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Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 65, 28 September 1872, Page 3

Tn the present, day, when the commutation of the sentences passed upon murderers is so much in fashion, doctors will do well to advise as to the proper mode of treatment to be adopted in the ease of criminals suddenly reprieved. There can be no doubt that the sudden announcement of a reprieve must be in its way as great a shock to the nerves as the sentence of execution, and our benevolence to murderers is very imperfect if we suffer them to be annoyed in their condemned cells by hasty intelligence that their lives are to be spared, and at the same time are not prepared with the proper remedies to be administered under the circumstances. A century ago, it was thought necessary to bleed convicts when they were reprieved, and indeed the whole process of a reprieve was occasionally so clumsily managed that it is doubtful whether if was not far more uncomfortable than execution. On the iJOth June, 1773, according to the Annual , six convicts under sentence of death in Newgate were carried in the morning to Tyburn for execution, but a respite, sent express by one of his Majesty's messengers, arrived at Tyburn for John Cahagan some time after the rope was fastened round his neck, and just before he was going to be turned off. " lie was immediately unloved, carried back to Newgate, and bled." The other five convicts were executed. It may be supposed that Mr Gahagan, having been put to so much unnecessary torture, expressed himself in no measured terms as to the conduct of the authorities. Such, however, was by no means the case ; he seems to have undergone the reprieve and the bleeding with remarkable goodnature, and, it is stated, " seemed filled with the utmost gratitude to the Almighty, his Majesty, and friends for this signal deliverance." —Pali Mall davJi". Maay. are careless in the keeping of the feet. If they wash them once a week they think they are doing well. They do not consider that the largest pores are located in the bottom of the foot, and that o >pious perspiration is discharged through the pores. They wear stockings from the beginning to the end of the week without change, which become perfectly saturated with perspiration. 111-health is generated bv such treatment of the feet. The pores are not repellants but absorbents, and this perspiration to a greater or los extent, is taken back into the system. The feet should be washed every day with pure water only, as well as the armpits. Stockings should not be worn more than a day or two at a time. They may be worn one day, and then aired and sunned, anil worn another day, if necessary. Many persons sillier from tender or sore feet simply from neglecting this precaution, especially the humbler classes, who exorcise their feet most.