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MEDICINE FOR THE MILLION.

SIR JAMES GRAHAM being one of those who refuse us cheap
food, has nevertheless consented to give us cheap physic. His new
medical bill is calculated to put a pill into every man’s month, and
bring the black dose home to the humblest hearth in England.
SIR JAMES has no doubt heard much’ about the physical necessities of the people, and having some notion of some poet having
said something about “medicine for thy grief,” the home Secretary
has been seized with the heureuse idee that the poor may he dosed
into a better condition, and that the tone of society will of course
become healthier by the process.
Perhaps SIR JASIE5 GRAHAM indulges the expectation that as the
poor have been in the habit of rushing for comfort to the bottle, they
will continue to do so when the druggist, instead of the distiller, has
been engaged in filling it. The Home Secretary hopes probably that the gin-palaces will be converted into medicine marts, and that where we now see brass plates, inscribed “bottle entrance,” we shall find notices indicating the “ bolus department ;“ instead of placards announcing “a fresh cask always on tap,” does SIR JAMES believe that he will see bills indicating “Best XX black dose always on draught ;“ or “the only house in London for the celebrated fever mixture at twopence a quartern.” Over the doors of some it might perhaps be written, “Established to supply the public with the celebrated castor oil, kept in ice, in order to ensure its being constantly ‘cold drawn;’” and “a sandwich and a glass of salts”
might be as common as the “fourpenny arrangement” which now
tempts the public appetite in all parts of the metropolis.
The time may probably come when poverty, instead of taking to
ardent spirits, may take to medicine as a cure for sorrow. The
Chinese take to opium, and why should not any other drug become
as fascinating as the one alluded to? “ A glass of hot bark for one
penny” would be perhaps a very attractive luxury on a cold winter’s
night, particularly as bark is said to be strengthening, and “fine old
senna in pints” might perhaps be kept for more genteel customers.
Such is the effect that may be perhaps anticipated from SIR JAMES
GRAHAM’S Bill :, that is, if anything comes from it at all, which is
somewhat more than dubious.