a minute; that is, take in eighteen pints of air in one minute of time, or three thousand gallons in twenty-four hours.

On the other hand, the quantity of blood in a commonsized man is twenty pints. The heart beats seventy times in a minute, and at each beat throws out four tablespoons; that is, two ounces of blood; therefore, there passes through the heart, and from it through the lungs, an amount of blood every twenty-four hours equal to two thousand gallons.

The process of human life, therefore, consists in there meeting together in the lungs, every twenty-four hours, two thousand gallons of blood and three thousand gallons of air. Good health requires this absolutely, and cannot be long maintained with less than the full amount of each; for such are the proportions which nature has ordained and called for. It is easy, therefore, to perceive, that in proportion as a person is consuming daily less air than is natural, in such proportion is a decline of health rapid and inevitable. To know, then, how much air a man does habitually consume, is second in importance, in determining his true condition, to no other fact; is a symptom to be noticed and measured in every case of disease, most especially of disease of the lungs; and no man can safely say that the lungs are sound and well and working fully, until he has ascertained, by actual mathematical measurement, their capacity of action at the time of the examination. All else is indefinite, dark conjecture. And I claim for myself to have been the first physician in America who made the measured amount of consumed air, an essential element, as to symptoms, in ascertaining the condition of persons in reference to the existence of consumptive disease, and made

a publication thereupon. The great and most satisfac tory deduction in all cases being this, that if, upon a proper examination, the lungs of any given person are working freely and fully, according to the figures of the case, one thing is incontrovertibly true, demonstrably true, that whatever thousand other things may be the matter with the man, he certainly has nothing like Consumption. And Consumption being considered a fatal disease by most persons, there is quite a willingness to have anything else: and the announcement and certainty that it is not Consumption, brings with it a satisfaction, a gladness of relief, which cannot be measured.

On the other hand, just in proportion as a person is habitually breathing less air than he ought to do, in such proportion he is falling fast and surely into a fatal disease. This tendency to Consumption can be usually discovered years in advance of the actual occurrence of the disease; and were it possible to induce the parents of children over fifteen years of age, to have an investigation as to this point in the first place, and then to take active, prompt, and persevering measures to correct the difficulty, and not one case in a thousand need fail of such correction, with but little, if any medicine, in most instances none, many children would be prevented from falling into a premature grave, and would live to be a happiness and honor to the old age of those who bore them. Persons who live in cities and large towns think, and wisely so, that the teeth of their children should be carefully examined by a good dentist once or twice a year; but to have the condition of the lungs examined, and, if need be, rectified, few, if any, ever think of such a thing. And yet, as to practical importance, it immeasurably exceeds that of attention to the teeth. The latter are cared for as a

matter of personal appearance and comfort; the lungs are a matter of life and death. We can live and be happy without a tooth, but without lungs we must prematurely die. Were the condition of the lungs, after such an examination as I have suggested, a matter of opinion or conjecture only, I would not propose it; but it is not: it is a thing of numerical measurement, of mathematical demonstration, as to the one point, Do the lungs work freely and fully or not? If they do not, declining health is inevitable, sooner or later, unless their activity is restored, which, however, can be done in the vast majority of cases.

The actual practical results correspond with the above statements. A man came into my office who had lost half his measurement. I told his brother that although appearances were against the opinion I was going to give, and he had walked to my office from his own apartments, several squares off, without much fatigue, yet I felt bound to say he could not survive three weeks. Within that time he died with unmistakable consumption.

Another gentleman came to me from North Alabama, attended by his brother, who was extremely anxious to know his condition, but desired me to withhold my opinion from the invalid. He told me his brother had been improving of late, was greatly better, and stronger, and livelier than he had been for some time past. On examination, I found he had lost two-fifths of his measurement; and felt compelled to say, that he could not under any conceivable circumstances live six weeks, and that he ought to be taken to his family without the least possible delay. He died in about five weeks from that time. These are given as examples from many others.

In short, the use which I make of these things is simply this, if a man is deficient in measurement, and under my treatment, lessens that deficiency every week, I "encourage him to persevere, for he is evidently and substantially improving. If, unfortunately, on the other hand, the deficiency increases every week, notwithstanding all I can do, I send him home, because he is declining every day, and must inevitably die; and I desire no man's money, unless I believe that I am doing him a commensurate good. A highly respectable physician of extensive practice, from Kentucky, called to see me. I explained every thing to him as fully as I could, and on submitting himself to examination, he said at once, in a manner and tone so despairing I can never forget it, "I see it-it is of no use to try anything; I may as well go home and die." He started on his return the next morning, and died not long after his arrival. With facts like these constantly occurring, I look upon this new diagnostic with increasing admiration.

A deficiency of measurement arises from two principal

causes.

An actual loss of the substance of the lungs; or an infiltration, or inaction or solidification. Auscultation must decide which of these it is. A young gentleman came to me from one of the western counties of Missouri. He was sent by an elder brother who had been cured by me of cough, pain in the breast, &c., several years before. His principal symptoms were distressing pains about the breast, no appetite, sleepless nights, and such an inveterate spitting of blood, that walking two or three squares would cause him to bring it up by mouthfuls. His deficiency of lung measurement was nearly one-third; but auscultation showed that it came from the

air cells of the lungs being filled up with collections that did not properly belong there. His brother was greatly alarmed his family physician said it was useless for him to come to me, as it was a clear case of tubercular consumption. I at once informed his brother that I thought he could be cured, that so far from its being a dangerous case, he could safely and profitably leave for home in a week. I gave him some vegetable pills, administered quinine and elixir of vitriol three time a day, and required him to walk about the city from morning till night; never carrying his exercise to fatigue or exhaustion. Within a week he ceased to spit blood altogether; his appetite returned, his sleep became sound, nnbroken and refreshing; his bowels regular daily, with out medicine for that purpose; whereas, before, they had kept obstinately costive; his strength returned so that he could. walk for hours at a time without special fatigue; and on the eighth day when he left, his lungs measured to the full healthy standard. With results like these, I should be excused if I speak enthusiastically in these pages. These are facts, and I consider them triumphant, and in recording them, enjoy the pleasurable feeling which a man possesses when he knows he is right, and sees that the multitude, now incredulous, will sooner or later agree with him.

In confirmation of my views in relation to the importance and value of this new method of determining the actual condition of the lungs, what proportion of them are in healthful and efficient operation, I will give the testimony of two of the most respectable and extensive periodicals in the world. The London Lancet, one of whose Editors has been for some years a member of the British Parliament, and who is honored every session by