The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-25
AN OIlD ALMANAC.

SullouS EAlrdCtS FrOIn OHe ffepareQ
 for the London Stationers' Company
 in the Seventeenth Century.
 TWO hundred and fifty years ago, al- though books were scarce, and libraries of any size rarely to be met with save In the houses of the rich and learned, most cottages could boast of possessing an almanac for the then current year.
 Usually, says the London Standard, these alnlanacs were neat little duodec- 1mo volumes printed in black letter,
 bearing the somewhat portentious title Of "Almanack and Prognostication,' and, like those of to-day, contained mass of information three- quarters of which was utterly useless to the major 1ty of readers. As an example of the way that these almanacs were put to- gether, we cannot do better than take one which was printed by the Worship full Company of Stationers in the year 1924.
 We are informed by an alliterative headline on the cover that this particular almanac and prognostication was "Practiced, Penned and Published by one Jeffery Neve, practitioner in physicke, and compiled according to the most exquisite observations and hy- potheses of the learnedst writers, wherein is inserted the state of the four quarters of the year, with divers notes fit for sundry occasions" Like most al- manacs which were published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- ries, the present volume is embellished with Woodcut of a naked man, which at first sight might be mistaken for representation of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, on account of what appear to be numerous arrows projecting from all parts of the body. As a matter of fact, however, they are not arrows but index lines, having at one end one of the signs of the Zodiac, the other end pointing to that part of the body which the particular sign was supposed to govern; thus, Aries would point to the head and face, Gemini to the arms and shoulders, and so on throughout the rest of the twelve signs.
 Considering how identified was the science of medicine with astrology in those days, the above figure was of no little importance. If a person wished to let blood he would only do so after ascertaining whether the almanac had marked that particular day as one fit and proper for blood-letting. Blood- letting, we are told, "is bad for a leane and weak man, for a very fat and crosse man, and for child under four teen, whilst the best time for this ope- ration Is in fine weather, and when the sun is up." When the sun was in Leo 0 black draught or blue pill was poison, and even a bath was only to be in- dulged in upon certain days which may perhaps account for the personal un- sanitariness of many of the subjects of James I. But the author of the alma nae was not satisfied with this, and thought it conducive to the health of his patients to print at the top of each page assigned to a month short piece of verse, wherein were embodied divers hints as to diet, medicine, clothing and hygiene. For instance, for February the author tells us:
 s~rhis month as yet no physicke use,
 For fear that you your healthe abuse; Bleede not nor bathe, be ruled by me,
 Except upon necesstt1e.
 In March, however, one is told to ''use Physicke's Art to help disease that kills;" while during May the following lines are to be the patients guide:
 '.Now gallant May in his array, Doth make the fields pleasant and gay; Walk early now for thy healthe's sake, But still thou mayest some physicke take"
 The drink for the month of June, &C., cording to this poetic practitioner, should consist of Clarified whay boyled with coole herbes," a beverage which the patient is advised ito drink alway." :" During the month of August we are told to "let little sleep thee now con- tent. if that disease thou wilt prevent" while in September all restraint is taken off the patient, for, says MT. Neve:
 'eNow mightiest thou physicke take. And bleede and bathe Tor thy healtne 5 sake.
 Eat figges and grapes and spicery For to refresh thy body dry. Not rlninteresting is our author s enumeration of the different kinds of
 diseases with which one is liable to be attacked during each of the four sea- sons of the year. Under winter we find | "cold plegmeticke and melancholy sick ness, SUCH dS SOlS SyCS, lACleellCliO- l Iv rhe1lms, coughs, catarrhs and sciati- cas. Spring brings with it "small-
 poxe, measels and all hot diseases, such as fevers." During autumn the doctor 1 tells us that sicknesses are divers at I this quarter, among others being l champs, toothaches, coughs and the | falling sickness s''-though why epilepsy, which we believe was what the falling | sickness was, should be more common at autumn than at any other season of 1 the year we are unable to suggest. | Upon the vexed question of the treat ment of consumption, for there were 1 special cures for this disease even in | those days, MT. Neve pins his faith to asses milk. He does this in such an
 elegant little couplet that we cannot re- l frain from quoting it:
 | Toe yoI1