Unfortunate One.—Tainted breath may be due to a great host of conditions, and as it is a common affection, and is often exceedingly distressing, we will devote a little time to its consideration. The breath may be tainted from the mouth—bad teeth, deposits of tartar round the teeth, spongy gums, sores in the mouth, such as the little white ulcers so commonly due to dyspepsia, sores on the tongue or lips, etc. Enlarged tonsils are an exceedingly common cause of foul breath. Some forms of chronic catarrh of the nose and throat are also connected with bad breath. Then again, the breath may acquire a bad smell from disease of the lungs. The stomach also may cause the breath to smell bad; as a symptom of indigestion, bad breath is not uncommon. Lastly, poisons circulating in the blood will taint the breath. A mild form of this taint of the breath due to substances circulating in the blood is the unpleasant smell of persons who have eaten onions or garlic. The treatment for this symptom varies with the cause. Bad teeth should be stopped or removed. Tartar should be removed by scaling the teeth. Spongy gums, etc., should be treated with appropriate measures. Tonsils which render the breath fetid should be removed, for they are dangerous centres from which serious diseases may start. For the bad breath arising from troubles in the mouth or throat, a mouthwash of boracic acid and lavender water, or dilute carbolic acid, or of permanganate of potash is very useful. Orris root, eucalyptus lozenges, etc., are also very valuable. When the smell is derived from the nose, local measures are alone of any service. For other forms of tainted breath, musk, benzoin, and orris root are of value. It is often said that these aromatics should not be used for the purpose, because they only mask the smell and do nothing to remove the cause of the evil. Quite so! But when the cause cannot be removed, we must treat the symptom. For the bad breath due to stomach trouble, attention to the digestion and an aperient will be required. The other conditions and troubles causing bad breath cannot here be dealt with.

Curiosity.—1. Apollinaris, Rosbach, and Johannis waters are for table purposes, and possess no special medicinal action. Hunyadi, Janos, and Apenta waters are both saline aperients. Both these latter springs are in Hungary. Apenta is the more serviceable of the two.—2. Aix-la-Chapelle supplies two mineral waters; that commonly called Aix-la-Chapelle water is from a sulphurous spring. The other water is Kaiser Brunnun, an ordinary gaseous table water.

Glasgow.—We will give you our opinion; but, mind you, as in all cases of this kind, we will not take the sole responsibility, and you must get the opinion of another medical man upon the matter before deciding for good. The family history of the man you intend to marry is bad. His mother and his brother died of consumption. Your questions are these:—Has the man got consumption? will he get consumption? If he marries, will his wife get consumption, or will his children get consumption? As regards the first question—you say he expectorates a good deal, he has a “catching in the throat,” he is very tall and very pale. He may have the disease. We cannot go further than this without examining his chest. The answer to the second question must be equally indefinite. For the third question—his wife will not get consumption from him unless he himself develops the disease. His children, however, may develop the disease without their father being personally attacked. Of course, all may go well, and neither the man, nor his wife, nor his children may ever develop consumption; but with the history that you give us, we fear that such a happy result is very doubtful. If the man has got the disease at present, marriage is out of the question.

Puzzled Reader.—You should eat well, keep warm, and take plenty of exercise. How to do these is the question. A mixed diet should always be taken. If your digestion is good, oatmeal and other coarse farinaceous food will help to keep you warm. If your digestion is faulty, bread and milk is better. Fat does help to keep you warm, and fat foods in moderation are by no means indigestible. Indeed, fat bacon is one of the most digestible of meats. Dress in warm but loose clothes. Your boots especially should be loose, but perfectly watertight and well lined. Wear warm loose woollen underclothing. Avoid any constrictions anywhere, such as tight garters, corsets, or collars. Take as much exercise as you can manage.

MISCELLANEOUS.

S. C. A.—There is a shilling manual on common British ferns to be obtained quite easily.

Lily.—To make a rice cake, take six eggs, and their weight (in the shell) in sugar, and the same in butter; half their weight in rice flour, and half of wheat flour; whisk the eggs, throw in the rice after the flour, and add the butter in the usual way. Flavour according to preference, and bake for an hour and ten minutes. The ingredients should be severally added during the whisking. To prepare “pressed beef,” procure a piece of the brisket, remove the bones, and put it in salt (in the usual way), adding a little extra sal prunella to the brine and some spice, leaving it in pickle for rather more than a week. Roll and tie up in a cloth, and simmer gently in plenty of water for about seven hours (if the thin end, four hours); then remove the string, tie cloth at each end, put the beef between two plates, and press under a hundredweight, and leave till quite cold; then remove the cloth, trim and glaze, and garnish with parsley.

Daffodil.—You would have no difficulty in obtaining a good riding-habit in your own city, where there must be plenty of good tailors. It would be impossible for us to give an estimate for one, and we can only say that they may be of any price from £4 4s. to £10 10s. You had better get a Directory, look out for tailors and ladies’ tailors, and go and inquire personally.

M. M.—The “V.R.” on the upper corners made all the difference, and marked the first issue of the penny stamps in 1840. The stamp you send us was issued in 1864, and is of no value at all except as a specimen of the date, if you were collecting stamps of every known issue.

Pale Face.—Red would of course suit you, as well as all shades of it. Yellow sometimes suits pale faces very well, and so does grey relieved with pink. Violet and blue will make you look paler.

E. F. Boultbee.—We have pleasure in announcing your change of address, and congratulate you on your success in the oral system of teaching deaf mutes, and the remedy of defective speech. Address, Miss Boultbee, Members’ Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W.

Mahdi.—We thank you sincerely for so kind a letter respecting our magazine. Your writing is excellent. Peel a banana from the end downwards to the stem, and then use a knife and fork; or if at home, in private, you can dispense with them.

P. F. M.—We do not know whom you mean by “supers,” for one of whom you want a home. If some person that has been employed on the stage—one class being known as “supers”—there is a charitable society called the Church and Stage Guild, of which the Hon. Secretary is the Rev. Stewart Headlam, Duke Street, Adelphi, W.C., which looks after these people, and perhaps he might give you some information on the subject.

Light Wanted.—There is not the slightest reason why the event should not take place; indeed there is every reason why it should, provided that both desire it.

Clare Verney.—You might obtain the information you require by reference to Agnes Strickland’s Queens of England, or other history of hers.

Miss Mason requests that our readers should be reminded of her Holiday Home for teachers, clerks, and young persons in business, at Sevenoaks—“Bessel’s House,” Bessel’s Green, Kent. Reduced fares are asked from Charing Cross, London Bridge, Cannon Street, and Victoria. Return tickets for a month, 2s. 8d.—twenty miles from town by S. E. R. Charge for board, etc., from 12s. to 15s. a week. A stamped envelope should be enclosed, and the age and occupation of the applicant stated.

Perplexed.—The law on the question of changing or adding Christian names is as follows: “A child’s baptismal name, if changed, or not previously given, may be inserted in the Register within twelve months after the registration of birth.” You appear to be a member of the Church of England, and as such, how came you to remain unbaptised and excluded from Holy Communion until you were seventeen? “One year’s delay is allowed by the law for altering or adding to your name,” as entered on the Register of Birth, so as to accord with your “baptismal name.” As it is, your assumed second name is not yours by legal right.

Cumberland Lassie.—The high glaze employed by washerwomen for linen is produced by mixing some wax or fat with the starch. This is a difficult undertaking, even when hot. But starch-glazes may be purchased ready for use, which may be employed safely, and are sold at any good oil-shop. Some people, who wash articles at home, simply stir the starch while hot with a wax candle. The following is a good recipe for a glaze: Take 100 parts of wheat starch, 0.75 of stearinic acid, melt the latter with about ten times its weight of the former. Let it cool, powder, and mix thoroughly with the rest of the starch. This will be suitable for shirt-fronts and collars; but for table-linen add a little unprepared starch.

Little Housewife.—To clean japanned trays you should never use hot water; tepid water used with a soft cloth will remove any grease spot, and a little flour sprinkled on a smear will restore the polish. The varnish on candlesticks is often cracked by placing them before the fire to melt the grease, or by the use of hot water.

A. A. and D. C.—We often see clergymen, who are graduates of different universities, wearing the hoods of their several universities when doing duty in the same church and at the same time. Wherever they pursue their vocation, they have a right to wear their academic distinctions, and none other.

Anxious Inquirer.—Your fiancé should leave his own card. It is not for you to do so for him. Leave your mother’s, should she permit it, and your own, or her card with your name on it would be more correct.

Samoa.—Table-napkin rings are only used in private at home, or at a boarding house, economy in the matter of washing being an object. But in the houses of the wealthy, a fresh napkin is provided daily, and thus a distinguishing ring is needless. With reference to the discoloured coral, try a weak solution of borax, tepid. Should this fail, take it to a jeweller.

C. L.—There are only two ways of sending any parcel to India—by post, or by private hand. The acorns should be put into a little box. Your handwriting promises well, but is as yet unformed.

A Constant Reader has only to order a book on the subject from any librarian, and he will procure it for her.

Genevieve (Alderney).—You have only to write to the Manager of our Publishing Department for the cover, with index of the year you require, and ask him to inclose the bill, including postage, and any bookbinder will bind your volume for you.

FOOTNOTES