"Some of these cases undoubtedly terminate in a restoration to health, yet after a long struggle."

"You will find him after many years, without any symptom of pulmonary disease, and finally dying of some malady, quite independent of the tubercular diathesis."

"I have briefly recapitulated some of the leading changes that mark the cure of tuberculous disease."

"I have known a number of patients, during the last fifteen years who have had the evidences of Consumption, and sometimes in an advanced stage, who finally recovered, and are now in the enjoyment of good health. I have been in the habit of examining the lungs of all my patients, dying of every form of disease, independent of Phthisis, for the traces of Phthisis that has been cured, and have been astonished at the number of cases which have presented evidences of this favorable result."

"It is not uncommon to find in patients who have died of various diseases, and in which no suspicion of tuberculous disease existed at the time of death, cretaceous masses and cicatrices"-which the author repeatedly declares elsewhere, are evidences of the cure of tubercular disease. In corroboration of these views the Author records the statement of the "Physician to the Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, that in one hundred women, all above sixty years of age, and dying of various diseases, fifty-one presented curative indications of Consumptive disease, and chiefly, by the formation of chalky concretions. This result did not surprise me, as it would have done many of the profession, who believe that tubercles are equivalent to a death warrant. Indeed I am inclined to think that many cases will be found presenting undoubted evidences of Consumption,

which yet recover, and the common expression, "The patient could not have had Consumption, because he recovered," will cease to be believed. Anatomical facts

prove beyond a doubt, that cases do recover, and that they are not very rare. "I remember a gentleman, now alive and well, most of whose brothers and sisters had died of Consumption, who was himself attacked with the symptoms of the disease in the most decided manner, these symptoms continued two years."

In justice to the reader, as well as the Author, whom I have quoted so largely, I make another extract, to show his candor, and more than all, his kindly consideration, in endeavoring to repress any too sanguine expectations in the hearts of those who may have Consumptive disease, which strongly contrasts with the conduct of the ruthless impostor, the unprincipled pretender, who unblushingly promises relief, and cure to all who come, scarcely excepting those in the very last stages of the disease.

"I do not wish to state this case too strongly, I admit, as all must do, that Consumption is a most fatal disease, and that the prospect of a cure is always unfavorable. Take as cheerful a view of this melancholy disease as circumstances will admit."

I very much hope, that every medical scholar, who may chance to read these lines, will procure "Swett on Diseases of the Chest," and I doubt not, that the cause of humanity will be promoted thereby. The work is valuable, because it is superior to any previous American publication-superior, inasmuch as the Author writes from what he has seen, he writes from fifteen years experience, and advances opinions contrary to those entertained by the profession generally, with a

modest confidence, which belongs only to a mind informed and disciplined. And if but one sentence of all I have quoted should be remembered by the physician, let it be this, the propriety and humanity of which, I myself have often and deeply felt, "I shall never entirely despair of the life of a patient with Consumption," nor will the experienced practitioner cease his efforts, or cease to hope for cure, until the day of death, in any ordinary case of Consumptive disease; for certain it is, that persons do sometimes recover, and live for years, who were supposed to be in a dying condition. Such were the cases of Mr. J. and Mr. B already mentioned in these pages; and who can say that the same thing shall not occur in the case of any other patient hereafter? Each reader of these pages will be willing enough, when he comes to die, that every possible effort shall be made for his restoration, as long as the breath of life is in him; let him not therefore attribute it to ignorance or stupidity, when the conscientious physician, faithful even unto death, labors anxiously to the last hour, for one who has placed his life in his hands. It is an easy matter to prophesy of any particular case that he will die, and if he does die, to claim some credit for foresight, and in consonance with the prophecy, intermit all efforts, except to palliate suffering, but it is as heartless as it is easy; it is the dictate of one who is alike ignorant, lazy and unfeeling. The enlightened and humane practitioner knows and feels that in Consumptive disease, while there is life there is hope, and acts accordingly; he therefore works and works hopefully too, long after his mere judgment is satisfied that the die is cast.

Dr. Quain is a medical writer of high authority on both sides of the Atlantic; his anatomical plates are the

most beautiful ever published: in 1851, he "presented to the Pathological Society of London, a specimen of lungs, showing the arrest of Consumption in its last stage." This statement is made in the London Medical Gazette of June 20th, 1851, p. 1086, and copied by Braithewait's Retrospect, on p. 86, part 24. These references are given purposely at length, that the medical scholar may know that higher and more respectable authority among Allopathic or Old School practitioners, cannot be given. The concluding sentence only is quoted, "This case affords an additional illustration of the great extent to which the ravages of Consumption may proceed, and its progress yet be stayed. Such cases happily, are now oftener met with, nor did he know one, which afforded after death, so striking a result.”

The above was the case of a young woman who was considered in the last stages of Consumption, the lungs having partly decayed away, yet she recovered, had good health, and died finally of inflammation of the stomach, when the lungs were taken out and preserved, as ocular demonstration of the fact, that Consumption in its last, that is, its decaying stages, admits of arrest and permanent cure.

That Consumption admits of cure, that is of permanent arrest, is advocated in No. 45, for January, 1852, of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, second to no medical periodical in America, published in Philadelphia, and Edited by the Surgeon of Wills' Hospital, and now an eminent Professor in one of our oldest medical colleges. In reviewing "Walsh on Diseases of the Lungs and Heart," published in London eight years before, who speaks of "curing the disease," as a matter of course, the editor observes,

"It is cheering to every humane physician, that one so capable and impartial as Dr. Walsh, should take a view of the tendencies of Consumption, very different from what has been almost universally entertained by writers upon this fell disease. He believes that the treatment of Consumption may confidently aim at slight improvement, at totally removing the subjective symptoms, at ameliorating, or rendering quiescent, the physical signs."

In a note to a subsequent remark, the Editor says, p. 189, "That such cures really occur in rare instances, is indubitable, and they are as perfect as in any other organic disease, when they do occur. It has been the vanity of late years to deny this absolutely, because a scientific explanation of the fact cannot be found. I am not one of those who refuse to accept the evidence of my senses, because I am unable to comprehend what they teach me, &c."

"This is not a treatise, but rather a mode of calling attention to a new and effective mode of curing Consumption."-Dr. Cronin, Surgeon.

"Uniform and complete success having resulted in the treatment of several cases of tubercular Consumption, the Author deems it his duty to publish them."—Mr. Bodington.

"So many persons affected by incipient Consumption, have been benefited and restored to perfect health, by what I am about to mention, I cannot but think that they possess great efficacy."-Marshal Hall.

Taken from London Lancet for April 20, 1844, and copied by the London and Edinburg Medical Journal.

In Moreland's extracts from the records of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, Dr. Ware pre