The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVIENING, NOVEMBER 8, 1865.

ing days it was less than 8 deg. The difference be-
tween the mean dew-point temperature and air tem-
perature was 2.7 deg. The mean degree of humidity
of the air was 90, complete saturation being repre-
sented by 100. On Tuesday and Wednesday it was
95. The direction of the wind was variable. There
was rain to the amount of 0.92 in. It fell on Sun-
day, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. There were
dense fogs on Friday and Saturday.

spirits of wine. Three drops in a cup of green tea
produce immediate perspiration.
" For the cramp we rub the joints, and apply,
with wet bandages, a mixture of white wine vinegar,
ginger, and cocoa-nut oil."
They kindly gave me some of their medicine ;
both mixed with spirits of wine and in raw state. A
very small quantity of Pepita de Camalonga, in a
glass of water, cures spasms ; and ditto of the
Madera de San Paca, cures dysentery.
From a friend, a native of the Philippine Islands,
I obtained a botanical book, written 200 years ago
by a friar, giving a description and the uses of
several indigenous trees, shrubs, and herbs of these
islands, which seem to abound in medicinal plants.
He says, " The Pepita de Camalonga is in size and
appearance very like a nutmeg ; it is rank poison,
but held in such high estimation that the women
generally carry one suspended round the neck, and
if attacked with sudden spasms they suck it, and
swallow two or three times the saliva impregnated
with it, and are so immediately relieved as to con-
tinue their work. The wood of the San Paca is given
in water, and cures dysentry."
So I found my Philippine friend was no impostor,
and I sent his description of the mode of cure, and
some of the medicines, to Sir Benjamin Hall. He
acknowledged the receipt of theft', and said both
should be laid before a medical board; but with what
result I never heard.

After my interview with the Malayans, one of my
servants was attacked with cholera, spasms, and
retching. I had none of their medicine except cocoa-
nut oil ; but I had him placed between two blankets,
gave him half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda in
hot water, and applied the friction as explained.
The pit of the stomach was as hard as a board, but
in about 10 or 15 minutes the tension suddenly
ceased. I administered immediately a large cup of
hot camomile tea, and a minute after the water
actually ran down him, so profuse was the sweat
that burst from him. By this time the Malay ar-
rived and pronounced him cured.
I have a book, called " Deeds, not Words," con-1
taining a list, but by no means of one half, of the
persons cured by this treatment. Many who owed
their lives to this man would not allow their names to
be included for fear of offending their own medical
attendants; besides, hundreds went to his house to be
cured, neither giving their names or address. I found
111 named as cured in the first and second stages ;
36 dangerously ill with cramp, sickness, and dysen-
tery, and 10 left as incurable and dying by their
doctors. On his return home one day, he found
his wife alarmingly ill, and he feared he was too
late ; but providentially he cured her.
On one occasion he met some people carrying, as
was supposed, the corpse of a young girl to the de-
posit for the dead, whom they said had died in an
hour after being attacked. He told them to lay her
down and he would see if she were quite dead. She
was the only child of a bedridden mother, whom
she supported. He applied the friction as above
described, brought her back to life, ran in for two
blankets, and, as no one would receive her, wrapped
her up arid laid her in the sun ; gave her the medi-
eine, and desired her to remain quiet until the per-
spiration subsided. She walked back in an hour to
her home, cured ; but so great was the panic of the
poor mother at seeing her child's ghost (as she
thought) that it killed her.
My Malayan friend was a great botanist and her-
balist. He told me " that a person was safer remain-
ing in an infected place than going away ; that the
system had got accustomed to the atmosphere, and
did not run so much chance of taking the disease as
if suddenly transferred to another atmosphere ;
that no person should ever take strong purgatives
or much medicine of any kind where the cholera
was, as it predisposed the body to catch it."

One or two ounces of oil of sweet almonds,
mixed with an equal quantity of syrup of mallows,
was the best purgative, if any was required whilst
the cholera was raging. No great difference should
be made in the usual diet ; but the first water used
in boiling vegetables should be thrown away as soon
as it boils, and fresh boiling water substituted.

All windcws should be closed before the dew
begins to fall, and not opened again till two hours
after sunset; and if left open during the night, they
should be shut an hour before dawn, and not re-
opened till the sun is well up. I have tried, and
always with great success, the toasted rice-water
for dysentery. When toasted, it should have hot
water poured on it, and boiled for twenty minutes
at least.

In the north of England I fell in with a poor
woman who had had the cholera seven weeks pre-
viously very badly, with cramps, spasms, and
dysentery; the last complaint had never left her
day or night. I cured her of it in three days with
the rice, and brought back the tone of the stomach
by a small cup of -camomile tea and a piece of dry
thin toast given very early in the morning ; and
then for several days I recommended, to assist the
digestion, of rhubarb and magnesia equal propor-
tions, and ono half of the quantity of soda. Of
this well-mixed combination she was to take what
would lie on a sixpence just before each meal. She
quite recovered.
I have written this in the hope that these simple
remedies may, with God's help, be the means of
curing many of that fell disease that in India and
elsewhere is so fatal, and now seems again about
to visit Europe.—The Shilling Magazine for No-
vanber.

off in the anticipation of a reduction. Silks of all
kinds fully as dear. There was not much alteration
-to note in brown nets, the demand being slow.
ROCIIDALE, fith.—Business to-day has decidedly
been of a more animated character, and out of so
good an attendance of those most deeply interested
in the trade it would have been strange if, after so
many dull markets and such a flagging trade for so
long, something decisive had not attended so large
a gathering. There was an excellent demand among
the home buyers for figured and fancy flannels, the
clearances of which ha,ve so far this season been
most satisfactory. The use of these so extensively
for skirtings has been a disadvantage to the makers
of plain goods, but now that we have had a taste of
cold weather, the latter, in their department, expe-
rience some little amendment. A much greater de-
mand would, however, be most acceptable, as stocks
have unavoidably accumulated quite as much as
when the manufacturers carried on operations with
the certainty of a good prospect. Yorkshire goods
are so dear that the trade in them is most limited
.because of the check it gives to speculative opera-
tions. Sales of wool are on a very sparing scale, and
prices are not such as to encourage larger transac-
tions,