The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-07-15 00:00:00

legal polity, when they had occasion to limit a short intery

of time for any particular purpose:—Anciently, no man was
suffered to abide in England above forty days, unless he
were enrolled in some tithing or decennarv. A widow shall
remain in her husband's capital messuage forty days after his
death, within which time her dower shall be assigned. The
tenant of knight's fee, by military service, is bound to attend
the king forty days, properly equipped for warfare. By
privilege of parliament, members of the House of Commons
are protected from arrest for forty days before the next ap-
pointed meeting. The acts for preventing the introduction
of the plague direct that persons coming from infected places
must remain on ship-board forty days before they be per-
mitted to land.—Castoms of the Middle Ages.

QUACKERY.—Quackery, like sin, is very ancient. It
flourished in ancient Rome as well as in modern Europe.
Nor does it depend for its prosperity on the ignorance of the
uneducated classes. " The desire of wealth and health,"
says Pitt, " seems to put all understanding on a level ; the
avaricious are duped by every bubble—the lame and unhealthy
by every quack." The faith of that singular compound of
folly and knavery, the world, is kept up by peers, judges,
and bishops, by clowns, operatives, and old women, who fur-
nish certificates to the value of nostrums, and testify in
favour of imposture, delusion, and villany. Every material
substance and medicament from the inert herb and common
weed to simple water, having no properties beyond mere
matter, have been at one period or other boasted up to the
vain and empty nothingness of a great name, as the best
remedy in the world for the inward bruises of all mankind.
Indeed, each has possessed in turn the same reputution, and
produced the same imputed benefits as a panacea for the cure
of every disease under the sun; and their imaginary virtues
have heen witnessed and attested by persons from the throne
to the garret. In this country the sale of quack medicines
has kept pace with the " march of intellect." Forty years
ago they yielded an annual revenue to the state of about
£14,000. In 1841, the amount realised was £50,000. For
the last half century English governments have looked upon
this vile revenue as more valuable, in their judgment, than
the health of the people, the prosperity of the regular pro-
fession, and the improvement of physic. " They manage
these things better in France." There the compositions of
all the nostrums are divulged, compulsorily, to the Academy
of Medicine; after which a license is given for the sale of
them, if they are not injurious to the public health. The
sale of hurtful nostrums is prohibited by penalties. As to
other nostrums, the quack may sell—the dupe may buy—the
government only interfering with " the liberty of the sub-
ject" (whether that subject be quack or dupe) for the protec-
tion of life.—Abridged from a Paper by Dr. Forsbrooke of
Chester.

WEST INDIES AND MADEIRA.
SOUTH AMERICA.
Circassian, R J Prowse, 21g Valparaiso, ;;,cells & Co
Reliance, J R Dunley, 179 Ceara, Hadtieids & Armando

BRITISH AMERICA.
St. George, (steamer) 164 St. John, Nfld. C7lnnon &Co
Speed, J Ellis, 1010 Quebec, Gibbs, Bright &Co
Souter Johnny, T Little, 362 Montreal, W Fisher & Son

EUROP.
John & Thomas, AA' Leod, 115 PillaE
u, Campbell & Rudd
Eduard, L Brandhoff, 216 Danzic, Bahr, Behrend &Co
Mogul, de Chiarra, 180 Naples, W Haskayne
Egidius. Halewyck, 221 Ostend, Bahr, Behrend &Co
Edmund & Mary, F Wright, 262 St- Petersburg,
Bahr, Behrend & Co
Anna Maria, J P Sanderfeldt, 70 Bremen, Bahr, Behrend &Co
Ann, G Jardine, 101 Danzic, A Coghill
Duchess Kent, J Stevens, 95 Lisbon, A Coghill
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