaper, and also on the brain.

Impressions through the ear.-The rattle and noise which accompany the progress of the train create an incessant vibration on the tympanum, and thus influence the brain through the nerve of hearing. Assailed through the avenues of the eye and ear, and subject to concussions due to vertical movement and lateral oscillation communicated through the trunk, and actually transmitted by the bony walls of the head when it rests against the back of the carriage, the brain is apt to suffer certain physiological changes. Amongst the well-known effects are occasional dizziness, headache, sickness, and mental fatigue.

Rapid ageing of season ticket-holders.—One of the leading physicians of the metropolis says, Travelling a few years since on the Brighton line very frequently, I became familiar with the faces of a number of the regular passengers on that line. Recently I had again occasion to travel several times on the same line. I know well how to allow for gradual deterioration by age and care; but I have never seen any set of men so rapidly aged as these seem to me to have been in the course of those few years. It is idle to say that journeys from one end of London to the other occupy as long or a longer period of time, for the hurry, anxiety, rapid movement, noise, and other physical disadvantages of railway travelling, are peculiar to that method of conveyance, and a railway journey of an hour, at the rate of fifty miles, is almost as fatiguing as half a day's journey on the road.'

Diminution in number of season ticket-holders.-It is the inconvenience so endured that may probably have produced the remarkable falling off in the number of season tickets issued to the public, as shown by the Government returns. The number of season ticket-holders in England and Wales in 1859 was 35,322; in 1860, it had fallen to 30,500.

Question of Life Assurance.-A physician, who has studied the subject of the duration of life in relation to insurance states, that he makes a rule of inquiring of intending assurers whether they are in the habit of taking such long journeys, not with an eye to the probabilities of accident, but in the conviction that the health is likely in the end to be impaired by them, and any tendency to disease to be fostered and exaggerated.

The relations of railway travelling to disease.- Much evidence has been adduced to show that, where predisposition exists, railway travelling may become the exciting cause of cerebral disease. The first and most common symptom of disturbance thus produced is sleeplessness, with noise

and singing in the ears. This is the earliest troublesome symptom of over-work amongst the experienced engine-drivers and guards.

Apoplexy.-Where there is any reason to suspect a tendency to apoplexy, railway travelling should unquestionably be considered as an element of danger. The sudden death of Lord Canterbury in a railway carriage caused the subject to be much discussed some few years since. In a communication from Dr. W. Rogers, Winslow, Bucks, fourteen years surgeon to the railway works at Wolverton, he mentions having been called to several cases in which persons had been seized with apoplexy while travelling.

Where disease of the bones of the spine exists there is an obvious unfitness for habitual railway travelling.

As regards diseases of the ear, Mr. Harvey mentions having recently had under his notice two persons, in whom headache, accompanied by deafness and incessant noises in the ears, was a prominent symptom, regularly produced by railway journeys taken to and from Brighton daily. These cases, and others in the same way, resisted all kinds of treatment, until the vibrations and travelling were relinquished.

Some individuals suffer from vertigo, faintness, and nausea, on riding backwards in any close carriage. Dr. Williams inclines to think that this. is caused by some disorder of the cerebral circulation, in a manner similar to sea-sickness. The backward motion promotes the afflux of blood to the anterior lobes of the brain with a corresponding privation of it in the cerebellum and medulla, and disturbance of the functions of the trisplanchnic and associated nerves.

Retention of the secretions. Habitual suppression of the desire for micturition is not only a cause of inflammatory affections of the bladder, but has induced reflex paralysis of the lower extremities.

Influence on diseases of the abdominal viscera.-Dr. Brinton regards the marked influence of railway travelling in provoking hæmorrhage as specific in persons predisposed to such bleedings; and he has frequently traced epistaxis, hæmoptysis, and hæmorrhoidal bleedings to this exciting cause.

Precautions and improvements suggested-parliamentary interference. -If there has been culpable heedlessness as to the welfare of the millions of lives yearly intrusted to the charge of railway companies, it might be supposed that stringent enactments would soon be introduced bristling with penal clauses; and that the Statute Book which throws its ægis round pheasants and partridges, would also contain laws for the better protection of railway passengers.

How not to do it. In the House of Commons, Mr. Bentinck asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in consequence of railway accidents, it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government to introduce any measures founded on the report of the Committee on railway accidents ? Mr. M. Gibson said, it did not appear, from the reports made by the inspectors to the Board of Trade, that any new circumstances had lately arisen to render desirable the interference of Government in the management of railways.

True cause of collisions.-Careful investigations led to startling revela

tions of the manner in which railway employés are kept at work for many hours beyond the time that their faculties remain equal to the imposed strain, and thus the lives of passengers are continually endangered. Their prevention.-The Commission having at once directed attention to this unrecognised source of danger, an edict was shortly afterwards issued in France, reducing the working time of railway employés from thirteen to eight hours per day; and woe be to the company who shall disregard the Imperial mandate! But as the only despotic power in this country appears to be that of the railway interest,' it will, it is feared, bet very long before any similar restriction becomes law among us.

Signals should be uniform on all lines, because the signal men occasionally change from one company to another, and may confuse the old and new regulations with disastrous results.

Use of colour-signals.—Colour-blindness exists among some men, with consequent inability to distinguish red (danger) from green (caution). Moreover, when an engine is travelling at high speed in the teeth of a sharp wind or through rain or fog, it is difficult for the best eyes to distinguish the colour of a signal, especially if suddenly exhibited.

Other causes of preventable accidents are inefficient amount and action of break-power, and a want of means of communication between guards and drivers. The Committee of 1857 recommended both these subjects as requiring attention, but in vain.

The pace. The high rate of speed now maintained on all railways is unnecessary; whilst the increased motion it produces, and the enormous wear and tear it causes, are absolutely injurious. Its diminution would increase the safety of travellers, and was one of the many important suggestions made in the report of the Parliamentary Committee, not one of which has yet been carried into effect.

Long carriages.-According to the plan which obtains on the other side of the Atlantic, the whole length of each carriage would be open, with a passage in the centre, and a platform at each end for exit or entrance. The objection to such an innovation as being opposed to our national prejudices, is too trivial to need refutation. Indeed, it may be doubted whether that conceited spirit of exclusiveness, that unwholesome mistrust of our neighbours, peculiar to the travelling Englishman, is ever a healthy feeling to foster or encourage.

Safety. Such an arrangement would afford to timid persons that sense of security which they always derive from the presence of numbers, and would prevent the distressing effects of retention, since there could be conveniences fitted at the end of each carriage. Moreover, in case of the engine leaving the rail, carriages of such length would be far less likely to follow than the short-bodied vehicles which now fly over so readily. Experiments have already proved that carriages of this length are more free from both vibration and oscillation than those in ordinary use.

Temperature. There are probably more colds caught at railway-stations than in any other buildings. After becoming heated by previous sharp walking, travellers loiter on the platform, oftentimes in a cutting wind, to wait for the train. There is no reason why a fixed time, say two minutes, should not be allowed at every station to prevent unnecessary hurry.

From the above report it might be inferred that if small regular journeys are fraught with so much hidden danger, long railway journeys must be absolutely injurious. This deduction would be perfectly erroneous. In travelling great distances, the journey is the business of the day-the mind has no other task, no other difficulty, no other disturbing anxiety. It is true the concussions are rather more wearying than on the common road, but then the traveller looks forward to the pleasant prospect he will have at the termination. The elasticity of body and mind, the change of scenery, and the expulsion of business thoughts, soon wipe off the effects of the fatigue, and restore the former equilibrium. A similar effect follows occasional journeys. But habitual railway travelling has quite peculiar effects of its own.

The transition from a night's rest to the next day's work ought to be gradual; rising, dressing, early meal, all ought to be attended to without hurry or mental agitation, as a proper preparation for the exciting labour which has to follow. If instead of this the rest is suddenly interrupted and the day commenced with hurry and fretting, and all preparatory functions performed under the dread of missing the train, as evidenced by the constant study of the watch, and if the same process of mental anxiety is undergone at the termination of the day's work, this daily addition to the already excessive mental wear and tear must ultimately impair the stamina, resisting power and nutrition of the organism. Hence habitual railway travellers are, as a rule, free from small complaints, and apparently healthier and more vigorous the first years of the change than formerly, but in later periods they become more subject to severe ailments, based on mal-assimilation and on affections of the nervous centres.

Yet as the constant increase of the population compels frequent resort to distant railway residences, how can the benefit of a beautiful rural spot be enjoyed without detriment to health? Simply by ignoring the timetable, and never hurrying to catch a train. Let the traveller take his chance, as in former omnibus times, and rather wait inside the station till he can proceed to his business or his home by the next train. But if he neglects this certainly difficult rule, and persists in hurrying daily from rest to work and from work to rest, with a great amount of mental labour compressed between these two exciting journeys, he can as surely reckon on an eventual injury of some vital organ as he witnesses the effects of drops of water constanly falling on a solid rock. Whilst unmoved by the most violent torrent, its resisting mass gradually yielded to the incessant dropping, and became at last hollowed out at its most exposed position.

HEIDEN, the most celebrated whey establishment of Appenzell (after Gais), at the north-eastern border of the Appenzell Mountains, 2,424' over the level of the sea (1,200' over that of the Lake of Constance). The upper part of the village is built on a plateau, which affords a charming view of the Lake of Constance (1 leagues distant), and of the Bregenz, Bavarian, and Suabian Mountains. It is enclosed by the promontories of the mountain chain; the lower older portion is situated in a pleasant

valley called Bissau, bordered at the background by the Bischofsberg, Kaien, and other mountains, which offer the most beautiful views of the Lake, of Thurgau, of the Rhine valley, of the Bregenz and Tyrolese Mountains, of the Rigi, and of the green meadows and villages studding the distant hills. The climate is mild and bracing, but unfortunately the place is mercilessly exposed to the sun, through the absence of shady walks, though most charming excursions may be made into the neighbourhood. Its distance from Rheineck station (to the east) is one league; from St. Gallen (to the west) three. Physicians-Drs. Küng, Beck, and Benzinger, of Altstätden. Heiden offers the further advantage of possessing a bathing establishment im Werd, fed by a chalybeate spring, with some smell of sulphuretted hydrogen. The visitors enjoy a more sheltered climate than at Gais, and a greater variety of residence. For besides the beautiful Freyhof, ' built on the southern declivity of the plateau, in the midst of the village, with its open balcony and well-cultivated garden, accommodation may be had at the Löwe,' and at some commodious private houses. The population numbers 2,500. Opposite the Freyhof large farm-buildings have been erected, with a capacious square saloon, and with some chambers situated immediately over cow-stalls, and used for cases in which the exhalations of the stables are considered useful to soothe bronchial irritation and dyspnoea. The two buildings are connected by a tasteful garden and a large covered hall, 90 feet long, used for bowling and walking in unfavourable weather. Moreover, douche, river, and wave baths have been erected by Dr. Küng, on his own grounds, near a brook running through a wild ravine. A shady foot-path leads from this establishment to the neighbouring village of Wolf halden. Cows', ewes', and asses' milk, as well as herb juices and the most important mineral waters, are obtainable here. No wonder, then, that many varieties of ailments are counteracted by a use of the various remedial measures available; chronic, bronchial, or laryngeal irritation, tendency to tuberculosis, dyspepsia, gastric oppression, sluggish action or impaired circulation of the liver, neuralgic or rheumatic pains of the joints or muscles without exudation or organic changes, more due to deficient nutrition than to real rheumatism; chlorosis, nervous giddiness, emaciation of young persons through too sudden growth, where the development of vital organs cannot keep pace with the rapid stretch of the muscular and osseous systems; in fact, whenever a disproportion arises between the albuminates and non-nitrogenous constituents of the blood, especially in persons of phlegmatic spare habits, whey-cures will assist in eliminating the obstructive portions of plastic elements. Though apparently weakening, they will ultimately infuse new strength and gain to the organism, because new and healthy tissue will fill up the vacancy produced by the increased renal, cutaneous, and intestinal secretions. Nevertheless it must be admitted that if by a miracle the best Alpine whey could be bronght to the valetudinarian's bedside at home we should not observe the beneficial results described. A great portion of the improvement is certainly due to the exhilarating mountain atmosphere, provocating increased muscular exercise, and to the purer and thinner air stimulating the lungs to inhale greater quantities than usual, in order to obtain the requisite