To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, AMID the useful information and judicious remarks which your Magazine for the present month contains, I observe some animadversions on the cruel, and now illegal, practice of bull-baiting in general, with an allusion to its exhibition at Wokingham; and, as an inhabitant of that town and a friend to humanity, I am happy in acquainting R. B. that this detestable custom is at length prohibited. This was determined on by our corporation towards the close of the last year,-when the time for its repetition, December 21, was near; in consequence of the Bill for preventing cruelty to animals having passed. As precedent influences many to correct what might otherwise pass unnoticed, I request you will give publicity to this notification, hoping it may induce other corporations or individuals, within whose jurisdiction such barbarity exists, to adopt measures for the prevention of this wantonly cruel and inhuman amusement; which tends to harden the heart, and render it callous to those proper feelings which all ought to entertain towards the brute creation, remembering they were given for our use, and not for our abuse. - HE observation, at page 358, in THE your Magazine for May last, "That the Reports and other publications of the British Parliament vie in utility, importance, and interest, with those of any public society in existence," has induced me to send you the following statement of the number of persons amongst whom 25,772,2967. of the taxes collected annually are re-distributed, in the hope that you will find it a place in the next Number of your invaluable Miscellany. The statement is compiled from a return made by the Bank of England, dated April 12, 1823, and forms No. 252 of the Parliamentary Papers of the present session, and is as follows, viz. An Account of the Total Number of Persons to whom half-a-year's Dividend on 3 per cent. Consols, 3 per cent. Reduced, 3 per Cents., 4 per Cents., Long Annuities, and New 4 per cents., were paid on the 10th of October and 5th of January last, specifying the Number respectively of those whose Dividends did not exceed the rate of 10l., 20l., 100l., 2001., 400l., 600l., 1000l., 2000l., 4000l, and of those whose Dividends exceeded 4000l. per ann. Totals..............737,130,668 25,772,296 And the following is a Statement of the other denominations of South Sea Annuities, 3 per cent. Bank Irish various Do. ..... Imperial 3 per cent... Do..... 5 per cent. 1797 and 1802 Life Annuities payable at the Exchequer Do. do. in Ireland Life Annuities created per 48 Geo. III. about Total Funded ... Exchequer Bills outstanding on the 5th of January, 1813, bearing an interest of two-pence per 1001. per day Total Funded and Unfunded ..... .......838,829,650 29,918,480 To the above may be added the Half-pay, Pensions, &c. as stated in detail at pages 442 and 3 of your Magazine for June last, amounting to 5,315,7921. per annum, which it is intended to convert into a fixed annuity, to expire in 1867, of...... And there may also be added, as an additional Charge, and as an additional burthen of Taxation, resulting from the speculative, unmeaning, false, and, as it will ultimately prove, ruinous (if not speedily arrested), system of money-jobbing, so wantonly resorted to and persevered in by that anthoritative and superficial minister, the late William Pitt, and so pertinacionsly adhered to by his worthy followers; the sum, under the specious and delusive pretext for reducing the national debt, which has been granted annually by an Act of the present session of Parliament, of..... Making a Total Amount of Taxation, on account of what is termed "the National Debt," of no less a sum than ... Exclusive of the charge arising from the collection of so large an amount of taxes, equal to about 2,800,000l. 2,800,000 5,000,000 £37,718,480 per annum more; making an aggregate amount of no less a sum than 40,500,000l. per annum, drawn by taxation The life annuities created per 48 George III. are assumed at 500,000l.; on the 5th of January, 1822, they amounted to 410,000/. and a certain portion of perpetual annuity is progressively being converted into life annuities, under the said Act; but, since the session of Parliament, 1822, the annual accounts have been made out in á new form, pursuant to the suggestions of an especial committee of that session, and one of the effects of their efficiency is, that the above stated annuities are excluded in toto from the face of the accounts; and, on the whole, the alteration of form in which the accounts now appear is for the worse. taxation from the sweat-blood of the To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. active portion of the people, for the SIR, Medical Report in your va contains some observations on a case of epilepsy, in a young girl, in which Dr. Uwins, after noticing the exciting cause of the complaints, remarks, "a disorder with which she will probably be affected, from slight causes, during the whole of her life." From the age of the patient, and the apparent origin of this peculiar affection, I cannot see any just foundation for this opinion: on the contrary, my knowledge of the effect of remedies in this disease strongly inclines me to think, that this case admits of a speedy and perfect cure. support of the idle (and, to a greatable Magazine of this month extent, the unworthy,) and inactive portion; and as the proportion of this fixed annual obligation of the greater part of the people to a lesser part, which existed prior to the ever memorable era of February 1793, was only 9,208,4967.; which, by the expiring of life and other terminable annuities, and the extinction of about 700,000l. per annum of the perpetual annuity, for the extinction of a corresponding amount of land-tax, and other incidental means of a like nature, has been reduced to about 7,500,000l. per annum, it leaves the enormous amount of no less than 33,000,000l. per annum as the baneful fruit of the wantonness, profligacy, incapacity, speculation, and selfishness, of the Pitt system. I feel desirous of directing the above statement to the especial notice of your numerous and intelligent readers, and of entreating their most earnest attention to the collusion and cajolery of the Bank of England with the government, in reference to the abovestated enormous amount of 40,500,000l. per annum of annual obligation; and to the delusion and imposition of the 5,000,000l. per annum exacted in taxes, under the specious and delusive pretext of reducing the debt; and also to the gross injustice inflicted on the holders of 140,250,8281. of 5 per cent. annuities, converted by the Act of the 3d Geo. IV. c. 9. into 147,263,3271. of new 4 per cents. and thereby reducing their income 1,122,0087. per annum out of 7,091,5037.; whilst the holders of 500,000,000l. of 3 per cent. stock, with an income of 15,000,000l. per ann, although upwards of 220,000,000l. of it was created at the rate of 5l. 13s. 6d. per cent. on the money advanced, were left to revel in wanton and injurious speculation with their extortioned and collusive gains, because it is held under the specious denomination of 3 per cent.: together with some general observations on the number of persons, and their several proportions, amongst whom the 40,500,000l. are re-distributed. But, as I am fearful of trespassing on your invaluable pages, to the exclusion of equally interesting matter, I will reserve my observations on these several heads for a future opportunity. J. M. Epilepsy is considered for the most part a hopeless malady; but it is an unquestionable fact, that from time immemorial the worst forms of it have been frequently cured; from which it appears to me plain, that the ill-success attending the present modes of treating it, must arise from other causes than the non-existence of an effectual remedy. I think it would not be difficult to prove, that it is a much more manageable disease than is commonly supposed, and, at the same time, clearly to point out the causes of the negligent and unsuccessful practice in it in our day but this is not a proper place for the discussion; and I shall therefore merely observe, that a certain circumstance has led me to pay a more than ordinary attention to the cure of this disorder, which has put me in possession of a remedy, that has been administered in a great number of cases, often with entire success, when the disease appeared in its most aggravated state; and never without affording considerable relief. It has cured several patients, who were grievously afflicted with it, and had consulted in vain some of the most eminent physicians in this kingdom. I am not at liberty now to make the remedy known; peculiar reasons constrain me to reserve this for a future period: but the above facts may be relied upon; and, as a proof, I shall be happy to afford the epileptic patients of your respectable Reporter, and any others so afflicted, the means of benefiting by the curative powers of this invaluable medicine. Epilepsy is a most distressing disorder, order, and, if not cured, necessarily fatal sooner or later; it is also rather frequent, and by the common methods almost always incurable: therefore, to introduce a medicine to public notice which will invariably mitigate the sufferings of epileptics, and generally cure them, will be attaining no mean end. This is my object in writing this letter; which, I trust, will gain me Dr. Uwins' excuse for thus publicly controverting his opinion. I might add, that the extraordinary effects of the above medicine in epilepsy, which is confessedly a nervous disorder, naturally led to its employment in cases of great nervous depression, and in convulsions; in a few of which it has been used with the most gratifying result. German Place, Brighton; Feb. 1823. T. J. GRAHAM. of your last volume had judiciously I called the attention of nautical men to the principle of filtration by ascent, as applicable to the purifying of foul water at sea, has since done me the honour, in page 400, to notice a communication of mine, inserted in page 200. To Mr. Fitch I should earlier have replied, had not his concluding paragraph have afforded reason to hope, that ere this Capt. Layman would have stated a few more particulars (in addition to those in p. 122 of the same volume,) as to the circumstances under which the Captain procured fresh water for his ships, on the coasts of Malabar and of Sapy, by sinking holes in the sandy sea-beach. The water thus obtained by Capt. L. he assumed to be sea-water, freed from its saltness and bitterness, by means of filtration through the sand; and hence, in the communication referred to, he appears to infer, and give nautical men reason to expect, that the same means would prove successful for the procuring of fresh water in any part of a sandy beach, wherever situated. On both of these points,viz. as to the source of the fresh water, and as to the general applicability of this method of procuring fresh water, I have endeavoured to show that Capt. L. has been mistaken, and at the same time have tried, by pointing out the source and principle of the supply, to enable nautical men to avail themselves of such a supply, whereever attainable. The objections are two, which Mr. Fitch has, in page 400, urged against my explanation of the phenomenon, viz. 1st. That Lord Bacon and himself have considered the ebbing and flowing of water in a well or hole on the sea-shore, as the tide fell or rose, to be evidence that the water in such well or hole is sea-water; and 2d. That the brackishness, often, of the water so obtained, is evidence that the whole comes from the sea. Mr. F.'s words are, "Its ebbing and flowing with the tide, if not conclusive, is an important fact towards proving, that the fresh water thus obtained is sea-water, purified by percolation through the sand; and again, speaking of the brackishness, he says, "This appears to be an additional proof that the water in the pits is sea-water." I have already, in page 202, noticed the want of any chemical principle or experimental fact, to prove that wa ter, containing saline and bitter matters in solution, that is in chemical combination, (as is the case with regard to sea-water,) can in any case be freed therefrom by mere filtration; and I would now remark, that the very rapid filtration here contended for would scarcely be sufficient to free muddy water from its impurities, only mechanically suspended in it; and again, that sea-water, as often passed into the sand, and being capable of precipitating and leaving there all its matters previously held in solution, as the tide has risen times, must › long and long ago have close filled every interstice in such sand, and filtration therein would now be impracticable; because, let it be observed, the water, returning on the ebb of the tide, cannot be supposed capable of again dissolving or taking up its salt to bear it to the sea, without rendering its previous precipitation an absurd supposition; in fine, the great Lord Bacon knew or considered not the essential differences which exist between chemical solution and mechanical mixture, or he would not have advanced the doctrine quoted from his works. In order to show that the ebbing and flowing of fresh water in a well near the sea, (which is a very common fact, and has often been noticed, as I shall further mention,) is no proof of such being filtered sea-water, I will beg to suppose a case, in which a valley, excavated in the strata to an equal or greater depth than low-water where it enters the sea, has its bottom filled, to the height of high-water or higher, with clean and uniform pebbles, as large, for instance, as walnuts; next suppose, that, in a given spot in such valley, above or more inland than the high-water line, a hole is sunk, and remains open in such pebbles to the depth of low-water; and that through this mass of pebbles occupying the valley, such a spring or subterranean stream of fresh water from the land is making its way to the sea, as is, at the time of low-water, sufficiently copious to fill all the interstices of the stones around the hole with slowly-moving water, to the height of one foot above the bottom of the hole, and the sea at the time: this head or pen of one foot being assumed for the purpose of causing the current towards the sea. Suppose, now, the tide to begin to rise; by the time it has risen six inches, so much of the head or fall of the water in the interstices of the pebbles will have been taken away, and the land-water will, in consequence, begin to stagnate in these interstices, for a certain distance back, inland, and occasion the water in the hole to begin to rise almost simultaneously with the tide: another six inches of rise of the tide being supposed, a further and more extended penning back of the water in the interstices of the pebbles will take place, and a consequent rise of water will take place in the hole; and so on, until at or soon after the time of high water, the stagnated fresh water in the interstices of the pebbles and in the hole will have attained their greatest height; and from which time the water amongst the pebbles and in the hole will begin to subside or ebb, accordingly as the progressive falling of the tide enables it to flow out into the sea; and thus perpetually the ebbing and flowing of fresh land-water in a hole or well evidently may be occasioned, provided only that the sea does not rise faster than the inland supply is able to fill up the interstices between the pebbles to occasion level stagnant water therein; because, in such case, a head of water, or fall (which is essential to any current,) inland, will be wanting to the sea water, owing to which it could have any tendency to enter the pebbles; and the mixture of the fresh and of the salt water would in such case be trifling, and be confined almost to the surface of the pebbly beach. Immediately on the retiring of the tide, this mixed and brackish water will first flow out into the sea, and will at the mouth of the valley be followed by fresh water, emptying out of the interstices of the pebbles; in quantity and with speed proportionable to the space of stagnated water, the rapidity of the tide's fall, and to the living supply coming down out of the country, through the pebbles, in the form of a spring. If, now, we suppose a second valley, and hofe sunk therein, in all respects like that above described, except that the pebbles here are all of the size of bazle-nuts, or of pease; it will on reflection be seen, that the effects will not be materially varied. And suppose, again, a third valley, filled in like manner with sand, either coarse or fine; or even a fourth valley, whose bottom is filled with a heterogeneous mixture of all these various sized masses or particles of stone, we shall then have what nature for the most part presents at the openings of valleys into the sea; and where, owing to the finer particles falling in amongst the coarser ones, the interstices are in general very small, and almost similar in effect with those in fine sand, within whose mass the fresh water is, in a degree, held by capillary attraction during the ebb of the tide. If instead of a valley, partially filled with porous gravel or sand, as above, we suppose land-waters to be making their way to the sea through the open and connected joints and fissures of a thick rock; as in the case of chalk, for instance: the fresh water in a well sunk in such chalk, near to the sea, would, under favourable circumstances, ebb and flow, owing to the tide; but, whether simultaneously therewith or not, would depend on the number and capacities of the fissures or openings from the rock into the sea, between the high and low water levels, compared with the adjacent internal cavities of the rock, and the quantities of spring-water supplied to these cavities. Some twenty years ago, a well of this kind happening to be noticed in Brighton, it caused many sage conjec tures |