The object the writer has had in view in this article has been to draw attention to this affection of babies’ eyes, and to enforce the urgent necessity for prompt and proper treatment. He has not inserted any directions as to remedies parents may themselves employ, because it is essentially a disease that no one but a medical man should treat, and parents should be encouraged to apply at once for relief. For the very poor, in every town is a hospital or dispensary, to which the infant can be taken. The better-to-do should seek the services of their own doctor. Whilst saying this, however, it may be observed that cleanliness is of the greatest importance; and this should be regarded both as to the infant’s surroundings and also as to the eyes, in cleansing them with clean tepid water frequently, of all discharge; and this requires to be done very gently. At the time of the birth of the baby, also, the eyes are the first parts that should be washed clean, and not left until the last, as is not unfrequently the case. If this were done, the disease in many cases would be prevented.
PARLIAMENTARY TITBITS.
Edmund Burke, the distinguished orator and writer, at the close of an election in 1774, in an eloquent speech, thanked his constituents for electing him as their member. He was followed by his colleague, Mr Cruger, a merchant, who, after the orator’s remarks, contented himself by exclaiming: ‘Gentlemen, I say ditto to Mr Burke!’
Two stories are told of Lord Brougham. On being offered the post of Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Brougham refused it, alleging that its acceptance would prevent the continuance of his parliamentary duties. ‘True,’ rejoined Canning; ‘but you will be only one stage from the woolsack.’—‘Yes,’ said Brougham; ‘but the horses will be off.’
The second is contained in a remark of Sydney Smith, who, seeing Brougham in a carriage on the panel of which was the letter B. surmounted by a coronet, observed: ‘There goes a carriage with a B outside and a wasp inside.’
Lord Erskine had the following unique form of replying to begging letters: ‘Sir—I feel honoured by your application, and I beg to subscribe’—here the recipient had to turn over the leaf—‘myself, your very obedient servant.’
Lord Palmerston’s good-humour as a distinct element of his character is well known. We find it even during his last illness, when his physician was forced to mention death. ‘Die, my dear doctor!’ he exclaimed; ‘that’s the last thing I shall do.’
When Shiel had learned by heart, but failed to remember, the exordium of a speech beginning with the word ‘Necessity,’ which he repeated three times, Sir Robert Peel continued: ‘Is not always the mother of invention.’
Some good sayings are attributed to George Selwyn, who was called ‘the receiver-general of wit and stray jokes,’ and was a silent member of parliament for many years. When told that Sir Joshua Reynolds intended to stand for parliament, Selwyn replied: ‘Sir Joshua is the ablest man I know on a canvas.’
Horace Walpole, when complaining one day of the existence of the same indecision, irresolution, and want of system, in the reign of George III. as had been witnessed in that of Queen Anne, remarked concerning the continuance of the Duke of Newcastle as First Lord of the Treasury after the accession of George III.: ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’—‘Nor under the grandson,’ added Selwyn, George III. being the grandson of George II.