but, certainly, not with conviction: and whatever may be the fate of Dr. Buxton's institution, we feel sure that consumption, if not curable by a regulated temperature, is, at least, very often produced by irregular exposures to heat and cold in the way we have endeavoured to point out; and most assured are we, from attentive observation, of the frequent prolongation of coughs, by the mere circumstance of changing from a warmer to a colder room, even when the subject of the affection shall not have been permitted to venture out in the open air.

Dr. Sutton's first objection to the projected scheme, viz. the 'tacit acknowledgement of the faculty of its inutility,' we deem by no means valid; for the fact is, that the experiment has not hitherto, in private practice, been fully and completely tried. With respect to his second general observation, that consumption is very common in mild climates, we may remark that it certainly is not so frequent in such climates as in Britain; and besides, if it be admitted, as it certainly must, that the disease is often engendered independently on the variations of temperature, it will not, we presume, be denied by any one, that the vicissitudes of cold and heat are very often obviously its exciting causes. Thirdly, we do not understand in what way the plan in question should interfere with an alleviation of oppressive symptoms; since cold, if required, may be obtained and applied either inwardly or outwardly without that irregularity in its application, which apartments, heated upon common principles, must of necessity occasion. And with regard to the last of Dr. Sutton's observations respecting humidity of atmosphere, as tending to a diminution and mitigation of phthisical disorders, it has already been shewn, that, on this head, there has been a a great deal of misconception.

Upon the whole, then, we cannot help dissenting from the opinions of Dr. Sutton, both on the strength of our own observations, and from a candid attention to the recitals of others. We do not wish, however, to urge the subject with any thing like the spirit of party or prejudice, but leave the doctrine and practice to the test of time, and more ample experience.

In casting our eyes back upon what has been written, we fear we have not redeemed the pledge made to ourselves and to our readers in regard to the use of technical phraseology. It is, in fact, extremely difficult to convey information on a medical subject, without an employment of terms and allusions which suppose a degree of previous medical acquirement. Thus, for example, the anatomy and physiology of the lungs ought to be laid open to the reader, before he can form any correct notion of the pathology of tubercles; and the nature and different species of general inflammation should first be made

known, before the peculiarities of pulmonary inflammation can, with any degree of precision, he descanted on.

In what we have further to advance, we trust, that the most uninitiated reader will be more at home with us, as we have simply to lay down the rules of prevention; and we shall endeavour to do it in the most concise and explicit manner that the subject will admit of. Our remarks will be found in general consonance with the principles maintained by the very respectable Author whose treatise has been the more immediate occasion of our engaging in the present disquisition.

The great increase, in modern times, of nervous, bilious, and consumptive ailments, has become the subject of general notoriety and every-day lamentation. While several maladies have been mitigated in violence and lessened in frequency, by the practical application of modern improvements in medicine; while the treatment of others has become certainly more simple and satisfactory, if not always more successful; those ailments which depend upon a general failure in tone and strength of fibre, and which are comprised under the terms just announced, become every passing year more frequent in their occurrence, and more formidable in their aspect. Now there must be some cause for this; and such an investigation of the origin of these ailments as might lead to a detection of preventive measures, it is needless to say, would be desirable in the

extreme.

To those effeminate and dependent habits which unavoidably result from a luxurious multiplication of the comforts and conveniencies of life, a great deal of the mischief in question is undoubtedly to be attributed; but it may be presumed that part, at least, of the evil, originates in avoidable error; and that such a reformation of conduct, in respect to the management of the frame, as should be founded on the conviction of this error, might be productive of much and radical benefit to the physical, and, by consequence, to the moral interests of the community.

We assume, as a prime principle, that debility is the great source of the diseased states just alluded to; and this origin they all acknowledge, whatever difference they may assume in exterior shape. Thus, in one individual, scrophula, with all its accompaniments and consequences, shall result from precisely the same exciting cause, that, in another, shall be productive of that morbid condition of the sensitive and digestive organs, which gives rise to the nervous and bilious temperament, with all its long and formidable train of attendant evils. The only difference in this respect, is, that what we call scrophula, is more likely to be the consequence of disease creating

agents in early life, and the other class of evils to follow from the same source at a more advanced period.

To scrophula, and its most common and most dreadful consequence, consumption of the lungs, we are, for the present, to restrict our remarks. We verily believe, that a great deal of that species of weakness, upon which this destructive malady-consumption-is grafted, is attributable to the substitution, in early life, of stimulating and irritating, in place of nourishing and wholesome diet. It would, perhaps, have been greatly to the benefit of the community, had the various products of fermentation-wine, beer, and spirits-never been discovered; and had China tea never been imported into this country. Certain, however, we feel, that the habitual, and even occasional use of these articles, by young and growing persons, unless in the way of medicine, can scarcely ever fail of producing injurious consequences. They enfeeble the digestive organs, occasion irritative action in place of steady and regular performance of functions, prevent the generation and transmission to the blood vessels of a healthy chyle, and, by consequence, debilitate the body, and eventually lay the foundation of confirmed consumption.

It is of no use for us to be told, that many die of this disease, who had scarcely, during the short period of their lives, partaken of the fare against which we are now protesting; for such may indirectly have suffered from this source, as the enfeebled progeny of parents who had been injured, and who had unconsciously transmitted such injury to their offspring. Nor will it be admitted, as a valid objection to our principle, that many pass, with apparent impunity, through the ordeal now alluded to; for as well might we defend the inordinate use of spirits upon the same ground of occasional and individual immunity from the more general and immediate effects of such habit. All that we wish to affirm, is, that these things are hurtful, and that too in the way and to the extent we are endeavouring to illustrate.

Why is it that we see scrophula in all its forms so frequent among the poor, of the metropolis especially? In a very great measure, from the circumstance of the indigent inhabitants of London, living themselves and rearing their children in the manner now deprecated; and this is even sometimes done from systematic motives of calculating economy! It is perceived that the more tea and spirits are given, the less desire does the stomach display for nutritious diet: and, by consequence, a less expenditure is required for the support of a family.

The following relation, which, from the source from which it comes, may be depended on, gives a horrid but instructive picture of the mischief done to the digestive organs by the perVOL. III. N. S.

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nicious practice of artificially stimulating them in early life. A lady (Miss Elizabeth Seward) met with a fa'mily of poor children, whose pale faces, and emaciated bodies, 'forcibly attracted her attention. Upon inquiring of the mother 'how they were fed, she was informed that "they did not eat "much, and what they did eat, was not sufficient to nou"rish them without gin and water. It was scanty vege"table fare." The lady, after stating to the woman the pernicious effects likely to follow from such a regimen, advised her to purchase a little animal food with the money she expended in gin, and to give the children water to drink with 'their meals. Lord, Madam, (replied the poor woman,) if I "was to do that, I should never be able to satisfy them in these "hard times. I was used to give them water, but then they were always hungry; and I could not beg or buy victuals enough for them."-This relation scarcely requires eom

ment.

The unhappy little victims to such dreadful principles of economy, if their future fate were to be inquired into, would most probably be found to go off consumptive at the consumptive age, or to live nervous and bilious subjects, dependent upon medicine or other cordials, for the maintenance of a miserable existence. And of what would their progeny be likely to consist?

But, perhaps, it will be said, that these are caricature, or at least extraordinary accounts. Let us then beg the reader's indulgence for another statement which may perhaps appear to apply more closely to that class of readers, if any, that are likely to be benefited by our present strictures. Mr. Sandford, surgeon at Worcester, in his useful and entertaining tract on wine and spirits, relates the following observation, which may be confirmed by thousands equally certain, though made with less precision.

"A late ingenious surgeon, occupied for a great part of his life in experiments equally well conceived and accurately executed, gave to one of his children, a full glass of sherry every day after dinner for a week. The child was then about 'five years old, and had never been accustomed to wine. To another child, nearly of the same age and under similar circumstances, he gave a large China orange for the same space ' of time. At the end of the week he found a very material 'difference in the pulse, the heat of the body, the urine and the stools of the two children. In the first, the pulse was quickened, the heat increased, the urine high coloured, and the 'stools destitute of their usual quantity of bile, while the second had every appearance that indicated high health. He

then reversed the experiment: to the first mentioned child he gave the orange, and to the other the wine. The effects followed as before-a striking and demonstrative proof of the 'pernicious effects of vinous liquors on the constitution of children in full health.'

As to our sentiments on the subject of tea, it cannot be expected that we should be furnished with evidence equally forcible with the foregoing, in proof of its pernicious qualities. The destructive effects of tea, are not indeed to be placed as a parallel to those of spirituous liquors. That its effects, however, are mischievous, and that to a high degree, we feel, to express ourselves in the most moderate manner, a conviction, amounting almost to actual demonstration.

Many readers who may foster a sceptical reluctance to go along with us in our condemnation of this article of diet, will perhaps be surprised to learn that experiments, instituted for the purpose of ascertaining the effects of infusion of tea on living animals, have shewn it to be as quickly poisonous as laurel water, opium, or foxglove; and, in some instances, more so. Analogy, then, at least, favours the inference, that a weak infusion of the articles just mentioned, might be introduced into common and daily use, with an impunity equal to tea. At any rate, all substances which, like tea, inordinately stimulate the nerves, produce an artificial exhilaration, and a mere temporary flow of spirits, must, of necessity, prove hurtful to the digestive organs and general frame, of young persons especially, and ought, therefore, to be banished entirely from the catalogue of their dietetic articles.

There is another pernicious practice, and which seems daily to be more and more intermingling itself with the habits of domestic life. We mean the having recourse, on every trivial occasion, to drastic drugs, and especially mercurial purgatives. There are none who can be more thoroughly convinced than we are of the absolute necessity of duly preserving a regularity in the functions and evacuations of the bowels: indeed, health cannot be maintained without it. But the too. frequent and indiscriminate application to mercurial medicines, in order to effect this purpose, is a practice calculated not only to be destructive of its own intent, but also to injure very materially, the tone of the stomach and biliary organs, upon the healthy condition and orderly action of which, so much depends in respect to general health. A dependence upon medicine, is, indeed, a sort of dependence upon drams, and of the banefnĺ consequences of dram- drinking every one is aware.

The habit of flying to the lancet, or cupping instruments, on every occasion of imaginary necessity, is likewise, we are per